His musical career could have ended there, were it not for a fortuitous turn of events. During Klein’s brief stay with the band, a few barely-in-tune harmonicas were passed his way. These unwanted instruments fell into the right hands and thus began a love affair that continues to this day. He began practicing on them, studying the styles of the great “harp masters” and learning the basics, as well as the various nuances that could be coaxed out of the versatile mouth instrument. Over time, his understanding of the many styles of harp-playing grew to include its most frequently utilized blues style but it soon expanded beyond that realm into jazz. There, as well as in the blues, Klein found his musical niche.

At the age of 20, he moved to Colorado and a new stage of his career began. He was given a flute by a friend and fellow music lover and he was fascinated by it. He enlisted the aid of a street musician to teach him the basics and, over time, his training opened him up to another world and a new understanding of jazz. While in Colorado, Klein attempted to enroll in music school but his unorthodox playing style and unfamiliarity with classical sight-reading worked against him. He was turned down for admission. Undeterred, however, he used this experience to raise himself above and beyond conventional standards, taking it upon himsel f to learn the basics and nuances of music theory and further master his craft.

Later on, a tenor saxophone was added to Klein’s arsenal of instruments. In later years it would emerge as a valuable key to deeper explorations of the jazz realm. Between the three instruments he mastered, his style became influenced by Rashaan Roland Kirk, John Coltrane, Lester Young, Herbie Mann, Ian Anderson, Little Walter, Charlie Musselwhite and William Clarke. He formed a band called The Boulevards which became one of Colorado’s premiere blues bands, playing songs by the great bluesmasters and recording their first CD, Might The Boulevards Swing. With bandmates Dan Freedman on guitar, Dave Solzberg on bass and George DeCaro on drums the CD consisted mostly of covers of tunes by Clarke, Musselwhite and others but there were a few originals that gave Klein valuable songwriting experience. The band soon morphed into the jazz/blues vein and their second CD, Desire, reflected this shift with all original songs.

After tours of the South and West, playing clubs and festivals, Klein gave in to the urgings of friends and family (as well as an “inner calling”) and returned to New Orleans in the late 1990s. It was a good career move for him, one that has allowed him to flourish and expand his creativity in a more musically conducive environment. He and a new Boulevards band have been acquiring considerable playing time in New Orleans’ vibrant cabaret scene, becoming familiar fixtures in the music clubs of the French Quarter, the Garden District and the Faubourg Marigny. Now 28 years old and in his musical prime, Klein has blossomed into a talented visual artist, as well, specializing in body art as the proprietor of Chris’s Tattoos of New Orleans, 4527 Freret Street, Uptown. And he is hard at work on creating new material, focusing on his writing in preparation for an upcoming, entirely New Orleans-produced CD.