Tag: John Mayall

John Mayall Makes A Good Run Better! Try It

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Nobody Told Me - John Maayall

Originally Posted Aug 2019 – Revised and Updated Feb 2026

The Run

Yesterday’s was one of those days that was about as close to perfect as you can get. First we were going to be babysitting our grandson Logan all day while his parents and older sister went to Six Flags. The good thing was we didn’t need to be there until 9:30. That meant that I could run around 8:00 and and be done and showered by 9:30. So I got up at 7:00 did some warm up exercising and was out the door by 8:00.

I ran a 3.1 (5K) mile course that is pretty flat. It’s the fourth time I’ve run since I was sick with an upper respiratory infection and a touch of pneumonia. Overall, it was the best of the four runs. Here are the results….

The Nerdy Details

Total Distance: 3.19    Time :33:38     Pace: 10:33

Avg HR   144       Peak HR  163         Cals 423

Splits   1 – 10:18    2-  10:40      3- 10:51    0.19  9:38

The Soundtrack – Nobody Told Me – John Mayall

he first John Mayall album I bought was 1969’s The Turning Point. I really loved that album an over the next 50 years I have continued to follow his legendary career and he has consistently provided me with great albums!   Nobody Told Me is another.

Throughout his career Mayall has always had a terrific lead guitarist in his band, starting with Eric Clapton! Other guitarists who have worked with Mayall include: Mick Taylor, Peter Green, Harvey Mandel, Walter Trout,Coco Montoya and Rocky Athos.

Guest guitarists on Nobody Told Me  include Todd Rundgren, Joe Bonamassa, Larry McCray, Alex Lifeson (Rush), Steven Van Zandt and Carolyn Wonderland.

Bottom line

The bottom line is that at 85 years young John Mayall sounds as good as he ever has. While I like all the tracks on the album I would have to say that these four are my favorite tracks: “ What have I done Wrong” and “Delta Hurricane” with Joe Bonamassa. “Evil and Her to Stay” with Alex Lifeson and “Distant Lonesome Train” with Carolyn Wonderland.

So if you’re a fan of John Mayall you have probably already checked this album out. So I’d be interested in your opinion. And if you’ve never heard of Mayall check it out and I bet you’ll be checking out several more albums included in his extensive discography!

Here’s the Official Video for the tile track of Nobody Told Me featuring the band’s new lead guitarist Carolyn Wooderla d!

Ok so there were three things that made Tuesday a great day. A good run, babaysitting my 20 month old grandson Logan and finally I finished the 34th book I’ve read this year, Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva. When it was released in 2010 it won the Edgar for Best First Novel. I will be writing about it shortly!

Links

Artist’s Website

Album Review: Glide Magazine

Facebook

Instagram

Saturday Morning Music from John Mayall – “Good Time Boogie” – Jazz Blues Fusion!!

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Jazz Blues Fusion - John Mayall

So the other day I decided to visit an album that I haven’t listened to in a long while, Jazz Blues Fusion from John Mayall. The album is a live album. The first side is from a concert in Boston on 18 November 1971, and the second side was selected from two concerts at Hunter College, New York, on 3 and 4 December 1971.

John released two albums with this jazz fusion bent. On the albums he brought jazz musicians into his band. On this album the musicians were Freddy Robinson on guitar, Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Ron Selico on drums and Clifford Soloman on tenor and alto saxophones. Larry Taylor long-time member of the band provided bass.

I wore this album out in college and throughout the years that followed. Listening to the album brought back a lot of memories, including seeing John perform at the University of Florida in 1973.

Anyway I loved listening to it the other day and I thought that a Saturday morning is a good time for a little “Good Time Boogie”…. I love Freddy Robinson’s guitar!!

If You’d like to dive a little deeper here’s the compete Jazz Blues Fusionl

John Mayall – A Special Life A Special Run Soundtrack!

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A Special Life - John Mayall

Reposted – Feb 17,2024 – ten years later….I was 62 ar the time of the run!

This week has been a topsy-turvy week. Monday it was in the 80s and then was  cloudy all day. Yesterday (Tuesday) it looked like it was going to rain and the temperatures were in the 60s!

Today (Thursday) it was supposed to be back into the 80s. So last night (Wednesday) I decided that I better run then or face another hot day running!

So of course today turned out a  lot like yesterday. However, I’m still glad that I ran last night!!  I decided to run on of my oldest routes, a slightly up and down run going up and down the highest point in Riverside on Pancoast Avenue.

The run was a good one. While I didn’t set any land speed records, I did feel fairly strong throughout the run. Well except when I was going up the steepest parts of Pancoast!! The only good thing is that I do get to go down hill for a good part of the last mile!!

The splits weren’t too bad. First mile 10:20 – Second 10:28, Third 11:04 – the uphill battle, 4 – 10:42.  Total Time was 42:34. When compared to Monday’s 44:54, it even looks better!!

The Soundtrack – A Special Life – John Mayall

On my last run I ran with on of the younger blues musicians, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, who by the way is celebrating his birthday today. Happy Birthday Kenny Wayne. So last night I decided to run with someone older than me, by almost two decades!! That would be “the godfather of the British Blues” John Mayall,who turned 80 last November. I ran withnbhis latest release A Special Life.

