John Mayall: (29 November 1933 – 22 July 2024)

  

John Mayall OBE (29 November 1933 – 22 July 2024) was an English blues and rock musician, songwriter and producer. In the 1960s, he formed John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band that has

counted among its members some of the most famous blues and blues rock musicians. A singer, guitarist, harmonica player, and keyboardist, he had a career that spanned nearly seven decades, remaining an active musician until his death aged 90. Mayall. He has often been referred to as the "godfather of the British blues", and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the musical influence category in 2024.
              

A generation older than most of his sidemen, Mayall was a mentor; his bands were both a lab and finishing school for iconic musicians -- particularly guitarists. Eric Clapton, Peter Green, and Mick

Taylor served, as did bassists Jack Bruce and John McVie and drummers Mick Fleetwood and Aynsley Dunbar, among dozens of others. Five of Mayall's first seven albums, including 1966's Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton, 1967's A Hard Road, and 1969's The Turning Point, all placed inside the British Top Ten. After emigrating to the U.S., Mayall cut several albums during the '70s including Ten Years Are Gone and Jazz Blues Fusion, that showcased veteran blues and jazz players including Harvey Mandel, Jesse Ed Davis, Larry Taylor, and Blue Mitchell.
         

He died Monday (22 July 2024) at his home in California, according to a statement posted by his family on his official Facebook page. He was 90.

The statement didn’t specify a cause but attributed the death to the “health issues that forced John to end his epic touring career.” Mayall, who’d been performing on the road as recently as 2022, was due to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in October as a recipient of the organization’s Musical Influence Award. On its website, the hall hailed Mayall’s “rugged individuality and distinctive voice and style” and said he “continually experimented with and stretched the blues.”
         

MICK TAYLOR & JOHN MAYALL

“The blues is such an everlasting source of inspiration to me,” he told The Times in 1990. “It’s quite inexhaustible, really.”

JOHN MAYALL - THRU THE YEARS 1990

                    

A grab bag of rare tracks from the '60s, some of which stand among Mayall's finest. His debut 1964 single "Crawling Up a Hill" is one of his best originals; this comp also includes a couple of 1964-1965 flipsides. The eight songs featuring Peter Green include some top-notch material that outpaces much of the only album recorded by the Green lineup (A Hard Road), particularly the Green originals "Missing You" and "Out of Reach," a great B-side with devastating, icy guitar lines and downbeat lyrics that ranks as one of the great lost blues-rock cuts of the '60s. The set is filled out with a few songs from the Mick Taylor era, the highlight being the vicious instrumental "Knockers Step Forward."
     

John Mayall – Thru The Years
Label: Deram – 844 028-2
Format: CD, Compilation, Reissue 1990
Country: US
Released: 1971
Genre: Rock, Blues
Style: Blues Rock, Electric Blues, Rhythm & Blues

TRACKS

01. John Mayall's Bluesbreakers – Crocodile Walk    2:14
02. John Mayall's Bluesbreakers – My Baby Is Sweeter    2:59
03. John Mayall's Bluesbreakers – Crawling Up A Hill    2:15
04. John Mayall's Bluesbreakers – Mama, Talk To Your Daughter    2:58
05. Bluesbreakers – Alabama Blues    2:29
06. Bluesbreakers – Out Of Reach    4:42
07. Bluesbreakers – Greeny    3:54
08. Bluesbreakers – Curly    4:50
09. Bluesbreakers – Missing You    1:57
10. John Mayall's Bluesbreakers – Please Don't Tell    2:26
11. John Mayall's Bluesbreakers – Your Funeral And My Trial    3:55
12. John Mayall's Bluesbreakers – Suspicions (Part 1)    2:47
13. John Mayall – Knockers Step Forward    3:12
14. John Mayall – Hide And Seek    2:22

Flac Size: 329 MB

JOHN MAYALL - LONDON BLUES 1964 - 1969 (1992)

 

This two-hour-plus compilation of the first five years of the history of John Mayall and his band the Bluesbreakers in their many permutations covers all the expected bases and then some. Eric Clapton, Peter Green, and Mick Taylor are all represented, but so are Bernie Watson and Roger Dean, both of

whom preceded Clapton in the guitarist's spot in the band. What's more, they're not bad; they may not have been the assertive soloist that Clapton came to embody, but Dean plays a pretty hot solo on "Crocodile Walk," which was good enough to make the A-side of a single in 1965. Moreover, there was more to any of the Mayall bands than their guitarists, and Mayall's blues harmonica is showcased throughout, on tracks such as "Crawling Up a Hill" and "Blues City Shakedown." The familiar Immediate and Decca/London sides featuring Clapton are here, though the lion's share of space on this set is devoted to the Peter Green version of the lineup, spread over two discs.
       

