Remembering B.S.&T.

From Pillar to Broom
TIME Magazine
Friday, May 9, 1969

Listeners who come unawares to a new LP called Blood, Sweat & Tears may be as confused as the blind men discovering an elephant in the familiar folk parable. One blind man feels the elephant's leg and says that.the beast is a pillar; another feels the tuft of its tail and declares the elephant to be a broom, and so on. Depending on which tracks of the record listeners happen to touch upon, the recording group—which is also called Blood, Sweat & Tears—sounds like many different bands. In Smiling Phases, it is a hard-chugging blues-rock outfit with a fillip of modern jazz. In Blues—Part II, it is a modern jazz combo with a streak of contemporary classical dissonance. In Variations on a Theme by Erik Satie, it is a chamber ensemble with pastoral flutes, Bartokian brass and a buzz of electronic sound effects.

Reactionary Package. These days, such eclecticism is usually considered avantgarde, but Blood, Sweat & Tears modestly describe themselves as reactionary. "All these things have been done before, and been done better," says Lead Guitarist Steve Katz. "But they've never been put together better before. We play primarily to a young audience, and we're saying to them: 'You've forgotten about sounds that have gone before—big bands, Delta blues, Charlie Parker, classical.' We're presenting them all in a rock package." It makes a powerfully appealing package. The LP has sold more than 600,000 copies since its release in December, and last week was No. 2 on the pop charts.

Reactionary or not, B.S.&T. is a new kind of rock group. It is the first major group to be spawned on the East rather than the West Coast. Five of the nine members (ages: 21 to 26) are native New Yorkers, and all nine, Katz points out, "have spent some time playing in bands around town or scuffling in Greenwich Village." The pace and aggression of the city flash through their tensile, hard-edged sound. With its five-man horn section, the group is also the most successful attempt yet to combine jazz-flavored brass and reeds with rock guitar and rhythm. The musicianship displayed in its complex arrangements and lithe, leaping solos is second to none in the rock world. In an era when more and more rock is being introduced into music, B.S.&T. is introducing more music into rock.

Considering the backgrounds of the B.S.&T. musicians, matters could hardly be otherwise. Three of them are products of top-rank conservatories (two with M.A.s). Another two have at least some music-school training, along with a wide experience in jazz and commercial bands. One grew up almost exclusively in the jazz tradition. The remaining three served their apprenticeships in folk, rock and blues outfits.

The group and its name were the brainchild of Al Kooper, an organist and singer who was a member of the Blues Project until it broke up in 1967. Kooper recruited Katz, a colleague from his old band; Katz brought in a jazzman, Drummer Bobby Colomby, who in turn found Jazz Saxophonist-Pianist-Arranger Fred Lipsius. With the addition of Dick Halligan, a classically trained trombonist-organist-arranger, and Rock Bassist Jim Fielder, the nucleus was formed. The band made a debut LP for Columbia, and things began falling into place. The musicians also began falling out. The problem was that Kooper was a born leader but not an elected one. A year ago, he veered off for a career as a solo performer and record producer, complaining that "they wanted to do more of a jazz than a pop thing, and I didn't want to fight about it."

All Types. After Keeper's departure, some pop observers felt that there was nothing left for the group but sweat and tears. It found new blood in Singer David Clayton-Thomas, who had previously led his own blues-rock band in Canada, and in three seasoned brass men: Trumpeters Lew Soloff and Chuck Winfield and Trombonist Jerry Hyman. As it started a steady climb to its present eminence, the group began to function as an egalitarian democracy. Now it does nothing unless all nine members can agree on it at periodic "repertory meetings." Says Clayton-Thomas: "Everybody's suggestion is listened to as valid. We've all fallen into our one-ninth roles. We're trying to encompass every type of music that each of us knows and loves."

In the effort to bring together so many personalities and styles, the stitching sometimes shows. But, as the total impact of B.S.&T.'s album makes clear, the group's music is often much more than what it seams.