Jai Johanny Johanson (born on July 8, 1944, in Ocean Springs, Mississippi), frequently known by the stage name Jaimoe, is an American drummer and percussionist. He is best known as one of the founding members of The Allman Brothers Band.
Johanson came up in the R&B world and began drumming at an early age, often accompanied by friend Lamar Williams on bass. Johanson backed soul singers, including a membership in Otis Redding's touring band in 1966, and afterward touring with the acclaimed soul duo, Sam & Dave. After joining up with Duane Allman in February 1969, he quickly became the first recruit into Allman's new group, soon joined by bassist Berry Oakley, fellow drummer Butch Trucks, guitarist Dickey Betts and lastly Allman's younger brother, singer, organist and pianist Gregg Allman. The group, quickly named after the brothers Allman, began recording demos that April in Macon, Georgia, which became the group's spiritual home.
After being terminated from the band in late 1980 due to increasing back problems stemming from a 1974 automobile accident, and the group's financial woes, Johanson lived near poverty in Macon for nearly a decade (playing off and on with "SouthBound" - Coop Frazier, Mike Joseph, Edd Anderson, and Stan Daniell at a small honkytonk in Forsyth, Georgia), before being invited back into the group in 1989. Reunited with the group and rejuvenated by the growing jam band scene that viewed the Allman Brothers Band as one of the pioneering influences in the newly named genre, Johanson helped lead the band back into national prominence. Though guitarist Warren Haynes, bassist Allen Woody and pianist Johnny Neel (all having joined the Allmans with their second reformation in 1989) would all leave, as would Haynes' replacement, Jack Pearson, Jaimoe remained. However, he watched Dickey Betts' acrimonious departure in 2000, which was ultimately to be replaced by a returning Warren Haynes. Despite their difficulties, he continued with the band.
The past two decades have seen renewed success for the band. Jaimoe, Butch Trucks and Gregg Allman have been joined by percussionist Marc Quiñones, bassist Oteil Burbridge, guitar and vocalist, Warren Haynes, and slide guitarist Derek Trucks. Every March, the band had taken up a residency at New York's Beacon Theatre for several weeks of shows, often featuring an extended percussion battle between Trucks, Jaimoe and Quiñones. This practice came to a final halt, after forty years of performances since the Cirque du Soleil was given a permanent contract year-round at the Beacon Theatre. To celebrate this final tradition, in 2009, the band dedicated that year's multiple concerts to the late Duane Allman, inviting special guests from many genres to participate with them, including Eric Clapton, Levon Helm, Trey Anastasio, and many others.
Jaimoe leads a jazz-rock collective known as Jaimoe's Jasssz Band during Allman Brothers Band breaks, playing clubs in New York and his adopted home of Connecticut.
Jaimoe and the Allman Brothers Band are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”
