Blues maker Mayall will treat audiences to different shows

John Mayall was playing American blues when most Englishmen of his generation were into pop. When American blues were “in” on both sides of the Atlantic, and high-volume electric blues/rock was the new big thing, Mayall went acoustic and recorded several critically acclaimed albums without a drummer.

Now, after years of touring and recording as part of a quartet, Mayall, 82, is again performing as part of a trio. It wasn’t something he set out to do, but when guitarist Rocky Athas, his “guitar sidekick” for the past seven years, got trapped in Dallas by a severe storm earlier this year, the only reasonable thing to do was play some shows with only bassist Greg Rzab and drummer Jay Davenport.

“It just worked out very well and we wanted to do more of it, and Rocky understood — he was quite content to resume his solo career,” Mayall said during a telephone interview late last month. He described the change as an opportunity “to explore new territories,” playing guitar, harmonica, organ and keyboards.

“It’s become even more apparent since we don’t have a guitar player that the interplay now has increased,” he said. “It’s brought a whole new level to exploring the music, and the three of us are very happy together. We’ve been together a long time anyway, but it’s just given us a lot more freedom to explore new areas.

“It’s always been a desire to realize that perhaps I’ve gone as far as I can go with that particular instrumentation or particular lineup, and try to break out something new,” he continued. “Luckily my audiences have always been very faithful, because it’s become something of a trademark for me — ‘What’s he gonna do next?’ — and they trust me implicitly, which has been a great reward.”

Hawaii will hear the result of Mayall’s newest experimentations this weekend. The trio plays on the Big Island today and Saturday, then comes to Blue Note Hawaii in Waikiki on Sunday for two shows.

Take note, Honolulu: The trio has assembled so much material that Mayall will be playing two completely different sets at the Blue Note.

“Same guys, different show,” he said.

Rock fans associate Mayall with the many future stars and superstars who worked with him for various lengths of time in the mid-1960s, as members of John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers. The list includes Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton, Mick Fleetwood, Peter Green, John McVie and Mick Taylor. Spectacular though that aspect of his career is, Mayall has never slowed down. He has almost 100 albums to his name — counting anthologies and DVDs — with additional “limited release” material available only through his website.

A complete collection of Mayall recordings would also include some infamous “bootlegs” from back in the days when fans couldn’t record at will on their iPhones, and two sets of 45-rpm singles — one set of the singles as released in England, a second of the singles released in the United States.

Serious fans of Mayall’s work will note that he lists 64 albums of original recordings on his website. Mayall supports the release of archival recordings, but said he isn’t a fan of what he calls “recycling” — record labels’ practice of repackaging collections of previously released recordings. “That’s outside of my control,” he notes. “I don’t really believe in trotting out repeats of things.”

This year, he added two titles to his discography of original recordings.

“Find a Way to Care,” co-produced by Mayall and Eric Corne, is a studio project that emphasizes his talent on keyboard instruments — Hammond B-3 organ, piano and clavinet, to name three.

The second new release, “Live in 1967 Volume II,” contains previously unreleased recordings from a 1967 Bluesbreakers show when Mayall’s bandmates were Fleetwood, Green and McVie — who made a surprise guest appearance at Mayall’s 2010 gig in Honolulu.

Another album by Mayall, Athas, Davenport and Rzab is scheduled for release in January.

“We’ve got Joe Walsh playing on a couple of tracks, which was a nice surprise for me — people will be very interested in that,” Mayall said. “I’ve written most of the songs on it, so it’s an updated take on what we’re doing now.”

Mayall also hopes to record and release an album by the current trio — probably a live album — sometime next year.

YouTube is a sour point for many veteran entertainers. Some see it as a place that deprives performers and songwriters of the financial compensation they should be receiving for their work. Others see it as a place where well-meaning fans post unflattering cellphone footage of their performances. Mayall has another perspective.

“The ‘compensation’ for artists is that they’re reaching a wider audience without doing a damn thing,” he said. “So it’s all to the good, because it increases the general awareness of your work.”

In response to a final question about his breakthrough days in the mid-1960s, Mayall has no idea who it was that proclaimed him the Godfather of English Blues.

“It’s way back in time, but even at the time I had no idea,” he said. “It’s press — people get these ideas and put them out, so it’s one of the ones that stuck. I don’t mind, but it’s accurate in the sense that I’ve always stuck with what I believed in, and that’s always been the blues.”