Meet The Cobalt Rhythm Kings!

                    Greg Benn           Wendell Jones           Tom Smith          Mark Zaretsky

     The Cobalt Rhythm Kings are steeped in the jazzy jump blues of Louis Jordan, Big Joe Turner, Wynonie Harris and the Liggins brothers; the cool, raging West Coast swing blues of William Clark, Rod Piazza and James Harman, and the hard-edged Chicago blues of Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Junior Wells and Freddie King, to name a few.
          Formed in April 1996 as the outgrowth of four guys thrown together onstage one winter Sunday night at the cafe nine blues jam in New Haven, The Cobalt Rhythm Kings have played everywhere from New York City's former premier blues club, Chicago B.L.U.E.S., to the New Haven Jazz Festival, where they opened on the New Haven Green for Son Seals in August 1999, to the New Haven Festival of Arts & Ideas' "Edge" and "Art on the Edge" festivals.
      The band made its debut on the national stage on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2005 at the 20th Annual Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival -- formerly the King Biscuit Blues Festival -- in Helena, Arkansas.  More recently, on Jan. 22, 2006, the Kings opened the show for the great Johnny Winter, performing to a packed house at Toad's Place, Connecticut's leading music club.

       On July 20, 2002, The Cobalt Rhythm Kings opened for blues great Etta James, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas and the Fairfield Four in front of thousands of people at the first New Haven Blues & Roots Festival on the New Haven Green.

      Other stops along the way have included many of Connecticut's better blues and music clubs, from Toad's Place, cafe nine and The Blues Cafe in New Haven to the Fairfield Theatre Co.'s StageOne and The BoxCar in Fairfield County to Black Eyed Sally's and the Arch Street Tavern in Hartford. In addition to Etta James and Son Seals, they have opened for, backed or appeared with the likes of former Muddy Waters Band members Pinetop Perkins, Bob Margolin and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith;  Bettye LaVette, Lurrie Bell, Phil Guy,  Mississippi Johnny Rawls, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, Dave Specter, Aron Burton, Debbie Davies, Roomful of Blues, Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters, John Hammond Jr., Mark Naftalin and Ron Levy & His Wild Kingdom.

  The Cobalt Rhythm Kings' Cobalt Records CD, "HOT . . . Like Red Pepper," contains nine songs -- four originals -- that range from uptempo, danceable jump blues to gritty, grinding Chicago blues and the flat-out boogie of "King of the Boogie," an original tune in memory of the late John Lee Hooker. The CD also includes "Tougher Than That," a powerful tribute to the found American spirit written in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, and two other original songs: the bouncing, Chicago-style "Cross-Eyeded Mama" and the steamy, atmospheric "Louisiana Bayou."

  In addition to the band's originals, the Cobalts are committed to resurrecting some of the great blues and swing numbers of the past and making sure that the people who brought them to the world get proper credit -- while at the same time doing them fresh rather than treating them as relics. Never heard of Buddy Johnson's "A Pretty Girl, a Cadillac and Some Money," Rudy Greene's "Juicy Fruit" or Albina Jones' "What's the Matter With You?" Get ready to boogie!

    The current Cobalt lineup includes: Chicago-born singer and harmonica player Mark Zaretsky, Chicago native and longtime New Havener Wendell Jones on bass guitar and vocals, one of Connecticut's top blues and roots drummers in Tom Smith of Cheshire, Conn. laying down the beat and Greg Benn of West Haven, Conn. by way of Guilford, Conn. striking the groove on guitar.

Want to know more about how The Cobalt Rhythm Kings got to be the band you now know? Click down below for all the down-and-dirty details on the band's present and former personnel, including what ever became of such former members as guitarists Rocky Lawrence and George Lesiw:

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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