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Gave a hone to many great blues guitarists, incl Clapton, Beck and Page.
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the Earth all one's lifetime." (Mark Twain)
Find me on twitter @derbyhoop and now on Bluesky
He had an incredibly loyal fan base. I would sometimes see him two or three times a week as the venues were all easy to reach from West London - Marquee, Toby Jug, Eel Pie, Klook's Kleek etc. Reckon there'll be a good full page obit in the Times who are v good at these things. This was a good 'un.
Damn. Saw John so many times with Eric Clapton,Peter Green etc at some very famous venues like the Toby Jug,Tolworth,Manor House and obscure places like The Iron Curtain Club,St.Mary Cray,Orpington.We won't see the like of him again.
I can still remember, even after all these long years, the comment in the Melody Maker. “British musicians have never sounded like this in the studio - the album is a credit to John and his band” Certainly I'd never heard anything like it.
When I first heard this it was like an epiphony as my vicar would say. I'd heard Clapton with the Yardbirds but it was not in this league. And the brass augmentations with good old Dick Getsall-Pissed. Sorry Dick Heckstall-Smith.
John Mayall obit will be in tomorrow's Times entitled The Tireless Father Of British Blues. It'll be worth the cover price, so buy it ! I'm going to put it into a scrap book.
It's a bit creepy, but a friend of mine years back who was a journalist said that when a famous person gets v old, papers assemble obits ready for when the famous person passes on. I guess Clive would know.
I always hoped there would be a remix or remaster of the Beano album. I always found Decca pop/rock/blues albums sort of hollow sounding. But jazz and classical fine.
The obituary is in The Times today and it's a fitting tribute. You'll need a subscription to read it and it's too long to copy and paste here. Worth the cover price on its own, though. The length of that obituary says it all.
I was late to the John Mayall fan club and it was "Blues From Laurel Canyon" (The Bear... Walking on Sunset... etc) that hooked me. I saw him just a few years back live in a memorable concert at the Hexagon in Reading. He would have been in his eighties and he was still awesome.
Very sad and another part of my youth gone. Went regularly to the Flamingo all nighters mid 60s to see John Mayall, first with Clapton and later with Peter Green, not forgetting John McVie. Zoot Money and Georgie Fame were also regulars at the Flamingo. Went to Klooks Kleek the night Mayall was recording, cables hanging out the upstairs windows to the recording studios round the corner. Gawd I miss those days.
I have that live album - I love Life Is Just A Slow Train Crawlin' Up A Hill. I heard another version by an unknown female many years later, it was awful.
Until today I'd forgot all about the session and it only sprung into mind when writing the post. I've just managed to buy the last copy of a cd version of the live Klooks Kleek album on Amazon. The LP was nearly £600? I already have the Beano and Bare Wires LPs and the CD of A Hard Road.
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