Cool Katz

Former Ronnie Earl organist tries out his own band

by Don Fluckinger

Many people worship with a Hammond B-3 organ, divining inspiration from its soulful tones. In churches across the land, pure gospel emanates from its spinning Leslie speaker. Keyboardists like soul/funk originators Booker T. Jones and Famous Flame Bobby Byrd -- as well as pale imitators such as Gregg Allman -- use the B-3 to elevate blues and soul to a religious experience. Following that tradition, New Englander Bruce Katz plays blues on his custom B-3 -- and on the piano -- with the confidence of a master, from quiet, cool, understatement all the way out to loud, crashy, glissando-rife boogie-woogie banging.

A former Ronnie Earl & the Broadcasters keyboardist who's now leading his own band, Katz certainly qualifies as one of the most talented musicians in New England. With his road-ready Bruce Katz Band (who appear this Saturday at the Sit 'N Bull Pub), featuring guitarist Julien Kasper, tenor and bari sax player Tom Hall, Mike Poniatowski on upright bass, and Ralph Rosen on drums, Katz is lining up summer gigs nationwide. That is, after the semester at Berklee ends. Katz teaches a blues course of his own design, the first of its kind at the school.

"It's interesting," he says. "I don't think anything's ever happened at Berklee like that. Today we spent two hours analyzing Robert Johnson's `Hellhound on my Trail.'"

In advance of making tour plans, Katz and the band finished Mississippi Moan, their third album; recently released on AudioQuest, which recorded the tracks live to two-track tape with top-notch equipment at a top-notch studio, Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, New York. The spontaneity required to put together a live-in-the-studio album spills over into the band's stage shows; the sound is tight, and the players obviously dig what they're doing, judging from the looks on their faces.

Mississippi Moan features all instrumentals, save "Hanging On the Cross" and "I'm Gonna Love You," on which AudioQuest labelmate Mighty Sam McClain sings. No one would mistake Katz's blues for jazz, but there are elements of jazz to be found on Mississippi Moan, in that it occasionally features long solos and sophisticated harmonics not traditionally found on blues albums. They even cover the classic jazz tune "Compared to What," made popular by Les McCann.

"Jackalope Bar-B-Q" sounds more like a jazzed-out Morphine tune than blues, fueled by Kasper's guitar and Hall's romping bari sax. The album delves into gospel styles as well, especially in the Katz solo piano number "In the Garden," a traditional hymn, and his original "Praise House," with its powerful, rumbling intro reminiscent of the style played in black churches.

New Orleans influences crop up on Mississippi Moan too, as in "Night of Joy," which perfectly captures the Professor Longhair groove.

Katz always has been enamored with Southern music, but it took a few detours before he started playing it full time. After attending Berklee as a student in the '70s, Katz played in a disco band, then got serious with a jazz group called Search. Later, he toured with Big Mama Thornton; and he spent several years touring behind Barrence Whitfield. After earning a master's degree at the New England Conservatory, he joined Ronnie Earl's Broadcasters, a stint that lasted through five years and six albums.

Last year, Earl made the jump from Cambridge indie label Bullseye Blues to Verve. Katz and bassist Rod Carey, who had been with the band five years, joined Earl and longtime Broadcasters drummer Per Hanson to record The Colour of Love. When the session was over, the band split. Although Katz tactfully declines to share the gory details, he hints at dissension.

"Things can get a little hairy after five years. Bands are like families, and sometimes they become like dysfunctional families," he says.

Ronnie Earl has since assembled a new band still called the Broadcasters. "I do think that some people are shocked when they go see the Broadcasters, and it's not just that I'm gone, but that everyone's gone," Katz says.

Despite that dysfunction, in concert, Ronnie Earl always gave his sidemen, including Katz, lots of creative space, featuring them with extended solos and recording their compositions. And now, though Katz has moved on to express his own expansive interpretation of the blues with his own band, he looks back fondly on that part of his performing career.

"That band," he says, "was magical."

The Bruce Katz Band play at 9 p.m. February 21 at the Sit 'N Bull Pub, in Maynard. Tickets are $6. Call (978) 897-4663.