A Special Life is like Mayall’s gazillionth release since he formed the Bluesbeakers in 1965. I started to listen to Mayall during my freshman year in college with the first album that  I bought being The Turning Point and it has through the years been on of my favorites.This time period in Mayall’s music is my favorite. The Turning Point along with Jazz  Blues Fusion and Movin’ On are three of my favorite albums. I loved Johnny Almond’s sax and flute work and every body on the later two albums, Jazz Blues Fusion introduced me to the trumpet of Blue Mitchell. For most of the world John may be best know for the musicians who have been a part of the Bluesbreakers.

From Wikipedia here are of some ex-members of John’s band…..

  • Guitar: Eric Clapton, Roger Dean, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, Harvey Mandel, Freddy Robinson, Jimmy McCulloch, Kal David, Walter Trout, Coco Montoya, Randy Resnick,Sonny Landreth, Buddy Whittington, Eric Steckel, Robben Ford
  • Bass: Jack Bruce, John McVie, Steven Thompson[disambiguation needed], Larry Taylor, Tony Reeves, Hank Van Sickle, Greg Rzab
  • Drums: Hughie Flint, Keef Hartley, Aynsley Dunbar, Soko Richardson, Jon Hiseman, Colin Allen, Mick Fleetwood.
  • Keyboards: Dr. John
  • Vocals/Harmonica: Paul Butterfield

I think that the first time I heard Coco Montoya was on John’s 1987 release Chicago Line. What I didn’t realize until a short while back, was that Walter Trout also played on that album. Looking at the list of guitarist see that both Eric Steckel and Robben Ford have recorded with John, so I will certainly look up the albums they played on. 

The Current Bluesbreakers

The current lineup for the Bluesbreakers includes: Rocky Athas on guitar, Greg Rzab on bass, and drummer Jay Davenport. Rocky Athas and Stevie Ray Vaughan both hail from Oak Cliff, Texas.

By the time Athas was 23, he had already established himself on the Texas Blues scene and was named one of the first TEXAS TORNADOS by Buddy Magazine’s Top Ten Guitarists. The list of Texas Tornados went on over the years to include Eric Johnson, Jimmy and Stevie Ray Vaughan, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, and Johnny Winter.

Both Greg Rzab and Jay Davenport grew up in the Chicago blues scene. Rzab has been a member of  Buddy Guy and jimmy Page’s bands, and Warren Hayes’ Gov’t Mule!

Davenport has likewise played with some top blues musicians including: Junior Wells, Valerie Wellington, Pinetop Perkins,Jimmie Johnson and for the last several years he has been the drummer for west-side guitarist Melvin Taylor,  where the other half of the rhythm section was? – Greg Rzab!!.

Last year, Mayall asked about his current band and he replied, “The band I have now is the best band I have EVER had. I think it would be impossible to do better than that!”

 

What American Blues Scene says about the album…..

Mayall is at the top of his game here, and the band comes together nicely, serving up some of the finest fare we’ve heard in a while. This music draws listeners in, and engages them on so many levels! The more we listened to A Special Life, the more we wanted to hear it. Superbly crafted and performed, it is at once earthy, elegant, and soul stirring. Listeners will wear this album out.

So Check IT out!!

The Video

Here’s “Speak of the Devil” from A Special Life – and I will say this may be my favorite track on the album and that I hope that I’m going as good as John, when I hit 80!!!

Memories Monday – John Mayall – Chicago Line

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Chicago Line= John Mayall


So a few weeks ago as I was researching for a post about Walter Trout’s latest album Common Ground ,I discovered or rediscovered that Walter had played on John Mayall‘s 1988 release Chicago Line.

I say rediscovered because I probably knew in 1988 that Walter played on the album, but by the time I listened to Walter’s solo albums a few years ago, it was something I didn’t remember!

Anyway I went to the CD shelf and pulled out Chicago Line and listened to it. I haven’t listened to it for a while because it currently is not on the iPod. It was ripped a long time ago and now resides on one of the external hard drives that think it is a CD drive!

About Chicago Line

Chicago Line was an old time John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers type album like the albums when Eric Clapton and Peter Green were the guitarists. This time the lead guitar duties were shared by Coco Montoya and the aforementioned Walter Trout. Coco has the first lead guitar solo on the opening track “Chicago Line” a great number to open the album!

On the second track “Gimme One More Day” John shares guitar with Coco. On the third track “One Life to Live” about John’s experiences in the Korean War. Walter takes over lead guitar duty.  

On the cover of Jimmy Rogers’ “The Last Time” Coco takes the first solo and Walter the second. Track 5 “Dream About the Blues” Coco plays lead and Walter provides rhythm and harmonica. Walter takes the 1st solo on “Fascinating Lover” and Coco the 2nd. On one my favorite tracks “Cold Blooded Mama” Coco plays lead and Walter provides finger picking and rhythm guitars. On “The Dirty Dozens” they share guitar duties with Coco in the lead spot on the next track “Tears Came Rolling Down”.

The closing track is a Walter Trout tune “Life in the Jungle” (I used a video of Walter’s version of the song on the Common Ground post) which sounds a little different than Walter’s version!

My Thoughts

Overall it was a great listen to a really good Mayall album with the overall strength of the album coming from the guitars of Coco Montoya and Walter Trout! I must confess that I haven’t listened to much from John since his 2005 release Road Dogs. I see that his latest album Tough is his 57th album and his band is now composed of Rocky Athas on guitar, Greg Rzab on bass, and Jay Davenport on drums. Guess I have to check it out! Oh, and by the way Chicago Line is now on the iPod! And while it doesn’t make any difference to you it does to me!

Here’s a Mayall performance of “One Life to Live” with Walter on lead and Coco playing rhythm and drinking! Filmed at Iowa State in 1987.