Editing Derek and the Dominos (section)

===Background and formation===
[[File:Delaney & Bonnie.png|thumb|The members of Derek and the Dominos met while touring as backing members of [[Delaney & Bonnie|Delaney & Bonnie and Friends]], a soul band fronted by [[Delaney Bramlett|Delaney]] and [[Bonnie Bramlett]].]]
Derek and the Dominos came about through its four members' involvement in the American [[Soul music|soul]] revue [[Delaney & Bonnie and Friends]].<ref name="Dominos/AM">{{cite web|author=Ruhlmann, William|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/derek-the-dominos-mn0000817369/biography|title=Derek and the Dominos|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=28 October 2014}}</ref> The group were anchored by the musical duo [[Delaney Bramlett|Delaney]] and [[Bonnie Bramlett]] with a rotating ensemble of supporting members. Delaney & Bonnie and Friends supported [[Blind Faith]], [[Eric Clapton]]'s short-lived supergroup with [[Steve Winwood]], on a US tour in the summer of 1969. While on that tour, Clapton was drawn to Delaney & Bonnie's relative anonymity, which he found more appealing than the excessive fan worship lavished on his own band.<ref>''The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll'', pp. 88, 183, 254.</ref><ref name="Santoro p 62" />

Together with his fellow future Dominos – [[Bobby Whitlock]] (vocals, keyboards), [[Carl Radle]] (bass) and [[Jim Gordon (musician)|Jim Gordon]] (drums)<ref name="Dominos/AM" /> – Clapton toured Europe and the United States again between November 1969 and March 1970, this time as a member of Delaney & Bonnie and Friends.<ref>Whitlock, pp. 52, 60.</ref> In addition, the entire band backed him on his debut solo album, ''[[Eric Clapton (album)|Eric Clapton]]'',<ref>Reid, pp. xiii, 29.</ref><ref name="Shapiro/Mojo" /> recorded over the same period.<ref name="Sutcliffe/Mojo" /> Disagreements over money led several members to leave Delaney & Bonnie and Friends.<ref name="Shapiro/Mojo" /> Whitlock, recalling other difficulties with Delaney and Bonnie, noted the couple's frequent fights and described Delaney as a demanding band leader in the manner of [[James Brown]].<ref name="ReferenceA">''[[The Layla Sessions]]'' liner notes, page 5.</ref><ref name="Santoro p 63">Santoro, p. 63.</ref> Gordon, Radle and other Friends personnel, including drummer [[Jim Keltner]], immediately joined [[Joe Cocker]]'s ''[[Mad Dogs and Englishmen (album)|Mad Dogs and Englishmen]]'' tour with [[Leon Russell]], but Whitlock remained with Delaney and Bonnie for a short time.<ref name="Shapiro/Mojo" />

In April 1970, at the suggestion of his friend and mentor [[Steve Cropper]],<ref>Whitlock, p. 65.</ref> Whitlock travelled to England to visit Clapton.<ref name="Harris/Mojo p 70">Harris, p. 70.</ref> Whitlock subsequently lived in Hurtwood Edge, Clapton's house in [[Surrey]], where the two musicians [[Jam session|jammed]] and began to write the bulk of the Dominos' catalogue on acoustic guitars.<ref name="Sutcliffe/Mojo">{{cite magazine|author=Sutcliffe, Phil|title=Derek and the Dominos: The Story of ''Layla''|magazine=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]|date=May 2011}} Available at [http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/derek-and-the-dominos-the-story-of-ilaylai Rock's Backpages] (subscription required).</ref> Many of the new songs reflected Clapton's growing infatuation with [[Pattie Boyd]],<ref name="Williamson/Uncut" /><ref name="Murray/AVClub" /> the wife of his best friend [[George Harrison]],<ref name="Sutcliffe/Mojo" /><ref name="Layla40/Goldmine">{{cite web|url=http://www.goldminemag.com/features/layla-turns-40|last=Evans|first=Rush|date=19 April 2011|title=Layla turns 40|work=[[Goldmine (magazine)|Goldmine]]|access-date=4 August 2015}}</ref> who had joined Clapton as a guitarist on Delaney & Bonnie's European tour in December 1969.<ref>Clayson, pp. 275, 277–79.</ref>

{{quote box|quote=I was in absolute awe of these people ... All we did was jam and jam and jam and night would become day and day would become night, and it just felt good to me to stay that way. I had never felt so musically free before.<ref name="Clapton p 130">Clapton, p. 130.</ref>|source= – Eric Clapton, on the band's rehearsals at Hurtwood Edge|width=25em|align=left|style=padding:8px;}}
Soon after Whitlock's arrival, he and Clapton were eager to form a new band<ref name="Whitlock p 73">Whitlock, p. 73.</ref> and contacted Radle and Gordon in the United States. Although their first choice for a drummer was Keltner – like Radle and Russell, a native of Tulsa<ref>Reid, pp. 42, 47.</ref> – he was busy recording with [[jazz]] guitarist [[Gábor Szabó]].<ref name="Shapiro/Mojo" /><ref name="Whitlock p 73" /> Gordon, however, had been invited to London to work on Harrison's post-[[The Beatles|Beatles]] solo album ''[[All Things Must Pass]]''.<ref name="Shapiro/Mojo" /> In May that year, Clapton, Whitlock, Radle and Gordon reunited in London at a session for [[P.P. Arnold]],<ref name="Harris/Mojo p 72">Harris, p. 72.</ref> before going on to serve as the backing band on much of Harrison's album.<ref name="Shapiro p 116" /> In a 1990 interview, Clapton said, "We made our bones, really, on that album with George", since the four musicians had "no game plan" other than living at Hurtwood Edge, "getting stoned, and playing and semi-writing songs".<ref name="White/Spin" />

Clapton biographer [[Harry Shapiro (author)|Harry Shapiro]] comments on the unprecedented aspect of Clapton's bond with his new bandmates, in that from the Blind Faith tour onwards, the guitarist "had been able to build a working relationship in a slow and natural fashion" for the first time. Among the friendships formed before the group officially came into existence, Shapiro continues, "the empathy ... outcropped most noticeably in Bobby Whitlock, in whom Eric found an accomplished and sympathetic songwriting partner and back-up vocalist."<ref name="Shapiro p 118">Shapiro, p. 118.</ref> Clapton and Whitlock considered adding the Delaney & Bonnie [[horn section]] to their new band, but this plan was abandoned.<ref name="DeRiso/SN" /> Whitlock later explained the ethos of Derek and the Dominos: "we didn't want any horns, we didn't want no chicks, we wanted a rock 'n' roll band. But my vocal concept was that we approach singing like [[Sam and Dave]] did: [Clapton] sings a line, I sing a line, we sing together."<ref name="Santoro p 64">Santoro, p. 64.</ref>