John Mayall
Encyclopedia
John Mayall, OBE
(born 29 November 1933) is an English blues
singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist
, whose musical career spans over fifty years. In the 1960s, he was the founder of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers
, a band which has included Eric Clapton
, Jack Bruce
, Peter Green
, John McVie
, Mick Fleetwood
, Mick Taylor
, Don "Sugarcane" Harris, Harvey Mandel
, Larry Taylor
, Aynsley Dunbar
, Hughie Flint
, Jon Hiseman
, Dick Heckstall-Smith
, Andy Fraser
, Johnny Almond
, Walter Trout
, Coco Montoya
and Buddy Whittington
.
music enthusiast. From an early age, John was drawn to the sounds of American blues players such as Leadbelly
, Albert Ammons
, Pinetop Smith
, and Eddie Lang
, and taught himself to play the piano, guitars, and harmonica.
Mayall spent three years in Korea for national service
and, during a period of leave, he bought his first electric guitar. Back in Manchester, he enrolled at Manchester College of Art (now part of Manchester Metropolitan University
) and started playing with semi-professional bands. After graduation, he obtained a job as an art designer but continued to play with local musicians. In 1963, he opted for a full time musical career and moved to London. His previous craft would be put to good use in the designing of covers for many of his coming albums.
Since the end of the 1960s Mayall has been living in the U.S. A brush fire destroyed his house in Laurel Canyon in 1979, seriously damaging his musical collections and archives. Also lost one was one of the world's largest collections of historic pornography, some of which dated as far back as the 13th century.
Mayall married twice and has six grand-children. Maggie Mayall is an American blues performer and has, since the early 1980s, taken an active part in the management of her husband's career.
In 2005 Mayall was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Honours List.
, whom Mayall already knew. It was Alexis Korner
who persuaded Mayall to opt for a full time musical career and move to London. There, Korner introduced him to many other musicians and helped them to find gigs. In late 1963, with his band which was now called the Bluesbreakers, Mayall started playing at the Marquee Club
. The lineup was Mayall, Ward, John McVie
on bass and guitarist Bernie Watson, formerly of Cyril Davies
and the R&B All-Stars. The next spring Mayall, obtained his first recording date with producer Ian Samwell
. The band, with Martin Hart at the drums, recorded two tracks : "Crawling Up a Hill" as well as "Mr. James." Shortly after, Hughie Flint replaced Hart, and Roger Dean
took the guitar from Bernie Watson. This lineup backed John Lee Hooker
on his British tour in 1964.
Mayall was offered a recording contract by Decca and, on 7 December 1964, a live performance of the band was recorded at the Klooks Kleek. A single, "Crocodile Walk", was recorded later in studio and released along with the album, but both failed to achieve any success and the contract was terminated.
In April 1965, former Yardbirds
guitarist Eric Clapton
replaced Roger Dean and John Mayall's career entered a decisive phase.
took charge. John McVie was dismissed, and during the next few months, Jack Bruce
, from the Graham Bond Organisation
, held the bass.
In November 1965 Clapton returned, and Green had to depart, Mayall having guaranteed Clapton his spot back in the Bluesbreakers whenever he tired of the Glands fiasco. McVie was allowed back, and Bruce left. Later in the month the band entered the studio to record a single, "On Top of the World." Mayall and Clapton cut a couple tracks without the others (although some sources give this as occurring back in the summer): "Lonely Years" b/w "Bernard Jenkins" was released as a single the next August on producer Mike Vernon
's Purdah Records label (both tracks appeared again two decades later in Clapton's Crossroads box set). In a February 1966 session, blues pianist-singer Champion Jack Dupree
(originally from New Orleans but in the 1960s living in Europe) got Mayall and Clapton to play on a few tracks. A live date by the whole Bluesbreakers outfit—again with Jack Bruce temporarily on bass—was recorded on Mayall's two-track tape recorder at the Flamingo on March 17. The rough recording provided tracks that later appeared on the 1969 compilation Looking Back and the 1977 Primal Solos.
In April 1966 the Bluesbreakers returned to Decca Studios to record a second LP with producer Vernon. The sessions, with horn arrangements for some tracks (John Almond on baritone sax, Alan Skidmore on tenor sax, and Dennis Healey on trumpet), lasted just three days. Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton
was released in the UK on 22 July 1966. Several of the 12 tracks were covers of pure Chicago blues (side 1 kicking off strong with Otis Rush
's "All Your Love" and Freddy King's hit instrumental "Hide Away
" [here spelled without a space as “Hideaway”]); Mayall wrote or arranged 5 (such as "Double Crossing Time," a slow blues with a scorching solo by cowriter Clapton); and Eric debuted as lead vocalist, and began his practice of paying tribute to Robert Johnson, with "Ramblin' on My Mind
." The album was Mayall's commercial breakthrough, rising to #6 on the British chart, and has since gained classic status, largely for the audacious aggressiveness and molten fluidity of Clapton's guitar playing. “It’s Eric Clapton who steals the limelight,” reports music mag Beat Instrumental, adding with unintended understatement, “and no doubt several copies of the album will be sold on the strength of his name.”
In the meantime, on June 11 the formation of the Cream
--Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce
, and drummer Ginger Baker
--had been revealed in the music press, much to the embarrassment of Clapton, who had not said anything about this to Mayall. (After a May Bluesbreakers gig at which Baker had sat in, he and Clapton had first discussed forming their own band, and surreptitious rehearsal jams with Bruce soon commenced.) Eric's last gig with the Bluesbreakers was June 25 at the Flamingo; the Cream made a warmup club debut July 29 in Manchester
and its "official" live debut two days later at the Sixth National Jazz and Blues Festival, Windsor
.
was released in February 1967. Today its expanded versions include most of this material, and the album itself also stands as a classic.
But Peter Green gave notice and soon started his own project, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac
, which eventually was to include all three of Mayall's Bluesbreakers at this time: Green, McVie, and drummer Mick Fleetwood
.
, guitarist from the Attack
. O'List declined, however, and went on to form the Nice
with organist Keith Emerson
. Through both a "musicians wanted" ad in Melody Maker
on June 10 and his own search, Mayall found three other potential guitarists for his Bluesbreakers, a black musician named Terry Edmonds, John Moorshead, and 18-year-old Mick Taylor
. The latter made the band quickly, but Mayall, curiously, also decided to hire Edmonds as a rhythm guitarist for a few days.
In the meantime, on a single day in May 1967, Mayall had put together a studio album to showcase his own abilities as a multi-instrumentalist. Former Artwoods
drummer Keef Hartley
appeared on only half of the tracks, and everything else was played by Mayall. The album was released in November with the apt title The Blues Alone.
A six-piece lineup—consisting of Mayall, Mick Taylor on lead guitar, John McVie still on bass, Hughie Flint or Hartley on drums, and Rip Kant and Chris Mercer on saxophones—recorded the album Crusade
on 11 and 12 July 1967. These Bluesbreakers spent most of the year touring abroad, and Mayall taped the shows on a portable recorder. At the end of the tour, he had over sixty hours of tapes, which he edited into an album in two volumes: Diary of a Band, Vols. 1 & 2, released in February 1968. Meanwhile, a few lineup changes had occurred: McVie had departed and was replaced by Paul Williams, who himself soon quit to join Alan Price
and was replaced by Keith Tillman; Dick Heckstall-Smith
had taken the sax spot.
