by Apex » Sun Mar 09, 2014 12:44 pm
In my opinion as a former rock group guitarist (1967-1973), rock owes it all to the blues, the foundation of everything we hear and have heard, then and now. Every player has been, directly or indirectly,
influenced by those 12 bars that go on and on forever.
One of my favorites has always been the late Mike Bloomfield. His performance on Electric Flag's 'A Long Time Comin', then and now, still sends the ol' chills up the ol' spine. And let's not forget he also
was on Dylan's great 'Like a Rolling Stone' and also performed live with Dylan.
One day in the mid 70's, my drummer calls me up and says this:
"Some guy by the name of Mike Bloomfield just called me, he says he's here in Miami, he's gonna record here soon (Criteria Studios, Miami) and is looking for session musicians. We had a talk, and one
question he asked me was, "Have you ever performed in a situation where you couldn't hear yourself play?"
Bloomfield had told my drummer that he got his number off a sign we had put out in music stores recently when looking for another vocalist. My drummer didn't know who he was, so I filled him in.
Bloomfield left his hotel phone. At that time, I was at the tail end of my rock years but still a very hot player, including blues, with tremendous experience behind me, so I called the hotel to see if he
might want any guitarists.
They said no one by the name of Mike Bloomfield was there.
Several weeks later, the Miami Herald ran an article describing a session Bloomfield had at Criteria Studios, with a picture of him at the studio.
We considered the possibility that this might have been a crank call, but there were too many coincidences that contradicted that, and that question about not being able to hear yourself play was right
on.
We later referred to the incident as "The Great Bloomfield Mystery".
Sadly, Mike Bloomfield died of a drug overdose in '80 or 81.