Paul Butterfield
Paul Butterfield
Paul Butterfield
Career
During the recording sessions, Paul Rothchild had assumed the role of group manager and used his folk contacts to secure the band more and more engagements outside of Chicago.[12] At the last minute, Buttereld and
band were booked to perform at the Newport Folk Festi1
2
val in July 1965.[6] They were scheduled as the opening
act the rst night when the gates opened and again the next
afternoon in an urban blues workshop at the festival.[12]
Despite limited exposure during their rst night and a dismissive introduction the following day by folklorist/blues
researcher Alan Lomax,[13][lower-alpha 2] the band was able
to attract an unusually large audience for a workshop performance. Maria Muldaur, with her husband Geo, who
later toured and recorded with Buttereld, recalled the
groups performance as stunning it was the rst time
that many of the mostly folk-music fans had experienced
a high-powered electric blues combo.[12] Among those
who took notice was festival regular Bob Dylan, who invited the band to back him for his rst live electric performance. With little rehearsal, Dylan performed a short,
four-song set the next day with Bloomeld, Arnold, and
Lay (along with Al Kooper and Barry Goldberg).[13][14]
It was not received well by some of the folk music establishment and generated a lot of controversy;[3] however,
it was a watershed event and brought the band to the attention of a much larger audience.[12]
After adding keyboardist Mark Naftalin, the bands debut album was nally successfully recorded in mid-1965.
Simply titled The Paul Buttereld Blues Band, it was released later in 1965. The opening song, a newer recording of the previously released Born in Chicago, is an
upbeat blues rocker and set the tone for the album, which
included a mix of blues standards, such as "Shake Your
Moneymaker", "Blues with a Feeling", and "Look Over
Yonders Wall" and band compositions. The album, described as a hard-driving blues album that, in a word,
rocked,[8] reached number 123 in the Billboard 200 album chart in 1966,[15] although its inuence was felt beyond its sales gures.[9]
When Sam Lay became ill, jazz drummer Billy Davenport was invited to replace him.[9] In July 1966, the sextet recorded their second album East-West, which was
released a month later. The album consists of more
varied material, with the bands interpretations of blues
(Robert Johnson's "Walkin' Blues"), rock (Michael Nesmith's "Mary, Mary"), R&B (Allen Toussaint's Get Out
of My Life, Woman), and jazz selections (Nat Adderley's "Work Song"). East-West reached number 65 in the
album chart.[15]
CAREER
could play all these scales and arpeggios and fast timesignatures ... He just destroyed them.[17] Several live
versions of East-West from this period were later released on East-West Live in 1996.
While in England in November 1966, Paul Buttereld
recorded several songs with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, who had recently nished their A Hard Road
album.[18] Both Buttereld and Mayall contribute vocals, with Butterelds Chicago-style blues harp being
featured. Four songs were released in the UK on a 45
rpm EP in January 1967, titled John Mayalls Bluesbreakers with Paul Buttereld.[lower-alpha 3]
3
tival on August 18, 1969. He and his band performed
seven songs, and although their performance did not appear in the resulting Woodstock lm, one song, Love
March, was included on the Woodstock: Music from the
Original Soundtrack and More album released in 1970.
In 2009, Buttereld was included in the expanded 40th
Anniversary Edition Woodstock video and an additional
two songs appeared on the Woodstock: 40 Years On:
Back to Yasgurs Farm box-set album. With only Buttereld remaining from the original lineup, 1969s Keep
On Moving album was produced by veteran R&B producer/songwriter Jerry Ragovoy, reportedly brought in by
Elektra to turn out a breakout commercial hit.[3] The
album was not embraced by critics or long-time fans;[24]
however, it reached number 102 in the Billboard album
chart.[15]
A live double album by the Buttereld Blues Band, simply
titled Live, was recorded March 2122, 1970 at the The
Troubadour in West Hollywood, California. By this time,
the band included a four-piece horn section in what has
been described as a big-band Chicago blues with a jazz
base"; Live provides perhaps the best showcase for this
unique blues-jazz-rock-R&B hybrid sound ".[25] After
the release of another soul-inuenced album, Sometimes
I Just Feel Like Smilin' in 1971, the Paul Buttereld Blues
Band disbanded.[9] In 1972, a retrospective or their career, Golden Butter: The Best of the Paul Buttereld Blues
With Rick Danko (left) on bass guitar at Woodstock Reunion
Band was released by Elektra.
1979.
