University of Virginia Library

Blood Sweat & Tears:

Big Jazz, Full Sound

By Don Smith

At a time when so many rock
groups sound alike, Blood Sweat
and Tears stands out with its unique
combination of big band jazz
and rock. It is not unusual in a
musical sense, for there have been
much better bands in the past, but
it is the excitement and drive that
the nine men produce that separates
them from most popular
groups. Rock achieved popularity
among musicians because of its
fresh power and energy. Blood
Sweat and Tears has taken this
power and drive and employed the
full, swinging sound of big band
jazz.

The group was born in July,
1967, as a pick-up quartet led by Al
Kooper in an attempt to raise
money for the then jobless Kooper
who was planning to move to England.
Fortunately, the group jelled
and the four musicians (Kooper,
Steve Katz, Jim Fielder, and Bobby
Columby) decided to keep it together.
Each of these original members
had already made a name as members
of established groups: Kooper
and Katz played with the Blue
Project, bassist Fielder had worked
with the Buffalo Springfield, and
drummer Columby spent time
backing Odetta.

After several months of rehearsals
and the addition of alto saxophonist
Fred Lipsius, the band
found themselves to be a popular
New York group. Kooper, however,
never satisfied, took the five men
into retirement and expanded
Blood Sweat and Tears into a
swinging eight piece band.

Columbia Records released the
band's first album, "Child Is Father
To The Man," in October, 1967,
but several months passed before it
began to bring attention to the
group, rumors of dissension spread.
No one in the group would substantiate
the rumors, but no one would
deny them, either. Finally, in the
spring of 1968, Al Kooper left the
band to become a producer for
Columbia Records. Blood Sweat
and Tears would have completely
disbanded had it not been for the
efforts of guitarist Steve Katz and
altoist Fred Lipsius who salvaged
the broken pieces and reassembled
a brassy nine piece band. Dick
Halligan, trombonist with the original
group, replaced Kooper on
organ, and David Clayton Thomas,
a top Canadian vocalist, took over
Kooper's singing chores. Under the
musical guidance of Lipsius and
behind the gutsy voice of Thomas,
Blood Sweat and Tears has now
achieved national prominence.

Despite Kooper's long absence
from the group, Blood Sweat and
Tears still relies on his influence for
their success. It was not Kooper's
voice, nor even his organ work,
which gave Blood Sweat and Tears
its identity; it was Kooper's arrangements.

The band's second album swings
because it is playing numbers arranged
by Kooper, who has demonstrated
a phenomenal talent for
producing a song.

The musical success of both
albums relies on Kooper and the
group owes a large debt to the
heard the band perform numbers
written and arranged by both
Thomas and Lipsius, I must conclude
that Blood Sweat and Tears
will miss Kooper. Without his influence,
arrangements could become
dull and boring. I hope not,
for Blood Sweat and Tears is one
group who could easily bridge the
infamous generation gap and makeup
for the numerous sound-alikes in
rock.