@u7en6ur9g Rory did use a Treble Booster pedal but that's really all he used . Good choice to include him as he was a monster player & i have seen both him & Mike back in the late 60s & early 70s. Lets toss in Peter Green as well . Pedals are great but to play clean is the ultimate test of how well you play & how good your guitar & amp sounds .
Tom Howland He loved the guitar more than you and I. Sometimes when I listen to Bloomfield play it makes me want to cry. Everybody say what would he be doing today. I said to him, listen to his records, that's him in every way. In all the ways that matter.
Of course, it came from his hands but his hands were guided by his soul. When Michael played guitar it was like an old soul screaming from the birthplace of the blues. I feel that Bob Dylan sings the same way, it wells up from an old, ancient soul that we can all recognize and identify with.
I saw Mike and Nick at the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach it's one of the best shows I have seen , thank you Mike for many hours of great music you gave us thanks
Who doesn't "like" this???? It's a unique document of the greatest blues guitar talent who ever lived at his full power. Thanks for posting! Lucky are those with the memory of hearing this live..
I had a similar experience as you when I heard the 1st PBBB album. I was already playing Dylan style harmonica but wanted to be a blues blower. Couldn't get the hang of it until I became friends with the band Canned Heat and Al "Blind Owl" Wilson took the time to teach me. Still blow to this day and I'm coming up on 69.
Shame this didn't make it onto the LP. Such a great line-up … Love Ira Kamin's unobtrusive organ (inc. a rare solo), and Mark Naftalin's distinctive piano work - I always thought Mark was aiming to be Otis Spann, maybe, but his failure to meet that impossible mark was what makes his playing so attractive. Plus, I don't think Bill Graham had the house piano tuned too often!
Never got the opportunity to see Michael play live. Damn! People say Michael OD'd in his car in SF with an empty bottle of Valium on the seat next to him, but I also read that the coroner's report said there were no narcotics in his system. I always wondered if he had accidentally asphyxiated himself trying to stay warm sleeping in his car. A friend of mine died the same way. A hole in the floorboard and a faulty exhaust system killed him dead with carbon monoxide poisoning while trying to stay warm sleeping in his truck. His doors were also looked. Probably so someone wouldn't jack him while he slept. It gets pretty cold in SF in Feb. It broke my heart when I heard he was gone and I openly wept. I find it Ironic that G.E. Smith ended up with Michael's cut-away telecaster by way of Dan Erlewine. Michael was openly anti-ego. It was part of the riff that divided him and The Flag because Buddy had developed the band into more of a r&b/soul showband and Michael wasn't into that scene. Now, GE is a decent player, but those obnoxious "check me out" playing faces he made on the SNL commercial outros made me want to wretch. He seemed too full of himself. And yeah, Michael made his faces too, but for some reason his faces never irked me like GE's. Maybe it was GE's chiseled features and long flowing blond hair that made it seem he thought he was hot-shit in a champagne glass. O'well here endeth the rant.
Good rant though! Ha! But I think the story (if I can remember from one of the biographies) is that he OD'd at a couple's place and they panicked rather than call for an ambulance or rush him to hospital so they put him in a car and left him there. Bloomfield don't forget received a monthly payment from his trust fund so he never had to work to sustain himself. That gave him a way to only play what he wanted and when he wanted and also who he wanted to play with. Which is in indeed how in the days of classical composers they would be taken care of by royalty etc.. An artist that worries not where his next meal is coming from is free! Bloomfield could have gone for a huge trust fund if he pleased his father who cut him off at one point, only to be re-instated albeit with much lower amount by his adoring mother. Instead he used his small monthly payments to live frugally. He was an insomniac and would collapse after a few days of non sleep and then wake up only to start another bout of insomnia. He lived only for music. The few times he is interviewed or speaks he is like a little boy that just found the best thing in life. Which is of course music! Saw him only once (and not in a good state) but he was the most brilliant Blues based guitar player I have ever heard to this day. One of my favourite solos of his is with Paul Butterfield Band "I Got A Mind To Give Up Living". I could talk hours about Bloomfield.
