Mark Naftalin, a keyboardist with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band who played on that group's landmark 1966 album East West, has been a cornerstone of the San Francisco blues scene since moving to that city after leaving the Butterfield band. Since 1979, Naftalin has produced and led the house band for a weekly radio show, Mark Naftalin's Blue Monday Party, that has featured a who's who of blues greats. Naftalin is sitting on a vast library of these live performances and has recently formed the Winner record label to release them.

The first two records in the series, Ron Thompson's Just Like a Devil and Percy Mayfield's only authorized live recording, demonstrate the high standard of Naftalin's blues bashes. Naftalin is the keyboardist on both recordings, and fans of his work with Butterfield will note the inclusion of songs associated with that group, like Robert Johnson's "Walkin' Blues," from the Thompson album, and Mayfield's own "Never Say Naw."

Just Like a Devil, the label's first release, showcases Thompson's considerable talents singing and playing Delta-style acoustic guitar on Johnson's "Terraplane Blues," plus searing single-note electric leads on the swamp-blues classic "Hip Shake." Thompson, the guitarist in Naftalin's house band, also delivers two solid originals, the title track and the chilling heroin lament "Pin-Eyed Woman."

The Mayfield recordings, assembled over six sessions from 1981 to 1983 (the year before his death), present a compelling summation of the work of an underappreciated blues songwriter. Mayfield is best known for writing a series of songs including "Hit the Road Jack" for Ray Charles in the Fifties, but on his own he spins heart-stopping tales of loneliness, despair, addiction and redemption, timeless comments on life at the edges of American society.

From the hypnotic plea of "Never Say Naw" to the languor of "My Jug and I," the busted hope of "My Mind Is Trying to Leave Me Too" and the final acceptance-of-life medley, "My Bottle Is My Companion"/"The Highway Is Like a Woman," Mayfield weaves a spell that will live in people's minds for years to come.

Both albums are available from Winner Records, P.O. Box 151095, San Rafael, CA 94915. (RS 649)

JOHN SWENSON