The Blues Project
★★★★
Evolution
BLUES PROJECT. CD/DL
The Project co-created by Al Kooper in the ’60s is back.
The Blues Project formed in 1965 to blend sophisticated musical influences in a rock group – a novel concept for a then teenage genre. While the original band lasted two years, their influence was incalculable. Two original members – vocalist/guitarist/ harmonica Steve Katz and vocalist/drummer Roy Blumenfeld – have re-formed with three younger musicians and the same aim. Once again, they’ve added soul, jazz and folk to a blues rock base and produced rock for grown-ups. While the result is no longer revolutionary, it’s high-quality nonetheless. Katz nails Big Boy Crudup’s Mean Ol’ Southern and highlights include two songs by Project co-founders Al Kooper and Andy Kulberg (Inside Information and Peru). The latter is a follow-up to 1966’s proto-jazz-rock Flute Thing – an indication of many evolutions to come in rock’s subsequent half-century.