Not to slight the importance of Alexis Korner or Gram Bond when it came to having an eye for talent on the burgeoning British jazz and blues scene of the early1960s, but there was ultimately no better proving ground than John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers.
The Sept. 11 edition of Greasy Tracks spotlighted many of the incredible musicians who did time in one of Mayall’s line-ups.
Click here to check out an archive of the program, while a playlist is here.
Forget the obvious Mayall alums Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor, but consider such fantastic players as Harvey Mandell, Gerry McGee, Ansley Dunbar, Keef Hartley, John Almond, Jon Mark, John McVie, Mick Fleetwood, Jon Hiseman, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Freddy Robinson, Larry Taylor, Don “Sugarcane” Harris, Blue Mitchell and Clifford Solomon to name but a few.