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John Mayall's Bluesbreakers: Live In 1967 - Volume Three
by Doug Collette
Perhaps it is just the cumulative effect of what this title represents as the third and last release in a series of similarly- designated editions, but a dramatic sense of history arises from mere perusal of the artwork adorning John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers' Live in 1967 -Volume Three. The black and white graphic design is the antithesis of the kaleidoscopic color schemes permeating the psychedelia of the era. More significantly, however, it is a direct corollary to ...
read moreJohn Mayall: The Sun Is Shining Down
by Scott Gudell
British blues master John Mayall can still turn out a rich collection of originals and covers six decades, and approximately sixty albums, after his first songs were released in the early 1960s. Add the fact that he still has a knack for enlisting top guitarists--this time Mayall spotlights Mississippi born/Chicago bred Melvin Taylor among others--and it is a Brit-led blues bash at its best. Often considered the Godfather of British Blues, Mayall said during a 1980s interview that ...
read moreJohn Mayall: The First Generation 1965-1974
by Maurizio Comandini
Se gli inglesi hanno soprannominato The Godfather of the British Blues" l'imperturbabile John Mayall una ragione ci sarà... La malavita non c'entra nulla, per fortuna, ma c'entra tantissimo la buona musica e la capacità di organizzarla partendo da zero, o quasi. John Mayall è nato a Macclesfield, il 29 novembre del 1933. Siamo nello Cheshire, meno di trenta chilometri a sud di Manchester. Il padre è un chitarrista dilettante, appassionato di jazz e di blues e ...
read moreThe Sun Is Shining Down
by Doug Collette
Having announced he will be limiting his touring in the future, John Mayall doesn't seem to have lessened his engagement with recording. On the contrary, for The Sun Is Shining Down, 'The Godfather of British Blues' surrounds himself with a roster of high-profile contributors, all of whom play to their respective strengths and sound inspired collaborating with a genuine musical icon. Equally importantly, this fifth Forty Below Records studio outing (out of some forty overall) radiates a sense of deep ...
read moreThe First Generation 1965-1974
by John Kelman
What do guitarists Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, Jon Mark, Harvey Mandel and Freddy Robinson, reed/woodwind multi-instrumentalists John Almond, Ray Warleigh, Alan Skidmore, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Red Holloway and Ernie Watts, bassists John McVie, Jack Bruce, Andy Fraser, Tony Reeves, Stephen Thompson and Larry Taylor, drummers Mick Fleetwood, Keef Hartley, Aynsley Dunbar, Jon Hiseman and Collin Allen, trumpeters Henry Lowther and Blue Mitchell, and violinist Don Sugarcane" Harris all share in common? They are but a few of the notable ...
read moreBlues From Laurel Canyon: My Life As A Bluesman
by Doug Collette
Blues From Laurel Canyon: My Life As A Bluesman John Mayall with Joel McIver 336 Pages ISBN: #978-1785581786 Omnibus Press 2019 Blues From Laurel Canyon seems an odd assignation of a name for John Mayall's memoir, if only because that main title doesn't quite correspond to its subtitle My Life As A Bluesman. But in his very introduction to these three-hundred thirty-six pages, 'The Godfather of British Blues' clarifies the point, if only ...
read moreJohn Mayall: Nobody Told Me
by Doug Collette
Over the course of some fifty-plus years, the bands of John Mayall have served as a proving ground for some estimable guitarists. Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor and Peter Green are just the most famous axemen who've aided and abetted The Godfather of British Blues." Yet, in all that extended time, he has never before had a female lead guitarist in any lineups until the enlistment of Texas wunderkind Carolyn Wonderland on Nobody Told Me. In keeping with other ...
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