The Turning Point...

I must have just turned 19 years old and was living in the dorm at Stephen F. Austin State University in the spring of 1976 when the guy in the room next door, Quince, introduced me to the music of British bluesman John Mayall. Quince is still listening to good music and I know he has seen Mayall, who passed away today at 90 years old, in concert a number of times over the years.  

After hearing this news I checked the old record collection and found I had an even dozen John Mayall recordings. Most of these records I bought in the late 1970s but Mayall's recording goes back to the early 60s British Blues boom when roots American music and the people who played it were more appreciated in England than at home. Mayall's bands featured one of the most extensive who's who family trees of music with many British musicians getting their start honing chops in his groups such as Eric Clapton and members of Fleetwood Mac and the Rolling Stones. Recently Texas blues guitarist Carolyn Wonderland has been featured in the guitar chair for Mayall's music. 

At the time Mayall appealed to me, a horn player, because he used jazz horn players in big band type sections like one of my favorites trumpeter Blue Mitchell, and he released albums with unconventional lineups he called "blues without bashing' that featured flute, nylon fingerstyle guitar and violin. In these records there were no drums which was a departure from the style of blues Mayall had been playing.

For a musician to live to 90 years old and stay active as Mayall did only recently retiring is a good run. He's scheduled to soon be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He deserves it.