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Happy birthday, Robben Ford, born on this day in 1951
Today is the 74th birthday of American blues, jazz and rock guitarist Robben Ford, one of the 100 greatest guitarists of the 20th century, according to Musician Magazine. In addition to a prolific solo career, he has been a member of groups such as the L.A. Express and Yellowjackets and has collaborated on projects by Chick Corea, Miles Davis and B.B. King. Considered one of the most versatile guitarists, Robben Ford has become a “musician’s musician” after a forty-year career. Although he has never enjoyed great popularity and his albums are rarely broadcast on the radio, he has a large and loyal following, many of them musicians, who respect his blues and jazz credentials and his virtuosity in both genres.
Robben was born in Woodlake, California into a very musical family: his father, Charles Ford, was a professional guitarist and his two brothers also had musical knowledge, including his mother, who played the piano. Ford began playing the saxophone at the age of ten, but when he turned thirteen, he switched to the guitar. His early influences include Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Paul Butterfield, and Mike Bloomfield. Of the latter, Ford confessed that his 1965 album “The Paul Butterfield Blues Band” was his biggest inspiration to start playing guitar. “It would be around 1966 when I started listening to Chicago electric blues that, at that time, was played mostly by white musicians. Paul Butterfield”s band was a multiracial band from Chicago that performed their music in a way that I considered authentic. Mike”s playing and sound fascinated me. That”s what made me seriously dedicate myself to the guitar.”
As a teenager, Robben formed a group with his older brother Pat who played drums and his younger brother Mark, a harmonica player. They named the band The Charles Ford Band in honor of their father. After finishing high school, Ford accompanied his brother Pat to the San Francisco Bay Area, where they performed several performances, on one occasion, as the opening act for Muddy Waters. When Robben turned eighteen, he and his older brother were hired by blues harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite with whom they stayed for about a year. In 1970, the youngest of the family, Mark, joined them again and with the addition of bassist Stan Poplin they performed on the area club circuit, triumphing with their electric blues and improvised jazz shows.
Although the band disbanded on New Year’s Eve 1971, they recorded an album on the Arhoolie label, “The Charles Ford Band” (1972). In 1972 legendary blues singer Jimmy Witherspoon asked them to join his band. Two years later, Ford was already an experienced guitarist and saxophonist Tom Scott suggested that he join him and his jazz fusion band L.A. Express in order to accompany Joni Mitchell on her Court and Spark promotional tour.
Robben described this stage of his career as pivotal in his education as a professional musician: “I was working with great musicians and I learned a lot. Above all, to accept that music does not consist of just one genre. I was a jazz and blues purist, and I learned to be more versatile as an instrumentalist.” Robben was featured on Mitchell”s albums “Miles on Aisles” and “The Hissing Of Summer Lawns”.
The guitarist balanced his interests between blues and jazz, sometimes matching them, but in the late 1970s he focused primarily on jazz. In 1977, he formed a band that included Russell Ferrante on keyboards, Jimmy Haslip on bass and Ricky Lawson on drums. With this stellar line-up he released his first album, “The Inside Story” (1979) on Elektra Records. The band would evolve into the Yellowjackets, a fusion band with strong R&B influences. Ford recorded on their debut album and played with them as a guest artist but also attended to other interests in the early 1980s, such as touring with ex-Doobie Brother Michael McDonald.
In 1986, it was Miles Davis who requested his services. Ford worked with the trumpeter for six months, then said, “Working with Miles was like a coronation. I felt like I had been knighted.” At the same time, the guitarist had signed with Warner Brothers and in 1988 released “Talk to Your Daughter”. The album, in addition to being nominated for a Grammy for best contemporary blues recording, not only represented his return to the blues; After nearly twenty years in music, he finally managed to consolidate him as a solo artist.
Buoyed by the success of “Talk To Your Daughter”, Ford gained more freedom of movement to explore his musical inclinations, as well as to form a new band. His ideal project consisted of a quintet, but given the economic impossibility of touring with five musicians, he opted for a trio.
With blues bassist Roscoe Beck and jazz-leaning drummer Tom Brechtlein, he formed Blue Line Lounge, with whom he recorded the album on Chick Corea”s Stretch label ‘Robben Ford & the Blue Line’, a collection of nine tracks, seven of which were Robben’s composition, which was magnificently received by critics and fans, who celebrated his return to the blues. The following year his second album was released,‘Mystic Mile’ (1993) and, again, it included seven original compositions by Ford.
In 1995 the CD ‘Handful of Blues’ was released, produced by guitarist Danny Kortchmar for the Blue Thumb label. That same year they added keyboardist Bill Boubitz to the line-up and recorded the album live at Club Yoshi’s in Oakland (California) ‘The Authorized Bootleg’, published in 1998. Ann Wickstrom wrote in All Music Guide: ‘the exquisite brilliance of his technique and the reason he is No. 1 for so many guitarists is evident in this work.’ In 1997 Ford changed direction and disbanded the band. Together with Bernie Worrell, ex-keyboardist of the group Paliament-Funkadelic he recorded the instrumental album ‘Tiger Walk’, with R&B and funk influences.
His next release was ‘Supernatural’ in 1999, more soul-influenced, which received mixed reviews. While some thought it was an irregular work with a mediocre vocal performance, others thought it was his best work excusing his vocal limitations “Although he cannot be considered a first-rate singer, he manages to breathe enough emotion into his songs until his guitar takes over and the real prominence.”
In 2001, Ford, about to turn fifty, recorded “Blue Moon” under the Concord label, which was released a year later. Once again, Ford confused anyone who intended to classify his work with an eclectic mix of blues, rock, soul, and jazz. Two years later he released his second album with Concord, the blues and R&B CD “Keep on Running” (2004), in which he had collaborations with Edgar Winter, Ivan Neville and John Mayall, one of his first influences.
“Truth“, released in August 2007, contained a cover of Paul Simon”s “One Man’s Ceiling Is Another Man”s Floor”, which was widely aired at the time. Robben received his fourth Grammy nomination for “best contemporary blues album” and a week after its release, it topped the Billboard blues charts. That same year, he appeared at the Montreaux Festival alongside Larry Carlton. In 2009 the live show “Soul on Ten” appeared with three new compositions. His band includes Toss Panos on drums and Travis Carlton (Larry”s son) on bass.
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In 2014, he released “A Day in Nashville” and in March 2015 “Into The Sun”. In 2016, he recorded with Ron Bumblefoot Thal, John Jorgenson, Paul Personne and Beverly Jo Scott the album “Lost in Paris Blues Band”. On its complete official website it offers online guitar lessons. Her most recent installment was “Night in the City” released in 2023.
