The original Blues Project was the stuff of legends. Featuring an eclectic mix of New York City players drawn together by a desire to do something that brought together their diverse interests, the band created a well-regarded body of work, made their mark on pop culture and seemingly faded away. But the story never really ended. Led by founding member Roy Blumenfeld, the Blues Project comes to Club Fox on Aug. 27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1965, Danny Kalb and Blumenfeld had been studying guitar with Dave Van Ronk, the celebrated \u201cmayor of McDougal Street\u201d in Greenwich Village. Kalb had founded a group that included bassist Andy Kulberg and Blumenfeld on drums. In short order, that group evolved into the Blues Project, featuring those three plus guitarist Steve Katz and vocalist Tommy Flanders. Producer Tom Wilson introduced the band to keyboardist Al Kooper, newly famous thanks to his organ work on Bob Dylan\u2019s \u201cLike a Rolling Stone.\u201d Kooper soon joined the group, and the Blues Project signed to Verve\/Folkways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dubbed \u201cthe Jewish Beatles\u201d by a local music critic, the band drew in part from the sum of its influences. Blumenfeld says that Kooper\u2019s interest were pop and soul; Kulberg liked fingerpick-style guitar and blues. \u201cSteve was into folk music and ballads,\u201d Blumenfeld says. Kalb was a serious Muddy Waters fan. For his part, Blumenfeld was influenced both by African rhythms and Booker T & the MG\u2019s. \u201cAnd Tommy Flanders fashioned himself as a Mick Jagger kind of lead singer,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd he pulled it off.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That mix gave the Blues Project a unique sound. \u201cThose elements would be brought to all the tunes that we would play,\u201d says Blumenfeld. The band\u2019s first album, 1966\u2019s Live at the Cafe Au Go Go<\/em>, was a solid start, featuring mostly blues covers and standards. Flanders left the group shortly after its release. But the Blues Project\u2019s second album\u2014the critically acclaimed Projections<\/em>, released later that same year\u2014featured two songs written by Kooper and two more arranged by him. Everyone contributed: \u201cFlute Thing\u201d showcased Kulberg\u2019s woodwind skills, and featured a Blumenfeld drum solo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet by early 1967, Kooper would leave the group to form Blood, Sweat & Tears, so Live at Town Hall<\/em> was pieced together from previously released singles and live recordings. One of those singles was \u201cNo Time Like the Right Time.\u201d While it performed modestly on its original release, the track achieved immortality a few years later when the Lenny Kaye\u2013curated Nuggets double LP included it among other garage rock classics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While never a conventional pop group, the Blues Project nonetheless had a few brushes with pop culture beyond \u201cNo Time Like the Right Time.\u201d In 1966, Wilson had hired the group for a one-off session, recording songs to cash in on the then-hot Batman<\/em> craze. Released with the pseudonymous credit of The Sensational Guitars of Dan & Dale, Batman & Robin<\/em> remains a fascinating curio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kooper hadn\u2019t left the band yet, but was unavailable for the day\u2019s session. So Wilson brought in a session keyboardist whom he had produced previously. Herman Blount\u2014better known to the jazz world as Sun Ra\u2014played organ on the tracks. Asked about the session today, Blumenfeld shrugs. \u201cI remember playing a very basic, rock \u2019n\u2019 roll kind of part,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I don\u2019t remember much about meeting Sun Ra.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He does, however, have vivid memories of the Blues Project\u2019s date at the landmark Monterey Pop Festival. Kooper was out of the group by that point, but he was one of the festival\u2019s emcees. Blumenfeld says that Kooper convinced event organizer Lou Adler to add his old group to the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cComing to California was so different from the Lower East Side of New York,\u201d he says, likening the experience to the 1951 science fiction classic When Worlds Collide<\/em>. At the time, Blumenfeld felt that the concert took place in a huge stadium-type venue. \u201cI\u2019ve been back, 20 years later,\u201d he says with a chuckle. \u201cIt\u2019s not that big.\u201d He holds fond memories of chatting with Cass Elliot, Grace Slick and Steve Miller Band drummer Tim Davis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The original group folded shortly after Monterey, with some members regrouping as Seatrain. The Blues Project mounted a few reunions in the years to follow, releasing some worthwhile if modestly selling albums. But the group never really went away. In the 21st century, a lineup featuring Kalb, Katz and Blumenfeld toured. The band released a studio set, Evolution<\/em>, in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That record featured Katz, who left soon thereafter. \u201cHe\u2019s busy with his wife\u2019s ceramic business now,\u201d Blumenfeld says. Today the drummer\u2014who relocated to California many years ago\u2014is the leader (and sole founding member in the current lineup) of the Blues Project. The group features a coterie of top Bay Area players: Blumenfeld, guitarist David Aguilar, Ken Clark on keys and woodwinds, guitarist\/mandolinist Mark Newman and bassist Tim Eschliman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Blumenfeld says that the stylistic variety that has been a Blues Project core value remains central to the current configuration. He cites various influences including zydeco, worldbeat and Americana. All of those textures find their way into the band\u2019s music, and coexist seamlessly in a live set that still includes \u201cFlute Thing\u201d and Kooper\u2019s \u201cI Can\u2019t Keep from Crying.\u201d The current band\u2014playing those tunes plus 11 others\u2014can be heard on Live 2025<\/em>, set for release Aug. 22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Roy Blumenfeld recently celebrated his 81st<\/sup> birthday. Asked what keeps the Blues Project interesting for him 60 years after its inception, he credits the quality of the players and the chemistry among them. Onstage, the band serves up subtlety and power in equal measure. \u201cThere\u2019s frenetic jamming, too,\u201d he emphasizes. \u201cFor an 81-year-old guy with drumsticks to beat his way through that\u2014while singing, too\u2014is pretty great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Blues Project plays at 6pm on Aug 27 at Club Fox in Redwood City. Tickets: $13.38 on eventbrite.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The original Blues Project was the stuff of legends. Led by founding member Roy Blumenfeld, the band comes to Club Fox on Aug. 27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14789,"featured_media":20183623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[34,1490],"tags":[20409,2779,20408],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n