Bruce Katz is a legendary keyboardist (Hammond B3 & Piano) who has released 12 albums as a leader & has appeared on over 75 other album. He has also had a strong musical connection with the Allman Brothers Band, and was a member of Gregg Allman’s band for 6 years, Jamoe’s Jasssz Band, Butch Trucks’ Freight Train Band & Les Brers. Bruce also occasionally toured with the Allman Brothers as well. Bruce is a 7-time Nominee for the Blues Music Award (W.C. Handy Award) for “Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year”, selected by the Blues Foundation of Memphis, TN. He won the BMA for Acoustic Blues Album of the Year in 2019 for his collaboration with Joe Louis Walker & Giles Robson for Journeys to the Heart of the Blues and was nominated again in 2020 for the same award for his acoustic piano album Solo Ride. He was also nominated for “Outstanding Musician (Keyboards)” by Living Blues Magazine in 2015 & 2019. He is a unique player & composer who combines Blues & American Roots music with elements of jazz & improvisational rock music that creates a signature sound that is all is own. Bruce was an Associate Professor at the Berklee College of Music for 14 years (1996-2010), teaching Harmony, Hammond organ labs, Blues History & Private Piano Instruction. Bruce began playing piano at age 5 and has a lengthy background in classical piano. After hearing a Bessie Smith record when he was 10 years old, he started teaching himself blues and early jazz on the piano. He then heard boogie-woogie and swing music and continued his musical journey into more aspects of jazz and American roots music. Bruce attended Berklee College of Music in the mid-1970s, studying Composition & Performance. For the next 15 years, he performed with many of the leading musicians in New England, and played “on the road” for long stretches of time. In the early 1980s, Bruce played with Big Mama Thornton on her East Coast tours and this experience revived his desire to play Blues Music as a primary focus. In 1992, he met Ronnie Earl, who soon invited him to join his band, The Broadcasters. During his nearly five-year stint with Earl, Katz toured the world and performed on 6 albums, writing and co- writing many of the tunes, such as “The Colour of Love,” “Ice Cream Man,” & “Hippology.” The album “Grateful Heart” (Bullseye) won the Downbeat Critics Poll for Best Blues Album of 1996. In 1992 as well, Katz debuted his first solo album, “Crescent Crawl”, on the AudioQuest label. He released “Transformation” the following year. Just before the release of “Mississippi Moan” in 1997, his 3rd solo album, Katz left the Broadcasters to concentrate on a solo career. At that point, the Bruce Katz Band began touring the U.S. and Europe, and has been his ongoing focus, in addition to his many other projects. In these years, Bruce played with Duke Robillard, John Hammond, Gregg Allman, Delbert McClinton and many other high profile roots, blues, & rock performers, while continuing to tour and record with his own band. This cat is the real deal and if you get a chance to catch the Bruce Katz Band live, you surely should find the time.
It was real nice to get to have a musical conversation once aGain with Bruce as the band is heading back to Madison on April 30 at High Noon Saloon. We get into the basics of what is gonna go down that night or any night you might catch this band. The thing about jumping off the cliff into a world of improvisation is what always thrills me with any kind of music, especially the sweet bluesy soul Bruce Katz Band will be laying out. Being as he was working with so many great artists as he came up, I was curious as to how the moment happened when he knew it was time to go out on his own. Of course, we recently lost when of his friends, Mr. John Hammond, who is also a friend of greenarrowradio. We talk a bit about the man Mr. Hammond was and to hear Bruce speak, you can just feel that soul. Maybe going to see this band will bring back any of your soul that might have been hiding during the times we’re in?!
