The Cobalt Rhythm Kings

Bio:

-- Winner of the 2010 New Haven Advocate Grand Band Slam -- -- "Best Blues Band!" -- The Cobalt Rhythm Kings are steeped in the jazzy jump blues of Louis Jordan, Big Joe Turner, Wynonie Harris and the Liggins brothers; the cool, raging West Coast swing blues of William Clark, Rod Piazza and James Harman, and the hard-edged Chicago blues of Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Junior Wells and Freddie King, to name a few. Formed in April 1996 as the outgrowth of four guys thrown together onstage one winter Sunday night at the cafe nine blues jam in New Haven, The Cobalt Rhythm Kings have played everywhere from New York City's former premier blues club, Chicago B.L.U.E.S., to the New Haven Jazz Festival, where they opened on the New Haven Green for Son Seals in August 1999, to the New Haven Festival of Arts & Ideas' "Edge" and "Art on the Edge" festivals. The band made its debut on the national stage on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2005 at the 20th Annual Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival -- formerly the King Biscuit Blues Festival -- in Helena, Arkansas. The Kings have opened for the great Johnny Winter, performing to a packed house at Toad's Place, Connecticut's leading music club and on July 20, 2002, joined blues great Etta James, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas and the Fairfield Four in front of thousands of people at the first New Haven Blues & Roots Festival on the New Haven Green. Other stops along the way have included many of Connecticut's better blues and music clubs, from cafe nine and The Blues Cafe in New Haven to The BoxCar in Southport and Black Eyed Sally's and the Arch Street Tavern in Hartford. Besides Son Seals, they have opened for or appeared with the likes of Phil Guy, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Roomful of Blues, Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters, Bob Margolin, Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, John Hammond Jr., Ron Levy & His Wild Kingdom and Debbie Davies. Perhaps the most unusual Cobalt gig was in the dead of winter on Jan. 20, 2007 -- at 7 a.m. -- when The Cobalt Rhythm Kings played to 15,000 people atop the Temple Street Garage, just prior to the implosion of the New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum! Here's a video of the band doing "Cross-Eyeded Mama" that morning: The Cobalt Rhythm Kings' Cobalt Records CD, "HOT . . . Like Red Pepper," contains nine songs -- four originals -- that range from uptempo, danceable jump blues to gritty, grinding Chicago blues and the flat-out boogie of "King of the Boogie," an original tune in memory of the late John Lee Hooker. The CD also includes "Tougher Than That," a powerful tribute to the found American spirit written in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, and two other original songs: the bouncing, Chicago-style "Cross-Eyeded Mama" and the steamy, atmospheric "Louisiana Bayou." In addition to the band's originals, the Cobalts are committed to resurrecting some of the great blues and swing numbers of the past and making sure that the people who brought them to the world get proper credit -- while at the same time doing them fresh rather than treating them as relics. Never heard of Buddy Johnson's "A Pretty Girl, a Cadillac and Some Money," Rudy Greene's "Juicy Fruit" or Albina Jones' "What's the Matter With You?" Get ready to boogie! A Little Cobalt History . . . The Cobalt Rhythm Kings grew out of a chance pairing at the long-running Sunday night cafe nine blues jam, when Ansonia, Connecticut-raised cousins guitarist George Lesiw and drummer George Mastrogiannis and their friend, bassist Steve Klunk of Orange, Conn. were thrown together onstage one Sunday night in January 1996 with Chicago-born harmonica player and vocalist Mark Zaretsky. After several months of wood-shedding in Lesiw's basement in Ansonia, the band debuted with a short-running weekly Tuesday night gig at when then was called The Bash at the corner of College and Crown streets in downtown New Haven, Conn. The gig lasted a couple of months, but by then the Cobalts were established and began getting work elsewhere. The original lineup lasted for the first year or so, when Klunk and later Lesiw decided to move on and do other things. Klunk's departure brought Chicago-born bass player and vocalist Wendell Jones to the band. where he remains to this day as its second longest playing member. A few months later, Mastrogiannis also decided to move on, leaving Zaretsky as the only original member by time the band entered its third year -- although both Mastrogiannis and Lesiw have been in and out of the band for multiple periods of time since then! Zaretsky and Jones were joined for a time by Tom Nagy and later Luke Rodney (www.inityreggae.com) on drums and several different guitarists, most notably New Haven-based, internationally-known blues guitarist Rocky Lawrence (www.rockylawrence.com) and, for a short period of time, Eric Ducoff, now of Ryan Hartt and the Blue Hearts (www.ryanhartt.com) The band also had a sax player for a few months around that time in Jeff "JD" Herzog, and has performed with a horn section on a number of occasions featuring Herzog on sax and Patrick Casey on trumpet as the Hellbound Horns. The Cobalt Rhythm Kings' most identifiable and longest-running lineup took shape in May 1999 when Norwalk, Conn.-raised drummer Gil Hawkins Jr. and West Haven, Conn.-raised guitarist Greg Benn joined, just in time to open for the late Son Seals on the New Haven Green as part of the New Haven Jazz Festival. The lineup remained rock solid until August 2005, when Hawkins felt the need to move on and play other things. After performing for a few months with Eran Troy Danner & Hot Dallas, he has hooked up with none other than former Cobalt guitarist George Lesiw to play original jam-based blues-jazz fusion in the George Lesiw Band. (www.myspace.com/georgelesiwband) Good luck guys! It's all in the Cobalt family . . .

Member Since:

January 08, 2006

Members:

The current Cobalt lineup includes Chicago-born singer and harmonica player Mark Zaretsky, Chicago native and longtime New Havener Wendell Jones on bass and vocals, veteran drummer Tony Lupia of Berlin, Conn., and Greg Benn, from West Haven, Conn. by way of Guilford, Conn., on guitar.

Influences:

Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Buddy Johnson, John Lee Hooker, James Cotton, Otis Rush, Magic Sam, the Walters (Big and Little) Big Joe Turner, Wynonie Harris, Sonny Boy Williamson, the Allman Brothers, the Liggins Brothers, Charlie Musselwhite, William Clarke, Billy Branch, James Harman, Rod Piazza, The Nighthawks, Freddie King and Junior Wells, just to name a few!

Sounds Like:

Good home cookin' blues!

Record Label:

Cobalt Records