John Mayall, the man described as the Godfather of British blues, has passed away at the age of 90.
A statement on Mayall’s Instagram page announced his death, saying the musician died on Monday at his home in California. “Health issues that forced John to end his epic touring career have finally led to peace for one of this world’s greatest road warriors,” the post said.
My initial introduction to the music of John Mayall came in the mid-1970s courtesy of one of the very first records that I ever bought, The Blues World of Eric Clapton. Mayall’s name was writ large on the album cover with many of the songs credited to John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, including the T-Bone Walker classic ‘They Call It Stormy Monday’ and Mayall’s own ‘Key To Love.’
John Mayall’s career had begun in earnest long before then when in 1963 he moved to London at the age of 30 to become a professional musician amid the rhythm and blues boom of that period. The Bluesbreakers were formed around this time, a band helmed by Mayall including John McVie who went on to even greater fame with Fleetwood Mac.
As their reputation grew John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers line-up constantly rotated and amongst those who played with the band in the mid-to-late ’60s were Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce – who both went on to form Cream with Ginger Baker – Mick Taylor who would later join The Rolling Stones and Peter Green who formed Fleetwood Mac in 1967.
With John Mayall on vocals, keyboards, harmonica, and rhythm guitar, the Bluesbreakers released four albums between 1966-68 all of which reached the top 10 in the UK album charts. The last of these albums, Bare Wires featured Mick Taylor on lead guitar. After this, Mayall moved to California and there would not be another album from Mayall featuring the name Bluesbreakers for 17 years.
During the 1970s, John Mayall’s musical styles moved into the areas of jazz, funk and pop before he restored the name of the Bluesbreakers in 1984 with a line-up that included the twin lead guitars of Walter Trout and Coco Montoya.
The first time that I saw John Mayall in concert was at the Victoria Theatre in Halifax in May 2000 when he joined Peter Green – who was supporting him on that tour – for a brilliant rendition of Robert Johnson’s ‘Sweet Home Chicago’ that owed much to Mayall’s blistering harmonica solo.
I was to see John Mayall on one further occasion, in 2007 at the Rhythm Festival in Bedfordshire a year before he permanently retired the Bluesbreakers, though he was to continue touring and recording regularly until two years ago. His final studio album The Sun Is Shining Down was released in February 2022.
Photos of John Mayall taken at the Rhythm Festival in August 2007.
