“A compelling album made with nuance and craftsmanship that explains exactly why Chris Bergson has been one of the most respected names in modern blues and jazz for years.” – the Blueskrant, Number 43 

“A stylish, soulful and atmospheric musical document bringing together 30 years of New York experience….. what an album! This is music that is not merely played, but above all lived and experienced—music that demands to be listened to attentively by any true music lover.” – The Blues Alone? 13 May 2026 

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.

That same month, Bergson decided who he wanted in the studio with him: acoustic bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Al Foster. He knew that the two had a history going back more than three decades to their time in saxophonist Joe Henderson’s quartet. And in 2002, Foster and Bergson had played together for a few nights at the Fat Cat on Christopher Street, an experience that Bergson calls “life-changing. Playing with Al was the closest I’ve ever come to flying. On those trio gigs, I sang a blues in each set”—then a new development for Bergson after years of being a guitarist only—“and Al was really encouraging of my singing. It meant a lot to me.”

Calls were duly placed, schedules were calibrated, and a studio date was booked for June at NRS Recording in Catskill, NY. Then fate intervened. On May 28, three weeks before the session, Foster passed away at 82. It was a devastating blow that called everything into question. Grenadier was still up for recording, but who else could take the drum throne at short notice? Bergson performed the logistical equivalent of a hail-Mary pass, reaching out to one of New Orleans’ finest, Herlin Riley. Three months earlier, they’d shared the stage as part of a Jazz at Lincoln Center blues jam weekend. “That was the first time I’d played with him,” Bergson notes, “and he’s another absolute master.”

Amazingly, Riley had a gig in nearby Connecticut the night before the session date—a gig for which the bass player was none other than Larry Grenadier. “So he and Larry could both make the session, and they ended up playing together for the first time the night before,” Bergson recounts in disbelief. “I was like, ‘Well, this seems like it was meant to be.’”

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. Playing without a pick, Bergson coaxes strikingly vocal timbres from his Ric McCurdy thinline Tele-style axe, while his own unpretentious growl is at times reminiscent of his former employer, the late great Levon Helm.

For Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart’s Little Girl Blue, Bergson switches to a Gibson ES 335, and his luscious unaccompanied chord-solo arrangement of the verse quickly indicates that we’ve moved into jazzier territory. His smoke-infused vocal harks back to classic Ray Charles. “I don’t think Ray ever recorded this tune,” Bergson comments, “but if he had, how might he have interpreted it? That was my way in, which was helpful.”

Funky instrumental East River Blues is the first selection of three to feature saxophonist Jay Collins, with whom Bergson spars in a playful lick-trading section. “I love boogaloos,” the tune’s author says, “like the stuff on Lou Donaldson’s Midnight Creeper, where blues and funk and jazz and soul come together. I wanted to write a new tune like that. I love the way Larry and Herlin play on this—the groove is really special. And that was a first take. I don’t think we did more than three takes of anything.”

Sad Strains is a fetching jazz waltz that Bergson composed back in his college days. “That was one of my dad’s favorite tunes,” he reports, “and he passed away in March, so I’m thinking about him. Larry takes an amazing solo here.” Kindless Villain is an archetypal shuffle co-written with Bergson’s wife Kate Ross. As Bergson puts it, “A classic blues shuffle should feel like an ass-whooping. Some jazz drummers don’t get that feel right; they’re too busy. But Herlin’s feel is just ridiculous. I knew I had to play a shuffle with him on this album.”

Mission accomplished, Bergson cranks the tremolo on his vintage Fender Vibrolux, invites Jay Collins back in, and leads a soulful take on one of his all-time favorites, Brother Ray’s What Would I Do Without You. The full quartet then reconvenes for Herbie Hancock’s Driftin’, giving it a hard-swinging treatment. In the spring of ’25, Bergson had been looking forward to playing this tune with Al Foster. Such was sadly not to be, but Riley more than holds his own, and the album that almost wasn’t has become a vibrant reality, exemplifying creative flow. Much like the East River. —Mac Randall, December 2025

Mac Randall is a New York-based writer and musician, former editor of JazzTimes and author of two books, Exit Music: The Radiohead Story and 101 Great Playlists.

Chris Bergson
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 Pop/Rock (Norah Jones, Levon Helm) Blues/Soul (Hubert Sumlin, Bernard Purdie) and Jazz (Annie Ross, Larry Grenadier & Al Foster.) 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. Bergson plays D’Addario Strings, McCurdy guitars and uses MONO cases.