Johanson proves he's a musical renaissance man

John Johanson is best known as "Jaimoe." "Founding member of the Allman Brothers Band" is the phrase that normally precedes his nickname.

But the laidback drummer also leads another act, Jaimoe's Jasssz Band, which will open for his longtime colleague and pal Gregg Allman Saturday at Ruth Eckerd Hall.

"I guess there's a couple names you can call me and a couple of bands you can attach me to," Johanson said. "As long as I'm making music, I'm happy. It's always extra fun to be out with Gregory (Allman)."

Johanson, 67, and his group will kick off the show, but it's unknown if he'll jam with Allman. "I probably will, but I don't know for sure," Johanson said in a telephone interview from Biloxi, Miss. "It's certainly a possibility, but it's a loose kind of thing. You never know what's going to happen in this business."

Johanson knows from experience. When he started drumming in the '60s, he never envisioned he would join a group that today is referred to as the "Godfathers of jam-rock."

"I thought I was going to become the world's greatest jazz drummer," Johanson said, laughing. "I thought I would one day be in the Jazz Hall of Fame and what happens? I join a bandwhich was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I have no complaints. It's been an honor to be in the Allmans."

An honor, indeed. The lifetime achievement Grammy will be given to the Allmans in February at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. "It's humbling," Johanson said. "But the Allman Brothers Band is an original. Before the Allmans, you had so many rock bands copy other artists, but Duane and Gregory aren't followers. I'm proud to be part of that band. I thought I was going to be this great jazz player, but I couldn't be happier how things turned out."

Johanson has made his mark outside of the Allmans, too. He was Otis Redding's drummer in 1966, two years before he joined the seminal Allmans act. "Much like the Allmans, Otis was one of a kind," Johanson said. "Nobody sings like Otis. There were three things Otis loved. He loved ladies. He loved to smoke pot and he loved music."

Patti LaBelle and Percy Sledge are some of the other luminaries Johanson backed in '66.

"I've been incredibly fortunate," Johanson said. "1966 was a great year for me."

It appears that 2012 isn't a bad time for Johanson, either. Jaimoe's Jasssz Band is touring behind the solid and varied album "Renaissance Man."

Johanson clearly has a blast jumping genres. He and the band, which includes dynamic vocalist-guitarist Junior Mack, effortlessly travel from blues to funk to soul to jazz.

"I'm doing everything that I want to do," Johanson said. "You can't ask for more than that. That just doesn't end with the album. … We do Beatles songs and (Jimi) Hendrix tunes. We do what we want. It's been great to be able to do so many things at this point in my career. It's very satisfying."