"Mountain Jam" is an improvised

Musical improvisation

Musical improvisation is the creative activity of immediate musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous response to other musicians...

 instrumental

Instrumental

An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....

 jam

Jam session

Jam sessions are often used by musicians to develop new material, find suitable arrangements, or simply as a social gathering and communal practice session. Jam sessions may be based upon existing songs or forms, may be loosely based on an agreed chord progression or chart suggested by one...

 by The Allman Brothers Band

The Allman Brothers Band

The Allman Brothers Band is an American rock/blues band once based in Macon, Georgia. The band was formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman and Gregg Allman , who were supported by Dickey Betts , Berry Oakley , Butch Trucks , and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe"...

. The song's first known recording is on 5-4-1969 at Macon Central Park, but was officially released later on the albums; Live at Ludlow Garage: 1970

Live at Ludlow Garage: 1970

Live at Ludlow Garage: 1970 is an album by The Allman Brothers Band. It was recorded live at Ludlow Garage in Cincinnati. Though it was recorded in 1970, it was not released until 1991....

, Live at the Atlanta International Pop Festival: July 3 & 5, 1970

Live at the Atlanta International Pop Festival: July 3 & 5, 1970

Live at the Atlanta International Pop Festival: July 3 & 5, 1970 is a live album released by the Allman Brothers. It features their two performances at the 1970 Atlanta Pop Festival in Byron, Georgia, USA. The festival took place nearly a year before the concerts that appear on At Fillmore East...

, The Fillmore Concerts, deluxe edition of At Fillmore East

At Fillmore East

At Fillmore East is a double live album by The Allman Brothers Band. The band's breakthrough success, At Fillmore East was released in July 1971. It ranks Number 49 among Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and remains among the top-selling albums in the band’s catalogue...

 (1971), and Eat A Peach

Eat a Peach

Eat a Peach is a 1972 double album by the American Southern rock group The Allman Brothers Band; it was the last to include founding member and lead slide-guitar player Duane Allman, who was killed in a motorcycle accident on October 29, 1971 while the album was being recorded.-History:This album...

 (1972).

Origin and influences

The song is based on Donovan

Donovan

Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...

's 1967 hit-single "There Is a Mountain

There Is a Mountain

"There is a Mountain" is a song and single by Donovan, released in 1967. It charted in the USA and UK .Featured musicians are Donovan , Tony Carr on percussion, Harold McNair on flute and arrangement and Danny Thompson on bass.Chart positions: # 11 , # 9 , # 11 , # 8 The Allman...

" (Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...

's "Third Stone from the Sun

Third Stone from the Sun

"Third Stone From the Sun" is a song written and originally recorded by Jimi Hendrix and released as "3rd Stone From The Sun" on the 1967 Are You Experienced album by Jimi Hendrix Experience...

" is also quoted musically in the piece, roughly 22 minutes in). On albums, the song first appeared on Donovan in Concert

Donovan in Concert (1968 album)

Donovan in Concert is the sixth album from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan, and the first live album of his career. It was recorded in the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California on September 23, 1967...

(1968) and then later on Donovan's Greatest Hits

Donovan's Greatest Hits

Donovan's Greatest Hits is the first greatest hits album from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. It was released in the United States in January 1969 , and in the United Kingdom in March 1969 . Donovan's Greatest Hits was a major seller, reaching #4 in the US...

.

The Grateful Dead

Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...

 performed a 22:57 minute version of Mountain Jam on July 28, 1973 at Grand Prix Racecourse in Watkins Glen, NY. They also played a 55 second version of Mountain Jam to transition between "Going Down The Road Feeling Bad" and "Not Fade Away

Not Fade Away (song)

"Not Fade Away" is a song credited to Buddy Holly and Norman Petty and first recorded by Holly's band The Crickets in Clovis, New Mexico, on May 27, 1957...

" on November 6, 1970 at Capitol Theater in Port Chester, NY.

Structure

At 33:41, the song is instrumental and features solos from all of the band members. Duane Allman

Duane Allman

Howard Duane Allman was an American guitarist, session musician and the primary co-founder of the southern rock group The Allman Brothers Band...

 starts with a guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 solo, after which Gregg Allman

Gregg Allman

Gregory Lenoir Allman , known as Gregg Allman, is a rock and blues singer, keyboardist, guitarist and songwriter, and a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band. He was inducted with the band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Georgia...

 solos on Hammond organ

Hammond organ

The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...

, followed by a guitar solo by Dickey Betts

Dickey Betts

Forrest Richard "Dickey" Betts is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and composer best known as a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band. He was inducted with the band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and also won with the band a best rock performance Grammy Award for his...

. Midway through the song there is a drum

Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

 duet by Butch Trucks and Jaimoe

Jai Johanny Johanson

Jai Johanny Johanson , frequently known by the stage name Jaimoe, is an American drummer and percussionist. He is best known as one of the founding members of The Allman Brothers Band.-Early years:...

, later joined by a bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

 solo by Berry Oakley

Berry Oakley

Raymond Berry Oakley III , was an American bassist and one of the founding members of The Allman Brothers Band.-Biography:...

. Then Duane comes back in for the slide guitar climax, and produces some of his best known slide guitar; 23 minutes in. Mountain Jam was originally released on the Eat a Peach

Eat a Peach

Eat a Peach is a 1972 double album by the American Southern rock group The Allman Brothers Band; it was the last to include founding member and lead slide-guitar player Duane Allman, who was killed in a motorcycle accident on October 29, 1971 while the album was being recorded.-History:This album...

album, as well as a different version on Live at Atlanta Pop Festival

Live at the Atlanta International Pop Festival: July 3 & 5, 1970

Live at the Atlanta International Pop Festival: July 3 & 5, 1970 is a live album released by the Allman Brothers. It features their two performances at the 1970 Atlanta Pop Festival in Byron, Georgia, USA. The festival took place nearly a year before the concerts that appear on At Fillmore East...

, where there are two recordings of it (the second of which features guest musicians Johnny Winter

Johnny Winter

John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. Best known for his late 1960s and 1970s high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters...

 on slide guitar, and Thom Doucette on harmonica), and various live recordings of the band.