Published: July 29, 2008 03:31 am      

MOLSON CONCERTS: BS&T tour still 'spinning'

Steve Katz is back for 40th anniversary

“What goes up, must come down; spinning wheels got to go round.”

Visit the Blood Sweat & Tears website and listen to the Spinning Wheels, a Grammy Award Winning recording. Visit the Ulrich City Centre on Friday (July 11) and listen to the jazz-rock band celebrate their 40th anniversary live as part of the Molson Canal Concert Series.

An estimated crowd of 10,000 showed up for the Lou Gramm opener on June 27 for Western New York’s largest free concert series.

A musical institution, Blood Sweat & Tears has left an indelible mark on the American music scene since 1968 as one of the greatest bands in the history of popular music. BS&T fused rock, blues, pop music, horn arrangements and jazz improvisation.

There have been 127 musicians who have played with Blood, Sweat & Tears. The alumni roster reads like a Who’s Who of the world’s greatest jazz and rock musicians.

The current roster includes Steve Katz and Rob Paparozzi on vocals; Dave Gellis on guitar; Glenn McClelland on keyboards; Gary Foote on bass; Andrea Valentini on drums; Teddy Mulet and Steve Jankowski on trumpet and Jens Wendelboe playing trombone.

Joshua James, Will Dailey and Amber Rubarth will open the show which runs from 5-11 p.m.

Katz, 63, who helped form the group and performed for five years, has returned to Blood, Sweat & Tears after 35 years. His professional career started in the late fifties and studied guitar as a teenager. He met guitarist Stefan Grossman and Steve & Stefan met many of the great blues men of an earlier era.

Katz play washboard and mastered the harmonica. He took an opportunity to showcase his own songs with the Blues Project and recorded three albums. “Steve’s Song” was the first original song that he recorded. The Blues Project’s opened the airwaves of radio to more album-oriented rock. It made people aware of music that they might never have otherwise heard.

After the Blues Project, Blood, Sweat & Tears, was formed and a horn section was utilized with rock arrangements that were more sophisticated than most horn arrangements in rock up to that time. The first album sold moderately well but was a huge critical success.

Al Kooper, Jim Fielder, Fred Lipsius, Randy Brecker, Jerry Weiss, Dick Halligan, Bobby Colomby and Katz formed the original band.

“Blood, Sweat & Tears” was the name chosen by Kooper who was inspired by both the 1963 album with this title by Johnny Cash a late-night gig when Kooper played with a bloody hand. The group’s initial bandleader, Kooper was a high-profile contributor and the catalyst for the prominent debut of Blood, Sweat & Tears in the musical counterculture.

David Clayton-Thomas became the lead singer and the new album six million copies worldwide and fostered three No. 1 singles in 1969. Katz continued with Blood, Sweat & Tears for five years during which time the group won three Grammies, were voted best band by the Playboy Jazz and Pop Poll two years in a row. Katz wrote many songs during his tenure with BS&T, including his well-loved “Sometimes in Winter.”

Blood, Sweat & Tears continues its heavy touring schedule throughout the world with its current line-up of members, some of whom have been with the band previously during the past two decades. Under the direction of Larry Dorr and founding member Bobby Colomby, the band has enjoyed a resurgence.

In 2007 the band went on its first world tour in a decade.



Current Roster

Steve Katz: Vocals

Rob Paparozzi: vocals

Dave Gellis: guitar

Glenn McClelland: keyboards

Gary Foote: bass

Andrea Valentini: drums

Teddy Mulet: trumpet

Steve Jankowski: trumpet

Jens Wendelboe: trombone



Albums

Child Is Father to the Man (1968).

Blood, Sweat & Tears (1969) 1970 Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 (1970)

The Owl and the Pussy Cat (Soundtrack) (1970)

Blood, Sweat & Tears 4 (1971)

New Blood (1972)

No Sweat (1973)

Mirror Image (1974)

New City (1975)

More Than Ever (1976)

Brand New Day (1977)

Nuclear Blues (1980)

Latin Fire (1985)

Live And Improvised (1991) [recorded 1975]

Live (1994) recorded live in Los Angeles in 1980.)

Compilation Albums:

Greatest Hits (1972)

Super Hits (1998)

What Goes Up! The Best of Blood, Sweat & Tears (1995)

Singles

I Can’t Quit Her (1968)

I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know (1968)

You’ve Made Me So Very Happy (1969)

Spinning Wheel (1969) (Grammy Award Winning)

And When I Die (1969)

Hi-De-Ho (1970)

Lucretia MacEvil (1970)

Go Down Gamblin’ (1971)