One of my all time favorite bands with Andy West on his Alembic doing Leprechaun Promenade. From the Montreux Jazz Festival 1978.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNWEbRnAmb4&feature=related

I've always liked them too.  Amazingly clean video and audio.  Some great close-ups of the bass @ 3:26 showing off a beautiful top. Thanks Chuck!

Yeah Chuck I love the Dixie Dregs also . . . I believe it was the liner notes on What If where Andy is referenced not as a Bassist but as a Bass Innovator.
 
Oh yeah and here is this

Chuck; that's a great video, I love watching it and listening to it.   Very nice live version.

Chuck,  
 
Andy is a unsung hero. I seen him live in San Francisco back in the 80's with The Dixie Dregs Band, and I left the theater speechless.  
 
Those guys timing, and quickness was like nothing I ever heard, or seen before.  
 
That fat Alembic Andy had, was rolling in every direction Steve Morris would go... and stamping down every note, without one lose end... (and lets not even talk about how fast Steve could play... for he's the fastest cleanest guitarist I know...).  
 
The Dixie Dregs were originators of Jazz Rock Country Fusion, and they pull it off with such grace too. I still wish they were together.  
 
P.S. I grew up on Andy's Alembic bass playing too, (back in the day).
 
Peace and Love,
 
Hal-
 
 
(Message edited by toma_hawk01 on July 29, 2010)

Dave, I'm just in awe of their talent and amazed that the material still sounds so fresh after close to 30 years. Too bad more people are not hip to them. I say Dixie Dregs or The Dregs to a lot of my musician friends and they look at me like I have a 3rd eye in the middle of my forehead. They just don't know what they're missing.

I saw the Dregs a number of times in the seventies when they would play the Town Hall in Chapel Hill.  We would always go early and sit right down front; the Dregs in town was a big event for us.  Then saw the original Steve Morse band with Jerry Peek and Rod Morgenstein in Raleigh, NC.  I've seen the Steve Morse Band with Dave LaRue and Van Romaine several times.  And I've seen the Dregs lineup with Morgenstein, LaRue, T. Lavitz, and Jerry Goodman.  I've got lots of Dregs and Steve Morse CD's; Morse is a great writer, he's got wonderful tone, and he's an amazing player.  I even like watching him in the Deep Purple videos.

Saw them in Wheeling, IL ; leaning on the stage with Andy and his Alembic way back too during the jazz fusion era. They were great!
 
I believe I\ve had the same response, d... in the headlights, too.
 
In fact I\ve been trying to persuade my older son to check out one of the fusion bands current or from that era in a concert setting, just to check out some of the awesome players in that genre.

I didn't know till very recently that Jerry Goodman had been playing with The Dregs in it's recent incarnation. I was extremely fortunate to see him with the original Mahavishnu Orchestra in the very early 80s. What a lineup with John McLaughlin, Jan Hammer and Billy Cobham.  The music was extremly bizarre, not exactly the stuff you put on to relax after a long day at work but was something you could loose yourself in trying to grasp the nuances of the arrangements.

Long Slow Distance has one of my absolute favorite acoustic guitar solos (@ 2:47). It is one of those musical moments that transports me away from my troubles. I can listen to it and close my eyes and feel a warmth wash over me.  
 
This was truly a group of musicians with a level of ability that is hard to match.
 
(Message edited by pauldo on August 02, 2010)

The Dregs, in any incarnation, are fabulous.
 
@pauldo: nice selection. Night of the Living Dregs was my introduction to their music. Changed the way I thought about bass. Unfortunately, that was all that changed!

Mike,
Its about the precision of the notes we play that counts.. even though it would be cool to play like Andy!
 
Chuckc: I didn\t know Jerry played in the Dregs lineup! huh...sigh.

This is one of my all time favorite songs regardless of personnel, not as good as the studio version but amazing none the less.  I think it's Andy West in the back playing guitar. Dave Larue on bass, Jerry Goodman on violin and T. Lavitz on keyboard.
 

The 1st time I saw The Dixie Dreggs, they opened for Stanley in Houston, TX in 1979. Talk about an awesome show!!!

Here is the concert in colour.