Following a U.S. tour, there were more lineup changes, starting with the troublesome bass position. First Mayall replaced bassist Tillman with 15-year-old Andy Fraser
. Within six weeks, though, Fraser left to join Free
and was replaced by Tony Reeves, previously a member of the New Jazz Orchestra. Hartley was required to leave, and he was replaced by New Jazz Orchestra drummer Jon Hiseman
(who had also played with the Graham Bond Organisation). Henry Lowther, who played violin and cornet, joined in February 1968. Two months later the Bluesbreakers recorded Bare Wires
, co-produced by Mayall and Mike Vernon, which came up to #6.
Hiseman, Reeves, and Heckstall-Smith then moved on to form Colosseum
. The Mayall lineup retained Mick Taylor and added drummer Colin Allen (formerly of Zoot Money's Big Roll Band
/ Dantalian's Chariot
, and Georgie Fame
) and a young bassist named Stephen Thompson. In August 1968 the new quartet recorded Blues from Laurel Canyon
.
On 13 June 1969, after nearly two years with Mayall, Taylor left and officially joined the Rolling Stones.
. This left as the only holdover bassist Thompson (who would also eventually join Stone the Crows).
Mayall tried a new format with lower volume, acoustic instruments, and no drummer. He recruited acoustic fingerstyle guitar
ist Jon Mark
and flautist-saxophonist John Almond
. Mark was best known as Marianne Faithfull
's accompanist for three years and for having been a member of the band Sweet Thursday
(which included pianist Nicky Hopkins
and future Cat Stevens
collaborator Alun Davies, also a guitarist). Almond had played with Zoot Money and Alan Price
and was no stranger to Mayall's music—he had played baritone sax on 4 cuts of Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton and some of A Hard Road
. This new band was markedly different from previous Mayall projects, and its making is well documented both on the 1999 double CD The Masters and on the 2004 DVD The Godfather of British Blues: The Turning Point.
Along with the big change in sound, Mayall decided on a big change in scenery: a move to Los Angeles. The new band made its U.S. debut at the Newport Jazz Festival
on 5 July, whilst the 12 July performance at the Fillmore East
provided the tracks for the live album The Turning Point. A studio album, Empty Rooms, was recorded with the same personnel, with Mayall's next bassist, former Canned Heat
member Larry Taylor
, playing bass in a duet with Thompson on "To a Princess."
and bassist Larry Taylor
, both plucked from Canned Heat
, and wailing violinist Don "Sugarcane" Harris, lately of the Johnny Otis
Show. On USA Union
(recorded in Los Angeles, 27-28 July1970), though, Mandel was compelled to make do without his remarkable sustain
and usage of feedback
as musical, even melodic, technique; and on Memories the band was stripped down to a trio.
In November 1970 Mayall launched a recording project involving many of the most notable musicians with whom he had played during the previous several years. The double album Back to the Roots features Clapton, Mick Taylor, and Mandel on guitar; Sugarcane Harris on violin; Almond on woodwinds; Thompson and Larry Taylor on bass; and Hartley on drums. Ventures guitarist Jerry McGee came along with Larry Taylor to the L.A. sessions and appears on a couple tracks; Paul Lagos was with Sugarcane and ended up drumming on five. Mayall wrote all the songs and sang all the vocals, as usual by now, plus played harmonica, guitar, keyboards, drums, and percussion. The London sessions took place in January 1971 and as such represent some of Clapton's last work before Derek and the Dominos' attempted Layla
follow-up sessions and band disintegration that spring, and the start of his long seclusion as disenchanted and heartsick junkie.
Back to the Roots did not promote new names, and USA Union and Memories had been recorded with American musicians. Mayall had exhausted his catalytic role on the British blues-rock scene and was living in L.A. Yet, the list of musicians who benefited from association with him, starting with ruling the London blues scene, remains impressive.
and a few months later took on tour the musicians present in the studio.
A live album Jazz Blues Fusion was released in the following year, with Mayall on harmonica, guitar and piano, Blue Mitchell
on trumpet, Clifford Solomon and Ernie Watts
on saxophones, Larry Taylor on bass, Ron Selico on drums and Freddy Robinson on guitar. A few personnel changes are noted at the release of a similar album in 1973, the live Moving On.
During the next decade Mayall continued shifting musicians and switching labels and released a score of albums. Tom Wilson, Don Nix
and Allen Toussaint
occasionally served as producers. At this stage of his career most of Mayall's music was rather different from electric blues played by rock musicians, incorporating jazz, funk or pop elements and adding even female vocals. A notable exception is The Last Of the British Blues (1978), a live album excused apparently by its title for the brief return to this type of music.
, John McVie
and Colin Allen
, three musicians of his sixties lineups, for a two year world tour from which a live album would emerge a decade later.
In 1984 Mayall restored the name Bluesbreakers for a lineup comprising the two lead guitars of Walter Trout
and Coco Montoya
, bassist Bobby Haynes and drummer Joe Yuele. The mythic name did perhaps something to enhance the interest in a band which by all standards was already remarkable.
A successful world tour and live recordings achieved the rest.
In the early 1990s most of the excitement was already spent and Buddy Whittington
became the sole lead guitarist in a formation which included then organist Tom Canning.
On the occasion of the 40th year of his career Mayall received carte blanche to invite fellow musicians for the recording of a celebratory album. Along for the Ride appeared in 2001, credited to John Mayall and Friends with twenty names listed on the cover, including some Bluesbreakers, old and new, and also Gary Moore
, Jonny Lang
, Steve Cropper
, Steve Miller
, Otis Rush
, Billy Gibbons
, Chris Rea
, Jeff Healey
, Shannon Curfman
and a few others.
To celebrate his 70th birthday Mayall reunited with special guests Eric Clapton
, Mick Taylor
and Chris Barber
during a fundraiser show. This "Unite for Unicef" concert took place on 19 July 2003 at the Kings Dock Arena in Liverpool and was captured on film for a DVD release.
In 2005, Mayall was awarded an OBE in the Honours List
. "It's the only major award I've ever received. I've never had a hit record or a Grammy or been in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame." commented Mayall.
In November 2008, Mayall announced on his website he was disbanding the Bluesbreakers, to cut back on his heavy workload and give himself freedom to work with other musicians. Three months later a solo world tour was announced, with: Rocky Athas on guitar, Greg Rzab on bass, and Jay Davenport on drums. Tom Canning, on organ, joined the band for the tour which started in March 2009. An album was released in September 2009.
A few notable names
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 29 November 1933) is an English blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist
Multi-instrumentalist
A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays a number of different instruments.The Bachelor of Music degree usually requires a second instrument to be learned , but people who double on another instrument are not usually seen as multi-instrumentalists.-Classical music:Music written for Symphony...
, whose musical career spans over fifty years. In the 1960s, he was the founder of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers are a pioneering English blues band, led by singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist John Mayall, OBE. Mayall used the band name between 1963 and 1967, but then dropped it for some fifteen years. However, in 1982 a 'Return of the Bluesbreakers' was announced and...
, a band which has included Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
, Jack Bruce
Jack Bruce
John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
, Peter Green
Peter Green (musician)
Peter Green is a British blues-rock guitarist and the founder of the band Fleetwood Mac...
, John McVie
John McVie
John Graham McVie is a British bass guitarist best known as a member of the rock group Fleetwood Mac. His surname, combined with that of Mick Fleetwood, was the inspiration for the band's name...
, Mick Fleetwood
Mick Fleetwood
Michael John Kells "Mick" Fleetwood is a British musician and actor best known for his role as the drummer and namesake of the blues/rock and roll band Fleetwood Mac. His surname, combined with that of John McVie, was the inspiration for the name of the originally Peter Green-led Fleetwood Mac...
, Mick Taylor
Mick Taylor
Michael Kevin "Mick" Taylor is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones...