1.3
2 Legacy
Aside from rank[ing] among the most inuential harp
players in the Blues,[32] Paul Buttereld has also been
seen as pointing blues-based music in new, innovative
directions.[33] AllMusic critic Steve Huey commented
Its impossible to overestimate the importance of the doors Buttereld opened: be-
5 DEATH
fore he came to prominence, white American
musicians treated the blues with cautious respect, afraid of coming o as inauthentic. Not
only did Buttereld clear the way for white
musicians to build upon blues tradition (instead of merely replicating it), but his storming
sound was a major catalyst in bringing electric
Chicago blues to white audiences who'd previously considered acoustic Delta blues the only
really genuine article.[3]
4 Personal life
By all accounts, Paul Buttereld was absorbed in his music. According to his brother Peter
5 Death
Also similar to other electric Chicago-blues harp players, Buttereld frequently used amplication to achieve
his sound.[8] Producer Rothchild noted that Buttereld
favored an Altec harp microphone run through an early
model Fender tweed amplier.[38] Beginning with The
6.2
Live albums
using painkillers, including heroin, which led to an ad- 6.1.3 Paul Buttereld
diction. These problems and the drug-related death of
Put It in Your Ear (1976)
his friend and one-time musical partner Mike Bloomeld
weighed heavily on him.[3] On May 4, 1987 at age 44,
North-South (1981)
Paul Buttereld died at his apartment in the North Hollywood district of Los Angeles. An autopsy by the county
The Legendary Paul Buttereld Rides Again (1986)
coroner concluded that he was the victim of an accidental drug overdose, with signicant levels of morphine
6.2 Live albums
(heroin)".[2]
By the time of his death, Paul Buttereld was out of the
commercial mainstream. Although for some, he was very
much the bluesman, Maria Muldaur commented he had
the whole sensibility and musicality and approach down
pat ... He just went for it and took it all in, and he embodied the essence of what the blues was all about. Unfortunately, he lived that way a little too much.[12]
Discography
After his death in 1987, his former record companies released a number of live albums and compilations. Except
where noted, the following albums are listed as The Paul
6.1
6.1.1
Studio albums
The Buttereld Blues Band
6.1.2
7 NOTES
Woodstock: Three Days of Peace and Music (1994,
recorded 1969)
The Monterey International Pop Festival June 16
1718 30th Anniversary Box Set (1997, recorded
1967)
The Complete Monterey Pop Festival (2002 video,
lmed 1967)
Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back to Yasgurs Farm
(2009, recorded 1969)
Woodstock: 40th Anniversary Ultimate Collectors
Edition (2009 video, lmed 1969)
6.5
As an accompanist
6.6
Tribute albums
7 Notes
Footnotes
[1] Rothchild also recalled Holzmans approval came with the
warning, Rothchild, do not fuck this up!" [11]
[2] Albert Grossman, who had agreed to take over management of the band the night before, was incensed at Lomaxs perceived insults and an argument backstage led to
an altercation between the two.
[3] Presumably because of licensing restrictions, the EP was
marked For sale in the U.K. only, although it soon found
its way to some specialty record retailers in the U.S. The
songs were later included as bonus tracks on the 2003 expanded 2-CD reissue of A Hard Road with most of Peter
Green's recordings with Mayall.
[4] Billy Davenport played the drums and Keith Johnson contributed trumpet in place of David Sanborn on saxophone.
Former bandmate Mike Bloomeld also performed the
same day at Monterey with his new group Electric Flag.
[5] Compare Butterelds reading of O the Wall from
Whats Shakin' or Everything Going to Be Alright from
Live to Little Walters originals.
[6] Erlewine wrote that he held the harmonica in his left hand
with the low notes to the left, but this is contradicted by a
photo on the front cover of Butterelds instructional book
and his lmed performance at Monterey Pop, both clearly
showing him holding it in his right and using his left for
muting.
[7] A review of Heart Attack states four cuts feature Paul
Buttereld on harp (believed to be his last recordings). Frantz, Niles J. "Heart Attack Album Review.
AllMusic. Rovi Corp. Retrieved August 4, 2013.
Citations
[1] Paul Buttereld. Sweet Home Cook County. Cook
County Clerks Oce. Retrieved September 15, 2013.
[2] Musicians Death Laid to Overdose. Los Angeles Times.
June 13, 1987. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
[3] Huey, Steve. Paul Buttereld Biography. AllMusic.
Rovi Corp. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
[4] Wolkin, Keenom 2000, p. 40.
[5] Milward 2013, p. 66.
[6] Field 2000, pp. 212214.
[7] Paul Buttereld Biography. Rolling Stone. Retrieved
September 13, 2013.
[8] Erlewine 1996, p. 41.
[9] Leggett, Steve. The Paul Buttereld Blues Band Biography. AllMusic. Rovi Corp. Retrieved September 14,
2013.
[10] Rothchild 1995, pp. 14.
References
Dicaire, David (2001). More Blues Singers: Biographies of 50 Artists from the Later 20th Century. Mcfarland & Co Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-1035-4.
Ellis III, Tom (Spring 1997). Paul Buttereld:
From Newport to Woodstock. Blues Access (Blues
Access) (29).
Erlewine, Michael (1996). Paul Buttereld Blues
Band. All Music Guide to the Blues. Miller Freeman
Books. ISBN 0-87930-424-3.
Herzhaft, Gerard (1992). Paul Buttereld. Encyclopedia of the Blues. University of Arkansas Press.
ISBN 1-55728-252-8.
Houghton, Mick (2010). Becoming Elektra: True
Story Of Jac Holzmans Visionary Record Label.
Jawbone Press. ISBN 978-1-906002-29-9.
Marcus, Greil (2006). Like a Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan at the Crossroads. Public Aairs. ISBN 978-158648-382-1.
Milward, John (2013). Crossroads: How the Blues
Shaped Rock 'n' Roll (and Rock Saved the Blues).
Northeastern. ISBN 978-1-55553-744-9.
Rothchild, Paul (1995). The Original Lost Elektra
Sessions (Media notes). Paul Buttereld Blues Band.
Elekrtra Traditions/Rhino Records. R2 73305.
7 NOTES
Shadwick, Keith (2001). Paul Buttereld. The
Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues. Oceana. ISBN 9780-681-08644-9.
Wolkin, Jan Mark; Keenom, Bill (2000). Michael
Bloomeld If You Love These Blues: An Oral History. Backbeat Books. ISBN 978-0-87930-617-5.
8.1
Text
8.2
Images
8.3
Content license