A Eulogy for John Mayall
The British blues pioneer was 90
British blues legend John Mayall passed away this past week from natural causes at the ripe old age of 90 years.
Mayall had still been touring and recording as recently as 2022, releasing The Sun Is Shining Down, his 38th studio album, before ill health took him off the road. Although not as well-known in the United States as his accomplishments merited, Mayall’s career nevertheless spanned seven decades and earned him the sobriquet “The Godfather of British Blues.”
Born in 1933 in Macclesfield, England, Mayall’s father was a musician, and young John developed an enthusiasm in music at a young age. Teaching himself to play guitar, piano and harmonica by listening to records by American jazz and blues artists like Eddie Lang, Albert Ammons and Leadbelly, Mayall worked for a while as an art designer, playing music at night in local pubs before moving to London in the early 1960s at the urging of friend Alexis Korner to pursue a full-time career in music.
Dubbing his band John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Mayall recorded his first album, John Mayall Plays John Mayall, for Decca Records in 1963. Recorded live at the Klooks Kleek club in the North Hampstead area of London, the Bluesbreakers, at that point, included guitarist Roger Dean (not the acclaimed fantasy artist), drummer Hughie Flint, and a young bass player named John McVie. This line-up also served as John Lee Hooker’s backing band during the American blues legend’s 1964 UK tour. It was with the addition, in 1965, of Yardbirds’ guitarist Eric Clapton (replacing Dean) that forever changed the direction of Mayall’s career.
The presence of the superstar guitarist brought the Bluesbreakers increased media attention in the UK, leading to the 1966 release of Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton, a groundbreaking album that not only showcased the red-hot guitarist’s fiery blues guitar licks but also features Mayall’s increasingly sophisticated songwriting skills. Along with Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated and Cyril Davies and the R&B All-Stars, Mayall’s Bluesbreakers helped popularize blues music in England, leading to a late-decade blues-rock explosion fueled in large part by the album’s commercial success. Clapton left Mayall’s employ after the one album to form Cream with fellow Bluesbreakers’ alumni Jack Bruce.
Mayall had a keen eye for talent, however, and soon enlisted guitarist Peter Green, who had filled in with the Bluesbreakers on occasion, as Clapton’s replacement. With a line-up that included Green, bassist McVie and drummer Aynsley Dunbar, as well as saxophonist John Almond, Mayall recorded A Hard Road. Released in 1967, the album charted nearly as high as its predecessor and many fans consider it as good, if not better, than the Clapton LP. The success of A Hard Road prompted Green to leave the band and form Fleetwood Mac, taking McVie and new Bluesbreakers’ drummer Mick Fleetwood with him.
Barely losing a step, Mayall found 18-year-old guitarist Mick Taylor through a “musician wanted” classified ad, and hit the studio to record the late-1967 Crusade album with McVie and new drummer Keef Hartley. Crusade became the third Top Ten charting Bluesbreakers album in a row in the UK, directly leading to the commercial success of 1968’s Bare Wires. Recording again with Taylor as well as several future members of the British prog-rock band Colosseum, Bare Wires peaked at #3 on the UK charts, also breaking through in the U.S. with a #59 chart position. It would be the most commercially-successful album of Mayall’s career, and the last one to carry the “Bluesbreakers” name.
Following a blueprint that he’d follow throughout his career, Mayall’s bands featured a revolving door of musicians through the years, many whom would leave Mayall’s mentorship to form successful bands of their own. Mayall continued to release modestly-successful albums throughout the remainder of the ‘60s; Taylor left after 1968’s Blues From Laurel Canyon to join the Rolling Stones. Living in California at the time, Mayall recruited American musicians, including guitarist Harvey Mandel and bassist Larry Taylor (both from Canned Heat) as well as future Frank Zappa sideman Don “Sugarcane” Harris, to record his highest-charting U.S. album, 1970’s USA Union. During the 1970s, Mayall would incorporate jazz elements into his bluesy sound on albums like Jazz Blues Fusion and Ten Years Gone.
In the early 1980s, Mayall brought back the Bluesbreakers as a band concept, with a new line-up featuring guitarists Walter Trout and Coco Montoya, who have both since enjoyed lengthy post-Bluesbreakers solo careers. Although the British blues boom had long since passed, Mayall continued to record and tour well into the new millennium; even if any sort of chart success eluded him, a loyal audience dating back to the ‘60s kept his career thriving. Mayall’s successful final chapter began when he signed with musician and producer Eric Corne and his Forty Below Records label for the 2014 album A Special Life. Working with a band line-up that included guitarist Rocky Athas, bassist Greg Rzab and drummer Jay Davenport, the album received overwhelmingly positive reviews
Mayall’s association with Corne continued to bear fruit until the musician’s death, the pair collaborating on a total of five studio albums, including 2017’s acclaimed Talk About That, about which I wrote at the time “that he continues to make inspiring, influential music six decades into his career it is a testament to the man’s love of the blues and his joy in music-making. Talk About That continued Mayall’s creative romp in the new millennium, the album adorned with endless charm and creative spirit proving that John Mayall will not go quietly into that good night…” Mayall and Corne also worked together to release three historic, previously unheard live albums from 1967 that featured the short-lived Bluesbreakers line-up of Green, McVie and Fleetwood.
Blues Music Magazine editor Art Tipaldi, in an email exchange with Rock & Roll Globe, writes “to call John Mayall the Godfather of British Blues, as so many have, might be a misnomer. A godfather is either an originator of a form or a ceremonial protector; through his first ten years, the sum of this man’s musical accomplishments is more than either. He was first and foremost a restlessly creative visionary. In just these first ten years of recordings, Mayall directed the British Blues Invasion with his primary disciples, then ventured into jazz explorations, and ultimately discovered how these two genres can unite as one. All the while writing a treasure trove of original music originally reflective of his dedication to American blues forms and its originators, then exploring the jazz forms popular at the same time in British clubs of the 1960s.”
VIDEO: Eric Clapton remembers John Mayall
Continuing, Tipaldi writes, “Who else but Mayall, within a mere ten years, could move seamlessly from the exquisite guitar work of Clapton, Green and Taylor in a traditional blues combo into creating new musical fantasies with flutes, saxophones, trumpets, and vibraphones while still calling his troupe, the Bluesbreakers. Add to that Mayall’s abilities as a bandleader, musical arranger, and talent collector. In his career, John Mayall may have recorded more blues records than any other musician. And he may have written more songs too. From his initial 1965 recordings, which has 11 of 12 Mayall originals, to the final studio records, Mayall was a prolific songwriter in many genres.”
As a bandleader, Mayall played with, and helped shape the careers of numerous musicians; not only those mentioned above but also talents like drummer Micky Waller (Jeff Beck Group), guitarist Jon Mark (Mark-Almond, solo), guitarist Rick Vito (later Fleetwood Mac, solo), and saxophonist Ann Patterson, among many others. Mayall received many accolades over the course of his lengthy career, including an appointment as “OBE” (Officer of the British Empire), 2016 induction into the Blues Hall of Fame, and long-overdue induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year as an “musical influence.” Working with co-writer Joel McIver, Mayall’s autobiography, Blues From Laurel Canyon: My Life As A Bluesman, was published in 2019.
More than the musicians he mentored or the accolades received, John Mayall leaves behind a prolific catalog of timeless, joyful music that will continue to inspire and influences artists for generations to follow.
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