, Don "Sugarcane" Harris, Harvey Mandel
Harvey Mandel
Harvey Mandel is an American guitarist known for his innovative approach to electric guitar playing. A professional at twenty, he played with Charlie Musselwhite, Canned Heat, The Rolling Stones, and John Mayall before starting a solo career...
, Larry Taylor
Larry Taylor
Larry Taylor is an American bass guitarist, best known for his work as a member of Canned Heat from 1967. Before joining Canned Heat he had been a session bassist for The Monkees and Jerry Lee Lewis...
, Aynsley Dunbar
Aynsley Dunbar
Aynsley Thomas Dunbar is an English drummer. He has worked with some of the top names in rock, including Eric Burdon, John Mayall, Frank Zappa, Ian Hunter, Lou Reed, Jefferson Starship, Jeff Beck, David Bowie, Whitesnake, Sammy Hagar, UFO, and Journey...
, Hughie Flint
Hughie Flint
Hughie Flint , is an English drummer, best known for his stint in John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, playing drums on the Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton album, released in 1966, for his group McGuinness Flint in the early 70s and for his subsequent association with The Blues Band.Flint played in...
, Jon Hiseman
Jon Hiseman
Jon Hiseman is an English drummer, recording engineer, record producer and music publisher.-Career:...
, Dick Heckstall-Smith
Dick Heckstall-Smith
Dick Heckstall-Smith was an English jazz and blues saxophonist. He played with some of the most important English blues-rock and jazz fusion bands of the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:...
, Andy Fraser
Andy Fraser
Andy Fraser is an English songwriter and bass guitarist whose career has lasted over forty years and includes a notable period as one of the founding members, in 1968, at age 15, of the rock band Free.-Peak years :...
, Johnny Almond
Mark-Almond
Mark–Almond were an English band of the late 1960s and early 1970s, who worked in the territory between rock and jazz.In 1970 Jon Mark and Johnny Almond formed Mark-Almond...
, Walter Trout
Walter Trout
Walter Trout is an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter.-Biography:Trout's career began on the Jersey coast scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He then decided to relocate to Los Angeles where he became a sideman for Percy Mayfield and Deacon Jones...
, Coco Montoya
Coco Montoya
Coco Montoya is an American blues guitarist and former member of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers.-Musical career:...
and Buddy Whittington
Buddy Whittington
Buddy Whittington is an American guitarist. He began playing the guitar inspired by his sister's records of The Beatles, Rolling Stones and, in particular, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton. At the age of 14 he was already a part of the Dallas/Fort Worth music scene and playing...
.
Biography
Mayall's father was Murray Mayall, a guitarist and jazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
music enthusiast. From an early age, John was drawn to the sounds of American blues players such as Leadbelly
Leadbelly
Huddie William Ledbetter was an iconic American folk and blues musician, notable for his strong vocals, his virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the songbook of folk standards he introduced....
, Albert Ammons
Albert Ammons
Albert Ammons was an American pianist. Ammons was a player of boogie-woogie, a bluesy jazz style popular from the late 1930s into the mid 1940s.-Life and career:...
, Pinetop Smith
Pinetop Smith
Clarence Smith, better known as Pinetop Smith or Pine Top Smith was an American boogie-woogie style blues pianist...
, and Eddie Lang
Eddie Lang
Eddie Lang was an American jazz guitarist, regarded as the Father of Jazz Guitar. He played a Gibson L-4 and L-5 guitar, providing great influence for many guitarists, including Django Reinhardt.-Biography:...
, and taught himself to play the piano, guitars, and harmonica.
Mayall spent three years in Korea for national service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
and, during a period of leave, he bought his first electric guitar. Back in Manchester, he enrolled at Manchester College of Art (now part of Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University is a university in North West England. Its headquarters and central campus is in the city of Manchester, but there are outlying facilities in the county of Cheshire. It is the third largest university in the United Kingdom in terms of student numbers, behind the...
) and started playing with semi-professional bands. After graduation, he obtained a job as an art designer but continued to play with local musicians. In 1963, he opted for a full time musical career and moved to London. His previous craft would be put to good use in the designing of covers for many of his coming albums.
Since the end of the 1960s Mayall has been living in the U.S. A brush fire destroyed his house in Laurel Canyon in 1979, seriously damaging his musical collections and archives. Also lost one was one of the world's largest collections of historic pornography, some of which dated as far back as the 13th century.
Mayall married twice and has six grand-children. Maggie Mayall is an American blues performer and has, since the early 1980s, taken an active part in the management of her husband's career.
In 2005 Mayall was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Honours List.
The early years
In 1956, with college fellow Peter Ward, Mayall had formed the Powerhouse Four, which consisted of both men plus other local musicians, with whom they played at local dances. In 1962, Mayall became a member of the Blues Syndicate. The band was formed by trumpeter John Rowlands and alto saxophonist Jack Massarik, who had seen the Alexis Korner band at a Manchester club and wanted to try a similar blend of Jazz and Blues. It also included rhythm guitarist Ray Cummings and drummer Hughie FlintHughie Flint
Hughie Flint , is an English drummer, best known for his stint in John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, playing drums on the Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton album, released in 1966, for his group McGuinness Flint in the early 70s and for his subsequent association with The Blues Band.Flint played in...
, whom Mayall already knew. It was Alexis Korner
Alexis Korner
Alexis Korner was a blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a Founding Father of British Blues"...
who persuaded Mayall to opt for a full time musical career and move to London. There, Korner introduced him to many other musicians and helped them to find gigs. In late 1963, with his band which was now called the Bluesbreakers, Mayall started playing at the Marquee Club
Marquee Club
The Marquee was a music club first located at 165 Oxford Street, London, England when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts.It was also the location of the first ever live performance by The Rolling Stones on 12 July 1962....
. The lineup was Mayall, Ward, John McVie
John McVie
John Graham McVie is a British bass guitarist best known as a member of the rock group Fleetwood Mac. His surname, combined with that of Mick Fleetwood, was the inspiration for the band's name...
on bass and guitarist Bernie Watson, formerly of Cyril Davies
Cyril Davies
Cyril Davies was one of the first British blues harmonica players and blues musician.-Biography:Born at St Mildred's, 15 Hawthorn Drive, Willowbank, Denham, Buckinghamshire, near London, he was the son of William Albert Davies, a labourer, and his wife Margaret Mary...
and the R&B All-Stars. The next spring Mayall, obtained his first recording date with producer Ian Samwell
Ian Samwell
Ian "Sammy" Samwell was an English musician, songwriter and record producer, best known as the writer of Cliff Richard's debut hit "Move It" and his association with the rock band America with whom he had his biggest commercial success with their hit single "A Horse With No Name"...
. The band, with Martin Hart at the drums, recorded two tracks : "Crawling Up a Hill" as well as "Mr. James." Shortly after, Hughie Flint replaced Hart, and Roger Dean
Roger Dean (guitar player)
Roger Dean was a British guitar player and teacher. His professional career ran over 40 years, until retiring, following a car crash, in 2004. During the sixties he played in a numberof bands which left few traces in the history of popular music...
took the guitar from Bernie Watson. This lineup backed John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark...
on his British tour in 1964.
Mayall was offered a recording contract by Decca and, on 7 December 1964, a live performance of the band was recorded at the Klooks Kleek. A single, "Crocodile Walk", was recorded later in studio and released along with the album, but both failed to achieve any success and the contract was terminated.
In April 1965, former Yardbirds
The Yardbirds
- Current :* Chris Dreja - rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Jim McCarty - drums, backing vocals * Ben King - lead guitar * David Smale - bass, backing vocals...
guitarist Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
replaced Roger Dean and John Mayall's career entered a decisive phase.
