Rare Blend

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, and now in their 12th year. Theirs is a journey that started during the independent music revolution, and that has no intention of slowing down. Pulling from a variety of influences and musical styles to write unique instrumental arrangements, Rare Blends music appeals to purists as well as those who embrace a progressive multi-genre approach to original music. They continue to receive favorable press reviews, radio airplay, perform 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, Tunnels, Dark Star Orchestra, Average White Band, Kevin Eubanks, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Spyro Gyra, Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius, Los Lobos, and others...

Rare Blend's new Disc "Stops Along The Way" took the band on the road metaphorically, with the disc chronicling their travels in 13 compositions. Each piece is rich in personality and instrumentation. Many are structured pieces but the disc also introduces 3 live improvisation tracks, and 2 vocal tracks that echo our universal connection.

Press:

"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's "Evolution Theory", is a solid, impressive effort that highlights its diversity and musical precision...(Mick Skidmore / Relix Magazine - New York, NY)

A more apropos name would be hard to find for this Cleveland-based (mostly) instrumental quartet that blends rock, jazz, fusion and world music into a rare concoction of tight, colorful and unpretentious arrangements. If only all instrumental albums could sound this appealing...(Michael Popke - Sea Of Tranquility / Monroe, NY)

RB has a brilliant collection of instrumental arrangments that are 'heady' enough for any jazz afficionado, but have odd time signatures and hooks, as well as elements of funk and rock, appealing to a broader audience than traditional fusion bands. (Pat Ferris - Hotbands.com)