Join us inside the Olde Church for a special and unique show on February 10, 2023 at 7pm as we present a solo blues piano performance from keyboard legend Mark Naftalin on the Steinway grand piano.  

• Connecticut favorite, Nathaniel Hintz, will open with a set of his original songs on acoustic guitar at 7pm.
• Free will donation for admission, whatever you can afford.
• Doors open at 6pm for affordable dinner options 
• Ample, safe and FREE parking in the garage adjacent to the church. 
• Snow date is Saturday Feb 11 – any announcements will be made on this website and our Facebook page.

ABOUT MARK NAFTALIN

As a lifelong blues musician, composer and producer, Mark Naftalin rose to fame playing keyboards for the original Paul Butterfield Blues Band from 1965 to 1968. For his work with that groundbreaking band, Naftalin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame in 2015. He has also recorded with top blues players like John Lee Hooker, Otis Rush, Percy Mayfield, James Cotton, Michael Bloomfield, Lowell Fulson, Big Joe Turner, and dozens of others – a sideman on over 100 albums! Natfalin is sought after for his elegant understated keyboard accompaniment and tasty solos. Originally becoming known as an organist, he has also recorded on piano, guitar, accordion, vibes, and various electric keyboards.  

Born in Minneapolis, MN in 1944, Naftalin moved to Chicago in 1961 and enrolled at the University of Chicago where he jammed along on piano at many of the campus twist parties, the rage at the time. It was at these parties that Naftalin had the first opportunity to play with harmonica player Paul Butterfield and guitarist Elvin Bishop, the nucleus of what was to become the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. In 1964, Naftalin moved to New York City where he spent a year at the Mannes College of Music, and it was there that he sat in with the Butterfield band during a recording session warm-up song, playing the Hammond organ for the first time!  Michael Bloomfield had recently joined the band and the group liked Naftalin’s organ sound so much he went on to record 8 of the 11 songs on the first Butterfield album that very day. Butterfield asked Naftalin to join the group during that first session.

In the late 60s after the first four Buttefield albums, Naftalin went out on his own, settling in the San Francisco Bay area. There he put together the Mark Naftalin Rhythm & Blues Revue and became active in blues and rock recording sessions, solo gigs, and revue shows, and as a producer of concerts, festivals, and radio shows. He also played with Michael Bloomfield as a duo and in a band (most often called Mike Bloomfield & Friends) from the late 60s through the mid-70s, and hosted Mark Naftalin’s Blue Monday Party, a weekly blues show (1979-1983) that featured over 60 blues artists and groups and was the scene of 86 live radio broadcasts and three TV specials. In 1981 Naftalin began producing the Marin County Blues Festival and served as associate producer of the Monterey Jazz Festival’s Blues Afternoon between 1982 and 1991.

Naftalin also co-founded the Blue Monday Foundation and, in 1988, started his own label, Winner Records, which has released documentary CDs by The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Percy Mayfield and Ron Thompson; a 45 by Mark Naftalin; and a DVD featuring Lowell Fulson, Percy Mayfield, John Lee Hooker and Charlie Musselwhite.

Between 1979 and 2011, Naftalin’s two FM broadcasts (“Mark Naftalin’s Blues Power Hour” and the live music show “Mark Naftalin’s Blue Monday Party”) aired at various times on three stations in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area — KTIM, LALW, and KFOG (over 1,300 shows altogether, not including replays). His current broadcast “The Mark Naftalin Show,” airs monthly, and is now in its eighth year on WPKN (89.5 FM) Bridgeport.

Sources: Michael Erlewine, AllMusic.com; and Mark Naftalin

ABOUT NATHANIEL HINTZ

Nathaniel Hintz is a Connecticut singer/songwriter whose influences come from Country & Western, Rock & Roll, and Gospel music. His Southern New England twang has been heard in breweries, festivals, and music venues throughout the United States.

Hintz’s live shows are always entertaining and filled with music history and knowledge.  In 2019 Nathaniel’s second album, “Watertown,” was awarded one of the Connecticut’s best albums.  Nathaniel has had the great honor to share the stage with acts such as Linda Gail Lewis, The Blasters, Jesse Dayton, Wayne “The Train” Hancock, Sunny Sweeney, Dede Dickerson and Amy LaVere.