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Steve Blum

Master guitarist Stephen Blum’s career has taken him around the world with some of the biggest names in jazz 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. Stephen Blum was also 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. Less than a year later, he received a letter signed by Dizzy Gillespie that stated Steve had received a full scholarship for the “The N.Y. School of Jazz”. The ground breaking school for talented high school age musicians was funded by the great Duke Ellington and the New York Arts Society. It was here that Steve started taking guitar lessons from the great Lawrence (Larry) Lucie. Lucie, a remarkable New York jazz and rhythm guitarist played and recorded with Jelly Roll Morton, Fletcher Henderson, Louis Armstrong and Benny Carter, to name a few. While attending the University of Miami, Steve went out on the road to perform and record with singer 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 well known WNEW Radio Broadcasts hosted by William B Williams. He has also performed with music legends Louis Bellson, Toots Thielemans, 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. Stephen Blum was active as a recording guitarist – 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. His impressive talent took on a different slant in the 1969 Vanguard Recording “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) However the quote from Jazz Master Toots Thielemans simply says it all: “A gifted guitarist.”

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Steve Blum’s Molecular Organ Trio - Celebrating Les Paul at the Iridium on March 30th

Steve Blum’s Molecular Organ Trio - Celebrating Les Paul at the Iridium on March 30th

Source: Jane Blackstone

The Iridium Jazz Club proudly presents STEVE BLUM’S MOLECULAR ORGAN TRIO Monday, March 30 One show only: 9-10:30 pm Honoring the Great Les Paul 100th Year Celebration On Monday, March 30th, guitarist Steve Blum’s Molecular Organ Trio will make its exciting debut at the Iridium Jazz Club, and it’s about time. Blum, a native New Yorker, has been performing as a leader, in recording studios and as a preferred sideman for over 40 professional years. Whether he’s making music at ...

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 music and his own personal vision…Stephen Blum is a remarkable musician." —Joe Ross, Roots Music Report, CDInsight

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