Robben Ford????

burk48237 · #1 04-06-2005, 02:32 PM

Am I the only TB'er that loves this guys music? Maybe because I use to play gutiar a lot too ( the dreaded G word), but He is a phenominal player, I think one of the top ten gutiar players playing!! To me he's one of the few players that bridges the gap between R & B, Blues and Jazz. I've seen Him live a couple of times and certantly navigates the fingerboard as well as most jazz players including guys like Joe Pass, etc., And his Chord Melody playing (on the fly!) is just sick. It doesn't hurt that Roscoe Beck was his Main Bass Player. He has also recorded with Jimmy Earl, Jimmy Hislop. He was one of the founding members of the Yellowjackets and toured with Joni Mitchell when He was 16 (recommended by Larry Carlton)! He is one of a handfull of Artist that I buy new stuff from without checking out!

JSCHRO7376 · #2 04-06-2005, 02:37 PM

IMO Robben is a very underrated musician, I like his playing a lot.

JimK · #3 04-06-2005, 03:59 PM

A few of us were just yapping about Ford & his stint with the L.A. Express.
The 1st album I heard Ford was Tom Cat; it's a must-have, Ford & Tom Scott do some nice unison playing.
Anyway, little did I know that Ford had already been busy playing in various Blues bands(Jimmy Witherspoon, Charles Ford Band, etc).

Eventually, The Inside Story came out(it's almost the '1st' Yellowjackets' album)...Talk To Your Daughter was even better(Ferrante, Vinnie, & Haslip)
His albums with The Blue Line(especially the one with Tommy Breichtlein on cans) are happenin'.

How many of you Ford fans have heard/or own Schizophrenia? Ford even plays sax on that one.

Michael Jewels · #4 04-06-2005, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimK

A few of us were just yapping about Ford & his stint with the L.A. Express.
The 1st album I heard Ford was Tom Cat; it's a must-have, Ford & Tom Scott do some nice unison playing.
Anyway, little did I know that Ford had already been busy playing in various Blues bands(Jimmy Witherspoon, Charles Ford Band, etc).

Eventually, The Inside Story came out(it's almost the '1st' Yellowjackets' album)...Talk To Your Daughter was even better(Ferrante, Vinnie, & Haslip)
His albums with The Blue Line(especially the one with Tommy Breichtlein on cans) are happenin'.

How many of you Ford fans have heard/or own Schizophrenia? Ford even plays sax on that one.

Jim, you took the words right out of my mouth!

Tom Cat is the album that first got me into Tom Scott, and this was back in 1975!!!

www.robbenford.com/histdisc.html

Then, I noticed how good the guitarist (Robben Ford) and bass player were. (Max Bennett)

I also have, "Talk To Your Daughter," and Randy Crawford's, "Secret Combination."

Small world.

Mike

JimK · #5 04-06-2005, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Jewels

Tom Cat is the album that first got me into Tom Scott, and this was back in 1975!!!

Mike-
That's when I bought it, too...$4 at the Navy Exchange.

Another Tom Scott record worth checking out from that era is New York Connection.
No Robben Ford, just some cream-of-the-crop NYC sessioneers(Eric Gale, Gadd, Gary King, Bob James, Richard Tee, etc).
True, this album is not as Rockin' as Tom Cat...I do recall learning the Disco octave thing from the album's 1st track, "Dirty Old Man"(E-E-C#-C#-D-D-D#-D#- etc).

I you have this album, check out Gadd's beat on the outro to the tune, "New York Connection".

burk48237 · #6 04-06-2005, 05:13 PM

JimK I don't have Scizophenia, but I do have a CD called Discovering the blues, where he plays Sax on "You don't know what love is". I've also got all the Jing Chi ( Ford, J. Hislopp, V.Caliuto) stuff including the live CD. And the Jimmy Witherspoon stuff, Ford blowing those Blues with a Gibson L-5 Sick Sweet tone. Talk To your Daughter is still my Favorite althought the new Ford Brothers Live is very Hot.

Christopher · #7 04-07-2005, 09:09 AM

Great player. He's got one of the best tones I've heard for an electric guitarist, and his playing is harmonically very sophisticated - definitely not standard I-IV-V blues. I'm not crazy about his singing, but that's a pretty minor quibble.

LiquidMidnight · #8 04-07-2005, 09:32 AM

I have his Tiger Walk album and absolutely love it. He has great tone and a good ear for melody, very tasteful player. His songs also have very interesting arrangements.

stretchcat · #9 04-07-2005, 09:37 AM

I was one of the ones yapping with JimK about the Tom Scott recordings. I'm a huge fan of Robben Ford's playing and I finally got to see him play live recently with Gregg Allman and Friends. Gregg's friend who was playing bass was none other than the great Willie Weeks!

bmc · #10 04-07-2005, 09:58 AM

I love Robben Ford. I regularly have 3-4 of his cd's in the car at any given time.

**baba** · #11 04-07-2005, 10:56 AM

Big Robben Ford fan here. I've seen him live 3 times.

Bard2dbone · #12 04-07-2005, 04:25 PM

I've dug him for years. He signed my Strat.

Gard · #13 04-07-2005, 09:06 PM

Robben is a monster player, and the Blue Line CD's never leave my car, what a rhythm section! Roscoe Beck and Tom Brechtlein!!! Man....huge stuff....

Anyone else here have the "Authorized Bootleg" CD, them live doing "acoustic" versions of their tunes, man, they're smokin' even when they're mellowed out!!!

Commreman · #14 04-07-2005, 09:25 PM

Love the guy. I had "Talk to your Daughter" on cassette (remember those?) Wore the friggin thing out! "Revelation" was one of my favorite tracks.

Funky Doctor · #15 04-07-2005, 09:38 PM

I saw him twice last year. Best guitarist I have ever seen live.

PhatBasstard · #16 04-08-2005, 01:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gard

Anyone else here have the "Authorized Bootleg" CD, them live doing "acoustic" versions of their tunes, man, they're smokin' even when they're mellowed out!!!

Yeah, got that. There is a DVD put out of '93, "Blue Line" show that is also excellent...plus you get to see the ultra rare Fender Rosco Beck 6 in action.

JimK · #17 04-08-2005, 04:26 AM

That DVD needs to go on my 'short' list...which is at about 100 now.

Wondering if anyone out there has heard Ford as a member of one of Miles' '80s electric bands; IIRC, he was pre-Mike Stern(as a timeline reference).

stretchcat · #18 04-08-2005, 06:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhatBasstard

Yeah, got that. There is a DVD put out of '93, "Blue Line" show that is also excellent...plus you get to see the ultra rare Fender Rosco Beck 6 in action.

It's been a while since I have watched that DVD, but I thought that was the Stevens 6 string. I'll have to watch it again soon.

PhatBasstard · #19 04-08-2005, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stretchcat

It's been a while since I have watched that DVD, but I thought that was the Stevens 6 string. I'll have to watch it again soon.

Hmm. Don't know anything about a "Stevens" 6, but it looks like a design that was used on his 5, and later 4 string signatures. Someone posted a pic of it in another thread and it looked like the same bass.

dave64o · #20 04-08-2005, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gard

Anyone else here have the "Authorized Bootleg" CD, them live doing "acoustic" versions of their tunes, man, they're smokin' even when they're mellowed out!!!

I have it also and love it.

I got a nice surprise a few months ago. I went to Gregg Allman and Friends and Robben Ford was playing guitar. First time I ever saw him live and can't wait to see him come around doing his own material. Come to think of it, Willie Weeks was on bass on that tour too.