Bloomfield Bio

[Minnesota Flats]

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Love that guy. Thanks!

 

[DougH]

Thanks for this,

 

[Minnesota Flats]

I only saw PBBB live once in about 1967 at The Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, CA By then, Bloomfield had already departed, the horn section was in place and Bishop was handling all guitar duties. What a great show, Bloomfield's absence not withstanding. Never caught Electric Flag live, but they weren't together very long. Did see The Buddy Miles Express live at one of the SF ballroom venues, though I can't recall which. I think he was opening for Hendrix: in which case it would've been at Winterland. Caught Musselwhite live in Bellingham, WA about 1975 and again with Mavis Staples and the North Mississippi Allstars in 2007.

Back during the 1960s, no record collection was complete if it didn't include the first two Butterfield Band albums. Bloomfield definitely pre-dated Clapton as a "Guitar God" among the people I knew at the time.

 

[twocorgis]

Back during the 1960s, no record collection was complete if it didn't include the first two Butterfield Band albums. Bloomfield definitely pre-dated Clapton as a "Guitar God" among the people I knew at the time.

When I first joined a blues band a few years ago, Jerome Arnold's bass playing on the early Butterfield albums was a textbook example of what good blues bass was, and is.

 

[GGJaguar]

 

[DrumBob]

I saw Mike on one of his last gigs with The Electric Flag at the Fillmore East, and he blew me away. He played barefoot! I have a quite a bit of his music on record, and loved the stuff he did on Super Session particularly. I always thought he had one f the nastiest vibratos I ever heard.

 

[Rocky]

I always thought he had one f the nastiest vibratos I ever heard.

Yep, as well as an incredibly dynamic cleaish tone with sustain. Just what you would want with a LP and a cranked twin reverb. Something that's almost impossible to duplicate in a modern live setting.

 

[bobouz]

Thanks so much for posting this. For sheer tonal beauty, Bloomfield was & still is one of my very favorite players. I was fortunate enough to see The Electric Flag perform at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium - must have been 1967, iirc. They played in a large side room that was set up for dances. I already knew about Bloomfield from Butterfield's East-West album, but sad to say, one of my strongest memories was being totally turned off by that darn horn section!