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John Mayall has died at the grand old age of 90. One in the tradition of long-lived blues guys. I don’t think there's anyone left from the mid-60s blues boom of 1964-69. It would be hard to underestimate his importance. He ran a band like no other, which was a breeding ground for guitarists unparalleled in the history of the blues.
That ‘Beano’ album with Eric Clapton cut brand new ground. It stands the test of time and sets the template for all future blues rock. What a legacy. Were that his only contribution it would be significant, but Hard Road with Peter Green was stunning, perhaps even better, and still sounds cutting edge. And the Mick Taylor albums like Blues From Laurel Canyon were fine outings.
His was a hard electric Chicago blues, out of the Buddy Guy Trio mode. He was uncompromising and stuck to his basic style, even after it fell out of fashion. He went about 20 years without charting in the USA but was, like the bluesmen he so revered, always on the road. Also, you had the sense that he’d long made his peace with playing a quite uncommercial but influential music.
Bare Wires was his most successful, reaching #3 in the UK, USA Union was his best American charting record at #22. Like many before him, brought up in rough English weather, he decamped to California. But he was always influential and the likes of Savoy Brown and Foghat owed a part of their success to the path he’d cut. The Groundhogs, likewise .
In the early 80s, he employed Walter Trout, launching his career, his 2003 70th birthday live album with Eric, Mick and jazzer Chris Barber went top ten in the USA. No one has been more influential, especially to blues-rock and his career stands as a testament to the power and persistence of the blues.
