1964 Even Dozen Jug Band Even Dozen Jug Band
Guitar,Vocals
1966 Blues Project
Live at the Cafe au-Go-Go Guitar
1966 Blues Project
Projections
Guitar
1966 Blues Project
Best Of The Blues Project Guitar, Vocals
1967 Blues Project
Live at Town Hall
Guitar
1967 Monterey Pop
Monterey Int'l Pop Festival Guitar, Vocals
1968 Blood Sweat & Tears Child Is Father to
the Man Guitar, Vocals
1969 Blood Sweat & Tears Blood, Sweat &
Tears Guitar, Vocals
1969 Kooper, Al
Al Kooper & Steve Katz Guitar
1970 Jake&the Fam. Jewels Jake & The Family Jewels
Engineer
1971 Blood Sweat & Tears BS&T 4
Guitars/Vocals/Mandolin/ Harmonica
1972 Blood Sweat & Tears New Blood
Guitar, Vocals
1973 Blood Sweat & Tears No Sweat
Rhythm Guitar
1973 Blues Project: Reunion in Central Pk. Guitar/Harmonica/Percussion,
vocals
1973 Lynyrd Skynyrd
Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd Harmonica
1974 Reed, Lou
Sally Can't Dance
Harmonica
1974 Reed, Lou
Rock & Roll Animal
Producer
1975 Kooper, Al
Al's Big Deal
Guitar
1975 Reed, Lou
Lou Reed Live
Producer
1976 American Flyer
American Flyer
Guitars/Vocals
1976 Murphy, Elliott Night
Lights
Vocals, Producer
1977 American Flyer
Spirit of a Woman
Guitars/Vocals
1977 Reed, Lou
The Best of Lou Reed
Producer
1978 King, Carole
Welcome Home
?
1979 Cryers
Cryers
Producer
1979 Horslips
Man Who Built America
Producer
1980 Blood Sweat & Tears Classic
B S T
Guitar, Vocals
1980 Duke Jupiter
Band in Blue
Harmonica
1980 Horslips
Short Stories/Tall Tales Tambourine/Prod.
1980 Horslips
Belfast Gigs
Producer
1989 Marlo, Clair
Let It Go
Producer
1989 Christmas Guitars
Christmas Guitars
Exec.Producer
1990 Babes in Arms
Babes in Arms
Vocal Arranger
1990 Babes in Arms
Babes in Arms [Orig. Cast] Vocal Arranger
1991 50,000,000 Frenchmen 50,000,000 Frenchmen
Vocal Arranger
1992 Reed, Lou
Between Thought & Expression Producer
1992 Murphy, Elliott
Diamonds by the Yard
Vocals
1994 Solomon, Howard
Blues Project Live@Town Hall
1995 Anderson, John
Angels Embrace
Keyboards
1996 Reed, Lou
Different Times
Producer
1997 Blues Project
Anthology
Guitars Harmonica, Vocals
1997 El Roacho
Best of El Roacho
Producer
1997 James, Mark
Mark James
Harmonica
Steve's professional career started
in the late fifties on a local Schenectady, New York television program
called Teenage Barn. Accompanied by piano, Steve would sing such hits of
the day as "Tammy" and "April Love". Things could only go downhill
from there.
Influenced by the folk music
groups of the early sixties, Steve studied guitar as a teenager with Dave
Van Ronk and Reverend Gary Davis. It was at this time that he met and befriended guitarist
Stefan Grossman. Steve & Stefan would sometimes act as road managers
for Reverend Davis and, in so doing, met many of the great "rediscovered"
blues men of an earlier era, like Son House, Skip James and Mississippi
John Hurt.
There were many other young
musicians and potential college dropouts around Greenwich Village during
this time who were as obsessed with American roots music as Steve, whether
it be bluegrass or blues. Many would look for a common ground in which
to play music together and some, including Steve, Stefan, Maria Muldaur,
John Sebastian and David Grisman found the common denominator in "jug band"
music - the music of Cannon's Jug Stompers and The Memphis Jug Band. They
and some other friends formed the Even Dozen Jug Band and were courted
by Elektra Records for whom they recorded an album in 1964. Dwarfed by
some of the finest young guitarists of the time, Steve opted to play washboard
in the band. He would later use the same tactic of avoiding tough chords
by mastering the harmonica.
