A Little Cobalt History . . .

The Cobalt Rhythm Kings grew out of a chance pairing at the long-running Sunday night cafe nine blues jam, when Ansonia, Connecticut-raised cousins, guitarist George Lesiw and drummer George Mastrogiannis and their friend, bassist Steve Klunk of Orange, Conn. were thrown together onstage one Sunday night in January 1996 with Chicago-born harmonica player and vocalist Mark Zaretsky.

After several months of wood-shedding in Lesiw's basement in Ansonia, the band debuted with a short-running weekly Tuesday night gig at what then was called The Bash at the corner of College and Crown streets in downtown New Haven, Conn. The gig lasted a couple of months, but by then the Cobalts were established and began getting work elsewhere.

The original lineup lasted for the first year or so, when Klunk and later Lesiw decided to move on and do other things. Klunk's departure brought Chicago-born bass player and vocalist Wendell Jones to the band. where he remains to this day as its second longest playing member. A few months later, Mastrogiannis also decided to move on, leaving Zaretsky as the only original member by time the band entered its third year -- although both Mastrogiannis and Lesiw have been in and out of the band for multiple periods of time since then!

Zaretsky and Jones were joined for a time by Tom Nagy and later Luke Rodney (www.inityreggae.com) on drums and several different guitarists, most notably New Haven-based, internationally-known blues guitarist Rocky Lawrence (www.rockylawrence.com) and for a short period of time, Eric Ducoff, now of Ryan Hartt and the Blue Hearts (www.ryanhartt.com) The band also had a sax player for a few months around that time in Jeff "JD" Herzog, and has performed with a horn section on a number of occasions featuring Herzog on sax and Patrick Casey on trumpet as the Hellbound Horns.

The Cobalt Rhythm Kings' most identifiable and longest-running lineup took shape in May 1999 when Norwalk, Conn.-raised drummer Gil Hawkins Jr. and West Haven, Conn.-raised guitarist Greg Benn joined, just in time to open for the late Son Seals on the New Haven Green as part of the New Haven Jazz Festival. The lineup remained rock solid until August 2005, when Hawkins felt the need to move on and play other things. He has since hooked up with none other than former Cobalt guitarist George Lesiw to play original jam-based blues-jazz fusion in the George Lesiw Band. (www.myspace.com/georgelesiwband)  Good luck guys!

It's all in the Cobalt family . . .

After being joined by Fairfield County drummer Vic Chiappetta for a year, original Cobalt drummer George Mastrogiannis -- now living in New York City -- for a year or so and Hartford County drummer Tony Lupia for two years, The Kings once again became an all-New Haven-area band in early 2011 when they were joined by one of Connecticut's top blues and roots drummers in Tom Smith of Cheshire, Conn.

The Cobalt Rhythm Kings are thrilled to welcome Tom as we enter the next phase of the band's growth and continue to make some of the best, bluest music we've ever made . . . Come see for yourself!

For more information, to join the Cobalt e-mail list or to book The Cobalt Rhythm Kings, call 203-415-1670 or e-mail:  info(at)cobaltrhythmkings.com .

                                                                              
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