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 "Michael Bloomfield: If You Love These Blues," by Jan Mark Wolkin & Bill Keenom Available at Amazon.com |
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The Guest Book We're so happy you're here and would love to hear from you! Submit your comments HERE. Your message will be reflected within 24 hrs. Please note all submissions subject to review. Spammers and rude language will not be tolerated. Thank you for stopping by!
August 29, 2010
With love from a Swedish fan to a great musician, he is the
best. I
- Krister Engberg from Leksand Sweden August 27, 2010 Looking at this site brings back some great memories. After 47 years of listening to live performances of the finest guitar players from 1963 to now, nothing has topped the sensation I experienced at 15 years old when I went to the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach to attend some live performances of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Mike Bloomfield’s live guitar playing at the 3 shows I attended in two nights was nothing short of absolute brilliance. The Butterfield Blues Band came back to the Golden Bear awhile later for another week long stay. Every performance I experienced featured powerful blues and a new version of East-West. I didn’t even have to go inside to catch the shows. You could hear them all the way out at the end of the Huntington Pier! Again, Bloomfield blew us away. I followed Mr. Bloomfield and saw many more shows; a few great ones with the Electric Flag, but probably the finest one after those Golden Bear performances was a show at the Palms Café in San Francisco. I went to see Big Joe Turner at this tiny club and to my amazement, there on stage with Turner, was Mike Bloomfield and Mark Naftalin. What a night! I'm sad to say that was the last time I saw Mike play, but he was truly in fine form that night and it was a great moment to see him play with the legendary Joe Turner. I never actually met Mike Bloomfield, but he sure provided some very special moments of really fine live listening pleasure and some wonderful recordings. Thanks for making this website. It has been a pleasure reading, looking at the photos and recalling some good moments in my life. Sincerely, - Gordon McClelland from San Clemente, California
July 28, 2010 Happy Birthday, Michael! Your memory lives on in the hearts of so many!! Your spirit continues to shine brightly!! - Peggy McVickar from Ormond Beach, Florida
July 24, 2010 A friend sent me an mp3 of Mike playing a slow blues this morning. I hadn't listened to him for a lot of years and when I heard the first notes come trickling out, I wondered why. All of a sudden, I remembered seeing Butterfield at some old Elks Hall in downtown Detroit in '66. Seeing that band, and most especially Mike, changed the way my life went. Every day when I pick up a guitar, I play what I play as a direct result of what I heard that day. I thought I ought to tell someone, so here I am. - David Givens from Sandusky, Ohio
July 21, 2010 My obsession with Mike Bloomfield began a year after I picked up the guitar. I began to play the Les Paul right out of high school and I was initially obsessed with Carlos Santana and Pete Townshend. Because I played the violin as a kid, I picked up Santana's stylings at a rapid pace and after reading more into Santana's background, I kept seeing more and more references to Mike Bloomfield. I'm gonna be honest, I avoided Mike at first because he was associated with Bob Dylan. At the time, I considered Dylan's career to be surrounded by an aura of bullshit, including all of the people he surrounded himself with. However, I would grow to find out that Bloomfield was very "real" and "authentic." So many white guys attempt the blues. Oh sure, Clapton, Beck, Savoy Brown, Jimmy Page, Pete Townshend, etc... They all try to play the blues, but Mike was the only one to really play the "blues," if you know what I'm saying. And when I found a dvd of the Monterey Pop Festival and saw Mike performing "Wine" with the Electric Flag, that was all I needed to hear to be obsessed with his virtuoso blues playing. Now at age 21, I continue to use his stye of the blues in my playing. Mike wasn't just the blues though. He was all of the best elements of "American Music." Bloomfield indeed was a jack of all trades and that's how I want to be as a guitarist. He could play country, jazz, swing, blues, rock n' roll. Anything you gave him, he could play. And that goes for guitars as well. Though he's iconic for using a '59 Les Paul, he could pick up a cruddy Yamaha starter guitar and sound just as amazing. Were Bloomfield to enjoy the taste of fame as much as Clapton or Jeff Beck, maybe he'd be "God." Fame, who needs it...
- Chris Lucas from Denver, Colorado April 3, 2010 Well hello there!
