{"id":663,"date":"2012-06-27T14:17:54","date_gmt":"2012-06-27T13:17:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/?p=663"},"modified":"2023-02-26T16:09:19","modified_gmt":"2023-02-26T16:09:19","slug":"robben-ford-sideman-bluesman-and-jazzman-extraordinaire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/?p=663","title":{"rendered":"Robben Ford \u2013 Sideman, Bluesman and Jazzman Extraordinaire"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ever since he formed his first band in 1969, Robben Ford has had a colorful, yet underrated career.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He has had the privilege to play with a variety of artists, from jazz musicians like Miles Davis to hard rockers such as KISS.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Yet his roots have always been the blues, and that\u2019s arguably what he can play the best, as heard on albums such as 1992\u2019s <\/span><\/span>Robben Ford and the Blue Line<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Californian guitarist Robben Ford, born December 16, 1951, came from a family of musicians.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>His father Charles was a guitar player in his younger days, and it was his name Robben used for his first band \u2013 the Charles Ford Blues Band.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>While it did not include the Ford family patriarch himself, the band did include Robben\u2019s brothers Mark on harmonica and Patrick on drums.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The Charles Ford Blues Band recorded one album in 1972, and before that, served as Charlie Musselwhite\u2019s backing band.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>They would reunite from time to time in the following decades, recording several albums in the \u201880s, \u201890s and \u201800s, including tribute albums to the boys\u2019 blues heroes, Paul Butterfield and Michael Bloomfield.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201870s and \u201880s were an exciting time for Ford.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Playing mostly as a sideman, Ford backed up blues shouter Jimmy Witherspoon from 1972 to 1973, folk singer Joni Mitchell in 1974 and saxophonist Tom Scott the same year.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Scott and Ford\u2019s band, the L.A. Express, was ex-Beatle George Harrison\u2019s backing group on his 1974 tour of the US.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>In 1979, Ford released his first official solo album, <\/span><\/span>The Inside Story<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>This mostly instrumental album had more of a jazz-fusion sound than anything else, and Ford\u2019s <\/span><\/span>Inside Story<\/span><\/em> bandmates would go on to form the core of the Yellowjackets.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>In 1982, Ford had what one may call his most adventurous project to date, two cameo appearances on KISS\u2019 album <\/span><\/span>Creatures of the Night<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Ford was one of several musicians who played lead guitar on that album, contributing on \u201cRock and Roll Hell\u201d and \u201cI Still Love You.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In between solo releases, Ford teamed up two legendary jazz musicians in separate projects \u2013 Miles Davis in 1986 and Sadao Watanabe in 1985 and 1987.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Ford\u2019s 1988 solo album <\/span><\/span>Talk to Your Daughter<\/em>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>included a cover of Albert King\u2019s signature song \u201cBorn Under a Bad Sign\u201d which appeared in the 1989 Clint Eastwood film <\/span><\/span>Pink Cadillac<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Not only did this cover underscore Ford\u2019s natural preference for the blues, it also gave him a bit of long-overdue mainstream recognition.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Several blues-oriented albums would follow in the years to come, including <\/span><\/span>Robben Ford and the Blue Line<\/span><\/em> (1992) and <\/span><\/span>Mystic Mile<\/span><\/em> (1993).<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Most of Ford\u2019s \u201890s releases were blues-oriented albums, the sole exception being 1999\u2019s jazzy retrospective <\/span><\/span>Sunrise<\/span><\/em>, a collection of live recordings from 1972.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Ford is currently on Concord Records, which released his four solo albums thus far in the 21<\/span>st<\/span><\/sup> century, including the most recent, 2009\u2019s <\/span>Soul on Ten<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Though mostly known as a sideman, Robben Ford has established himself as a credible and versatile solo performer.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Equally adept at blues, jazz and even heavier sub-genres of rock, Ford is a skilled guitarist and (again) underrated vocalist who is still very active touring, recording and collaborating with some of the biggest names in music.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ever since he formed his first band in 1969, Robben Ford has had a colorful, yet underrated career.\u00a0 He has had the privilege to play with a variety of artists, from jazz musicians like Miles Davis to hard rockers such as KISS.\u00a0 Yet his roots have always been the blues, and that\u2019s arguably what he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_meta":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=663"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":664,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663\/revisions\/664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}