[Slowhand] His Holy Modal Majesty

[Bruce Wilson]

[ Dis claimer:  The following is a highly biased opinion regarding Mike Bloomfield with only minimal and indirect relevance to Eric Clapton.  Please move on to the next post if this is not your cup of Earl Grey.]

My concern is that at this late date - this February will the 25th anniversary of his demise - Bloomfield is listened to less than he deserves.  A decently assembled box set would go a long way to ameliorating that, but how long can we wait?  For those who have yet to give MB a listen, please consider that he, along with Paul Butterfield and Elvin Bishop, were major factors in breaking Chicago blues out of its Southside locale and spreading it throughout the land and to Caucasoid ears.  It is to their credit that they did so with taste, heart, finesse, generosity, and genuine love for their music, its practitioners and its audience.  Remind you of anyone we know?  MB possessed a prodigious improvisational ability and had an unequaled sound that is stunningly beautiful.

The essential highlights:

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - all releases are worth a listen, but if you want to get one cd, make it "East - West."  Alternatively, an excellent 2-cd (MB is on the first cd only) Butterfield Band compilation is "An Anthology:  The Elektra Years."  Dig in deeper with "East-West Live" - three live performances of the title tune, one of which contains an extended finale incorporating a "Joy to the World" quote that would be appear in a similar finale by the Allman Brothers Band on "At Fillmore East."  Coincidence?  Doubt it.

The Electric Flag - "A Long Time Comin'" is essential.  With a couple deletions and otherwise unavailable tunes added, it also is mostly included on the recommended single-cd compilation "Old Glory:  The Best of the Electric Flag."  An American Music Band indeed, they branched out considerably beyond Chicago blues, particularly in a soul/rock direction that could have been as at home in Memphis as they were in San Francisco.  The soundtrack to "The Trip" shows how far they could go in playing anything.  MB put his heart into this band featuring Nick Gravenites, Buddy Miles and Barry Goldberg in a way that he never would again.

Al Kooper - Is this all too much already?  If you have 30 minutes, listen to the beginning (side one of the LP from back in the vinyl days) of "Super Session" and be done with it.  Kooper's intent was to present MB at his best on record.  He succeeds.  Also essential, "The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper," the best live MB recording.  Includes a performance by former Butterfield colleague Elvin Bishop and the recording debut of Carlos Santana on a song entitled "Sonny Boy Williamson" written by Jack Bruce & Paul Jones.

Bloomfield & Gravenites - In early 1969, MB and Nick Gravenites performed a series of concerts at the Fillmore West.  I don't know what remains in print at this time, but a recent expanded version of Nick Gravenites "My Labors" included not only his original selections from those performances but also some from "Live at Bill Graham's Fillmore East."  This is live R&B/blues/rock with a horn section, almost as if MB and NG were doing the Electric Flag their way without the distractions.

All the best to one and all for the New Year,
brooz, who toasts you with a Cooper's Hawk almond sparkling wine as he signs off - Cheers!

(The above opinion is that of brooz only who is slowly responsible for its content.)
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