First Line-up:
Frank Davis Drums
Rod Ellicott Bass
Larry Fields Guitar
Mic Gillette Trumpet, Horn
Danny Hull Saxophone, Sax (Tenor), Vocals
Jerry Jonutz Trumpet, Saxophone, Sax (Alto), Sax (Baritone)
Larry Jonutz Trumpet
Carl Leach Trumpet
Raul Matute Organ, Piano, Arranger, Keyboards
David Padron Trumpet
Lydia Pense Vocals

Many of the greatest groups in rock and roll history have made their home in San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area. While 'Frisco was at the forefront of the psychedelic music movement spinning around the intersection of Haight and Ashbury, some serious funk was springing up as well. Free-form DJs like Tom Donahue, who coined the term "underground" radio and Abe "Voco" Kesh interspersed hip soul and jazz in between the extended jams of the Dead and Quicksilver in their nightly shows.

Sylvester Stewart, aka Sly Stone, was also a noted Bay Area DJ and record producer and an influence on the scene. Latin music was always in the air as well, and bands like Santana. Tower of Power, and Malo vibed to the incantory force of the extended boogaloo. One of the best bands in combining the punch of great rhythm and blues with the hippie aesthetic of brotherhood and freedom was Bay Area's legendary Cold Blood. With the backing of pioneer rock impresario Bill Graham, they won over area audiences almost immediately after their formation in 1968. The Fillmore Auditorium was the epicenter of San Francisco rock, and no better place to see a band "let it all hang out," as many shows ran all night long.
The band's first two albums on Bill Graham's San Francisco Records — Cold Blood, released in 1969 and produced by David Rubinson, and Sisyphus, a 1970 release produced by Santana engineer Fred Catero, are excellent representations of a powerhouse band that could really move an audience. They were a winning combination of good songs, excellent covers and the powerful, expressive voice of Lydia Pense, their extraordinarily beautiful lead singer. The reissue of these two LPs is currently available on Collectables (Col-CD-6813).

A change in management and a move to Reprise Records in 1972 would see the release of their third album First Taste Of Sin. The twenty-something members of Cold Blood had quite a few years of touring and recording under their belts by now, and while their records did not have the massive com-mercial success of some of their peers, they still had many fans around the country. There were some personnel changes in the group at this time most notably the departure of founding member guitarist. Larry Field.

Lydia Pense, their lead singer was still fronting the band. While she had the burden of being compared to Janis Joplin, the preeminent female white soul singer of her day, Lydia's individual style and beauty was continuing to blossom. Another evidence of maturation in the abilities of the group was their choice of budding soul genius Donny Hathaway as producer for First Taste Of Sin.
Despite his relative youth, this Chicago-born singer and a songwriter had already received kudos for his work with Curtis Mayfield, Jerry Butler and The Impressions. His reputation in the industry as the next generation's leading soul music auteur was spreading throughout the music industry. Warner Bros, and its sister label Reprise were a stronghold in the Seventies for the production of records of high artistic integrity, that were also a gas to listen to. The combo of Hathaway and Cold Blood produced a sophisticated blend of R and rock that appealed to both soul and progressive crowds.
Hathaway contributed two excellent songs to the album, the slow blues You Had To Know, a showcase for singer Lydia, and Valdez In The Country, as well as his gospel-influenced piano and jazzy organ playing. The presence also of Bay Area session veterans Coke and Pete Escovedo on congas, timbales, and percussion generated fire in the rhythm section with their Third World poly-rhythms. Also beefing up the horn section is noted jazz tenor saxophonist Pete Christieb. A longtime member of Doc Severensen's Tonight Show Band, he was an in-demand session player. A rare cover version of fellow Warner-Reprise artist James Taylor's Low And Behold is an adventurous choice of song, and Cold Blood adapts the tune to their rough and ready rockin' soul style.

Cold Blood recorded three more albums in their life span before disbanding in 1976. Thriller was released in 1973 and Lydia in 1974, both also for Warner-Reprise. Their swansong was Lydia Pense and Cold Blood. produced by Stax Records stalwart and respected guitarist/songwriter Steve Cropper for ABC Records. There have been continued rumblings of activity in the Cold Blood camps , so the book may not yet be closed on the contributions of this relatively unheralded group to rock's legacy. Here then is one of Cold Blood's finest endeavors—First Taste Of Sin.
                                                                                                                                          Al Fichera

DISCOGRAPHY

1969 Cold Blood
1970 Sisyphus
1972 First Taste of Sin
1973 Thriller!
1974 Lydia
1976 Lydia Pense and Cold Blood
2001 Vintage Blood: Live! 1973
2005 Transfusion