As a blues novice in the late
’80s I knew I loved the music, but sometimes it
was hard for me to track down just what I was
looking for. A lot of the major record labels
weren’t exactly teeming with albums (though I
had recently discovered much of Chess Records’
catalog, thanks to MCA) and I had not yet really
stumbled onto the great independent labels that
ended up making most of my collection (Rounder,
Black Top, Delmark, Earwig, etc.).
One of my friends who also liked
the blues told me about Talk To Your Daughter,
from Robben Ford. It was actually on a
major label (Warner Brothers) so it was
relatively easy to track down. At the time I was
unfamiliar with Ford, but later discovered that
he had a long musical and personal friendship
with singer Jimmy Witherspoon who I was familiar
with via his Chess recordings. Ford was also in
a blues band with his brother as well as being
the guitarist for the jazz fusion band, The
Yellowjackets, who I had also heard of via my
friend. He also played with Miles Davis and
actually left Davis’ band to record Talk To
Your Daughter.
I was not familiar with a lot of
the songs on Talk To Your Daughter, even
though about half of them were covers of blues
classics, so this was my first exposure to many
of them. The title track is taken at a bit of a
less urgent pace from J.B. Lenoir’s original.
Ford’s vocal is different, not as urgent but
still pleading for what he wants (albeit more
politely), and his guitar work is just superb.
“Help The Poor,” one of B.B. King’s standards
(written by Charlie Singleton), is probably one
of my favorite songs via Ford’s version, as much
for his warm, vulnerable vocal as his exquisite
fretwork, the epitome of crisp, concise soloing.
Ford’s version of Duke
Ellington’s “Ain’t Got Nothin’ But The Blues”
(also performed by Mose Allison) blends blues
and jazz in the guitar playing with a nice vocal
turn as well, and the Albert King favorite,
“Born Under A Bad Sign,” gets a powerful
treatment with Ford's excellent guitar. He also
effectively covers Little Walter with “Wild
About You (Can’t Hold Out Much Longer)” and Ike
Turner on “I Got Over It”, and brings a couple
of originals (“Getaway,” “Can’t Let Her Go”) to
the table. The instrumental “Revelation” was
written by Yellowjackets keyboardist Russell
Ferrante, who also contributes keyboards on this
album. Ford’s soloing on this track is a
revelation in itself.
Ford and Ferrante are joined by
bassist Roscoe Beck and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta.
Beck continued to play with Ford as part of The
Blue Line for a number of years following this
release. They provide excellent support on this
album, which received a lot of attention in the
late ’80s. One of the selling points to me at
the time was that it didn’t seem to be
overproduced compared to a majority of
recordings in the ’80s, as the songs had a real
“live in the studio” feel. Listening to it now,
it still has that feeling, though some, not all,
of the keyboards are still firmly entrenched in
the ’80s. Ford’s voice is probably a better fit
for pop than the blues, but that was probably
one of the reasons the album reached across the
aisles beyond the blues to jazz and even pop
fans.
Robben Ford has continued his
diverse and prolific recording career to the
present day, venturing into jazz, rock, and the
blues. He’s still one of the most distinctive
and accessible guitarists on stage or in studio.
Blues fans unfamiliar with his work are
encouraged to start with Talk To Your
Daughter, but there’s much more great music
in his catalog to be heard in a variety of
genres.
--- Graham Clarke
