Blood, Sweat, & Tears

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Blood, Sweat, & Tears

formed in 1967 by Al Kooper (keyboards & vocals) & Steve Katz (guitar & vocals) from the Blues Project
began as an electric blues band in Greenwich Village coffeehouses, other players were high calibre session players and jazz musicians
- Bobby Colomby - drums
- Jim Fielder - bass
- Fred Lipsius - alto sax, clarinet, piano (arranger)
- Dick Halligan - trombone, flute, keyboards (arranger)
- Randy Brecker - trumpet
- Jerry Weiss - trumpet
read bio info provided in text

1968 - released their first album, Child is Father to the Man (#47)
Just One Smile

most of the song is melody-accompaniment homophony
- instrumental break provides contrast through the use of clear imitative polyphony (listen especialy to organ fugue)

following the release of their debut album, personal disagreements resulted in the departure of Kooper, Brecker, & Weiss
- Halligan moved to keyboards
- added Jerry Hyman - trombone
- added David Clayton-Thomas - vocals (Canadian singer for the Bossmen, a blues group)
1969 - released Blood, Sweat, & Tears (#1)
- received ten Grammy nominations ... won 3
- first single "You've Made Me So Very Happy" (#2, 1969)

Spinning Wheel (#2, 1969)

BS&T never had a #1 hit!!

Spinning Wheel (opening)

augmented chord at beginning, giving way to rock feel

horn interjections

Spinning Wheel (break)

jazz style takes over - walking bass line & jazz-like improvisation (Lew Soloff, trumpet)

song ends on a vamp alternating 9/8 & 6/8 measures

Blues, Part II

This track provides a musical introduction to the band, featuring their impressive soloistic abilities.

Blues, Part II (complete)

Click on any color-coded button below to initiate playback from the specified location in the recording.
For this listening guide, I have provided a description of each section and include buttons within the text that allow you
to initiate playback precisely where the referenced sound occurs.

. Statement of the . [quartal = built on the interval of a 4th]; . based on the quartal motive.

Rhythmic quartal chords; motive sequenced.

(organ). (briefly). (light drum accompaniment) in jazz style.

Drum solo (jazz style).

After a , over rock-style bass riff and light drums. (tempo slows gradually) at end.

Sax solo continues, but in a slower, softer jazz syle; accompanied by bass, guitar, and drums.

Bass states a (similar to earlier riffs by Cream and Iron Butterfly) four times; , which becomes the accompaniment to a .

A leads to . The vocal style is extremely relaxed here at the beginning of this section (to allow for an increase in tension to climax in the next part).

New, in organ and bass; . ; as , . As climax is reached, to segue to the next track on the album.

Sometimes in Winter

Listen to the odd meters in this excerpt from "Sometimes in Winter";
this complicated metrical section begins at 0:55 of the song on Spotify,
or you can simply play the 12-second excerpt above, in which the passage occurs twice in sequence:

followed by horn chorale, with walking bass line
- ending on 5-beat measure (major 9 chord)
BS&T served to open a whole new audience for rock
- also broadened the horizons of the rock audience, providing a technically sophisticated form
highly popular style of music
- broke attendance record set by Frank Sinatra at Caesar's Palace
1970 - released Blood, Sweat, & Tears 3, another high-quality recording

Lucretia MacEvil (#29, 1970)

written by Clayton-Thomas, a strong rock piece incorporating jazz harmonies

jazz-rock vamp, based on the chord changes of the song

improved shouts (interpolations) by Clayton-Thomas

Soloff trumpet solo

Lucretia's Reprise

Lonesome Suzie

Clayton-Thomas' vocal versatility can be heard in the two excerpts from "Lonesome Suzie" described below:

0:00 to 1:12 (opening): soft, falsetto vocals
2:50 - shouting vocal, returning to soft vocal quality at 4:02

1971 - released Blood, Sweat, & Tears 4; Jerry Hyman replaced by Dave Bargerone (trombone, bass trombone, tuba, & baritone); highlighting the musical "pedigree" of many jazz rock (and art rock) musicians, Bargerone is trained musician with a bachelor's degree from Boston University

Redemption

trombone solo

moves motive up octave-by-octave

jazz players exhibit fascination with brass instrument's extreme upper range

Lisa, Listen to Me

following the horn break (at 2:12 in the original recording), Clayton-Thomas sings the melody

the melody is echoed 2-beats later by the brass, creating imitative polyphony

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Click on any color-coded button below to initiate playback from the specified location in the recording. For this listening guide, I have provided a description of each section and include buttons within the text that allow you to initiate playback precisely where the referenced sound occurs.

	. Statement of the . [quartal = built on the interval of a 4th]; . based on the quartal motive.
	Rhythmic quartal chords; motive sequenced.
	(organ). (briefly). (light drum accompaniment) in jazz style.
	Drum solo (jazz style).
	After a , over rock-style bass riff and light drums. (tempo slows gradually) at end.
	Sax solo continues, but in a slower, softer jazz syle; accompanied by bass, guitar, and drums.
	Bass states a (similar to earlier riffs by Cream and Iron Butterfly) four times; , which becomes the accompaniment to a .
	A leads to . The vocal style is extremely relaxed here at the beginning of this section (to allow for an increase in tension to climax in the next part).
	New, in organ and bass; . ; as , . As climax is reached, to segue to the next track on the album.