John Mayall


(Copyright © 1999-2022 Piero Scaruffi | Terms of use )
Bluesbreakers (1966), 6.5/10
Hard Road (1967), 7/10
Crusade (1967), 5/10
Blues Alone (1967), 5/10
Bare Wires (1968), 6.5/10
Blues From Laurel Canyon (1969), 6.5/10
Turning Point (1969), 7/10
Empty Room (1970), 6/10
USA Union (1971), 6/10
Memories (1971), 5/10
Back To The Roots (1971), 6/10
Jazz-Blues Fusion (1972), 6/10
Moving On (1972), 5/10
Ten Years Are Gone (1973), 6/10
Latest Edition (1974), 5/10
Links:

(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana) Summary
A spectacular harmonica-player and a terrific conductor of ensembles, John Mayall was for several years the main reference point for the British blues scene. His band, the Bluesbreakers, played the role of a transmission belt between the blues revival of the 1950s and the blues-rock of the 1960s, raising talents that would make the history of rock music.

One of the events that changed the British music scene in a dramatic way in 1966 was the release of the album Bluesbreakers (1966), featuring the former Yardbirds guitarist Eric Clapton, that defined a genre of rhythm'n'blues played by white European musicians, the epitome of "blues-rock", which soon became one of the strongest undercurrents of British rock music. It also laid the foundations for progressive-rock: Hard Road (Decca, 1967), featuring new guitarist Peter Green, the lush jazz arrangements of the Bare Wires Suite (1968), off the album Bare Wires (1968) that was almost entirely composed by Mayall himself, the sophisticated lounge-music of the concept-album Blues From Laurel Canyon (1969), entirely composed by Mayall, and of his masterpiece, The Turning Point (1969), featuring guitarist Jon Mark and saxophonist Johnny Almond, the prelude to an ambitious Jazz-Blues Fusion (1972). The Fleetwod Mac, the Colosseum and Mark-Almond (formed by those cohorts) would be the logical consequences of Mayall's continuing experiment with the blues.

Mayall's limit is that he may have been a better talent scout than musician.


Full bio
(Translated from my original Italian text by Ornella C. Grannis)

Spectacular harmonica player and great band leader, John Mayall was for years the principal point of reference of the English blues scene. His band, the Bluesbreakers, acted as a conveyor belt between the 50s blues revival and 60s blues rock, raising many talents that made history in British rock. In fact, perhaps Mayall made more history as a talent scout that as a musician.

In 1963, with a visceral passion for the electric blues of Chicago, after years of obscure apprenticeship in his native Manchester, Mayall moved to London, The Bluesbreakers picked the right format: a very rhythmic blues, enhanced by audacious solos, often catchy, enhanced by rhythm and blues horns, that were the trademark of his teacher, Alexis Korner. Crawling Up The Hill (1964), Mayall's first single, remains to date one of his most original compositions, later included in the collection Thru The Years (Deram, 1971).John Mayall Plays John Mayall (Decca, 1965) is not much of a record, especially when compared to the Stones' debut album, but it documents an era, and shows that Mayall wrote his own material at a time when white blues men limited themselves to the re-elaboration of black material.

In 1965 Mayall had the good fortune to discover a young guitarist named Eric Clapton, who had gathered experience with the Yardbirds. Not only were Clapton's solos faithful to the blues tradition, they were also improvised, a fact that in those days seemed revolutionary. Bluesbreakers (Decca, 1966), also known as the "Beano" album, is an epoch making album. The best original cuts are Double Crossing Time, the extended Have You Heard, and the lively rhythm and blues Key To Love. However, the signature songs from their concerts are covers: Willie Dixon's and Otis Rush's All Your Love (with the first great solo by Clapton) and Freddie King's instrumental Steppin Out.

In 1967, with the more creative Peter Green at the guitar and Ainsley Dunbar at the drums, Mayall created Hard Road (Decca, 1967), perhaps the masterpiece of blues revival. Supernatural presages the first glimmerings of a fantastic defection from the standard blues format. Peter Green also recorded with Mayall some singles subsequently released on Thru The Years (Deram, 1971), the album that includes the legendary Out Of Reach.