As a young, musicologically-inclined
guitar fanatic some 25 years or so ago, I had read about Mike, so bought
the Super Session record, the only one of his I could readily find at
the time. Within 30 seconds I was totally mesmerized. So why is Mike so "forgotten"? I think, if I may be so presumptuous, that maybe it's for the same reason that made his playing so great- that he wasn't fooling around! He was for real! He didn't "play the game". No outlandish apparel, no scripted stage schtick, no compromises. He didn't seem at all concerned with being trendy or cool. That taught me a lot about what's important in life and what isn't. Obviously highly intelligent and verbally articulate, he spoke his mind, whether his viewpoints were fashionable or not. I love that! Personal demons aside, from all I can gather he was playing music for the right reason: because he loved to play music! Real Music! He had musical integrity. Even during the Mitchell Brothers era of his career, he always tried to make the best music he could, as far as I've read. Famously breaking up situations that were primarily intended to produce "product" rather than great music (using his wonderful phrase "filthy lucre"), I can only imagine he didn't score points with major label execs... which back in those days couldn't have helped his career. How ironic then that the Gibson guitar company has the gall to charge fourteen thousand dollars for a copy of his Les Paul... But I digress...
Mike's music has been very
important to me and his personal story has, for me, served to humanize
him and ultimately adds an emotional richness to his work. Thank You very much for maintaining such a wonderful site about him. - Ray from Woodinville, Washington
February 20, 2010
The Paul Butterfield Blues
Band was one of the first albums I bought from the record shop in
Lycksele in the north of Sweden were I grew up. Why I bought just that
record I don't know. Perhaps because of the attitude on the front cover
or perhaps I'd heard some tunes on the radio, but I did like the album
and the music. Since that time I've followed the career of Mike
Bloomfield. I always get lucky when I hear him play, he has a nice and
light touch. I think I have all - Sture Karlsson from Sweden
February 17, 2010
I first had the privilege of hearing Mike
play in 1966, on the first Butterfield LP, which I soon purchased. I
have always enjoyed his blues playing and I rank him among my favorite
guitarists of all time. Too bad he died so young and tragically. Rest in Peace, Mike. If there's such a place as blues heaven, I'm sure you're there playing! - Art Lyons from Ontario, Canada
February 13, 2010 I remember the first time I heard the original Butterfield Blues Band album. I had been playing guitar a couple of years. At that point I was being schooled in black music appreciation by a very hip college classmate. I was listening to all the classic stuff and loved his amazing record collection. I had actually seen the BBB album in the local record store but figured it just another group trying to cover the masters that were my heroes. A day or two later, my friend called and told me to get over to his house asap. When I arrived, he showed me the cover of the album and said "You'd better listen to this!" He cranked up the volume (as suggested on the back cover)and what followed for me was a musical experience that has never happened again in the last 45 years. I literally was on the floor, rolling around- floored by the music! I had never heard guitar playing like that. I became a telecaster player and favor teles to this day, although I own/have owned many Les Pauls, 335s, etc.. To my ears, Michael's style and sound evolved with each album that followed-all creative, passionate, powerful and toneful. I remain a Fender guitar player today and the more I learn, the more I marvel at how good Michael was at 22 years old when the first BBB album was released. I continue to enjoy Michael most every day, listening to my favorites such as the BBB first album, the Electric Flag (both albums), Gravenites' My Labors, The Live Adventures of Bloomfield and Kooper and If You Love These Blues. I wish I could have known Michael. I bet aside from the obvious musical gifts he was very witty, sincere, open and very enthusiastic about life. I miss him so much but I'm sure this site confirms that Michael remains admired, loved and a part of our lives today. All the best to the Bloomfield family! Thanks for this wonderful tribute to a musician who continues to touch so many with his amazing work! - Tom from New Hampshire
January 17, 2010
Michael Bloomfield at his best was the
best, but he wasn't always at his best. I don't understand what drugs do
to people because I never did any.
- Maso from Miami, Florida December 2, 2009
Hello Bloomfields and fans
-- I just today encountered Michael's official website and had to write.
