“And yet there was this quartet that was one of the most powerful bands I’ve ever been anywhere near - and I was in it! Clapton was crushed by the death of Jimi Hendrix on September 18, 1970, just two days before Derek and the Dominos commenced their U.K. tour. As the group’s dynamics changed, the members peeled away. “Tom said, ‘Hey, man, the Allman Brothers are in town,’” Whitlock recalls. Afterward, the two bands convened at Criteria for a night of jamming. Reviews for Eric Clapton were positive, and there was something on it to please both old and new fans. And I said, ‘No, man, give me 20 minutes to write some lyrics.’ So I went out to the foyer of Criteria and sat down with a manila envelope and a pen, and the words just poured out like water.”. Eric Clapton, Carl Radle, and Duane Allman live at the Curtis Hixon Hall in Tampa, one of the two shows in which Allman appeared After the recording of Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs , the four-piece Derek and the Dominos returned to the UK to continue touring there before heading back to America to start the US tour on 15 October. The whole thing changed when he came onboard.”. Whitlock says the name was actually the Dynamics, while Jeff Dexter, who announced the band at the show, claims Derek and the Dominos had been selected. “And when I was through writing, I went back into the studio. Amid one of Clapton’s lengthy solos, he and Whitlock launch into another verse, singing “Baby” before realizing the solo hasn’t finished yet. Both Clapton and Whitlock wail the lyrics in tandem, while the band attacks the arrangement with one of the heaviest performances on the album. “‘I Looked Away’ was the very first one,” Whitlock says. Okay. “Eric and Duane just clicked in a special way,” Whitlock says. He was just 24. The 1960s had seen him rise from obscurity to prominence, first as a member of the Yardbirds and then as the hotshot guitar slinger in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. That’s what Blind Faith was all about, but it was never exposed to the public.”. When they weren’t working on Harrison’s sessions, they rehearsed their own songs. The spontaneity of that whole session was absolutely frightening.”. Though it may seem surprising today, Layla received mixed reviews, with some critics commending Clapton’s vocals and others declaring them “weak” and even “atrocious,” while giving high marks to songs with fiery guitar work and low scores to the love songs. But Whitlock was a talented singer, organist and guitarist, and by his teens he’d established himself as a local musician with a powerful voice and easygoing manner.