@@jimlabos To add to the rant . . . as he was ODing, the couple shot him up with coke to try and revive him, realizing it wasn't working, already dead, they put him in the car and left him on the street. Damn drugs. H has taken so many lives, Damn the mafia for it's involvement. Anything for a Dollar. Thanks for your contribution to the memories of Mike Bloomfield, he was for the music, making the music . . . didn't give a damn about the rest of the baggage that comes with it.
@@sarcasticcrypto I either forgot about the coke thing or never knew. Unbelievable because from what I heard he could have probably been saved had those fools not panicked. I just got his autobiography but have not read it yet. Bloomfield had such a unique tone and style (yes he borrowed heavily from BB but he turned it into his own thing. Think I'll go and listen to the Filmore West album. Cheers to you and all Bloomfield lovers.
I would love to have heard him ... along with the John Wright Trio on 47th and Calumet .. painting that Chicago deep Blues . in long mellow waves and strong silver strokes of bent metal 😯
70 years, that's what it takes to the planet to make me know about Mike Bloomfield, a shame! Thanks Alice Cooper. After East-West & Super Session, I amaze, astonish? Surprise myself compare him to Zappa, he had a so magnificent, sweet & bluezy "touch", the best. Je suis renversé! Excellente musique aussi.
I am not surprised that Elliot mentioned Mike Bloomfield wanted to do earlier shows - so that he wouldn't miss seeing the Tonight Show that evening. This reveals that besides being one of the hottest blues guitarists on the planet, Bloomfield also had a very normal, suburban, domestic side to his personality. I recall reading about Michael also cutting a somewhat frustrating Triumvirate rehearsal short (with John Hammond Jr. and Dr. John) saying he was going home to watch tv.
It referred to his changing strings not his playing, the audience would slow hand clap because he took so long. SRV on the other hand did it while playing, should have called SRV fast hand😋🇬🇧
I saw Mike Bloomfield play his beat-up guitar at a little backstreet nightclub in San Jose, CA in the mid-70s. I was a few from him as he sat on the little stage in an old wooden straight-back chair next to his little Sears amp, local musicians backing him up. No one sang, but Mike just tore it up that night. I could never forget!
Once seen live one can never forget a MikE Bloomfield performance on guitar. It was an incredible experience to see a man make time stand still and then speed it up at will for his audience. Hendrix and Clapton were fans but imho none came close to a live Bloomfield performance. NONE. To see him pick those right on the money blues notes, was awe inspiring and unforgetable..
that is my recording from six nights we cut a Fillmore West. Michael insisted on doing two sets early enough so that he could watch Tonight Show. Bill Graham argued and helped Michael
Thanks for the insight on that. The Tonight Show. I have some of those shows from legal bittorent site and I groove on them hard. Many hours of great pleasure you have provided.
When mike bloomfield Played the slow blues no one could touch him. He could squeeze soul from a string like water from a sponge. The best. Mike bloomfield Roy buchanan and Earl hooker , the three greatest of all time!
Mike had " It ". Growing up in the 60's & 70's and hanging out in NYC I saw& heard the best bands of all time. Being a blues baby all my life I can't believe how lucky I am that I. got to see everybody that was a god in rock & roll. One night, at the Academy of Music, for $ 8.00 a ticket, we saw Procol Harem, King Crimson & Yes. It started at 8 o'clock and 12 hours later, we were still screaming for encores. Those were the absolute best days of my life. And, yes, Marty, wherever you are, I still love you so!
Mike was so clean.no rack of pedals I cant get enough. Its so refreshing l like everyone, but to me people like Van Halen are more noises than l like. Maybe because l am 71tap tricks and feedback diving guitars all sound the same. No one has his heart,believe me he was a true genlemen,and had no ego rock star bull feces,like some l have played with on the bill.bless you mike I hope i can jam with you in heaven, have my fender super reverb on standby,reverb on 2 and a half .
My first exposure to Bloomfield was 1966's East West album. At my first listening I remember thinking this guy can navigate in a way I've never heard. But when the title track East West played my admittedly by then smoked up brain was goin WTF! His playing will be listenable and commendable forever.
