Robben Ford
In September 1974 I saw a double bill of Rahsaan Roland Kirk with his band and Tom Scott and the L.A. Express at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz club in Frith Street, Soho. I’d seen Kirk there before and he had been fantastic, but on this occasion I particularly wanted to see the L.A. Express. I had been really impressed with their debut album and the great playing of saxophonist Tom Scott, drummer John Guerin, Fender bassist Max Bennett, the Crusaders’ pianist Joe Sample, and especially, guitarist Larry Carlton.
Well, sadly there was no Larry Carlton, both he and Sample had split and been replaced by 22 year old Robben Ford and keyboard player Larry Nash. I knew nothing of Ford but read he’d spent two years playing with Jimmy Witherspoon, which felt like a good omen. I found an empty table right at the front (I still have no idea how) and sat less than ten feet away from Ford’s amp at stage left. He came on with a Guild Starfire III (although by then he had acquired his 1958 dot neck Gibson ES-335) and plugged into a couple of early MXR pedals, probably a Phase 90 and a Distortion+. I think he was using a Fender combo amp, but whatever it was, his sound was fantastic, especially from such a close distance.
The band were just as good as I hoped they’d be and I was totally into it. Ford, in particular, was incredible, a blues guitarist at heart but playing in a modern jazz rock style that was new and exciting. He absolutely had everything down - great chops, musicality, tone and attitude.
Eventually Tom Scott beckoned to someone in the audience to join them. I half turned and saw Joni Mitchell stand up from a table just behind me and walk to the stage. I can’t remember what she sang, but do remember looking over my shoulder and seeing Neil Young and Stephen Stills and others (Croz? Nash?) cheering her on. As you can expect, the place went wild. I only found out later that the L.A. Express and Mitchell had been playing at Wembley that weekend with Jesse Colin Young, The Band and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young headlining. So this was just an opportunity for the band to play a club gig on their own.
Eventually, the buzz died down and Roland Kirk came on. He was his own amazing self and blew everyone away.
Robben Ford has since become one of the finest guitar players on the planet. And one of the nicest too.
John Guerin remains one of my favourite drummers and was one of the three that had a major influence on my own playing. A seriously accomplished jazz player, his right hand always played jazz patterns on the ride cymbal, whilst playing almost funky bass drum and snare beats. His fills were often syncopated and totally unlike anyone else’s.
He had a huge appetite for playing, and throughout his career if in L.A. he would head straight to the local jazz clubs after major gigs and sit in with the bands there until the early hours. He was able to stretch out in Tom Scott’s jazz fusion band the L.A. Express which he co-founded, and a good example of his playing is probably Rock Island Rocket from the album Tom Cat (1974), from which Adam has included Robben Ford’s guitar solo above - catch the whole track on Spotify in Adam’s playlist.
Guerin played with a huge number of artists, from Thelonious Monk to Frank Sinatra to the Beach Boys and Frank Zappa as well as with Joni Mitchell with whom he had a relationship. He met Mitchell after drummer Russ Kunkel (who was the session player to the Laurel Canyon singer songwriters and others) pulled out of recording Mitchell’s Court and Spark album in 1973 as he thought it needed a jazzier player than himself and Guerin fitted the bill perfectly.
Your memory is razor sharp! Love the lucid details.