Robben Ford Discussion

[Aeolian]

I had to laugh. Right after I typed that last message I went to lunch and the phone rings, who else but John. Raving about the new Mike Landau live album, and the killer version of Worried Life Blues where Mike stays pretty true to Robben's arrangement.

Okay, I got my order in and waited a few days before posting this so I'd be next in line for the CD. But John is such a wealth of information on great playing. He just absorbs everything, and is always seeking stuff out. Part of what makes him a great player. And just about everything he's turned me on to has been awesome.

It seems that Vegas has been good to John. Turns out that Vegas is turning into the new Nashville/LA. Lots of great session players are moving there cause that's where the gigs are.

Hopefully out of all of this John will get recorded some more, and hopefully be given a chance to shine. Listening to Musslewhite's Continental Drifter, I can almost see the producer in the control room shaking his head and mouthing "don't play" to John. What's on that record doesn't have any of the life or story that he brought to Musslewhite's live gigs.

There is the old Pat Ford/Live in Breminale where a young John gets to play some. He also told me that when he auditioned for Phil Lesh, folks made tapes and probably videos that are in those Deadhead trading circles, but I've never found any. Those would be fun to hear because besides John, Phil worked out with a serious cast of characters including Robben who was first given the gig, Jimmy Herring who took over for Robben, and Scofield, who has since done a few dates. That was probably some pretty heavy jamming over those several days.

And since Pat Ford records just about every gig, there have got to be tapes somewhere of John and Robben playing together. Those would be awesome.
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