Spending time with Blind Faith and Ginger Baker’s Air Force was just the thing Winwood needed-especially the time spent with the disciplined Mr. Steve Winwood, on the other hand, had plenty of upside potential but needed to mature so he could rid himself of the expectations heaped on a teenage wonder and figure out how he wanted to apply his ample talent.

He wrote pleasant and catchy little songs in the 60’s and would continue to do so throughout his recording career.

The problem with Dave Mason in the context of Traffic was that he had zero upside potential. Once again, Mason split the scene, and after the patched-together Last Exit, it looked like Traffic was history. Incredibly, Winwood and Capaldi brought him back because they needed material to fill out the second Traffic album, the not-very-cleverly-titled Traffic. Fantasy, leaving his mates short of a full lineup when they hit the road in support of the album. Mason couldn’t even wait long enough to stay for the release of Mr. The collaboration with Dave Mason was starting to look like the rock equivalent of the Richard Burton-Elizabeth Taylor romance, though Liz and Dick’s first marriage lasted a lot longer than any of Mason’s stints with Traffic. The best thing Traffic ever did was to take a break from being Traffic.

Traffic freedom rider bass tone