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John Mayall Makes A Good Run Better! Try It

Nobody Told Me - Jhn Mayall
John Mayall Makes A Good Run Better! Try It

The Run

Yesterday’s was one of those days that was about as close to perfect as you can get. First we were going to be babysitting our grandson Logan all day while his parents and older sister went to Six Flags. The good thing was we didn’t need to be there until 9:30. That meant that I could run around 8:00 and and be done and showered by 9:30. So I got up at 7:00 did some warm up exercising and was out the door by 8:00.

I ran a 3.1 (5K) mile course that is pretty flat. It’s the fourth time I’ve run since I was sick with an upper respiratory infection and a touch of pneumonia. Overall, it was the best of the four runs. Here are the results…. read more

Saturday Morning Music from John Mayall – “Good Time Boogie” – Jazz Blues Fusion!!

John Mayall - Jazz blues Fusion

Jazz Blues FusionSo the other day I decided to visit an album that I haven’t listened to in a long while, Jazz Blues Fusion from John Mayall.The abum is a live album. The first side is from a concert in Boston on 18 November 1971, and the second side was selected from two concerts at Hunter College, New York, on 3 and 4 December 1971. John released two albums with this jazz fusion bent. On the albums he brought jazz musicians into his band. On this album the musicians were Freddy Robinson on guitar, Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Ron Selico on drums and Clifford Soloman on tenor and alto saxophones. Larry Taylor long-time member of the band provided bass. read more

John Mayall – A Special Life makes a good run made special!

A Special Life - John Mayall
Art Work by John Mayall

Art Work by John Mayall

Reposted – Feb 17,2024 – ten years later….I was 62 ar the time of the run!

This week has been a topsy-turvy week. Monday it was in the 80s and then was  cloudy all day. Yesterday (Tuesday) it looked like it was going to rain and the temperatures were in the 60s!  Today (Thursday) it was supposed to be back into the 80s. So last night (Wednesday) I decided that I better run then or face another hot day running! So of course today turned out a  lot like yesterday. However, I’m still glad that I ran last night!!  I decided to run on of my oldest routes, a slightly up and down run going up and down the highest point in Riverside on Pancoast Avenue. read more

Life's Soundtrack – A Good run made Special by John Mayall's latest – A Special Life

Art Work by John Mayall

Art Work by John Mayall


This week has been a topsy-turvy week, Monday it was in the 80s and then was  cloudy all day yesterday (Tuesday) it looked like it was going to rain and the temperatures were in the 60s!  Today (Thursday) it was supposed to be back into the 80s. so last night (Wednesday) I decide that I better run then or face another hot day running! So of course today turned out a lot like yesterday, but I’m still glad that I ran last night!!  I decided to run on of my oldest routes, a slightly up and down run going up and down the highest point in Riverside on Pancoast Avenue. On my last run I ran with on of the younger blues musicians, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, who by the way is celebrating his birthday today. Happy Birthday Kenny Wayne, so last night I decided to run with someone older than me, by almost two decades!! That would be “the godfather of the British Blues” John Mayall, who turned 80 last November, and his latest release A Special Life. Anyway the run was a good one, while I didn’t set any land speed records I did feel fairly strong throughout the run, well except when I was going up the steepest parts of Pancoast!! The only good thing is that I do get to go down hill for a good part of the last mile!! The splits weren’t too bad. First mile 10:20 – Second 10:28, Third 11:04 – the uphill battle, 4 – 10:42  Total Time – 42:34 and when compared to Monday’s 44:54 it even looks better!!
Now back to the music A Special Life is like Mayall’s gazillionth release since he formed the Bluesbeakers in 1965. I started to listen to Mayall during my freshman year in college with the first album that  I bought being The Turning Point and it has through the years been on of my favorites.This time period in Mayall’s music is my favorite. The Turning Point along with Jazz  Blues Fusion and Movin’ On are three of my favorite albums. I loved Johnny Almond’s sax and flute work and every body on the later two albums, Jazz Blues Fusion introduced me to the trumpet of Blue Mitchell. For most of the world John may be best know for the musicians who have been a part of the Bluesbreakers…..from Wikipedia here are of some ex-members of John’s band….. read more

Life’s Soundtrack – A Good run made Special by John Mayall’s latest – A Special Life

