Bloodfsweat &Tears
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
I ■ BloodfSweat &Tears There can be no doubt in anyone's mind that progressive music has experienced a widespread renaissance in recent years. There should be lit tle doubt in anyone's mind that, if it had not been for Blood, Sweat & Tears, such a revival might have never happened, for want of a foundation. Creators of an entire new form of music in 1968, the group has moved from the revolutionary stage to a solid leadership of this rapidly evolving field. "Our music provided the basis for a great deal of the music you now hear all the time," says Bobby Colomby (co-founder of the group and current record producer), and;, indeed, the particular sound of horns applied to rock music has found a niche that stretches from the concert hall to the disco floor. When Bloo, Sweat & Tears was first formed by Colomby, A1 Kooper and Steve Katz, the group had no inkling of the staggering influence they would have on a musical world oversaturated with psychedelic gim mickry. Their three most successful single hits, sung by David Clayton-Thomas, were accessible and pop-oriented enough to each gain Gold status. At the same time, "You Made Me So Very Happy," "Spin ning Wheel" and "And When I Die" illustrated the solid musicianship and in-depth training of the band's members. Blood, Sweat & Tears proved over and over again that the rock audience was ready for something new, and it was long before that audience was accepting progressive artists like Miles Davis. Horn lineups proliferated amongst rock bands, but BS&T was always acknowledged as having been the first and the finest. There is hardly an area of the world that has not been visited by BS&T, as the group has played and continues to visit such diverse locales as Australia, South America, New Zealand, Malaysia, Japan, Eastern Europe, and Israel. Working closer to home, BS&T have successfully crossed formerly rigid lines between jazz and pop performances. Under protest from Newport, Rhode Island city fat hers, BS&T went ahead and played the “Jazz at New port" festival several summers ago and won over an originally hostile purist audience. They next re peated that success at the Monterey Jazz Festival, illustrating that there was room for an expanded variety of musical styles without diluting the art. Still continuing as young musical innovators, BS&T was one of the few pop groups ever permitted to perform at New York's austere Metropolitan Opera House. This year they have appeared in such dir verse venues as the Empire Room at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, and the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas, while continuing to be one of the most popular touring groups on the college circuit. To say that BS&T has gone through many changes is to become an immediate master of understatement. Since the groupformed wasthe in mid-sixtiesby A1 Kooper, Bobby Colomby and Steve Katzi:personnel —a *----- * ------ L----.