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John Mayall was a lightning rod for the blues who changed the course of British music

He may not have had the star quality of those he inspired, from Eric Clapton to the Rolling Stones, but the late musician’s skill and passion were transformational

Mayall, who has died aged 90, was one of the key progenitors of the British blues movement, a reliable and generous guide to a new generation whose members were devoted to learning the music that had emerged from the juke joints of the Mississippi Delta and the clubs of Chicago’s South Side. While they were with Mayall, they became the young gods of the club scene: a new generation of note-bending guitar heroes, beautiful long-haired boys whose skills had been attained through long hours of bedroom practice and were now delivered to audiences mesmerised by their virtuosity and the intensity of their demeanour. But as a blues singer, seated at his keyboards, he had nothing of the visual appeal of younger men then following the same path, including Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart, the Animals’ Eric Burdon or the Yardbirds’ Keith Relf, who were encumbered by nothing more than a harmonica.

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