The Paul Butterfield Blues Band was formed by Paul Butterfield. He brought in keyboardist Mark Naftalin and guitarist Elvin Bishop, both of whom he met as students at the University of Chicago. Guitarist Mike Bloomfield, who he met at the clubs on the South Side of Chicago was the next to join the band. By the first album, the group’s line-up was completed with the addition of bassist Jerome Arnold and drummer Sam Lay.
Butterfield’s band played numerous gigs in and around Chicago before touring nationally. They recorded their debut album, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, on the Elektra label in 1965. Being racially mixed, the band appealed to both black and white audiences. The Butterfield Blues Band brought Blues to the attention of white audiences just as the original Dixieland Jazz Band brought Jazz to white audiences decades before.
Paul Butterfield was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois where he was constantly exposed to the Blues. As a child he sang in the local Catholic choir, but his true musical interest was with the Blues. His early influences were Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter Jacobs, Muddy Waters, Louis Myers, Junior Wells and Sonny Boy Williamson. He taught himself to play the harmonica by the age of sixteen and later, frequently sat in with black Blues musicians such as Otis Rush and Magic Sam in Chicago’s South Side Clubs. Butterfield regularly sat-in with Muddy Waters at local gigs in Chicago in 1958, which is significant because of the racial overtones of the period. Butterfield was a white musician playing music from the black culture in black clubs with black musicians. Through his virtuoso harmonica playing he was able to gain acceptance into this Blues culture, thus making him one of the first white Blues stars.
After the band broke-up in 1972, Paul Butterfield remained active in the music business with performances on several television specials. Blues historian and author Robert Shelton called him ‘one of the best white American Blues players.’
Mike Bloomfield was one of the first great Blues-Rock guitarists. As with Butterfield, he grew-up in Chicago hearing professional Bluesmen practicing their trade on the South Side. In the 60’s, he would sit in with Blues musicians at South Side clubs where he gained respect as a Blues guitarist among black Blues musicians.
After the release of the Butterfield album, his music began to influence both Rock and Blues guitarist. Bloomfield’s style of Blues-influenced rock paved the way for other guitarists, such as Eric Clapton and Johnny Winter. Bloomfield left the band in 1967 to form his own band. He died in 1981.
Elvin Bishop was raised in Oklahoma where he listened to the Blues on radio and records. From these recordings, he taught himself to play Blues. While in Chicago, he often sat in with Bluesmen such as Otis Rush and Buddy Guy. He joined the Butterfield band but did not receive acclaim until the departure of Bloomfield in 1967.
Bishop left the group in 1968 to follow a solo career. In 1975 he recorded ‘Fooled Around and Fell in Love’ from his Struttin’ My Stuff album, which reached number three on the pop charts. In recent years, Bishop signed with Alligator Records releasing Big Fun with Dr. John in 1988 and Don’t Let the Bossman Get You Down! in 1991.
Mark Naftalin grew up in Minneapolis but moved to Chicago in 1961. Naftalin, an accomplished pianist, recorded four albums with the group before leaving the band and moving to San Francisco in 1968. In San Francisco, Mark stayed active in the Blues community, often performing with former band member Mike Bloomfield. Naftalin also had a radio show titled ‘Mark Naftalin’s Blue Monday Party,’ which ran for five years starting in 1979. Mark has also helped contemporary Blues artists by starting the annual Marin County Blues Festival in 1981 and forming Winner Records in 1988. Today he stays active as a performer in the Bay Area.
The only southerner in the band, Sam Lay was brought up by the music of the church. He often heard double licks on the tambourine and a plethora of rhythmic timbers. From this humble beginning, he formulated his own unique style of drumming and began to perform publicly at the age of fourteen. He moved to Chicago and began to perform with Little Walter Jacob and Howlin’ Wolf. After an extended six-year engagement with Howlin’ Wolf, Sam joined the Paul Butterfield Band. As black members of a predominantly white group, Lay and bassist Jerome Arnold helped the group cross racial boundaries during the turbulent 1960s. Sam Lay has been exalted as the ‘best shuffle Blues drummer in the country’ by his peers and is known for his double shuffle, which he attributes to church music.
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band is remembered as defining electric Chicago Blues in mid-60s rock circles. Their place in music history is secured by inspiring the creation of the American Blues-Rock movement of the late 60s.
In the summer following the release of their critically acclaimed debut album, the band increased their revolutionary status by backing up Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival. They electrified Bob to the disappointment of the audience who wanted to hear a traditional acoustic set from Dylan. They also played their own electric set initiating a movement to Blues-Rock. This move upset purists of the genre like ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax. As the band participated with the evolution of Dylan’s sound, they also would continually change their own music. Their second album, ‘East-West’ showed the influence of Jazz and Indian Ragas on their music. Their third album moved even closer to Rhythm & Blues and Jazz with the addition of a horn section. The next two albums received little acclaim but the band did perform at Woodstock in 1969. They were even the inspiration for the Blues Brothers. Born in Chicago: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, which features half a dozen tracks from the Butterfield debut, will be released on Elektra Records later this fall.
— (Blues Foundation press release, 1997.)