Dixie Dregs

Known among the premier groups in jazz-rock fusion, the Dixie Dregs fused exceptional technical prowess with varied musical approaches and a playful wit that similar outfits often missed. Steve Morse on guitar and bassist Andy West first performed together during high school in Augusta, Georgia, inside the standard rock outfit Dixie Grit. After expulsion for declining to trim his hair, Morse entered the University of Miami School of Music, where he encountered violinist Allen Sloan, formerly of the Miami Philharmonic, and drummer Rod Morgenstein. The trio resolved to start a group, prompting Morse to persuade West to relocate to Miami and participate, after which keyboardist Steve Davidowski completed the quintet. For a class assignment they cut The Great Spectacular in 1975, an effort the band itself later issued though it has long remained unavailable. Post-graduation the five began gigging across the South and secured a contract with Capricorn Records after a 1976 support slot for Sea Level impressed a label scout. Mark Parrish, an earlier Dixie Grit colleague, supplanted Davidowski ahead of the official debut album Free Fall in 1977.

What If emerged next and ranks among their strongest artistic statements, coinciding with the band’s appearance at the 1978 Montreux Jazz Festival once T Lavitz had taken Parrish’s chair. Half of Night of the Living Dregs draws directly from that performance. For Unsung Heroes in 1981 the group shortened its name to the Dregs, then enlisted vocalists plus three-time national fiddling champion Mark O’Connor for Industry Standard; O’Connor’s traditional fiddle approach broadened the ensemble’s palette. The Dregs subsequently split, whereupon the widely admired Morse launched a solo project and issued multiple albums before joining Kansas between 1986 and 1988, while Morgenstein aligned with the pop-metal band Winger.

A short-lived 1988 reunion yielded several concerts, yet a complete return occurred only in 1992 when Morse, Lavitz, Morgenstein, and Dave LaRue of the Steve Morse Band filled West’s role. Sloan participated fleetingly before ex-Mahavishnu Orchestra violinist Jerry Goodman assumed the spot. Bring ’Em Back Alive documented the ensuing tour, and Full Circle in 1994 also earned favorable notice. California Screamin’ appeared in early 2000.