Friday 3 July - So, 'the blues', that'll be one tune that loads of people have written different lyrics for then? When I say different lyrics, I mean 'I'm going down to Georgia' or 'California' or 'Parchman Farm' or 'Macclesfield', to 'see my baby' or ''cos she left me' or 'to kill ...' someone. The truth is, the blues can be played that way, but in the hands of John Mayall it becomes a Coat of Many Colours, ranging from the rawest delta variety to jazz/blues fusion, and variety is what we got tonight.
It was all a bit strange as I entered The Duchess, a little after 20:00, there were chairs laid out for the audience! I couldn't see a way through to the bar except by walking between the front row of chairs and the stage. I tripped up of course. Well, it was dark. I reached the bar to find that a very orderly queue to get served was on the other side. Fortunately I was saved as The Druid hove into view bearing pints of Theakston's aloft. We stood just in front of the bar on the left side of the seats. I couldn't bring myself to sit down, it just didn't feel right. Within minutes John appeared on stage and promptly launched into a blues number a cappella accompanying himself on harmonica.
John Mayall (OBE) is arguably the grandfather of British blues, after dallying with a couple of bands he was persuaded by the legendary Alexis Korner to enter a full-time musical career and move from the Manchester area down to London. In late 1963 the band, now called The Bluesbreakers were playing the Marquee Club. John McVie (later in Fleetwood Mac) was on bass. In fact a plethora of musical 'greats' passed through The Bluesbreakers or played alongside Mayall including: (on guitar) Eric Clapton, Roger Dean, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, Harvey Mandel, Jerry McGee, Jimmy McCulloch, James Quill Smith, Don McMinn, Kal David, Walter Trout, Coco Montoya, Randy Resnick, Sonny Landreth, Buddy Whittington, Eric Steckel, Robben Ford (on bass) Jack Bruce, John McVie, Steven Thompson, Larry Taylor, Tony Reeves, Rick 'RC' Cortes, Hank Van Sickle (on drums) Hughie Flint, Keef Hartley, Aynsley Dunbar, Soko Richardson, Jon Hiseman, Colin Allen, Mick Fleetwood, Keith John (on keyboards) Dr. John (and on vocals/harmonica) Paul Butterfield. John himself is a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, keyboards and harmonica. In November 2008 Mayall disbanded The Bluesbreakers to cut back on his heavy workload and give himself freedom to work with other musicians. However, three months later a world tour with a new band was announced: Tom Cannings on keyboards, Rocky Athas on guitar, Greg Rzab on bass, and Jay Davenport on drums.
OK, these are new names to me, but digging around in their backgrounds threw up outstanding pedigrees. Rocky was a childhood friend of Stevie Ray Vaughan (I've heard of him!) and was inducted into Buddy Magazine's Texas Tornadoes two years before Stevie. Thin Lizzy wrote the song Cocky Rocky after hearing Rocky play one night. Brian May was so floored by Rocky's finger tapping style that he incorporated it on the next Queen album. He played in Black Oak Arkansas, had his own band, the Rocky Athas Group, and has toured with huge acts such as: Ted Nugent, The Kinks, Rick Derringer, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, and Peter Frampton.
Greg has played bass with, among others: Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, The Allman Brothers Band, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Black Crowes, Albert Collins, Luther Allison, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, Hubert Sumlin, Junior Wells, and Jimmy Page.
Now I'm not big on drummers and their careers but Jay was mentored by Clifton James who drummed for Bo Diddley, which must have been a good start. Among others, his drummed for Junior Wells, Valerie Wellington, Pinetop Perkins, Dion Payton, 'Southside' Denny Snyder, Gloria Hardiman, Jimmie Johnson, J.W. Williams, Carlos Johnson, and most recently with Melvin Taylor where he met up with Greg.
Over the years, Tom has toured and recorded with such diverse artists as Bonnie Raitt, Robbie Robertson, Glenn Frey and Joe Walsh, Elvis Costello, Albert Lee, Juke Logan, Freddie King, and Johnny Shines, as well as legendary French singers Johnny Hallyday and Eddy Mitchell. He has also produced critically acclaimed albums for Stephen Bruton, Scott Cossu, and New Age artist Ray Lynch. Since then, he has been invited to record a total of eight albums with JM and The Bluesbreakers, including Along For The Ride, Stories, No Days Off and The 70th Birthday Concert. An official member of The Bluesbreakers touring band from 2001 through 2003, Tom has rejoined John for the current line up.
OK, that's a lot of background, sorry, but I guess the point I'm trying to made is that this was a bunch of musicians of the highest calibre and this was evident by the quality of their performance. Each song (most of which I'd never heard before) was about 10-15 minutes long, and usually bookended virtuoso performances in the middle section that were simply breathtaking. The second song was an epic jazz/blues fusion worthy of early Caravan, fantastic. JM alternated between singing, playing the harmonica, keyboards, and sometimes the guitar. At one point Greg did a bass guitar solo that was absolutely jaw-dropping. Of the songs that I caught the names of, Parchman Farm (named for the Mississippi State Penitentiary), and Dream About The Blues, were outstanding. I would thoroughly recommend anyone with the slightest interest in the blues to try and catch JM on his tour.
The evening was still young when we left The Duchess so we headed across town to The Roman Bath where The Mojos were playing. We arrived about half way through their set and, as usual, were treated by a bunch of well-known tunes played exceptionally well, including: Van Halen Jump, Whitesnake Here I go Again, Dire Straits Sultans of Swing, The Darkness I Believe in a Thing Called Love, The Jam Town Called Malice, Robbie Williams Let Me Entertain You , and as an encore: Donna Summer (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher, Guns 'n' Roses Sweet Child of Mine, and Kings of Leon Sex on Fire. Terrific stuff, always good for a sing-along, and they get my feet shuffling.
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