Michael Bloomfield

Michael Bloomfield emerged among the earliest standout white American blues guitarists, building his standing chiefly through contributions to the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Fluid, emotive solo lines and remarkable technical command marked his playing across numerous other ventures, above all Bob Dylan's initial electric explorations, while his own solo path produced uneven results. Ill at ease with the hero worship customarily directed at virtuoso guitarists, Bloomfield retreated from center stage after only a short time there and sustained a lower-profile existence through the 1970s, influenced by both his aversion to celebrity and mounting drug difficulties that ended his life in 1981.

Michael Bernard Bloomfield entered the world on July 28, 1943, into an affluent Jewish household on Chicago's North Side. A reserved, socially uneasy outsider during childhood, he discovered music via nighttime Southern radio broadcasts that regularly supplied rockabilly, R&B, and blues. His first guitar arrived at his bar mitzvah; afterward he and companions slipped away to experience electric blues in the vibrant South Side club circuit, aided by household staff. Bloomfield occasionally joined performers onstage, and the unusual sight quickly turned him into a familiar figure on the scene. His parents, troubled by the direction of his schooling, placed him in an East Coast private boarding school in 1958; he later completed studies at a Chicago institution for troubled adolescents. By then he had adopted the beatnik lifestyle, frequenting spots near the University of Chicago. He took a managerial role at a folk club where he regularly scheduled veteran acoustic blues performers, while simultaneously working as a session guitarist and performing in multiple Chicago bands.

Discovery came in 1964 through session recordings by the renowned John Hammond, who offered him a CBS contract; several 1964 tracks nevertheless remained unreleased because the label lacked a clear promotional strategy for a white American blues guitarist. Early in 1965 Bloomfield joined associates in the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, a racially mixed group known for its high-energy, rock-inflected interpretation of Chicago's urban electric blues. Their self-titled Elektra debut, issued later that year, created excitement within the blues world and helped expose white listeners to a more authentic form of the music. Bloomfield's lead guitar was singled out as an effective link between Chicago blues and modern rock. Later in 1965 he was enlisted for Bob Dylan's newly electrified ensemble; his presence was notable on the landmark Highway 61 Revisited and at Dylan's historic electric set at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Concurrently he developed a fascination with Eastern music, especially Indian raga, an interest that strongly shaped the subsequent Butterfield release, 1966's East-West. Featuring Bloomfield's extended instrumental explorations on the title track, the album fused blues, jazz, world traditions, and psychedelic rock in novel ways. The Butterfield band gained favor on the emerging San Francisco music circuit, prompting Bloomfield to depart in 1967 and settle there permanently in search of fresh opportunities.

He promptly assembled the Electric Flag, enlisting longtime Chicago associate Nick Gravenites as vocalist. Intended to extend the exploratory approach of East-West, the group incorporated an expanded roster that included a horn section, enabling the addition of soul to their range of influences. The Electric Flag made its debut at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival and delivered its first album, A Long Time Comin', in 1968. Reviewers praised the band's distinctive sound yet judged the record uneven. Internal tensions, poor management, and heroin use soon caused the unit to fracture; Bloomfield himself exited before the album appeared. He next collaborated with organist Al Kooper, a fellow Dylan alumnus, on Super Session, a loosely structured set that highlighted Bloomfield's guitar on one side and Stephen Stills's on the other. Released in 1968, it earned strong notices and became Bloomfield's top-selling album. Its success prompted a follow-up, The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper, captured during three 1968 Fillmore West performances and issued the next year; that recording marked Bloomfield's first vocal appearance on disc.

Despite commercial momentum, Bloomfield grew wary of fame and increasingly disenchanted with public attention. Fatigue with touring led him, after the second Kooper project, to step back from high-visibility work for a period. He nevertheless remained active as a session guitarist and producer, began scoring films (including some Mitchell Brothers productions), performed locally, and occasionally toured with Bloomfield and Friends, whose members included Nick Gravenites and former Butterfield colleague Mark Naftalin. In 1973 he recorded again with John Hammond and New Orleans pianist Dr. John; the resulting Triumvirate appeared on Columbia yet attracted little notice. A 1974 Electric Flag reunion similarly failed to resonate, as did KGB, a brief supergroup featuring Barry Goldberg, Rik Grech, and Carmine Appice that released material for MCA in 1976. Throughout the late 1970s Bloomfield recorded for smaller imprints such as Takoma, often in acoustic settings, and issued an instructional collection titled If You Love These Blues, Play 'Em as You Please through Guitar Player magazine that surveyed numerous blues guitar approaches.

Alcoholism and heroin addiction plagued Bloomfield for much of the 1970s, rendering him unreliable for live commitments and gradually severing long-standing musical relationships along with his marriage. By 1980 he appeared sufficiently recovered to perform in Europe; that November he joined Bob Dylan onstage in San Francisco for "Like a Rolling Stone." On February 15, 1981, however, Bloomfield was discovered deceased in his car from a drug overdose at age 37.