East West, Chicago & Butterfield

My first listening of Blues music came by accident when I was in High School. I was in a class one day and my friend handed me a tape of some John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers and it was a copy of the album with Eric Clapton on it. I had the Eric Clapton Box set and I wanted to hear more. Again, that 60's book recommended it, but I did not have a copy. A friend of mine went to that same record store that I normally go to and procured a copy for me. He told me with a whisper "Is that the one you wanted?" I agreed and we walked passed each other. The only problem was a teacher noticed this transaction of the tape. The teacher thought there was something in the tape case. Likely idea because in the past I am sure that is how he got his pot or something. An empty tape case is a great place to put that kind of stuff.

When I got into class I opened the tape case to see the tape and read the track listing. There were many songs I was looking forward to listen to and at that moment the teacher who saw me take the tape from my friend quickly took the tape away. "I will give you this tape at the end of class okay!" The teacher said. I thought it was unfair, but I understand where the teacher was coming from. It would have been a distraction for me to look at the tape while he was lecturing on some boring topic I more then likely will never need to learn again. I think I was just excited to have the tape in my hand and listen to it on the way home from school.



After class I went up to my teacher and asked for the cassette back. He told me he wanted to borrow it. I told him I could make him a copy, but since I just got it I wanted to hear it. He had a deal for me. He would borrow it for the night and the next day he would hand me two cassettes of more blues for me in return for the overnight borrow. I quickly agreed with his proposition. He told me he had some Chicago Blues that I should listen to. I did not know what to expect. I went home and dived through my 60's book of music and figured what he was going to give me. I looked around at work for some ideas on what I was getting and landing no clues to what he was going to give me.

The next day I was handed the John Mayall back and he handed me the best of Buddy Guy and a tape called East West by Paul Butterfield and the Blues Band. He told me that he really liked Buddy Guy and some of his best stuff was on that tape and the other tape he told me I should listen to the two guitar players in the band. Elvin Bishop and Mike Bloomfield are amazing guitar players. I took the teachers word for it. Little did I know that Mike Bloomfield was going to turn up on some of Bob Dylan albums I had. He told me that tragic story of Mike Bloomfield and he almost started crying. He told me that Mike Bloomfield was his guitar hero for a while. He explained how great East West was. It was great stuff that had a great stamp on his life. The harp playing by Paul Butterfield was classic playing and I could not get that any where else. Even after his death, Paul Butterfield's music didn't receive the accolades that were so deserved. Outputting styles adopted from Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters among other blues greats, Butterfield became one of the first white singers to rekindle blues music through the course of the mid-'60s.(AM)



East West had an even greater effect on music history, paving the way for experimentation that is still being explored today. This came in the form of an extended blues-rock solo (some 13 minutes) -- a real fusion of jazz and blues inspired by the Indian raga. This groundbreaking instrumental was the first of its kind and marks the root from which the acid rock tradition emerged. (AM) The music on East West is so great I strongly recommend this album in your collection. If you don't have blues in your collection then you should. This album explains a lot in the life of 60's musical history. Have fun with this and remember that the guitar playing of Elvin Bishop and Mike Bloomfield are the big, big highlights. Mike Bloomfield is one of my favorite guitar players and you can see why after this listen. Enjoy!!