John Mayall Three For The Road

John Mayall
Three For The Road
Forty Below Records

Despite showing him with a guitar, this latest album by the veteran blues stylist has him leading a trio (the Three in the title) on piano and harmonica backed by bassist Greg Rzab and drummer Jay Davenport. It is surpising given his association with so many guitarists in the past, but this live 2017 German recording is a surprising in focusing solely on his effective piano and harmonica and appealing, gravelly, if occasionally stilted, vocals.

There is nothing fancy or contrived about the performances that include 7 covers and two Mayall numbers opening with a relaxed shuffle treatment of the Little Johnny Jones/Eddie Taylor "Big Town Playboy," that is followed by a medium tempo, choppy groove for Chuck Willis' "I Feel So Bad," which is credited to Lightnin' Hopkins. His piano playing comes off better than his limited rack harmonica playing. There is an infectious quality to his piano playing and the backing on Curtis Salgado's "The Sum of Something," with a nice drum solo. Mayall switches to organ for his train blues, "Streamline," with a nice groove and one of his better vocals here. Rzab and Davenport are strong in supporting his bouncy solo.

I believe it was Walter Davis who did the original of Henry Townsend's "Tears Came Rollin' Down," and with Mayall's somewhat gloomy piano sets somber mood for his vocal on a lengthy rendition of this blues. An unexpected cover is of a Lionel Hampton song, "Ridin' on the L&N," followed a rendition of Jerry Lynn Williams' "Don't Deny Me," with more greasy organ. After a lengthy rendition of his own "Lonely Feelings," he opens Sonny Landreth's "Congo Square" on harmonica before his rhythm join in for a lengthy jam although his vocal suffers compared to others who have done this number.

Certainly a diverting hour or so of music, generally well-played (and again praise to Rzab and Davenport), and credibly sung. In this age of blues-tinged rock, this solidly played set of straight blues has definite charm and appeal.

I received my review copy from a publicist. This review originally appeared in the March-April 2018 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 377). Here is a relatively recent performance by Mayall and his band.

John Mayall Talk About That

John Mayall
Talk About That
 Forty Below Records

As not one that gets overly excited by John Mayall recordings, I did find his latest album, "Talk About That," a very entertaining one. His vocals, keyboards and harmonica are supported by Rocky Athas on guitar, Greg Rzab on bass and Jay Davenport on drums with Eagles/ James Gang guitarist Joe Walsh guesting on two selections. His previous new recording "Find a Way To Care," with a number of covers, struck me as mediocre whereas this new release with mostly his own songs strikes me as much better and his band plays strongly in support of him.

The title track opens this album with a funky groove and Athas and Rzab providing interesting backing riffs as Davenport lays down a hard groove. Horns are added to "It's Hard Going Up," with a lyric about hard going up, but twice as hard coming down, and his piano sounds better here than other recent recordings while the band keeps things tight. Joe Walsh contributes lead guitar to "The Devil Must Be Laughing," a slow topical blues that shows Walsh hasn't lost his blues touch from playing in Cleveland bars nearly five decades ago. "Give Me Some of That Gumbo," finds Mayall in a Crescent City groove with the horns adding to the flavor, and followed by a very nice low key cover of Jimmy Rogers' "Goin' Away Blues." Walsh returns with the slide lead on "Cards on the Table," set against a strutting groove.

"I Didn't Mean To Hurt You," is an appealing slow blues ballad with Mayall singing with much emotion while "Don't Deny Me," is a solid blues in the vein of Little Willie John and Chuck Willis even though Mayall is not a singer on their level. "Blue Midnight" has a nice swampy feel created by Mayall's electric piano and Athas' guitar riff. Athas also takes a strong, well-constructed solo here along with one by Mayall. "Across the County Line" is a lively shuffle with horns added behind Mayall's vocal and harp playing with another terrific Athas guitar solo. "You Never Know" has a philosophical lyric and jazzy feel. On this, Mayall's vocal and piano are backed only by bass and drums (Davenport using brushes) closing one of Mayall's better recent recordings.

I received my review copy from a publicist. I have made a few corrections from the review as it originally appeared in the March-April 2017 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 371). Here is a video on the making of this recording.

John Mayall's Bluesbreakers Live in 1967

 

"Live in 1967" by John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (Forty Below Records), brings together some club recordings made by Tom Huisson, a Dutch fan of Mayall that captured the edition of the Bluesbreakers that were together for three months. Peter Green was on guitar, John McVie on bass and Mick Fleetwood were on drums and these three would leave Mayall to form Fleetwood Mac. Eric Corne engineered and remastered these recordings that Huisson recorded on a single track tape recorder to result in a listenable if not hi-fidelity release. Mick Fleetwood suffers the most in the audio as it almost sounds like he is playing wood blocks.

Material included on this includes four songs each that are associated with Otis Rush and Freddie King, a couple of Mayall originals and songs from Johnny Guitar Watson, Tommy Tucker and T-Bone Walker. Mayall handles all the vocals and plays organ and harmonica. If Mayall is not one of this writer's favorite blues singers, he is quite credible here and his organ and occasional harp blowing is OK. Much interest will be on Peter Green's string-bending and he is featured throughout with some explosive playing on "Double Trouble," "San-Ho-Zay" (which comes across more as King's "Driving Sideways") and the closing "Stormy Monday." Sound issues aside, he certainly sounds hot.

For fans of Mayall, this will obviously be indispensable and for fans of Green and early Fleetwood Mac, this will likewise be a must purchase. If sound was better (and bear in mind only so much could be done with the source tapes), then this would be recommendable to more casual listeners.

I received my review copy from a publicist. This review previously appeared in the May-June 2015 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 360). Here is Mayall with this group "Double Trouble" from the group's single.