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Discoverring John Mayall

Njoy-Music

Njoy-Music

Old Time Rock & Roll
Whilst perusing the local thrift for some cheap sheets to cover plants with, I had a look at the small CD collection they had and picked up one of John Mayall's titled "Blue For You." Now I like Stevie Ray, both Albert and B.B. King, several others but I must admit to being only vaguely aware of Mr. Mayall. That will soon be corrected as I can't stop spinning this CD!

Any others stand out from his collection for digging deeper?

Thanks any suggestion or ideas! it does make me wonder who else I've missed!
 
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Pick up his 70th birthday DVD. Buddy Whittington doing the main guitar duties for a long time, but with this celebration are appearances by Mick Taylor and Eric Clapton.
 
The one with Clapton is a must.
Love The Blues Alone.
Whittington is really underrated, IMO.
 
Most all of the early stuff is great. With Peter Green, Clapton and Mick Taylor handling guitar duties you can't go wrong. Also look for Mayall's 70th Birthday Concert DVD. It has appearances by Clapton and Taylor and Mayall's regular band is top notch as well.

A side note about the Jazz Blues Fusion album. That particular album has never been a favorite if mine. However, I saw that band touring in support of the LP while in Honolulu. Let me tell you, that was one kick ass concert! Unbelievably good show with great musicians. Maybe that's why I don't appreciate the album more.

cubdog
 
KrisM said:
The one with Clapton is a must.
Love The Blues Alone.
Whittington is really underrated, IMO.
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Whittington is really good. I saw an Austin City Limits when he had Coco Montoya on lead. That was a great show as well.

cubdog
 
Soapbarblues said:
Pick up his 70th birthday DVD. Buddy Whittington doing the main guitar duties for a long time, but with this celebration are appearances by Mick Taylor and Eric Clapton.
Click to expand...

I just checked AllMusic and this concert is also available on CD. I didn't realize this. Great stuff! :thmbsp:

cubdog
 
As a drummer, I always resented his "blues without bashing" approach, but overcame this prejudice to allow "Turning Point" and "Empty Rooms" into my list of all-time favorites.
 
noogies said:
As a drummer, I always resented his "blues without bashing" approach, but overcame this prejudice to allow "Turning Point" and "Empty Rooms" into my list of all-time favorites.
Click to expand...

Funny you mention that period/band. I saw two members of that Bluesbreaker band play a concert in Honolulu as well. Jon Mark and John Almond went on to form the Mark-Almond Band. They recorded a few mediocre albums but were quite enjoyable in concert.

cubdog
 
cubdog said:
Whittington is really good. I saw an Austin City Limits when he had Coco Montoya on lead. That was a great show as well.

cubdog
Click to expand...

I saw a Mayall show with Buddy in the mid-90s. Great show that is even more memorable because of the crowd.

It was a festival that had two alternating stages at the far ends of a park. That kept the crowd moving, and the jerk behavior down. This show had a last minute cancellation though, so there were three sets in a row on the same stage.
The first was Joe Kubeck. The second was him again because of the cancellation, and the third was Mayall. People started pushing their way towards the front, garbage was flying(I got hit in the head with a turkey leg) from the people about 15-20 rows back. I remember the look on Mayall's face was "WFT is this crap?". A guy who had been around forever was confused about the situation. The tension was building before he hit the stage, and it wasn't typical mid afternoon blues festival behavior.
One hell of a 3-4 hour run of music, though.:music:
 
John Mayall Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton is a great album.

I also have USA Union which is a bit preachy with environmental stuff (even has some 1970 tips on how to save the planet on the inside cover) but still a good listen.
 
birkbott said:
John Mayall Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton is a great album.

I also have USA Union which is a bit preachy with environmental stuff (even has some 1970 tips on how to save the planet on the inside cover) but still a good listen.
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Deep Blue Sea is a very nice cut on that album.
 
Mayall is good stuff. Blues From Laurel Canyon, Live Wire, Blues Alone and others are all classics....

He's probably the one British blues guitarist/artist from the 1960's-1970's that had a good following in the USA. While others were really good (Rory G to name one), Mayall seemed to breakthrough in the sales and successful touring aspects. It might have been that he lived in the USA (Los Angeles) for some time, his use of US named musicians or a combination of the two.
 
I have about 25 of his albums. Bare Wires is one to give a listen to.
Saw him at The Soup Kitchen in Detroit way back when.
 
Wow! Thanks everyone! I'm looking forward to digging in as soon as I can get some ordered. It's always a pleasure to be surprised by these little chance discoveries that end up perking your day right up.
 
John mayall is without doubt one of the greatest artists around, I am not a big fan of live albums, but every live lp he has every put out (that he authorized) still gets played on my turntable. The list of musicians that has passed through his band is incredible Jack Bruce, Clapton, john mcvie, Peter green, mick Taylor. Listening to his catalogue can be very rewarding moving from acoustic blues, to hard blues, jazz fusion.
My fav album is the mono version of blues alone on the ace label.
Enjoy
Paul
 
Jamming With The Blues Greats is another great dvd. John & band jamming with Albert King- Etta James - Buddy & Junior & more. Highly Recommended.
 
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