John Mayall, Ronnie Scott's

Although he heralds from Macclesfield, John Mayall’s music is indebted to a tradition birthed the other side of the Atlantic. As a teenager with a record player, he drew inspiration from venerable American blues musicians like Lead Belly and Elmore James. Since then, Mayall has made his own considerable contribution to genre, earning the epithet ‘Godfather of British Blues’ along the way.

Forming the Bluesbreakers in the mid-1960s, Mayall assembled an ever-rotating cast of players including, most famously, a young Eric Clapton. The group were one of a new wave of bands, pioneering an electric sound that was both steeped in tradition and furiously alive. The group’s back catalogue is dazzling in scope, with classic albums liberally scattered throughout the latter decades of the last century.

Aged 81, Mayall shows few signs of slowing down. From the first bars of 2015’s Find a Way to Care - squalling harmonica and tumbling keys aplenty – it is clear that Mayall remains a truly spirited musician, and a consummate performer.

From the 2^nd to the 4^th November, Mayall will be playing two shows a night at Ronnie Scott’s: the first at 7:30, and the second at the rather more foolhardy hour of 10:15.