Eric Clapton as guitarist, 1965-66
With Eric as their new guitar player, the Bluesbreakers started to attract considerable attention. That summer the band cut a couple tracks for a single, "I'm Your Witch Doctor" b/w "Telephone Blues" (released in October). In August, however, Clapton left for a jaunt to Greece with a bunch of relative musical amateurs as the Glands. John Weider, John Slaughter, and Geoff Krivit attempted to fill in as Bluesbreaker guitarist, but finally, Peter GreenPeter Green (musician)
Peter Green is a British blues-rock guitarist and the founder of the band Fleetwood Mac...
took charge. John McVie was dismissed, and during the next few months, Jack Bruce
Jack Bruce
John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
, from the Graham Bond Organisation
Graham Bond
Graham John Clifton Bond was an English musician, considered a founding father of the English rhythm and blues boom of the 1960s....
, held the bass.
In November 1965 Clapton returned, and Green had to depart, Mayall having guaranteed Clapton his spot back in the Bluesbreakers whenever he tired of the Glands fiasco. McVie was allowed back, and Bruce left. Later in the month the band entered the studio to record a single, "On Top of the World." Mayall and Clapton cut a couple tracks without the others (although some sources give this as occurring back in the summer): "Lonely Years" b/w "Bernard Jenkins" was released as a single the next August on producer Mike Vernon
Mike Vernon (producer)
Mike Vernon is an English record producer. He produced albums for British blues artists and groups during the late 1960s, working with the Bluesbreakers, David Bowie, Duster Bennett, Savoy Brown, Chicken Shack, Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green, Danny Kirwan, John Mayall, Christine McVie and...
's Purdah Records label (both tracks appeared again two decades later in Clapton's Crossroads box set). In a February 1966 session, blues pianist-singer Champion Jack Dupree
Champion Jack Dupree
William Thomas Dupree, best known as Champion Jack Dupree, was an American blues pianist. His birth date is disputed, given as July 4, July 10, and July 23, in the years 1908, 1909, or 1910. He died on January 21, 1992.-Biography:...
(originally from New Orleans but in the 1960s living in Europe) got Mayall and Clapton to play on a few tracks. A live date by the whole Bluesbreakers outfit—again with Jack Bruce temporarily on bass—was recorded on Mayall's two-track tape recorder at the Flamingo on March 17. The rough recording provided tracks that later appeared on the 1969 compilation Looking Back and the 1977 Primal Solos.
In April 1966 the Bluesbreakers returned to Decca Studios to record a second LP with producer Vernon. The sessions, with horn arrangements for some tracks (John Almond on baritone sax, Alan Skidmore on tenor sax, and Dennis Healey on trumpet), lasted just three days. Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton
Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton
Blues Breakers is a 1966 electric blues album credited to John Mayall with Eric Clapton.The band name John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers that was used by the band consequently is derived from the title of this album; no original issues mention the Bluesbreakers as band name...
was released in the UK on 22 July 1966. Several of the 12 tracks were covers of pure Chicago blues (side 1 kicking off strong with Otis Rush
Otis Rush
Otis Rush is a blues musician, singer and guitarist. His distinctive guitar style features a slow burning sound and long bent notes...
's "All Your Love" and Freddy King's hit instrumental "Hide Away
Hide Away
"Hide Away" or "Hideaway" is a blues guitar instrumental that has become "a standard for countless blues and rock musicians performing today". First recorded in 1960 by Freddie King, the song became an R&B and pop chart hit...
" [here spelled without a space as “Hideaway”]); Mayall wrote or arranged 5 (such as "Double Crossing Time," a slow blues with a scorching solo by cowriter Clapton); and Eric debuted as lead vocalist, and began his practice of paying tribute to Robert Johnson, with "Ramblin' on My Mind
Ramblin' On My Mind
"Ramblin' On My Mind" is a blues song recorded on November 23, 1936 in San Antonio, Texas by legendary bluesman Robert Johnson. The song was originally released on 78 rpm format as Vocalion 03519 and ARC 7-05-81. Johnson performed the song in the key of E, and recorded two takes...
." The album was Mayall's commercial breakthrough, rising to #6 on the British chart, and has since gained classic status, largely for the audacious aggressiveness and molten fluidity of Clapton's guitar playing. “It’s Eric Clapton who steals the limelight,” reports music mag Beat Instrumental, adding with unintended understatement, “and no doubt several copies of the album will be sold on the strength of his name.”
In the meantime, on June 11 the formation of the Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
--Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce
Jack Bruce
John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
, and drummer Ginger Baker
Ginger Baker
Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker is an English drummer, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith. He is also known for his numerous associations with World music, mainly the use of African influences...
--had been revealed in the music press, much to the embarrassment of Clapton, who had not said anything about this to Mayall. (After a May Bluesbreakers gig at which Baker had sat in, he and Clapton had first discussed forming their own band, and surreptitious rehearsal jams with Bruce soon commenced.) Eric's last gig with the Bluesbreakers was June 25 at the Flamingo; the Cream made a warmup club debut July 29 in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and its "official" live debut two days later at the Sixth National Jazz and Blues Festival, Windsor
Windsor, Berkshire
Windsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family....
.
Peter Green as guitarist, 1966-67
Mayall had to replace Clapton, and he succeeded in persuading Peter Green to come back. During the following year, with Green on guitar and various other sidemen, some 40 tracks were recorded. The album A Hard RoadA Hard Road
A Hard Road is a 1967 electric blues album recorded by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers featuring Peter Green on lead guitar, John McVie on bass, Aynsley Dunbar on drums and John Almond. Tracks 5, 7 and 13 feature the horn section of Alan Skidmore and Ray Warleigh...
was released in February 1967. Today its expanded versions include most of this material, and the album itself also stands as a classic.
But Peter Green gave notice and soon started his own project, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
, which eventually was to include all three of Mayall's Bluesbreakers at this time: Green, McVie, and drummer Mick Fleetwood
Mick Fleetwood
Michael John Kells "Mick" Fleetwood is a British musician and actor best known for his role as the drummer and namesake of the blues/rock and roll band Fleetwood Mac. His surname, combined with that of John McVie, was the inspiration for the name of the originally Peter Green-led Fleetwood Mac...
.
Mick Taylor as guitarist, 1967-69
Mayall's first choice to replace Green was 18-year-old David O'ListDavid O'List
David 'Davy' O'List is a rock guitarist, vocalist and trumpeter.Most notably, he played with The Attack, The Nice and Jet.- Career :...
, guitarist from the Attack
The Attack (band)
The Attack were a freakbeat/psychedelic rock band formed in 1966 around singer Richard Shirman . The first line-up featured drummer Alan Whitehead from Marmalade, guitarist David O'List and John Du Cann . Their first single "Try It" had also been recorded by The Standells and Ohio Express...
. O'List declined, however, and went on to form the Nice
The Nice
The Nice were an English progressive rock band from the 1960s, known for their blend of rock, jazz and classical music. Their debut album, The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack was released in 1967 to immediate acclaim. It is often considered the first progressive rock album...
with organist Keith Emerson
Keith Emerson
Keith Noel Emerson is an English keyboard player and composer. Formerly a member of the Keith Emerson Trio, John Brown's Bodies, The T-Bones, V.I.P.s, P.P. Arnold's backing band, and The Nice , he was a founder of Emerson, Lake & Palmer , one of the early supergroups, in 1970...
. Through both a "musicians wanted" ad in Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
on June 10 and his own search, Mayall found three other potential guitarists for his Bluesbreakers, a black musician named Terry Edmonds, John Moorshead, and 18-year-old Mick Taylor
Mick Taylor
Michael Kevin "Mick" Taylor is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones...
. The latter made the band quickly, but Mayall, curiously, also decided to hire Edmonds as a rhythm guitarist for a few days.
In the meantime, on a single day in May 1967, Mayall had put together a studio album to showcase his own abilities as a multi-instrumentalist. Former Artwoods
The Artwoods
The Artwoods were an English rock band who formed in 1963 and were professionally active between 1964 and 1967. They were a popular live attraction, rivalling groups such as the Animals, although, despite releasing a clutch of singles and an album, their record sales never reflected this...
drummer Keef Hartley
Keef Hartley
Keef Hartley was an English drummer and bandleader. He fronted the Keef Hartley Band, and played at Woodstock. Hartley was later a member of Dog Soldier, and variously worked with Rory Storm, The Artwoods and John Mayall.-Biography:Hartley was born in Preston, Lancashire, England...
appeared on only half of the tracks, and everything else was played by Mayall. The album was released in November with the apt title The Blues Alone.
A six-piece lineup—consisting of Mayall, Mick Taylor on lead guitar, John McVie still on bass, Hughie Flint or Hartley on drums, and Rip Kant and Chris Mercer on saxophones—recorded the album Crusade
Crusade (album)
Crusade is a studio album by the British Blues-rock band John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, released on September 1, 1967 for London Records. It was the follow-up to A Hard Road, also released in 1967...
on 11 and 12 July 1967. These Bluesbreakers spent most of the year touring abroad, and Mayall taped the shows on a portable recorder. At the end of the tour, he had over sixty hours of tapes, which he edited into an album in two volumes: Diary of a Band, Vols. 1 & 2, released in February 1968. Meanwhile, a few lineup changes had occurred: McVie had departed and was replaced by Paul Williams, who himself soon quit to join Alan Price
Alan Price
Alan Price is an English musician, best known as the original keyboardist for the English band The Animals, and for his subsequent solo work....
and was replaced by Keith Tillman; Dick Heckstall-Smith
Dick Heckstall-Smith
Dick Heckstall-Smith was an English jazz and blues saxophonist. He played with some of the most important English blues-rock and jazz fusion bands of the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:...
had taken the sax spot.
Following a U.S. tour, there were more lineup changes, starting with the troublesome bass position. First Mayall replaced bassist Tillman with 15-year-old Andy Fraser
Andy Fraser
Andy Fraser is an English songwriter and bass guitarist whose career has lasted over forty years and includes a notable period as one of the founding members, in 1968, at age 15, of the rock band Free.-Peak years :...
. Within six weeks, though, Fraser left to join Free
Free (band)
Free were an English rock band, formed in London in 1968, best known for their 1970 signature song "All Right Now". They disbanded in 1973 and lead singer Paul Rodgers went on to become a frontman of the band Bad Company along with Simon Kirke on drums; lead guitarist Paul Kossoff died from a...
and was replaced by Tony Reeves, previously a member of the New Jazz Orchestra. Hartley was required to leave, and he was replaced by New Jazz Orchestra drummer Jon Hiseman
Jon Hiseman
Jon Hiseman is an English drummer, recording engineer, record producer and music publisher.-Career:...
(who had also played with the Graham Bond Organisation). Henry Lowther, who played violin and cornet, joined in February 1968. Two months later the Bluesbreakers recorded Bare Wires
Bare Wires
- Reissue Bonus Tracks :- Personnel :John Mayall's Bluesbreakers* John Mayall – vocals, harmonica, piano, harpsichord, organ, harmonium, guitar* Mick Taylor – lead guitar, Hawaiian guitar* Chris Mercer – tenor, baritone saxophone...
, co-produced by Mayall and Mike Vernon, which came up to #6.
Hiseman, Reeves, and Heckstall-Smith then moved on to form Colosseum
Colosseum
The Colosseum, or the Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre , is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire...
. The Mayall lineup retained Mick Taylor and added drummer Colin Allen (formerly of Zoot Money's Big Roll Band
Zoot Money's Big Roll Band
Zoot Money's Big Roll Band was a British rhythm and blues, soul and jazz group formed in England in early autumn 1961.-History:An early line-up had Zoot Money as vocalist and Al Kirtley on piano but in the band's best-known form Money himself played Hammond organ. Bassist/vocalist Paul Williams...
/ Dantalian's Chariot
Dantalian's Chariot
Dantalian's Chariot were a British psychedelic rock band that formed in 1967. Led by keyboardist and bandleader Zoot Money, and also featuring Andy Summers , they are best remembered for their single "Madman Running Through the Fields", and for their live performances, which featured early...
, and Georgie Fame
Georgie Fame
Georgie Fame is a British rhythm and blues and jazz singer and keyboard player. The one-time rock and roll tour musician, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still a popular performer, often working with contemporaries such as Van Morrison and Bill Wyman.-Early life:Fame took piano lessons from the...
) and a young bassist named Stephen Thompson. In August 1968 the new quartet recorded Blues from Laurel Canyon
Blues from Laurel Canyon
Blues from Laurel Canyon is a 1968 album by John Mayall, featuring British blues music. It was his first album after the breakup of his band the Bluesbreakers on 14 July 1968. It was also his last album with Decca before moving to Polydor....
.
On 13 June 1969, after nearly two years with Mayall, Taylor left and officially joined the Rolling Stones.
Mark-Almond period, 1969-70
Chas Crane filled in briefly on guitar. Drummer Allen departed to join Stone the CrowsStone the Crows
Stone the Crows were a blues band formed in Glasgow in late 1969.-History:The band were formed after Maggie Bell was introduced to Les Harvey by his elder brother, Alex Harvey...
. This left as the only holdover bassist Thompson (who would also eventually join Stone the Crows).
Mayall tried a new format with lower volume, acoustic instruments, and no drummer. He recruited acoustic fingerstyle guitar
Fingerstyle guitar
Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking ....
ist Jon Mark
Mark-Almond
Mark–Almond were an English band of the late 1960s and early 1970s, who worked in the territory between rock and jazz.In 1970 Jon Mark and Johnny Almond formed Mark-Almond...
and flautist-saxophonist John Almond
Mark-Almond
Mark–Almond were an English band of the late 1960s and early 1970s, who worked in the territory between rock and jazz.In 1970 Jon Mark and Johnny Almond formed Mark-Almond...
. Mark was best known as Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Evelyn Faithfull is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades....
's accompanist for three years and for having been a member of the band Sweet Thursday
Sweet Thursday (band)
Sweet Thursday was a short-lived late-1960s English rock band.The group included famed session keyboard player Nicky Hopkins, who had worked with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck, and many others; folk guitarist, singer, and past session man Alun Davies ; and singer, guitarist, composer...
(which included pianist Nicky Hopkins
Nicky Hopkins
Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins was an English pianist and organist.He recorded and performed on noted British and American popular music recordings of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s as a session musician....
and future Cat Stevens
Cat Stevens
Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
collaborator Alun Davies, also a guitarist). Almond had played with Zoot Money and Alan Price
Alan Price
Alan Price is an English musician, best known as the original keyboardist for the English band The Animals, and for his subsequent solo work....
and was no stranger to Mayall's music—he had played baritone sax on 4 cuts of Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton and some of A Hard Road
A Hard Road
A Hard Road is a 1967 electric blues album recorded by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers featuring Peter Green on lead guitar, John McVie on bass, Aynsley Dunbar on drums and John Almond. Tracks 5, 7 and 13 feature the horn section of Alan Skidmore and Ray Warleigh...
