First a Trickle then a Flood.The Birth of the Blues in Britain
Chris Barber’s Jazz Band with the beautiful Otillie Patterson on vocals brought the sound of New Orleans to British ancient Jazz buffs within the late fifties and early sixties. This was just the start of a wave of latest sounds that culminated in what came to be called the British Blues Boom! On Banjo was the nice Lonnie Donegan who became the Godfather of Skiffle a year or 2 later. All of the early musical melting pots were springboards for the next generation of musicians and within a couple of years the Music scene was to change forever.
My first exposure to the blues was on Barber’s wonderful L.P. New Orleans Joys. I forget all the titles currently but the haunting sounds stirred up strange sensations and led me some years later to a life long passion for the Blues as I am positive it did with several young kids at the time.
The year 1962 saw the birth of several Blues gigs in London Clubs, notably the Famous Marquee that created its home in Wardour Street, Soho. The great Alexis Korner was to encourage be a nursery slope for what was to come. Cyril Davies on Harp, Dick Heckstall- Smith on the most wailing of saxophones, Mick Jagger (yes that one!) on vocals to call but a few. I suppose that initial Album recorded live at the Marquee…Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated, started the trickle that terribly rapidly gathered momentum and shortly the Blues was the talking purpose of all young music heads.
Playing at the Marquee shortly when, in 1963 was the person destined to become the Godfather of British Blues… John Mayall…. John’s famous band, The BluesBreakers went onto fame and fortune as several musicians joined and left in quite a procession over the following few years. John celebrated his 70th Birthday a couple of years ago and is taking part in furthermore ever. This gives deceive the notion that life is over at forty and its all downhill from there on. The list of John’s protégées is a who’s who of the music business; a smart proportion of whom are still enjoying today. John McVie, co-founder of Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood, Jack Bruce of Cream, Eric “Slowhand” Clapton, Peter Green, Aynsley Dunbar, Mick Taylor and many more.
The band that I feel was the turning purpose at this point was undoubtedly The Yardbirds, whose unimaginable energy and enthusiasm were completely unparalleled on stage. My first exposure to this Juggernaut was on a Monday morning at faculty just once when some friends told me concerning this wonderful band that they’d seen at the Marquee who had a Guitarist that was merely unbelievable. The Year was 1963, the person in query (well he was only eighteen years recent!) was Eric Clapton.
The Legend was already underway at this stage and I think Eric was responsible for the huge interest brewing within the Blues in Britain because the Yardbirds became household names on the R n’ B circuit. Many Guitars were sold at this time as young bloods tried to emulate Clapton, some with success and many without. Probably one reason for the upsurge in Guitar bands as opposed to wishy washy pop sounds of the time was the invention of the almost forgotten Gibson Les Paul that created the sound closest to the Chicago Blues of a decade earlier. Eric’s use of this instrument took the Blues to a new height and no-one may escape the flood that was on the way. With the Yardbirds there was a combine of Gibson and Fender guitars in use. Eric initially played a Fender Telecaster with Rhythm Guitarist Chris Dreja using the Gibson 335, however the favorite in years to come notably in ’sixty five and ’66 was the Les Paul.
In 1963 one of the first Bluesmen to arrive on this facet of the Atlantic for a Tour was the legendary Harp player Sonny Boy Williamson who recorded a beautiful live album with the Yardbirds that wasn’t released for many years. The restrained backing {that the} band provided to Sonny Boy showed them to be tight and controlled but Keith Relf the Lead singer and Harpist was a little put out at having to require a back seat to the Master during the gig. Several a lot of Blues legends toured Britain and Europe in the following years that not solely revitalised their own flagging careers but gave the budding white Blues players a probability to learn from the Maestros. These embody Howling Wolf and the legendary Son House who had been a modern of Robert Johnson in the nineteen thirties. The author was privileged to work out Son House play in London in 1970 shortly before he died. He was very frail however he actually might make that National Steel Guitar sing sweetly!
The Album that preceded the Flood was in fact the 1966 rendition by John Mayall entitled simply “John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton” recorded on the Decca label .This album marked the primary vocal airing by Slowhand and he selected Robert Johnson’s “Rambling on my Mind” as his debut. The interrelating of Mayall’s gutsy Barrelhouse Piano together with Eric’s Les Paul and his tentative vocals, wrote a piece of Blues History that day within the studio. That Album sums up for me not only the musicianship concerned and the eagerness of the music but the terribly essence of the British interpretation of the Blues. I’ve got listened to this song therefore several times currently since the first momentous day that it came through the speakers and each time it’s arduous to keep the emotions steady.
The Robert Johnson Legacy forms an integral and vital half of the Birth of the Blues in Britain and is accountable for the undoubted vitality of these days’s thriving Blues scene on each sides of the Atlantic. There aren’t any Blues Bands past or gift who don’t owe a debt to Robert Leroy and his magic. His genius and virtuosity with the bottleneck can live forever!
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