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
Jesse Williams – Bass & Vocals Jesse prides himself on his musical depth AND breadth!
Recorded on two Grammy Nominated Albums and nine W.C. Handy/Blues Music Award-nominated albums. International touring or appearances playing with:
North Mississippi Allstars, Jimmy Vivino, Bucky Pizzarelli, Susan Tedeschi, Howard Alden, Duke Robillard, Jay McShann, Al Kooper, Jay Geils, John Hammond Jr, Karin Allyson, Harry Allen, Ruth Brown, Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, Johnny A., Maria Muldaur, Johnnie Johnson, Ronnie Earl, Henry Butler, Charles Neville, Julien Kasper, Bruce Katz, W.C. Handy All-Stars
Festivals and Venues include North Sea Jazz, Edmonton Folk, Montreal Jazz, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage, Vancouver Jazz, Byron Bay, Russian River, Boston Globe Jazz and Blues, Preakness, Beantown, Lincoln Center. Beacon Theater, Mountain Stage, Beacon Theater, Lincoln Center. He has appeared on PBS, Sesame St., AMC, National Film Archives, as well as multiple commercial spots. .
Recent projects and current bands include:
North Mississippi Allstars
Sonya Rae Taylor
Seth Rosenbloom
Al Kooper
Jimmy Vivino
Bobby Keyes
Johnny A.
New Black Eagle Jazz Band
Ivan Bodley – Bass, Vocals
Funkboy aka Ivan Bodley is bass player and music director to the stars. He has performed with 53 Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, has appeared in 14 Broadway shows, and has been inducted into the
Blues Hall of Fame. He can currently be seen on tour with Humble Pie.
Funkboy’s debut single “Crab Walk” is available on Color Red Music and features performances by
Crispin Cioe (Uptown Horns), Moses Mo (Mother’s Finest), Kenny Soule (Dag), James Dower (Sam
Moore), and Doug Hinrichs (In the Heights).
His new memoir Am I Famous Yet? Memoir of a Working-Class Rock Star is also out now.
Ivan has been music director for Sam Moore (Sam & Dave), Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, The
Shirelles, The Crystals, The Tokens and has performed with Sting, Elvis Costello, The Temptations,
Solomon Burke, Ben E. King, Percy Sledge, Eddie Floyd, Rufus & Carla Thomas, Bo Diddley, Buster
Poindexter, Uptown Horns, Paul Rodgers, Wynonna Judd, and David Foster.
Notable appearances include Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Broadway shows: Rock of Ages, Spider-
Man, Hedwig & the Angry Inch, SpongeBob, Kinky Boots, Ain’t Too Proud, Once on This Island, Fun
Home, and The Prom. Performed at the Obama Inaugural Ball featured in the Barry Levinson
documentary Poliwood, on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,
Today, Emeril Live, Imus in the Morning, Charlie Rose, Live with Regis & Kelly, New Orleans Jazz &
Heritage Festival, Istanbul and Israel State Symphony Orchestras.
A magna cum laude graduate of Berklee College of Music, he has traveled to 31 countries and played to
audiences of up to 82,000 in settings from duos to 150-member symphony orchestras.
Originally from Chattanooga, TN, Ivan has resided in: New Orleans, Los Angeles, London, Boston, and
is now based in New York City. He has a BA in Psychology from Tulane University, where he was
Musical Director of college radio station WTUL, New Orleans. He was also a publicist with Epic
Records/Sony Music.
More information is available at http://www.funkboy.net.
Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley uses Fender, Moxy, Warrior, and Gretsch basses, Hartke amplification, DR
strings, PRA Audio wireless, and Tech 21, Digitech and Line 6 signal processors. Ivan eats only Little
Debbie snack cakes.
Mark Newman – Guitar, Mandolin and Vocals
Growing up in New York, Mark Newman’s musical journey has taken him around the world several times as both sideman and singer/songwriter. This ace stringman (guitar, lap steel, mandolin, dobro) and accomplished songwriter is the type of singer whose warm and expressive voice sounds like an old friend. He put it all together on 2006’s “Must Be A Pony” (Danal Music, LLC). In 2010 he took a quantum leap forward with the stunning “Walls Of Jericho” (Danal Music. LLC) and has just released, “Brussels”( Danal Music. LLC), a live solo EP. “Empirical Truth”, his latest CD was released in June, 2018 (Danal Music, LLC, by WBA Records). It won best CD from the Long Island Blues Society. Sharing the stage with such notables as soul legend Sam Moore (Sam & Dave), John Oates(Hall and Oates), Jim McCarty (Yardbirds, Renaissance),the late Willy DeVille (Mink DeVille), Bobby Whitlock (Derek and the Dominos) and Sam The Sham, has given Newman the perspective to craft an individualistic sound framed in straight-from-the-hip rock’n’roll, simmering with the subtle flavors of blues, R’n’B, funk, folk and soul.
Chris Bergson – Guitar and Vocals
Chris is an internationally acclaimed American born guitarist, singer, and songwriter. “Chris Bergson plays the kind of guitar you can build a house on – it’s B.B. meets Steve Cropper meets John Scofield.” (ROLL Magazine) Hailed as “the New York street poet with a blues soul” (MOJO) and “one of the most inventive songwriters in modern blues music,” (All Music Guide) Bergson is best known as the leader of the Chris Bergson Band. Elmore Magazine calls the Chris Bergson Band “one of the most talented bands playing today,” whose soulful blend of American Roots music encompasses “blazing rock to funk to soul to Delta blues and all that’s in between.” Bergson is also an accomplished sideman who has performed with luminaries across a wide range of genres including Norah Jones, Levon Helm, Hubert Sumlin, Bernard Purdie, Annie Ross, Al Foster, and Matt Wilson. The Chris Bergson Band’s 2007 album Fall Changes, recorded at Levon Helm’s studio in Woodstock, New York, was named MOJO Magazine’s Number One Blues Album of the Year in 2008. Bergson was inducted into the New York Blues Hall of Fame as a Master Blues Artist in 2015. Bergson is also an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music where he teaches guitar and songwriting.
www.chrisbergson.com
https://college.berklee.edu/faculty/chris-bergson
Ken Clark • Keyboards, Harmonica, Accordian, EWI 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 