Mark Naftalin

Mark Naftalin ( born August 2, 1944 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an American blues-rock multi-instrumentalist. He plays guitar, piano, keyboard, accordion and vibraphone.

Naftalin grew up in Minneapolis and moved to Chicago in 1961 to the local university to attend. He earned his money with playing the piano. He also met Paul Butterfield and Elvin Bishop. In 1964 he moved City to study music in New York. Butterfield and Bishop had meanwhile founded the Butterfield Blues Band and offered Naftalin to play on their debut album. A short time later, he became a regular member of the band.

In 1968, Naftalin the BBB again and moved to San Francisco. There he founded his own band, which he called Mark Naftalin Rhythm & Blues Revue. He also worked as a studio musician and organized music festivals and concerts. Until the mid-1970s he teamed up with Mike Bloomfield, the two called themselves Mike Bloomfield & Friends. From 1979 to 1983 he hosted a radio show called Mark Naftalin 's Blue Monday Party in which occurred mainly blues performers.

In 1988 he founded his own record label then Naftalin Winner Records, were released on the boards of, among others, Paul Butterfield and Percy Mayfield. Naftalin occurs today on a regular basis.