# 40 Butterfield Blues Band at Woodstock '69

    Large music festivals have been around for hundreds of years, but for baby boomers, the beginning is in the late fifties with George Wein's Newport Jazz, and Newport Folk festivals. Wein's festivals prove to be very popular with thousands of music fans, but they are tiny in comparison to coming next generation of festivals.

    Consider, seventy-six million Americans are born between '46 and '64, so by '65, there is the largest mass of young people the country has ever experienced. By the mid-sixties, the first wave of these baby boomers are coming of age, and they select Rock Music as the soundtrack of their generation. It is only natural that savvy promoters look for ways to capitalize on the spending power of this massive market.

    After Newport Folk '65, the next big festival is the Monterey Pop Festival attracts over fifty thousand, (Miami Pop Festival in '68 attracts about one hundred thousand patrons, but the festival isn't documented on film, and consequently doesn't receive much attention), and then there is the Woodstock Music and Art Fair,'69, catering to more than four hundred thousand. Back then, music critic Griel Marcus wrote for Rolling Stone that Woodstock has become the third largest city in New York state...

    The history of  the Woodstock Music and Art Festival, its impact on the future of Rock music, and its influence on all future music festivals is well documented. After Woodstock, sociologist Philip Ennis noted, It’s not a ‘youth thing’ now, but a generational event; chronological age is only the current phase..... In addition, many historians consider Woodstock '69 as the beginning of the lucrative industry of staging massive Rock Festivals all over the world.  For many new artists these festivals, especially if they are as well documented as Monterey or Woodstock, usually serve as a big break in their career, and for more established artists, the festival generally solidifies their popularity.

     So, the key music festivals for the sixties generation start with Newport, '65, Monterey, '67, Woodstock, '69, and end with The Last Waltz, '76. They are significant because they change the direction of both popular culture, and the music of that culture. Of all the artists to appear at these significant events, Paul Butterfield is the only one to perform at all four.

    However, by the time Butterfield performs at Woodstock '69, the cultural door he helps to open with his music is right off its hinges, and literally thousands of artists are passing under the threshold. Consider that most of the artists who appear at Woodstock '69 are white people who are playing music which is rooted in African-American blues. It is a trend for which Butterfield should be recognized, but too often this acknowledgement is ignored. For example, if it hadn't been for Butterfield's performances at Newport '65, Woodstock performers such as Canned Heat, Johnny Winter, Janis Joplin, and several others probably would not be accepted as credible interpreters of blues, 

    Even the new horn band Blood Sweat and Tears, fronted by Canadian singer David Clayton Thomas owes a great deal to the contributions of Paul Butterfield. Another band who receives inspiration from Butterfield's horn bands is Chicago Transit Authority. They try to get a time slot at Woodstock '69, but lose out to Bill Graham's band Santana. Apparently, Graham plays a shell game with the scheduling to push Chicago out, which offers the San Francisco band an opportunity to promote themselves. The other horn based band Butterfield inspires is the Canadian group Lighthouse. They are invited to play Woodstock, but like so many bands of the era, make the regretful decision to decline the invitation.

   The truth is that by '69, few people view Butterfield's past contributions to Rock as marketable, and with no major mainstream hits to shore up his name, he is tucked in between newcomers Crosby, Still, Nash and Young (they just released their first album in August), and the novelty act Sha-Na-Na for the 6 a.m. to 6:45 a.m. time slot. Unfortunately, it is too close to the end of the festival, most of the audience is sleeping, hung over, coming down, passed out, or packing up to leave the grounds. Years later, when organizers are asked why Butterfield was placed in the 6 a.m. slot, and their response is that they were looking for a band who can jam for long periods. 

    In spite of  scheduling politics, and the Butterfield Blues Band's impressive performance, none of it is in the Academy Award winning release of the Woodstock documentary. The reason is quite simple, Albert Grossman stipulates in his contracts that he does not want his acts to appear on film. His reasoning is people will not bother to pay to see his artists if they can see them on film. It isn't just Grossman who feels this way as artists like Creedence Clearwater Revival also share the same philosophy.

    In retrospect, it seems like such an archaic attitude toward artist promotion, but there could be an element of truth to this attitude. The mass appeal of the internet has taught the entertainment industry that free music is not as exciting as live music, but it is cheaper. It won't be until 2009 that fans can see the Butterfield Blues Band, and all the other artists omitted from the documentary perform at the festival in the director's cut of the festival.

     All of the artists who perform at Woodstock '69, including Paul Butterfield, will reap long term economic and social benefits from their performances at Woodstock. For example, performances by artists Santana, and Crosby Stills, Nash and Young at Woodstock mark the beginning of their long, and prosperous careers. However, for music pioneers the Butterfield Blues Band, it is the beginning of the end. .

