Bruce Katz

Last updated
Bruce Katz
Bruce Katz on Beale St.jpg
Background information
Born (1952-08-19) August 19, 1952 (age 72)
Occupation(s)Musician
Instruments
  • Piano
  • organ
  • bass guitar
Website www.brucekatzband.com

Bruce Katz (born August 19, 1952) [1] is an American musician, playing piano, organ and bass guitar. From 1996 to 2010, he was on the faculty at the Berklee College of Music in Boston as an associate professor. [1] He founded his own musical group, the Bruce Katz Band in 1991 and has recorded and toured with that band to the present. He has also recorded and toured with many other well-known artists in the Blues, Jazz and Rock music world.

Contents

Biography

Katz, born in Brooklyn, NY, started playing classical piano at the age of 5. He began his professional musical career playing piano and bass guitar with various bands in Baltimore. He then decided to concentrate on piano and Hammond organ, and in particular, jazz and blues music. After studying music at the Berklee College of Music (1974–77) and playing primarily jazz in Boston, he got the opportunity to play bass guitar for Big Mama Thornton. [1] This reconnected him with his love of the blues, which has been his main musical genre since that time.

From that band, Katz moved on to play with Barrence Whitfield and the Savages., [1] touring extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe from 1986–1990 and recording three albums with that band.

From 1990–92 he enrolled at the New England Conservatory in Boston and received a Master's Degree in Jazz Performance.

After obtaining his Master's Degree, Katz formed The Bruce Katz Band with Marty Ballou and Lorne Entress and began recording on the Sledgehammer Blues (formerly AudioQuest Music) label. His first album as a leader, Crescent Crawl was released in 1992.

In 1992, he was also invited to join Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters. While with Ronnie Earl from 1992–97, Katz recorded 6 albums, including Grateful Heart, which won the Downbeat Magazine "Blues Album of the Year" award in 1996. He left the Broadcasters in 1997 in order to concentrate on the Bruce Katz Band. From then until the present he has led his own band and simultaneously maintained a sought-after sideman status, recording and touring with many other artists, such as Delbert McClinton, Duke Robillard, Joe Louis Walker, Debbie Davies, David "Fathead" Newman, John Hammond and others.

From 2007 to 2013, Katz was a regular member of Gregg Allman and Friends. [1] In 2011, he joined Delbert McClinton's Band and continued to play with him until 2014. He continues to play with John Hammond on occasion. Katz performed with Allman Brothers founding member Butch Trucks in two different groups --- 'Butch Trucks and the Freight Train Band' and 'Les Brers', a band that contained five members of the Allman Brothers Band and Katz on keyboards, Lamar Williams Jr. on vocals and Pat Bergeson on guitar, in addition to Butch Trucks, Jaimoe, Marc Quiñones, Oteil Burbridge on bass and Jack Pearson on guitar. Katz also performed with Jaimoe and 'Jaimoe's Jasssz Band', recording and writing on the Renaissance Man CD.

In 2014, Katz began to shift his primary focus to his own music and the Bruce Katz Band. In October 2014, Katz released Homecoming on the American Showplace Music record label. This album featured guests John P. Hammond, Randy Ciarlante, Jimmy Bennett, Marty Ballou, Peter Bennett, and was the first Bruce Katz Band album to feature vocals as well as instrumentals. Homecoming received critical and popular acclaim, garnering radio play in the US and worldwide, appearing at the top of Blues Radio charts. In 2016, he released another album on American Showplace Music, Out From The Center, which reached No. 1 on the Roots Music Report Blues Radio Chart.

In 2018, he released Get Your Groove! on American Showplace Music. This album featured Ray Hangen on drums and continued to combine original instrumental and vocal music. It also featured Jaimoe from the Allman Brothers Band on drums on three tracks, most notably a tribute to Butch Trucks called "Freight Train".

Katz won a Blues Music "Acoustic Album of the Year" for the trio record he collaborated on with Joe Louis Walker and Giles Robson, "Journeys to the Heart of the Blues". He released his first solo piano album titled Solo Ride on American Showplace Music in 2019. This all-instrumental album featured eleven original compositions and was a purely acoustic album featuring Katz playing at a grand piano. It was nominated by the Blues Foundation for a Blues Music Award Acoustic Album of the Year award in 2020.

