Duane Allman: Encyclopedia II - Duane Allman - Session musician

Duane Allman - Session musician

Duane's playing on the two Hour Glass albums and an Hour Glass session in early 1968 at FAME Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, had caught the ear of Rick Hall, owner of FAME. In November 1968 Hall hired Duane to play on an album with Wilson Pickett. Duane's work on that album, Hey Jude (1968), got him hired as a full-time session musician at Muscle Shoals and brought him to the attention of a number of other musicians, such as guitar great Clapton, who later said, "I remember hearing Wilson Pickett's 'Hey Jude' and just being astounded by the lead break at the end. ... I had to know who that was immediately - right now."

Duane's performance on "Hey Jude" blew away Atlantic Records producer and executive Jerry Wexler when Hall played it over the phone for him. Wexler immediately bought Duane's recording contract from Hall and wanted to use him on sessions with all sorts of Atlantic R&B artists. While at Muscle Shoals, Duane was featured on releases by a number of artists, including Clarence Carter, King Curtis, Aretha Franklin, Otis Rush, Percy Sledge, and jazz flautist Herbie Mann. For his first Aretha sessions, Duane traveled to New York, where in January 1969 he went as an audience member to the Fillmore East to see Johnny Winter and prophetically told fellow Shoals guitarist Jimmy Johnson that in a year he'd be on that stage; the Allman Brothers Band indeed played the Fillmore that December.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Session musician", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki