Oren Bloedow

Oren Bloedow (born July 3, 1965 in New York City) is an American singer, guitarist, and composer. He founded the band Elysian Fields in 1995 with Jennifer Charles. His father, Jerry Bloedow, b. 1928, is a playwright, poet and film editor, whose theater, the Hardware Poet's Playhouse, was a fixture in the New York avante-garde scene in the 1950s and early 1960s. Oren's first serious musical affiliations were with Phillip Johnston, Bobby Previte and Wayne Horvitz, all of whom worked with him in Bobby Radcliff's blues band in the 1980s. With Radcliff, Oren backed up Dr. John, Otis Rush and Johnny Copeland, also Paul Butterfield shortly before he died. Another close collaboration was with underground guitarist Ron Anderson, later of San Francisco's The Molecules. In 1985, a friend of Ron's introduced Oren to 101 Crustaceans, whose leader, Ed Pastorini, is Oren's oldest continuing musical associate, and was later a member of Elysian Fields. Oren consistently names Ed Pastorini as his favorite musical artist. He attended New England Conservatory in 1987–88, and on returning, started gigging frequently at the Knitting Factory on Houston St. Previte, Horvitz and Johnston were all playing there, and so were many musicians Oren came to play with, like Samm Bennett, The Jazz Passengers, Marc Ribot, Bosho, Gary Lucas and innumerable others. It was here in 1990 that Oren met Jennifer, and they began working together soon afterwards. During the nineties, Oren made a couple of solo records for the Knitting Factory label, one featuring Medeski, Martin and Wood, toured and recorded as a member of The Lounge Lizards for whom he played bass, as well as many other groups and projects. From the nineties to the present, he continues to be a highly in demand player, having toured, recorded, and/or played with Chocolate Genius, Lizz Wright, Meshell Ndegeocello, Martha Wainwright, and Yerba Buena either on bass or guitar. Besides Oren's solo work, and work with Elysian Fields, he also continues his long-term association with Ed Pastorini and 101 Crustaceans. Another outlet for Oren's music, and one that also features Jennifer Charles, is the 'Sephardic Diaspora' project La Mar Enfortuna, who have played in a variety of prestigious funded-arts environments, including the Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków, where they performed for 20,000 people. Career highlights for Oren include being named Artist of the Year by Greil Marcus in 2004, musical directing the Randy Newman tribute at UCLA's Royce Hall for impresario Hal Willner, performing with Lou Reed, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, and once with Bruce Springsteen at Carnegie Hall.