I saw guitarist Robben Ford play with Joni Mitchell during the Miles Of Aisles Tour at Woolsey Hall in New Haven in the mid-1970s. I’ve followed his career since, but not until the late ’80s did I start to take a closer look.
Even then, I wasn’t familiar with everything he released. In the past few years I’ve become more acquainted with his various projects and finally had a chance to see him live at the Infinity Music Hall in Norfolk, Connecticut, in August.
Still, it wasn’t until relatively recently I found that along with his major label releases he also put out a couple of tributes to one of my favorite musicians, Paul Butterfield, on an independent label in the early 2000s with the Ford Blues Band, which includes two of his brothers, Patrick and Mark.
Ford like many other young players who started playing in the mid-1960s was influenced greatly by seeing the Butterfield Band when they played on the West Coast, including at the Fillmore West. It was the same here in the East with musicians I knew and worked with. Butterfield was one of the major influences on my band Pulse in the late ’60s.
Tributes are sometimes a hit-and-miss proposition. When I finally had a chance to listen to A Tribute To Paul Butterfield (2001), though, I was pleased that Robben and The Ford Blues Band had stayed faithful to the material they had chosen but also brought something new to it that makes it as fresh, vital and relevant as it was in the mid-to-late 1960s. It’s our fifth Hidden Treasure.
One of the things that makes this tribute work so well is the choice of material, which hits all of the various phases and the evolution of the Butterfield Band, with tracks from Butter’s six best albums.
Add to this a high degree of virtuosity from all the band members — which includes Patrick Ford, drums, Andy Just, vocals on two tracks and harmonica on six, Mark Ford, also vocals on three selections and harp on six, Volker Strifler, on second guitar in the right channel, who is a perfect foil for Ford, on the left channel, especially when they play the classic Mike Bloomfield-Elvin Bishop arrangements, and Dewayne Pate, bass — and you have a perfect mix for this material.
In addition, this collection of players attacks the material with a high energy level and benefits from modern day recording equipment and the sound quality possible today that wasn’t always available or executed as well in the 1960s. John Court, producer of Resurrection Of Pigboy Crabshaw and In My Own Dream, took a little life out of the band’s sound in the studio when he recorded Butter’s harp acoustically instead of with his trademark of pushing a sliver of distortion into his harp sound from a mic amplified through a Fender guitar amp. In fact, those two album’s productions sound tame at times for a band so explosive and dynamic.
The band is also augmented by a horn section that tackles the sophisticated, jazz-oriented charts on six tracks with an ease and fluidity that rivals the originals. And Butterfield Band keyboardist Mark Naftalin is among the additional guest players.
Some of their choices from these classic albums are positively inspired. For instance, No Amount Of Loving and Buddy’s Advice from Keep On Moving, not two of Butter’s better known tracks but that cook nonetheless from start to finish. And Mary, Mary and All These Blues from East-West, another two tracks that are probably not as familiar as others from perhaps the best Butterfield album of them all, but bring out the original band’s and this unit’s best qualities.
Each of the tracks even has a similar sound to each of the different eras. Screamin’ from the self-titled debut, a Bloomfield instrumental, and Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, from the ’66 compilation What’s Shakin’, positively scream from a stereo system’s speakers with raw energy and vibrancy.
The Ford Band does an excellent job with One More Heartache, perhaps the premier track from Crabshaw, complete with a funky, swinging horn chart and Robben Ford’s emulation of Bishop’s style of playing tasty licks by varying his guitar’s volume control for a trademark fade-in, fade-out attack.
Ford sings on three tracks, Mary, Mary, All These Blues and Last Hope’s Gone, the atmospheric opener from In My Own Dream, and does a creditable job on each. His playing throughout the record is exemplary and inspired, keeping to a burning blues-rock mode. Strifler as mentioned does a nice Bishop emulation on rhythm and riffs from the early era, but also plays a stinging solo, as Bishop did, on Work Song, one of two instrumentals from East-West, and gets solo space on Everything’s Gonna Be Alright, the classic Little Walter tune that Butterfield turned into a live tour de force. Strifler also sings Tollin’ Bells and Buddy’s Advice.
Just takes vocal and harp duties on Schoolgirl and Everything’s Gonna Be Alright, and contributes harp on Screamin’, Mary, Mary, Buddy’s Advice and Tollin’ Bells. He has a big, fat sound, reminiscent of Butter while still maintaining his own style. Mark Ford takes over vocals on One More Heartache, No Amount Of Loving and In My Own Dream and also shows off a large harp sound, sometimes quoting from Butter’s parts liberally to good effect. He also adds harp on Last Hope’s Gone, Work Song and All These Blues.
If there is one area in which this band falls a little short it is that although all the singers interpret the blues beautifully, none can match Butterfield’s wailing style, which Patrick Ford calls exceptional in the album’s notes. But that’s a minor quibble given all the good qualities of these recordings.
This album brings back memories as well as establishes new ones. This would be quite a band to see live, playing some of the greatest modern electric blues material ever committed to record and that had a lasting impact on so many artists for so many years. It’s good to know this group is helping keep the memory of Paul Butterfield and his various bands alive.
The Ford Blues Band with Robben Ford has also released a tribute album to Mike Bloomfield (2002) and recorded The Butterfield/Bloomfield Concert in 2006.
