Box Set Part 5: The Lost Gem of Michael Bloomfield

I stumbled upon Michael Bloomfield by accident when I got a copy of Supper Session with Al Kooper and Stephen Stills.  I also had a copy of the first Paul Butterfield and the Blues Band first album and I quickly put two and two together.  In both cases I was quite impressed with the guitar playing and thought I stumbled upon a superhero in guitar players.  When I found out that he played with the who's who of Blues greats like B.B. King, Albert King, Freddie King, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and others at the best of the best Chicago Blues clubs I knew I had to give him my ear some more.  It was not till I found out that he was Bob Dylan's guitar player on "Like A Rolling Stone" then I needed to really listen.

I grabbed those two albums and I carefully listen.  While I was working at the library I found an album of his not in the library collection, but as a donation.  Someone unloaded about two dozen records and one caught my eye by the cover art.  It was painted by Norman Rockwell.  The Live Adventures of Michael Bloomfield and Al Kooper.  I would not only hear more of Bloomfield, but now I could hear him play live.

Charlie Musslewhite and Bloomfield in the studio

After hearing all this great studio and live performances I picked up Don't Say That I Ain't Your Man: Essential Blues 1964-1969.  It was a nice anthology of Bloomfield's 60's output.  When I listened to it I felt a bit incomplete. I went back to his session work with Dylan, I replayed his album with Paul Butterfield Blues Band and also picked up the second album they did together called East-West.  I even got another project Bloomfield was in called Electric Flag.  I wanted more and more.  If you asked me around this time of me buying Bloomfield albums I would tell you right away that he was one of the best out there.

For a while I was having issues finding anything else by Bloomfield.  Some of it was not as good as this era from the 1960's.  He put out an album with Dr. John and John Hammond and I figure that would be a great collection of three greats, but that was mediocre at best.  I searched and searched for something better.  I almost gave up and went back to the early albums that I owned.  I replayed The Live Adventures... for inspiration and for nostalgia trying to convince that he had more fire in his awesome guitar playing. I really did not think that he was just a guitar player that was a product of the 1960's.

A few years went by and I stumbled up a nicer collection of his music called Bloomfield: A Retrospective.  Issued in 1983 two years after his untimely death. This is was a bit better because in between some songs he spoke about each band that he was in.  They weren't too long but just a bit about how he felt working with them and such.  I only had one issue with this.  There should have been a whole side of interviews and such.  He really had so much to day and those small segments enticed me to learn and listen more.  Then in the fall of 2000 while I was home on break a friend of mine sent me a package.  It had a note in that read "No Need to pay me for this, I read this and it might help you with learning more about the awesome Mike Bloomfield." "This might distract you from your studies so don't blame me." Inside was a book called, If You Love These Blues: A Oral History. It was one of the first biographies of Bloomfield.  I quickly read it cover to cover.  It got me back in interest in Bloomfield's career and life.

A few years later I was handed this three CD set with DVD on Michael Bloomfield. From His Head To His Heart To His Hands is exactly what Bloomfield fans wanted.  The DVD was a film about Bloomfield and all the people he touched with his music.  It was great because people like Eric Clapton, Santana, Al Kooper and others talked about his legacy in the modern Blues music.  Finally a retrospective that Mike Bloomfield deserves and a handful of unreleased tracks thrown in.  It was a dream come true for myself and many others.

After that release in 2014 there has been a flood of Bloomfield Books and guitar tab books on his life and career.  There are two more biographies that I have seen and one of the two I bought.  Michael Bloomfield: The Rise and Fall of the American Guitar Hero with Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top doing the forward.  The last book that I need to get (if anyone wants to get it for me) called Guitar King: Michael Bloomfield's Life in the Blues. These along with this awesome box set are worth it for any fan of Blues, Guitar Heroes, and just the curious life about an very interesting and great guitar player.  What's great this box set is broken up into three themes Roots, Jams, and Last Licks.  There is enough music to keep you playing it over and over again and when your done, watch him shine on the albums he played on.  Really great music from a really, really great guitar player. Enjoy!!!