Sea Level!!

[Guitarplyrjvb]

I recently got a compilation of this band's 3 album output entitled "Best of Sea Level". I'm really loving it! It sounds like a pastiche of Steely Dan, the Allman Brothers, and the Dixie Dregs! I've always loved Chuck Leavell's (I guess that's where they got the name: C. Leavell = Sea Level!) playing and the guitarist, Jimmy Nalls, is a real tasty player with nice, snarly tone. It's a shame these guys didn't get more attention, but they're definitely worth checking out! Their albums are out of print, I believe, and the last time I saw the records at a vinyl show, they were ridiculously expensive. Boy, those Allman's sure served as the feeder for many bands: Derek and the Dominoes, Govt. Mule, Captain Beyond, Sea Level, the Rolling Stones and the list goes on! Great stuff!

[rapidfirerob]

Great, great band. I never got to see them live, though I wanted to. They never played near me. All albums are excellent. CDs and vinyl are not expensive on Amazon. Lamar Williams last band, sad. Live recordings are out there as well.

[Dave (in MA)]

What was the Captain Beyond connection?

[Jubal]

I'm guessing they just mean the Capricorn Label.

[strawberrybrick]

Sea Level made it into my book! Their debut album is a great mix of Southern Rock and Fusion, quite a talented group. Here's where it all came from, 1976 Allman Bros....

[GuitarGeek]

What was the Captain Beyond connection?

Captain Beyond guitarist Larry Rheinhardt, was in The Second Coming, which was the band that Berry Oakley and Dickey Betts were in before The Allman Brothers Band. Keyboards on Sufficiently Breathless were played by Reese Wynans (who was also in The Second Coming, and much later with Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble) and Paul Hornsby (who had been in Hour Glass, with Gregg and Duane).

[Guitarplyrjvb]

^ Wow! You did it way better than me! I was just thinking the same label! Didn't the whole Capricorn label arise out of the Allman's and Tom Dowd?

On a side note, for you Washington-area music fans, Jimmy Nalls is from DC and I think was in some version of the Nighthawks, if not the current one! Sea Level were formed from a jam session that was held before a Capital Center, Largo MD, Allman's concert!

[Guitarplyrjvb]

Here's their biography from AllMusic.com. I guess they did 5 albums! Got to get these!
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Jazz-rock combo Sea Level was formed in 1976 by keyboardist Chuck Leavell, bassist Lamar Williams, and drummer Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson following their exit from the Allman Brothers Band; guitarist Jimmy Nalls completed the original lineup, which in 1977 issued its self-titled debut LP on the Capricorn label. Honing its distinctive marriage of rock, blues, and jazz through relentless touring, the group returned to the studio with an expanded lineup including vocalist/saxophonist/keyboardist Randall Bramblett, guitarist Davis Causey, and drummer George Weaver to cut Cats on the Coast, also released in 1977, followed in 1978 by On the Edge featuring Paul McCartney & Wings drummer Joe English; although Jaimoe had returned to the Allmans, Sea Level recorded two more albums -- 1979's Long Walk on a Short Pier for Capricorn (finally released in the U.S. in 1998) and 1980's Ball Room for Arista -- before dissolving. Leavell later emerged as a sought-after session player and producer, also touring with the Rolling Stones; in 1998, he issued his debut solo LP, What's in That Bag? Randall Bramblett also subsequently restarted his solo career that had begun before joining Sea Level, issuing a number of critically acclaimed albums on the New West label after the turn of the millennium. Sadly, on January 25, 1983 Williams died of cancer, which some believed was attributable to his exposure to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. Jimmy Nalls was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1995, although he continued performing and recording in the face of the disease's symptoms, issuing the solo CD Ain't No Stranger in 1999.

[bobert]

A good band for sure, I saw the original band once when the debut album by them was still pretty new, they were great. As far as their albums go I only heard the first two with Cats On the Coast being my favorite, although I really like the first one too.

[Jimmy Giant]

Not to mention Chuck Leavell had the quintisential rock piano solo in the Allman Bros song Jessica.

[GuitarGeek]

^ Wow! You did it way better than me! I was just thinking the same label! Didn't the whole Capricorn label arise out of the Allman's and Tom Dowd?
!

The label was started by Phil Walden. I don't think Tom Dowd or the Allmans had anything do with running Capricorn.

I know years later, it came to be known that Walden had apparently ripped of the Allmans (and presumably everyone else who was on the label). I remember reading an interview with Gregg in the mid 90's, not too long after the Allmans remasters came out. The first string of CD's were on Polydor, but the remasters were issued on Capricorn (which I guess Walden had, at the time, just recently reactivated, after being defunct during the 80's and early 90's). Gregg mentioned that someone brought a CD of one of the old albums, Eat A Peach I think, for Gregg to autograph, and I got the impression that he was irritated to find out that it was back to being on Capricorn.

At the time that Warren Haynes and Allen Woody left The Allman Brothers in 97, one of the one rumors that went around was that it was because Gov't Mule were signed to Capricorn, and Gregg, Dickey, Butch and Jaimoe fired them for doing business with the guy who had ripped them off. I think it eventually came to be known that this wasn't true, but then I also heard that Jack Pearson, who was Warren's immediate replacement in 97-98, had a publishing deal with Capricorn, so there was a theory circulating for awhile hinging on that being the reason why Jack left the band (although I think he said at the time he quit because the band was just too damn loud).

[TheH]

I recently got a compilation of this band's 3 album output entitled "Best of Sea Level". I'm really loving it! It sounds like a pastiche of Steely Dan, the Allman Brothers, and the Dixie Dregs! I've always loved Chuck Leavell's (I guess that's where they got the name: C. Leavell = Sea Level!) playing and the guitarist, Jimmy Nalls, is a real tasty player with nice, snarly tone. It's a shame these guys didn't get more attention, but they're definitely worth checking out! Their albums are out of print, I believe, and the last time I saw the records at a vinyl show, they were ridiculously expensive. Boy, those Allman's sure served as the feeder for many bands: Derek and the Dominoes, Govt. Mule, Captain Beyond, Sea Level, the Rolling Stones and the list goes on! Great stuff!

I got that same compilation, and was amazed by it. Really great fusion.

Cats on The Coast and On the Edge are going to be rereleased as a two on one CD at the end of the month.

[BobM]

Saw them live in 1977 - great show. Some of their songs were a bit on the cheesy side, meaning they sound very dated now, but others were and are still truly great. The Stones grabbed a great talent and stuffed him all the way in the background so we never got any more awesome music from Chucky. Bummed.

[Guitarplyrjvb]

I got that same compilation, and was amazed by it. Really great fusion.

Cats on The Coast and On the Edge are going to be rereleased as a two on one CD at the end of the month.

Yeah, I saw that! I may just have to get it! It's available now.

[Father Tiresias]

I have and enjoy the Best Of compilation as well. I really love their instrumental songs - the ones with vox, not so much.