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" (Mandatory Musical Accompaniment To This Post) On this day in 1946, Duane Allman was born in Nashville. He was 24 when he crashed his motorcycle and died. To me, anyway, he was every bit as transformational a rock guitar player as was Jimi Hendrix, albeit in a less interplanetary way. (The great Tony Glover once wrote that Hendrix played Delta blues for sure, but that the Delta was on Mars.) His work with the Allman Brothers Band, especially the absolutely essential Fillmore recordings, tended to obscure the fact that he was a monster sideman as well. (Eric Clapton first became a fan hearing Allman&amp;#039;s work on Aretha Franklin&amp;#039;s version of &amp;quot;The Weight.&amp;quot;) At the time of his death, he was indulging his Coltrane jones and heading off into jazz-influenced stuff while staying rooted in the electric blues. The signature lick on &amp;quot;Layla&amp;quot; was his. The first time I heard him, on Clarence Carter&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;Road Of Love,&amp;quot; I didn&amp;#039;t know who in the hell he was, but he threw out a bottleneck solo that nearly blew me through the ceiling. The Fillmore records were essential out-the-window-of-the-apartment music in my college days. He was gone far too soon. In tribute, then, we instigate today&amp;#039;s altercation in comments below \u2014 namely, what is your favorite rock guitar solo? This is as wide open a category as we&amp;#039;ve ever had. Almost nothing is out of bounds, although the Management will look slightly askance at anyone who mentions Finn Sjoberg&amp;#039;s work with ABBA. As usual, my top three are below. Play nice, ya bastids, or I&amp;#039;ll tell your old-time used-to-be&amp;#039;s. 1) Eric Clapton, &amp;quot;Crossroads,&amp;quot; Wheels Of Fire: Hackneyed choice, I know, but damned if that second solo doesn&amp;#039;t rip the world a new one.      2) Duane Allman, &amp;quot;Loan Me A Dime,&amp;quot; Boz Scaggs: Hidden away on the the album Boz made before he became a &amp;#039;70s slickster, Duane plays modestly and tastily under the verses. Comes then the extended ending, and he takes off from that great Muscle Shoals rhythm section, starts fighting with the horns for the song, and takes everyone with him into orbit. The damn amp must have been jumping across the room by the end of it.      3) Jimi Hendrix: &amp;quot;Hear My Train A Comin&amp;#039;,&amp;quot;: This was the cut with which they chose to end that documentary of his life, with Jimi sitting on a stool, and grinning shyly through a false start. Quiet, beautiful, and, given all that happened later, absolutely heartbreaking.      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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