Personnel: Mike Bloomfield (guitar); Noel Jewkis (tenor saxophone); Snooky Flowers, Gerald Oshita (baritone saxophone); John Wilmeth (trumpet); Mark Naftalin (piano); Ira Kamin (organ); Bob Jones (drums); Dino Andino (congas).
Audio Remixer: Larry Keyes.
Recording information: San Francisco (01/1969-02/1969).
This session from early 1969 featured Nick Gravenites, Mark Naftalin, John Kahn, and Snooky Flowers (among others), with cameos from Taj Mahal and Jesse Ed Davis, but it's clear from the opening notes who the real star is. Over the years, Michael Bloomfield's titanic solos on "Blues on a Westside" have dwarfed the rest of the album in many listeners' memories, but truthfully, his playing just burns across every track. More of Bloomfield's great guitar work from these shows is on Nick Gravenites' My Labors on Columbia. ~ Cary Wolfson
Professional Reviews
Record Collector (magazine) (p.78) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Raven's time team has assembled a hit here, as Bloomfield's guitar burns with a frightening intensity."
