John Mayall (1933–2024)

This is an unusual music auto/biography, because Mayall is notable for many of the attributes that are rare in professional musicians and to be admired. He writes that he was teetotal until age 35, and says he has never taken, let alone become addicted to, other drugs; he began his career in the blues by marrying, having three children, and later adopting a fourth. He has been a lifelong woodworker, maker, graphic designer, general collector and perennially productive musician; he seems to show more have recorded and attempted to preserve miscellaneous creations of his many bands, his thoughts, shows and other events he's witnessed, including conversations with agents and lovemaking with girlfriends.

On the other hand, Mayall apparently left his family and had hundreds of briefish romantic relationships, and seems to have employed and fired - rather amicably, in most cases - far more band members than most. The dozens of albums he mentions seem to be a blur of calls from a record company, 'getting a band together', trying new instrument combinations and usually topping them off with his own compositions and singing.The guitarists, in particular, have included England's best - Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor among them. All his human relationships seem casually promiscuous, without much information beyond how he got along with the individuals in a handful of brief encounters. Many of his brief mentions of albums note that they sank without a trace. I looked for explanations in the book for why record companies like Polydor kept coming back for more, and what distinguished his many forays into playing and recording versions of the blues - enjoyable as they are.

The account is a strange mix of information, sometimes reading like diary notes. His songs and lyrics are also inward looking, seemingly unintended for listeners to decode: he lists dozens of song titles inspired by his relationships, brief thoughts and feelings. The many names roll out casually but - by contrast - in his early years of success he communicates well being overawed by American blues players and America itself.

Mayall's autobiography is comfortable and mellow without chemical additives, written in 2019 at the age of 86. Having said that, his narrative stops abruptly in 1979, with his experiences after the age of 46 sketched in a few last pages, to be continued in a second volume. I enjoyed this unusual autobiography, but don't feel there's much more that I have an urge to know. show less

1 Introduction by John Mayall 0:52
2 Art School Boogie 5:54
3 The Narrow Path 6:49
4 Comments by John Mayall 0:20
5 My Old Man 2:59
6 I'll Be Ready 2:37
7 Classroom Blues 5:02
8 How Long, How Long 3:10
9 Too Close Together 3:54
10 Comments by John Mayall 0:38
11 Hillbilly Blues 4:26
12 Maudie 3:06
13 Twist All Night 3:09
14 It Hurts Me Too 2:57
15 The Hucklebuck 5:29
16 Got My Mojo Working 5:12
17 Soon Forgotten 4:18
18 Sermonette 5:46
19 No Rollin' Blues 3:49
Manufactured By – Disc Makers, Fremont
Bass – show more Ricky Blears (tracks: 2 to 9)
Drums – Hughie Flint (tracks: 11 to 19), Peter Ward (4) (tracks: 2 to 9)
Guitar – Ray Cummings (tracks: 11 to 19 + some tracks)
Piano, Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals – John Mayall (tracks: all)
Saxophone – Jack Masarak (tracks: 11 to 19)
Trumpet – John Rowlands (tracks: 11 to 19) show less

Wikipedia information

When John Mayall was starting another band after the break-up of the Bluesbreakers in May 1969,[4] he decided to have a band that would play "low volume music" – or music without "heavy lead guitar and drums".
The performers on the album were Mayall on vocals, harmonica, a slide and a Fender Telecaster guitar, a tambourine, and mouth percussion, Jon Mark on acoustic guitar, Steve Thompson on bass, and Johnny Almond on tenor and alto saxophones, flutes, and mouth show more percussion. All the songs on the album were written or co-written by John Mayall. Thompson co-wrote California, Thoughts About Roxanne and Don't Waste My Time.[1] Another track, "I'm Gonna Fight For You, J.B.," is a tribute to the American blues guitarist J. B. Lenoir who died in 1967 and who had a deep influence on Mayall (this was Mayall's second such tribute to the musician; "The Death of J.B. Lenoir" appeared on his earlier Crusade album). Two concerts took place, on 11 and 12 July. All tracks are from the second gig.
The album was produced by John Mayall, who also designed the packaging and was the album's art director. The recording engineer was Eddie Kramer, who had engineered Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, among others show less

Liverpool's King's Dock on July 19, 2003 was the venue for a long awaited and much anticipated reunion between Eric Clapton and John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. The occasion was both a celebration of John Mayall's 70th year and a fundraiser for UNICEF. Also invited to the party were former Bluesbreaker and Rolling Stone Mick Taylor and veteran trombonist Chris Barber. If you're a lover of the blues it doesn't get much better than this. The show ran for around two and a half hours and the show more film is now presented here in its entirety for the first time. show less