Robben Ford (born December 16, 1951) is an American blues, jazz and rock guitarist.
Ford was born in Woodlake, California, United States, but raised in Ukiah, California, and began playing the saxophone at age 10, picking up the guitar at age 13. Robben and his brothers Mark (harmonica) and Patrick Ford (drums) had a band they named the Charles Ford Blues Band in honor of their father.
Ford began playing professionally at age 18 when the Charles Ford Blues Band got a gig backing Charlie Musselwhite. The band also recorded two albums The Charles Ford Band and Discovering the Blues. Next Ford put together a band with Bay Area musicians that became Jimmy Witherspoon's backup band. Ford recorded two albums with Witherspoon, Live and Spoonful'. The Ford Blues Band reunites periodically, and released live albums in the 1980s and 1990s.
In the 1970s, Ford began to branch out into jazz fusion, and joined L.A. Express, led by saxophonist Tom Scott in 1974. That same year they backed George Harrison on his American tour. In addition to recording fusion albums, they served as Joni Mitchell's backup band on Hissing of Summer Lawns and her live album, Miles of Aisles.
After leaving L.A. Express in 1976, Ford recorded his solo album, The Inside Story with a band that was to become the Yellowjackets. He went on to play a starring role on the first two Yellowjackets albums, although he was listed as a guest artist due to recording contract arrangements. In 1982, Robben was just one of many guitarists who played and recorded for KISS's album Creatures of the Night, playing the lead guitar on two songs "Rock And Roll Hell" and "I Still Love You".
Gene Simmons had asked Robben to join KISS, however Robben declined stating he was more than happy to play and record for KISS but "couldn't see himself in a band situation performing all over America and the world accordingly". KISS went on to hire Vinnie Vincent and as their new lead guitarist and tour in support of Creatures of the Night.
Ford worked briefly with Miles Davis in 1986; he can be heard on Davis' Montreux box set. Ford released his next album, called Talk to Your Daughter in 1988, a return to his blues roots. In 1989 he joined Philippe Saisse, Marcus Miller and J.T. Lewis in the cast of The Sunday Night Band for the second and final season of the acclaimed late-night NBC television musical performance program, Sunday Night. His best work in the 1990s includes Robben Ford and the Blue Line, and Tiger Walk.
In addition to recording and touring with his own blues band, Ford continued to tour and play with other bands/artists such as Jing Chi (his fusion band), Gregg Allman and Phil Lesh. He has received nominations for four Grammy Awards.
Several “Ford Tribute Bands” exist. Robben Ford was named one of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of the 20th Century" by Musician magazine.
Ford uses Dumble Amplifiers since the early 1980s, and prefers Celestion G12-65 speakers. When travelling abroad he tends to use rented Fender Super Reverb amplifiers along with a Zendrive overdrive pedal by Hermida Audio. Guitar manufacturer Fender used to make a Robben Ford signature model, initially based on the Japanese made Fender Esprit Ultra, it was developed by Dan Smith along with John Carruthers and evolved into a US Custom Shop model, until it was discontinued in 2002.
American luthier Gene Baker also made a Robben Ford signature model. Lately, Ford tends to favour a vintage 1960 Fender Telecaster, Gibson Les Paul's and a custom-made guitar made by Taku Sakashta. Ford is married to the cabaret singer Anne Kerry Ford, and collaborated with her on various projects. His nephew, Gabe Ford, is also a musician.
Welcome to the new Robben Ford Guitar Dojo!
Don't Worry 'Bout Me
Soft In Black Jeans
In these video lessons Robben presents his own songs, discussing their origins and demonstrating how they're played on the guitar so you'll know exactly the correct chord voicing. Complete with pdf charts and interactive notations, these lessons will enhance your playing with a deeper understanding of your own musical potential.
Website http://www.robbenford.com
Robben Ford also has a wonderful, hands-on, teaching website that you must check out for yourself. Go to http://www.robbenfordguitardojo.com and from there, it will direct you to ten (10) FREE streaming mp3 files that you can listen to and use for practicing your own leads/solo’s for each different music genre. See Below a more complete explanation direct from the website that I hope better explains his FREE Streaming Program. The main website, http://www.robbenford.com has many other photos/videos, etc. that you’ll like as well so check that out too.
From the website~
Dojo Free Streaming:
One Taste
A lot of great music is lost to the air when great players jam. And people often do their best playing in jam situations. (For those who are unsure of the term: jamming is slang for improvising; unscripted inspiration of the moment.) I decided to get some of my favorite players together, in a pro studio so that it was well-recorded, bring some simple ideas to start from and let it rip. Here are the results, mistakes and all, with minor editing due to the length of the recordings.
The term One Taste refers to the equality of all things in the moment (It's called Rochig in Tibetan so you can look it up!). In that way we allow the mistakes-- or it wouldn't be a truly righteous jam, right?
Hope you enjoy listening as much as we liked playing….
(*Please note... these are large mp3 files. The play button for each track will display an "!" (exclamation symbol) while the track loads.
Thanks for your patience)
The Players:
Robben Ford, guitar; www.robbenford.com
Chris Chaney, bass; www.thepanicchannel.com/chris
Gary Novak, drums; www.garynovakdrums.com
Jeff Babko, keyboards; www.jeffbabko.com
Nick Lashley,guitar; www.nicklashley.com
on "Zeta J" Track 9
Jimmy Haslip, bass; www.jimmyhaslip.com
Jeff Beal, trumpet; www.jeffbeal.com
Robben Ford, guitar
Gary Novak, drums
Jeff Babko, keyboards
Recorded by Niko Bolas; www.neeks.com
At Stagg Street Studio, Van Nuys, CA.
Mix by Gary Novak
I hope you enjoyed this post and have some suggestions for me for future posts.
“Robben Ford” is an American blues, jazz and rock guitarist who has played with some of the best musicians as I described above. From his activity with Kiss to working with Larry Carlton, George Harrison and Joni Mitchell, he has an amazing resume’ behind him. If you really love listening to him play his guitar, you should pick-up some of the CD’s that he has played on when you get the opportunity.
I’ll continue doing my research to locate other American blues, jazz or blues-rock artists, (specifically guitarists and bassists). Then after I complete my research, I’ll publish a post in the artists name.
As always, I will be continuing along my path in search of all the old-time blues artists.
Until next time ~ ~ ~
Musician By Night . . .
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