Other highlights include a handful of tracks from 1967 featuring Paul Butterfield, and a handful of cuts featuring Green working in a lineup that includes saxmen John Almond and Nick Newell as well as

trumpeter Henry Lowther. The Mick Taylor lineup, which also includes Dick Heckstall-Smith as one of the reedmen, takes up the bulk of the second disc and shows no diminution of the group's authoritative approach to the blues. Indeed, the Clapton sides represented on this collection, being the most familiar and widely circulated, may well prove to be the least interesting; distilling down the best work of everyone else, including Mayall, on the other hand, is a welcome service and makes this package particularly useful, and short of a Mayall box -- an unlikely prospect -- this is as good an overview as you're likely to see of his early work.

John Mayall – London Blues 1964 - 1969
Label: Deram – 844 302-2
Series: Chronicles
Format: 2 x CD, Compilation, Slipcase
Country: US
Released: 1992
Genre: Rock, Blues
Style: Blues Rock, Electric Blues

CD1.

 

01. Crawling Up A Hill   2:15
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Martin Hart
Guitar – Bernie Watson
Vocals, Organ, Harmonica – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall
02. My Baby Is Sweeter   3:00
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Hughie Flint
Guitar – Roger Dean
Vocals, Organ, Piano, Harmonica – John Mayall
Written-By – Dixon
03. Crocodile Walk   2:14
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Hughie Flint
Guitar – Roger Dean
Vocals, Organ, Piano, Harmonica – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall
04. Blues City Shakedown   2:19
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Hughie Flint
Guitar – Roger Dean
Vocals, Organ, Piano, Harmonica – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall
05. I'm Your Witchdoctor   2:09
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Hughie Flint
Guitar – Eric Clapton
Vocals, Organ, Harmonica – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall
06. Telephone Blues   3:56
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Hughie Flint
Guitar – Eric Clapton
Vocals, Organ, Harmonica – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall
07. Bernard Jenkins   3:46
Guitar – Eric Clapton
Piano – John Mayall
Written-By – Clapton
08. All Your Love   3:32
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Hughie Flint
Guitar – Eric Clapton
Vocals, Piano, Organ, Harmonica – John Mayall
Written-By – Rush, Dixon
09. Double Crossing Time   3:00
Baritone Saxophone – John Almond
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Hughie Flint
Guitar – Eric Clapton
Vocals, Piano, Organ, Harmonica – John Mayall
Written-By – Clapton, Mayall
10. Key To Love   2:05
Baritone Saxophone – John Almond
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Hughie Flint
Guitar – Eric Clapton
Tenor Saxophone – Alan Skidmore
Trumpet – Dennis Healey
Vocals, Piano, Organ, Harmonica – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall
11. Parchman Farm   2:20
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Hughie Flint
Guitar – Eric Clapton
Vocals, Piano, Organ, Harmonica – John Mayall
Written-By – Allison
12. Looking Back   2:35
Baritone Saxophone – John Almond
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Aynsley Dunbar
Guitar – Peter Green
Tenor Saxophone – Nick Newell
Trumpet – Henry Lowther
Vocals, Guitar – John Mayall
Written-By – Watson
13. So Many Roads   4:43
Baritone Saxophone – John Almond
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Aynsley Dunbar
Guitar – Peter Green
Tenor Saxophone – Nick Newell
Trumpet – Henry Lowther
Vocals, Guitar – John Mayall
Written-By – Paul
14. Sitting In The Rain   2:56
Bass – John McVie
Guitar – Peter Green
Percussion – Aynsley Dunbar
Vocals, Guitar – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall
15. A Hard Road   3:06
Alto Saxophone – Ray Warleigh
Baritone Saxophone – John Almond
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Aynsley Dunbar
Guitar – Peter Green
Tenor Saxophone – Alan Skidmore
Vocals, Organ, Piano, Harmonica, Guitar – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall
16. Dust My Blues   2:44
Alto Saxophone – Ray Warleigh
Baritone Saxophone – John Almond
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Aynsley Dunbar
Guitar – Peter Green
Tenor Saxophone – Alan Skidmore
Vocals, Organ, Piano, Harmonica, Guitar – John Mayall
Written-By – James, Josea
17. The Supernatural   2:53
Alto Saxophone – Ray Warleigh
Baritone Saxophone – John Almond
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Aynsley Dunbar
Guitar – Peter Green
Tenor Saxophone – Alan Skidmore
Vocals, Organ, Piano, Harmonica, Guitar – John Mayall
Written-By – Green
18. Another Kinda Love   3:01
Alto Saxophone – Ray Warleigh
Baritone Saxophone – John Almond
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Aynsley Dunbar
Guitar – Peter Green
Tenor Saxophone – Alan Skidmore
Vocals, Organ, Piano, Harmonica – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall
19. Leaping Christine   2:20
Alto Saxophone – Ray Warleigh
Baritone Saxophone – John Almond
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Aynsley Dunbar
Guitar – Peter Green
Tenor Saxophone – Alan Skidmore
Vocals, Organ, Piano, Harmonica, Guitar – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall
20. Burn Out Your Blind Eyes   2:56
Vocals, Guitar [9 String] – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall

Flac Size: 333 MB

CD2.