The East West album was where I first heard him play too. I'm still listening all these years later. It's been more than 50 years and he's still up at the top of my favorite guitarists.
Holy shit! How have I listened to blues/rock guitar my whole life and never heard this one? I mean, I knew Bloomfield was a genius... And of course Taj is awesome... But LORD!
God he was fabulous. Listen to " It's My Own Fault " with Johnny Winter & Al Kooper. One of the best recordings of all time. He used to play little clubs in New York and that's where I saw him.
I find his vocals magnificent the way he trills about the note and fits into the tightest vocal spaces as well as being the finest exponent of the electric guitar that ever was.
You hit the nail right on the head, Frankie. He and Rory Gallagher never really got the breaks they so richly deserved. You mention their names these days, and people say "Who? Never heard of him." Thank goodness for RU-vid, though, since it means future generations will still be able to learn about and appreciate these little-known geniuses.
@@GCKelloch Rosetta has been credited with single-handedly kick-starting the British blues scene, and rightly so, but Rory was much more than just a "blues guitarist." He could rock with the best of them, and was actually rated higher than Clapton by most British music critics. Yet he's almost unknown in North America, apart from people who were lucky enough to see him play live back in the 70's and 80's. I know some people who don't like the blues at all, but they still love Rory.
That is the way he wanted it. Mike absolutely hated people worshiping him and placing him above others. He was in it for the music. He suffered depression and anxiety over fame. He was his own worst enemy that way. He was extremely humble. When people would say how great he is, he would change subjects in interviews or talk like "Cool, but hey man did you this cat named …… , man what a great player!".
@@tatethompson1234 Having been "in it for the music" for 40 years, believe me, this world could use a whole lot more "great but modest" guitarists! Too many guitarists these days are suffering from "elephantiasis of the ego," and operating under the firmly fixed delusion that they're "better than 'so-and-so' any day of the week!"
@@tatethompson1234 I have to disagree. Mike is on record saying that at 15, after 2 years of study, he was the best guitarist he knew or anyone around him knew. 'An absolute monster' who would sit in to blow the other guy off the stage. But Mike was also a well-educated and public-spirited upper-class kid who knew the value of diplomacy and generosity when it came to praising the work of others, especially his predecessors. btw his effusive praise for 'perfect' Clapton in RS would tend to vindicate the fans' high opinion of EC in his blues-rock period.
live and learn,,,,,,,if you live and work hard ,you will hear great music,,,,music is a gift,,,,it can be your gift,,,seek out good music,,,,it will be your gift,,,,
Michael was an inspiration to me,, as a boy. I met him thru Hubert Sumlin. My adopted uncle. And Louis and Dave Myers, and Eddie Taylor Sr. Who were responsible for me in Chicago. As I had run away, from being abused in Massachusetts. Those cats had known my mom's family and my Gram. Ruth Hand Orr. I was a pretty hip kid. For 12 years old. Sunnyland said so. And his word was fucking Gospel. On the Southside of Chicago. I just absorbed all of the experiences at my fingertips. Wow . Talk about living the lush life. Older women took me home with them And fed me, and bought me nice clothes. And would show me what sleeping upon satin sheets was all about. I was like a kid in a candy store. An X rated Candy store. Sunnyland shouted Shit, Look at Stevie, we gave them Hussies, a boy,. They sent us back A young man. Lord Have Mercy, Dressed up like a Doggone Banker, or a Memphis Pimp. We had some 100 Proof Old Grandad Bourbon. And Little Brother Montgomery, And my Beloved Sunnyland Slim Demanded, that I fill them in upon my exploits. Since They had let me out of their sight. God Bless the Dead. My words are inadequate to the task. I was the luckyest boy. Upon the face of the Earth Those men, and women. Taught me my A BCs of Blues Music. And showed me how to conduct myself as a young gentleman. And carry myself, thru this world. With distinction, and with class, and style....!!! 🙏🙏🙏😀
stevetessier you barely scratched the surface of a rich history of the Southside of Chicago Blues. You Sir, need to sit yourself down with a friend or two from back in the day, some 100 Proof Old Grandad Bourbon, Michael on the Hi-Fi, a Pen and Pad, and as you recall them wonderful times . . . Please share the History with the world. YOU ARE THE Blues History! 👉Don't let your treasures vanish in time, Please. I pray you read this If I could put this note where you couldn't miss it, it would be on a Legal Size Notepad w/pen, sitting under a jug of 100 Proof Old Grandad Bourbon❗ Blues Brother, give us some of them Blues. my glass to your glass . . .TINK Cheers
In that photo where he's holdin' his telly and smilin' at the camera I feel just like he's lookin' at ME from the great beyond and sayin' "you KNOW how you f**ked up and you know you gotta make it right..."
