Rarely does a musician display equally brilliant dexterity and creativity in both blues and jazz. One such rare bird is
Bruce Katz, who not only meets these characteristics, but excels in his understanding of the genres and unleashes the strongest assets of each. Best known as a member of
Ronnie Earl & the Broadcasters,
Katz took up music at age five when he outperformed his sister on classical pieces that she was assigned for piano lessons. Discovering classic jazz and a
Bessie Smith record planted the seeds of a passion for jazz and blues. In the early '80s, his first major supporting gig was for
Big Mama Thornton; he then worked and toured with
Barrence Whitfield & the Savages,
Bo Diddley,
Chuck Berry,
Jimmy Witherspoon,
Johnny Adams, and
Tiger Okoshi. Burned out from life on the road, he enrolled at the New England Conservatory, earning a master's degree in jazz. Five months after graduation,
Katz met
Ronnie Earl, who hired him.
During his nearly five-year stint with
Earl,
Katz performed on six CDs and co-wrote songs with
Earl, including "The Colour of Love," "Ice Cream Man," and "Hippology." In 1992
Katz debuted his first solo album,
Crescent Crawl, and released
Transformation the following year. Just before the release of
Mississippi Moan,
Katz left
the Broadcasters to concentrate on his solo career. His album roster includes 1993's
Transformation, 1997's
Mississippi Moan, 2000's
Three Feet to the Ground, 2004's Deeper Blue, and 2008's
Live! At the Firefly.
Katz has also been a member of
Gregg Allman's group, and has toured as pianist with
the Allman Brothers Band. In addition to performing and recording,
Katz teaches piano and was an associate professor at the Berklee College of Music, where he taught the school's first-ever in-depth blues course. He has released two educational DVDs: Breakthrough Blues Piano (2016) and Play Like Ray (2018). ~ Char Ham