East-West
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, 1966, from East-West. Solo by Mike Bloomfield.
A 13-minute raga-blues jam.
East-West is a sprawling instrumental where Mike Bloomfield blends Chicago blues with modal ideas drawn from Indian raga. Over a droning, one-chord groove, his solo builds slowly, exploring a scale rather than following chord changes, and gradually rises in intensity. Elvin Bishop also takes a solo, providing a contrast with his more down-home style. The piece was a key step toward the long improvisations of late-1960s psychedelic rock, showing that electric guitar could sustain long, exploratory solos. Bloomfield's tone is warm and biting, with a vocal quality that keeps the long lines engaging. Listen for how he uses repetition and slight variation to build tension over the drone, then releases it with a burst of fast runs.
East-West by The Paul Butterfield Blues Band is ranked #225 in our consensus of 79 guitar-solo lists. The solo is played by Mike Bloomfield and the song was released in 1966. It appears on 2 lists, placing as high as #69 (uDiscover Music).
In our lists
- One and Only — #40
- The 25 Greatest Blues Guitar Solos — #18
- The 25 Greatest Psychedelic Guitar Solos — #13
- Rolling Stone vs. Everyone — #17
- The Best Mike Bloomfield Guitar Solos — #1
Sources
- uDiscover Music: The Best Guitar Solos Of All Time: 108 Amazing Moments — #69
- Rolling Stone: The 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time — #90
Who played the guitar solo on East-West?
Mike Bloomfield played the solo on The Paul Butterfield Blues Band's East-West (1966).
What guitar was used on the East-West solo?
A gibson les paul, according to widely reported accounts.
Where does East-West rank among the greatest guitar solos?
#225 in the GreatestSolos consensus of 79 published lists; it appears on 2 of them.