I first heard Michael when my older brother came home for the holidays
with albums by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band under his arm. I put them
on and was transported. Having grown up in the Midwest, top 40 radio (WLS
-
Best wishes,
October 28, 2009 I was born in New Jersey...in 19 and 51. No paternal advice regarding guns was given, but my small world expanded when I dropped the needle on the first Butterfield album. Mike's passion and eloquence blew me away. On East-West, his technique and style progressed to a state where his expressive powers were unequalled. As much as I admired Beck ("New York City Blues", "The Train Kept A-Rolling") and Clapton ("Stepping Out", Have You Heard") at that time, the playing on "I Got a Mind to Give Up Living" in particular left an indelible imprint on my young mind, and to to this day nothing I've ever heard comes close to matching its musical storytelling power. Mike hit another peak when he recorded "Texas" a year later, which is for me the perfect statement of his mature style, with a fluidity and freedom that Stevie Ray Vaughn (for example) could never approach. I loved his contribution to Fathers and Sons ("Can't Lose What You Never Had"), and a few of his later releases, like Hard Place and the Ground ("Kid Man Blues"), but tragically for us all, his genius never developed further, and we'll never know where his music might have gone if he had survived his addiction and his demons. The only other guitarist sharing the pedestal reserved for Mike is Jimi Hendrix, who was similarly gifted and fated. I never got to hear Mike perform on stage, which I regret, but I hear his sound in my mind at will, a musical touchstone I carry with me always. Just a fan who carries a torch for Mike B. - Lewis Dalven from Arlington, Massachusetts
September 1, 2009 It is with a little tear in the eye to read of Michael’s demise. I have his early recordings with Butterfield which I bought in early ’67. I still consider East-West one of the all time great tracks. Electric Flag with Gravenites and Goldberg was a new music experience. Through the listenings of these great musicians I have extended my record collection, which includes the work of Michael on his own and with Al Kooper. Michael’s playing will always be aired in my house and to my family. Long live such musicians as they have the power to create and generate enjoyment, even if it is 40 plus years later. It is a privilege and a pleasure to have listened to Michael, his influence on where music has taken me and the emotions it has generated. - Peter J. Boland from Boondall Queensland, Australia
August 17, 2009
When I first heard real blues, it was
Michael's solo on the Mother Earth record in 1968. Blues, and his
playing, immediately made so much sense to me....like when you say '2
plus 2 equals four'....that much sense. I've been a fan ever since. - David from Cherry Hill, NJ
August 6, 2009 I would love to take a moment to pay tribute to Mike Bloomfield. In my mind, he is unquestionably one of the handful of greatest American guitarists who ever lived. He had speed, chops, raw power, sweet tone, incredible emotion and something he's usually never given credit for--incredible finesse and an infinitely delicate touch. His style pulled in and was adaptable to every kind of music. I grew up just 90 miles south of Chicago and heard Mike with Dylan, but really got turned on by Super Session. I ate, drank, and slept Mike Bloomfield from then on. When I started playing guitar, all those Mike Bloomfield records I'd memorized started coming out--stuff with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and the Electric Flag are favorites to this day. I say forget Stevie Ray Vaughan. Mike Bloomfield was doing everything he did decades before. To this day I still love Mike's music and I always will. There's just absolutely nothing anywhere like Mike Bloomfield's music anywhere, even today. - Jerry from Grand Rapids, Michigan
August 5, 2009
Thanks for providing this
opportunity to add to this great site. I've enjoyed reading all the
comments and find much joy in hearing from those who have been
As many fans have mentioned,
I also remember exactly where I was when I first heard Mike's playing.
It was 1968, I had just finished my first recording session and was
celebrating with friends at a club when the resident band took a break
and pumped the Paul Butterfield Blues Band through the sound-system. As time passed, I traveled overseas and caught the re-formed "Flag" at Santa Monica Civic in '74 and years later, Mike with his acoustic guitar accompanied by another guitarist and a girl on cello, in Sweden. It was a special evening. I made enough enthusiastic noise to be called up to the stage with a few other fans to sing along to the chorus of "Down on the Borderline". I finally made it to a Mike Bloomfield concert and was on stage! After the show I went backstage to meet Mike. It was a fairly informal small venue and I had much I wanted to say, rehearsed over many years, but managed "thanks for the music". Mike was chatting to a few people and was as friendly as could be. He replied "Hey, thanks for singing with me!" There are many fabulous players out there, and every now and then I hear a little of Michael in their playing. I also remember where I was when I heard Robben Ford for the first time. He played in South Africa a few years ago and I was fortunate to meet him. We swapped comments on our favourite Bloomfield recordings and what a profound influence he had been to both of us. Robben is as humble and as friendly as Mike was. You can hear that in the music.
Thanks again! This has been "a long time coming".
July 29, 2009
Well at the ripe old age of 51, I have discovered a new artist named
Michael Bloomfield. I love all types of music and the blues has always
moved me.
