East River Blues Chris Bergson

• 1 Mean Disposition 05:55
• 2 Little Girl Blue 06:20
• 3 East River Blues 05:23
• 4 Sad Strains 05:18
• 5 Kindless Villain 03:28
• 6 What Would I Do Without You 04:22
• 7 Driftin' 04:45
• Total Runtime 35:31

Info for East River Blues

East River Blues, the forthcoming CRS release from internationally acclaimed guitarist/singer Chris Bergson is a reflection on 30 years of playing music in New York and pays tribute to some of Bergson's biggest blues and jazz influences including Muddy Waters, Ray Charles as well as heroes from the classic 60s Blue Note era like Grant Green, Lou Donaldson and Herbie Hancock. The album features Bergson in trio with premier bassist Larry Grenadier (John Scofield), master drummer Herlin Riley (Dr. Lonnie Smith) and on three selections, quartet with longtime bandmate saxophonist Jay Collins (Gregg Allman.)

For guitarist and singer Chris Bergson, the early months of 2025 were auspicious in more ways than one. In January, he completed his 30th year of living in New York City. His Big Apple residency, which started in the mid-’90s amid pre-dawn jams at Smalls, lessons with jazz guitar great Jim Hall and classes at the Manhattan School of Music, had gradually made him a professional musician, as well as a husband, father and deep explorer of the blues. He felt the need to commemorate this anniversary in the best manner he knew how—with the recording of a special album.

Calls were duly placed, schedules were calibrated, and a studio date was booked for June at NRS Recording in Catskill, NY. You can now hear the happy results on East River Blues. Grenadier and Riley’s solid, empathetic support of Bergson’s guitar and voice is apparent from the second they enter the album’s opening cut, a down-and-dirty run through Muddy Waters’ Mean Disposition... (from full liner notes)

Chris Bergson, vocals, guitar
Larry Grenadier, bass
Herlin Riley, drums
Jay Collins, saxophone (tracks 3, 6, 7)

Recorded, Mixed & Mastered by Scott Petito at NRS Recording, Catskill, NY
Produced by Chris Bergson & Scott Petito

Chris Bergson
is an internationally acclaimed American born guitarist, singer, and songwriter. “Chris Bergson plays the kind of guitar you can build a house on – it’s B.B. meets Steve Cropper meets John Scofield.” (ROLL Magazine) Hailed as “the New York street poet with a blues soul” (MOJO) and “one of the most inventive songwriters in modern blues music,” (All Music Guide) Bergson is best known as the leader of the Chris Bergson Band. Elmore Magazine calls the Chris Bergson Band “one of the most talented bands playing today,” whose soulful blend of American Roots music encompasses “blazing rock to funk to soul to Delta blues and all that’s in between.” Bergson is also an accomplished sideman who has performed with luminaries across a wide range of genres including including pop and rock (Norah Jones, Levon Helm), blues and soul (Hubert Sumlin, Bernard Purdie) and jazz (Annie Ross, Al Foster and Larry Grenadier.) The Chris Bergson Band’s 2007 album Fall Changes, recorded at Levon Helm’s studio in Woodstock, New York, was named MOJO Magazine’s Number One Blues Album of the Year in 2008. Bergson was inducted into the New York Blues Hall of Fame as a Master Blues Artist in 2015. Bergson is also an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston where he teaches guitar and songwriting. Chris Bergson plays D’Addario Strings, McCurdy Guitars and uses MONO cases.

On his latest record, Comforts of Home, (2 Shirts/CRS), Chris Bergson celebrates family, both biological and chosen. Bergson’s “chosen” family is the extended musical family he has been a part of for the last 20 years, the band MOJO Magazine has described as “gut-busting, horn bedecked NY blues.” Named one of Soul Bag magazine’s Best Albums of 2024 and garnering Four Stars in MOJO, Comforts of Home captures the Chris Bergson Band with Moses Patrou on keyboards/vocals, longtime bassist Matt Clohesy, groovemaster drummer Diego Voglino, and Jay Collins playing and arranging the horns. Recorded live at Brooklyn’s Grand Street Recording, most of Bergson’s vocals and blazing guitar were done in complete live takes.

“Bergson’s guitar work is a masterclass in subtlety and sophistication.” – Colin Campbell, Blues Matters (UK)

“The music sits right at the intersection of blues and soul…This is Bergson’s most well-crafted, fully realized album to date.” – Jim Hynes, Rock and Blues Muse

This album contains no booklet.