The Allman Brothers' instrumental "Jessica" starts off chugging along like a little acoustic train leaving the station, and before 15 seconds have passed you're out flying through a beautiful countryside with trees and grass and water and blue sky all around. But just wait until you get around the bend...
After the first two "verses" establish the mood and melody, there comes an extended vamp over which pianist Chuck Leavell lays down a solo like he's Schroeder from Peanuts (or, rather, Vince Guaraldi), and, great though it may be, it ends up mostly serving as the ski jump from which guitarist Dickey Betts will take his flying leap. As Leavell's section ends, the band builds up to a heart-bursting key change and, at 3.44, the first note of Betts' guitar solo punches through the fabric of space and time like a needle from another dimension. Just when you thought the train couldn't pick up any more momentum, it does. It's like in Back to the Future when the lightning strikes the clock tower at the exact moment needed to send the DeLorean through time; Betts is standing in the right place at the right time with the right feeling in his heart to receive the signal. And now that he's received it, he couldn't make a mistake if he tried. The whole band plays like a team of superheroes who have just discovered their powers and are gleefully putting them to the test.
Eventually, the guitar solo comes back down into the last verse and the song ends after seven-and-a-half minutes of pure joy. It's a perfect ride: couldn't have been any shorter or longer. It's rock, country, gospel and jazz all in one, and I love it.
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