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: /____\ : Mike Bloomfield: Celebrating The Blues
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:..:... Supplier : SER 2006 Release Date : 09/21/2006 ...:..:
: : Ripper : SER 2006 Street Date : 00/00/2006 :..:...
...:..: Genre : Blues Source : CDDA : :
: : Label : Music Avenue Europe Tracks : 17 Tracks ...:..:
: : Quality : VBR/APS/44.1kHz Channels : Joint Stereo : :
:..:... Language : English Size : 108,9 MB :..:...
: : Software : EAC v0.95 Encoder : LAME v3.90.3 : :
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Michael Bernard Bloomfield was born July 28, 1943, in Chicago,
Illinois. An indifferent student and self-described social outcast,
Bloomfield immersed himself in the multi- cultural music world that
existed in Chicago in the 1950s.
He got his first guitar at age 13. Initially attracted to the roots-
rock sound of Elvis Presley and Scotty Moore, Bloomfield soon
discovered the electrified big-city blues music indigenous to Chicago.
At the age of 14 the exuberant guitar wunderkind began to visit the
blues clubs on ChicagoÆs South Side with friend Roy Ruby in search of
his new heroes: players such as Muddy Waters, Otis Spann, Howling
Wolf, and Magic Sam. Not content with viewing the scene from the
audience, Bloomfield was known to leap onto the stage, asking if he
could sit in as he simultaneously plugged in his guitar and began
playing riffs.
Bloomfield was quickly accepted on the South Side, as much for his
ability as for the audiences' appreciation of the novelty of seeing a
young white player in a part of town where few whites were seen.
Bloomfield soon discovered a group of like-minded outcasts. Young
white players such as Paul Butterfield, Nick Gravenites, Charlie
Musselwhite, and Elvin Bishop were also establishing themselves as
fans who could hold their own with established bluesmen, many of whom
were old enough to be their fathers.
In addition to playing with the established stars of the day,
Bloomfield began to search out older, forgotten bluesmen, playing and
recording with Sleepy John Estes, Yank Rachell, Little Brother
Montgomery and Big Joe Williams, among others. By this time he was
managing a Chicago folk music club, the Fickle Pickle, and often hired
older acoustic blues players for the Tuesday night blues sessions. Big
Joe Williams memorialized those times in the song "Pick A Pickle" with
the line "You know Mike Bloomfield...will always treat you
right...come to the Pickle, every Tuesday night." BloomfieldÆs
relationship with Big Joe Williams is documented in "Me And Big Joe,"
a moving short story detailing BloomfieldÆs adventures on the road
with Williams.
Bloomfield's guitar work as a session player caught the ear of
legendary CBS producer and talent scout John Hammond, Sr., who flew to
Chicago and immediately signed him to a recording contract. However
CBS was unsure of exactly how to promote their new artist, declining
to release any of the tracks recorded by Bloomfield's band, which
included harp player Charlie Musselwhite.
With a contract but not much else, Bloomfield returned to playing
clubs around Chicago until he was approached by Paul Rothchild, the
producer of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band albums. Bloomfield was
recruited to play slide guitar and piano on early recordings (later
released as The Lost Elektra Sessions) which were rejected for not
fully capturing the sound of the band. Although more competitors than
friends ("I knew Paul [and I] was scared of him" remembered Mike), the
addition of Bloomfield to the Butterfield Band provided Paul
Butterfield with a musician of equal caliber -- Paul and Michael
inspired and challenged each other as they traded riffs and musical
ideas, one establishing a pattern and the other following it,
extending it, and handing it back.
In between recording sessions with the Butterfield Band, Bloomfield
backed up Bob Dylan on the classic Highway 61 Revisited album, and
appeared with him at the Newport Folk Music Festival in 1965 when
Dylan stunned the purist folk music crowd by playing electric rock-
and-roll. Declining an offer from Dylan to join his touring band,
Bloomfield and the Butter Band returned to the studio; with the
addition of pianist Mark Naftalin they finally captured their live
sound on vinyl.
