The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Paul Butterfield Blues Band (1965)

       To say that the Paul Butterfield Blues Band was a great band would be an understatement. They were groundbreaking – not only because they took the blues to new, experimental levels, but also because they caused a deep societal change – they opened up the blues scene to every single white kid in the States.

But first things first….

       …Paul Butterfield was born and raised in Chicago in a white, cultured family – his dad was an attorney and his mum was a painter. Encouraged by his parents, he took flute lessons from a very early age and, by the time he got to high school, he studied with the first-chair flautist of the Chicago Symphony.

       Around the time he got to university, however, he started hanging around Chicago blues clubs, where he got the opportunity to listen to such great blues musicians as: Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Otis Rush and Little Walter. Soon enough, he finds himself spending six/seven days a week in the clubs and none at uni, so he decides to quit and devote himself to music – his new weapon of choice being the diatonic ten-hole Hohner 'Marine band' harp .

       As legend has it, one day while he was sitting on a porch in his hood, sipping on a quart of beer and practicing his harmonica, a little white boy student from Oklahoma, by the name of Elvin Bishop, bumped into him. The two immediately connected and began playing parties in the neighbourhood, with Bishop on acoustic guitar, and hitting downtown clubs together. Not only did they listen to these great black musicians, they also started playing with them on stage.

     
       Now, you gotta understand one thing…at that time in Chicago (circa 1960), or anywhere in the states for that matter, they were probably one of the only white guys in the clubs (nevermind on stage!). So u get these two ‘honkies’ from the University of Illinois, of middle-class roots and upbringing playing this essentially black music that came from the slaves in the Mississippi delta. How is that possible, you ask? Well...they were just goddamn good at it!

       Actually, they got so good that they were offered to gig regularly at Big John's, a club in the white North Side of Chicago. So, Butterfield and Bishop set out to put a band together. They pulled Jerome Arnold (bass) and Sam Lay (drums) of Howlin' Wolf's touring band (a pretty ballsy move, if you ask me, given the fact that Wolf was a pretty big and scary mutherfucker!) and formed the Paul Butterfield Blues Band - then a quartet.

       Legend has it that it was Paul Rothchild of Elektra Records, the bands future producer, who invited Michael Bloomfield (a son of a wealthy jewish entrepreneur, a soon-to-become-legendary blues guitarist) to join the band and also offered them to record their first album.
       Bloomfield, even though he himself was a great musician, was very respectful of Butterfield's abilities, famously saying about the leader of the newly-formed band that: 

He was bad, man. That cat was bad. It took all the persuading to get me to join. 

       The first recordings of the group were scrapped, and only recently released, in 1995, as 'The Original Lost Elektra Sessions'. However, in September 1965, the group was joined by a young music student - Mark Naftalin - who played the keys, and the final version of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, now a sextet, was formed and the band was ready to hit the studio for a second time and record their first album!

       ...and it was a hell of an album! The self-titled release consisted of 11 tracks, the majority of which were old standards recorded in a lively, electric, Chicago blues style; but there were also some band songs as well.
     The album kicks off to a great start with an energetic recording of Nick Gravenites' 'Born in Chicago' (some of you might remember it from the early scenes of the 'Blues Brothers 2000' film) with the killer opening lines: 

'I was born in Chicago

In 19 and 41

Well, my father told me

Son, you had better get a gun'

       ...and already very early in the album we're exposed to Butterfield's unique, heavily amplified harp sound and Bloomfield's eclectic style.
     The next tune is a sort of an uptempo, 'rock'n'roll-ish' rendition of Elmore James' 'Shake Your Moneymaker' which is in turn followed by a great version of 'Blues With A Feeling', where Butterfield showcases his great vocal skills and Bloomfield has a mutherfucker of a solo.
       This is followed by the bands own instrumental song: 'Thank You Mr. Poobah' (credited to Butterfield, Bloomfield and Naftalin) which was actually recorded by accident - Bishop was late for the recording session and so, with the tape rolling, they began an instrumental warm up, jamming this jazzy groove; exchanging solos and two-measure licks.
       The next song is an upbeat recording of the classic 'Got My Mojo Working' by Muddy Waters. This time, however, Sam Lay, the drummer, is a leading force when he takes control of the mic and sings (shouts?) out the legendary lyrics in a very energetic way, which is only reinforced by the driving beat he produces with his kit.
       When it comes to Willie Dixon's 'Mellow Down Easy', the band delivers a very lively performance with a 'rocky' touch highlighted by Bishop's guitar constantly playing out the same 2-bar riff throughout the whole tune giving it a solid rock'n'roll rhythm.
       After that comes 'Screamin' - an instrumental song written by Bloomfield. The song really showcases Butterfield's unique and innovative style - the harp, cupped in his hands with a microphone between the palms, ceases to be only a backing instrument and becomes a main force driving the songs, with Butterfield approaching it with the sophistication of jazz saxophone players.
        Next up is 'Our Love is Driftin', written by the both guitarists of the band. It is, in my opinion, one of the best songs of the album. Not only you get to hear Butterfield's amazing vocal skills with his chesty tone and delivery full of authority (which, to be fair, for a white guy sound really authentic) but you can also witness Bloomfield's amazing sound - his guitar sustaining a note so sweetly and then jumping into these brilliant cascading figures so effortlessly and precisely.
       Jacobs' 'Last night' is another great banger! The rhythm section does a tremendous job (you can hear that PBBB really benefited from adding Mark Naftalin and his Rhodes to the squad) and Paul's voice, so full of sorrow and emotion, coupled with these great lyrics really do the trick:

Last night

I lost the best friend I ever had

You know she gone, gone and left me

That made me feel, feel so bad

Well it's early in the morning, Baby

And my love come fallin' down with you

I want you to tell me baby

Honey what are we gonna do

Will I wait till tomorrow?

They tell me everyday brings about a change

Well I love you, love you baby

Honey ain't it a cryin' shame?

       The album finishes with a truly rock'n'roll infused track. 'Look Over Yonders Wall' has Bloomfield's aggressive riffs, Bishop's driving guitar in the background and Paul's growling voice singing about a guy who manages to avoid the army draft and goes on entertaining lonely married women.

       At this point it is also much called for to give credit to the producer of the album - Paul A. Rothchild, who did a great job putting the band together, envisioning their sound and actually making it all work. Rothchild ain't no rookie - he produced the first 5 albums by The Doors and also worked with the likes of: Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Janis Joplin. High five Mr.Rothchild!

      Anyways, this was a story of how can two white kids from middle-class families make it big in a environment that would make anybody else feel like a nun in a strip club - out of place to say the very least. However, thanks to their amazing skills, devotion and, racial issues aside, authentic feeling, they won over massive audiences in the states. There would not be a single university dorm in the US in the 60s where you wouldn't stumble upon Butterfield's tunes blaring out of a PA. That was one of their huge achievements - they opened up the blues to white kids across the states by singing not about the Mississippi delta, failed crops or doing time in the Parchman Farm Penitentiary but about life in the urban jungle. It was blues with balls, not blues as destitution and oppression.
        And last but not least, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band was the first racially-mixed blues band that really showed white artists that you didn't have to imitate the blues sound, but you could just play the blues.

Here's a little sample from their live performance in the Monterey International Pop Music Festival in 1967:

And here's a selection of some of the tunes from the album:

• Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Born in Chicago

• Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Our Love is Driftin'

• Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Last night

All the other songs from the album seem to be on youtube so have a butchers'!


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