Robben Ford Discussion

[telefunk1]

In one of the other open posts Roadwarrior told us about the passing of Gatemouth Brown this weekend. Here is a great story from the Houston Chronicle about this amazing musician.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3350808

I have been a fan of his for years and this is truly a sad day for music fans. I saw him many times with small bands and large, and he never failed to deliver. There was an NPR tribute to him yesterday that focused on his work with name artists like Clapton and Bonnie Raitt, but his best stuff was with his own band - usually made up of players from his own region, the Gulf Coast between Beaumont and Port A and the west side of New Orleans. In all the times I saw him he never had a slouch in his band - these guys were all monster players and my heart goes out to them, too. And Gate always gave them their due and let them show their stuff. (An RF aside, here. One time I saw him with a small band, just drums, bass, keys, and tenor, the band came out and played a few tunes before he took the stage. One tune was Rock Island Rockit, off the Tom Scott/LA Express release that Robben played on.)

Check out his stuff. Daved mentioned the LP he did with Roy Clark, which is great, as is most of his stuff that followed. My favorites are Pressure Cooker (not sure if it is still available), and series of small band releases he did for a French label in the early 1970s. These included Milt Bruckner, the great B3 player, and another Texas legend, Arnett Cobb, on tenor. Just great swing sessions, with a bunch of cool old Louis Jordan tunes.

His influence on Texas guitar players is legendary. In the pre- SRV era down here you had to be able to nail at least 3 tunes to be considered any good as a picker: Freddie King's Hideaway, Albert Collins' Frosty, and Gate's Okie Dokie Stomp.

He will be missed, indeed.