John Mayall

John Mayall, who held the Order of the British Empire, emerged as the central architect of British blues. Older than nearly all the players who passed through his groups, the vocalist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist served as guide and instructor; his ensembles functioned simultaneously as testing ground and advanced training for notable figures, above all guitarists. Eric Clapton, Peter Green, and Mick Taylor all worked alongside him, as did bassists Jack Bruce and John McVie plus drummers Mick Fleetwood and Aynsley Dunbar, together with scores more. Five of his initial seven LPs, among them 1966’s Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton, 1967’s A Hard Road, and 1969’s The Turning Point, reached the British Top Ten. Once he relocated to the United States, Mayall recorded multiple releases throughout the 1970s such as Ten Years Are Gone and Jazz Blues Fusion, spotlighting established blues and jazz musicians that included Harvey Mandel, Jesse Ed Davis, and Blue Mitchell. Throughout the 1980s he filled venues worldwide, worked with various companies, and featured elite guitarists such as Walter Trout, Sonny Landreth, and Coco Montoya. During the 1990s Mayall delivered a run of distinctive Silvertone albums that encompassed Wake Up Call, Spinning Coin, and Blues for the Lost Days. He entered the Blues Hall of Fame in 2016. At age 85 in 2019 he issued Nobody Told Me, a wide-ranging collection that drew strong praise for its roster of collaborators, among them Joe Bonamassa. Two months after turning 88 in 2022 he put out the all-star The Sun Is Shining Down.

Born in Cheshire during 1933, Mayall grew up with a father, Murray, who played guitar and amassed 78 rpm jazz and blues discs. From an early age he absorbed the music of American blues performers such as Lead Belly along with boogie-woogie pianists Albert Ammons, Meade “Lux” Lewis, and Pinetop Smith. Drawing on those influences he mastered piano, guitars, and harmonica without learning to read music. After finishing his O levels he served in Korea; while on leave he acquired his first electric guitar and recognized his calling. Upon completing his service he attended Manchester College of Art and performed with several working bands. Following graduation he took a position as an art designer until his friend and adviser Alexis Korner persuaded him to abandon the role, pursue music full time, and settle in London.

Mayall’s ensembles began appearing at local blues and R&B venues such as the Marquee and built an audience. The original Bluesbreakers recorded their first single, “Crawling Up a Hill” backed with “Mr. James,” in 1964. That same year they secured an opening slot for John Lee Hooker on the veteran’s British tour. Mayall signed with Decca in 1964 and released his debut album, John Mayall Plays John Mayall, in 1965, shortly before Eric Clapton departed the Yardbirds to join the Bluesbreakers, where John McVie already played bass. Their initial single, “I’m Your Witchdoctor” backed with “Telephone Blues,” appeared in October 1965. The previous August, Clapton had shown his characteristic restlessness and traveled to Greece with several less-experienced musicians, prompting the selection of Peter Green as replacement. Clapton returned in November and reclaimed his position, displacing Green without ceremony. Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton arrived in July 1966. Its twelve tracks featured renditions of Otis Rush’s “All Your Love” and Freddie King’s “Hide Away” together with five Mayall compositions. The album reached number six on the British chart and propelled Clapton to international recognition as a guitarist. Unknown to Mayall at the time, Clapton was already planning his exit and left in June to form Cream with Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce, the latter a former and future Mayall sideman.

After Mayall spent several weeks persuading a reluctant Peter Green to return, the new Bluesbreakers lineup proved nearly as brief yet highly productive, capturing more than forty songs. Their sole album, A Hard Road, appeared in February 1967 and climbed to number eight nationally. Green departed soon afterward and, together with bassist John McVie and ex-Mayall drummer Mick Fleetwood, established the first version of Fleetwood Mac alongside guitarist Jeremy Spencer.

Although press coverage frequently highlighted the stature of his sidemen over Mayall’s own skills, the multi-instrumentalist excelled at eliciting peak performances from his younger colleagues, particularly while they explored electric Chicago blues. While assembling another Bluesbreakers configuration he persistently tested and expanded blues structures toward a future he alone envisioned. He released the innovative solo album The Blues Alone in 1967, composing every track and performing every instrument except percussion, supplied by Keef Hartley.

Following McVie’s exit, Mayall’s changing touring personnel featured Taylor on lead guitar, saxophonists Dick Heckstall-Smith and Chris Mercer, Hartley on drums, and bassist Paul Williams, who soon departed and was succeeded by Keith Tillman. While traveling that year Mayall carried a portable two-track recorder and captured the band’s shows in the field. From more than sixty hours of tape he assembled excerpts into the live album Diary of a Band, Vols. 1 & 2, issued in 1968. The results evoked unofficial recordings that alternated extended jams in small clubs with onstage commentary, including exchanges with audiences, and interview segments. The approach and natural sonics created an unprecedented live recording that documented the sextet’s abilities at full strength. Among the numerous live albums Mayall has issued, it remains his most distinctive.

