February 24, 1969
The N.C. Essay
Page 4
RECORD REVIEW
BLOOD, SWEAT, AND TEARS
If you had the chance to watch
Ed Sullivan Sunday night, you saw
the most refreshing group of music
ians to appear in the new scene of
progressive blues-rock-jazz. I
have to include almost all idioms
of musical expression in describing
them, for they drav; upon every kind
of music and musician.
Five of them studied at
Berklee School of Music (a conser
vatory in Boston), which most de
finitely is "the" jazz school in
this country. Lew Soloff, the
first trumpet player, studied at
the Eastman School of Music, grad
uating in 1964 (my sister was in
his class; she says of him "he was
undoubtedly the most accomplished
musician in the brass department."
They are all versatile; Dick
Halligan, usually at the organ,
plays the organ, plays valve trom
bone occasionally; Fred Lipsius, an
ece]lent tenor and alto sax player,
studied keyboard at Berklee and
does some great piano solos on
their new album. Their bassist,
Jim Fielder, is one of the few most
experienced electric bassists in
the world of rock today. He played
with both The Mothers of Invention
and the Buffalo Springfield before
joining forces A1 Dooper, Bobby
Colomby (drummer; studied at Berk
lee), and Steve Katz to form Blood,
Sweat, and Tears.
Kooper, Katz, Colomby and
Fielder were jemming at the Cafe au
Go Go in New York when they decided
to add a horn section. Kooper had
been an organist for both Bob Dylan
and The Blues Project before, Steve
Katz had played guitar for the
Blues Project (frustratededly;
Danny Kalb was overshadowing him
constantly). The horn section they
picked was stupendous—Randy Breck-
er and Jerry Weiss on trumpet, who
have both since left the group
(Brecker studied at Indiana U.),
and Fred Lipsius, saxophonist.
BS 8 t's first album
It seems that when A1 Kooper
formed the group, he was on a bit
of an ego trip in that he consider
ed the group "his" and acted
accordingly. This situation shows
up clearly on BS&T’s first album,
"Child is Father to the Man." Koop
er sings on almost all the cuts and
the selections are almost all his
compositions. Randy Brecker and
Jerry Weiss left when they realized
their versatility was being repres
sed. Kooper must have started
noticing a bit of agitation-he quit
the group, leaving them teetering
on the edge of breaking up-Lew
Soloff, Jerry Hyman (trombone) and
Chuck Winfield (trumpet) had just
by Robert Lingelback
been added to replace the two dis- of which
joined members, and the group had
neither lead singer nor solid foot
ing.
The entire group of eight was
determined to get a good lead sing
er who would not "lead" the group,
but who would fit in as an integral
part and not take the spotlight
away for himself. They considered
getting Laura Nyro, but she would
certainly have led the group by
trowing her compositions at them by
the bundle. The eight musicians
picked David Clayton-Thomas, a big,
brawny Canadian, who had been sing
ing with his own group in Montreal.
Their choice has proven to be
excellent.
ORIGINAL MLJSIC
Blood, Sweat, and Tears is now
turning on its individual talent
full blast, deluging jazz, rock,
blues, and soul lovers with beauti
ful, original music. They prove
their excellence on their most re
cent album, about two months old
now; it is the most diverse record
I have ever listened to.
Among the many musicians from
whom they have drawn their style
are Buddy Rich, Dave Brubeck, Paul
Butterfield, the one-time jazz
great Billie Holiday, Doc Steverin-
sin. Ramsey Lewis, Paul Desmond
Bud Shank, Lou Rawls, and Cannon
ball Adderly, not to mention quite
quite a few rock greats and classi
cal composers.
I have one criticism to voice
about the group. Steve Katz, who
plays guitar when he isn’t adulat
ing himself, is a rotten guitarist
considering who they could get if
they searched for one. I saw BS&T
perform at the Fillmore East before
coming down here, and Katz who
looked as if he was enclosed in an
egoballon. I read somewhere that
after each performance he takes a
Steve Paul's Scene for
from the public. His
like so many other rock
inexperienced, a lousy
too much of a crude
does not befit the
cab up to
some praise
playing is
guitarists;
vibrato, and
style, which
group. However, he has tried com
posing a few sonjs—one is on their
new album—and although he couldn’t
arrange them, they are beautiful
melodically.
THE.ME BY ERIC SATIE
The first cut on their new al
bum is "Variations on a theme by
Erik Satie." Dick Halligan took
theme from the first of Satie’s
Trois G}minopedies" and arranged
and arranged a first movement for
three flutes and guitar, the result
is quite beautiful. The
second movement is arranged for
tenor sax, trombkone, and two trum
pets; it is a variation on the same
theme. "Smiling Phases", a song by
Traffic (BS&T performed it on Ed
Sullivan), is really moving blues-
soul, lapsing into a purely jazz
piano solo by Fred Lipsius halfway
through—the brass then have a
grandiose chorale introduction back
into the main theme. "God Bless the
Child", an ancient Billie Holiday
tune, also has a chorale introduct
ion. When the horns are playing
alone they show very plainly a lot
of classical influence.
Jim Fielder (the tall Texan)
does quite a bit of stunning bass
work on the album; his playing is
so adept I can compare him only to
Roy Estrada of the Mothers. He
plays individual notes so fast it
sounds almost as if he is strumm
ing, yet every note is clear and
precise.
"And When I Die" is Laura
Nyro’s composition, and is arranged
very well. It gives a feeling of
discontinuous unity, for the meter
changes ofte. If there is any
"Country and Western" influence on
the album, it is in this arrange
ment there is a short lapse into
a country theme featuring trumpet,
woodblock, and Clayton-Thomas’s
"yee-hah!"
A musician's musician
One is amazed by Lew Soloff
frequently on tl'.e album,. He makes
use of lip trills, wide Rllssandos,
and tries to hit somf; very high
notes sharply and clearly, meaning
he uses perforninncos .unj recording
sessions to le.-irn more about his
instrument— a musician’s musician!
Bobby Colomby's drumming is
tight, precise, and accurate—per
fect for establishing order coher
ence through BS&T’s inevitable
inprovisations.
Blood, Sweat, and Tear’s new
album is so phenomenal I must let
it speak for itself and invite you
to hear it—a combination and cul
mination of a variety of musical
expression.
^.MOTHER COUf?AGE oon't from pg. i)
faculty artist in residence; Sam
Barcelona of Joliet, 111.; Stephen
Bordner of Fort Myer, Va.; Randall
Rickman of Raleigh, Neal Bell of
Wallace, Christopher Goan of
Winston-Salem, Susan Weiner of Tuc
son, Ariz.; Tom Cavano of Fayette
ville, Jeffrey Haynes of Jamaica,
N.Y.; Gary Enck of Atlanta, Ga.;
Tina Menzies of Upper Snadusky, 0-
hio; Gregg Wilson of McLean, Va.;
Robert Leh of Madison, Ronald Dortch
of Goldsboro, Kenneth Wyrtch of
Greeasboro, Rae Randall of Durham.
Jean Kuclar of Kenmore, N.Y, and
Michael Mulliv.s of Salem, Va.