Al Kooper & Mike Bloomfield - Super Session (1968)

Dan:

I first heard guitarist Mike Bloomfield on the Paul Butterfield Blues Band's magnum opus, East-West (1966). It was recommended by my primary jazz resource, Downbeat, and kindled my interest in electric bluesmen like B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and Buddy Guy. East-West was a classic due largely to two long instrumental tracks: the title tune and Nat Adderley's "Work Song." Both featured Bloomfield's amazing guitar work. 

I considered it essential to acquire Super Session, which promised more extended jams by Bloomfield. I wasn't entirely sure who Al Kooper was, other than the leader of a band called The Blues Project. Stephen Stills was a member of Buffalo Springfield, and I knew their hit single "For What It's Worth," but David Crosby, Stills and Graham Nash were yet to form as a group. That was okay because I only wanted to hear more Bloomfield.

As hoped for, there's plenty of blues jamming on Super Session. Right out of the gate we get "Albert's Shuffle," co-written by Kooper and Bloomfield. It's almost 7 minutes long and exceeds any expectations I might have had. Kooper plays organ, and Barry Goldberg from The Electric Flag is credited with electric piano, although he's not featured. Side 1 continues with more long instrumentals with the exception of Kooper's lone vocal on Curtis Mayfield's "Man's Temptation." 

Side 2 changes the line up to exclude Bloomfield and include Stills. It includes songs by Bob Dylan, Donovan, and Willie Cobb. Although it is disappointing to lose Bloomfield, it's still a strong group. Bloomfield was known for his chemical dependency, dying from a drug overdose in 1981. Failing to complete an album was not uncommon in the days when drugs were rampant. Bloomfield is also missing on Side 3 of The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper (1968), giving way to guests Elvin Bishop (from the Butterfield Blues Band) and Carlos Santana. 

Some tracks on Super Session are augmented by a horn section. As Kooper explains on the sleeve notes: "The music on this record was performed spontaneously by the personel (sic) as listed above. The horns were added later as an afterthought." Normally, I cringe at overdubbing but in this case it works superbly. 

Steve:

This was never an album I latched onto specifically, though I learned about Mike Bloomfield early in life via the Butterfield Blues Band's East-West album. On one occasion, Dan, I and my friend Abram were exploring "great guitar solos" and playing each other examples we knew. I remember that I offered "Free Bird" as one of my examples, but the most memorable one was offered by Dan: Mike Bloomfield's solo on the track "East-West". This 13-minute instrumental begins with a couple minutes of decent but workmanlike solos by Elvin Bishop and Paul Butterfield, and Butterfield's builds to a climax that introduces Bloomfield, who immediately produces a "holy shit!" effect (try it for your friends and watch the hair on their arms stand up) and proceeds to dazzle for most of the remainder of the track. [Dan's Comment: the other entries in my "great guitar solos" competition were Eric Clapton on "Crossroads" (Wheels of Fire) and Steve Hackett on "Firth of Fifth (Selling England by the Pound).]

Years later, I became a huge fan of Al Kooper, and find him eminently dependable as a producer/arranger of impeccable taste, particularly on his 1970s albums recorded under his own name. None of these albums sold many copies, but they were all made possible by the fact that Super Session was such a huge success. Kooper has always been great at choosing interesting outside material and arranging it in a way that is respectful of the original but always adds something new. He's not a particularly gifted vocalist, but somehow his performances always capture just the right mood.  

To illustrate his expert touch on recordings he produced, I read in the liner notes of the expanded reissue of Super Session that the horn overdubs, natural though they sound, were put in there largely to help cover up various dropouts and sonic imperfections in the original recordings. Kooper, amused at fans' longtime wish to hear the songs without the overdubs, offered a couple of them as bonus tracks on the CD. Honestly, the non-horn versions sound pretty clean to me -- but that just goes to show how sensitive an ear Kooper had/has. If I were making an album, he's one of the people I would want in the producer's seat. I recently read his memoir, Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards. If the sardonic point of view inherent in that title appeals to you, I think you owe it to yourself to give it a read.