Jai Johanny Johanson

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Jai Johanny Johanson
Background information
Birth name	John Lee Johnson
Also known as	Jaimoe, Jaimo
Born	July 8, 1944 (age 62) Ocean Springs, Mississippi, USA
Genre(s)	Rock
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instrument(s)	Drums
Years active	1966 – Present
Associated acts	The Allman Brothers Band Sea Level

Jai Johanny Johanson (born John Lee Johnson on July 8, 1944, in Ocean Springs, Mississippi), frequently known by the stage names Jaimoe or Jaimo, is an American drummer and percussionist who is best known as one of the founding members of The Allman Brothers Band.

Johanson came up in the rhythm and blues world and began drumming at an early age, often accompanied by friend Lamar Williams on bass. Johanson was a member of Otis Redding's touring band in 1966, later touring with Sam and 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, in late March 1969, 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.

The band's mixture of blues and rock, spearheaded by the dual lead guitars of Betts and Allman, and the double-drums of Trucks and Jaimoe, were unique at that time, and they rapidly became known as an act that "you had to see live". Their first two albums, the eponymous "Allman Brothers Band" and "Idlewood South" (both later reissued as "Beginnings") were critical successes, but their third album, recorded live at one of their favortie concert halls, the Fillmore East in New York City, made them one of the biggest rock acts in America.

The band quickly suffered tragedy, however. Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1971, and Berry Oakley died in a similar manner a few blocks away a year later. Shaken by the loss of their leader Duane Allman, the band added a piano player (Chuck Leavell) and bass player (Lamar Williams) and released their best-selling album, "Eat A Peach", which featured a number of live recordings with Duane Allman as well as new originals. Their next album, "Brothers and Sisters", gave them their first radio hit, "Ramblin' Man" and found them headlinign the largest one-day rock concert in American history at Watkins Glens Raceway in Newyork, with the Grateful Dead and The Band.

In 1976, after six albums and hundreds of concerts, the group disbanded in a storm of drug abuse and acrimony involving Gregg Allman's testimony at the drug trial of former roadie Scooter Herring. Betts and the younger Allman focused on their own careers (and Johanson joining forces with Chuck Leavell (pianist for the group from 1972 on) and Lamar Williams (bassist for the group after Oakley's 1972 death) in the jazz-rock combo Sea Level. Johanson drummed for the group on their first three albums, before rejoining The Allman Brothers Band in 1979.

Being fired from the Allmans 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 before being invited back into the group in 1989. Reunited with his old bandmates, and rejuvinated by the growing "Jam Band" scene that viewed the Allman Brothers Band as a major influence, Jaimoe helped lead the band back into national prominence. A number of personnel changes (Betts was fired from the band and eventually replaced by Butch Trucks' nephew Derek Trucks) have only allowed the band to grow more musically adventurous. The month of March is now synonymous with the Allman Brother Band among music fans, as the band takes up residence at New York's Beacon Theatre for several weeks of shows. The highlight of many shows is an extended percussion battle between Trucks, Jaimoe and Marc Quinines.

Jaimoe leads a jazz-rock collective known as Jamoe's Jasss 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.