Robben Ford Discussion

[bluejack]

Well I'm finally getting around to the rest of Mr. Henderson's site and the introductions. Followed you guys over from that last board.
The short story....
I grew up in New Orleans and moved to Austin in '86,where i'm now still living.I probably first heard Robben back in the mid 70's on Joni's 'Miles of Aisles' lp. But what really got my attention was years later i purchased a book called 'TEN' that was published by GIT/MIT. Les Wise was my first teacher back in NO around '73 and he had a chapter in the book but also did the man whom this forum is all about. Robben's chapter was titled 'Developing a Solo' and included a transcription of his solo on 'North Carolina' from The Inside Story.So i tracked down the lp and the rest....
After moving to Austin i tried to start a NO music based band but it morphed into a pretty straight ahead jazz sound with a female vocalist. We played around town alot;clubs,restaurants,private parties.When The Blue Monks disbanded 'round '99 I started getting back deep into da blues,where i hope to reside forever.Just reading BB King's autobio where he talks of meeting Charlie Parker."I'm a blues player ,B" said Bird."We're all blues players.It's just that we hear blues in different ways.The day we get away from the blues is the day we'll stop making sense."
So these days i'm involved with a trio doing acoustic blues. But i'm on the lookout for a group where i can bust out the electric.
To wrap up, the reason i look up to Robben so much is his melding of harmonic sophistication with the blues beats. I'm a child of the the fusion period and he kinda just wraps it all up for me.Having grown up in NO I love da funk and groove but when you study music a little it's such a treat to have a little sass with it.
Well thanks much to David for creating this site,
Everyone have a nice holidays,
Johnny