 

01. All My Life   2:56
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Aynsley Dunbar
Guitar – Peter Green
Harmonica – Paul Butterfield
Vocals, Guitar [9 String], Piano – John Mayall
Written-By – Robinson
02. Ridin' On The L & N   2:26
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Aynsley Dunbar
Guitar – Peter Green
Harmonica – Paul Butterfield
Vocals, Guitar [9 String], Piano – John Mayall
Written-By – Burley, Hampton
03. Eagle Eye   2:50
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Aynsley Dunbar
Guitar – Peter Green
Harmonica – Paul Butterfield
Vocals, Guitar [9 String], Piano – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall
04. It Hurts Me Too   2:53
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Mick Fleetwood
Guitar – Peter Green
Vocals, Guitar [9 String], Organ, Piano – John Mayall
Written-By – London
05. Double Trouble   3:18
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Mick Fleetwood
Guitar – Peter Green
Vocals, Guitar [9 String], Organ, Piano – John Mayall
Written-By – Rush
06. Sonny Boy Blow   3:46
Drums – Keef Hartley
Vocals, Piano, Organ, Harmonica – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall
07. Broken Wings   4:12
Drums – Keef Hartley
Vocals, Piano, Organ, Harmonica – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall
08. Oh, Pretty Woman   3:29
Baritone Saxophone – Rip Kant
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Keef Hartley
Guitar – Mick Taylor
Tenor Saxophone – Chris Mercer
Vocals, Organ, Piano, Guitar, Harmonica – John Mayall
Written-By – Williams
09. The Death Of J. B. Lenoir   4:12
Baritone Saxophone – Rip Kant
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Keef Hartley
Guitar – Mick Taylor
Tenor Saxophone – Chris Mercer
Vocals, Organ, Piano, Guitar, Harmonica – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall
10. Man Of Stone   2:22
Baritone Saxophone – Rip Kant
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Keef Hartley
Guitar – Mick Taylor
Tenor Saxophone – Chris Mercer
Vocals, Organ, Piano, Guitar, Harmonica – John Mayall
Written-By – Kirkland
11. Checkin' On My Baby   3:55
Baritone Saxophone – Rip Kant
Bass – John McVie
Drums – Keef Hartley
Guitar – Mick Taylor
Tenor Saxophone – Chris Mercer
Vocals, Organ, Piano, Guitar, Harmonica – John Mayall
Written-By – Williamson
12. Suspicions (Part One)   2:44
Bass – Paul Williams
Drums – Keef Hartley
Guitar – Mick Taylor
Tenor Saxophone – Chris Mercer
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Dick Heckstall-Smith
Vocals, Guitar – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall
13. Jenny   4:33
Drums – Keef Hartley
Guitar – Peter Green
Vocals, Guitar – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall
14. Picture On The Wall   3:01
Drums – Keef Hartley
Guitar – Peter Green
Vocals, Guitar, Piano – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall
15. No Reply   3:05
Bass – Tony Reeves
Cornet, Violin – Henry Lowther
Drums – Jon Hiseman
Guitar – Mick Taylor
Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone – Chris Mercer
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Dick Heckstall-Smith
Vocals, Piano, Organ, Guitar, Harmonica – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall, Taylor
16. She's Too Young   2:19
Bass – Tony Reeves
Cornet, Violin – Henry Lowther
Drums – Jon Hiseman
Guitar – Mick Taylor
Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone – Chris Mercer
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Dick Heckstall-Smith
Vocals, Piano, Organ, Guitar, Harmonica – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall
17. Sandy   3:45
Bass – Tony Reeves
Cornet, Violin – Henry Lowther
Drums – Jon Hiseman
Guitar – Mick Taylor
Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone – Chris Mercer
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Dick Heckstall-Smith
Vocals, Piano, Organ, Guitar, Harmonica – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall
18. Walking On Sunset   2:56
Bass – Steve Thompson
Drums – Colin Allen
Guitar – Mick Taylor
Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Organ, Harmonica – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall
19. The Bear   4:41
Bass – Steve Thompson
Drums – Colin Allen
Guitar – Mick Taylor
Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Organ, Harmonica – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall
20. Fly Tomorrow   8:59
Bass – Steve Thompson
Drums – Colin Allen
Guitar – Mick Taylor
Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Organ, Harmonica – John Mayall
Written-By – Mayall

Flac Size: 418 MB

John Mayall on URBAN ASPIRINES HERE