Paul Butterfield: Vocal, & Harmonica, Rod Hicks: - Bass, & Vocals, Ted Harris: Piano, Buzzy Feiten: Guitar, Gene Dinwiddie: Tenor Saxophone, Percussion & Vocals, Steve Madaio: Trumpet & Percussion, David Sanborn: Alto Saxophone & Percussion, Phil Wilson: Drums, Keith Johnson: Trumpet & Percussion, Trevor Lawrence: Baritone Saxophone & Percussion.

1) Born Under a Bad Sign
2) No Amount of Lovin'
3) Driftin' and Driftin'
4) Morning Sunrise
5) Love March
6) Everything's Gonna Be Alright

                                                                

# 39 Building a Bigger Butterfield Blues Band

   Paul Butterfield travels a long way from his days fronting a three piece band on the tiny stage at Big John's in '64 to his current role as the leader of a seven piece band. His ambitions to be a better musician, and bandleader are reaping benefits too. He is now the most famous harmonica player in the world, and his band is a major concert attraction on the growing Rock Concert circuit. He can easily stop expanding, and let his successful career coast for a while, but he is too enterprising for that route. If Butterfield were a businessman, he would probably subscribe to the philosophy, if you aren't growing, you're dying. In 1969, he is about to build, and command biggest, heaviest sounding band of his generation.

   Achieving any prestigious position usually comes with many social and financial perks, but it often presents some demanding expectations in the form of a continuous stream of problems to solve too. For Butterfield, it's the constant loss of band members. It must seem like he just gets them trained, and they leave. Regardless of whether the departures are a result of road fatigue, artistic differences, or personal disagreements, it is an issue that might cause the resolve of a weaker leader to fray. The problem doesn't seem to cause him much anxiety though, he seems to greet the hurdles an opportunity to build a stronger band.

   Over four albums, and near incessant touring, he loses six band members. Each time, his response to the set back is to add to the size, and flexibility of his band. He still has David Sanborn, Gene Dinwiddie, Philip Wilson, Keith Johnson, and Buzzy Feiten, but will lose his new bass player Freddie Beckmier by mid-'69. (Beckmier only records some of the tracks on Keep On Movin')

    However, in the coming months he will hire Ted Harris keyboards, Steve Madaio,trumpet, Trevor Lawrence, saxophone, and replace Beckmier with Rod Hicks. His new band will be a massive nine piece outfit, the biggest band to tour the '60's Rock circuit. (Even bigger than the Blood Sweat and Tears.) In addition, he will buy a used armored truck for his roadies to transport all the equipment from gig to gig. (It takes three bullets while en route to a gig in Toronto. Not everyone loves young men with long hair in the '60's)

   In the studio, his band is sticking fairly close to the commercially viable Rhythm and Blues format, but live performances are more eclectic, using Free Jazz, Hard-Bop, Blues, and Rock. They play a head, and then improvise on that theme, sometimes for 30 minutes. (listen to Work Song on the East West album for an example of this format) As Butterfield explains to an interviewer, We play the things we've been working with, so we have them down pretty much, we don’t write charts, or make plans or anything. It is a Hard-Bop approach, an excellent vehicle for any musician with talent to test their chops, and stretch their creative abilities, but it does require a lot of mental dexterity. It's a philosophy which might appear on page one of an imaginary Charlie Parker instructional manual: Master your instrument, master the music, and then forget all that crap, and just play.   

   Some listeners might find this approach to music as a bit laissez-faire, and it can be, if there isn't a strong leader to keep the musicians moving in one direction. As Trevor Lawrence recalls: Butter always kept things going. He was a blues dude, but it wasn't like doing the same little thing over and over.  We did it different every single night. We had to because there were no written arrangements. So the band just kept evolving. 

    So, in late '68, he hires Buzzy Feiten as a guitarist, but discovers the teenager has many other skills to offer too, he also sings, plays piano, composes, and plays the French Horn, (see post # 37). In the electric guitar driven world of '60's Rock, the French Horn seems like an odd instrument to be use in a Rock band. One interviewer actually stops Butterfield when he mentions the instrument, and asks him are you really going to use French Horn....? Butterfield replies with an emphatic, Yes, we’re really goin' to use the French Horn. We’re writing almost all of our own material now.

   Feiten shows that he has an ear for talent when he recruits Beckmier, and now he will recommend his former Mannes College classmate, Steve Madaio for a position in the horn section. At 19, Madaio has already worked the Copacabana, backed Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and the Beach Boys. His greatest weakness is that his classical training conditions him to work within a very tight structure,  Most of the music I’d played to that point had been very structured - I’d never heard the band, had no idea of this type of music. Sanborn had that hypnotic sound, and Gene Dinwiddie was like a very cool cat, and Philip Wilson was quick to play free - a monster. Keith was mostly playing organ, although we’d double up on trumpets sometime.  The band would play the head of a song, and then it would free up, which was perfect for me, some structure but a chance to play solo. It really intrigued me, was real cool, kind of like a jazz quartet. According Keith Johnson, Madaio is very quick to adapt to the new playing style though, that Steve was an absolute motherfucker, a young 21-year old whose father was also a trumpet player, he was always pushing me.

