The ‘Evolution’ of the Blues Project: Steve Katz on the Blues-Rock Band’s New Album
When the original Blues Project formed in 1965 in New York’s Greenwich Village, its lineup was singer Tommy Flanders, guitarists Danny Kalb and Steve Katz, keyboardist Al Kooper, bassist Andy Kulberg and drummer Roy Blumenfeld. Flanders left while recording their debut album, Live at the Café au Go Go.
Kooper, Katz, and Kalb replaced Flanders on vocals for their first studio album, 1966’s Projections, a classic mix of electric blues, R&B, and folk rock. Despite the album’s success, the band began to splinter after 1967’s Live at Town Hall LP. A handful of albums with modified lineups and reunions followed, but the Blues Project was essentially done by the early 1970s.
Kalb died after a long illness on Nov. 19, 2022. Kulberg passed away in 2002.
In the summer of 2022, Katz and Blumenfeld re-formed the Blues Project with a new cast of accomplished musicians to record Evolution, an energetic collection of 12 new songs that recalls the eclectic mix of genres that made Projections such an iconic album. Its anticipated release date is Jan. 15, 2023. There’s not a cut on the album that you…
