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For the astronaut, see Michael J. Bloomfield

Mike Bloomfield (July 28, 1943 – February 15, 1981) was an American musician, guitarist and composer. Born in Chicago, Illinois, into a well-off Jewish family on Chicago's North Side. A shy, awkward loner as a child, he became interested in music through the Southern radio stations he was able to pick up at night, which gave him a regular source for rockabilly, R&B, and blues. He received his first guitar at his bar mitzvah and he and his friends began sneaking out to hear electric blues on the South Side's fertile club scene (with the help of their families' maids). The young Bloomfield sometimes jumped on-stage to jam with the musicians and the novelty of such a spectacle soon made him a prominent scenester. Dismayed with the turn his education was taking, his parents sent him to a private boarding school on the East Coast in 1958 and he eventually graduated from a Chicago school for troubled youth. By this time, he'd embraced the beatnik subculture, frequenting hangout spots near the University of Chicago. He got a job managing a folk club and frequently booked veteran acoustic bluesmen; in the meantime, he was also playing guitar as a session man and around the Chicago club scene with several different bands.

He was a session musician who became famous through his work with Bob Dylan during his first explorations into the "electric Dylan" phase. Bloomfield's sound was a major part of Dylan's sound, as featured especially on Highway 61 Revisited. His guitar style bridged blues influence with rock and folk.

In 1964, Bloomfield was discovered through his session work by the legendary John Hammond, who signed him to CBS; however, several recordings from 1964 went unreleased as the label wasn't sure how to market a white American blues guitarist. In early 1965, Bloomfield joined several associates in the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, a racially integrated outfit with a storming, rock-tinged take on Chicago's urban electric blues sound. The group's self-titled debut for Elektra, released later that year, made them a sensation in the blues community and helped introduce white audiences to a less watered-down version of the blues. He played with Paul Butterfield from 1964 to 1966, then formed Electric Flag in 1967 with longtime Chicago cohort Nick Gravenites on vocals. The Electric Flag was supposed to build on the innovations of East-West and accordingly featured an expanded lineup complete with a horn section, which allowed the group to add soul music to their laundry list of influences. The Electric Flag debuted at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival and issued a proper debut album, A Long Time Comin', in 1968. Critics complimented the group's distinctive, intriguing sound, but found the record itself somewhat uneven. Unfortunately, the band was already disintegrating; rivalries between members and shortsighted management -- not to mention heroin abuse -- all took their toll. Bloomfield himself left the band he'd formed before their album was even released.

He also made an impact through his work with Al Kooper on the album Super Session in 1968 whom he'd played with in the Dylan band, and cut Super Session, a jam-oriented record that spotlighted his own guitar skills on one half and those of Stephen Stills on the other. Issued in 1968, it received excellent reviews and moreover became the best-selling album of Bloomfield's career. Super Session's success led to a sequel, The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper, which was recorded over three shows at the Fillmore West in 1968 and released the following year; it featured Bloomfield's on-record singing debut. He continued with solo work and back-up work from 1969 through 1980.

Bloomfield's most famous work, East-West (1966), performed with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, was one of the first experiments in fusing blues and indian-style raga music, and his preoccupation exerted a major influence on the next Butterfield album, 1966's East-West. Driven by Bloomfield's jaw-dropping extended solos on his instrumental title cut, East-West merged blues, jazz, world music, and psychedelic rock in an unprecedented fashion. It helped to create the signature sound of late-60s Californian rock acts. According to fellow band member Mark Naftalin, Bloomfield brought the piece to the band following an LSD trip. The piece's use of drones and modal scales was a marked difference to conventional blues improvising.

During the late '70s, Bloomfield recorded for several smaller labels (including Takoma), usually in predominantly acoustic settings; through Guitar Player magazine, he also put out an instructional album with a vast array of blues guitar styles, titled -If You Love These Blues, Play 'Em as You Please.

On the February 15, 1981 Bloomfield was found dead in San Francisco. The cause of death was ruled an accidental drug overdose.

He used Fender guitars, but is most commonly associated with the Gibson Les Paul. His use of the Les Paul influenced many others to use it in much the same way, using the front pickup and making judicious use of the guitar's inherent long sustain. He was also well-renowned for his vibrato.

He is considered by many to be one of the most influental and pioneering white American blues guitarists.

Selected Discography

• The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - The Paul Butterfield Blues Band (1965)
• Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan (1965)
• East-West - The Paul Butterfield Blues Band (1966)
• A Long Time Comin' - The Electric Flag (1968)
• Super Session - Bloomfield, Kooper and Stills (1968)
• If You Love These Blues, Play 'Em As You Please - Mike Bloomfield (1976)

See Also

• Rolling Stone's List of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time

• 1943 births
• 1981 deaths
• Guitarists
• Blues musicians