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Biography
Refimprove|date=March 2008Infobox musical artist| name = Paul Butterfield| image = Paul Butterfield 79.jpg| caption = Paul Butterfield performing at the 1979 Woodstock Reunion Parr Meadows|Parr Meadows Ridge , New York| image_size =| background = solo_singer| alias =| birth_date = Birth date|1942|12|17|mf=y| origin = Chicago , Illinois | Died = Death date and age|1987|5|4|1942|12|17 North Hollywood, California | instrument = Harmonica , Vocals , Guitar , Keyboard instrument|Keyboards | genre = Blues-rock , Chicago blues , Electric blues , Blue-eyed soul | occupation = Musician | years_active = 1963–1987| label =| associated_acts = The Paul Butterfield Blues Band| website = Paul Butterfield (17 December 1942 – 4 May 1987) was an United States|American blues vocal ist and harmonica player, who founded the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the early 1960s and performed at the original Woodstock Festival . He died of drug-related heart failure. http://books.google.com/books? id=3E3pGRLc1L8C& pg=PA59& dq=%22Paul+Butterfield%22+dead+OR+died+OR+death& cd=7#v=onepage& q=%22Paul%20Butterfield%22%20dead%20OR%20died%20OR%20death& f=false More blues singers: biographies of 50 artists from the later 20th century By David Dicaire. p. 59.
Career
The son of a lawyer, Paul Butterfield was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in the city's Hyde Park, Chicago|Hyde Park neighborhood,Allmusic|class=artist|id=p299/biography|pure_url=yes Allmusic biography where he attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools , a private school associated with the University of Chicago. After studying classical music|classical flute with Walfrid Kujala of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as a teenager, he developed a love for the blues harmonica, and hooked up with white, blues-loving, University of Chicago physics student Elvin Bishop . The pair started hanging around black blues musicians such as Muddy Waters , Howlin' Wolf , Little Walter and Otis Rush . Butterfield and Bishop soon formed a band with Jerome Arnold and Sam Lay , both hired away from the touring band of Howlin' Wolf . In 1963, the racially mixed quartet was made the house band at Big John's, a folk music|folk club in the Old Town district on Chicago's north side. Butterfield was still underage (as was guitarist Mike Bloomfield .)
Butterfield Blues Band
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band was signed to Elektra Records after adding Bloomfield as lead guitar ist. Their original debut sessions were scrapped, to appear in 1995 as The Original Lost Elektra Sessions . A second attempt was recorded live at the Cafe Au Go Go , but these too were rejected by producer Paul Rothchild . Some of the discarded tracks appeared on the ''What's Shakin'' LP album|LP shared with the Lovin' Spoonful .
At the Newport Folk Festival in July 1965, Bob Dylan Electric Dylan controversy|went electric in a move considered controversial at the time by much of the folk music establishment, backed by members of Butterfield's band — Bloomfield, Arnold, and Lay — but not Butterfield himself. In October, the self-titled debut recorded a third time after the addition of organist Mark Naftalin on some tracks, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band (album)|The Paul Butterfield Blues Band , containing Nick Gravenites ' "Born in Chicago," was released. Shortly thereafter, Lay became ill with pneumonia and pleurisy and Billy Davenport took over on drums. The Butterfield Band's second album was East-West , released in 1966, after which Bloomfield, Arnold, and Davenport left the band.
Bloomfield formed The Electric Flag with Nick Gravenites, and Bishop began playing lead guitar on The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw (1967). The band now included saxophonists David Sanborn and Gene Dinwiddie , bassist Bugsy Maugh, and drummer Phillip Wilson (drummer)|Phillip Wilson . In 1967, The Butterfield Blues Band played the seminal Monterey International Pop Festival along with the Electric Flag, Jimi Hendrix , Ravi Shankar , The Who , Otis Redding , the counterculture bands of San Francisco , and many others.
After the release of In My Own Dream , both Bishop and Naftalin left by the end of 1968. Nineteen-year-old guitarist Buzzy Feiten , joined the band for its 1969 release, Keep On Moving , produced by Jerry Ragavoy , and Rod Hicks replaced Maugh on bass. The Butterfield band played at the Woodstock Festival , although their performance wasn't included in the resulting Woodstock (film)|Woodstock film . In 1969, Butterfield also took part in a concert at Chicago's Auditorium Theater and a subsequent recording session organized by record producer Norman Dayron, featuring Muddy Waters and backed by pianist Otis Spann , Mike Bloomfield|Michael Bloomfield , Sam Lay , Donald Dunn|Donald "Duck" Dunn , and Buddy Miles , which was sound recording and reproduction|recorded and portions released on Fathers And Sons on Chess Records .
Better Days
Following the releases of Live in 1970 and Sometimes I Just Feel Like Smiling in 1971, Butterfield broke up the horn band with David Sanborn and Dinwiddie, and returned to Woodstock, New York|Woodstock , New York . He formed a new group including Chris Parker on drums, guitarist Amos Garrett , Geoff Muldaur , pianist Ronnie Barron and bassist Billy Rich, naming the ensemble "Better Days." The group released ''Paul Butterfield's Better Days and It All Comes Back in 1972 and 1973, respectively.
