A ‘three artists’ set list – John Mayall, Tom Cochrane/Red Rider, Mick Jagger. Of late I’ve been doing ‘three (or maybe two, time permitting) album’ sets, live or studio records, on a Saturday but this time it’s assorted tracks from three artists. Originally, it was going to be two artists: Jagger, who celebrates his 81st birthday today, Friday, July 26 and still going strong fronting The Rolling Stones who just completed a tour, and Cochrane with and without his original band Red Rider, because he’s playing a festival in my town, Kitchener, Ontario on Saturday.

Then came news that this past Monday, July 22, the so-called Godfather of British Blues, John Mayall, had died at age 90. He was an artist and bandleader who had nurtured the careers of guitar greats like Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor, and perhaps less widely known but no less accomplished players like Walter Trout and Coco Montoya, who I saw play with Mayall’s Bluesbreakers in the late 1980s at, Ontario residents will remember, the old rotating stage at the Ontario Place Forum on the Toronto waterfront. Taylor was the opening act that night and then guested with Mayall, who, believe it or not, acted as one of his own roadies. I remember him coming out, pre-set, adjusting and tinkering with the equipment and my younger brother and I exchanged glances like ‘is that him, yeah, it is, wow, cool. Obviously no airs about him.” If you want a job done right, one supposes . . .

Mayall was making music until near the end, consistently releasing new music every year or two, most recently in 2022. Just a few weeks ago on my show I played a track from his 2016 album Talk About That (and he recorded two more studio albums after that) and mentioned how he was still releasing new music although he had retired from touring aside from a gig here or there close to his California home. I most recently saw him at the Kitchener Blues Festival in 2011, a fine afternoon show on the last day of a festival which that year also featured Gregg Allman, the Winter brothers Johnny and Edgar, separately, and Mayall.

And it’s interesting perhaps about Mayall in that although he was thought of as a blues artist, and he was, his horizons were broad if you delve deeply into his music, evidenced by some stuff I’m playing on the show including tracks like Nature’s Disappearing – from the drummer-less album USA Union in 1970 which was my introduction to Mayall as my older brother had the album – and other excursions like his 1972 live album Jazz Blues Fusion. He was forever experimenting, searching for new sounds but for the very most part always based in blues.

So, a three-artist set: Cochrane/Red Rider, Jagger and Mayall. Some hits or at least fairly well-known tunes, some maybe more obscure deep cut stuff, all of it among my favorites by these artists.

1. John Mayall, Wake Up Call (title cut from Mayall’s 1993 album, with Mick Taylor trying to beg off the session on a fun intro phone call, along with Mavis Staples)

2. Red Rider, Light In The Tunnel (first of three tracks from the 1983 album Neruda that are an overall intro piece to the record.)

3. Red Rider, Power (Strength In Numbers)

4. Red Rider, Human Race

5. Mick Jagger, Out Of Focus

6. John Mayall, Nature’s Disappearing

7. Tom Cochrane & Red Rider, Just Like Ali

8. Mick Jagger with Buddy Guy, Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) … a bluesy rearrangement of the Stones’ Goats Heat Soup album tune, released on the 2018 album Chicago Plays The Stones. It’s a tribute to The Rolling Stones by some of the artists who inspired them.

9. Red Rider, Napoleon Sheds His Skin

10. John Mayall, Night Flyer

11. Mick Jagger, Evening Gown . . . the type of country-ish ballad Jagger, in my view, does so well. Along the same lines later in the set are Hang On To Me Tonight and Party Doll.

12. Red Rider, Lunatic Fringe

13. John Mayall, Ain’t No Brakeman

14. Mick Jagger, Think . . . cover of a tune made famous by James Brown.

15. John Mayall, Broken Wings . . . beautiful, haunting track from Mayall’s The Blues Alone, just Mayall on guitar with drummer Keef Hartley.

16. Mick Jagger, Hang On To Me Tonight

17. John Mayall, Mail Order Mystics

18. Mick Jagger, Sweet Thing

19. Red Rider, Young Thing, Wild Dreams (Rock Me)

20. Mick Jagger, Too Many Cooks (Spoil The Soup)

21. John Mayall, Spinning Coin

22. Mick Jagger, Party Doll

23. John Mayall, Took The Car

24. Mick Jagger, Mother Of A Man

25. John Mayall, Room To Move

26. John Mayall, Fly Tomorrow