Allman Brothers Band - Jessica (live at Wanee Music Festival, Live Oak FL, 2014)

[highplainsdem]

[Docreed2003]

1. Great version

I've always loved that song for a couple reasons but I think mainly because it was written by Dickey Betts for his daughter Jessica. She was a toddler at the time and he tried to capture her spirit and her bounciness in the song. Also, the song was meant as an homage to Django Reinhardt, and Betts intended the left hand notes to be able to be played with only two fingers. From a guitarist perspective it's a fun jam to play. You can play the fifth note of the opening lick as a bend from D to E or slide up from the tenth to twelfth fret like Warren Hayes does here. I've always preferred the sound of the bend, but that's just me. Warren certainly filled the role of Betts nicely when Dickey was no longer a part of the group but Dickey's playing was always distinctively his own.

Here's Dickey playing it to show the bend I referred to above...sorry to guitar geek out

[ProfessorGAC]

2. A Counter Position, Sort Of

First, I too love this song. But, I have a few issues.
The audio balance is poor for the guitars such that the harmony dominates the melody part. The flow of the melody is not consistent with the bass, piano & organ because of that.
Second, that piano player is no Chuck Leavell. Not even close. The original solo is a song within a song. A thing of beauty.
Finally, I have a problem with them playing Dickie's song after they forced him out of his own band. There's enough in the catalog without rubbing salt in the wounds.

[Docreed2003]

3. I agree totally with your take

I didn't want to talk too much 💩 about the version that was posted but I agree completely on your take. It doesn't sit right to me hearing them play Dickey's song after he was removed from his own band. Warren and Derek are stellar guitarists, but it sounds a bit like a cover band playing another groups song rather than Dickey's approach to playing the lead.

[highplainsdem]

4. You're entitled to your opinion, of course. But I like this performance, and I

skimmed hundreds of the comments posted on YouTube, and it looked like they were all raves, mostly from long-time Allman Brothers fans who had the greatest respect for Dickey, but still loved this version.

[highplainsdem]

5. I looked at some more of the YouTube comments and

did find a few complaining that this was Dickey's song and the later version of the band shouldn't have done it. But in general even the people posting there who preferred Dickey's version liked this version with Warren and Derek, too. The performance with Dickey that most of them mentioned was the Florida concert I posted in the Lounge last spring, at https://www.democraticunderground.com/10181654853 .

With the conflicting accounts of why Dickey was kicked out, I was never sure which side to believe, and suspected there was some truth on both sides.

Btw, Dickey had a lot of help writing that song: https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_(instrumental)