Mike Bloomfield-One of my guitar heroes rediscovered

There has been a lot of attention is finally being focused on the under appreciated guitar phenomenon Michael Bloomfield who died way too young at age 37 by drug overdose in 1981.  Bloomfield whose brilliant long fiery fluid solos were an essential part of recordings by Bob Dylan, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Electric Flag and his collaborations with keyboardist/vocalist Al Kooper, never got his due until now.  The release of a new 3 cd, 1 dvd box set “From His Head To His Heart To His Hands” curated by old friend Kooper is changing all of that by pointing attention to his short prolific career.  Bloomfield who shared friendships and stages with Chicago’s blues greats such as Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf was a stunning guitarist in person.  I had the luck in my teenage years to see Bloomfield perform live several times in different settings with The Electric Flag and the Bloomfield-Nafatlin Band.  I also saw him play at one of my last Mission High School assemblies!   I was always struck by his fiery virtuosity, intensity and brilliant fluid technique that he displayed on his trademark Les Paul standard guitar.  He was simply one of the finest blues guitar stylists I’ve ever seen!  Now the world is catching up and giving respect to one of the 1960’s-70’s all time guitar heroes…about time!!

Originally posted on March 8, 2014