    Freddie Beckmier's duties as the band's bass player seem to be slowly shift over to Rod Hicks as the two can be found on tour, and in the studio with the band in late '69. Before joining the Butterfield band he is working with Aretha Franklin's touring band, and only leaves because she stops performing live. Hicks is a Detroit native, originally an upright bass player in a Jazz band, but can seamlessly move from Free Jazz to Rhythm and Blues or Rock. While in the Butterfield band he ... plays all the basses: upright, cello, electric, and some piano, but most of the time Hicks plays an Ampeg Fretless bass (the first electric bass of its kind) through a Kustom Amp while displaying an almost manic energy on stage. He is a composer too, and will write a few pieces for Butterfield over the next few years. (Long after the Butterfield Blues Band disbands, Hicks will still be playing live shows with Butterfield.)

    Another major contribution Rod Hicks makes to the band is the referral of arranger/keyboardist Ted Harris to Butterfield. He isn't the first choice though, as Butterfield initially hires the brilliant Canadian Jazz arranger Gil Evans for the position, but the two parties can not reach an agreement on work schedules, so the Evans hire is dismissed. However, Harris will prove to be the better choice as he is keener to participate in the band's experiments. Even Elektra, and Grossman are happy with Harris as they want a hit song from the Butterfield Band, and he is more likely to deliver than Gil Evans. Before he joins the Butterfield band he needs to finish up a stint as an arranger, and pianist for Tony Bennett, so he seems to have an ear for mainstream pop. He is very anxious to work with everyone in the Butterfield Blues Band though, That band was a godsend to write for.  That was the only band I've ever played with could turn it on - all you had to say is ‘Let’s play,’...


   Trevor Lawrence is working as a full-time session player in New York often for producer Jerry Ragovoy at the Hit Factory when Butterfield hires him. He has studied arranging under Hall Overton, and has done transcriptions, as well as charts for Thelonious Monk's Big Band. Lawrence will join the band in mid-'69, and stay for three albums. He says,  I don’t think we ever wrote arrangements.....  That was one of the remarkable things about the band.  It was totally a head band.  When we played we did it on the spot; what we played was what came out. It was like a magical creation that just happened.  It was so free and giving....

  
 .... When I got in the band I dug Philip Wilson’s playing.  He had a different feel and time, and there were always twists and turns and you just had to go with him.”... The blues is the blues, but it’s the twists and turns that make it great, and this bad did some very creative things.  Soon it was obvious that it wasn't just the blues anymore, or R & B or jazz - it had become something else.  For some reason they didn't record the band fast enough.  It had become so vivid that it would grow to one stage then grow right past it to another stage.  They should have caught more of that magic on tape......
Lawrence's memories of the dynamic in the band are so familiar when you listen to former members reflect on working in the Butterfield Blues Band, and that positive energy seems to transfer to fans also still carry fond memories of their performances.

    If hearing Paul Butterfield, and his big band leaves a lasting imprint on fans, then playing in the band must have been a musician's dream. As Ted Harris sums up his years with the band, I want to tell you something, I've been playing music a long time, and that’s the only band I've ever played in that could turn it on everyday, at the drop of a hat. It could just turn on.  I've never played in a band like that - it seemed like there never were any bad days.

     Enough said.

                                                                 

# 38 Muddy Waters & Paul Butterfield Fathers and Sons Band Live

   Muddy Waters' Fathers and Sons album is really just an accidental byproduct of the Cosmic Joy-Scout Super-Jam. The charity concert is the original reason Bloomfield and Butterfield are in Chicago, not to make a studio album. (see post #37)

    It never receives as much attention as the studio performances, but fortunately, some of the details associated with the live show are documented. The Cosmic Joy-Scout Super-Jamboree is a one time concert to raise money for the Wheaton based Phoenix Academy in Chicago. It isn't a four day concert as some in Rock press state; but rather just a one time performance, held on Thursday, April 24th, 1969 at the Auditorium Theatre. In the end, the live performance serves three purposes: it does raise money for the original charity, it acts as a promotion for the studio album, and in addition, the live tracks work as a tasty supplement to the final Fathers and Sons album.

    Concert organizers (Nick Gravenites is the concert producer) sell 2600 tickets, however, another 200 end up sneaking into the show. The Muddy Waters Fathers and Sons Band is the headliner, and will appear around 10:45 p.m., but organizers have planned a full evening of entertainment for fans.

 Here is the concert line-up:

    As patrons file in Jazz drummer Roger Wandershield is on stage playing an African Finger Piano.

   Then, the Phoenix Academy representative, Jo Anna Guthrie comes out, and gives a speech about people, language, and the academy's mission. However, many in the audience grow impatient during her speech, and yell out MUSIC!.

    After the formalities are satisfied, the five girl Rock band from San Francisco, Ace of Cups appear, and do an uneven set. They are a fairly new band on the rock scene. One critic calls their performance Amateurish.