By the end of the year, when the leader began to show signs of megalomania, the band renewed itself, hiring eighteen-year-old guitarist Mick Taylor and two horns. The result of that renewal is Crusade (Decca, 1967), a more conventional album entirely devoted to covers of black music arranged by Mayall in his style. At the end of that intense year Mayall released his first solo work, Blues Alone (Deram, 1967), an album that shows how much of his success was owed to his associates, most of whom had moved on to become stars, forming groups such as Cream, Colosseum and Fleetwood Mac.

With Mick Taylor at the guitar, Dick Heckstall-Smith at the sax and Jon Hiseman at the drums, the Bluesbreakers took an historic step with Bare Wires (1968), burying blues under layers of jazz refinements, especially in the 23 minute long Bare Wire Suite. Blues From Laurel Canyon (Polydor, 1969) is a concept album dedicated to Los Angeles, played with the precious tone of a cocktail lounge combo. The title is a reference to Frank Zappa's address where Mayall stayed.

Looking Back (Deram, 1969) is an anthology of singles. It includes Jenny, one of Mayall's songwriting gems. London Blues (Polydor, 1992) is a great anthology of the 1966-69 period.

Taylor joined the Rolling Stones and the others formed the Colosseum. With Jon Mark at the guitar and Johnny Almond at the sax, Mayall released The Turning Point (Polydor, 1969), perhaps his masterpiece, a purely acoustic album that adopts a style half way between free-form and sophisticated, granting each cut more structural freedom, and offering for the first time original compositions by the group: the rhythmic Room To Move, one of his greatest performances on harmonica, and the swinging acoustic ballad California, with a jazz sax solo and an Arabic flute solo, both by Almond. Mayall named his next album for the concept he was pursuing: Jazz-Blues Fusion (Polydor, 1972) but his vision was perhaps too ambitious for his composing limits, although the record does provide some suggestive hints for others to follow. The experiment without drums and with a velvety sound was continued with less success on Empty Room (Polydor, 1970), which includes the hit Don't Waste My Time. Mark and Almond continued the project with their band, Mark Almond.

With USA Union (1971), his first American album, featuring Harvey Mandel on guitar, Mayall returned to a more traditional format and, thanks to deluxe sideman jazz violinist Don Sugarcane Harris, he managed to create some brilliant jazz-blues ballads, like Night Flyer and Deep Blue Sea, and other faithful blues portraits, such as Took The Car. The idea of the "jazz-blues fusion" was continued on Memories (1971), an album recorded with a more humble trio.

Back To The Roots (1971) is an album/event were the entire dynasty of Mayall's bands comes together to pay tribute to the leader. Moving On (1972) is an other album of jazz-blues fusion. The commemorative period ended with Ten Years Are Gone (1973), a double album; the live side contains two of Mayall's best jams: Dark Of the Night and Harmonica Free Form.

Latest Edition (Polydor, 1974) was the last album of Mayall's golden era. It was followed by an avalanche of recordings (mostly live) of questionable quality, beginning with New Year, New Band, New Company (ABC, 1975). Room To Move (Polydor, 1992) is a very good anthology of the period 1970-74.

Mayall reconstituted the Bluesbreakers for Behind The Iron Curtain (GNP, 1985), recorded in Hungary, and for his first studio album in the longest time, Chicago Line (Island, 1988), followed by A Sense of Place (Island, 1990), Wake Up Call (Silvertone, 1993), and Blues For The Lost Days (Silvertone, 1997).

Along For The Ride (Eagle, 2000) finds Mayall leading an all-star cast as in the good old days.

Altogether John Mayall's monumental work has no equal in the history of modern blues. Mayall has created more music than any other bluesman and is the only musician who has tried, albeit irregularly, and managed fusion with both rock and jazz. But regardless of how finely tuned, the numerous classics of the "King Lear" of English blues didn't fly very high, and all his followers sooner or later deserted the cause, some for jazz, some for hard-rock, and some for pop music.

Mayall died in 2024 at the age of 90.

What is unique about this music database