A musician whose long career traversed from Broadway to the blues, David Bennett Cohen began studying classical piano at the age of seven, two years later beginning to teach himself the guitar. As a teen he heard boogie-woogie piano for the first time, the start of a life-long obsession with the blues; however, he initially found success at the dawn of the psychedelic era, signing on as the original keyboardist in Country Joe and the Fish. In addition to working with the Blues Project, Mick Taylor, Tim Hardin, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter, Huey Lewis, Michael Bloomfield and Bob Weir in the years to follow, Cohen also enjoyed a solo career, sharing bills with Bonnie Raitt, Richard Thompson, Jerry Garcia, Leo Kottke, Rufus Thomas and others. His Broadway tenure included a stint playing keyboards and guitar in the touring production of the smash Rent; during the 1990s, he also backed former Johnny Copeland sideman Bobby Kyle. Additionally, Cohen authored a pair of instructional books, David Bennett Cohen Teaches Blues Piano, Volumes I and II, which were released with accompanying CDs; for Homespun Tapes, he also recorded two audio-teaching tape series (Blues/Rock Piano and Ragtime Piano) and a three-volume videotape series (Blues Piano). Additionally, a pair of guitar instruction LPs were issued by the Kicking Mule label. ~ Jason Ankeny