Sea Level was an American rock band from

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. Situated near the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is southeast of Atlanta and near the ...

. Formed in 1976, the band was an offshoot of

the Allman Brothers Band The Allman Brothers Band was an American rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969. Its founding members were brothers Duane Allman (slide guitar, lead guitar) and Gregg Allman (vocals, keyboards), as well as Dickey Betts ( ...

. Between 1977 and 1980, the band released five studio albums which incorporated elements of

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

and

Latin music Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and ) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America, which encompasses Music of Latin America, Latin America, Music of Spain, Spain, Mu ...

. Sea Level took on a life of its own as tensions grew between

Gregg Allman Gregory LeNoir Allman (December 8, 1947 – May 27, 2017) was an American musician, singer and songwriter. He was known for performing in the Allman Brothers Band. Allman grew up with an interest in rhythm and blues music, and the Allman B ...

and other members resulting in the loss of two of ABBs founding members. After the Allman Brothers Band broke up when Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts left, the remaining members who evolved into Sea Level were "We Three" comprising

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

ist

Lamar Williams Lamar Williams (January 14, 1949 – January 21, 1983) was an American musician best known for serving as the bassist of The Allman Brothers Band (1972–1976) and Sea Level (band), Sea Level (1976–1980). Early years Williams was born in Gulfp ...

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

mer Jaimoe and piano player Chuck Leavell. The trio would occasionally open shows for the group in 1975 and 1976. The trio added

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

ist Jimmy Nalls and took their name from the

phonetic Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds or, in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians ...

pun A pun, also known as a paronomasia in the context of linguistics, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from t ...

of their new

bandleader A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a dance band, rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhyth ...

Chuck Leavell's name: "C. Leavell." They toured relentlessly, experimenting and refining their sound, eventually signing with

Capricorn Records Capricorn Records was an independent record label founded by Phil Walden and Frank Fenter in 1969 in Macon, Georgia. Capricorn Records is often credited by music historians as creating the southern rock genre. History Label and studio fou ...

(home of the Allman Brothers) and recording their self-titled debut album in 1977.

Musical style

Sea Level's music fuses elements of

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

. A

jam band A jam band is a musical group whose concerts and live albums substantially feature improvisational "jam session, jamming". Typically, jam bands will play variations of pre-existing songs, extending them to musical improvisation, improvise ove ...

, Sea Level's sound has been classified as

southern rock Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country and blues, and is focused generally on electric guitars and vocals. History 1950s and 1960s: origin ...

jazz rock Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music Music genre, genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, a ...

, and funk pop.

Career

After the release of their first album, the group expanded to a

septet A septet is a formation containing exactly seven members. It is commonly associated with musical groups but can be applied to any situation where seven similar or related objects are considered a single unit, such as a seven-line stanza of poetry ...

with the additions of Davis Causey (

), George Weaver (

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, percussion) and Randall Bramblett (

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

s, keyboards and

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

). That configuration recorded the group's second album, ''Cats on the Coast'', in 1978 (with the leadoff track, "That's Your Secret", reaching #50 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and #45 in Canada.) By the time of the third album, '' On the Edge'', Jaimoe and Weaver had both left, replaced by Joe English. The sextet of Bramblett, Causey, English, Leavell, Nalls and Williams recorded the fourth album, ''Long Walk on a Short Pier'' (1979), unreleased in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

for nearly twenty years, adding

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

ist Matt Greeley for their fifth and final album, ''Ball Room'', issued on Arista in 1980. Their greatest hits album (CD) wrapped up their body of work, minus a handful of appearances on various compilation albums (mostly

Southern Rock Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country and blues, and is focused generally on electric guitars and vocals. History 1950s and 1960s: origin ...

). They were also featured on a 1978 live Southern Rock album which included a live version of "Grand Larceny."

Later years

Leavell later emerged as a much sought-after

session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...

and producer, touring with

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

and eventually becoming a "permanent" session player touring with

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

. In 1998, he issued his debut solo LP, a Christmas album called ''What's in That Bag?'' and more recently ''Forever Blue'' that includes solo versions of two classic Sea Level compositions: "Whole Lotta Colada" and "Song for Amy." He also released ''Southscape'', an album of Southern anthems that hearkens back to his Southern roots. A documentary of Chuck Leavell's career and life outside of music,"Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man
IMDb Listing
directed by Allen Fars
IMDb
premiered at Dayton, Ohio's "The Neon" theatre on November 6, 2020. The film, featured in a number of film festivals in 2020, won the

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Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of The Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; Jagge ...

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership wi ...

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, Ronnie Wood, David Gilmore,

Dickey Betts Forrest Richard Betts (December 12, 1943 – April 18, 2024) was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was best known as a longtime member of the Allman Brothers Band. A co-founder of the band when it formed in 1969, he was central ...

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, Julian Lennon,

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, Charlie Daniels,

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, Chris Robinson,

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, and Lee Ann Womack among others will be available for streaming beginning December 1, 2020
Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man website

Deaths of members

Lamar Williams died from lung cancer on January 21, 1983, at age 34. Jimmy Nalls, who suffered from Parkinson's disease, died on June 22, 2017, at age 66. Davis Causey died on February 19, 2023, at the age of 74.

Group members

* Chuck Leavell – piano,

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer ( ) is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co., produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer ...

, organ, clavinet, keyboards, percussion, vocals (1976–1980) *

– bass, vocals (1976–1980; died 1983) * Jimmy Nalls – guitars, vocals (1976–1980; died 2017) * Jaimoe – drums, percussion (1976–1978) * Davis Causey – guitars, backing vocals (1977–1980; died 2023) * Randall Bramblett – saxophones, piano, keyboards, vocals (1977–1980) * George Weaver – drums (1977–1978) * Joe English – drums, percussion, vocals (1978–1980) * Matt Greeley – percussion, vocals (1980) Timeline

Discography

* ''

Sea Level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

'' (1977, Capricorn) * ''

Cats on the Coast ''Cats on the Coast'' is the second album by United States, American rock music, rock band Sea Level (band), Sea Level. It was released in 1977 on Capricorn Records. The leadoff track, "That's Your Secret", reached #50 on the Billboard Hot 100, ' ...

'' (1977, Capricorn) * ''On the Edge'' (1978, Capricorn) * ''Long Walk on a Short Pier'' (1979, Capricorn) * ''Ball Room'' (1980, Arista) * ''Best of Sea Level'' (1990, Polydor) * ''Best of Sea Level'' (1997, Capricorn)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sea Level (Band) American southern rock musical groups American jazz-rock groups Jam bands Rock music groups from Georgia (U.S. state) Capricorn Records artists Musical groups established in 1976 Musical groups disestablished in 1981 1976 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) 1981 disestablishments in Georgia (U.S. state)