. This new band was markedly different from previous Mayall projects, and its making is well documented both on the 1999 double CD The Masters and on the 2004 DVD The Godfather of British Blues: The Turning Point.
Along with the big change in sound, Mayall decided on a big change in scenery: a move to Los Angeles. The new band made its U.S. debut at the Newport Jazz Festival
Newport Jazz Festival
The Newport Jazz Festival is a music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It was established in 1954 by socialite Elaine Lorillard, who, together with husband Louis Lorillard, financed the festival for many years. The couple hired jazz impresario George Wein to organize the...
on 5 July, whilst the 12 July performance at the Fillmore East
Fillmore East
The Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the East Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City. It was open from 1968 to 1971, and featured some of the biggest acts in rock music at the time...
provided the tracks for the live album The Turning Point. A studio album, Empty Rooms, was recorded with the same personnel, with Mayall's next bassist, former Canned Heat
Canned Heat
Canned Heat is a blues-rock/boogie rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The group has been noted for its own interpretations of blues material as well as for efforts to promote the interest in this type of music and its original artists...
member Larry Taylor
Larry Taylor
Larry Taylor is an American bass guitarist, best known for his work as a member of Canned Heat from 1967. Before joining Canned Heat he had been a session bassist for The Monkees and Jerry Lee Lewis...
, playing bass in a duet with Thompson on "To a Princess."
Harvey Mandel as guitarist, 1970-71
Mayall continued the experiment of formations without drummers on two more albums, although he took on a new electric blues-rock-R&B band in guitarist Harvey MandelHarvey Mandel
Harvey Mandel is an American guitarist known for his innovative approach to electric guitar playing. A professional at twenty, he played with Charlie Musselwhite, Canned Heat, The Rolling Stones, and John Mayall before starting a solo career...
and bassist Larry Taylor
Larry Taylor
Larry Taylor is an American bass guitarist, best known for his work as a member of Canned Heat from 1967. Before joining Canned Heat he had been a session bassist for The Monkees and Jerry Lee Lewis...
, both plucked from Canned Heat
Canned Heat
Canned Heat is a blues-rock/boogie rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The group has been noted for its own interpretations of blues material as well as for efforts to promote the interest in this type of music and its original artists...
, and wailing violinist Don "Sugarcane" Harris, lately of the Johnny Otis
Johnny Otis
Johnny Otis is an American singer, musician, talent scout, disc jockey, composer, arranger, recording artist, record producer, vibraphonist, drummer, percussionist, bandleader, and impresario.He is commonly referred to as The Godfather Of Rhythm And Blues.-Personal life:Otis, the son of Alexander...
Show. On USA Union
USA Union
USA Union is a 1970 album by blues musician John Mayall,featuring Harvey Mandel on guitar, Larry Taylor on bass and Don "Sugarcane" Harris on violin...
(recorded in Los Angeles, 27-28 July1970), though, Mandel was compelled to make do without his remarkable sustain
Sustain
In music, sustain is a parameter of musical sound over time. As its name implies, it denotes the period of time during which the sound remains before it becomes inaudible, or silent.Additionally, sustain is the third of the four segments in an ADSR envelope...
and usage of feedback
Feedback
Feedback describes the situation when output from an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or occurrences of the same Feedback describes the situation when output from (or information about the result of) an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or...
as musical, even melodic, technique; and on Memories the band was stripped down to a trio.
In November 1970 Mayall launched a recording project involving many of the most notable musicians with whom he had played during the previous several years. The double album Back to the Roots features Clapton, Mick Taylor, and Mandel on guitar; Sugarcane Harris on violin; Almond on woodwinds; Thompson and Larry Taylor on bass; and Hartley on drums. Ventures guitarist Jerry McGee came along with Larry Taylor to the L.A. sessions and appears on a couple tracks; Paul Lagos was with Sugarcane and ended up drumming on five. Mayall wrote all the songs and sang all the vocals, as usual by now, plus played harmonica, guitar, keyboards, drums, and percussion. The London sessions took place in January 1971 and as such represent some of Clapton's last work before Derek and the Dominos' attempted Layla
Layla
"Layla" is a song written by Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon, originally released by their blues-rock band, Derek and the Dominos, as the thirteenth track from their album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs...
follow-up sessions and band disintegration that spring, and the start of his long seclusion as disenchanted and heartsick junkie.
Back to the Roots did not promote new names, and USA Union and Memories had been recorded with American musicians. Mayall had exhausted his catalytic role on the British blues-rock scene and was living in L.A. Yet, the list of musicians who benefited from association with him, starting with ruling the London blues scene, remains impressive.
1970s-1990s
By the start of the 1970s Mayall had relocated in the USA where he spent most of the next 15 years, recording with local musicians for various labels. In August 1971, Mayall produced a jazz- oriented session for bluesman Albert KingAlbert King
Albert King was an American blues guitarist and singer, and a major influence in the world of blues guitar playing.-Career:...
and a few months later took on tour the musicians present in the studio.
A live album Jazz Blues Fusion was released in the following year, with Mayall on harmonica, guitar and piano, Blue Mitchell
Blue Mitchell
Richard Allen Mitchell was an American jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, rock, and funk trumpeter, known for many albums recorded as leader and sideman for Riverside, Blue Note and then Mainstream Records.-Biography:...
on trumpet, Clifford Solomon and Ernie Watts
Ernie Watts
Ernest James "Ernie" Watts is an American jazz and rhythm and blues musician. He plays saxophone and flute. He might be best known for his work with Charlie Haden's Quartet West and his Grammy Awards as an instrumentalist...
on saxophones, Larry Taylor on bass, Ron Selico on drums and Freddy Robinson on guitar. A few personnel changes are noted at the release of a similar album in 1973, the live Moving On.
During the next decade Mayall continued shifting musicians and switching labels and released a score of albums. Tom Wilson, Don Nix
Don Nix
Don Nix is a songwriter, composer, arranger, musician, and author. Although cited as being "obscure", he is a key figure in several genres of Southern rock and Soul, R&B, and the Blues...
and Allen Toussaint
Allen Toussaint
Allen Toussaint is an American musician, composer, record producer, and influential figure in New Orleans R&B.Many of Toussaint's songs have become familiar through numerous cover versions, including "Working in the Coalmine", "Ride Your Pony", "Fortune Teller", "Play Something Sweet ", "Southern...
occasionally served as producers. At this stage of his career most of Mayall's music was rather different from electric blues played by rock musicians, incorporating jazz, funk or pop elements and adding even female vocals. A notable exception is The Last Of the British Blues (1978), a live album excused apparently by its title for the brief return to this type of music.
The return of The Bluesbreakers
In 1982 Mayall was reunited with Mick TaylorMick Taylor
Michael Kevin "Mick" Taylor is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones...
, John McVie
John McVie
John Graham McVie is a British bass guitarist best known as a member of the rock group Fleetwood Mac. His surname, combined with that of Mick Fleetwood, was the inspiration for the band's name...
and Colin Allen
Colin Allen
Colin Allen is an English blues drummer and songwriter.-Career:Allen took up drums at the age of 18, playing initially with local jazz musician in Dorset...
, three musicians of his sixties lineups, for a two year world tour from which a live album would emerge a decade later.
In 1984 Mayall restored the name Bluesbreakers for a lineup comprising the two lead guitars of Walter Trout
Walter Trout
Walter Trout is an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter.-Biography:Trout's career began on the Jersey coast scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He then decided to relocate to Los Angeles where he became a sideman for Percy Mayfield and Deacon Jones...
and Coco Montoya
Coco Montoya
Coco Montoya is an American blues guitarist and former member of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers.-Musical career:...