Another new fan,
July 28, 2009 Happy Birthday, Michael! When you played, you made that guitar sing. You were sweet. And listen, you were man enough because you cared and stood for things that matter. Thank you, thank you, thank you! - Julie from Alberta
Happy Birthday, Michael!! Thank you for staying true to yourself and baring your soul through your music. I can feel your passion to this day. Your light continues to shine! - Peggy McVickar from Ormond Beach, FL
July 26, 2009 There has never been anyone equal or better! That opening lick on Super Session says it all……Michael was just Amazing! - Kent from Tampa, Florida (www.legendsguitars.net)
July 25, 2009 I've been a fan starting when I was thirteen. I'll never forget him. - Mark from Bethel Island, California
July 24, 2009
There used to be, back in the 60’s, a magazine called “Eye”. I remember
reading reviews of Blood Sweat & Tears’ “A Child Is Father To Man” and
Traffic’s “Dear Mr. Fantasy”. I bought both. I also remember a review of
a record called “Long Time Comin’ ” by a band called The Electric Flag.
After the first listen my eyes were opened and I became a dedicated
follower of all things Michael Bloomfield.
July 16, 2009 I always loved Mike's work. What really left me floored was My Labors, Super Session and Live at Bill Graham's Fillmore West. On those albums I thought he took blues guitar to new heights. Even by today's standards I don't think anything is comparable. - Bill from Baldwin, Wisconsin
July 6, 2009
Hello! Every time I need to have a deep
reflection about the future of the blues, the best way to keep the music
in an authentic way and modern one, I have to listen to some tracks of
Mike Bloomfield and think about his musical - Alain Messier from France
June 24, 2009 I don't look at Mike as being some kind of god, but his playing was truly a gift from God. The first time I heard the guitar solo from Blues on the Westside, I actually started to cry. I've yet to this day heard anyone play slow blues with such feeling. And the phrasing is like...WOW. There are some great blues players out there - Clapton, the Kings, Moore, Bonamassa, but none of them play with the emotion that Mike did. He left us guitar players with wanting to be better, but down deep knowing there will never be another Michael Bloomfield! - Lane Sandstrom from North Dakota
June 23, 2009 Mike was one of the greats of the 60's - one of the best guitar players ever! - Joe from Wappinger Falls, NY
June 22, 2009 I really love the way that Michael plays the blues. He's one of the best American players of all time. I just remember the man hearing his blues !!! - Danilo from Argentina
June 15, 2009 All I want to say is that Mike's playing still moves me to tears to this day. Thank you so much for keeping his memory alive so beautifully! - Dave Sugarbeet from United Kingdom (http://www.davesugarbeet.co.uk)
June 12, 2009 I've been playing blues guitar since I was a teenager. I can't believe that I will be 61 this summer (how quickly time passes). I can remember hearing Michael for the first time 1n 1965. It was as if time stopped for an instant. While I was just learning about the blues, it only took listening to Michael play one time to realize that he was among a handful of the thousands of guitarists who had an incredibly unique tone and attack. You heard Mike once and you could pick him out on any record any time. I followed in his shoes by playing through an old Fender super reverb and like Mike, have shunned effects and pedals. Mike, you were right. It really is all a matter of using your hands to speak what you hear in your head and in your heart. Mike's music has enriched my life. I am just sorry I never got the chance to thank him in person. - Ray Allegrezza from Greensboro, North Carolina
May 31, 2009
I had a copy of the first Paul
Butterfield Blues Band album and loved Mike's playing from the first day
I heard it. Sometime during the summer of 1965, I was listening to
WHAT-FM in Philadelphia and the disk jockey, Sid Mark, mentioned that
the Butterfield Blues Band was going to be playing at the Philadelphia
Folk Festival in September/October......the first electric band ever to
be invited. I went to the festival, sat in front of the stage, and could
not take my eyes off of Mike playing his Les Paul. I was in college at
the time, but decided that evening that I was going to become a
musician, which I did for 12 years. I played nothing but Les Paul
guitars and used Fender amps. Mike's influence on me was immense. Though
I didn't sound like him when playing, his style became the catalyst for
everything I did as a player. It's difficult to overstate how important
he was to players of my generation, including Robben Ford. I recently
attended a guitar clinic held in Ojai, CA where Robben lives and we
discussed the mutual influence on both of us. Interestingly enough,
about 3 years ago, I became friends with Mike's mother and have visited
her several times, as well as Mike's burial
place nearby. And the only
remaining record album I have is that copy of the Paul Butterfield Blues
Band and it's a mono copy! It sits in a plastic sleeve on a bookshelf in
my home and I'll never get rid of it. Mike was absolutely the finest
guitarist of his time.
