For a brief period at the end of the '60s and the start of the '70s, Blood, Sweat & Tears, which fused a rock & roll rhythm section to a horn section, held out the promise of a jazz-rock fusion that could storm the pop charts. The band was organized in New  York in 1967 out of the remnants of the Blues Project by keyboard player/singer Al Kooper (b. Feb. 5, 1944, Brooklyn, NY) and guitarist Steve Katz (b. May 9, 1945, Brooklyn, NY) of that group and saxophonist Fred Lipsius (b. Nov. 19, 1944, New York, NY). The rhythm section consisted of bassist Jim Fielder (b. Oct. 4, 1947, Denton, TX) and drummer Bobby Colomby (b. Dec. 20, 1944, New York, NY), and the horn section was filled out by trumpeters Randy Brecker (b. Nov. 27, 1945, Philadelphia, PA) and Jerry Weiss (b. May 1, 1946, New York) and trombonist Dick     Halligan (b. Aug. 29, 1943, Troy, NY).
This eight-piece band signed to Columbia Records and recorded BS&T's debut album, Child Is Father to the Man, which was released in February 1968. Cofounder Kooper then departed, and the group was reorganized. Singer David Clayton-Thomas (b. David Thomsett, Sept. 13, 1941, Surrey, England) was added, Halligan moved to the keyboards, and trumpeters Chuck Winfield (b. Feb. 5, 1943, Monessen, PA) and Lew Soloff (b. Feb 20, 1944, Brooklyn, NY) replaced Brecker and Weiss, with Jerry Hyman (b. May 19, 1947, Brooklyn, NY) being added on trombone. This nine-piece unit, working with producer James William Guercio, made BS&T's self-titled second album, released in January 1969. It was a runaway hit, spawning three gold-selling Top Ten singles, "You've Made Me So Very Happy," "Spinning Wheel," and "And When I Die," selling three million copies and winning the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. It was also BS&T's highwater mark. Guercio left to work on a similar concept with Chicago Transit Authority, and BS&T increasingly became a backup group for Clayton-Thomas. Nevertheless, the third album, Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 (1970), and the fourth, Blood, Sweat & Tears 4 (1971), were substantial hits. Clayton-Thomas went solo in early 1972, but returned in 1974. Numerous other personnel changes took place, as the group's commercial fortunes gradually declined. BS&T left Columbia after the release of its ninth album, More Than  Ever in 1976 and signed to ABC Records, for which it made Brand New Day (1977). From the late '70s on, BS&T existed largely as a group name for the concert activities of Clayton-Thomas and Colomby, who retained rights to the name.

William Ruhlmann,  All-Music Guide