Recorded at the Fillmore East concert hall, the storied rock venue in New York City, on Friday and Saturday March 12, 1971–March 13, 1971, it showcased the band's mixture of blues, Southern rock and jazz. The cover of Blind Willie McTell's "Statesboro Blues" which opens the set showcases Duane Allman's slide guitar work in open E Tuning. "Whipping Post" became the standard for a long, epic jam that never lost interest (opening in 11/4 time, unusual territory for a rock band), while the ethereal-to-furious "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed", with its harmonized melody, Latin feel and burning drive invited comparisons with John Coltrane (especially Duane's solo-ending pull-offs, a direct nod to the jazz saxophonist).

The album was produced by Tom Dowd, who condensed the running time of various songs, occasionally even merging two performances into one track. For example, the first seven minutes of "You Don't Love Me" is from the first show on March 13 and the rest (Starting at Duane's solo without the band) is from the second show on March 12. At Fillmore East peaked at No. 13 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart.

The album was also specially remixed for four-channel quadraphonic sound. In the four-channel mix Duane Allman is heard in the left rear channel, Dickey Betts in the right rear channel, Jai Johanny Johanson in the front left channel, Butch Trucks in the right front channel and Gregg Allman and Berry Oakley both centered in the front channels. The four-channel version uses some different edits and or performances of the songs taken from the same concerts. Some of these alternate versions appeared in the 1989 compilation Dreams, although in that release the four-channel recordings have been reduced to two-channels. In 1998 the entire four-channel edition was re-issued on CD as a 4.0 (not 5.1) surround sound DTS disc.

Two other songs recorded during the same set of shows, "Trouble No More", a cover of the Elmore James boogie classic "One Way Out" and the memorable "Mountain Jam", were later released on Eat a Peach, the latter spanning two sides of the double album. The deluxe edition of Eat a Peach also includes the June 27, 1971 Fillmore East performance.

Those songs were later included in their entirety, along with uncut versions of some, re-edited versions of others, and some previously omitted tracks, on a new release of the Fillmore material entitled The Fillmore Concerts (1992). "Stormy Monday" gained back a harmonica solo; "Don't Keep Me Wonderin'" and "Drunken Hearted Boy" were included as well.

THE FILLMORE CONCERTS [320k MP3]

Disc 1

    "Statesboro Blues" (Willie McTell) (March 12 second show) – 4:15
    "Trouble No More" (McKinley Morganfield) (March 12 second show) – 3:46
    "Don't Keep Me Wonderin'" (G. Allman) (March 13 first show) – 3:20
    "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" (Betts) (3/13 first show/3/13 second show) – 12:59
    "One Way Out" (Marshall Sehorn, Sonny Boy Williamson, James) (June 27) – 4:55
    "Done Somebody Wrong" (Lewis, Robinson, James) (March 13 second show) – 4:11
    "Stormy Monday" (Walker) (March 13 second show) – 10:19
    "You Don't Love Me" (Cobbs) (March 13 first show/March 12 second show) – 19:24

Disc 2

    "Hot 'Lanta" (D. Allman, G. Allman, Betts, Oakley, Johanson, Trucks) (March 12 second show) – 5:11
    "Whipping Post" (G. Allman) (March 13 second show) – 22:37
    "Mountain Jam" (Donovan Leitch, D. Allman, G. Allman, Betts, Oakley, Johanson, Trucks) (March 13 second show) – 33:41
    "Drunken Hearted Boy" (Elvin Bishop) (March 13 second show) – 7:33