On Saturday, The Allman Brothers Band will be among a handful of respected artists who the Recording Academy will recognize with Lifetime Achievement Awards at an invitation-only event held in Los Angeles in conjunction with Grammy Week.  The following night, the special honors will be acknowledged during the 54th Grammy Awards telecast.  Founding Allmans drummer Jai Johanny Johanson , aka Jaimoe , says he was almost at a loss for words when Recording Academy president and CEO Neil Portnow called him to tell him that his group would be receiving the award.

"[Neil] said, 'You know, every few years…when a person has done this and that and the other we choose someone who we think…who deserves this,'" Jaimoe recalled recently to ABC News Radio.  "And he said, 'Out of a group of people, you've been chosen to get a Lifetime Achievement Award.'  And I said, 'G**damn!' and I said, 'I am speechless.  I don't know what to say except what I just said.'"

While the 67-year-old percussionist will be plenty busy playing with his legendary jam band this year, including the Allmans' annual March residency at New York City's Beacon Theater, he also is promoting Renaissance Man , the debut studio effort from his side group Jaimoe's Jasssz Band .  The beat keeper revealed that it was his wife, Catherine , who came up with the album's title.

"We was gonna call it Drifting and Turning and Catherine said, 'Why don't you call it Renaissance Man ?'" he explained.  "So, I went and looked it up and it said, 'In general, a person with more than one idea and the ability to express them,' pretty much.  So, we called it Renaissance Man ."

The 10-track album includes an inspired cover of the Allman Brothers classic "Melissa."  Pointing out that he always sits out when the Allmans perform the tune in concert, Jaimoe notes that he decided to he add a bossa nova beat to his Jasssz Band's rendition of the song.

"The bossa nova sound really opens that song up," he maintained.  "And that 'Melissa' is one of them kind of songs that can have a universal sound.  You could do anything with it.  You know, it could be a slow, slow ballad.  It could be the bossa nova.  It could be anything."

Jaimoe's Jasssz Band has a few concert dates on its schedule, including a special Allman Brothers post-Beacon Theater show at New York's Iridium Jazz Club on March 17.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio