Bruce Katz – 11/14

Bruce Katz is a legendary keyboardist (Hammond B3 and piano) who has released 12 albums as a leader and appeared on over 75 other CDs with artists including John Hammond, Delbert McClinton, Ronnie Earl, Little Milton, Butch Trucks, Duke Robillard, and David “Fathead” Newman.

He has a strong musical connection with the Allman Brothers Band and was a member of Gregg Allman’s band for six years (2007–2013), Jamoe’s Jasssz Band (2010–2015), Butch Trucks’ Freight Train Band, and Les Brers (2015–2017). He also occasionally toured with the Allman Brothers.

Katz was nominated seven times (2008, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2019, 2020, and 2021) for the Blues Music Award (W. C. Handy Award) for “Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year,” selected by the Blues Foundation of Memphis, Tennessee. He won the 2019 BMA for Acoustic Blues Album of the Year for Journeys to the Heart of the Blues, his collaboration with Joe Louis Walker and Giles Robson, and was nominated again in 2020 for the same award for his acoustic piano album Solo Ride. He was also nominated for “Outstanding Musician (Keyboards)” by Living Blues Magazine in 2015 and 2019.

He is a unique player and composer who combines blues and American roots music with elements of jazz and improvisational rock music, creating a signature sound all his own.

Katz was an associate professor at Berklee College of Music for fourteen years (1996–2010), teaching harmony, Hammond organ labs, blues history, and private piano instruction. He began playing piano at age five and has a lengthy background in classical piano. After hearing a Bessie Smith record at age ten, he taught himself blues and early jazz on piano. He later explored boogie-woogie, swing, jazz, and American roots music. Katz attended Berklee in the mid-1970s, studying composition and performance.

For the next fifteen years, he performed with leading musicians in New England and spent long stretches on the road. In the early 1980s, he played with Big Mama Thornton on her East Coast tours, renewing his desire to focus primarily on blues. After touring with Barrence Whitfield and the Savages in the late 1980s, he came off the road and enrolled at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He earned a master’s degree in jazz performance and studied with Geri Allen, Paul Bley, Cecil McBee, and George Russell. During this time, he began writing music that became the Bruce Katz Band.

In 1992, Katz met Ronnie Earl, who invited him to join his band, The Broadcasters. During nearly five years with Earl, Katz toured the world, performed on six albums, and wrote or co-wrote tunes including “The Colour of Love,” “Ice Cream Man,” and “Hippology.” The album Grateful Heart (Bullseye) won the DownBeat Critics Poll for Best Blues Album of 1996.

Katz also released his first solo album, Crescent Crawl, on the AudioQuest label in 1992, followed by Transformation the next year. Just before the release of his third solo album, Mississippi Moan, in 1997, he left The Broadcasters to focus on a solo career. The Bruce Katz Band began touring the U.S. and Europe and remains his ongoing focus alongside his other projects.

Over the years, Katz has played with Duke Robillard (2001–2002), John Hammond (2005–present), Gregg Allman (2007–2013), Delbert McClinton (2011–2014), and many other roots, blues, and rock performers, while continuing to tour and record with his own band. His albums have appeared high on national and international radio play charts and received critical and popular acclaim. He has also been featured in stories and reviews in leading blues and jazz publications worldwide.

In addition to performing, Katz teaches piano, Hammond organ, and theory privately at his studio in West Shokan, New York, and offers online lessons. He also conducts master classes in blues and jazz piano style and history, Hammond B3, and blues history at schools, universities, and music festivals worldwide. Formerly from Boston, he has been based in Woodstock, New York, since 2005.

Doors: 5:30 PM
Showtime: 7:00 PM

The 443 is an intimate listening room with table service and seating for 75 people. Green squares and circles on the floor plan are bar-height tables; orange squares are regular-height tables. Most seats are sold as “Tables for Two,” meaning one ticket admits two people. A limited number of single seats are available, and single attendees may share a table with other single attendees. Multiple tickets purchased under the same name will automatically be seated together, up to six people.

Specific table requests are reserved for VIP Patron members. For special seating arrangements—including a walker, cane, service animal, wheelchair, low table, or seating with another party—please email the venue after placing your order.