Sea Level

Formed in 1976 after keyboardist Chuck Leavell, bassist Lamar Williams, and drummer Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson departed the Allman Brothers Band, the jazz-rock ensemble Sea Level added guitarist Jimmy Nalls to round out its founding lineup. Capricorn issued the group's self-titled debut album the following year. After extensive road work that sharpened the band's blend of rock, blues, and jazz, an expanded roster that included vocalist/saxophonist/keyboardist Randall Bramblett, guitarist Davis Causey, and drummer George Weaver entered the studio to record Cats on the Coast, also released in 1977. On the Edge appeared in 1978 and featured Paul McCartney & Wings drummer Joe English. Although Jaimoe had rejoined the Allmans, Sea Level completed two further albums before disbanding: Long Walk on a Short Pier, issued by Capricorn in 1979 and finally made available in the U.S. in 1998, and Ball Room, which Arista released in 1980.

Leavell subsequently built a career as an in-demand session musician and producer while also joining the Rolling Stones on tour; his first solo album, What's in That Bag?, came out in 1998. Randall Bramblett likewise resumed the solo path he had begun prior to Sea Level, issuing several well-received records on the New West label after 2000. On January 25, 1983, Williams succumbed to cancer, which some attributed to his exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. Nalls received a Parkinson's diagnosis in 1995 yet kept performing and recording, releasing the solo album Ain't No Stranger in 1999; he died on June 22, 2017. Guitarist Davis Causey passed away on February 19, 2023, at age 74.