My Days Are Numbered

Blood, Sweat & Tears: Al Kooper (lead vocals, piano, organ), Fred Lipsius (alto sax, piano), Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss (trumpet, flugelhorn), Dick Halligan (trombone), Steve Katz (guitars, lute), Jim Fielder (bass guitar, fretless bass guitar), Bobby Colomby (drums, percussion) and orchestral ensemble. From the album This Is Father to the Man (1968).

In 1972, David Clayton-Thomas departed to start a solo career. He was shortly replaced by Bobby Doyle and then Jerry Fisher, who led the next edition of Blood, Sweat & Tears. Fred Lipsius was also provisionally succeeded by the well-known jazz saxophonist Joe Henderson before Lou Marini finally took his place. Furthermore, Dick Halligan, another of the original members, left the band and in his place came jazz pianist Larry Willis and guitarist Georg Wadenius. In 1972 the new generation of Blood, Sweat & Tears issued New Blood, in which we can find a more open jazz fusion style.

In 1973 Steve Katz went to work as a producer and Chuck Winfield was also replaced by Tom Malone. The following album No Sweat followed the path of jazz fusion and included complex wind instruments arrangements. Tom Malone’s time on the band was brief and his successor, jazz trumpeter John Madrid, also didn’t last long. But in 1974 came the trumpeter and arranger Tony Klatka, participating in the new album Mirror Image along with vocalist and saxophonist Jerry LaCroix, saxophonist Bill Tillman and Ron McClure substituting the founder bassist Jim Fielder.

At the end of 1974, Jerry Fisher grew tired of touring, so Bobby Colomby and the band’s manager, Fred Heller, convinced David Clayton-Thomas to come back with the intention of bringing the group back to its previous glory. Thus, in 1975 they released New City, which featured both versions of songs by other musicians and their own compositions, and in which Klatka was replaced by Joe Giorgianni. Later, Colomby found the gifted bassist Jaco Pastorius, produced his first album in 1975 and included him in Blood, Sweat & Tears, but only remained for three months. He later joined Weather Report and was briefly substituted by Keith Jones and then by Danny Trifan.