The Rock Pile also brought in some of the newer Blues acts that were hot at the time.
Paul Butterfield and his various ensembles recorded some of the best Chicago Blues albums ever made, and his lineup included many stellar soloists. The sax player in this photo is a young David Sanborn.
I was never fond of horn bands such as the pop group 'Chicago', but The Paul Butterfield Blues Band was in a class of their own,
The horns created a background texture instead of honking leads. Paul's distinctive vocals and harmonica were the soloists. The song 'Driftin and Driftin' is a great example of Butterfield's unique blend of sonic textures. Butterfield and his band would change lineups over the years, but his integrity of expanding The Blues never wavered.
Paul Butterfield was the best of a whole new generation of young white Blues artists who were dedicated to the evolution of a unique genre, the sound of the Chicago Blues.
The older players were still around, but Butterfield and his band were the cutting edge of the new Blues movement.
One can see from the different groups that most of the older black Blues players performed dressed in a jacket and tie. They looked very formal and distinguished. In my photos, only Howlin' Wolf is performing in a casual shirt. If you look at the dress attire of the whole Butterfield Band and compare it to the dress code of the other artists, the look is very different. I can only speculate that the older players were brought up in the black Chicago Blues clubs where decorum was very important. It was like going to church.