Few bands could have recovered from such tragic personnel losses as did the Allman Brothers Band. After the death of Duane Allman in 1971 and Berry Oakley the following year, few would have thought the group would carry on or could ever again be relevant. However, this Southern collective was a true brotherhood that went beyond the founding members' musical vision into a spiritual journey with their listeners. Not unlike their friends, the Grateful Dead, the Brothers were on a musical mission that their fan base embraced and inherently understood. The death of founding member and bandleader, Duane Allman, was certainly a crushing blow that could have ended their journey only two years after it began. Bassist Berry Oakley was the band member most responsible for re-establishing band unity following Duane's death. With Gregg too devastated, it was Oakley who became the band's de facto leader and he is generally credited with keeping the distraught band members going. Oakley's long, melodic bass runs were often responsible for propelling the direction of the music, as well as anchoring the songs during the group's extended improvisations. Rarely recognized for his groundbreaking musicianship, Oakley was an equal to the most innovative electric bass players of his generation, extending its role as much as Jack Bruce, Jack Casady, and Phil Lesh did within their respective bands and influencing countless bass players to follow. When the Allman Brothers Band initially began soldiering on as a quintet in 1972, following the death of Duane, it was Berry Oakley who most filled in the sizable gap, playing with a newfound ferocity and focus. This slice of the Allman Brothers at the Hollywood Bowl in August of 1972, clearly displays the band continuing to forge their musical vision. Capturing their set, as well as the first of two encores with Texas guitar slinger Johnny Winter as a guest, the group's music still has plenty of fire, inspired jamming and that intangible spiritual quality that was at the heart of their finest work. On Dickey Betts defining composition, In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed , despite the absence of the fluid and melodic twin guitar harmonies of Dickey an