Miłośnikom bluesa nie trzeba szerzej opisywać postać Johna Mayalla i jego wpływu na muzykę rockową z "bielszym odcieniem bluesa". Z formalności zatem przytoczę informację zaczerpniętą z wikipedii. Chciałbym tylko wspomnieć, że moim zdaniem lata 1968-1972 to najbardziej interesujący okres twórczości tego muzyka, kiedy to flirtował również z jazzem.
John Mayall (ur. 29 listopada 1933 w Macclesfield, Cheshire w Anglii) - brytyjski multiinstrumentalista (gra na gitarze, instrumentach klawiszowych, perkusji,harmonijce), kompozytor, bluesman, pionier muzyki rockowej. Urodził się w rodzinie Murraya Mayalla - gitarzysty i entuzjasty jazzu. Od najmłodszych lat słuchał amerykańskich bluesmanów takich jak Leadbelly, Albert Ammons, Pinetop Smith czy Eddie Lang i sam uczył się gry na fortepianie, gitarze i harmonijce.
Po ukończeniu college'u Mayall odsłużył trzy lata w armii brytyjskiej w Korei. W 1956 zaczął grać bluesa w półprofesjonalnej grupie The Powerhouse Four, a następnie w The Blues Syndicate. Po wpływem Alexisa Kornera przeniósł się do Londynu i utworzył tam John Mayall's Bluesbreakers.
John Mayall (ur. 29 listopada 1933 w Macclesfield, Cheshire w Anglii) - brytyjski multiinstrumentalista (gra na gitarze, instrumentach klawiszowych, perkusji,harmonijce), kompozytor, bluesman, pionier muzyki rockowej. Urodził się w rodzinie Murraya Mayalla - gitarzysty i entuzjasty jazzu. Od najmłodszych lat słuchał amerykańskich bluesmanów takich jak Leadbelly, Albert Ammons, Pinetop Smith czy Eddie Lang i sam uczył się gry na fortepianie, gitarze i harmonijce.
Po ukończeniu college'u Mayall odsłużył trzy lata w armii brytyjskiej w Korei. W 1956 zaczął grać bluesa w półprofesjonalnej grupie The Powerhouse Four, a następnie w The Blues Syndicate. Po wpływem Alexisa Kornera przeniósł się do Londynu i utworzył tam John Mayall's Bluesbreakers.
Mayall był przeciętnie o dziesięć lat starszy niż pierwsze pokolenie muzyków brytyjskiego rock and rolla i rocka i w momencie, gdy ten się narodził miał już wieloletnie doświadczenie muzyczne. Nic zatem dziwnego, że stał się nestorem sceny rockowej w pierwszej połowie lat sześćdziesiątych. Mayall był też pierwszym, który sięgnął do korzeni muzyki rockowej - bluesa i zainicjował styl blues rock. W jego grupie John Mayall Blues Breakers, która była swoistą "wylęgarnią" i szkołą talentów, występowali tacy muzycy jak Eric Clapton i Jack Bruce z Cream, Peter Green, John McVie i Mick Fleetwood z Fleetwood Mac, Mick Taylor z The Rolling Stones i wielu innych. Większość uczniów Mayalla znacznie przewyższyła go popularnością. Pod koniec lat sześćdziesiątych, po komercyjnym sukcesie w USA, Mayall przeprowadził się do Laurel Canyon w Los Angeles wtapiając się w lokalną scenę blues rocka i jazz-rocka.
From the 1969 film "The turning point"
Blues from Laurel Canyon is a 1968 album by John Mayall, featuring British blues music. It was his first album after the breakup of his band the Bluesbreakers on 14 July 1968. It was also his last album with Decca before moving to Polydor.
John Mayall sings and plays harmonica, organ and guitar on the album. Other musicians include a young Mick Taylor (guitar), Colin Allen (drums) and Stephen Thompson (bass). The guitarist Peter Green featured on the track First Time Alone. The engineer was Derek Varnals. All the songs on the album were written by John Mayall. It was recorded at Decca Studios in West Hampstead, London, England between 26 and 28 August 1968, and was released on the Decca label.