- Adrian Silva from Oceanside, California
May 25, 2009 Hi! I have been a fan of Mike Bloomfield ever since I heard the Supersession album. Hearing the pristine notes coming out of the Twin Reverb with no pedals in between in almost magical way, made me curious at how easy this man was fiddling out blues licks (which were pentatonic at heart but with a "majorish" approach) so appealing. It's been such a long time since Mr. Bloomfield passed away, but his music will be sounding better than ever. In this age of so much electronics, this blues man reminds us that music with heart will always be first!
- Federico from Venezuela April 23, 2009
I used to listen to Mike and Al Kooper's
'Super Session' and enjoy it
- David from England April 22, 2009 I Love Bloomers. I heard Butterfield Blues Band live in '66 at Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium at Fillmore and Geary in 1966. It was my first Fillmore show. I was playing in a band at the time. The musicianship and interplay between Butterfield, Bloomfield and Bishop just blew my head off. I'll never forget it! I saw them there the following year doing the "East-West" thing. Bloomers, in an ecstatic mood at the time, addressed us in the mic as his "psychedelic children." I later saw a few shows of the Electric Flag. In '81 I played with the Mike Bloomfield Friends rhythm section in Marin County. Mike had just died a week before. What a great talent! I miss him.
- Antar Blue April 19, 2009 So, Mike Bloomfield's guitar comes out of this cacophonous spliced in drums, voices and sirens section into the sweetest tone and inspired phrasing I'd ever heard in 1968 - "Another Country". God, I miss that talent! - Paul "Pablo" Green from Torrejon Airforce Base, Spain
April 10, 2009 Great site! I remember seeing Michael play many many times at the Monterey Fairgrounds Hall (in Monterey) and also at the Del Rey Theater in Seaside, California- a great old theater. I also saw him play with the Electric Flag at the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967 and with Nick Gravenites as 'Mike Bloomfield and Friends' in 1969/70. Michael was always spectacular and those memories will stay with me forever. At that time he was playing his Les Paul. Thanks for the great site. Michael's music will live on forever! - Rance Haig from Pleasonton, California
April 3, 2009 I started listening to Super Session when I was in Viet Nam and I am still listening. I have it downloaded on my computer and will listen to it until I die. That might be a long time because the album got me through two tours as a LRRP. - Chris from Las Vegas, Nevada
March 29, 2009
Hi, great website. My name is Bill Flood.
In 1966, on the south side of Chicago, I stopped in a record shop, at
the time I was 15 years old. On that day they were featuring a live
band. It was the Otis Rush Blues band. This was the first time I had
heard music like this. I had come to find out that this music was called
the blues, and was to be found all over Chicago. Soon after, I picked up
an article about Chicago Blues featuring Michael Bloomfield. The
strangest thing was I don't think Mike got two sentences into the
interview and he started talking about all these blues guys in and around
Chicago. Rather than talk about himself, he continued to give credit and
praise to all the people he had learned from. I remember him really
talking up a guy named Robert Nighthawk on Maxwell Street. My point
being this incredibly great blues guitar player ( Mike Bloomfield ) was
carrying on and passing on the blues tradition back then. Since 1966 I
have followed Mike's music. Being a guitar player myself, I have studied
his technique and approach. He has truly been a great inspiration to my
music. I have seen him perform live many times but never had the
pleasure of meeting him. I have also written and dedicated a song for
Michael, called Nighthawk Blues, after that first article that I read.
You can hear it at my site www.myspace.com/shamrockblues. Thanks Mike
Bloomfield, one of the great American guitar players whose life was cut
too short.....
March 25, 2009
My first hearing Mike was at the
apartment of a high school chum,
- John Helak from River Vale, New Jersey I can only assume that my sister heard cuts from the album on the all album side station in Philadelphia, WMMR. She bought the album and I played it over and over and over. I was in 6th or 7th grade when it came out. I know nothing of music per se, I just knew what I liked and I loved the Electric Flag’s 'A Long Time Comin’. I still do. I purchased Super Session a few years ago and was amazed what I had missed all those years was Michael’s talent. My goodness he could play – a huge difference between side A and side B! He was light years ahead of the rockers of the day. I am looking for a CD release of the album and hope to purchase it today. I will go through the website and check out the discography to see what else I can purchase. Thanks for re-kindling my memories of Michael’s music and keeping his spirit alive.
