Blowing the Blues: Fifty Years Playing the British Blues

by Dick Heckstall-Smith, Pete Grant

This is the autobiography of a master musician, the King of British blues saxophone. In the 60s and 70s Dick was the cornerstone of such seminal R&B bands as Alexis Korner s Blues Incorporated, the Graham Bond Organisation, John Mayall s Bluesbreakers and Colosseum, paving the way for R&B-influenced rock groups like Fleetwood Mac, the Yardbirds, the Animals and the Rolling Stones. With his pithy humour, Dick describes the revolutionary founding years of British R&B - his anecdotes about Ginger Baker, Alexis Korner, Charlie Watts and the unforgettable Graham Bond alone are worth the price. An extraordinarily entertaining book, Dick s unrelentingly honest account of his musical career also reflects on what it takes to be a full time musician, and grapples with the racism and drug abuse endemic in the music industry. In the back of the book is a CD featuring 25 minutes of previously unreleased tracks by Dick Heckstall-Smith, illustrating the sheer musical diversity of his work.

Genres: Music

255 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2004

Reviews

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dick Heckstall-Smith arrived at an Alexis Koerner Band rehearsal and the drummer introduced himself: "I'm Watts, Charlie Watts. I'm not very good, I'm afraid". And then there's the Ginger Baker stories, this is good hell yeah.

DHS has some great anecdotes about the glory days of the blues & jazz boom in England, but at times he gets bogged down in a lot of philosophizing, even devoting an entire chapter explaining why Colosseum flamed out. Actually, once Colosseum flamed out so did most of the book.