    As the concert picks up energy, Nick Gravenites comes out with members of the Quicksilver Messenger Service: Greg Elmore on drums, bassist David Freilberg and John Cipolina on guitar, and they perform a few songs.

    Then the bigger stars arrive, Butterfield, Bloomfield, Duck Dunn, Ira Kamin (organ), and Buddy Miles (in a shocking purple outfit) come out, play Good Morning Little School Girl, Butterfield does a very convincing version of  Losing Hand, the band plays a shuffle version of Down on Broadway, and Miles sings a song called Texas. One critic notes that Butterfield appears very uncomfortable with Miles' heavy drumming.

   Then, with no introduction, Sam Lay and Otis Spann appear on stage before Waters makes his star entrance. He sings Hoochie Coochie Man, Long Distance Call,  Baby Please Don’t Go, The Same Thing, Sail On, and finishes with Mojo. As is the tradition with most Waters concerts, he works his audience into a frenzy with Mojo pt 1, exits, but returns to perform Mojo pt. 2. The curtain goes down, and the audience pays a ten minute standing ovation for the masters performance.

    Rather than ending the concert with such a moving climax, James Cotton, Otis Spann, Buddy Miles, Tom Webb of the Rock band The Flock, come out, and play a set of tunes. It is a good jam session to witness, but creates an anti-climatic ending to an otherwise great show.

   According to the review of the concert posted in Downbeat, All the men on the (studio album) session were suppose to play at the Thursday night concert, but none seemed particularly excited about it.

   However, Butterfield tells Rolling Stone, It really made me feel good to get back, and really be playing some shit on the harp that was the shit I came from.

   In August of '69, most of this Muddy Waters Fathers and Sons Band set is released with the studio album, and the double album manages to work its way up to peak at # 70 on Billboard Album Charts.

    It is the first of a series of albums that American blues artists will make with popular Blues Rock stars of the late '60's and '70's, some good, others are weak. For example, Fathers and Sons producer, Norman Dayron will do the Howlin' Wolf London Sessions the next year. Soon, B.B. King, and John Lee Hooker will follow the pack. It is a pretty impressive trend considering it all starts with a humble suggestion Mike Bloomfield makes to Marshall Chess in early '69.

                                                                  

#37 Paul Butterfield and Fathers and Sons

    In the early 20th century, many of the American port cities are busy receiving massive shipments of raw materials for the processing of products which will be shipped to markets around the world. It is this industrial initiative which will help to catapult the country into the role of an economic power. However, all this industrial growth demands a huge labor force, and so, it sparks a huge national migration of workers to the industrial centers.
 
    For example, during the '40's, the City of  Chicago's population increases 14% , and then another 22% during the 50's. The demographic of the thousands who flood into the city tends to be poor, under-educated, Afro-Americans from Southern states along the Mississippi River, and especially the State of Mississippi. Young fathers and mothers often leave their lives back home, in search of prosperity for their future sons and daughters only to become lost in a life of menial labor, low pay, and substandard housing in the city's South Side neighborhoods. Many times the only connection they have with their former lives is the music, and that too is changing.

    By 1943, McKinley Morganfield is embarking on his second attempt at success in Chicago. This time he intends to use his music as the vehicle which will deliver him to success. After all, working long shifts in a factory is hard work, and music helps to settle the dust at the end of the day.

   So, he works a day job, and at night turns into Muddy Waters, playing his acoustic country blues anywhere he finds a willing audience. By 1948, he has an electric band, and touring in support of his first hit, I Can't Be Satisfied. Then in '53, two Polish-Americans, the Chess Brothers, offer to record him. The relationship he develops with the brothers will deliver several R. & B. hits over the decade.

    Many believe the key to Waters' success is that he is singing Country Blues, but with electric instruments, and this is what resonates with so many of the southerners who have migrated north.

  The motivation for his transition to electric instruments isn't impulsive, serendipitous, or even new. In the '50's, it is an industry standard first introduced by A&R man, Lester Melrose.  In many ways he is the unsung father of the Chicago Blues sound. (His format uses drums, bass, piano, guitar, and saxophone to support the singer.)

    However, Waters does make one significant alteration the Melrose format; he replaces the saxophone with an amplified harmonica. It's a wise adjustment as the popular little instrument maintains a emotional rural connection in his urban presentation. Waters is a harmonica player too, and knows exactly what he wants in a harp player. The new addition needs to be able to to solo in a way which compliments Waters' rural lyrics, and he finds that skill in Marion Walter Jacobs (Little Walter). Having a harmonica player of Jacobs' caliber will establish Waters as bandleader with an ear for talent.

    As a bandleader, Waters will command some of the greatest blues bands of his era, and in the process develop a patriarchal profile both on and off the bandstand. The influence Muddy Waters has on the genre of Chicago Blues, its musicians, and its offspring Blues Rock is as profound as any of the great band leaders working in any genre of the twentieth century.

