The Blues Project

In 1964, Elektra Records produced a compilation album of various artists entitled, The Blues Project, which featured several white musicians from the Greenwich Village area who played acoustic blues music in the style of black musicians. One of the featured artists on the album was a young guitarist named Danny Kalb, who was paid $75 for his two songs. Not long after the album's release, however, Kalb gave up his acoustic guitar for an electric one. The Beatles' arrival in the United States earlier in the year muted the folk and acoustic blues movement that had swept the US in the early 1960s. Kalb formed the Danny Kalb Quartet in early 1965, with rhythm guitarist Artie Traum, Andy Kulberg on bass and drummer Roy Blumenfeld. When Traum went to Europe during the summer, guitarist Steve Katz (like Kalb, a former pupil of guitarist Dave Van Ronk) joined as first a temporary replacement and then a permanent member. Later in 1965, the group added singer Tommy Flanders and changed its name to the Blues Project, as an allusion to Kalb's first foray on record. Late in the year, the band auditioned for Columbia Records. During the session for the auditions, producer Tom Wilson hired session musician Al Kooper, who had worked with him on Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone", to provide piano and organ. was invited to join the group. When Columbia declined to sign the band, Wilson, who by late 1965 had moved to MGM Records, signed the Blues Project to MGM's Verve/Folkways subsidiary. The band began recording their first album live at Greenwich Village's Cafe Au Go Go in late November 1965. A fourth album, 1968's Planned Obsolescence, featured only Blumenfeld and Kulberg from the original lineup, but was released under the Blues Project name at Verve's insistence. Future recordings by this lineup were released under a new band name, Seatrain. before doing several solo albums including one with Shuggie Otis. Katz, on the other hand, remained with the band into the 1970s. The Blues Project, with a modified line-up, reformed briefly in the early 1970s, releasing three further albums: 1971's Lazarus, 1972's Blues Project, and 1973's The Original Blues Project Reunion In Central Park (which featured Kooper but not Flanders). ==Albums discography==

Studio & live albums Compilations • Tommy Flanders, Danny Kalb, Steve Katz, Al Kooper, Andy Kulberg, Roy Blumenfeld of the Blues Project (Verve, 1969) • The Best of the Blues Project (Verve, 1969) • The Blues Project (MGM, 1970) • Back Door Man (Capitol, 1987) • The Best of the Blues Project (Rhino, 1989) • The Blues Project Anthology (Polydor, 1997) ==Members==

Best-known lineup • Tommy Flanders – vocals (born circa 1944) (1965–1966, 1972) • Danny Kalb – guitar (September 9, 1942, Brooklyn, New York – November 19, 2022) (1965–1967, 1969–2022; his death) • Steve Katz – guitar, harmonica, vocals (born May 9, 1945, New York City) (1965–1967, 1973–present) • Al Kooper – keyboards, vocals (born February 5, 1944, Brooklyn, New York) (1965–1967, 1973) • Andy Kulberg – bass guitar, flute (April 30, 1944, Buffalo, New York – January 28, 2002, California) (1965–1967, 1973–2002; his death) • Roy Blumenfeld – drums (born May 11, 1944, Bronx, New York) (1965–1967, 1969–present) Later members • John McDuffy – keyboards, vocals (1967–1968) • John Gregory – guitar (1968–?) • Don Kretmar – bass, saxophone (1969–1973) • David Cohen – keyboards (born August 4, 1942, Brooklyn, New York) (1972) • Bill Lussenden – guitar (1972–1973) • Eric Pearson – keyboards (1972) • David Greene – violin (1968) 2012–present • Steve Katz – guitar, harmonica, vocals (born May 9, 1945, New York City) (1965–1967, 1973–present) • Roy Blumenfeld – drums (born May 11, 1944, Bronx, New York) (1965–1967, 1969–present) • Joe Bouchard – bass • John Kruth – mandolin, flute, vocals • Kenny Margolis – keyboards • Scott Petito – bass ==References==