ROBBEN FORD

PURE EarMUSIC 9/10

Robben Ford with a guitar is where it’s at for many music fans, a magical crossroads of tone, taste, vocabulary and colour found only under his fingers. For a certain style of jazz-blues playing and delivery, Robben is the definitive role model to listen to and be inspired by. The interesting aspect of Pure’s nine tracks - his first instrumental album since 1997’s Tiger Walk - is that the music isn’t totally typical of the Tele Titan. Opener, Pure (Prelude) is a half-tempo drums and bass groove that combines Ravel-style melodicism with sitar exotica. Intriguing stuff. White Rock Beer is more Ford fayre, with a shuffle blues groove and a biting guitar tone that slides and yelps; a future Quentin Tarantino film could easily embrace this. Balafon is a tasty ballad with a rich slapback clean tone that’s augmented by deep synth-like drones and a strong backbeat. Go has an old-skool vibe that’s reminiscent of James Brown meets The Yellowjackets with riveting guitar and saxophone interplay. Gospel blues gets a show on Blues For Lonnie Johnson; the quavering organ and soft horn section sets the scene for Robben’s vocal-like guitar delivery. The stylistic hot stepping of Ford’s previous band Jing Chi is reflected on A Dragon’s Tail; the guitar tones alone (reverb soaks, crisp slapback, funky clean) are appealingly broad. As always, Robben Ford stands tall and pure to his musical vision! (JS)