A Tribute to Mike Bloomfield with Al Kooper and Jimmy Vivino
Highline Ballroom
New York, NY
May 30

Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield were soul brothers from another mother. They met at the sessions for Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” in 1965, simultaneously played with influential blues-rock bands (Kooper in the Blues Project, Bloomfield with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band), left those bands to form horn-centric soul-rock bands (Blood, Sweat & Tears for Kooper, the Electric Flag for Bloomfield), cut the albums Super Session and The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper together, and remained tight until Bloomfield’s death in 1981. That both have been shunned thus far by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame borders on a criminal act.

Although Bloomfield has never been forgotten by the boomer generation, a little reminder of his bountiful gifts as a guitar innovator can’t be anything but a positive, and these were the guys to do it. Keyboardist/vocalist Kooper has collaborated with Vivino (best known for leading the band on Conan O’Brien’s program and as a member of the Beatles tribute act the Fab Faux) regularly for years and they speak the same language. Vivino, a remarkably versatile guitarist who also sings, is an avowed Bloomfield fanatic, and at the Highline he was astute enough to channel Bloomfield’s essence without ever imitating him (he even played a Les Paul guitar, ala Bloomfield). With Kooper working his customary Hammond organ and a pair of electronic keyboards (plus mandolin), bassist Jesse Williams and drummer Mark Teixeira firing up the rhythm section, and guest harmonica from John Sebastian, the blues hasn’t sounded this electrifying in a long time.

Naturally, the setlist drew from Super Session (an incendiary, often ethereal “His Holy Modal Majesty” ) and a large chunk of Live Adventures (including “The Weight,” dedicated to Levon Helm, and “Green Onions,” for Duck Dunn), but the band also paid its respects to Dylan ( “Like a Rolling Stone,” “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry” ), Butterfield (a raging “Born in Chicago,” Kooper customizing the lyrics to reflect his New York roots) and BS&T (an encore of “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know” ). Mike Bloomfield may be long gone, but for a couple of hours he was alive and tearing it up in New York City.