Rare Blend
Cleveland, OH      Rock / Jazz / Jam Band
    • Songs
    • Rare Blend Live Video Compilation
    • Hipster Spinster
    • March To Orion
    • The Timekeeper
    • Say What
    • Wuhan Incident
    • Illegal Aliens
    • Feast of The Warrior Kings
    • Little Mean Baby (Recorded Live)
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Status Twitter_icon_for_status @froggcafe Goodluck with your new album FroggCafe. All the best! Victor

Press

Artist Info

Members: Victor Samalot - Guitar / Bobbi Holt - Keyboards / Ivan George - Drums
You can also find us at: Twitter_16x16 Myspace_16x16 Facebook_16x16 Last Ilike_16x16 Artist website_16x16 Youtube_16x16 Bebo_16x16

Join the Mailing List

Join the Street Team
Privacy Policy

Bio

Rare Blend is where rock, jazz, fusion, and world music collide! This statement definitively sums up the instrumental music group, home based in Cleveland Ohio.

About

 

 

 

For over 15 years, Rare Blend’s music resonates with purists as well as those who embrace a progressive multi-genre approach to original instrumental music. Pulling from a variety of influences and musical styles, Rare Blend continues to receive favorable press reviews, and radio airplay, performing at a variety of concerts and outdoor festivals, and have been invited to be included on regional and national compilation discs.
Because of their diversity and growing catalog of music, Rare Blend can be found performing on bills that range from Jazz to jam band, fusion to progressive rock. They have shared bills or have opened for the likes of David Sanborn, Special EFX, Ozric Tentacles, Tunnels, Dark Star Orchestra, Kevin Eubanks, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Spyro Gyra, Frogg Cafe, Los Lobos, and others...
 
Started in 1993, Rare Blend (Samalot / Holt), released their debut independent CD entitled Cinefusion as a duo. Recorded and produced by Vic Samalot and Bobbi Holt, Cinefusion received local, national, and even international college radio airplay and was performed live in small intimate venues in Ohio.
In 1998, Rare Blend expanded to a four piece with bassist/composer Jeff Scott and drummer Paul Stranahan. As a quartet, Rare Blend added additional musical texture to the original concept and took the live performance to a new level.
 
CD album recordings added to the catalog to date:
 
  ·     INFINITY (2000)
  ·     EVOLUTION THEORY (2002)
  ·     STOPS ALONG THE WAY  (2006) -  Introduced veteran drummer (Fayreweather, Tie Die Harvest, and Wish You Were Here) Vince Broncaccio, whose talent  brought a fresh nuance to the group during 2005 and 2006.
 
  ·   SESSIONS (2009) With veteran drummer Ivan George, whose fusion style influenced by Billy Cobham and Dennis Chambers has brought the improvisational edge to the RB fold since 2007.

Rare Blend continues to write, record, and perform at various concert clubs and outdoor festivals throughout the year andis looking forward to incorporating on the spot improvisations to audiences in 2010.

 

Press:

This is as tasty as fusion gets - very structured, very "lyrical" for a mostly instrumental work, plus liberal rock moves to give it added weight and kick. "Stops Along The Way" stays on track for a delightful ride. (John Collinge / Progression Magazine - Lowell, MA)



The musicians perform at a very high level, the production and sound are quite good and most importantly, the compositions are all interesting. STOPS ALONG THE WAY is an album I will certainly revisit in the future. Recommended! (Marc - Proggnosis / Golden Valley, MN)


It's really astonishing what brilliant bands you can discover if you dig deeper and don't rely on the crap being published by most of big major companies. Rare Blend should appeal to everyone who likes a good rocking mixture of Jazz Rock / Fusion with a light Latin and Funk touch. (Kristian Selm / Progressive Newsletter - Leonberg, Germany)

 
 

"Stops Along The Way" is Rare Blend's most efficient recording. The songs naturally jump genres while traveling through an aural landscape that's filled with songs that pretty much fit their titles. (Michael Gallucci / Scene Magazine - Cleveland, OH USA)

 

Rare Blend is a very seasoned group from the Cleveland, Ohio area. "Stops Along The Way" is what I would call a jazz/fusion jam band album. I have heard a lot of mixed feelings about jam bands but when it sounds good you cant deny that the players know what they are doing. (Jimmy Caterine / Guitarnoise.com - Canada)

Wonderful compilation of tracks. I have been waiting for this release since the announcement of a new project was in the works. Get this one, and then you're hooked. You'll get the other three, like I did. (RB fan - Baltimore, MD)

 

Rare Blend takes a metaphorical journey on its new CD. The disc on the whole is a heady experiment and as always, the band combines bites of fusion, progressive rock, and funk. (Jeff Niesel / Free Times Magazine - Cleveland, OH)

 

I recently took a trip to Cleveland and happened upon a radio station ( 89.3 ) I believe, and heard some of your music. I was blown away, mostly because I too was a professional musician in the late 70s early 80s and enjoyed this style of music. It is refreshing to hear that it is still as alive as it was then! (Jimmy Valentine - RB Fan)

 

  


Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
 

 
Advertisement728
 
 
 

Recommended

by Rare Blend
Dead Guy Blues

Dead Guy Blues

Blues / Garage / Rock

Rocky River, OH

Neil Alexander

Neil Alexander

Jazz / Funk / Fusion / ...

Newburgh, NY

Marc Cavanagh

Marc Cavanagh

Jazz / Blues / Folk

Trois-Rivières, QC, CA

 
 

Contests/Events

ReverbNationQuantcast
ReverbNationQuantcast
ReverbNationQuantcast
ReverbNationQuantcast