Roy Blumenfeld had a ringside seat from his drum kit on some of the most exciting musical events in New York City during the mid-'60s. Born in the Bronx in 1944, he reached his teens as the first wave of American rock & roll was being created. He took up the drums and found himself drawn to blues, R&B, and jazz. Blumenfeld linked up with bassist Andy Kulberg through work with Al Kooper on the latter's early solo recordings for the Elektra Records sampler What's Shakin'. In 1965, he joined guitarist Danny Kalb in the latter's new band, which, with the addition of Kooper to the lineup, became the Blues Project. Blumenfeld was one of the longest serving members of the renowned group, whose mixture of R&B, blues, jazz, folk, and rock & roll influences made them a major cult band of the '60s, and a huge influences on generations of other musicians. He was there past its end: with Kulberg, he formed Seatrain out of the ruins of the Blues Project in 1968. He played on folk singer Mark Spoelstra's self-titled album for Columbia Records in 1969, and also on the subsequent Blues Project reunions. Blumenfeld worked with Nick Gravenites in the '70s and Robert Hunter at various times in the '80s and '90s, but his most visible gig was with Kooper on the live shows that became Soul of a Man.

Artist Biography by Bruce Eder

Over the years, David Aguilar has made memorable music, not only with harmonica virtuoso Norton Buffalo, but also with Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Brown, Barry Melton, Maria Muldaur, Lester Chambers (of the "Time-Has-Come-Today" Chambers Brothers), Nick Gravenites and Bo Diddley, beloved for albums like Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger and Have Guitar, Will Travel.
Aguilar is a true virtuoso. He makes those guitars sing, shout, whisper, wail and even weep. Sometimes his guitars seem to play him, and sometimes guitarist and guitar seem to blend into one. Now, at the age of 64, Aguilar is about to release a new CD that he recorded with Bronx-born Roy Blumenfeld, who once played with the Blues Project, and who always pays homage to rhythm and blues. Their new CD is titled The Aguilar Blumenfeld Project and Stanley Mouse-the legendary artist famous for his psychedelic posters and album covers for the Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Journey and more-has done a trippy poster that will also serve as the cover for the CD. Aguilar and Blumenfeld are depicted as a couple of very hip, musical wolves, with Aguilar wearing a beard and Blumenfeld a beret.The CD might be the capstone for Aguilar's recording career, and he's rightly jazzed about it. In the parking lot outside the Barking Dog coffee house, he played one track for me that's titled "Plutonium Bob," explaining it as "Zappish." Indeed it is, and no doubt Frank Zappa himself would enjoy it. Both a team player and a solo artist, Aguilar says he enjoys making music nearly all the time, and especially "in an ensemble when it all clicks and it feels effortless and it all flows together. There's nothing like it." Guitars have been at the heart of Aguilar's life for more than a half-century. Sonoma legend has it he had a guitar in his hands when he was born. Aguilar's second guitar was electric and known as a "Kay Speed Demon," which today can sell for thousands of dollars. David Aguilar loves the life he lives. His many fans love the music he has made, from Sonoma to Sweden and from Florida to Wales. You can bet he'll go on making music as long as he can hold a guitar close to his heart and move his nimble fingers along its strings.

David Aguilar
Guitar, Vocals

Roy Blumenfeld
Drums, Vocals

Steve Ashman
Bass, Vocals

Steve Ashman grew up in Los Angeles, and moved to the Bay Area at age 17.  He was in his 20's before he started playing the bass, his first musical instrument.  He is a devoted listener of jazz and R&B.  Ashman was (and is) especially taken with the playing of Motown legend, James Jamerson, as well as such innovative bassists as Scott LaFaro, Charles Mingus, Carol Kaye and Phil Lesh (among others), but "I always thought I was too old to learn how to play.  One day I decided to give it a try.  I wanted to be able to do to other people what bassists like Jamerson and Lesh had done to me."  He put together a band called "The Special Guests" that, "of course, didn't do anything and never went anywhere."  In 1982 he put together a jazz/new wave group and played for a year, and then, after a vacation from music (which was forced by an illness), Ashman created what was to become San Francisco's legendary R+B band, the Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra.  Steve also penned the theme song for the Golden State Warriors ad campaign "Don't Stop the Noise". Steve (with and without the Pitts) has played with such diverse artists as Barry Melton (Country Joe and the Fish), Bob Weir, Chris Isaak, Paul Kantner, Clarence Clemons, Linda Tillery and many others.