John Mayall
Blues |
Despite being a perfectly competent musician himself, John Mayall [OBE] will always be remembered for the incredible talents he took under his wing, rather that the music he himself wrote. Assuming the role of British blues guru throughout the 1960’s, Mayall periodically took in fledgling young musicians with raw talent and gave them a platform to develop on- often allowing them to outshine his own ability.
The self-taught John had been recreating a faithful Chicago-blues sound since, but only began getting noticed upon his arrival on the London scene. Mayall had released a str ...read more
Despite being a perfectly competent musician himself, John Mayall [OBE] will always be remembered for the incredible talents he took under his wing, rather that the music he himself wrote. Assuming the role of British blues guru throughout the 1960’s, Mayall periodically took in fledgling young musicians with raw talent and gave them a platform to develop on- often allowing them to outshine his own ability.
The self-taught John had been recreating a faithful Chicago-blues sound since, but only began getting noticed upon his arrival on the London scene. Mayall had released a string minor prior to 1965, but it was in this year that his place in music history became immortalized. With the addition of Eric Clapton, who had recently defected from the pop-friendly Yardbirds, he released “Bluesbreakers” (commonly referred to as The Beano Album)- arguably the pinnacle of the 1960’s British blues movement. 1967 saw the release of another classic (“A Hard Road”), with another guitar hero (Peter Green), but Mayall’s status as an elder-statesman of blues was solidified.
During his heyday, Mayall employed an army of talented musicians. Several of his Bluesbreaker alumni would go off to form successful band of their own- such as Fleetwood Mack, Free, and Cream.
John himself continues to blues to this day.
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