Mike Bloomfield was an American guitarist and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who knew and played with many of Chicago's blues legends before achieving his own fame popularising blues music in the mid-1960s. Notably, he played a significant role in helping to launch the “electric” Bob Dylan, playing on most of the Highway 61 Revisited album and performing with Dylan at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. He was ranked number 22 on Rolling Stone's list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" in 2003 and number 42 by the same magazine in 2011. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2012 and, as a member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015. Don't Say That I Ain't Your Man: Essential Blues, 1964–1969 is an anthology that includes five songs from Bloomfield's original 1964 Columbia sessions produced by John Hammond. The remaining ten tracks move from his contributions to the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Electric Flag, to his collaborations with Al Kooper, as well as some late-60s solo material.
Bloomfield died of a drugs overdose in 1981. The exact circumstances of his death are not clear but his influence among contemporary guitarists continues to be widely felt, primarily in the techniques of vibrato, natural sustain, and economy of notes.
Tracks I've Got You In The Palm Of My Hand, Last Night, Feel So Good, Goin' Down Slow, I've Got My Mojo Working, Born In Chicago (With Butterfield Blues Band), Work Song (With Butterfield Blues Band), Killing Floor, Albert's Shuffle, Stop, Mary Ann, Don't Throw Your Love On Me So Strong, Don't Think About It Baby, It Takes Time (With Nick Gravenites), Carmelita Skiffle