Paul Butterfield

[Brad]

Yesterday would have been Paul Butterfield’s birthday. On the anniversary of his birth, JazzTimes republished the following article:

Paul Butterfield: Origins of an Originator

[felser]

This track changed everything:

 

[JSngry]

"Everything" is a pretty big word...

 

 

[felser]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

"Everything" is a pretty big word...

 

 

Yes, sheer hyperbole, but a useful shortcut in place of a drawn out analysis which I would write poorly.  But it was definitely a landmark.

[Brad]

An important recording for rock blues. 

[Dave James]

1 hour ago, Brad said:

An important recording for rock blues. 

I don't think you can underestimate the importance Paul Butterfield in terms of bringing the blues to a younger audience.  Listening to him in the late 60's made me start looking into other artists like Muddy Waters, Albert King, Earl Hooker, Buddy Guy & Junior Wells, Charlie Musselwhite and many others.  He was largely responsible for my continuing, life long interest in the blues.

Edited December 18, 2019 by Dave James

[JSngry]

1 hour ago, Dave James said:

I don't think you can underestimate the importance Paul Butterfield in terms of bringing the blues to a younger audience. 

By "younger", you mean "young white people who weren't already caught by the "folk blues" movement of a few years earlier", correct?

Not saying that that was not important, especially in terms of the marketplace, just that if there's an anything part of "everything" that got changed, that was it.

If you want to look at what changed blues itself, I think you look at James Brown more than you do Paul Butterflied.A LOT more. James Brown changed as much of "everything" as there was to be changed.

[Brad]

1 hour ago, Dave James said:

I don't think you can underestimate the importance Paul Butterfield in terms of bringing the blues to a younger audience.  Listening to him in the late 60's made me start looking into other artists like Muddy Waters, Albert King, Earl Hooker, Buddy Guy & Junior Wells, Charlie Musselwhite and many others.  He was largely responsible for my continuing, life long interest in the blues.

I completely agree but groups like the Stones (in their early stuff) also helped. 

[JSngry]

So...Paul Butterfield was the American John Mayall, is that what I'm hearing?

Seriously, though, I liked the guy well enough. I just never saw him as "important", not like that, any way.

 

[AllenLowe]

I think we are missing a few points, IMHO:

1) Butterfield was a terrific harp player and band leader, regardless of teaching anything to young people. He had great (integrated) bands from the beginning, including fantastic horn bands (one with David Sanborn, which I saw circa 1970). But ALL of his bands were incredible in their own right, and of course Mike Bloomfield was a genius.

2) as for what they did for the blues - first of all Butterfield/Bloomfield were powerful advocates to get the older blues players bookings. BB King loved Bloomfield, not only for this playing but for what Bloomfield did for him professionally, which was to, basically, make him a mainstream star. Similar things happened with Albert King and a number of other players; their profiles AND their fees went way up.

3) also IMHO - the Butterfield/Bloomfield groups woke the music up - put the old guys back on their game, made them pay attention to new audiences and new music. A lot of the older players had gotten a bit tired, and a lot of them (listen to Buddy Guy in the late '60s early '70s, he just flowered) really responded to the rock audiences and the rock aesthetic.

[Dave James]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

So...Paul Butterfield was the American John Mayall, is that what I'm hearing?

Seriously, though, I liked the guy well enough. I just never saw him as "important", not like that, any way.

 

Yes.  As a matter fact, I actually considered mentioning Mayall as a British Butterfield equivalent, but I didn't want to muddy the waters (sorry, I couldn't resist).  

[RiRiIII]

13 hours ago, felser said:

This track changed everything:

 

As a Greek I was amazed by the oriental scales played in this track. Then the explanation came with the co-crediting to the Greek-American Nick Gravenites who obviously introduced Bloomfield et al. to such scales. Groundbreaking.

Just in: https://bestclassicbands.com/paul-butterfield-documentary-7-28-17/

The Doc is out on DVD!

[Brad]

2 hours ago, RiRiIII said:

As a Greek I was amazed by the oriental scales played in this track. Then the explanation came with the co-crediting to the Greek-American Nick Gravenites who obviously introduced Bloomfield et al. to such scales. Groundbreaking.

Just in: https://bestclassicbands.com/paul-butterfield-documentary-7-28-17/

The Doc is out on DVD!

Thanks for mentioning this. It’s on Amazon Prime. Will be watching it later. 

[felser]

12 hours ago, JSngry said:

If you want to look at what changed blues itself, I think you look at James Brown more than you do Paul Butterflied.A LOT more. James Brown changed as much of "everything" as there was to be changed.

