The Gibson Mike Bloomfield Les Paul
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By Chris Swope
I first became aware of Mike Bloomfield via Bob Dylan. Mike served as guitarist for Dylan on the Highway 61 Revisited album and also graced the stage of the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 as Dylan and his band plugged in, turned up, and blew everyone’s mind; sending Folk stalwart Pete Seeger running to his car with ears plugged to cry and moan until Dylan’s set ended. But I digress…………
Mike Bloomfield was already a force of his own before hooking up with Dylan. The Chicago native was one of the first white kids to cross the tracks over to the south side of town. He was also one of the first white players to be welcomed on those very stages by the likes of many of the original Chicago bluesmen. “Discovered” there by the legendary John Hammond, his star rose when he joined the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.
By ’67 Mike debuted his new band, Electric Flag, at the Monterey Pop Festival to rave reviews. Later career highlights included the Super Session LP with fellow Highway 61 organist Al Kooper and featured Steven Stills on one side and Bloomfield on the other. Like many of his generation, the ‘70s brought on health and drug problems. Bloomfield died of a drug overdose in 1981.
In addition to his musical contribution to history, Mike made another giant contribution to guitarists, though most are not aware of it. With regards to the resurgence of interest in the fifties Les Pauls, Mike served as the American equivalent to Eric Clapton. He was the first guy of any mainstream exposure to 1960s “counter culture” to be seen/heard wielding a Les Paul. The guys who bought their Fenders after hearing the Beach Boys… the guys who bought Gretsches and Rickenbackers after seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan… all stood slack-jawed when they heard the tone screaming from Mikes ’59 Les Paul!
In 2009, the 50th Anniversary of the 1959 Les Paul, Gibson released the Mike Bloomfield '59 Les Paul. Though perhaps not as well known as the other 2 namesake LPs of '09, (Billy Gibbons and Jimmy Page), the Bloomfiled LP is one of the coolest I've ever seen and will go toe to toe with the best of them. Hats off to Gibson for delivering such a killer guitar. If you are considering a '59 LP of any sort, I encourage you to both check out these Bloomfields and take a spin on youtube and have a listen to Mike's playing! Both are awesome!
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