The 1968 album Bare Wires marked the first Bluesbreakers release to include future Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor. It reached number three—Mayall’s highest-charting album up to that point—and remained on the chart for fifty-five weeks. Later that year he dissolved the Bluesbreakers (no fewer than fifteen distinct lineups existed between 1963 and 1970) and recorded Blues from Laurel Canyon, his final Decca album. Although inspired by an initial trip to the Los Angeles music scene, the sessions actually took place in England. The set contained twelve Mayall originals and served as Taylor’s final recording with the band before he replaced Brian Jones in the Rolling Stones. Mayall had begun focusing on the United States. Late in 1969 he moved to the Los Angeles area and eventually bought a residence in Laurel Canyon.

Recorded live at Bill Graham’s Fillmore East for Polydor, the 1969 best-seller The Turning Point introduced a new band and approach without a drummer. The group featured Mayall on vocals, harmonica, and occasional electric guitar, Jon Mark on acoustic guitar, Steve Thompson on bass, and Johnny Almond on reeds and woodwinds. It reached number eleven in Britain and number forty-one in the United States yet eventually earned gold certification through the single “Room to Move.” The same musicians recorded the studio album Empty Rooms a few months afterward. In 1971 Mayall released the double album Back to the Roots. Sessions occurred in California and London, and he invited former Bluesbreakers members, notably guitarists Clapton and Taylor, to participate.

Canned Heat bassist Larry Taylor joined Mayall as one of three American musicians alongside former Canned Heat guitarist Harvey Mandel and electric violinist Sugarcane Harris. This lineup recorded 1970’s USA Union. In 1971 Mayall issued the trio album Memories with guitarist Jerry McGhee and bassist Taylor. The 1972 release Jazz Blues Fusion ventured further into new territory, presenting Mayall with trumpeter Blue Mitchell, saxophonist Clifford Solomon, guitarist Freddy Robinson, and bassist Larry Taylor. Augmented by drummer Keef Hartley and saxophonists Fred Jackson, Ernie Watts, and Charles Owens, that group released Moving On later the same year. Mayall continued exploring links between jazz and blues on the double album Ten Years Are Gone in late 1973 with a septet that included those players plus saxophonist Red Holloway and bassist Victor Gaskin.

Mayall maintained momentum with The Latest Edition in 1974. Produced by Tom Wilson, only Holloway remained from the prior group. The remaining musicians comprised Larry Taylor, drummer Soko Richardson, and guitarists Randy Resnick and Hi Tide Harris. The 1975 album New Year, New Band, New Company marked Mayall’s first release for ABC/Blue Thumb. Harris, Richardson, and Taylor returned, joined by electric pianist Jay Spell, guitarist Rick Vito, and vocalist Dee McKinney. Peaking at number 140 on the Billboard 200, it became the leader’s final charting album until 1990. The absence of commercial success did not indicate any decline in musical quality, merely shifting listener preferences. Later that year Mayall took the band to New Orleans to collaborate with producer and keyboardist Allen Toussaint. He expanded the lineup with “Bayou Maharaja” James Booker on organ, a Crescent City horn section, and additional musicians. At the close of 1975 Mayall returned to Los Angeles and recorded a series of boundary-pushing sessions issued the following year as A Banquet in Blues. Mayall produced the eclectic, revolving-door collection that filtered blues through jazz and funk, incorporating jazz figures such as drummer Ron McCurdy, bassist Larry Gales, Mitchell, McVie, and his own touring band.

In the United States he remained a strong concert draw. Although his personnel continued to shift, he sustained touring success across the country, in England, and at European blues festivals. He released A Hard Core Package for ABC in 1977. Self-produced and arranged, the album enlisted guitarist James Quill Smith, an extensive horn section, and a female backing chorus. It stands as the most unconventional entry in his extensive catalog. Later that year Mayall issued Lots of People. In addition to his core musicians he brought in unexpected contributors such as guitarist Gary Rowles and vocalists Pepper Watkins and Patti Smith. His final ABC album, The Last of the British Blues, appeared in 1978 with largely the same personnel. Notably, Mayall’s late-1970s recordings initially received modest critical response. All have since been reassessed as forward-looking works that broadened the blues idiom without diluting it. He began a three-album association with DJM Records with No More Interviews in 1979, followed by the Bob Johnston-produced Bottom Line and Road Show Blues in 1980 and 1981.

In 1982 Mayall assembled a new touring band featuring guitarists Coco Montoya and Walter Trout, bassist Bobby Haynes, and drummer Joe Yuele. In 1985 he toured with John McVie and Mick Taylor, releasing Return of the Bluesbreakers and thereby reviving the group name. In 1988 his regular road-band version of the Bluesbreakers issued the landmark Chicago Line, his first studio album released in the United States in nearly a decade.

