Robben Ford
May 9th 8pm, Freede Little Theater @ Oklahoma Civic Center Music Hall
This will be the Robben Ford Trio with Travis Carlton, son of Larry, bass guitar and Toss Panos, drums
May 10th Masterclass/clinic Open to the public limited seating available.
ACM@UCO Performance Venue 323 East Sheridan Ave
The Clinic will be open to the general public with very limited seating tickets available through Ticketstorm.com
Students of ACM will be the guests of The Oklahoma Blues Society limited to the first 50 to sign up contact your teacher or administrator.
The class will focus on the basic building blocks of music theory, chord progressions, the use of voicings, listening and improvisation.
There will be an emphasis on the importance of the blues in building a strong musical foundation, as well as the understanding and usage of advanced harmony to add dimension to simple music forms and chord progressions. The guitar will be featured, but beginning and mid-level students of any instrument would
benefit from this class.
Robben Ford is one of the premiere electric guitarists today, particularly
known for his blues playing as well as his ability to be comfortable in a
variety of musical contexts. A five-time Grammy nominee, he has played
with artists as diverse as Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Witherspoon, Miles Davis,
George Harrison, Phil Lesh, Bonnie Raitt, Claus Ogerman, Michael
McDonald, Bob Dylan, John Mayall, Greg Allman and many others. (See
Discography)
Born in 1951 in Woodlake, California, and raised in Ukiah, Robben was
the third of four sons in a musical family. His father Charles was a
country and western singer and guitarist before entering the army and
marrying Kathryn, who played piano and had a lovely singing voice.
Robben’s first chosen instrument was the saxophone, which he began to
play at age ten and continued to play into his early twenties. He began to
teach himself guitar at age thirteen upon hearing the two guitarists from
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Michael Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop. In
the late 1960’s, Ford frequented the Fillmore and Winterland Auditoriums
in San Francisco to see Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Cream, Led Zeppelin,
Albert King, B.B. King and all of the progenitors of blues. “It was an
incredible time for electric guitar,” Robben recalls.
On his interest in jazz, Robben says,” I fell in love with the sax-playing of
Paul Desmond and The Dave Brubeck Quartet, and before long found
Ornette Coleman, Archie Shepp, Yusef Lateef, Roland Kirk, John Coltrane,
Wayne Shorter, and of course, Miles Davis.” These influences have stayed
with Robben, playing a large part in his particular blend of jazz and blues
that define him as a guitarist and allow him to play in a wide variety of
settings.
After high school, Robben and his brothers Patrick (a blues drummer) and
Mark (a blues harmonica player) formed The Charles Ford Blues Band
(named after their father), and recorded for the Arhoolie label. Robben
(on sax and guitar) and Patrick went on to tour the U.S. with Chicago
harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite, again recording for Arhoolie.
Robben’s first attempt at forming his own jazz quartet was picked up by
legendary blues singer Jimmy Witherspoon, which brought Robben to L.A.
He toured the U.S. and Europe with Witherspoon and was seen by Tom
Scott and members of The L.A. Express, who were about to begin a
promotional tour with Joni Mitchell for her recording “Court and Spark.”
Robben was invited to play guitar on the tour and played on two
recordings with Mitchell and The L.A. Express. “The two years I spent with
Joni were the most formative of my musical life. Joni was just brilliant and very accessible, and the members of The L.A. Express became good
friends and teachers. It was great.”
Beatle George Harrison invited Robben to join him on his “Dark Horse”
tour of the U.S. and Canada, raising his musical profile even further.
Shortly after the two month stint with Harrison, Robben moved to
Colorado to take a much-needed break from music and to study with
Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa. In 1977, he was approached by
Elektra Records, which produced his first solo recording “The Inside
Story” with a group of musicians who went on to become The
Yellowjackets.
Elektra closed their doors in the early 1980’s, leading to a time of
uncertainty. Robben moved to San Francisco to be close to family and his
early musical history. Soon his career would take another upward swing,
recording and touring with Michael McDonald, securing a recording
contract with Warner Brothers Records, and meeting his soon-to-be wife,
actress Anne Kerry. After moving to New York with Anne, he was called to
play with musical icon Miles Davis. “Producer Tommy LiPuma played Miles
my work with the Yellowjackets, then three days later, Miles called me
personally to join his band. Shocking!” Robben lamented having to leave
Miles after only six months because of recording commitments with
Warner Brothers, but was told by Miles that if he ever wanted to come
back, “just come back.”
Robben’s 1988 release for Warner Brothers, “Talk to Your Daughter”
brought his first Grammy nomination (Best Contemporary Blues
Recording) and he started touring the world under his own name. Still
based in New York, he backed David Sandborn on the television show
“Night Music,” in which Sandborn hosted a variety of musical acts.
Robben toured with Sandborn in 1990, then moved back to southern
California shortly thereafter to be closer to his own band.
After leaving Warner Brothers, Robben signed with Stretch/GRP records,
where he finally found a real home for his creativity, recording three CDs
for them with his band “The Blue Line” (Tom Brechtlein on drums and
Roscoe Beck on bass). After a very fruitful eight years, Robben disbanded
the group and recorded two more CDs for the label which had then
become Stretch/Blue Thumb: “Tiger Walk” (an instrumental recording
produced in New York with Keith Richard’s rhythm section) and
“Supernatural,” his most accomplished work up to that point as a
songwriter.In 2000 Robben was invited to tour with Phil Lesh and Friends on a cobill with Bob Dylan, reuniting him with Billy Paine and Paul Barrere of
Little Feat, as well as drummer John Molo. “This experience gave me new
respect for Jerry Garcia as a musician and songwriter. The songs and
musical context were pure pleasure–real guitar music!
When his contract expired at Stretch/Blue Thumb, Robben signed with
Concord Records, the largest independently-owned record company at
the time. In 2002, he released “Blue Moon” and in 2003 “Keep on
Runnin,” a recording full of the 60’s blues/R&B feeling with which he
grew up. His third release for Concord was entitled “Truth”. “I feel this is
the best work I have done in terms of a solo recording. It is my most
realized work as a songwriter, and I feel like I am reaching higher ground
as a guitarist. “Truth” represents the blues as they are today; some of the
songs are sociopolitical in essence, but not without humor, and the
musical setting is fresh.”
Robben’s fourth release for Concord, Soul on Ten” is a “live” recording
performed in San Francisco. “People had been requesting a live recording
for years and I had the right band, music, and venue to pull it o”.” The
CD also includes two studio tracks which feature Larry Goldings on B3
organ and John Button on bass.
Most recently (2010) Robben released “Renegade Creation,” with a group
of musical friends who have played in di”erent combinations and
contexts over the years and decided to focus on a project together
recording for Mike Varney’s Shrapnel label. This is a rock band, Robben’s
first, and the results have people talking: “Dare I say everyone who hears
it, loves it!” The other members are guitarist Mike Landau, bassist Jimmy
Haslip and drummer Gary Novak.
Robben has been touring the world o” and on with the legendary
guitarist Larry Carlton, the two producing “Live in Tokyo”, and an
“unplugged” DVD from Paris. Collaboration seems to be the current M.O.
– projects with John Scofield, Michael McDonald, and touring and
recording with fellow Miles Davis alumni saxophonist Bill Evans, as well as
Randy Brecker and Rolling Stones bassist Darryl Jones.
Robben also collaborates with his wife Anne on various musical projects
including her recent CD “Weill”, which Robben produced on their own
Illyria label.
