| *Danny Kalb - Sonicboomers Review |
There are only a handful of guitarists from the 60s who influenced what came later. Maybe they didn't achieve huge commercial success or mainstream fame, but in ways that counted far behind those fleeting indicators these musicians made a real difference. Danny Kalb is one of those creators. He co-founded the Blues Project in the mid-60s, and brought together elements of rock, folk and blues in a way that really had not been done, applying huge doses of lyricism and innovative technique to art forms that had existed for a hundred years, taking those sounds into the modern world to inspire others. The singer-guitarist had an uncanny way of injecting modern blues with the softer strains of folk music, at the same time adding volumes of electricity to the mix exactly when needed to amp the excitement level up to eleven.
With keyboardist Al Kooper, the Project became instant Greenwich Village mainstays, and while they didn't have the gritty power of Chicago's Butterfield Blues Band, the New Yorkers were still able to carve out their own space in the burgeoning psychedelic-rock explosion. The band's second album, Projections, stands as a generational high point, and has proven prescient in its amalgamation of styles. Kalb went on to have a few rough years, but came out the other side whole.
I'm Gonna Live The Life I Sing About is a major testament of soul, the kind of album where a man shows what he's made of. Performing songs by everyone from Little Richard to Thomas A. Dorsey along with several moving originals, Kalb demonstrates when someone dedicates their life to music, there really is no turning back. His voice has a weathered sweetness that speaks of the long years and lasting love of the blues, and his guitar tells secrets that could easily come from the spirit world. Just as Mississippi John Hurt and Son House found new fire in the second half of their lives, so does Danny Kalb enter the golden zone with all his gifts ablaze. What a joy.
- Bill Bentley (1/30/09) |
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| *Danny Kalb Reviews - Excerpts |
Kalb's instrumental performance is consistently top notch. He makes that guitar sing, wail, plead, and cry. He carefully annunciates the lyrics so that their full meanings clearly come through for full effect. Kalb understands the dance between the words and the strings that give the acoustic music power to knock the listener out without the need for volume. He projects the blues by carefully attending to its meanings and nuances.
-Steve Horowitz/Popmatters.com 1/16/09
Danny has finally released the album that should have followed the breakup of The Blues Project over 40 years ago. His baritone voice is rich and strong. His guitar playing, both acoustic and electric is mesmerizing...The album treads the familiar ground of Little Richard, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker Reverend Gary Davis and Jimmy Reed, but Danny Kalb honors each songwriter by making each song his own. If you have ever questioned a white man's right to sing the blues you will never hear a more authentic blues man than Danny Kalb and this album is a testament to that fact. To hear him live in a small room is pure magic and this album captures that feeling.
-Stan Beinstein/WDST-FM (Woodstock, NY)
I'm Gonna Live The Life I Sing About proves that Danny Kalb is one of the best practitioners of the blues in music today. He has a long, if under the radar legacy, and it's good to hear him at his best. This album should be a definite buy.
-David Bowling/Blogcritics.com 12/22
Dan never ceases to sieve everything through an innovative eye and dexterous hand, and we can only hope that this new spate of activity and releases is the crossroads of a renewed old pro because master he was, master he is, and, the Fates willing, master he will continue to be for years to come.
-Mark Tucker/AcousticMusic.com 12/10 |
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| *JamBase - Another Great Review |
A mentoree of the great Dave Van Ronk, Danny Kalb first came to attention in the 1960s when he was kicking around the Greenwich Village folk and blues revival with a great cast of characters (Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger, among others), and is best known for founding The Blues Project in 1965. A highly eclectic band that burned out by 1967 because of too many cooks stirring the musical pot, not to mention too many drugs, its ranks included Steve Katz and Al Kooper, and their immense influence, particularly on the jam band scene, is often overlooked. Kalb's career ducked out of the light since then, with relatively minimal studio output and long periods of silence. Occasional appearances on stage over the years for Blues Project reunions and more recent solo and trio group shows are coveted occasions. Although Danny Kalb's artistry and legacy as a guitarist is well respected, he seems somewhat destined to stay the stuff of whispered legend rather than household name. I'm Gonna Live the Life I Sing About (Sojourn) is then the resounding voice of a blues guitar sage, netted from sessions recorded in 2006 and 2007, as well as other cuts stretching back to the late 1990s, with Kalb backed only by bass and drums on most tracks. The juicy, choice covers and three classic-sounding originals ("Gotta Get Goin' Again", "Crazy Girl" and the lilting "Lazy Afternoon") are all played with love and delivered straight up, no chasers. Opening two-shot of Billy Boy Arnold's "I Wish You Would" and a slinky acoustic take on Little Richard's "Slippin' and Slidin'" both come on strong, with the first twirling around on a toe-tapping, head-bobbing rhythm that's begging for a dance floor twitch. My personal favorite track, if I had to pick, is a cover of Elizabeth Cotten's "Shake Sugaree." Lovely and harmonica-steeped, it reels out over imaginary end credits. Throughout the album, Kalb's matter-of-fact voice, weathered by life's joys and sorrows, compliments the undiluted aesthetic. Switching between acoustic and electric guitars, his playing is lustrous and full of life and breath, but never slick or fussy. The notes don't need to beg for attention. Kalb instead infuses each one with an inner glow and you know you are hearing the real, honest deal as you listen to him move.
-Sarah Hagerman |
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| *All Music Review |
Danny Kalb was the bluesiest member of the Blues Project, the seminal Greenwich Village band of the mid-'60s that helped usher in the blues-rock era. A stunning guitarist, he was among the first to apply the hallmarks of then-emerging psychedelia to American roots music, alternately reeling off demonically speedy, blood-curdling, razor sharp electric solos and deeply penetrating, gutbucket Delta licks that could have come from the masters themselves — if they'd come of age in New York City in the '60s rather than Mississippi in the '30s. He also masterfully incorporated elements of jazz, folk, and soul but Kalb barely had a chance to stake his claim as an innovator when the core band split up after three albums, and he was largely forgotten except by a small hardcore group of admirers. In the ensuing decades Kalb's output has been minimal but I'm Gonna Live the Life I Sing About offers ample proof that his talent and love for the blues remain intact. Naturally, it's not as electrically charged as the Blues Project was, and it doesn't try to be as eclectic. This is more subtle and no-frills, Danny Kalb simply doing what he loves to do and does best: playing and singing classic blues. While there are a few original tunes here, and they are fine efforts, it's his remakes of staples like the opening "I Wish You Would" (Billy Boy Arnold), "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover" (Willie Dixon), "Samson & Delilah" "If I Had My Way" (Rev. Gary Davis), and "Shake Sugaree" (Elizabeth Cotten) that provide the key moments here. Alternating between acoustic and electric guitars, and working primarily with bassist Bob Jones and drummer Mark Ambrosino, Kalb's playing and singing is enthusiastic and refined, straightforward but still quite inventive. His vocals are arguably better than they were in his younger days. And he still has vision: the title track, a gospel tune by Thomas A. Dorsey, is given a slow blues treatment that may remind old fans of the Blues Project's take on "Two Trains Running," while Little Richard's rocking "Slippin' and Slidin'," a highlight of the album, is toned down and converted into an acoustic shuffle that casts a whole new light on it. Danny Kalb may never receive the historical due he is truly owed, but this set leaves no doubt that the guy's still got it.
- Jeff Tamarkin |
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| *Danny Kalb-I'm Gonna Live-Released |
Sony/RED working in partnership with Sojourn Records is distributing Danny Kalb's highly acclaimed recording "I'm Gonna Live The Life I Sing About" that was first introduced in late January 2009. The album is selling well and showing that Danny's fans have been waiting to pick back up with an old friend. |
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