| John Mayall The Turning Point (Polydor) | ||
| A night caught in
amber: July 12th, 1969 at the Fillmore East. A drumless quartet of
intertwining electric and finger-picking, acoustic guitar, bass and
woodwinds. Mayall, a seminal figure in the original British Blues movement,
gave respite to a variety of figures whose fame went on to eclipse his own:
Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, Jack Bruce, Jon McVie, etc. – Jon
Mark, the acoustic guitar picker and Johnny Almond, the man with the reeds,
after about a year or so moved out on their own (the imaginatively named
Mark-Almond Band) though never surpassed this moment. The material is all
original, by Mayall or in conjunction with bassist Steve Thompson, and is
built on a Blues base. Some are pure, like "Saw Mill Gulch Road" the
shortest number at 4’39", and some where Almond is more out front combined
with an amount of time that allows some improvisation and to follow the feel
of the moment, like the 7’03" "So Hard To Share" (with its major sax soloing
and Mayall’s scat singing) and the percolating 9’30" "California," echo the
inflection where the Blues lent itself to Jazz. Without drums and with its
mix of electric and acoustic instrumentation there’s a crisp and airy sense
to these recordings. Just right for lying back on an overcast, misty Fall
day. It retains all the intimacy and charm of my memory of hearing the
original LP almost thirty years ago. This version of the album has been expanded by three tunes -- one assumes they were the only numbers left off the original release from the band’s set that night (the booklet doesn’t clarify this) -- tacked onto the end after the original track order. It’s for each of you to decide whether they should have recreated the actual set that night instead. Which would have put the "Progressive Radio" classic "Room To Move" -- with its frenetic beat, sharp melody and dueling harmonica and flute, which shifts into Mayall’s and Almond’s Human Beatbox interlude -- once again to the end, as nothing can rightfully follow it. That said, the newly recovered "Don’t Waste My Time" is a delightful quasi-Soul number highlighted by Mayall’s Clarence "Frogman" Henry vocals & his mouth organ soloing and Mark’s swift, melodic picking. On the intro to the now ending "Can’t Sleep This Night" Mark once more shines, while his partner-to-be gets to surf along with his alto sax on top of some hand percussion and then morphs into a bit of call-and-response with Mayall’s slide guitar. (10/02) David M. Snyder
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