Steve Katz • Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals
Guitarist/singer/songwriter/storyteller Steve Katz has played on an enviable string of recordings during the 1960s and ’70s in acoustic folk, jazz, blues, R&B, hard rock, and almost every other popular genre that’s come along in America since the start of the 1960s.
Katz was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1945 and grew up in the upstate city of Schenectady. Already a gifted musician in his early teens, he was good enough to get hired for a local television program called Teenage Barn, doing his versions of pop hits of the late ’50s.
As he got older, Steve was drawn to folk music and blues. He studied traditional American guitar styles with Dave Van Ronk and the Rev. Gary Davis. Eventually, he became part of a circle of similarly minded folk and blues enthusiasts who formed the Even Dozen Jug Band, which also included John Sebastian, Maria Muldaur, David Grisman, and Stefan Grossman.
After moving to Greenwich Village, Steve Katz became an established part of the Village music scene, eventually joining The Blues Project, New York City’s first major home-grown contribution to blues- rock. The Blues Project had an impact on music that far exceeded their relatively modest record sales. Katz was part of the Blues Project lineup that played the Monterey Pop Festival.
Later that same year, with Blues Project bandmate, Al Kooper, Katz founded the original Blood Sweat & Tears. He recorded five albums with the band. Throughout the end of the 1960s and early 70s, Katz performed at countless historic venues including the Fillmore East, and several major rock festivals including Woodstock. Among a host of other awards, the band won three Grammies, including one for Album of the Year. Steve’s influence on BS&T resulted in several chart topping hits and millions of record sales worldwide. Steve left BS&T to pursue the craft of record production. One of his first productions was the Lou Reed classic, Rock’nRoll Animal. He went on to work with Reed on two more albums before returning to his musician roots in the country- rock band, American Flyer, whose first album was produced by the Beatles’ George Martin.
In 2015, wrote his memoirs, Blood, Sweat, and My Rock ‘n’ Roll Years: Is Steve Katz a Rock Star?, published by Lyons Press. This year, Steve recorded his first solo album, an acoustic career retrospective called The Juggle. Steve Katz has been performing and doing book talks all across the country to rave reviews and rapt audiences.
www.stevekatzmusic.wordpress.com
Roy Blumenfeld • Drums, Vocals
Roy Blumenfeld had a ringside seat from his drum kit on some of the most exciting musical events in New York City during the mid-’60s. Born in the Bronx in 1944, he reached his teens as the first wave of American rock & roll was being created. He took up the drums and found himself drawn to blues, R&B, and jazz. Blumenfeld linked up with bassist Andy Kulberg through work with Al Kooper on the latter’s early solo recordings for the Elektra Records sampler What’s Shakin’. In 1965, he joined guitarist Danny Kalb in the latter’s new band, which, with the addition of Kooper to the lineup, became the Blues Project. Blumenfeld was one of the longest serving members of the renowned group, whose mixture of R&B, blues, jazz, folk, and rock & roll influences made them a major cult band of the ’60s, and a huge influences on generations of other musicians. He was there past its end: with Kulberg, he formed Seatrain out of the ruins of the Blues Project in 1968. He played on folk singer Mark Spoelstra’s self-titled album for Columbia Records in 1969, and also on the subsequent Blues Project reunions. Blumenfeld worked with Nick Gravenites in the ’70s and Robert Hunter at various times in the ’80s and ’90s, but his most visible gig was with Kooper on the live shows that became Soul of a Man.
Back in the mythic Summer of Love, 1967 — if you were in New York City, the place to be was MacDougal Street. The club to be in was the Cafe Au Go Go, pedigreed in hipness by Lenny Bruce’s famous profanity bust there by the NYPD. The Au Go Go’s star band was the Blues Project, a group on the cutting edge of improvisational, classical, blues and jazz. Danny Kalb was the Project’s lead guitarist and vocalist; Al Kooper was the keyboardist and vocalist; Steve Katz was its guitarist and vocalist; There was Andy Kulberg on bass and flute. And the drummer — the heartbeat — for the group was Roy Blumenfeld.
https://www.facebook.com/roy.blumenfeld.9
Scott Petito • Bass, Vocals
Scott Petito is an award winning composer, producer and engineer. He is a gifted bassist and multi-instrumentalist who has performed on hundreds of recordings in many musical styles. Scott has become particularly well known for his work in the folk and jazz genres, working with such musicians as; James Taylor, Pete Seeger, The Band, Jack DeJohnette, Don Byron and Dave Brubeck.