    Unfortunately, by the late '50's, the art of the Country Blues singers who morph into electric Chicago Bluesmen is a dying trade. Waters' popularity is waning, and so is his music; both are in danger of fading into history. The children of his initial audience are searching for new sounds that resonate inside them, and that doesn't include electric Country Blues. It is a throng of young Rock musicians from Britain who pay a lip service to his music that temporarily release him from a future in obscurity.

    In the early '60's, the promotion of Chicago Blues by the young white Rock artists sparks a renewed interest in Waters, as well as a few other Blues artists, but it is the introduction of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in '65 that really re-energizes his profile.

    Butterfield Band members, Mike Bloomfield, Elvin Bishop, and Paul Butterfield are the nucleus of what the West Coast press will call the Chicago Crowd. They have become stars in the new world Blues Rock, and they never forget their roots. They never deny the historical significance, and respect they have for Muddy Waters either. Most of them know Waters on a personal level, he invites them into his home, allows them to sit-in with his band in local bars, and many times they have been on the receiving end of his fatherly support. So, as their fame grows, they don't just pay lip service to Waters, they actively promote his music to Rock promoters, the press, and audiences alike. It is the support of these young white bluesmen that helps Waters access a larger more diverse audience, and return him to active duty as one of a great Bluesman.
 

   In early '69, Mike Bloomfield tells Marshall Chess that he and other local artists, including Paul Butterfield will be in Chicago on April 24th to play a charity for The Phoenix Academy. During the conversation he tells Chess that he would like to record an album with Waters and Butterfield. Chess likes the idea and immediately agrees:  Michael was at my house, and he said he’d like to do a record with Muddy and Paul.  The title, Fathers and Sons was his idea.  Muddy thought that was a good name because he saw himself as a father to these younger musicians. Bloomfield's idea sets the wheels in motion for a Muddy Waters album which will be unlike any album the bluesman has done.

    As the project develops it is decided that another Chicago Crowd alumnus Norman Dayron will be the producer. He sifts through every Chess recording of  Waters, and manages to whittle the set list down to songs which are good and strong but not over- familiar....  Then Chess, hires Memphis groove bassist Donald Dunn, Otis Spann for keyboards, and shuffle drummer Sam Lay to create the studio band. Once everyone is on board, Tel Mar Studios is booked to record on April 21, 22, & 23, and then the Phoenix Academy charity show will take place in the 24th.

    Muddy Waters: Father and Sons is one of the first Chicago Blues albums which succeeds in crossing over to Rock audiences.The success of the album sparks a trend where many Chicago Blues artists record blues albums which are directed at larger Rock audiences.

   It is heavily promoted in the Rock press, with good reviews, and interviews with key players like Butterfield and Waters, but it isn't the publicity that makes Fathers and Sons such a great album.

    The musicianship, especially the harmonica work by Butterfield is stellar. Each song is an energetic, inventive expression of soulful blues though his harmonica. As one critic notes: Butterfield played with controlled power, with taste and invention to spare, and tons of energy to spare.....  Then too, Butterfield plays slashing, burning harmonica on these tracks never letting up and pushing things along...... The project is helped not a little by Butterfield’s intelligent and feelingful playing.... It is Butterfield's work on Fathers and Sons that establishes his profile as the logical successor to the late Little Walter. After the release of Fathers and Sons, Paul Butterfield becomes the greatest living blues harmonica player.

   There are documented face to face conversations between the two, but Butterfield never seems to seek out Walter's advice or make an effort to watch the master play. Butterfield has a healthy respect for Walter, but views him as a rival rather than an iconic figure. When Butterfield is establishing himself as credible singer/harmonica player, he makes a concerted effort to distance his technique and style from that of the established master. He succeeds at achieving this goal, but he shares some other qualities with Walter which are not as apparent in 1969.

    Over the course of his career, Little Walter develops a severe addiction to alcohol, and this disorder enhances his frequent erratic behavior. It is a personal element which is a major factor in his decline as an artist, and his early death. So, there is an irony in the sentiments Butterfield express' when an interviewer asks him about Little Walter.  He says: I’m only talking about the only person who can mess you around is yourself.  Little Walter, man, I had the greatest respect for that cat. He always treated me good.  But he messed himself around by juicing too much.  He was a great cat, a great musician, but he messed himself around.  That’s sad y’know?

                                                                      
 

# 36 The Introduction of Buzzy Feiten

    In spite of the fact that fans are passing over the great new music inside In My Own Dream, the Butterfield Blues Band is still a money maker for concert promoters. By '69 their international reputation as a creative force best witnessed live is still growing. So, Albert Grossman arranges a tour of key cities in Finland, Denmark, Sweden, and Holland, one of which will be broadcast live from Amsterdam over FM radio to millions of listeners in Europe.

    However, the upcoming tour also creates a real urgency for Butterfield. He needs to fill the vacancies Naftalin, Maugh, and Bishop create when they leave the band. Keith Johnson is filling in on organ, so keyboards are not as pressing an issue, but the guitar position is paramount. By the late sixties it seems that every Rock band either has, or is looking for a guitarist who can play the important role of soloist, and this trend in Rock is partly because Butterfield. It is first band that introduces Mike Bloomfield, and then Elvin Bishop to an international audience, so he needs to maintain his profile as an ear for talent.

    After all, the sixties can be seen as the golden age of the Guitar Slinger; where every guitarist is reaching for the title, and every band wants to showcase one. It's no surprise that Bishop decides to pursue a solo career. However, when he starts building his first band, he discovers that being a bandleader comes with its own unique pressures.

   It is a difficult task to select musicians who are not only capable, but can also work within the community of the band, so a referral system serves an important purpose for bandleaders. In late '68, Bishop is in New York, auditioning musicians when a former girlfriend refers a bass player to him. Buzzy Feiten is a good looking teenager from Long Island, who is in New York to study French Horn at Mannes, but is anxious to play in a Rock band. So, when the opportunity to audition for Bishop is presented, he jumps at the opportunity. However, the audition doesn't work out Bishop, but for Feiten, it opens a door.

    Bishop doesn't think Feiten is suited for his material, so he dismisses the kid as a potential band member. However, he does like the way the teenager plays, and so refers him to Butterfield. He is keen to entertain all possibilities, and invites Feiten to jam with him, and several other Rock luminaries at the Generation Club that night. It will be quite the introduction for Feiten as he will be sitting in with Bishop, Hendrix, B.B. King, Al Kooper, and several well known musicians. (There is footage of this jam session. The image quality is poor, but the sound is OK.) Butterfield is impressed enough with Feiten's performance that night that he invites him to audition with his complete band the next day.

   The Butterfield band has been rehearsing three or four times a week for several weeks, and auditioning guitarists at the same time. They invite one, have him play three or four songs, and unfortunately have to reject them. The whole band is finding the process of connecting with a guitarist who is not only versatile, but also owns a really distinctive sound very disappointing.  It is a procedure which often generates frustration, and cynicism for all team builders.

    Then Buzzy Feiten shows up with his home made, fire engine red amp, decorated with a Road Runner decal, and no case for his guitar. Many of the seasoned musicians in the band look at him, and smirk. Then, to make matters worse, they discover; he can't even play Blues.

    However, they notice something else about Buzzy Feiten which is cause for optimism. He plays with passion, a tough attack, and amazing tone, and he harbours a strong desire to learn. As Keith Johnson says, He just had a huge will to play, a lot like Elvin, and we all said, "This is the guy."  He was a young man on fire - lots of talent. After the audition, Butterfield hires Feiten, and gets two important things for his decision. Firstly, the position of Guitar Slinger is no longer vacant, and secondly, Feiten helps to fill the role of bass player in the band by refering his high school friend Freddie Beckmier to Butterfield. While the two new hires must be a substantial relief to Butterfield, it will play an even more important role in the career of Buzzy Feiten.

    Feiten doesn't disappoint Butterfield, the band, or fans when they tour overseas, and then back at home. Years later he will reflect on his audition, and time with the band:  It was so weird - I was just a kid.  And I owe these guys such a debt. They could have been nasty or patronizing, but they just took me in.  I wasn't half the musician any of them was.....  I‘d only had one professional gig in my life. This is a familiar sentiment expressed by numerous musicians who have worked in one of the Butterfield bands.

    So, in January of '69, Feiten does his first tour with a band known on the international stage as a major creative force. While they play Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Holland enthusiastic fans crowd the venues, and a few even take the initiative to document the events by recording them. All of these recordings are of average to good sound quality, and document excellent performances by the band. Since the Amsterdam, Holland show is recorded professionally, the sound quality is good to excellent. The video below is one track from that show, and features Buzzy Feiten a young man on fire.

Paul Butterfield: Harmonica & Vocal, Buzzy Feiten: Guitar, Keith Johnson: Trumpet, Philip Wilson: Drums, David Sanborn: Alto Sax, Gene Dinwiddie: Tenor Sax, Freddie Beckmier: Bass.

 The Butterfield Blues Band, Live at Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Holland, Jan. 18, 1969, 1) One More Heartache, 2) I’ve Got A Mind To Give Up Livin’, 3) Everything’s Gonna Be Alright, 4) Get Out Of My Life Woman, 5) All Your Love, 6) Drown In My Own Tears, 7) In My Own Dream, 8) Run Out Of Time, 9) It Took My Baby

                                                                   

# 35 In My Own Dream

    One of the significant contributions Bob Dylan makes to popular music is the introduction of singer who is also the composer of his own songs. After Dylan, pop music becomes an artist based art form where audiences expect their favourite singers to be guitar toting troubadours who write their own material. It opens many doors for songwriters, but it also places a lot of pressure on artists who aren't as gifted at the craft.

    This new artist based trend will become an industry trend for most of the sixties and early seventies before playing a less central role in the mainstream market. Woodstock introduces artists and promoters to the realization that large Rock concerts are not only possible, but will reap huge profits when they cater to big audiences. This seems to be the turning point where Rock makes a shift toward audience based music. Listen to Country Joe MacDonald lead 500,000 people in his Give me an F'.... cheer.

    Butterfield isn't a prolific songwriter, but he is definitely a member of the artist based trend. He plays the romantic role of the blues singer, offering his interpretations of songs with his harmonica in the supporting role. However, in '68, he retreats from this public persona, and tries to adopt the less romantic role of just a member of a band of musicians. Unfortunately for him, his fan base is not ready for the change.

   This may explain why his fourth album In My Own Dream marks the beginning of the end for the Butterfield Blues Band. (It peaks at #79) Butterfield only sings three of the seven songs, and only one of them is a blues standard. (Maugh takes the lead on two, Bishop on one, and Wilson on one.)  The more member inclusive format could be a result of the bad press he receives for his past behaviour as bandleader, or a personal need to get out of the spotlight, but it is a clear departure from his previous role as a front man.

   However, the music does not suffer as a result of his new role; it is a more mature set of tracks than previous albums. The songs are more methodical pieces featuring: fat horn charts, tasty sax solos, tight back beats, visceral vocal arrangements, as well as stinging harp and guitar solos. Butterfield's version of Just to Be With You should go down in history as the best version ever produced. (Yes, ever is not too strong a word). In addition, all of the tracks, especially Butterfield's autobiographical title song, do not sound dated, even forty-six year later.

     However, many of the Rock critics of the day, do not share the same affection for In My Own Dream. Some propose that Butterfield is traveling too far into the Jazz genre, and pushing away his younger audience who are already suspect of Jazz because of its affiliation with the establishment.
But, while the Butterfield band has become a proponent of a Jazz sensibility during their live performances, In My Own Dream is not a Jazz album. It isn't a Blues, Rock, Soul, Gospel, or R & B album either, but rather an amalgam of those elements. One critic even accuses the young mid-sixties audiences of being less open minded than they would like the world to believe. However, it seems that the greater problem for critics of In My Own Dream is that the album requires the listener to suspend the reflexive need to categorize, and let the music be itself.

    In My Own Dream also marks the end of yet another configuration of the Butterfield Blues Band. In 1968, Butterfield is a major creative force in Rock, and this type of public adulation leaves him vulnerable to departures by soloist in his band. Three important members will leave after the release of the album, in part, because of the recognition they earn as members of the Butterfield Blues Band.

   Mark Naftalin has been on the road, and in the studio with the Butterfield band for almost four years, and he chooses to pursue a more stable life in San Francisco area. He will become an active studio musician, performer, producer, radio show host, concert performer, and owner of his own record label Winner Records.

   Elvin Bishop collects his Crabshaw persona, and moves to San Francisco where he will begin a very prosperous career as a singer/songwriter, and band leader. He will record over 20 solo albums, and experience many of the perks, and challenges of having a mainstream pop hit. In 1976, Fooled Around and Fell in Love will peak at  #3.

    Bugsy Maugh is offered a two record deal by Dot Records. His first release Bugsy which uses Dinwiddie, Sanborn, Johnson,Wilson, and Bishop's  replacement Buzzy Feiten will receive a Grammy nomination in 1969. He will release one more album Inside Bugsy, and then return home to mid-west where he is still working as a musician.

    After the decline in popularity of the Butterfield Blues Band begins, Butterfield will make several attempts to return to his role as the Blues Singer, but it will prove to be a challenge. He will not return to a more member inclusive format until his period with his Roots band, Better Days.

Butterfield Blues Band : In My Own Dream     

1) Last Hope’s Gone, 2) Mine to Love, 3) Get Yourself Together, 4) Just To Be With You, 5) Morning Blues, 6) Drunk Again, 7) In My Own Dream.

Paul Butterfield: Vocal, Harmonica, (guitar on In My Own Dream),
Elvin Bishop: Guitar, (vocal on Drunk Again),
Naffy Markham (Mark Naftalin): Keyboards,
Bugsy Maugh: Bass ( vocal on Mine To Love and Morning Blues),
Philip Wilson: Drums and Conga,( vocal on Get Yourself Together),
Gene Dinwiddie: Tenor Sax, Flute, (tambourine and mandolin on In My Own Dream),
David Sanborn: Soprano, Alto, and Baritone Saxes,
Keith Johnson: Trumpet and Piano on Drunk Again.

The Icebag Four Vocal Group: Bugsy Maugh, John Court, Gene Dinwiddie, and Philip Wilson,

Al Kooper: Organ on Just To Be With You and Drunk Again.

Produced by: John Court for Groscourt Productions, Cover Art: Gene Safran, Art Direction:
William S. Harvey    

                                                             
                                 

# 34 Jammin with Fleetwood Mac

   The unfortunate reality for blues singers is they usually don't have a long shelf life in the much coveted mainstream market. If they do break into the pop market, there is an immediate need to diversify their format in order to maintain the larger audience. Artist such as B.B. King (3 O'Clock Blues), Little Walter (Juke), Ray Charles (Confession Blues), Paul Butterfield (Born in Chicago) are all examples of artists who achieve initial mainstream success with blues, but make concerted efforts to crossover. (Many pop fans will have only one blues album in their collection, and it is usually an artist who has expanded their repertoire.)

    It seems easy enough to speculate on the causes of this reality, but the reasons are probably very complex. It might be as simple as the adult nature of blues songs bar a true catharsis for the younger pop audience. The idea being that while the younger audience can sympathize with the singer's experience, their lack of life experience prevents them from feeling true empathy. Then again, Blues is often labeled in the press as a sad music which is totally false. Blues is a folk music, and consequently comments on all levels of emotion in the human experience. All theories aside, blues doesn't do well in the pop market. It is a reality which is very obvious in the Blues Rock trend of the 1960's

   Similar to the U.S., by '66 the U.K. is also in the midst of a electric blues revival. The rising star over there is John Mayall (see post # 20), who for all intensive purposes is copying the format that The Paul Butterfield Blues Band popularizes a year earlier. Like Butterfield, he hires a agile guitarist, Eric Clapton, but the young guitar slinger has greater ambitions to realize, and leaves the band before any of the heavy promotion of the Bluesbreakers begins.

   So 1967, Mayall hires Peter Green as Clapton's replacement, and even gives him free studio time as a signing bonus. Green accepts the gift, borrows Mayall's band, and records five songs. One of the songs is an instrumental which he names after the rhythm section, Fleetwood Mac. The recordings receive enough industry encouragement that Green decides to leave Mayall, and then steals the blues singer's band on the way out the door. By 1968, Peter Green establishes his own blues band which he calls Fleetwood Mac.

    They release their first first album, Fleetwood Mac in February of '68 as a no frills blues album which is yet another attempt at capitalizing on the success of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band sound. In spite of the fact the album has no singles for the pop market, it climbs all the way up to number 4 on the U.K. charts. This success impresses their label, Blue Horizon, who insists on a single from the band. So, Fleetwood Mac releases Black Magic Woman (Santana will have a hit with it in 1970), and Need Your Love So Bad.

   The success of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac in Britain spawns a spring tour of the U.S., which will include some dates inside the epicenter of Blues Rock.  By June they are in San Francisco for a three night stay at the Carousel Ballroom, and either Butterfield volunteers to sit in with the band, or their management hires him to perform with the band. The fact is that by '68, Butterfield is definitely the most famous young bluesman in San Francisco, if not whole country, so he doesn't need the attention.  The probably is good that the unknown Fleetwood Mac hires Butterfield to appear on stage with them as an endorsement by an established Blues Rock Icon.   (You can tell that Butterfield is just sitting in because he asks Green what key they are playing in at one point.)

   Fortunately, for fans of early Fleetwood Mac there is a good quality soundboard recording made over the three nights, but also captures the level of blues expertise the band is working toward.  Many of the European blues acts tend to get stuck replicating the music they hear on the original recordings of blues artists. This shallow approach to the music regularly produces wooden performances by foreign artists. Just listen to Spencer's replication of Elmore James' work on this album.

    The good American bands don't fall into this trap. Even a limited repertoire like Canned Heat's feels more visceral than the Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac. Most good American Blues Rock bands tend to approach the music as a continuation in the life of an art form rather than an effort to preserve it. This approach is probably just another of the subtle influences that the Butterfield's band has on Blues Rock.

   In the coming years, Fleetwood Mac will change many of its members, and completely remove blues from their repertoire in favour of pop songs. The crossover proves to be a great success as they will earn enormous worldwide appeal in the mainstream soft rock market of the 70's and 80's. It is doubtful that many of their fans even know that they were once a blues band.

Below is the track list from the show they do at the Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, June 7, 8, 9, 1968. 

Fleetwood Mac: Peter Green: Guitar & Vocals, John McVie: Bass, Mick Fleetwood: Drums, Jeremy Spencer: Guitar & Vocals, Paul Butterfield: harmonica where highlighted.

1) Madison Blues, 2) My Baby's Gone, 3) My Baby's Skinny, 4) Worried Dream, 5) Dust My Broom, 6) Got to Move, 7) Worried Mind, 8) Instrumental 9) Have You Every Loved a Woman 10) Lazy Poker Blues, 11) Stop Messin' 'Round, 12) I Loved Another Woman, 13) I Believe, 14) The Sun is Shinning, 15) Long Tall Sally, 16) Willie & The Hand Jive 17) Tutti Frutti, 18) Band Introductions, 19) Ready Teddy, 20) I Need Your Love So Bad, 21) I Believe, 22) Shake You Moneymaker 23) Ready Teddy, 24) Announcer Outro.