University of Virginia Library

John Mayall-A Rare Privilege

By Kevin S. Lewis

Friday night provided a rare
experience for anyone interested in
blues, British blues in particular.
The opportunity to observe two
such varied masters as John Mayall
and Duster Bennet was a privilege.

From Mayall's first appearance
on stage, the show was a succession
of pleasant surprises. Surprise No. 1
- Mayall is playing the organ again,
an extremely wise decision. On his
last tour, he played only lead guitar
and harp, and, though, judging
from his Constitution Hall concert,
the tour was a success, Mayall's
organ is uniquely powerful. Unfortunately
he was playing a borrowed
organ, just as Johnny Almond
and heir new bassist were
forced to borrow.

They overcame their difficulties
admirably. Johnny Almond, as
usual, provided some stirring traditionally
based saxophone, interspersed
with his characteristic upper
range muscle-flexing. (I recall
my astonishment at the Constitution
Hall concert to find out that
those exceptionally high passages in
"California," off their first album,
were played on tenor sax, rather
than alto, or even soprano as my
sax-playing friends had suggested.)
Almond is a precise, sure musician,
who, if not particularly original, is
extremely rhythmic and amazingly
effective. He experienced some
difficulties with his flute, assumedly
borrowed, but provided a
soprano sax solo later than makes
me wish he would play it more
often.

Their new bassist, whose name I
never really comprehended, provided
the sure rhythms necessary in
a drumless group. Together with
Jon Mark, an exceptionally valuable
member of the group, he illustrated
the intelligence of Mayall's decision
to omit drums. Mark plays "acoustic
finger-style guitar" and actually
replaces the drums. It is his
rhythmic embellishments and quiet
precision that provide the rhythmic
drive essential to blues.

Mayall, of course, was brilliant.
His organ was as evocative and
seemingly lonely as on his earlier
albums. His vocals were sure,
simple, and effective, highlighted
by a seat-singing segment in which
he played along on the organ,
similar to Kooper's exercise on
"Season of the Witch." Despite a
recalcitrant mike-stand, he provided
a capsule course in the intricacies of
the harp. His solos were always
economical and ingenious, his technique
was always a means to an
end, never an end in itself (something
many of the younger British
harp players are guilty of). His
closing "tour de force," "Room to
Move," featuring the "mouth percussion"
of Johnny Almond, was a
powerful blockbuster that compares
well, though greatly changed,
with his older, recorded version.

The sharp-witted have no doubt
noticed that I've omitted Duster
Bennett, a strange phenomenon,
after my opening paragraph. Actually,
I've only saved him for last.
Bennett, a British blues man of long
standing, produced the evening's
highlight - a harmonica train solo
that brought the audience to its
feet. The amazing difficulty of the
piece, as well as its surging beat and
variety, evoked responses from even
the most blues-ignorant spectator.
Bennett's contribution hardly
ended there, however. He also
demonstrated that a white man can
sing even the blackest of blues
without having to imitate a Negro
accent. It should be pointed out,
however, that the Bonzo Dog
Doo-Dad Band's question "Can a
blue man sing the whites?" is very
much open. He did adopt the
mannerisms of Jimmy Rushing, if
not his accent, and combined with
his innocent vocals, the effect was
appealing enough that he slipped
several earthy blues lines across
with scarcely a snicker from the
audience. His work with the rest of
the band on "Les Paul guitar" was
quiet and intelligent. Duster Bennett
is a traditional bluesman of
rare quality and integrity, and I, for
one, was grateful to be introduced
to his music. He was largely
responsible for an extremely enjoyable
musical evening.

Oh yes, some further notes. The
show was over an hour late starting,
apparently the fault of a conspiracy
of weather and highways, rather
than the musicians or producers.
Lighthouse, in the first half of the
show, managed to squeeze some
moments of fine music into an
incredibly long hour.