THE BLUES PROJECT

Roy Blumenfeld • Drums, Vocals had a ringside seat from his drum kit on some of the most exciting musical events in New York City during the mid-’60s. Born in the Bronx in 1944, he reached his teens as the first wave of American rock & roll was being created. He took up the drums and found himself drawn to blues, R&B, and jazz. Blumenfeld linked up with bassist Andy Kulberg through work with Al Kooper on the latter’s early solo recordings for the Elektra Records sampler What’s Shakin’. In 1965, he joined guitarist Danny Kalb in the latter’s new band, which, with the addition of Kooper to the lineup, became the Blues Project. Blumenfeld was one of the longest serving members of the renowned group, whose mixture of R&B, blues, jazz, folk, and rock & roll influences made them a major cult band of the ’60s, and a huge influence on generations of other musicians. He was there past its end: with Kulberg, he formed Seatrain out of the ruins of the Blues Project in 1968. He played on folk singer Mark Spoelstra’s self- titled album for Columbia Records in 1969, and also on the subsequent Blues Project reunions. 

Blumenfeld worked with Nick Gravenites in the ’70s and Robert Hunter at various times in the ’80s and ’90s, but his most visible gig was with Kooper on the live shows that became Soul of a Man.

David Aguilar – Guitar & Vocals Over the years, has made memorable music, not only with harmonica virtuoso Norton Buffalo, but also with Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Brown, Barry Melton, Maria Muldaur, Lester Chambers (of the “Time-Has-Come-Today” Chambers Brothers), Nick Gravenites and Bo Diddley, beloved for albums like Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger and Have Guitar, Will Travel.

Aguilar is a true virtuoso. He makes those guitars sing, shout, whisper, wail and even weep. Sometimes his guitars seem to play him, and sometimes guitarist and guitar seem to blend into one. Now, at the age of 64, Aguilar is about to release a new CD that he recorded with Bronx-born Roy Blumenfeld, who once played with the Blues Project, and who always pays homage to rhythm and blues. Their new CD is titled The Aguilar Blumenfeld Project and Stanley Mouse-the legendary artist famous for his psychedelic posters and album covers for the Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Journey and more-has done a trippy poster that will also serve as the cover for the CD. Aguilar and Blumenfeld are depicted as a couple of very hip, musical wolves, with Aguilar wearing a beard and Blumenfeld a beret.The CD might be the capstone for Aguilar’s recording career, and he’s rightly jazzed about it. In the parking lot outside the Barking Dog coffee house, he played one track for me that’s titled “Plutonium Bob,” explaining it as “Zappish.” Indeed it is, and no doubt Frank Zappa himself would enjoy it. Both a team player and a solo artist, Aguilar says he enjoys making music nearly all the time, and especially “in an ensemble when it all clicks and it feels effortless and it all flows together. There’s nothing like it.” Guitars have been at the heart of Aguilar’s life for more than a half-century. Sonoma legend has it he had a guitar in his hands when he was born. Aguilar’s second guitar was electric and known as a “Kay Speed Demon,” which today can sell for thousands of dollars. David Aguilar loves the life he lives. His many fans love the music he has made, from Sonoma to Sweden and from Florida to Wales. You can bet he’ll go on making music as long as he can hold a guitar close to his heart and move his nimble fingers along its strings.

Tim Eschliman – Bass & Vocals

Tim Eschliman is an American Roots Performer, Musician, Songwriter and Producer from Back pOrchEstra, Christmas Jug Band, New Copasetics, Rhythmtown-Jive, Mystery Dance, Louisiana Time Travelers, Ugly Americans, Moonlighters, Commander Cody & His Western Airmen, Etta James and Jesse Colin Young. He performed on the Grammy-nominated "Garden Of Joy" album by Maria Muldaur. He won a 1990 Indie Award for Country for "Aces High" by Commander Cody, developed at his partnership's Mill Valley studio, Globe Studios. He recently started his youTube and podcast songwriting discussion series, "Where do the Songs Come From" with episodes from Mike Duke (Delbert McClinton) and Jack O'Hara (pub rock initiators, Eggs Over Easy)

Mark Newman – Guitar, Mandolin and Vocals

Growing up in New York, Mark Newman’s musical journey has taken him around the world several times as both sideman and singer/songwriter. This ace stringman (guitar, lap steel, mandolin, dobro) and accomplished songwriter is the type of singer whose warm and expressive voice sounds like an old friend. He put it all together on 2006’s “Must Be A Pony” (Danal Music, LLC). In 2010 he took a quantum leap forward with the stunning “Walls Of Jericho” (Danal Music. LLC) and has just released, “Brussels”( Danal Music. LLC), a live solo EP. “Empirical Truth”, his latest CD was released in June, 2018 (Danal Music, LLC, by WBA Records). It won best CD from the Long Island Blues Society. Sharing the stage with such notables as soul legend Sam Moore (Sam & Dave), John Oates(Hall and Oates), Jim McCarty (Yardbirds, Renaissance),the late Willy DeVille (Mink DeVille), Bobby Whitlock (Derek and the Dominos) and Sam The Sham, has given Newman the perspective to craft an individualistic sound framed in straight-from-the-hip rock’n’roll, simmering with the subtle flavors of blues, R’n’B, funk, folk and soul.

Ken Clark • Keyboards, Harmonica, Accordian, EWI and Vocals

Not to be confused with country/bluegrass artist Ken Clark or the late bebop drummer Kenny Clarke, the Ken Clark profiled in this bio is a jazz-oriented organist who is also comfortable playing R&B, funk, and blues. The Boston resident (who plays electric keyboards and acoustic piano as secondary instruments) isn’t the type of organist who is content to emulate Jimmy Smith’s seminal ’50s and ’60s recordings — Smith is an influence on Clark, but so are Larry Young, John Medeski (of Medeski, Martin & Wood fame), and Charles Earland. Clark’s playing sometimes brings to mind German organist Barbara Dennerlein, although she isn’t necessarily an influence — rather, it’s probably a case of Dennerlein and Clark having mutual influences.

Eternal FunkClark isn’t a native Bostonian; he was born in New York City in the late ’60s and grew up in the Big Apple. But in the mid-’80s, he moved to Boston to study jazz with pianist Charlie Banacos and guitarist Garrison Fewell and attend the prestigious Berklee School of Music. Instead of returning to New York after studying with those artists and attending Berklee, Clark opted to remain in Boston and became a fixture on the city’s music scene. In 1992, he formed the Ken Clark Organ Trio, employing Mike Mele (whom he knew from Berklee) on guitar — and 11 years later, the group was still together. Clark’s group has used different drummers over the years; in 2003, Steve Chaggaris (another Berklee alumni) was playing drums for Clark’s trio. As a sideman, Clark has backed various female vocalists, including Fatwall Jack and swing/jump blues artist Michelle Willson. Clark’s albums as a leader include The Ken Clark Organ Trio on Aspire Records and Eternal Funk, which the Severn label released in 2003.