Peace.
March 16, 2009 I make guitar pickups, have for 7 years. One of my main obsessions in this profession has been the PAF pickups made famous by Bloomfield, Page, Clapton, Green, etc. One of my main tone reference resources has been "Albert's Shuffle," by Michael Bloomfield. Modern players don't really have a good sense of what real PAFs sound like or play like due to big companies making very inaccurate products and calling them "PAF's." Those old pickups were bright and clear, not the warm muddy stuff that's being sold as vintage tones these days. When customers ask me, "well, what do they sound like then?", one of the first tunes I point them to is the Albert song; everything wonderful about those vintage pickups is demonstrated in that song, bright, chirpy, soulful, dynamic, rough edged, etc. etc. Mike was one of the first, if not THE first to exploit those old guitars and bring them into the blues, and everyone else followed suit. Thanks Michael, GREAT TONE! = Dave Stephens of Stephens Design Pickups from Battle Ground, Washington
March 9, 2009 I remember the first time I saw Michael. It was at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in Queens, NY. He was backing Bob Dylan. Psycho was on TV for the first time. My sister and her husband took me but I migrated down to the Bob Euchre seats almost immediately. I must have been 15-stranger in a strange land-Queens-a Brooklyn girl from the projects near Sheepshead Bay, dragged into kindergarten on Long Island- fast forward 10 years. The seats got closer after intermission and Dylan had finished Freewheelin' and came out electric. He got booed followed by a mass exodus of the very same boo'ers. My sister and husband got further away and I lucked out and ended up sitting next to a soft spoken guy my age who knew all the lyrics, too. There was Harvey Brooks on bass, Al Kooper on organ, Bob Dylan on piano and guitars and Michael Bloomfield. It was my first live concert. I got hooked! - Carol from Florida
March 8, 2009
I remember the first time I saw Mike
Bloomfield play - It was at Town Hall in NYC. I was a high school
student who spent summers at an Ethical Culture work camp listening to
Dylan, The Stones, Eric Anderson, Pat Sky et al. I had been listening to
Muddy at Newport and Jimmy Reed's Big City Blues. Friends had been
taking me to Town Hall to see Pat Sky and Eric Anderson and I played
rock and folk on my Gibson Heritage, bought with Bar Mitzvah money. My
buddies said let's go see Paul Butterfield and I went expecting to hear
a singer-songwriter strumming a D28, a Guild, or a Gibson. We got there
early and saw band members Sam Lay and Elvin Bishop wearing black
leather hitter jackets, always a personal preference. We approached them
and offered up a bottle of Gypsy Rose which they shared with us. Later
on I went backstage and got to touch a Gold Top Les Paul not yet knowing
that it was akin to touching Byrd's sax or Miles trumpet or the pen that
JFK used to write his inaugural address. I watched the band perform and
I was stunned. Not to sound like Al Kooper did when describing the
Highway 61 sessions, but I couldn't even touch my own guitar for weeks.
I guess that's all I have to
say. I could go on for hours about his influence, his charity towards
others musicians, and the tragedy that took him away from us. I am ecstatic over the refurbished website! I stopped coming to the site because there was nothing new for so long. It made me very depressed. I'm a musician originally from Chicago. Mike has been my #1 inspiration! I'm really excited to see Gibson has honored him. Finally Mike gets his due! Hopefully this will launch a whole new generation of Mike Bloomfield fans. Does anyone really know (outside of the old stories) where his guitar is? - John C. from Crown Point, Indiana
February 21, 2009 I'm a huge fan of Mike Bloomfield. I love the blues and admire no player more than Bloomers. When I play, I try to make it burn and dig into a note and make it sing and hope that he'd say "damn, dude"! Love ya, Mike! - Bryce Olsen from Jerome, Idaho (former Mill Valley resident)
February 20, 2009 Does anyone know where I can get the tablature to Fine Jung Thing from "The Trip"? This song is perhaps Mike's most complex and sustained burst of imagination and energy. But damned hard to learn! Help would be much appreciated. - Michael West from Copenhagen (michael.west@megamail.dk)
February 14, 2009 Hello! I was just reading other's comments and felt moved to add my memories of one of the greatest blues players who has profoundly influenced me musically over the past 4 decades. Seeing Michael and the Electric Flag at Winterland circa 1968 was just amazing....I'll never forget it.... playing through only a Fender Twin and a Les Paul, he captured the soul and intensity of the blues like no other player of his time.....his style was his own....both incredibly fluid and frenetic at the same time.....We have Michael to thank for the great players of today such as Robben Ford and Chris Cain, who were inspired to pick up the guitar thanks to his inspirational playing.
