
He has appeared on PBS, Sesame St., AMC, National Film Archives, as well as multiple commercial spots. Beacon Theater, Mountain Stage, Beacon Theater, Lincoln Center. Handy All Stars, and others.įestivals and Venues include: North Sea Jazz, Edmonton Folk, Montreal Jazz, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage, Vancouver Jazz, Byron Bay, Russian River, Boston Globe Jazz and Blues, Preakness, Beantown, Lincoln Center. He's been a member of touring bands with Duke Robillard, Al Kooper, Johnny A, W.C. He has played with Jimmy Vivino, Bucky Pizzarelli, Howard Alden, Duke Robillard, Jay McShann, Al Kooper, Jay Giels, John Hammond Jr., Karin Allyson, Harry Allen, Ruth Brown, Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, Johnny A., Maria Muldaur, Johnnie Johnson, Ronnie Earl, Henry Butler, Charles Neville, Julien Kasper Bruce Katz, and many others. Jesse Williams prides himself on his musical depth AND breadth! He has performed and recorded internationally, including two Grammy Nominated Albums and six W.C.

And the drummer - the heartbeat - for the group was Roy Blumenfeld.

Danny Kalb was the Project's lead guitarist and vocalist Al Kooper was the keyboardist and vocalist Steve Katz was its guitarist and vocalist There was Andy Kulberg on bass and flute. The Au Go Go's star band was the Blues Project, a group on the cutting edge of improvisational, classical, blues and jazz. The club to be in was the Cafe Au Go Go, pedigreed in hipness by Lenny Bruce's famous profanity bust there by the NYPD. 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.īack in the mythic Summer of Love, 1967 - if you were in New York City, the place to be was MacDougal Street. He played on folk singer Mark Spoelstra's self-titled album for Columbia Records in 1969, and also on the subsequent Blues Project reunions. He was there past its end: with Kulberg, he formed Seatrain out of the ruins of the Blues Project in 1968. 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 influences on generations of other musicians. 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 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'. He took up the drums and found himself drawn to blues, R&B, and jazz.

Born in the Bronx in 1944, he reached his teens as the first wave of American rock & roll was being created. Roy Blumenfeld had a ringside seat from his drum kit on some of the most exciting musical events in New York City during the mid-'60s.
