ALEXIS KORNER
If you are wondering what influenced legendary bands like Free, Cream, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac and many others, I will give you one name: Alexis Korner. Alexis fell in love with the blues sometime in 1940 when he first heard a record by an American blues singer named Jimmy Yancey. He was only twelve years old at the time, but from then on all he wanted to do is play the blues – and boy, did he ever. Over the years, he was involved in musical groups ranging in theri diversity form Blues Incorporate to CCS. He has been documented quite exclusively, so I can;t think of mnuch else I can add other that my admiration. Check out these links if you like to read more about him.
The Father of Us All – Rolling Stone Magazine
wiki/Alexis Korner
To get a general idea, try to find the record called ‘Bootleg Him’. You will find people like Robert Plant, Mick Jagger, Jack Bruce, Paul Rodgers and many other famous musicians playing with him.
GRAHAM BOND
Graham was an amazing sax player voted Britain’s new jazz star in 1961. He played with Alexis before starting his own groups. The first was The Graham Bond Organization that included Jack Bruce, John McLaughlin and Ginger Baker. Graham later switched to the Hammond organ with a Leslie speaker and he managed to get a design that had split keys. Alexis was not happy with the overwhelming sound of the Hammond which is why they parted ways. Graham got more and more fascinated by mysticism and some of his works are reflecting that influence. In any case, he was definitely one of the major movers in early sixties British music, though some people ignore him.
wiki/Graham Bond
We Put Our Magick On You – full album
JOHN MAYALL
John Mayall played with Alexis Korner in the early sixties and was so taken with the blues that he started his own bands. An interesting one was called The Bluesbreakers. Eric Clapton was the guitar player for that band. You can also hear Eric’s first ever recorded vocal on Ramblin On My Mind. When he left to form Cream, a young upstart named Peter Green took his place. I still think that Peter Green was a better guitar player. John Mayall persisted through the ages and as I am writing this, he is 86 years old. A friend of mine who is a major fan tried to get tickets for his 85th birthday gig and failed. They were sold out within hours. Through the years, John Mayall had a lot of the best British musicians play in hi sbands and recordings. Yeah a lot of them had previously played wiht Alxis Korner. Still, Mayall outlived him, so he had more time.
wiki/John Mayall
Bluesbreakers – full album
PETER GREEN
After he left John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Peter Green started his own band. It was called Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac to incorporate drummer Mick Fleetwood and bass player John McVi’s names. As I have previously said, I believe that Peter Green was the greatest electric guitar blues player. I mean, obviously, after Jimi Hendrix who was the God of guitar players. Anyway, Peter green wrote stuff like “Black Magic Woman”, “The Green Manalishsi”, “Albatross” and others. At the time they were the most successful blues band ever. The band dropped the Peter Green prefix after their first album, but they were still awesome. At some point they had three lead guitars which made for a very intricate and exciting live show. Sadly, there was some kind of acid related incident that led to the lead guitars incapacitation. Jeremy Spencer dissapeared during a tour of California and reappeared some time later as an accolyte of a cult named The Children of God. Danny Kirwan slowly descended into alcooholism and drug inducrd delusion eventually ending up homeless and sometimes busking on the streets of London. Peter Green kept having psychotic episodes that would sometimes cause him to walk off the stage in the middle of a performance and just get lost. Eventually, he checked himself into an asylum and spent some time there. After he got discharged he kept having repeat episodes, so he took a job there as an orderly. In the meantime, Mick and John found other musicians and they kept the Fleetwood Mac band alive.
wiki/Fleetwood_Mac
wiki/Peter_Green
wiki/Danny_Kirwan
wiki/Jeremy_Spencer
Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac – full album
JOHN DUMMER
John Dummer’s various bands through the 1960s and 1970s were quite successful. They backed up visiting US bluesmen like Howling Wolf and John Lee Hooker. Some of the members included Graham Bond, Tony McPhee and Jo Ann Kelly. Later on he hooked up with some US west coast bluesmen before he eventually ended up in France working with French and North African musicians.
wiki/John Dummer Band
John Dummer Band – full album
ROD STEWART
Rod Stewart is a well known international star. During his early years he worked with a lot of important musicians that included Brian Auger, Julie Driscoll, Long John Baldry, Peter Green, Keith Emerson, Jeff Beck and many others. One of my favorite songs of his is “In a Broken Dream”, which he sang with an Australian band named Python Lee Jackson. He sang on a few tracks for them , and his payment was the upholstery of his car seats. Some of his best work was with the Jeff Beck band. He also joined The Small Faces (renamed to Faces after Steve Mariott left), with his good friend Ron Wood.
wiki/Rod Stewart
Python Jackson – In a Broken Dream
Beck Ola – full album