Scott studied composition and arranging at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He has scored films for the BBC, Robert Redford and PBS. His productions have charted in Billboard Magazine and have received gold record honors. Scott composed the theme song for the NPR program “With Good Reason”. He is a member of the seminal political/poetic rock group The Fugs. For many years he toured and recorded with partner, Leslie Ritter. During this period of time, their recordings received worldwide acclaim. Scott’s ambient solo bass record, “Sbass Music” debuted at the top of the NAV Charts and has been played on over 450 radio stations in the US and abroad.
“…Petito’s been quietly amassing an awesome body of fine work, practically creating his own sub-genre of intelligent adult music…”
– The Woodstock Times
http://www.scottpetitoproductions.com
Chris Morrison • Lead Guitar, Vocals
Hi. I’m Chris Morrison, a guitarist and vocalist based in CT.
From my musical beginnings I’ve always been influenced by classic blues based rock from the 60’s/70’s and the earlier blues that influenced it. I play by my instincts, play what’s right for the song, and play as one part of a cohesive whole.
Some more notable groups I have played with through the years are Deja Blue Blues Band, Colossus, a rock power trio, and Moppin’ Sauce, a 10 pc funk/soul review. For the past many years I’ve been guitarist for the Clark Eno Orchestra, playing weddings and parties in the CT/NY/Mass area.
Most recently, I was fortunate to tour the US playing lead guitar with the 2016 winner of NBC’s “The Voice” Sawyer Fredericks, and contributed some slide guitar on a track off his debut album.
killingnoise@gmail.com
https://fb.me/ChrisMorrisonGuitar
Some of the more notable venues I’ve had the opportunity to perform at include
⦁ Levon Helm Studios, Woodstock, NY
⦁ The Troubador, Los Angeles, CA
⦁ Infinity Hall, Norfolk, CT
⦁ House of Blues, San Diego, CA
⦁ Daryl’s House, Pawling, NY
⦁ The Birchmere, Alexandria, VA
⦁ Triple Door Theater, Seattle, WA
⦁ Soiled Dove Underground, Denver, CO
⦁ Rollins Studio Theater, Austin, TX
⦁ Towne Crier Cafe, Beacon, NY
⦁ Ives Center, Danbury, CT
⦁ Toad’s Place, New Haven, CT
⦁ Red Room Sound Studio, Torrington, CT
https://www.facebook.com/ChrisMorrisonGuitar
Ken Clark • Keyboards and Vocals
Not to be confused with country/bluegrass artist Ken Clark or the late bebop drummer Kenny Clarke, the Ken Clark profiled in this bio is a jazz-oriented organist who is also comfortable playing R&B, funk, and blues. The Boston resident (who plays electric keyboards and acoustic piano as secondary instruments) isn’t the type of organist who is content to emulate Jimmy Smith’s seminal ’50s and ’60s recordings — Smith is an influence on Clark, but so are Larry Young, John Medeski (of Medeski, Martin & Wood fame), and Charles Earland. Clark’s playing sometimes brings to mind German organist Barbara Dennerlein, although she isn’t necessarily an influence — rather, it’s probably a case of Dennerlein and Clark having mutual influences.
Eternal FunkClark isn’t a native Bostonian; he was born in New York City in the late ’60s and grew up in the Big Apple. But in the mid-’80s, he moved to Boston to study jazz with pianist Charlie Banacos and guitarist Garrison Fewell and attend the prestigious Berklee School of Music. Instead of returning to New York after studying with those artists and attending Berklee, Clark opted to remain in Boston and became a fixture on the city’s music scene. In 1992, he formed the Ken Clark Organ Trio, employing Mike Mele (whom he knew from Berklee) on guitar — and 11 years later, the group was still together. Clark’s group has used different drummers over the years; in 2003, Steve Chaggaris (another Berklee alumni) was playing drums for Clark’s trio. As a sideman, Clark has backed various female vocalists, including Fatwall Jack and swing/jump blues artist Michelle Willson. Clark’s albums as a leader include The Ken Clark Organ Trio on Aspire Records and Eternal Funk, which the Severn label released in 2003.
THE BLUES PROJECT 