John Mayall

A bit of an eccentric -- in his early days he favored a curious nine-string guitar, and later he sported a kind of caveman loincloth (on Blues From Laurel Canyon) -- John Mayall is the great pedagogue of British blues. The bands he has led function as schools of the form, tutoring young hopefuls in the now-arcane arts of Sonny Boy Williamson and J. B. Lenoir; graduates include such luminaries as Eric Clap-ton, Mick Taylor, Peter Green, Jack Bruce, and Aynsley Dunbar, among many others. From Mayall, in fact, have sprung the instrumental stars of some of the best bands in rock. Shifting his personnel constantly -- he went through more than nine groups between 1963 and 1967 alone -- Mayall is a guiding light, but the best playing on his albums comes from his sidemen.

From the start, Mayall's strength as a harmonica player was obvious, as was his very reverent treatment of the blues -- even while he wrote many of his songs, they seldom varied from the classic 12-bar pattern -- but it would take Clapton's arrival to make Mayall's music catch fire. On Bluesbreakers -- John Mayall With Eric Clapton it did; the guitarist plays Chicago blues with precocious authority here, and it remains one of Mayall's toughest sets. Crusade highlights the teenage Mick Taylor -- his stinging lead work an embryonic version of the mastery he would develop with the Rolling Stones -- and Mayall begins experimenting with a horn section. For all but blues purists, Bare Wires remains one of the more interesting records, with Mayall trying out an early form of jazz-rock fusion; the horns, by Dick Heckstall-Smith and Chris Mercer, add elegance, and Mayall himself -- never a very strong singer -- finds, in a breathy, whispering style, a haunting delivery that works. Peter Green, who would go on to form Fleetwood Mac with Mayall veterans John McVie and Mick Fleetwood, enlivens A Hard Road: his playing is spare, fierce, and supple. On Blues From Laurel Canyon, a conceptual album featuring Mayall's musings about L.A., the sound is soft and fluid, jazz-inflected and moody. An entirely acoustic effort, Turning Point gave Mayall an FM radio hit in the harp extravaganza "Room to Move." Jazz Blues Fusion shows off the trumpet skills of Blue Mitchell.

While many of his records are now mainly of historical interest, they provide fascinating glimpses of talents not yet fully developed, and they certainly testify to Mayall's industry and influence. All the work released after Jazz-Blues, however, is primarily for the man's fanatics.

Mayall's early albums remain the most enjoyable; London Blues and Room to Move, along with the comprehensive As It All Began, are good overviews. Of interest is Stories: Now over 70, Mayall is in fine, earnest form -- still an impassioned devotee of the music to which he's given his life. (PAUL EVANS)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide