By putting together the ground-breaking, multi-racial blues band that took on his name, harp player Paul Butterfield - with the help of guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop, bassist Jerome Arnold, and drummer Sam Lay - tore down the longstanding barriers between black and white and brought blues music to an entirely new (and mostly white) audience.
Mixing hard-nosed Chicago blues with psychedelic rock and a jazzlike instrumental virtuosity, the band's 1965 debut album proved to be just as important, if not more so, as John Mayall's Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton album in kick-starting the blues-rock explosion of the 1960s.
Blues Chemistry
The magic of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band was found in the varied experience of, and the enormous chemistry between the various players. Butterfield himself had studied harmonica at the feet of masters like Little Walter and James Cotton; as a teen, Bloomfield had been mentored by bluesmen like Magic Sam and Otis Rush. Arnold and Lay were seasoned veterans of Howlin' Wolf's band, while Bishop had been tutored by the Wolf's guitarist, Smokey Smothers, before jumping into the fire onstage alongside Butterfield in an early incarnation of the band.
The folk-oriented Elektra Records evidently signed the Paul Butterfield Blues Band hoping to cash in on the early-1960s "folk-blues" boom that had made stars of acoustic bluesmen like Skip James and Mississippi John Hurt. Butterfield and his various bands would spend seven years with Elektra records circa 1964-71, releasing six studio and a live album during their tenure with the label. The two-disc An Anthology: The Elektra Years pulls thirty-three tracks from across all of the band's albums for the label, with a heavy emphasis on the band's earth-shaking first two releases.
An Anthology: The Elektra Years
One of the most attractive things about An Anthology is the inclusion of some of the band's earliest recordings for the label, most of which were long thought to have been lost and wouldn't be rediscovered and released until the mid-1990s. The blistering first take of the band's signature "Born In Chicago," originally released on an Elektra Records folk compilation in 1965, showcases Butterfield's high-flying harp skills; by contrast, the version of the Nick Gravenites song that would appear on the band's debut album later that year, recorded with guitarist Mike Bloomfield, would sound much different with his participation as a full band member.
In fact, the first seven songs on An Anthology feature a four-piece version of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band with Bloomfield provided no more than a token participation. These sessions, recorded in 1964, provide a blueprint to the band's later success. Songs such as Butterfield's original, hard-driving "Lovin' Cup," offer the harp player's soulful vocals and blasts of harp tethered to reality only by the band's sturdy rhythm section. Bishop's searing solos here, and on the following cover of James Cotton's "One More Mile," are wiry, taut, and sting like an arrow to the heart. The uncharacteristic "Come On In," one of the band's first single releases, sounds less like the Southside of Chicago and more like the British blues emanating from dreary London town.
The Self-Titled Debut
When the band entered the studio to record its self-titled 1965 debut, Bloomfield's red-hot slide-guitarwork had been incorporated into the band's sound, making it fuller and more devastating. Seven songs on An Anthology are included from the debut, comprising the majority, and definitely some of the best of that album's songs.
The aforementioned "Born In Chicago" is the cornerstone of the band's reputation, but their swinging take on "Shake Your Moneymaker," with Lay's rapidfire drumbeats, Bloomfield's slinky guitar, and Butterfield's raucous vocals prove it to be a keeper. Ditto for the harp showcase that is Little Walter's "Blues With A Feeling," the band adding to the original version's dark-hued ambience with smokin' fretwork and emotional harp-play.
Butterfield's East-West
The band had expanded its sound by the time of its 1966 sophomore effort, the acclaimed East-West. Lay quit the band for health reasons, replaced by jazz drummer Billy Davenport. They added a full-time keyboardist in the form of Mark Naftalin, and Butterfield provided his talented guitarists with more room to explore their skills with exploratory solos. Forged to a hard edge by the band's live performances, East-West brought a spirit of experimentation to the blues, felt nowhere more than on the 13-minute title song. A languid, purposeful extended jam built around a circular, raga-styled riff, the song is a whirlwind of intoxicating instrumentation delivered with a bluesy edge and an improvisational, jazzy spirit.
An Anthology includes five songs of the nine on East-West, and there are several performances worth noting aside from the vaunted title track. The swaggering "Walkin' Blues" is a fine example of the band's Chicago roots, a perfect balance of swooping harp notes and swooning six-string riffs complimented by a walking bassline and explosive drumbeats. The traditional blues of "I Got A Mind To Give Up Living" is a slow-burn heartbreaker with mournful vocals and smoldering guitarwork while "Work Song" is a jaunty, mid-tempo blues number with plenty of jazzy licks and smooth harp.
The Butterfield Blues Band
At the time of its second album, the band had become known simply as the Butterfield Blues Band, but major changes in the line-up after the release of East-West would cement the band's status as its namesake's project. Tired of extensive touring, both Davenport and Bloomfield would quit the band, the guitarist relocating to San Francisco and forming Electric Flag. Arnold would also leave, citing the band's changing musical directions as the cause. Rather than replace Bloomfield, the band relied more on Bishop's underrated fretwork; and Butterfield would move the band further into jazz territory with the addition of a three-piece horn section, including a young David Sanborn.
