The Paul Butterfield Blues Band in 1965
(L-R) Bloomfield, Butterfield, Lay, Bishop, Arnold (not pictured, Mark Naftalin)

Listen/Download The Paul Butterfield Blues Band – Born In Chicago

Listen/Download The Paul Butterfield Blues Band – Get Out of My Life Woman

Greetings all

The middle of the week is here, so I thought I’d whip something a little unusual (for here, anyway) into your ears.
Those of you past a certain age will likely be familiar with the name Paul Butterfield.

Butterfield – harp player and vocalist – was one of the movers and shakers of the blues scene in the 1960s.

The band he led – unsurprisingly going by the name The Paul Butterfield Blues Band – was hot as hell, as well as serving as an incubator for talent, incubating  guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop.

Formed in 1964 in Chicago with Mike Bloomfield (both he and Butterfield were Chitown natives) and University of Chicago student Bishop, local heavies Sam Lay (on drums) and Jerome Arnold (brother of Billy Boy Arnold on bass) and later adding Mark Naftalin on keyboards, the Butterfield Blues Band had a sound that was rooted firmly in electric Chicago blues.

What made it stand out – aside from an embarrassment of riches in the talent department – was a willingness to experiment with rock and jazz styles and interesting cover material.

The first tune featured today – ‘Born In Chicago’, written by Nick Gravenites who would later join Bloomfield and Buddy Miles in the Electric Flag– was the lead-off track from the groups self-titled 1965 debut. It is a wailing slice of rocking blues, featuring blazing harp solos by Butterfield and wailing leads by Bloomfield.

The second track is a cover of Lee Dorsey’s ‘Get Out of My Life Woman’, from the group’s second LP, ‘East-West’ from 1966. Unlike most covers of the tune, the Butterfield Blues Band dispenses with the opening drum break. They take the tune a slightly more brisk pace than the original, adding in some tasty piano work by Naftalin.

‘East-West’ also includes a very groovy version of the Monkees ‘Mary Mary’.

Though the original lineup was all but gone by 1967’s ‘The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw’, the BBB continued to meld blues and R&B and kept rolling on into the 1970s.

They played at Woodstock (with none other than David Sanborn on sax) but were not included in the original film (there are clips of the band playing the festival).

That all said, you can find all of the BBB’s best stuff in digital reissue, and copies of their stuff turns up frequently in used bins (those first three LPs are all worth grabbing).

I hope you dig the sounds, and I’ll see you on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 

 

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

 

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

One Response to “Two By the Paul Butterfield Blues Band”

1. Kris Holmes says:

   May 7, 2014 at 4:16 am

   personal faves, i must have kept a cassette copy of east-west in my car on weekly rotation for at least 5 years at one point! used to cover their version of GOOMLW in a band I had too.