Godfather of British Blues John Mayall in Old Saybrook Thursday

OLD SAYBROOK >> It just seems as if John Mayall has been on the scene forever, doesn’t it?

You can call him what you want, but there is no denying the influence that John Mayall, now 83 — still considered to be the Godfather of British Blues even though he has lived in Los Angeles since 1968 — has had over the years on both sides of the Atlantic.

Mayall, born near Manchester, England, on Nov. 29, 1933, will return to The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center (300 Main St., Old Saybrook) Thursday night. Showtime is 7:30 p.m., with Bill Carter opening. Tickets are $70-$75, available in advance at thekate.org or by calling 877503-1286.

He also has a show coming up Saturday at 8 p.m. at Infinity Hall in Norfolk. Tickets to that show are $54-$69, available in advance at infinityhall.com or by calling 866-666-6306.

In the earliest years of the blues revival, Mayall backed blues greats John Lee Hooker, T-Bone Walker and Sonny Boy Williamson on their first English club tours, although he’s far better known and respected for helping to launch the careers of a host of significant musicians in Great Britain and the United States over the years.

Let’s start with a short list of some of the many musicians who have cycled through his bands, along with the bands they went on to form:

• Eric Clapton (at that point, fresh out of The Yardbirds) — along with Jack Bruce. The two later got together with Ginger Baker and left Mayall to form Cream.

• Peter Green — along with Mick Fleetwood AND John McVie, who went on to form the earliest, bluesiest version of Fleetwood Mac.

• Mick Taylor, later to play guitar for an obscure British band called The Rolling Stones.

• Andy Fraser, later to form Free, best known for its hit single “All Right Now.”

• Jon Mark and John Almond, who went on to form the Mark-Almond Band, along with Don “Sugarcane” Harris and Aynsley Dunbar.

• As Mayall moved to Los Angeles, American guitarist Harvey Mandel, previously (and subsequently) a member of Canned Heat — from which Mayall also plucked bassist Larry Taylor at one point.

• Texas guitarist Buddy Whittington — and in later years, Coco Montoya, Walter Trout and Rocky Athas, among many others.

Meanwhile, the list of artists who played on Mayall’s dizzying array of albums included Otis Rush, Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, Mavis Staples, Mick Taylor, Steve Miller, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, Billy Preston, Steve Cropper, Gary Moore and Jeff Healey, along with thenteen sensations Shannon Curfman and Jonny Lang.

Among those many albums were some classics, including “John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers featuring Eric Clapton” and an equally classic collection of drummerless songs, appropriately titled, “The Turning Point,” which included the all-time Mayall classic original “Room to Move.”

In 2008 Mayall made the decision to permanently retire the Bluesbreakers name, then in 2009 he began a new era of touring with band members Rocky Athas on guitar, Jay Davenport on drums and Greg Rzab on bass. They toured together for over seven years, averaging about 100 shows a year.

In August 2016, Mayall went through another big change when thunderstorms prevented Athas from attending a festival, forcing Mayall, Davenport and Rzab to perform as a trio. Mayall liked the sound they came up with, however, and he made the decision to permanently move to the trio format.

CONTRIBUTED John Mayall