Robben Ford Discussion

[AlChuck]

Sunday night I had the privilege of seeing Robben perform with a terrific ensemble consisting of

Ruth Davies – bass
Charles McNeal – saxophone
Danny Caron – guitar
Ndugu Chancler – drums
John R. Burr – keyboards
Bennett Paster – keyboards

at the Dunkelspiel Auditorium on the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, CA. It was the tenth year for the event billed as Ruth Davies' Blues Night at the Stanford Jazz Festival; each year she has a different featured guest.

Having last seen Robben doing his own stuff with his trio, it was a pleasure to see him work with a bit more support. The keyboards especially added a lot of color. Everyone in the group was a killer soloist and got lots of chances to shine. Robben really seemed to be enjoying himself a lot. Songs performed included "Good Thing," "Nothing To Nobody," "Lateral Climb," "Lovin' Cup," "Chevrolet," "Indianola," "Cannonball Shuffle," and an encore of "Help the Poor." The show lasted close to two hours.

Robben had a gold-top Les Paul with humbuckers and played through a Twin Reverb, I think. Didn't see the pedals but I suspect he had a Zendrive and there was a wah which he employed a couple of times.

Apparently the next morning he was slated to be giving a seminar on the blues to the youngsters staying at the current session of the Stanford Jazz Workshop camp.

The house was pretty much full despite the paucity of publicity. Robben's own site has nothing about it except for two very terse links in his schedule page, which only point to the festival home page and not to the descriptive page about his show or workshop. (A couple of weeks ago I saw the great Milton Nascimento there as part of the same fest and it was only maybe 2/3 full - the place holds approximately 700 folks - and I was amazed that someone of Milton's stature performing in the SF Bay Area didn't sell the place out completely.)

Anyone else there at the show? Anyone get any photos?