, bassist Bobby Haynes and drummer Joe Yuele. The mythic name did perhaps something to enhance the interest in a band which by all standards was already remarkable.
A successful world tour and live recordings achieved the rest.
In the early 1990s most of the excitement was already spent and Buddy Whittington
Buddy Whittington
Buddy Whittington is an American guitarist. He began playing the guitar inspired by his sister's records of The Beatles, Rolling Stones and, in particular, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton. At the age of 14 he was already a part of the Dallas/Fort Worth music scene and playing...
became the sole lead guitarist in a formation which included then organist Tom Canning.
On the occasion of the 40th year of his career Mayall received carte blanche to invite fellow musicians for the recording of a celebratory album. Along for the Ride appeared in 2001, credited to John Mayall and Friends with twenty names listed on the cover, including some Bluesbreakers, old and new, and also Gary Moore
Gary Moore
Robert William Gary Moore , better known simply as Gary Moore, was a Northern Irish musician from Belfast, best recognised as a blues rock guitarist and singer....
, Jonny Lang
Jonny Lang
Jonny Lang is a Grammy award-winning American blues, gospel, and rock singer, songwriter and recording artist. Lang's music is notable for both his unusual voice, which has been compared to that of a forty-year-old blues veteran, and for his guitar solos...
, Steve Cropper
Steve Cropper
Steve Cropper , also known as Steve "The Colonel" Cropper, is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T...
, Steve Miller
Steve Miller (musician)
Steven H. "Steve" Miller is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter who began his career in blues and blues rock and evolved to a more popular-oriented sound which, from the mid 1970s through the early 1980s, resulted in a series of successful singles and albums.-Early years:Born in Milwaukee,...
, Otis Rush
Otis Rush
Otis Rush is a blues musician, singer and guitarist. His distinctive guitar style features a slow burning sound and long bent notes...
, Billy Gibbons
Billy Gibbons
William Frederick "Billy" Gibbons is an American musician, actor and car customizer, best known as the guitarist of the Texas blues-rock band ZZ Top. He is also the lead singer and composer for many of the band's songs. Gibbons is known for playing his Gretsch Billy Bo guitar and his famous 1959...
, Chris Rea
Chris Rea
Chris Rea is an English singer-songwriter, recognisable for his distinctive, husky voice and slide guitar playing. The British Hit Singles & Albums stated that Rea was "one of the most popular UK singer-songwriters of the late 1980s. He was already a major European star by the time he finally...
, Jeff Healey
Jeff Healey
Norman Jeffrey "Jeff" Healey was a blind Canadian jazz and blues-rock vocalist and guitarist who attained musical and personal popularity, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...
, Shannon Curfman
Shannon Curfman
Shannon Marie Curfman is an American blues-rock guitarist and singer. She came to prominence in 1999, at the age of 14, with the release of her first album, Loud Guitars, Big Suspicions, which she recorded a year earlier.Curfman has toured with John Mellencamp, Buddy Guy, George Thorogood and The...
and a few others.
To celebrate his 70th birthday Mayall reunited with special guests Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
, Mick Taylor
Mick Taylor
Michael Kevin "Mick" Taylor is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones...
and Chris Barber
Chris Barber
Donald Christopher 'Chris' Barber is best known as a jazz trombonist. As well as scoring a UK top twenty trad jazz hit he helped the careers of many musicians, notably the blues singer Ottilie Patterson, who was at one time his wife, and vocalist/banjoist Lonnie Donegan, whose appearances with...
during a fundraiser show. This "Unite for Unicef" concert took place on 19 July 2003 at the Kings Dock Arena in Liverpool and was captured on film for a DVD release.
In 2005, Mayall was awarded an OBE in the Honours List
British honours system
The British honours system is a means of rewarding individuals' personal bravery, achievement, or service to the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories...
. "It's the only major award I've ever received. I've never had a hit record or a Grammy or been in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame." commented Mayall.
In November 2008, Mayall announced on his website he was disbanding the Bluesbreakers, to cut back on his heavy workload and give himself freedom to work with other musicians. Three months later a solo world tour was announced, with: Rocky Athas on guitar, Greg Rzab on bass, and Jay Davenport on drums. Tom Canning, on organ, joined the band for the tour which started in March 2009. An album was released in September 2009.
Unofficial, limited editions and bootlegs
- 1990: Crocodile Walk
- 1984: Blues Alive (RCA/Columbia)
- 198?: Back to the Roots (Gaha 02)[same as Blues Alive]
- 198?: Dal vivo a Milano (bootleg)[live 26 Nov. 1982]
- 1996: Bulldogs For Sale (bootleg)[same as Crocodile Walk]
- 199?: Beano's Boys (bootleg)
- 199?: The First 5 Years (Pontiac)[Crocodile Walk+BBC Sessions +unreleased]
- 199?: Simply Outstanding, live at the Fillmore West '68 (Vintage Masters VMCDR 107) [same as Wolfgang's Vault]
- 1999: Horny Blues (Massive Attack) [live '72]
- 1999: Mayallapolis Blues (Blues Tune BT09)[live in Minneapolis 03/03/93]
- 2000: Time Capsule (Private Stash) Limited release (J.Mayall's private archive 57-62)
- 2001: UK Tour 2K (Private Stash) Limited release
- 2001: Boogie Woogie Man (Private Stash) Limited release
- 2001: Archive:live (Rialto)
- 2003: No Days Off (Private Stash) Limited release
DVDs
- 2003: 70th Birthday Concert (Eagle) live '03 CD & DVD
- 2004: Live at Iowa State University DVD live'87
- 2004: Cookin' Down Under DVD (Private Stash) Limited release
- 2004: The Godfather of British Blues/Turning Point DVD (Eagle)
- 2005: Rolling with the Blues (Recall) live'72-82 2CD+DVD
- 2007: Live at the Bottom Line, New York 1992
- 2008: Live At Iowa State University
Singles
- 1964: "Crawling Up The Hill / Mr. James" (Decca F11900)
- 1965: "Crocodile Walk / Blues City Shakedown" (Decca F12120)
- October 1965: "I'm Your WitchdoctorI'm Your Witchdoctor"I'm Your Witchdoctor" is a 1965 single by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers composed by Mayall, produced by Jimmy Page, and issued on the Immediate label. The song was originally recorded at Decca's studios in West Hampstead for release on their own label...
/ Telephone Blues" (ImmediateImmediate RecordsImmediate Records was a British record label, started in 1965 by The Rolling Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham and Tony Calder and concentrating on the London-based blues and R&B scene.-History:...
IM012) - August 1966: "Lonely Years / Bernard Jenkins" (Purdah 453502)
- September 1966: "Parchman FarmParchman Farm (song)"Parchman Farm" is the title of a number of songs about Mississippi State Penitentiary, known as Parchman Farm, a hard time prison because of the Trusty system which was later outlawed....
/ Key To Love" (Decca F12490) - 1966: "Looking Back / So Many Roads" (Decca F12506)
- 1967: "Sitting In The Rain / Out Of Reach" (Decca F12545)
- 1967: "Curly / Rubber Duck" (Decca F12588)
- 1967: "I'm Your WitchdoctorI'm Your Witchdoctor"I'm Your Witchdoctor" is a 1965 single by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers composed by Mayall, produced by Jimmy Page, and issued on the Immediate label. The song was originally recorded at Decca's studios in West Hampstead for release on their own label...
