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Bloomfield's blues

Mike Bloomfield was a gifted guitarist who reached his zenith but died tragically

As a teenager, Michael Bernard Bloomfield learnt Chicago blues from famed exponents Muddy Waters and Albert King. While doing the rounds of clubs catering to that genre or folk music with Charlie Musselwhite and Nick Gravenites, Bloomfield caught the eye of Paul Butterfield.

Although shy, his career bloomed after joining the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in 1965. The fluidity and feeling he infused into playing the guitar matched that of the black bluesmen. Bloomfield found a place for himself in music history by playing lead electric guitar for Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival.

This new accompaniment was viewed with horror by purists who warned this shift would be the bard's artistic harakiri. Nonetheless, it imparted a magical feel to Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone", voted the last century's most popular song, and "Highway 61 Revisited". After parting ways with Butterfield, Bloomfield dabbled briefly with his own outfit, Electric Flag. He then plunged into studio work, collaborating with Al Kooper and Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young for the album Super Session that became his biggest selling record. So did he jam with John Hammond Jr. and Dr. John on Triumvirate. On Muddy Waters's Fathers and Sons, Bloomfield's wizardry was again in evident in 1969.

Over the next decade, the gifted guitarist turned reclusive, his work distributed on small labels and not getting their due recognition or reward. To sustain a perennial drug habit, he scored music for pornographic movies. An authority on the blues, Bloomfield also taught music at Stanford University, served as adviser to Guitar Player magazine and even wrote ad jingles. Coaxed into a big comeback in 1975, his last stab perhaps at stardom was his inclusion in the supergroup KGB that included Carmen Appice, Barry Goldberg and Ric Grech. The album they produced was a huge letdown and Bloomfield quit to indulge in acoustic music. While on his own, his output grew, as he released eight albums in six years.

In 1981, he was found dead in his car. The cause of death was an accidental drug overdose. To many, Mike Bloomfield was the finest white blues guitarist ever.

A. GEORGE ANTONY

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