Art Work by John Mayall

Art Work by John Mayall

This week has been a topsy-turvy week, Monday it was in the 80s and then was  cloudy all day yesterday (Tuesday) it looked like it was going to rain and the temperatures were in the 60s!  Today (Thursday) it was supposed to be back into the 80s. so last night (Wednesday) I decide that I better run then or face another hot day running! So of course today turned out a lot like yesterday, but I’m still glad that I ran last night!!  I decided to run on of my oldest routes, a slightly up and down run going up and down the highest point in Riverside on Pancoast Avenue. On my last run I ran with on of the younger blues musicians, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, who by the way is celebrating his birthday today. Happy Birthday Kenny Wayne, so last night I decided to run with someone older than me, by almost two decades!! That would be “the godfather of the British Blues” John Mayall, who turned 80 last November, and his latest release A Special Life. Anyway the run was a good one, while I didn’t set any land speed records I did feel fairly strong throughout the run, well except when I was going up the steepest parts of Pancoast!! The only good thing is that I do get to go down hill for a good part of the last mile!! The splits weren’t too bad. First mile 10:20 – Second 10:28, Third 11:04 – the uphill battle, 4 – 10:42  Total Time – 42:34 and when compared to Monday’s 44:54 it even looks better!! read more

The Turning Point – John Mayall!

The Turning Point - John Mayall

Blues and jazz have always been inter-woven, so it was only natural that a blues man would explore blues with a jazz twist. John Mayall did that in 1969 with his album The Turning Point. On that album….

Mayall tried a new format with lower volume, acoustic instruments, and no drummer. He recruited acoustic fingerstyle guitarist Jon Mark and flautist-saxophonist John Almond. Mark was best known as Marianne Faithfull’s accompanist for three years and for having been a member of the band Sweet Thursday (which included pianist Nicky Hopkins and future Cat Stevens collaborator Alun Davies, also a guitarist). Almond had played with Zoot Money and Alan Price and was no stranger to Mayall’s music—he had played baritone sax on 4 cuts of Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton and some of A Hard Road. This new band was markedly different from previous Mayall projects, and its making is well documented both on the 1999 double CD The Masters and on the 2004 DVD The Godfather of British Blues: The Turning Point. read more

Lunchtime Music – Blues with a Jazz twist from John Mayall!

The Turning PointBlues and jazz have always been inter-woven, so it was only natural that a blues man would explore blues with a jazz twist. John Mayall did that in 1969 with his album The Turning Point. On that album….

Mayall tried a new format with lower volume, acoustic instruments, and no drummer. He recruited acoustic fingerstyle guitarist Jon Mark and flautist-saxophonist John Almond. Mark was best known as Marianne Faithfull’s accompanist for three years and for having been a member of the band Sweet Thursday (which included pianist Nicky Hopkins and future Cat Stevens collaborator Alun Davies, also a guitarist). Almond had played with Zoot Money and Alan Price and was no stranger to Mayall’s music—he had played baritone sax on 4 cuts of Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton and some of A Hard Road. This new band was markedly different from previous Mayall projects, and its making is well documented both on the 1999 double CD The Masters and on the 2004 DVD The Godfather of British Blues: The Turning Point. read more

Today in Rock History – Blues Legend John Mayall’s Birthday!

Today is the birthday of a British music legend Mr. John Mayall turns 79 years old today! I am like many, many people whose music collection he touch so Thanks, John!! From Wikipedia:

John Mayall, OBE (born 29 November 1933) is an English blues singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, whose musical career spans over fifty years. In the 1960s, he was the founder of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band which has included Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Peter Green, John McVie, Mick Fleetwood, Mick Taylor, Don “Sugarcane” Harris, Harvey Mandel, Larry Taylor, Aynsley Dunbar, Hughie Flint, Jon Hiseman, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Andy Fraser, Dave Navarro, Johnny Almond, Walter Trout, Coco Montoya and Buddy Whittington. read more

Lunchtime with John Mayall and Albert King

On my way back from renewing my auto registration and taking the car through inspection I put on John Mayall’s classic album Turning Point. I only listened to the first three tracks though and was enjoying them. Those tracks appear on side one of the album, which through the years has been the lesser listened to side. Side 2 contains “Thoughts about Roxanne”, “California” and “Room to Move” three all time favorites. Anyway I was checking out Youtube and this is the first video that caught my eye because it brings together two greats John and Albert King! Here they are performing “Stormy Monday” read more

Forgotten Music Friday – John Mayall – Chicago Line


So a few weeks ago as I was researching for a post about Walter Trout’s latest album Common Ground ,I discovered or rediscovered that Walter had played on John Mayall‘s 1988 release Chicago Line. I say rediscovered because I probably knew in 1988 that Walter played on the album, but by the time I listened to Walter’s solo albums a few years ago, it was something I didn’t remember! Anyway I went to the CD shelf and pulled out Chicago Line and listened to it. I haven’t listened to it for a while because it currently is not on the iPod. It was ripped a long time ago and now resides on one of the external hard drives that think it is a CD drive! read more