Yea man. I listened to Bloomfield a lot. As guitar player myself, I always believed that it’s in how the soul is connected to your hands. Just find the tool. For Mike it was a 59 LP that coaxed it out ! Great recording , thank you! Taj Mahal singing it too!
I agree 100%. And NOBODY could connect the soul to his hands like Bloomfield. This is unreal!!! I'm about half-way through and so far I've been spared Taj's harp which is really weak on One More Mile.
Mike Bloomfield quantitative bluesman note per note. 54 sharps on a 22 fretboard. Mike signafied b,c,d,e flat fretboard 12, 6, 5,bar blues blueing, that he picked up in south side of Chicago.
No, not really. He was a middle class Jewish kid with the same kind of innate talent that made Heifetz the best on violin, he just got hooked on the Blues and had the nervous system wired to those fast-twitch muscles. The "soul" you hear is his humanity, his empathy, and the internalized memory of the suffering of all people. He was also very smart...didn't have to think too hard about what's next! I speak as one who was smitten by the 1st PBBB album at age 16 and immediately ran to buy some harps. Didn't have that talent, though...
Just finished jammin' along (again?) and me chiburst counterfeit was talkin' to me so sweetly... "A good player can make anything sound great (?)" (...or sumpin like that) 😋
coming onto Bloomfield for the first time makes me think of those lines of Keats about the discovery of the pacific ocean: "Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken; Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes He star'd at the Pacific-and all his men Look'd at each other with a wild surmise- Silent, upon a peak in Darien."
Man I remember trying my ass off learning some of Bloomfield's licks going back to the 60s. This guy was the first dude I had ever heard that played the blues the way guitar players like Clapton did. But I heard him in 67 and Clapton I hadn't heard yet. But Clapton is more polished.this guy died too young! He would have been a show stopper! 37 your getting smooth. But never quite enough so we think.
Pity I was born in a distant land round about the time he was at his peak and therefore never saw him playing! I unfailingly usher in every new year with the songs "Albert's Shuffle" and "Stop" and then turn in for the night - or must I say morning!
I’m a 24 year old guitarist/musician and only discovered this man a few years ago, been playing for 10 years. Since that day Michael along with Peter Green, Roy Buchanan, Paul Kossoff, and Rory Gallagher have become my hugest influences and inspirations. It is required listening and absorbing for me every single day. I’m hanging on every note and idiosyncrasy that these guys are doing. I try my very best to incorporate Michaels spirit, passion, and playing into my own and want nothing more than to move people the way that he did with the notes of his guitar. There was something very special about these men and I don’t know what it is, pure passion I guess. I love the whole list of guys we all love as guitar players but that little group of unsung heroes that were unfortunately very self destructive move me deep inside in a way I can’t describe in words. The most amazing and beautiful part is that they were predominantly just guitar, cable, and amp, it came from deep inside of them. I continue to turn people on to them and do my best to spread their legacy any way I can. Thank you for this recording, time to go and play some guitar. Peace
Yeah, you got great heroes man. They are mine too! Since 1964 when I first started playing. Hell, I’m still learning the blues. Well, I started with Trying to learn BB, Albert, and Freddy Kings stuff. There’s so many greats, hard to keep track of them all.
It seems like the more Bloomfield plays, the more he soaks you in authentic blues.Study his story, you will have these blues too.The real frickin thing,Mr. Mike Bloomfield. R.I.P.
