The Blues Project
Projections

THE REVIEW

It is difficult for me to find a definition that fully suits the music of Blues Project.
Defining blues for these five guys from Greenwich Village is inappropriate because much of their tracks (especially those recorded in the studio) do not reflect the music of bands like Canned Heat or Savoy Brown, in fact, they do not resemble them at all. Blues Project could be defined as one of the first attempts, by white musicians, to blend Dylan's folk rock with the blues of Willie Dixon or Muddy Waters. Along with all this, psychedelic fragments are added between one track and another to then obtain a typically American music, capable of countering the British Invasion of the mid-'60s.

Guitarists Danny Kalb and Steve Katz formed the band in 1965, along with bassist and flutist Andy Kulberg and drummer Roy Blumenfeld. Two other members joined the four: Tommy Flanders on vocals and the legendary keyboardist Al Kooper. After Flanders left, the role of singer was taken over by Katz and occasionally by Kooper. Their debut album is the raw, but still valid, "Live At Cafe Au Go Go," which portrays the five musicians live in November 1965 performing covers of artists like Bo Diddley or Donovan. But, as often happens, their most interesting work is the second album, "Projections."

"I Can't Keep From Crying", with its keyboard riff, is the opening track, a great beginning for psychedelic blues. It is a track written by Kooper, which was later covered by Alvin Lee and Ten Years After in the double "Recorded Live." In this style, there are also "Wake Me, Shake Me" and the instrumental "Flute Thing", composed by Burrell, a skilled jazz musician. Folk rock plays a fairly important role in tracks like "Cheryl's Going Home" (which you will surely know from the version by the Rokets called "Che Colpa Abbiamo Noi") and the splendid "Steve's Song": in this song, the acoustic guitars and Kulberg's flute create a magical, somewhat melancholic atmosphere, which gives the entire "Projections" a singular charm. Not to be forgotten: "Two Trains Running", "You Can't Catch Me", and the closing "Fly Away".

"Projections" is today considered an album that does not exceed four stars, but personally, I believe that this is completely wrong: the Blues Project neither innovated the blues nor disrupted folk. They simply captured the essence of an original music destined never to die.