When RCA launched its blues imprint Silvertone in 1990, Mayall was among the artists they targeted. They signed him in late 1992 and released the widely praised Wake Up Call in April 1993. Effectively introducing him to a fresh audience, the album placed him alongside guests that included Mick Taylor, Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, and Mavis Staples. Although it did not chart in the United States, it reached number 61 in Britain, his first appearance there in more than twenty years. Despite widespread acclaim as one of his strongest efforts in years, 1995’s Spinning Coin did not register on the charts. The Bluesbreakers now included bassist Rick Cortes, Yuele on drums, and new guitarist Buddy Whittington. The release nevertheless generated extensive touring opportunities at international festivals and clubs on both sides of the Atlantic. He followed with Blues for the Lost Days in 1997. Produced by John Porter, the album used the same band with keyboardist Tommy Eyre added and a horn section featuring trombonist George Bohannon together with longtime associates Clifford Solomon and Red Holloway. After Silvertone ceased operations, Mayall closed the decade with Padlock on the Blues for Purple/Cleopatra, co-produced with his daughter Maggie Mayall. In addition to his own band he added guest appearances from John Lee Hooker, Montoya, and saxophonist Ernie Watts.

Eagle Records issued the star-studded Along for the Ride in 2001, credited to John Mayall & Friends. The set featured his regular band with contributions from guests including Billy Gibbons, Steve Miller, Steve Cropper, Otis Rush, and former Bluesbreakers Fleetwood, Taylor, and Dick Heckstall-Smith, among others. It charted across Europe and in Britain, reached number four on the Billboard 200, and remained on the chart for eighteen weeks. The following year the Bluesbreakers released Stories. Whittington and Yuele stayed in the group and were joined by bassist Hank Van Sickle and keyboardist Tom Canning. The album topped the U.S. Blues Albums chart and entered the Billboard 200. Produced by David Z., it contained originals and songs from associates including Buddy and Julie Miller. In 2003 Eagle released the film and recording package 70th Birthday Concert, featuring another all-star guest lineup that included Clapton, Mick Taylor, trumpeter Henry Lowther, and trombonist Chris Barber. It also reached number eight on the U.S. Top 200. In 2005 Mayall received an OBE from Queen Elizabeth II.

Road Dogs in 2005 was the final album to include Canning; co-produced by the entire band, it reached number four and remains among Mayall’s most direct recordings. Palace of the King in 2007 consisted entirely of songs written, inspired, or closely associated with Freddie King. In addition to the Bluesbreakers, guitarist Robben Ford contributed to his own composition “Cannonball Shuffle,” and the set climbed to number three on the Blues Albums chart. At the end of 2008 Mayall announced he was disbanding the Bluesbreakers once more to lighten his schedule. He quickly formed a new group with guitarist Rocky Athas, bassist Greg Rzab, and drummer Jay Davenport—with Canning assisting on organ—and launched a world tour. That lineup recorded Tough in September, Mayall’s last album for Eagle. He was then seventy-five.

He continued touring and recording well into his eighties. In 2014 he released A Special Life, his first recording for Forty Below. It reached number three on the U.S. Blues Albums chart. Recorded at Entourage Studios in North Hollywood, the album featured singer and accordionist C.J. Chenier as a guest. Mayall followed a year later with Find a Way to Care, a collection that highlighted his distinctive keyboard work across originals and vintage covers including Percy Mayfield’s “The River’s Invitation.” The album charted in four European countries and reached number five in the United States. Its success solidified Mayall’s induction into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2016. Talk About That, his third Top Five release for Forty Below, appeared in late 2017. A funkier outing with a horn section, it also charted across Europe.

In spring 2018, at age 85, Mayall contracted pneumonia and canceled a U.S. tour. Sufficiently recovered by summer, he entered the studio and completed Nobody Told Me in 2019. Its first single, “Distant Lonesome Train,” was co-written with Joe Bonamassa, who also played guitar on that track and another. Additional guests included Steve Van Zandt, Todd Rundgren, Alex Lifeson, Larry McCray, and Mayall’s new touring guitarist Carolyn Wonderland. Mayall undertook a world tour after the album’s release. It climbed to number two on the U.S. Blues Albums chart and charted in Europe.

In early winter 2021 the U.K.’s Snapper deluxe label issued the limited-edition 35-disc box set First Generation 1965-1974. Produced with Mayall’s full involvement, it contained remastered editions of all his and the Bluesbreakers’ recordings from those years, supplemented by singles, EPs, and twenty-nine previously unreleased live and studio tracks including BBC performances. The package included a 12x12 coffee-table book with rare photographs and full-size album artwork, a musical family tree, two posters, replicas of early fan-club newsletters, and an extensive liner essay by Neil Slaven.

In October, a month before his eighty-eighth birthday, Mayall announced his retirement from touring. In the same statement he revealed he had just finished The Sun Is Shining Down. Produced by Eric Corne, the album featured his longstanding quartet with Carolyn Wonderland on lead guitar and a star-studded guest list that included Melvin Taylor, Buddy Miller, Mike Campbell, and Marcus King. It proved to be John Mayall’s final recording. He died on July 22, 2024, at his California home at the age of 90.