- Cold Blood
Infobox musical artist
Name = Lydia Pense and Cold Blood
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Origin =Oakland, California
Genre = Rock,Urban contemporary ,Blue-eyed soul
Years_active =1969 –present
Label =Reprise (1972);Warner Bros. Records (1974); ABC (1976);Dig Music (2005)
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Notable_instruments =Cold Blood is a long-standing soul-rock-
jazz band founded byLarry Field in 1968 and originally based in the San Francisco East Bay area. They have also gone by the name "Lydia Pense and Cold Blood" due to the popularity of their lead singer,Lydia Pense .The band first came to prominence in
1969 when rockimpresario Bill Graham signed them after an audition and they played theFillmore West in San Francisco. Pense has been compared toJanis Joplin , and it was Joplin who recommended the audition to Graham.The band has often been compared to another long-standing popular Northern California group, "
Tower of Power ", and like "Tower of Power" they were rare in that they featured a horn section in addition to guitar, bass and drums. The "Tower of Power" horn players have performed with "Cold Blood" on a regular basis since the early 1970s.Skip Mesquite andMic Gillette have been members of both "Tower Of Power" and "Cold Blood".Their fan base also overlaps with the "Sons of Champlin ", although their musical styles are quite different.Their initial four albums, "Cold Blood", "Sisyphus", "First Taste of Sin" (produced by
Donny Hathaway ), and "Thriller" remain their best known work. The band disbanded in the late 1970s, reformed in the 1980s and stabilized with its current membership in the 1990s. Cold Blood continues to record and perform today, and some former band members such as Raul Matute (and some from "Tower of Power") appear on its most recent album.Original band members were founder
Larry Field (lead guitar), Lydia Pense (vocals),Danny Hull (tenor saxophone and songwriter),Larry Jonutz (trumpet),Raul Matute (Hammond organ, piano, arranger and songwriter),Jerry Jonutz (Baritone, alto and tenor saxophone),David Padron (trumpet),Rod Ellicott (bass), and Frank Davis (drums).Over the years there have been various incarnations of the band with some great players including singer/horn player
Max Haskett , Tower Of Power horn playerMic Gillette , Journey keyboardistStevie Roseman on Hammond B-3 organ, Sons Of Champlin drummerJim Preston , guitar playerMichael Sasaki , Tower Of Power guitaristJeff Tamelier , Boz Scaggs horn playerTom Poole , Elvin Bishop sax playerBill Slais , bass player Michael White & others.Current personnel are Lydia Pense (vocals),
Steve Salinas (keyboards),Steve Dunne (guitar), Mike Morgan (percussion),Evan Palmerston (bass),Rich Armstrong (trumpet, percussion),Rob Zuckerman (alto, tenor, baritone saxes) andDonny Baldwin (drums).Discography
Albums
*"Cold Blood" (1969)
*"Sisyphus" (1969)
*"First Taste of Sin" (1972)
*"Thriller" (1973)
*"Lydia" (1974)
*"The Best of Cold Blood" (1975)
*"Vintage Blood: Live! 1973" (live album), 2001
*"Transfusion" (2005)See also
*
Lydia Pense References
* [http://www.sfmuseum.net/hist1/rock.html Chronology of San Francisco Rock in the late 1960s]
External links
* [http://www.coldblood.biz// Official site for Lydia Pense and Cold Blood]
* [http://www.myspace.com/hornrockheaven Horn Rock Heaven]
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