In 1976, Butterfield performed at The Band 's final concert, The Last Waltz . Together with The Band , he performed the song " Mystery Train " and backed Muddy Waters on " Mannish Boy ". image:Butterfield & Danko 1979.jpg|right|thumb|With Rick Danko , (left) on bass guitar. Woodstock Reunion, September 7, 1979
Solo
The late 1970s and early 1980s saw Butterfield as a solo act and a session musician , doing occasional television appearances and releasing a couple of albums. He also toured as a duo with Rick Danko , formerly of The Band , with whom he performed for the last time in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania .
He also toured with another member of The Band, Levon Helm , as a member of Helm's "RCO All Stars", which also included most of the members of Booker T and the MGs , in 1977. In the 1970s, Butterfield dated fellow musician Elizabeth Barraclough .27 Leggies page: " http://27leggies.blogspot.com/2009/08/elizabeth-barraclough.html Elizabeth Barraclough."
In 1986 Butterfield released his final recording studio|studio album, The Legendary Paul Butterfield Rides Again . http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php? id=3796 Allaboutjazz.com
Harmonica style
Butterfield played and endorsed (as noted in the liner notes for his first album) Hohner harmonica s, in particular the diatonic ten-hole 'Marine Band' model. He played using an unconventional technique, holding the harmonica upside-down (with the low notes to the righthand side). His primary playing style was in the second position, also known as cross-harp, but he also was adept in the third position, notably on the track East-West from the album of the same name, and the track 'Highway 28' from the "Better Days" album.
Seldom venturing higher than the sixth hole on the harmonica, Butterfield nevertheless managed to create a variety of original sounds and melodic runs. His live tonal stylings were accomplished using a Shure 545 Unidyne III hand-held microphone connected to one or more Fender Musical Instruments Corporation|Fender amplifiers, often then additionally boosted through the venue's public address (PA) system. This allowed Butterfield to achieve the same extremes of volume as the various notable sidemen in his band.
Butterfield also at times played a mixture of acoustic and amplified style by playing into a microphone mounted on a stand, allowing him to perform on the harmonica using both hands to get a muted, Wah-wah (music)|Wah-wah effect, as well as various vibrato s. This was usually done on a quieter, slower tune.
Death
Paul Butterfield died of peritonitis due to drug use and heavy drinking on May 4, 1987 Los Angeles, California. Before then, Butterfield tenor sax player Ruben Riera had taken him to Bellevue Hospital in New York City for emergency surgery for perforated intestine. http://books.google.com/books? id=qYtz7kEHegEC& pg=PA92& dq=%22Paul+Butterfield%22+dead+OR+died+OR+death& cd=4#v=onepage& q=%22Paul%20Butterfield%22%20dead%20OR%20died%20OR%20death& f=false All music guide to the blues: the definitive guide to the blues By Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, Stephen Thomas Erlewine. Hal Leonard Company. p. 92. He died at his home in North Hollywood, California . A month earlier, he was featured on B.B. King & Friends, a filmed concert that also included Albert King , Stevie Ray Vaughan , Etta James , Gladys Knight , Chaka Khan and Eric Clapton . Its subsequent release was dedicated to Butterfield in memoriam.
In 2005, the Paul Butterfield Fund and Society was founded. It petitions for Butterfield's inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame .
2005 - The Butterfield Blues Band - Live - ( Special edition|Limited Edition with additional song|tracks )
Butterfield also played harmonica for:
1968 - Jimi Hendrix - Blues at Midnight
1969 - Muddy Waters - Fathers and sons
1972 - Bonnie Raitt - Give It Up
1975 - Muddy Waters - Woodstock Album
1976 - The Band - The Last Waltz
Sources
Michael Bloomfield - If You Love These Blues: An Oral History Backbeat Books, 1st edition September 2000 - ISBN 978-0879306175 (with CD of uniussed music)
Ken Brooks - The Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper with Paul Butterfield and David Clayton Thomas Agenda Ltd, February 1999, ISBN 1899882901 ISBN 978-1899882908
Al Kooper - ''Backstage Passes: Rock 'N' Roll Life in the Sixties - Stein & Day Pub (1st edition February 1977) ISBN 0812821718 - ISBN 978-0812821710
Al Kooper - '' Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock 'N' Roll Survivor Billboard Books (Updated Edition - September 1998) ISBN 0823082571 ISBN 978-0823082575
Al Kooper - Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards - Hal Leonard Corporation, new edition February 2008, ISBN 0879309229 ISBN 978-0879309220
Ed Ward - Mike Bloomfield|Michael Bloomfield , The rise and fall of an American guitar hero , Cherry Lane Books (1983), ISBN 0895241579 ISBN 978-0895241573
References
ReflistWoodstock Persondata|NAME=Butterfield, Paul |ALTERNATIVE NAMES= |SHORT DESCRIPTION= United States|American blues vocalist and harmonica player |DATE OF BIRTH=17 December 1942 |PLACE OF BIRTH= Hyde Park, Chicago |DATE OF DEATH=4 May 1987 |PLACE OF DEATH= North Hollywood, California DEFAULTSORT:Butterfield, Paul Category:1942 births Category:1987 deaths Category:Chicago blues musicians Category:Harmonica blues musicians Category:Blues rock musicians Category:American blues musicians Category:American blues harmonica players Category:American blues singers Category:Electric blues musicians Category:Blues Hall of Fame inductees Category:Blues revival musicians Category:Musicians from Chicago, Illinois Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:Drug-related deaths in California Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:Elektra Records artists Category:University of Chicago Laboratory Schools alumni
