Classic Rock - Blues: December 2009

"He didn't get a chance to expand the mission of his soul, but those few albums he played on – those are enough," says Carlos Santana, referring to Mike Bloomfield's death in 1981, of a drug overdose at age 37, and the key recordings Bloomfield left behind. Bloomfield helped Bob Dylan go electric with his work on Highway 61 Revisited (those are Bloomfield's skyward spirals on "Like a Rolling Stone") and two albums with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, including 1966's raga-blues monster, East-West. (Check out Bloomfield's winding, epic solo on the title track.) A native of Chicago, Bloomfield studied the local electric-blues legends like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf up close while he was growing up, and he packed those lessons into a piercing clean-treble tone and solos that took off with fluid, modal-jazz ecstasy. "Michael always sounded like a salmon going against the current," Santana says. "He comes from B.B. King. But he went somewhere else."

Butterfield Blues Band

Paul Butterfield was born and raised in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. After studying classical flute as a teenager, he developed a love for the blues harmonica, and hooked up with white, blues-loving, U of Chicago physics student Elvin Bishop. The pair started hanging around black blues musicians such as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Junior Wells. Butterfield and Bishop soon formed a band with Jerome Arnold and Sam Lay (both of Howlin' Wolf's band). In 1963, a watershed event in introducing blues to a white audience in Chicago occurred when this racially mixed ensemble was made the house band at Big John's, a folk music club in the Old Town district on Chicago's north side. Butterfield was still underage (as was guitarist Mike Bloomfield, who was already working there in his own band).

Classic Climax Blues Band

It's a Beautiful Day

Michael McDonald

Jimi Hendrix

Classic Jethro Tull

Blind Faith

Steve Winwood - Classic Traffic

Traffic Biography HERE

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BONUS: Live at the Fillmore East 1970

John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers

Classic Savoy Brown

Today I present Savoy Brown. Savoy Brown was founded by Kim Simmonds; with Guitarist "Lonesome" Dave Peverett, bassist Tony Stevens, and drummer Roger Earl. After leaving Simmonds in December 1970, the 3 added Rod Price on slide guitar and formed Foghat.

Chicken Shack was a band founded in the late 1960s by Andy Silvester (bass guitar) and Stan Webb (guitar and vocals), with Alan Morley (drums) and later joined by Christine Perfect (vocals and keyboards). Perfect left the band in 1969 when she married John McVie of Fleetwood Mac. Pianist Paul Raymond, bassist Andy Silvester, and drummer Dave Bidwell all left in 1971 to join Simmonds and his Savoy Brown. Confused?

BONUS MUSIC:

I'd rather go blind - Chicken Shack
Long Way To Go - Foghat
Slow Ride - Foghat
Ride, Ride, Ride - Foghat
Feel So Bad - Foghat

Lost and Lonely Child and The Boogie Part 1 & Part 2

Fleetwood Mac's Founder: Peter Green

In late 1966, Peter Green had the job of replacing Eric Clapton in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Mayall told his producer, "He might not be better [than Clapton] now. But you wait... he's going to be the best." Soon, with the original Fleetwood Mac, he was Britain's most progressive blues guitarist, with a Chicago-informed aggression heightened by the melodic adventure on albums like 1969's Then Play On. Green soon entered a dark age of mental and health problems, returning in the Nineties with more subdued but recognizable gifts.

The Incredible Peter Green Story: Man of the World

The demo HERE
The film trailer HERE
Jam Session HERE
Original Man of the World HERE (with words) and HERE

PETER GREEN BONUS: SUPERNATURAL & MY DREAM

Classic Fleetwood Mac

Band's history: story: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Listen to Dust HERE
Sentimental Lady HERE
Dragon Fly HERE
Sands of Time HERE
Bare Trees album HERE
Mystery To Me album HERE
Future Games album HERE

BONUS MAC: Spare Me a Little, Say You Love Me, Morning Rain, Over My Head, Homeward Bound, Future Games , Woman of 1000 Years & Sometimes

Eat A Peach 1972

The Allman Brothers 40th Anniversary Tour Ends

click to enlarge

In 1970 and 1971, 38+ years ago, I had the good fortune of seeing two concerts that shaped my love of rock music: Derek and the Dominos (Eric Clapton) in London and the Allman Brothers Band in Boston. I later learned that the late great Duane Allman held a link (Jam 4) & (Jam 5) between the two. The Allman Brothers remain the best band ever in my mind. Click photos below for full view:

Last night I was treated to a wonderful night of dancing and music with Widespread Panic and The Allman Brothers Band at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion outside of Houston.