NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) — Danny Kalb, a guitarist and vocalist who was best known as one of the original members of the Blues Project, died on November 19th. He was 80.
Kalb’s passing was announced on social media by his Blues Project bandmate, Steve Katz, and confirmed to the New York Times by Kalb’s brother, Jonathan.
Jonathan told the New York Times that his brother was diagnosed with cancer about three years ago and said he stopped eating last week.
A native of New York, Kalb started playing guitar when he was just 14 and after a chance meeting with Bob Dylan at the University of Wisconsin, Kalb quit school to become part of the Greenwich Village folk scene.
He became a protégé of the noted Greenwich Village blues artist Dave Van Ronk and was soon performing as a solo artist and as a session musician with the likes of Judy Collins, Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger, and Bob Dylan.
Kalb and the blues ethnomusicologist Sam Charters formed the New Strangers and Kalb went on to join Ronk’s Ragtime Jug Stompers in 1963.
In 1965, Kalb joined Steve Katz, Andy Kulberg, Roy Blumenfeld and Tom Flanders (who was later replaced by Al Kooper) to launch the Blues Project and the group recorded three albums together and toured the U.S. before disbanding in 1971.
Through the latter part of his career, Kalb continued to perform as a solo artist and released several collaboration albums with artists such as Stefan Grossman, Bob Jones, Mark Ambrosino, and former Blues Project bandmate Steve Katz.
He also joined Al Kooper for a Blues Project reunion in 1996 that resulted in a live album, Livin’ With The Blues, recorded at the famed Greenwich club, The Bottom Line.
According to the New York Times, Kalb was survived by his brother Jonathan.
