Paul on John Mayall

"John Mayall, the great British blues pioneer, has died aged 90 and I thought a couple of words from me would be appropriate.

In the 1960’s we would meet at one of the late-night music clubs and often go back to his house where he had a huge and glorious collection of records. During these moments he became a mentor and would educate me on a lot of the blues guitarists playing at the time.

I would lounge back in the armchair, and he would play tracks by people like BB King, Buddy Guy, Albert King and many other great players. He would then play me tracks by Eric Clapton who was later in his band The Bluesbreakers. The more he played the more I could see the links between all these great guitarists. Besides being very entertaining, it was a great education noticing the similarities between these stunning players.

John was a lovely, down to earth man from the North of England so we found it easy to relate to each other and I will always thank him for his love of music, the blues and his willingness to turn others on to what he knew.

Thanks John, love you!" - Paul