The Chicago Blues Reunion

A history of legends

The iconic players, who comprise CBR are a who’s who of blues lovers’ household names: Barry Goldberg (Hammond B-3), Nick “The Greek” Gravenites (vocals/guitar), Harvey “The Snake” Mandel (guitar), Sam Lay (drums/vocals), Corky Siegel (harmonica/vocals), Gary Mallaber (drums), and Rick Reed (bass). Marcy Levy, Dave Mason and Jimmy Vivino join as special guests.

In their various earlier musical incarnations, they catalyzed the historic transition in popular music from acoustic folk to electric blues-influenced rock. Over the course of time, they have continued to be an inspiration to younger generations that followed the trail they blazed.

The members of Chicago Blues Reunion have led interconnected professional lives for the past five decades. The title track of their recent release, “Buried Alive In The Blues,” was written by Gravenites for Janis Joplin who died before she had a chance to record her vocals, although it appeared as an instrumental on her posthumously released Pearl album. Also included is Gravenites’ “Born In Chicago” which was the signature song of The Paul Butterfield Blues Band whose drummer was Sam Lay and whose legendary guitarist, Mike Bloomfield, though deceased, is considered an honorary member of Chicago Blues Reunion, along with Butterfield, in light of the great inspiration they provided each of the members.

Stalwarts of the Chicago folk and blues scene in the 1960s, Gravenites and Goldberg were founding members of The Electric Flag with Tracy Nelson before moving west to start Mother Earth. Harvey Mandel was a protégé of Bloomfield in those days and, later, went on to be part of Canned Heat and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers before launching his own solo career while Goldberg and Bloomfield released an album entitled Two Jews Blues. Corky Siegel has long been a Chicago blues fixture from his years with Siegel-Schwall to present day involvement in his Chamber Blues project. Lay and Goldberg also worked together at the Newport Folk Festival, backing up Bob Dylan on the day 40 years ago when he “went electric.”