Sea Level -

Sea Level was an American jazz-rock band from Macon, Georgia, formed in 1976 by musicians from the recently disbanded Allman Brothers Band. The group recorded five studio albums between 1977 and 1980, including Sea Level, Cats on the Coast, and On the Edge, with the later Ball Room closing the original run. Sea Level scored its lone Billboard Hot 100 entry with “That’s Your Secret.”

Members: Chuck Leavell (keyboards, vocals), Jimmy Nalls (guitar, vocals), Lamar Williams (bass, vocals), Jai Johanny Johanson [aka Jaimoe] (drums, percussion, 1976-78), George Weaver (drums, 1977-78), Davis Causey (guitar, 1977-80), Randall Bramblett (keyboards, saxophone, percussion, vocals, 1977-80), Joe English (drums, percussion, 1978-80), Matt Greeley (percussion, vocals, 1980)

Background

Sea Level formed in 1976 in Macon, Georgia, when keyboardist-vocalist Chuck Leavell, bassist-vocalist Lamar Williams, and drummer-percussionist Jai Johanny “Jaimoe” Johanson expanded their informal trio We Three with guitarist-vocalist Jimmy Nalls. Leavell grew up in Alabama and led the Misfitz in Tuscaloosa. He entered Muscle Shoals sessions as a teenager, then worked with Alex Taylor and Dr. John on the path to the Allman Brothers Band.

Johanson grew up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and began professional work with the Sounds of Soul beside Williams in 1964. He toured with Otis Redding and Percy Sledge, then Duane Allman recruited him for the group that became the Allman Brothers Band. Williams grew up in Handsboro near Gulfport and played bass with Johanson in the Sounds of Soul. He returned from U.S. Army service in 1970 and joined the Allman Brothers after the death of bassist Berry Oakley.

Tommy Talton recommended Washington, D.C., guitarist Jimmy Nalls for Alex Taylor’s Friends and Neighbors in 1970, where Nalls first worked with Leavell. The pair also toured behind Dr. John. Leavell, Williams, and Johanson developed We Three through rehearsals and soundchecks with the Allman Brothers Band. Road crew sent the trio onstage at an Allman Brothers show in New Haven, Connecticut, when Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts arrived late.

Leavell called Nalls after the Allman Brothers Band split in May 1976 and turned We Three into a quartet. The group took the name Sea Level from a phonetic play on “C. Leavell” and opened a five-night stand at the Last Resort in Athens, Georgia, on June 29. Sea Level spent the following months on college and concert dates across the East Coast and South. The quartet completed the self-titled debut at Capricorn Sound Studios in Macon with Stewart Levine producing for Capricorn Records.

Discography: