Stephen Blum

STEPHEN BLUM Guitarist, Acoustic and Electric Master guitarist Stephen Blum’s career has taken him around the world with some of the biggest names in Jazz, Brazilian, American Blues and Popular music. He has appeared at many top music venues and festivals such as The Montreal Jazz Festival, Maine Festival of the Arts, The Great American Music Hall, Yoshi’s Jazz Club (SF), Cape Cod Jazz Festival, The French Quarter Festival (New Orleans), Smalls Jazz Club (NYC), Wall Street Jazz Festival, SESC Concerts Sao Paulo, Brazil, Snug Harbor, New Orleans and the Portland Performing Arts Center, Portland, Maine. Mr. Blum was honored by the San Francisco Bay Jazz Society by a unanimous vote, to perform with his own group at the Milestones Jazz Club, one of the city’s top performance venues. Steve was born in New York City and began playing professionally at age fifteen. His musical life shows a wealth of “real life” experience as he developed as an artist. To begin his musical education, he received a letter signed by Dizzy Gillespie that stated Steve had received a full scholarship for the “The N.Y. School of Jazz”. This ground-breaking school for talented high school age musicians was funded by the great Duke Ellington and the New York Arts Society. While attending the University of Miami, Steve went out on the road to perform and record with the great Peggy Lee, during her late 1960s-early 1970s Capitol Records sojourn. While with Peggy, he played such important venues as Central Park’s Main Stage and Madison Square Garden. Also while with Peggy Lee, Steve played behind her on her NBC Television special as well as the infamous WNEW Radio Broadcasts hosted by William B Williams. He has also performed with music legends Louis Bellson, Toots Thielemans, and Joe Williams. During the 1970’s Steve served as musical director for Morgana King performing at such legendary venues as The Troubadour in Los Angeles. Through out his career Steve has always been very active doing session work at top notch recording studios such Criteria in Miami and Atlantic Studios in New York City. Through the years, Blum has played with greats like Latin jazz legend Carlos “Patato” Valdez, renowned post-bop musicians like multi-instrumentalist Ira Sullivan, bassist Cecil McBee, and jazz organist Dr. Lonnie Smith. He has lived and worked in Quebec City, (Le Bar Jazze’) Montreal, L.A. and New Orleans. He played with such notable New Orleans musical artists as Wendell Brunois, Lillian Boutte’, Mark Braud, Freddy Lonzo and Derek Douget. His love and appreciation for Brazilian music, however has been a passion that still guides his playing. The much loved host of the Som Brazil radio show at WKCR in NYC gave Steve’s music a great mention after his “on air” performance: Jassvan de Lima...the CD is great…The music is magic - In 2011, Stephen released his debut album as leader, entitled “Gottschalks’ Last Dance” The album is the result of Blum’s extensive “hands on” explorations of the music of the Americas, and features jazz and blues from the United States, a reggae- style tune based upon a theme by American composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk, and a classic Haitian song in which Steve plays the cuatro, a native Puerto Rican stringed instrument. The CD also contains compositions by the great Brazilian composers Toninho Horta, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Hermeto Pascoal, as well as his own composition, “The Stream”, a New York style jazz and Latin hybrid. Blum says “the recording “attempts to weave all these styles mentioned into a musical quilt.” His ongoing passion is to connect the musical streams that flow between the Americas – through cities like Rio de Janeiro, Kingston, New Orleans and New York. Stephen Blum resides in the New York City, CT. Metro area, where he teaches and free-lances. His latest project, The Music of Minas Geries is a remarkable presentation of Latin, blues, jazz and Jam/Pop styles all coming from the source: the “roots” of American music. Stephen Blum and The Molecular Organ Trio consists of drummer Vince Ector, Jazz keyboard and Hammond organist, Jared Gold. They are exceptionally gifted musicians in their own right, but the energy and depth of the music they play surely culminates when they get on stage with Steve Blum. The material the group performs is first arranged by Blum to speak to the young and old alike. As Steve noted “ I ‘d rather get people up and dancing, then have them just be a sedentary audience…although I love it when they listen, I also want to excite and bring energy to a performance.”

Whether Steve is playing solo, or with other players, he is a gifted and original American master guitarist, as exemplified by the following comments and write- ups: Reviews and Applause for Stephen Blum:

“A gifted guitarist.”…Toots Theilemans

Performing on acoustic and electric guitars, as well as the Puerto Rican cuatro, he can coax many sounds from his instruments. “The Stream,” for example, has a very fluid and dreamy quality. A Thelonious Monk bebop composition, “Bright Mississippi,” is presented with plenty of twang of the slide guitar… Like Monk, the rendition displays a copious amount of personality and technique … throughout this CD, he is right on, emphasizing his astute understanding of the evolution of jazz and Brazilian music with his own personal vision…Stephen Blum is a remarkable musician. “ -Joe Ross, Roots Music Report, CD Insight

“The Masters of Deceit- Hensley’s Electric Jazz Band & Synthetic Symphonette. “The Masters of Deceit played a strong set with guitarist Steve Blum especially impressive.” -Fred Kirby, Billboard Magazine-

“His taste and his chops are impeccable…Blum has explored rather vast reaches of the world’s musical landscapes completely on his own terms…. “ – Clifford Allen- The Austinist (Austin, Tx)

Contact Information

There are several ways to contact : For Booking Information : Fernando Natilici Motief Music Group /XT Productions 35 West 29th St #1200 NY, NY 10001 email: [email protected] 646-473-0378 Voice Messages XT Productions

Contact Steve Blum PH: 203:826:6181 [email protected]
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