- Mark Council from Martinez, California
Got SuperSession & Live
Adventures when they came out - still got them. Regards,
- Graham Broughton from Hartlepool, UK February 13, 2009
I bought the "SUPER SESSION" LP way back
in 1968 and still play the CD version now. My favourite track is
Albert's Shuffle. I NEVER tire of it! Brilliant! - Larry Finn from Australia
February 12, 2009 Great site for one of the greatest white blues guitar players! - Jens Anderson from Copenhagen, Denmark
February 4, 2009 Greetings! I first tuned into Michael's music during the mid-sixties (I believe I traded the first Blues Project album for the first Paul Butterfield Blues Band). He was an early guitar hero of mine and remains an inspiration to this day. A musician myself, 'Bloomers' has been a huge influence on my playing. What more can I say? His muse is missed. Rest in peace, Mike! - Sam King from Pembroke, New Hampshire
January 28, 2009 Love that guitar playing! Always have! Always will! Live on! - Vic from Venice, Florida
Hello, I just discovered
Michael's website and I have to write in to tell you how much pleasure
I've gotten from Michael's music over the decades. In 1968 at age 13 I
used to sneak into my older brother's room and play the vinyl LP
Super Session and groove out on the first track, and marvel at all those
fine licks and chops, not really knowing who he was. Now, at age 55, I
own almost every CD from Electric Flag and several others with Michael
either solo, or in cohorts with other greats. I know so many of the
songs by heart that I definitely feel qualified to say: There are
many greats, but NO ONE stands along side Michael's mastery of his
craft. The tones and sounds he produced seemingly with such great ease
go far deeper than the heart; they go straight into the soul. No other
artist's work has put tears in my eyes like Michael's has. To everyone
out there listening, Albert's Shuffle is without a doubt the Holy Grail of blues guitar.
- Mark Martini from Petaluma, California January 25, 2009 Dear Mr Allen Bloomfield, My name is Paulo Oliveira and I'm from Portugal. I would like to send you my appreciation and regards about your work and dedication to your brother's memory. My son is 14 years old and he is a fanatic fan of Mike's music. He plays on and on Mike's gigs. He will present a poster next February 15 in his school. Thank you for all. - P. Oliveira from Portual
January 12, 2009 I am just listening to Super Session that came out in 1968 on vinyl. I got the cd for Christmas 2008. Mike is just fantastic on guitar on this album. - Trond from Norway
December 10, 2008 Yes, to me Mike was the best dang guitar player. I have heard just about every album /song he recorded and every note that ever came out of his guitar was one of pure clarity and pleasure to the ears. He was a master of any style he played. He will always be missed but never forgotten as long as I have his tapes, records, CD's and even some films. - Blindowl 8 from Dallas, Texas
December 6, 2008 I just want to thank you for this site and keeping Mike's memory and music alive. Like a lot of people, I first heard him on the Butterfield Blues first album. I was swept away with the blues-rock of Clapton and Hendrix, but looking back Mike's playing was responsible for exposing me to pure blues. Even now after hearing all the greats that influenced him, he was my favorite player. No one had a style like his. To my ears he had the sweetness of B.B. King, big string bends of Albert King, could build a solo like no one else and had an intense sharp edgy rock attack in his playing. He had enormous technique but never played fast for speed's sake but only to get a musical idea across. He also had a jazz sensibility to his playing. It wouldn't surprise me if he listened to Kenny Burrell or Wes Montgomery. For me the partnership of Mike with Nick Gravenites produced Mike's best playing especially live. Nobody played with the intensity he did. His playing on It Takes Time is incredible as well as Blues on a Westside. Albert's Shuffle is probably my favorite studio cut. 300 cd's and 2,000 albums later, some of the best American music ever made was Mike with Nick, Al Kooper and The Electric Flag. To my shame, I haven't yet read the book about Mike. I want to know more about him as a person. - Chuck from Queens, New York |
 Michael demonstrates his fire-breathing trick, a stunt he often performed while playing "East-West" with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in 1966. Photo courtesy of |