John Mayall - Rolling With The Blues, Live

John Mayall (born 29 November 1933) is an English blues singer, guitarist, organist and songwriter, whose musical career spans over sixty years. In the 1960s, he was the founder of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band which has counted among its members some of the most famous blues and blues rock musicians. John Mayall is the godfather of the British blues. A singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, he has been a bandleader and recording artist since 1965. 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. "Rolling with the Blues" chronicles seven John Mayall concerts played between 1972 and 1982. Mayall had given up trying to maintain and support a regular backing group by the early '70s, and was instead working with different configurations for specific gigs. For the 1972 Frankfurt show that opens this two-disc set, Mayall works with a lineup of Keef Hartley on drums, Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Clifford Solomon on sax, Freddy Robinson on guitar, and Victor Gaskin on upright bass. Red Holloway replaces Solomon on sax for a second show in Frankfurt a year later in 1973. A 1980 show in Huntington Beach, CA, finds James Quill Smith on guitar. Two 1982 concerts, one in Minneapolis and one in Chicago, feature John McVie of Fleetwood Mac on bass, while two shows in Italy later in the year, one in Rome and one in Lugo, sport a stripped-down lineup of Mick Taylor, Steve Thompson, and Colin Allen. For all these personnel differences, the sound is remarkably consistent and the live recordings are quite balanced, although things red-line occasionally and now and then there are some obvious dropouts, but nothing too serious. Among the highlights are the over 12-minute jazz blues "Got You on My Mind" and a scuffling "No Holds Barred" from the 1972 Frankfurt show and an appropriately ragged John Lee Hooker homage, "John Lee Boogie," from the 1980 Huntington Beach performance. This is a double CD retrospective of John Mayall with extensive sleeve notes.. The seven concerts from which these recordings are taken span just 10 years (1972 to '82) in John Mayall's 60 years-plus-and-still-goingstrong career. Musically though, what you have here are brilliant performances which resonate with virtually all stages of his remarkable journey as band leader, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and blues crusader on both sides of the Atlantic. There is a 1982 Bluesbreakers reunion featuring Mick Taylor and John McVie and there are also jazz soloists and much more.

1-1 Band Introduction (Narrative) 1:01

1-2 Got You On My Mind 12:12

1-3 No Smoking 8:06

1-4 No Holds Barred 7:22

1-5 Band Intro 1:41

1-6 Feels Good In Frankfurt 11:42

1-7 Next Time Around 11:25

1-8 Freddie's Request (Narrative) 0:31

1-9 Sad To Be Alone 6:31

1-10 Red Presents Blue Mitchell (Narrative) 1:04

1-11 Filthy McNasty 7:54

1-12 Make My Bed Tonight 6:42

2-1 Mexico City 10:16

2-2 Gone From The Canyon 4:42

2-3 Caught In The Middle 9:56

2-4 John Lee Boogie 8:43

2-5 Emergency Boogie 4:32

2-6 Rolling With The Blues 9:05

2-7 Howlin' Moon 6:30

2-8 Room To Move 6:37

2-9 Sitting Here Alone 6:25

2-10 The Stumble 5:16

6-String Bass - Victor Gaskin

Bass - Steve Thompson 

Bass Guitar - Kevin McCormick

Drums - Colin Allen, Keef Hartley, Soko Richardson

Electric Bass - John McVie

Guitar - Freddie Robinson, James Quill Smith, Mick Taylor

Tenor Saxophone - Clifford Solomon, Red Holloway

Trumpet - Blue MitchellVocals, Harmonica, Piano, Guitar - John Mayall