Who was/is The Blues Project ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD and more
The Blues Project were named after an Elektra blues collec-tion involving various Village folk, when one of them, Danny Kalb, adopted the name for New York's first native electric blues band formed in 1965. The original line-up comprised : Tommy Flanders, vocals; Steve Katz, guitar, vocals; Danny Kalb, lead guitar; Al Kooper, organ, vocals; Andy Kulberg, bass, flute; and Ray Blumenfeld, drums. Katz had been in the Even Dozen Jug Band, Flanders in Boston's Trolls, Kul-berg was studying music and Blumenfeld just hanging around. Al Kooper joined, to improve his nascent and highly praised organ-playing first heard on Dylan's Blonde On Blonde. The high-energy Project tore the New York scene apart, especially at Bleeker Street's Café A Go Go, venue for their first (live) album in 1966 on Verve. Genu-inely exciting, it represents Flanders' only recorded work with the original band. Kooper and Katz filled the vocal roles on Projections (1966) and Live At The Town Hall (1967). Friction with Kalb led Kooper to split, then Kalb fell ill and disappeared and finally Katz was enticed into Kooper's would-be Blood, Sweat and Tears. Kulberg and Blumenfeld added Richard Greene, violin, Don Kretmar, bass and sax, and John Gregory, guitar and vocals. They cut Planned Obsolescence as Blues Project though they were already metamorphosing into Sea Train. In 1971 Kalb, Blumenfeld and Kretmar came back with Lazarus and Blues Project, the latter plus Tommy Flanders and ex-Fish David Cohen. That version fell apart in April, 1972, and the final chapter so far is the reunion of the originals, minus Flanders, leading to Reunion In Central Park.
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