Yes, "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" also changed everything.  So did "Eight Miles High" and "Whiter Shade of Pale".   But the track "East-West" isn't blues at all, it's psychedelic rock with amazing Mike Bloomfield guitar.  THAT's what I was addressing.  Not to deny or shortchange Butterfield's blues work, which was magnificent, or the wonderful rock/blues/soul/jazz hybrid he finished out the decade doing.

Edited December 19, 2019 by felser

[jazzkrow]

I watched the Butterfield documentary last night on Amazon Prime-Excellent.

I lost track of Paul after the early Bloomfield years.

His use of horns(more than just one sax) brought a new dimension to electric blues bands anchored by guitar/harp combos.

Plus his acceptance by the old timers (Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf) helped open up white audiences to this genre, and as previously mentioned here, would revitalize their careers. The interviews in the doc (especially by Elvin Bishop) were enlightening...

[JSngry]

2 hours ago, felser said:

But the track "East-West" isn't blues at all, it's psychedelic rock with amazing Mike Bloomfield guitar.  THAT's what I was addressing. 

Ok, here's where personal taste comes in. I've long known that track, and have never found it to be more than semi-informed noodling (the constant run-on phrasing of almost all guitarists of this ilk has always been a BIG problem for me. It's a musical example of "how can I miss you when you won't go away"). That and the rudimentary symmetricality of the phrasing (where actual phrasing exists).

I certainly appreciate the ambition, though. But in the end, ambition is not enough, not really. Kudos for the idea, zilch for developing it out.

Then again. Mike Bloomfield has always been hit or miss with me. Mostly miss, to be honest. Again, personal taste. I know some people revere him. I don't get it, and at this point have no further desire to figure it out. So he was a really good white blues-rock player. That's like, what, being a really good indoor slot-car racer?

Anyway....

What changes everything is something like a catastrophic meteor shower, or something like that, real planetary impact. Other than that, nothing. All it changes is what "you" and other people like "you" know. And that may very well be something that other "you"s either have already known or maybe even find totally irrelevant, so....no change there!

Just getting tired of specific demographic groups seeing themselves as the center of "everything", past, present, and future. It ain't working no more, that isn't. And it ain't working because it's just not true/accurate/fair/balanced/etc. "Everything" mean every thing. There is no one true lens for everything. Perspective is by definition limited to the individual, and then a collection of individuals who perceive much the same thing.

Now, let us all worship the one true god, and good luck with that.

[kh1958]

"Semi-informed noodling"--that's a good description of Elvin Bishop solos, but not of Mike Bloomfield.

I did get to see Paul Butterfield in person once--at Antone's in 1982. Certainly the most impressive blues harmonica player I've heard in person.

[Dave James]

34 minutes ago, kh1958 said:

"Semi-informed noodling"--that's a good description of Elvin Bishop solos, but not of Mike Bloomfield.

I did get to see Paul Butterfield in person once--at Antone's in 1982. Certainly the most impressive blues harmonica player I've heard in person.

Charlie Musselwhite and Paul DeLay can also hold their own.   

[felser]

2 hours ago, JSngry said:

What changes everything is something like a catastrophic meteor shower, or something like that, real planetary impact. Other than that, nothing. All it changes is what "you" and other people like "you" know. And that may very well be something that other "you"s either have already known or maybe even find totally irrelevant, so....no change there!

[JSngry]

Shower, hell. I took a freakin' bath!!!!!

[felser]

2 hours ago, JSngry said:

Shower, hell. I took a freakin' bath!!!!!

LOL!

[danasgoodstuff]

Butterfield is a far better player than Mayall, better singer too.  Drawing any equivalence between them is lazy and sloppy, but I think you know that.

[Brad]

Has anyone heard of a group called the Prime Movers Blues Band?  I came across this entertaining YouTube channel where the host, among other records, discussed an album by them reissued by Sundazed. From the little I read about them, they were a Paul Butterfield-influenced group. He discusses the record around the 3:50 mark.  He also discusses a Gabor Szabo récord later in the video  

 

Edited December 20, 2019 by Brad

[felser]

11 hours ago, danasgoodstuff said:

Butterfield is a far better player than Mayall, better singer too.  Drawing any equivalence between them is lazy and sloppy, but I think you know that.

Eventually, all things converge into one.  I agree that Butterfield was the superior musician, though Mayall was quite a bandleader and talent scout.  We maybe don't have Fleetwood Mac, Cream, or Colosseum without him, and the Rolling Stones maybe don't have their best guitar player without him.  Though we also don't have Mark-Almond without him, so it's a mixed scorecard .  Their cultural impacts were very parallel in the US and UK, for sure.

[danasgoodstuff]

Mayall certainly did have an impact, largely due to his various alumni.  That EP is interesting, but a missed opportunity since it could have had Green & Bloomfield together.