Awards and honors

Discography - As a bandleader

Year releasedTitleLabelNotes
1992Crescent Crawl AudioQuest Music [2]
1994TransformationAudioQuest Music [3]
1997Mississippi MoanAudioQuest Music [4]
2000Three Feet Off the GroundAudioQuest Music [5]
2004A Deeper Blue Severn Records
2008Live! At the FireflyBrown Dog/VizzTone Label Group
2009Project A (Bruce Katz and Joel Frahm) Anzic Records
2014HomecomingAmerican Showplace Music
2016Out from the CenterAmerican Showplace Music
2018Get Your Groove!American Showplace Music
2019Solo RideAmerican Showplace Music
2019Journeys to the Heart of the Blues (Bruce Katz, Joe Louis Walker, Giles Robson) Alligator Records
2023ConnectionsDancing Rooster Records
2024Back In Boston LiveDancing Rooster Records

Selected recordings with other artists

Bruce Katz Band members

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronnie Earl</span> Musical artist

Ronnie Earl is an American blues guitarist and music instructor.

<i>Hittin the Note</i> 2003 studio album by The Allman Brothers Band

Hittin' the Note is the twelfth and final studio album by the American Southern rock group the Allman Brothers Band. Released through Sanctuary Records, it is their only studio album to include both slide guitar player Derek Trucks and bass player Oteil Burbridge and marks the full-time return of guitar player Warren Haynes to the band. It was also their only studio album not to include original guitarist Dickey Betts.

<i>Dreams</i> (The Allman Brothers Band album) 1989 compilation album by The Allman Brothers Band

Dreams is a compilation album by the Allman Brothers Band. Packaged as a box set of four CDs or six LPs, it was released on June 20, 1989.

<i>Macon City Auditorium: 2/11/72</i> Live album by Allman Brothers Band

Macon City Auditorium: Macon, GA 2/11/72 is a two-CD live album by the Allman Brothers Band. It was recorded at the Macon City Auditorium in Macon, Georgia on February 11, 1972. The third archival concert album from the Allman Brothers Band Recording Company, it was released in 2004.

<i>Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY: 5/1/73</i> 2005 live album by The Allman Brothers Band

Nassau Coliseum: Uniondale, NY: 5/1/73 is a two-CD live album by the Allman Brothers Band. It was recorded at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York on May 1, 1973. The fourth archival concert release from the Allman Brothers Band Recording Company, it features the 1972 to 1976 lineup of the band – Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Chuck Leavell (piano), Lamar Williams (bass), Jaimoe (drums), and Butch Trucks (drums). It was released in 2005.

<i>Ton-Ton Macoute!</i> 1970 studio album by Johnny Jenkins

Ton-Ton Macoute! is the 1970 debut solo album of American blues musician Johnny Jenkins. Jenkins had previously led The Pinetoppers, a band which at one time featured Otis Redding. Jenkins then appeared on two Redding albums, playing guitar, before releasing his solo debut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roomful of Blues</span> American jump blues and swing revival big band

Roomful of Blues is an American jump blues and swing revival big band based in Rhode Island. With a recording career that spans over 50 years, they have toured worldwide and recorded many albums. Roomful of Blues, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, "Swagger, sway and swing with energy and precision". Since 1967, the group’s blend of swing, rock and roll, jump blues, boogie-woogie and soul has earned it five Grammy Award nominations and many other accolades, including seven Blues Music Awards. Billboard called the band "a tour de force of horn-fried blues…Roomful is so tight and so right." The Down Beat International Critics Poll has twice selected Roomful of Blues as Best Blues Band.

<i>Seven Turns</i> 1990 studio album by The Allman Brothers Band

Seven Turns is the ninth studio album by the Allman Brothers Band, released in 1990. Their first studio album since Brothers of the Road in 1981, it was well-received, and peaked at #53. Hit singles were "Good Clean Fun" ; "Seven Turns" (#12) and "It Ain't Over Yet" (#26).

<i>Shades of Two Worlds</i> 1991 studio album by The Allman Brothers Band

Shades of Two Worlds is the tenth studio album by the Allman Brothers Band. Among the tracks are several longer songs of varying genres: the rock song "Nobody Knows"; jazzy instrumental "Kind of Bird"; and the blues-rocker "Get On with Your Life". Dickey Betts wrote or co-wrote five of the eight songs. Newer member Warren Haynes also has co-writing credits on five songs, while namesake Gregg Allman is only credited on two songs. There is also a Delta Blues cover of Robert Johnson's "Come On in My Kitchen". It is the band's first album to feature percussionist Marc Quiñones.

<i>Where It All Begins</i> 1994 studio album by The Allman Brothers Band

Where It All Begins is the eleventh studio album by the Allman Brothers Band. "No One to Run With" obtained the most album-oriented rock airplay, while "Soulshine", written by Warren Haynes, gained success as a concert and fan favorite. Gregg Allman also started to confront his substance abuse problems in the past on songs such as "All Night Train". The album sold considerably better than its predecessor, Shades of Two Worlds. In 1998, the album went Gold. Nevertheless, critical reception was weaker. This was also the last studio album the group recorded with original guitarist Dickey Betts.

<i>Peakin at the Beacon</i> 2000 live album by The Allman Brothers Band

Peakin' at the Beacon is a live album by the rock group the Allman Brothers Band. It was recorded at the Beacon Theatre in New York City in March, 2000, and released later that year.

<i>An Evening with the Allman Brothers Band: First Set</i> 1992 live album by The Allman Brothers Band

An Evening with the Allman Brothers Band: First Set is the thirteenth album by the rock group the Allman Brothers Band. It was recorded live in December 1991 and March 1992, and released in 1992.

<i>An Evening with the Allman Brothers Band: 2nd Set</i> 1995 live album by The Allman Brothers Band

An Evening with the Allman Brothers Band: 2nd Set is a live album by the American rock group the Allman Brothers Band. It was recorded in 1992 and 1994, and released in 1995. The recording of "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance at the 38th Annual Grammy Awards, but it lost to "Mariachi Suite" by Los Lobos. The recording of "Jessica" included on the album won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the 38th Annual Grammy Awards in 1996.

<i>Live at the Beacon Theatre</i> (The Allman Brothers Band video) 2003 video by The Allman Brothers Band

Live at the Beacon Theatre is a live concert DVD by the rock group the Allman Brothers Band. It was filmed at the Beacon Theatre, New York City on March 25 and 26, 2003 and released September 23, 2003. The DVD is certified Platinum in the United States by the RIAA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Les Brers</span>

Les Brers was an American rock band formed by former members of The Allman Brothers Band. They were initially led by drummer Butch Trucks.

<i>Warner Theatre, Erie, PA 7-19-05</i> 2020 live album by The Allman Brothers Band

Warner Theatre, Erie, PA 7-19-05 is a two-CD live album by the Allman Brothers Band. It was recorded on July 19, 2005, at the Warner Theatre in Erie, Pennsylvania. It was released on October 16, 2020. The album contains a complete concert performed by the 2001 to 2014 lineup of the band – Gregg Allman, Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks (guitar), Oteil Burbridge (bass), Butch Trucks (drums), Jaimoe (drums), and Marc Quiñones.

<i>Cream of the Crop 2003</i> 2018 live album by The Allman Brothers Band

Cream of the Crop 2003 is a four-CD live album by the Allman Brothers Band. It was recorded from July 25 to August 10, 2003 at six different concert venues. It was released on June 15, 2018.

<i>The Fox Box</i> 2017 live album by The Allman Brothers Band

The Fox Box is an eight-CD live album by the Allman Brothers Band. It contains the complete three-concert run recorded on September 24, 25, and 26, 2004 at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. It was released on March 24, 2017.

<i>40</i> (concert video) 2014 video by The Allman Brothers Band

40 is a concert video by the Allman Brothers Band. It was recorded at the Beacon Theatre in New York City on March 26, 2009. It was released as a DVD on April 29, 2014.

<i>Renaissance Man</i> (album) 2011 studio album by Jaimoes Jasssz Band

Renaissance Man is an album by Jaimoe's Jasssz Band, a group led by drummer and percussionist Jaimoe, best known as a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band. On the album, which was released in 2011 by Lil' Johnieboy Records, Jaimoe is joined by guitarist and vocalist Junior Mack, saxophonists Kris Jensen and Paul Lieberman, trumpeter Reggie Pittman, keyboardists Bruce Katz and Jon Davis, and bassist David Stoltz. Percussionists Lafrae Olivia Sci and Marc Quiñones also appear on several tracks.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Ham, Char (1952-08-19). "Bruce Katz - Music Biography, Credits and Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved 2013-03-16.
  2. ↑ "Crescent Crawl". Valley Entertainment. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
  3. ↑ "Transformation". Valley Entertainment. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
  4. ↑ "Mississippi Moan". Valley Entertainment. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
  5. ↑ "Three Feet Off The Ground". Valley Entertainment. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.