Blood, Sweat & Tears on Tour
Though they haven't released a new studio album since 1980, Blood, Sweat & Tears have never left the road. And although their current lineup features none of the players who appeared on their string of hit singles from their late-'60s/early-'70s commercial peak, their original mission — to fuse the compositional complexity of jazz with the power and precision of rock ‘n' roll — has carried on under the guidance of founding drummer Bobby Colomby, who no longer performs with the group but still serves as their de facto spiritual advisor/casting director. Over the years, Colomby has enlisted a number of singers — including American Idol alumnus Bo Bice — to fill the big shoes vacated by BST's most famous vocalist, David Clayton-Thomas. Since 2019, that role has been occupied by Keith Paluso, a former contestant on The Voice. But no matter who's belting out the hits, a Blood, Sweat & Tears show is guaranteed to be a brasstastic experience.
Blood, Sweat & Tears in Concert
Al Kooper could've retired in 1965 already a legend at age 21, thanks to his iconic keyboard work on Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone." But the restless musician would go on to play a crucial role in expanding the parameters of popular music when he joined improvisational New York group The Blues Project, before founding the even more ambitious Blood, Sweat & Tears with guitarist Steve Katz in 1967. The group's debut album, Child Is Father to the Man, was a groundbreaking fusion of rock, jazz, psychedelia and orchestral music, though creative differences would drive Kooper out of the band shortly after its release, with Katz and drummer Bobby Colomby seeking to push the group into a more accessible direction. They'd find their golden ticket into the Top 40 in the form of Canadian singer David Clayton-Thomas, a charismatic, big-voiced showman who contributed the signature single "Spinning Wheel" to the band's 1969 Grammy Award–winning self-titled album and led the group at their historic Woodstock performance that summer. Over the next few years, Blood, Sweat & Tears stood at the forefront of a jazz-rock revolution that counted Chicago and Santana as compatriots, showcasing their bold, brassy sound on swaggering originals like "Lucretia Mac Evil" and inventive covers (like their soulful rendition of Carole King's "Hi-De-Ho"). Clayton-Thomas left the band in 1972 to pursue a solo career (only to return in 1975), and since the release of 1980's Nuclear Blues, Blood, Sweat & Tears have existed primarily as a live act, with an infinite array of revolving lineups — in fact, no fewer than 175 players have passed through their ranks over the years. But under Colomby's direction, Blood, Sweat & Tears have survived and thrived into the 21st century with their big-band bonhomie intact.