/ Telephone Blues" (Immediate IM051) - 1967: "Double Trouble / It Hurts Me Too" (Decca F12621)
- 1967: "Suspicions Pt.1 / Suspicions Pt.2" (Decca F12684)
- 1968: "Picture On The Wall / Jenny" (Decca F12732)
- 1968: "No Reply / She's Too Young" (Decca F12792)
- 1968: "The Bear / 2401" (Decca F12846)
John Mayall's sidemen
A comprehensive list of musicians who have recorded and/or toured with John Mayall.A few notable names
- Guitar: Eric ClaptonEric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
, Roger DeanRoger Dean (guitar player)Roger Dean was a British guitar player and teacher. His professional career ran over 40 years, until retiring, following a car crash, in 2004. During the sixties he played in a numberof bands which left few traces in the history of popular music...
, Peter GreenPeter Green (musician)Peter Green is a British blues-rock guitarist and the founder of the band Fleetwood Mac...
, Mick TaylorMick TaylorMichael Kevin "Mick" Taylor is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones...
, Harvey MandelHarvey MandelHarvey Mandel is an American guitarist known for his innovative approach to electric guitar playing. A professional at twenty, he played with Charlie Musselwhite, Canned Heat, The Rolling Stones, and John Mayall before starting a solo career...
, Freddy Robinson, Jimmy McCullochJimmy McCullochJames 'Jimmy' McCulloch was a Scottish musician and songwriter, born in Dumbarton and raised in Clydebank and Cumbernauld, Scotland, who was best known for playing lead guitar in Paul McCartney's Wings from 1974 to 1977...
, Kal DavidKal DavidKal David is an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, whose 50-year musical career in Illinois, New York and California extended through various phases, including a highly-regarded stint with Columbia Records in early 1970s....
, Walter TroutWalter TroutWalter Trout is an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter.-Biography:Trout's career began on the Jersey coast scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He then decided to relocate to Los Angeles where he became a sideman for Percy Mayfield and Deacon Jones...
, Coco MontoyaCoco MontoyaCoco Montoya is an American blues guitarist and former member of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers.-Musical career:...
, Randy ResnickRandy ResnickRandy Resnick , is a guitarist who has played with many blues and jazz luminaries, such as Don "Sugarcane" Harris, John Lee Hooker, John Klemmer, John Mayall and Freddie King. He published a CD of his own music in 1995.-Career:...
, Sonny LandrethSonny LandrethSonny Landreth is an American blues musician from southwest Louisiana who is especially known as a slide guitar player. He was born in Canton, Mississippi, but soon after, his family moved to Jackson, Mississippi, before settling in Lafayette, Louisiana...
, Buddy WhittingtonBuddy WhittingtonBuddy Whittington is an American guitarist. He began playing the guitar inspired by his sister's records of The Beatles, Rolling Stones and, in particular, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton. At the age of 14 he was already a part of the Dallas/Fort Worth music scene and playing...
, Eric SteckelEric SteckelEric Steckel is an American blues guitarist and singer.- Biography :His first album A Few Degrees Warmer was recorded live in 2002 when he was just 11 years old...
, Robben FordRobben FordRobben Ford is an American blues, jazz and rock guitarist.-Biography:Ford was born in Woodlake, California, United States, but raised in Ukiah, California, and began playing the saxophone at age 10, picking up the guitar at age 13... - Bass: Jack BruceJack BruceJohn Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
, John McVieJohn McVieJohn Graham McVie is a British bass guitarist best known as a member of the rock group Fleetwood Mac. His surname, combined with that of Mick Fleetwood, was the inspiration for the band's name...
, Steven Thompson, Larry TaylorLarry TaylorLarry Taylor is an American bass guitarist, best known for his work as a member of Canned Heat from 1967. Before joining Canned Heat he had been a session bassist for The Monkees and Jerry Lee Lewis...
, Tony ReevesTony ReevesAnthony 'Tony' Reeves is an English bass guitarist/contrabassist, noted for his "extremely prominent and complex bass sound" and use of electronic effects...
, Hank Van SickleHank Van SickleHank Van Sickle is an electric and upright bassist currently living and working in Los Angeles, California. He is a session musician who has worked in a variety of genres, but primarily draws from Americana, blues rock, jazz, and rock music.-Biography:Van Sickle was raised in a family of musicians... - Drums: Hughie FlintHughie FlintHughie Flint , is an English drummer, best known for his stint in John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, playing drums on the Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton album, released in 1966, for his group McGuinness Flint in the early 70s and for his subsequent association with The Blues Band.Flint played in...
, Keef HartleyKeef HartleyKeef Hartley was an English drummer and bandleader. He fronted the Keef Hartley Band, and played at Woodstock. Hartley was later a member of Dog Soldier, and variously worked with Rory Storm, The Artwoods and John Mayall.-Biography:Hartley was born in Preston, Lancashire, England...
, Aynsley DunbarAynsley DunbarAynsley Thomas Dunbar is an English drummer. He has worked with some of the top names in rock, including Eric Burdon, John Mayall, Frank Zappa, Ian Hunter, Lou Reed, Jefferson Starship, Jeff Beck, David Bowie, Whitesnake, Sammy Hagar, UFO, and Journey...
, Soko RichardsonSoko RichardsonSoko Richardson was an American rhythm and blues drummer. His career spanned almost fifty years, during which he performed and recorded with seminal groups including John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and the The Ike & Tina Turner Revue...
, Jon HisemanJon HisemanJon Hiseman is an English drummer, recording engineer, record producer and music publisher.-Career:...
, Colin AllenColin AllenColin Allen is an English blues drummer and songwriter.-Career:Allen took up drums at the age of 18, playing initially with local jazz musician in Dorset...
, Mick FleetwoodMick FleetwoodMichael John Kells "Mick" Fleetwood is a British musician and actor best known for his role as the drummer and namesake of the blues/rock and roll band Fleetwood Mac. His surname, combined with that of John McVie, was the inspiration for the name of the originally Peter Green-led Fleetwood Mac...
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- Keyboards: Dr. JohnDr. JohnMalcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as Zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider...
- Vocals/Harmonica: Paul ButterfieldPaul ButterfieldPaul Butterfield was an American blues vocalist and harmonica player, who founded the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the early 1960s and performed at the original Woodstock Festival...
See also
- John Mayall & the BluesbreakersJohn Mayall & the BluesbreakersJohn Mayall & the Bluesbreakers are a pioneering English blues band, led by singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist John Mayall, OBE. Mayall used the band name between 1963 and 1967, but then dropped it for some fifteen years. However, in 1982 a 'Return of the Bluesbreakers' was announced and...
- British bluesBritish bluesBritish blues is a form of music derived from American blues that originated in the late 1950s and which reached its height of mainstream popularity in the 1960s, when it developed a distinctive and influential style dominated by electric guitar and made international stars of several proponents of...
- Eric ClaptonEric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
- Peter GreenPeter Green (musician)Peter Green is a British blues-rock guitarist and the founder of the band Fleetwood Mac...
- Mick TaylorMick TaylorMichael Kevin "Mick" Taylor is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones...
External links
- John Mayall's website
- Mayall: sessions,concerts
- Concerts in Wolfgang's VaultWolfgang's VaultWolfgang's Vault is a private music-focused company established in 2003 dedicated to the restoration and archiving of live concert recordings in audio and video format and the sale of music memorabilia. It began with the collection of the late promoter Bill Graham, and added multiple other music...
: Fillmore West '68 http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/john-mayall-and-the-bluesbreakers/concerts/fillmore-auditorium-february-09-1968.html; Bottom Line '77 http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/john-mayall/concerts/bottom-line-july-10-1977-early-show.html - ABC Records Press Release
- John Mayall Interview 2007 - by Brian D. Holland
- John Mayall Interview with Jarrod Dicker (2009)