John Mayall - The Supernatural

This is a sneaky post. I don't really want to talk about John Mayall. I do want to talk about Peter Green, an amazing and influential guitar virtuoso who influenced the blues and rock worlds. But sometimes, genius is not a gift. Most of us know the sad story of Syd Barrett and his work with Pink Floyd; his drug abuse and psychotic episodes, his brain too busy playing tricks on him. Peter Green experienced the lure of Timothy Leary's magic medication. He also went through long periods of psychiatric problems. Nonetheless, his influence was tremendous. The list of musicians reads like a who's who of rock and blues heaven.

The piece The Supernatural is one of his first instrumental pieces as a member of John Mayall's band The Bluesbreakers.

You may not be aware, but you know more of Peter Green than you might think. He left The Bluesbreakers with two other members to form a band that is still well-known today. But let's just look at a short chronology of the Bluesbreakers to understand the depth of musicians that, at one time or another passed through Mayall's legendary band. After he left The Yardbirds to play the blues with John Mayall, Eric Clapton moved on with co-Bluesbreaker Jack Bruce to form the band Cream with Ginger Baker. That is when Peter Green hitched up. He later left to form a band with two other Bluesbreakers, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. The band was called Fleetwood Mac. When Green left, Mick Taylor hopped aboard but also left and joined The Rolling Stones.

As you can see, The Bluesbreakers were a great place to network! By the way, Jimmy Page also produced one of the Bluesbreakers' singles, "I'm Your Witchdoctor".

Blues living legend B.B. King once said of Green, "He has the sweetest tone I ever heard; he was the only one who gave me the cold sweats." That is possibly the greatest testimonial a guitarist can get.

Now, how do you know Peter Green? Well, he composed Black Magic Woman, later made popular (understatement, really!) by Santana.

John Mayall - The Supernatural