Taken from the LP ‘Child Is Father To The Man’ | (Columbia CS 9619) February 1968
Blood, Sweat & Tears | “Meagan’s Gypsy Eyes” | (Columbia) 1968 | In 1960 when I was sixteen years old, I went to see Maynard Ferguson’s big band for the first time. I was instantly hooked by Maynard’s playing, his charisma, and the power of his horn section.
They could put dents in your shirt at thirty feet! I dreamed of the day I could put a band onstage with that power.
In 1967, I wrote a bunch of songs (“I Can’t Quit Her,” “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know,” “My Days Are Numbered,” “House In The Country,” and “Somethin’ Goin’ On”) that screamed out for brass backup.
I was in a band called The Blues Project; a quintet with two guitars, bass, drums and yours truly on keyboards. I begged lead guitarist Danny Kalb, the band’s leader, to add horns to the existing line-up.
He turned me down cold, claiming that we hadn’t explored the full potential of our quintet yet and that we couldn’t afford hiring horn players.
I believed in the new songs so fervently that I left The Blues Project in pursuit of the brass band in my head that could best interpret the new material.
A brief jaunt to the west coast found Jim Fielder—a bass player of immense talent who believed in the material. When I returned to New York, I had formulated a plan to conceive this band in England.
Blood, Sweat & Tears | “Meagan’s Gypsy Eyes” | (Columbia) 1968
Unfortunately, I didn’t have the funds to get over there, so I threw a benefit for myself at Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village, The Blues Project’s home base.
I cashed in every favour had at the time, and over a period of two shows a night for three nights, people like Judy Collins, Simon & Garfunkel, David Blue, Eric Andersen, and Richie Havens came down and performed to six sold-out audiences, helping me immensely (or so I thought).
At the conclusion of the engagement, the owner of the Au Go Go took so many expenses off the gross receipts, that the net was not even enough to get a plane ticket—or even a taxi to the airport!
I called Jim Fielder and convinced him to come to New York. I asked Bobby Colomby, a local drummer/sideman (and brother of Thelonious Monk’s co-managers) who’d played with Odetta and Eric Andersen, and also Steve Katz, my bandmate from The Blues Project, to rehearse with me.
Bobby called Fred Lipsius, an alto sax legend in Bobby’s neighbourhood, and we placed an ad in The Village Voice for more horn players.
Band assembled
In a month’s time, we had assembled an eight-piece, working line-up:
Steve Katz (guitar / vocals)
Bobby Colomby (drums)
Jim Fielder (bass)
Al Kooper (lead vocals / keyboards)
Fred Lipsius (alto)
Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss (trumpets and flugelhorns)
Dick Halligan (trombone)
Fred Lipsius and I wrote the arrangements to my new songs and a handful of cover tunes (“Just One Smile,” “Without Her,” “So Much Love,” “Morning Glory”) and they sounded amazing in rehearsal.
I asked John Simon (who had just produced Simon & Garfunkel’s Bookends album) if he was interested in producing us. He was. Soon, Bill Gallagher and Clive Davis signed us to Columbia Records.
Recordings, December 1967
We recorded this album in two weeks during December of 1967. the first night we were in the studio, John Simon asked us to record all our material, one take each, on a scratch tape, so he could study the songs and arrangements and make useful suggestions.
After a brief promotional tour and a Colomby-Katz mutiny within the ranks, I was asked to leave the band. This was the only BS&T album I ever appeared on.
It was kinda like the Frankenstein monster strangling the doctor who gave him life, but in retrospect, it has all worked out well. The band scored a #1 album and an armful of Grammys® playing music I didn’t particularly agree with. (Al Kooper, 2000)
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