Blood, Sweat & Tears

Blood, Sweat & Tears is not the first band to ever use a horn section, but they are the first to fuse it with rock, jazz, and some blues thrown in for good measure. From the first ensemble in the late 1960s practicing in a loft on Bleeker Street in New York’s Greenwich Village and having crowds clapping on the street below between songs, founding member and drummer Bobby Colomby knew they were on the right course. Since then, the band has never stopped touring for over 50 years.

The first Blood, Sweat & Tears album, “Child is Father to the Man,” was released to little fanfare. The group’s self-titled second album was a success, rising to the top of the charts for seven weeks and yielding three top five singles. The album received the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1970, beating out the Beatles’ "Abby Road." That album earned quadruple-Platinum status with sales well over four million units. Blood, Sweat & Tears went on to receive 10 Grammy nominations and won three.

Blood, Sweat & Tears performed at Woodstock on Sunday, Aug. 17, 1969, the same day as Jimi Hendrix and other great bands, and 50 years later at Bethel Woods, N.Y. the site of Woodstock 2019. The band still headlines jazz festivals all over the world. Blood, Sweat & Tears performs only about 60 shows a year so it’s a rare treat to see them live.