The Blues Project - Reunion In Central Park 1973 folk, blues, rhythm & blues, jazz



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 signified the end of the folk and acoustic blues movement that had swept the US in the early 1960s.

Kalb's first rock and roll band was formed in the spring of 1965, playing under various names at first, until finally settling on the Blues Project moniker as an allusion to Kalb's first foray on record. After a brief hiatus in the summer of 1965 during which Kalb was visiting Europe, the band reformed in September 1965 and were almost immediately a top draw in Greenwich Village. By this time, the band included Danny Kalb on guitar, steve Katz (having recently departed the Even Dozen Jug Band) also on guitar, Andy Kulberg on bass and flute, Roy Blumenfeld on drums and Tommy Flanders on vocals.


Recorded live at The Schaffer Festival, Central Park, New York, on June 24, 1973.

1. Louisiana Blues (Muddy Waters) - 0:00

2. Steves Song (Steve Katz) - 4:28

3. I Can't Keep From Cryin' Sometimes (Blind Willie Johnson, Al Kooper) - 8:21

4. You Can't Catch Me (Chuck Berry) - 14:52

5. Fly Away (Al Kooper) - 19:21

6. Caress Me Baby (Jimmy Reed) - 23:52

7. Catch The Wind (Donovan Leitch) - 32:02

8. (I Heard Her Say) Wake Me Shake Me (Traditional, ar. Al Kooper) - 36:28

9. Two Trains Running (Muddy Waters) - 46:18



Blues Project

*Roy Blumenfeld - Drums
*Danny Kalb - Guitar
*Steve Katz - Guitar
*Al Kooper - Keyboards
*Andy Kulberg - Bass