The first two Butterfield Blues Band albums, the Dylan sessions, and
the live appearances by the Butterfield Band firmly established
Bloomfield as one of the most talented and influential guitar players
in America. The second album featured the Bloomfield composition
"East-West" which ushered in an era of long instrumental psychedelic
improvisations.
Bloomfield left the Butterfield Blues Band in early 1967 ostensibly to
give original guitarist Elvin Bishop, in Mike's words, "a little
space." Undoubtedly he had also become uncomfortable with Paul
Butterfield's position as bandleader and was anxious to lead his own
band.
That band, The Electric Flag, included Bloomfield's old friends from
Chicago, organist Barry Goldberg and singer/songwriter Nick
Gravenites, as well as bass player Harvey Brooks and drummer Buddy
Miles. The band was well received at its official debut at the
Monterey Pop Festival but quickly fell apart due to drugs, egos, and
poor management.
Bloomfield, weary of the road, suffering from insomnia, and
uncomfortable in the role of guitar superstar, returned to San
Francisco to score movies, produce other artists, and play studio
sessions. One of those sessions was a day of jamming in the studio
with keyboardist Al Kooper, who had previously worked with Bloomfield
on the 1965 Dylan sessions.
Super Session, the resultant release, with Bloomfield on side one and
guitarist Stephen Stills on side two, once again thrust Bloomfield
into the spotlight. Kooper's production and the improvisational nature
of the recording session captured the quintessential Bloomfield sound:
the fast flurries of notes, the incredible string bending, the precise
attack, and his masterful use of tension and release.
Although Super Session was the most successful recording of his
career, Bloomfield considered it to be a scam, more of an excuse to
sell records than a pursuit of musical goals. After a follow-up live
album, he "retired" to San Francisco and lowered his visibility.
In the seventies Bloomfield played gigs in the San Francisco area and
infrequently toured as Bloomfield And Friends, a group which usually
included Mark Naftalin and Nick Gravenites. Bloomfield also
occasionally helped out friends by lending his name to recording
projects and business propositions, such as the ill-fated Electric
Flag reunion in 1974 and the KGB album in 1976. In the mid-seventies
Bloomfield recorded a number of albums with a more traditional blues
focus for smaller record labels. He also recorded an instructional
album of various blues styles for Guitar Player magazine.
By the late seventies Bloomfield's continuing drug and health problems
caused erratic behavior and missed gigs, alienating a number of his
old associates. Bloomfield continued playing with other musicians,
including Dave Shorey and Jonathan Cramer. In the summer of 1980 he
toured Italy with classical guitarist Woody Harris and cellist Maggie
Edmondson. On November 15, 1980, Bloomfield joined Bob Dylan on stage
at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco and jammed on "Like A Rolling
Stone," the song they had recorded together 15 years earlier.
Michael Bloomfield was found dead in his car of a drug overdose in San
Francisco, California on February 15, 1981.
www.mikebloomfield.com
Tracks:
01. Women Lovin' Each Other [ 04:39 ]
02. Don't You Lie To Me [ 04:04 ]
03. Knockin' Myself Out [ 05:51 ]
04. Eyesight To The Blind [ 04:12 ]
05. Between A Hard Place And The Ground [ 07:00 ]
06. Cherry Red [ 04:39 ]
07. Uncle Bob's Barrelhouse Blues [ 05:38 ]
08. Wee Wee Hours [ 05:01 ]
09. Vamp In C [ 04:03 ]
10. Blues In A Flat [ 05:58 ]
11. Jockey Blues [ 03:48 ]
12. Junko Partner [ 04:41 ]
13. Women Lovin' Each Other (alternate version) [ 08:20 ]
14. Dont Lie To Me (alternate version) [ 03:27 ]
15. Kansas City [ 03:35 ]
16. Darktown Strutters Ball/Mop Mop/Call Me A Dog [ 04:01 ]
17. One Of These Days [ 02:44 ]
Total: [ 81:41 ]
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