The title of the album derives from Laurel Canyon, California, USA (in the Los Angeles area) where John Mayall subsequently lived from 1969 to 1979. It forms a record of his visit there before moving to the US on a more permanent basis. The area was favoured by many musicians at the time.
The album was innovative for its time, especially by the standards of blues recordings. The first track opens with a recording of a jet airliner landing, dissolving into the driving rhythm of the song. There were no visible track divisions on the vinyl album. Some songs fade or segue into the next track, others stop on a chord which is immediately followed by the introduction of the next track. Tabla drums are used, as is the technique of hitting guitar strings with a drumstick. The final track is a short song which moves into an extended lead guitar solo underscored by Mayall's Hammond organ, fading into a simple unaccompanied guitar figure which repeats until it too fades.
The lyrics are autobiographical and refer, if obliquely, to people Mayall met on his first visit, such as Frank Zappa and Moon Unit Zappa (on 2401) and the band Canned Heat (on The Bear). The identity of Miss James, the romantic interest described in loving detail in the second half of the album, is not known.
From a technical point of view, the album demonstrates the limitations of the recording technology of the time. A substantial number of vinyl albums were issued in monophonic format, since many home record players, at least in the United Kingdom, could not reproduce stereophonic sound. On the stereophonic releases, including the CD re-releases, the stereo imaging separates the instruments quite strongly. For instance, in the song Walking on Sunset, the drumkit, situated on the left, is inaudible in the right hand channel. The overall impression is that of being in a hallway with several rooms off it, each one containing a particular instrument. There is no sense of being in a room with several instruments playing and generating an ambient sound-field, as might be expected from a live recording, or one mixed with more available sound inputs.
John Mayall sings and plays harmonica, organ and guitar on the album. Other musicians include a young Mick Taylor (guitar), Colin Allen (drums) and Stephen Thompson (bass). The guitarist Peter Green featured on the track First Time Alone. The engineer was Derek Varnals. All the songs on the album were written by John Mayall. It was recorded at Decca Studios in West Hampstead, London, England between 26 and 28 August 1968, and was released on the Decca label.
The title of the album derives from Laurel Canyon, California, USA (in the Los Angeles area) where John Mayall subsequently lived from 1969 to 1979. It forms a record of his visit there before moving to the US on a more permanent basis. The area was favoured by many musicians at the time.
The album was innovative for its time, especially by the standards of blues recordings. The first track opens with a recording of a jet airliner landing, dissolving into the driving rhythm of the song. There were no visible track divisions on the vinyl album. Some songs fade or segue into the next track, others stop on a chord which is immediately followed by the introduction of the next track. Tabla drums are used, as is the technique of hitting guitar strings with a drumstick. The final track is a short song which moves into an extended lead guitar solo underscored by Mayall's Hammond organ, fading into a simple unaccompanied guitar figure which repeats until it too fades.
The lyrics are autobiographical and refer, if obliquely, to people Mayall met on his first visit, such as Frank Zappa and Moon Unit Zappa (on 2401) and the band Canned Heat (on The Bear). The identity of Miss James, the romantic interest described in loving detail in the second half of the album, is not known.
From a technical point of view, the album demonstrates the limitations of the recording technology of the time. A substantial number of vinyl albums were issued in monophonic format, since many home record players, at least in the United Kingdom, could not reproduce stereophonic sound. On the stereophonic releases, including the CD re-releases, the stereo imaging separates the instruments quite strongly. For instance, in the song Walking on Sunset, the drumkit, situated on the left, is inaudible in the right hand channel. The overall impression is that of being in a hallway with several rooms off it, each one containing a particular instrument. There is no sense of being in a room with several instruments playing and generating an ambient sound-field, as might be expected from a live recording, or one mixed with more available sound inputs.
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