After a brief sabbatical in
college, Steve, while teaching guitar in Greenwich Village, was asked to
audition for the Danny Kalb Quartet as a two-week substitute for the vacationing
Artie Traum. Frightened by the power of the sound of an electric guitar
and amp, Steve turned his volume to zero, thereby making no discernible
mistakes. He got the job. Artie never came back, Al Kooper joined, and
they had the Blues Project, a foray of young white middle-class musicians
into the amplified world of Chicago blues. But they worked out of New York,
and it was the mid-sixties, so the Blues Project experimented, dabbled
in their own style and gave Steve an opportunity to showcase his own songs,
as did Al and Danny. The Blues Project recorded three albums while together
in their first
incarnation. "Steve's Song", on the Projections album was the first original
song that Steve had recorded.
Refusing to perform Kooper's
"This Diamond Ring", however, The Blues Project, after two glorious years
as house band at the Cafe Au Go Go and Murray the K's last "submarine race-watching"
spectacular
at the the RKO 58th Street theater in New York, decided to break up, playing
the Monterey Pop Festival as their last major gig. The Blues Project's
lasting contribution during its short life was to open the airwaves of
radio to more album-oriented Rock. All attempts at singles failed but,
like the consciousness of the era, people looked for alternatives in fashion,
politics, lifestyles and musical tastes. The Blues Project gave people
an alternative and, at the same time, made people aware of music that they
might never have otherwise heard.
After the demise of the Blues
Project, Steve, Al Kooper, Bobby Colomby and Jim Fielder decided to work
up a set, mainly of Al's new songs, for a benefit concert whereby enough
money would be raised to send Al to London where he wanted to live. Joined
by Fred Lipsius on alto sax, the concert raised enough money for Al to
get a cab to the airport. There was no choice but start another band. Influenced
by the Electric Flag and an album by the Buckinghams entitled Time and
Charges, a horn section was utilized with rock arrangements that were a
touch more sophisticated than most horn arrangements in rock up to that
time. Thus, the formation of Blood, Sweat & Tears, a Columbia Records
contract, and the album Child is Father to the Man. Recorded and mixed
in only two weeks, the album sold moderately well but was a huge critical
success. Steve sang one original song ("Megan's Gypsy Eyes") and a song
by his friend, the late Tim Buckley.
Al left Blood, Sweat & Tears
after only six months and while they were reorganizing, Steve wrote record
reviews for Eye Magazine, a Cosmopolian spin-off. Getting the record company
to continue with the band without Kooper was difficult until they heard
David Clayton-Thomas. They reluctantly agreed to go ahead with a new album.
That album sold six million copies worldwide and fostered three number
one singles, a major feat for 1969. Steve continued with Blood, Sweat &
Tears for five years, during which time the group received a large
number of accolades. They won three Grammies, were voted best band by the
Playboy Jazz and Pop Poll two years in a row, and won three major Downbeat
awards, to name a few. Steve wrote many songs during his tenure with BS&T,
including his well-loved "Sometimes in Winter".
In 1972 Steve met Lou Reed and
they quickly became friends. After the commercial failure of Lou's album
Berlin, Steve was asked to produce his next record. Steve jumped at the
opportunity to start a new career and produced Rock & Roll Animal and
Sally Can't Dance for Lou. After a number of productions during this period,
Steve wanted to return again to playing music.
Although American Flyer was
not a performing band, it gave Steve another creative outlet in which to
work and talented people to work with. Steve was joined by the prolific
writer Eric Kaz, Craig Fuller from Pure Prairie League, and Doug Yule from
The Velvet Underground. The first of their two albums was produced by George
Martin who was interrogated constantly by Steve about his production techniques
with The Beatles.
Steve was offered
an opportunity to get closer to the business of music in 1977 with his
appointment as East Coast Director of A&R and later as Vice President
of Mercury Records. The highlight of the three years that Steve spent at
Mercury was his being able to produce the great Irish group Horslips. Steve
spent a good deal of time in Ireland during this period and produced three
albums for the group.
It was during his visits to
Ireland that Steve became enamored with all things Irish, especially the
traditional music and Irish literature. Horslips had originally been an
acoustic band that sang their songs in Gaelic, and the band members made
Steve aware of great Irish traditional music. This awareness turned into
obsession and in 1987, Steve became Managing Director of Green Linnet Records,
the foremost record label of traditional Irish music in America.
Steve stayed on at Green Linnet
for five years, during which time he married his one true love, Alison
Palmer, a ceramic artist. As time passed, Alison's craft achieved popularity
and recognition. Alison and Steve soon found that they had a thriving small
business and so, although Steve still works in the music industry as a
consultant and plays fairly often at reunions or with friends, life has
new priorities and, for Alison and Steve, their business takes up most
of their time. Together they live in Patterson, New York with their African
Grey Parrot, TuTu, their Corgis, Corki & Camille, and their chocolate
Lab, Hannah.