A big band tribute to pioneering Southern rock band
the Allman Brothers, 2019's
A Jazz Celebration of the Allman Brothers Band balances brightly swinging jazz with earthy, electric-guitar twang. The brainchild of executive producer
John Harvey, the album features a bevy of Nashville studio pros known collectively here as the
Big Band of Brothers. Included among them is guitarist (and director of the Jazz Studies Program at the University of Alabama School of Music)
Tom Wolfe, who solos throughout and supplies several arrangements. Also showcased are a handful of guest artists including trombonist
Wycliffe Gordon, slide guitarist
Jack Pearson, and singers
Marc Broussard and
Ruthie Foster. While at first the notion of a big band take on the bluesy, hard-rocking sound of late guitarist
Duane Allman and his brother, singer/keyboardist
Gregg Allman, might seem like an odd fit, it works quite well. The
BBB group don't actually have to alter the band's music much to make it work here -- tracks like the opening "Statesboro Blues," "Hot 'Lanta," and "Don't Want You No More" were already fairly swinging songs built around solo-friendly R&B forms. Here, "Statesboro" gets a
Count Basie-esque treatment via trombonist
Gordon, as
Broussard offers a soulful vocal lead.
Gordon also grabs the spotlight on "Don't Want You Know More," supplying a bluesy soprano trombone solo against
Andy Nevala's juicy organ backing. Even the gritty "Whipping Post" works here with
Broussard again evoking the gospel-tinged source material as the band plays a dynamically re-harmonized version of the song's classic, driving bass riff. Even the more esoteric
Allman Brothers songs like the flowing ballad "Dreams" and guitarist
Dickey Betts' trippy instrumental "Les Brers in A Minor" fit easily into the sonically expansive yet tightly swinging approach of the
Big Band of Brothers. The loose spirit and genre-crossing sense of discovery that drove much of
the Allman Brothers' music is at work here. ~ Matt Collar
