by Cyclone Wehner

Over the years guitarist Robben Ford has worked with everyone from Joni Mitchell to Miles Davis to, er, Kiss. He has also found himself cast in the spotlight as an artist in his own right. Ford has long fluctuated between the worlds of blues and jazz, yet the former remains his first love. This good, old-fashioned muso just doesn't like techno, rap or Celine Dion. During his current tour of Australia he is undoubtedly catering to like-minded spirits.

As a young Californian, Ford acquired his first taste of the rock lifestyle while playing in his father's family outfit, The Charles Ford Band. Eventually Robben and his brother Patrick would spread their wings -- teaming up with blues legend Charlie Musselwhite, although they would later regroup for a family LP in 1972. Ford has now enjoyed an expansive 20 year career. Indeed, his roots may lie in the blues, with Chicago exerting an especially strong influence, but he has proved equally as fluent in the jazz idiom.

If Ford's debut album, "Inside Story", sank without a trace, his second, "Talk To Your Daughter", established him internationally. Since then, he has enjoyed remarkable longevity. These days the guitarist fronts his latest band, The Blue Line. Ford and his group released their last album about a year ago. "The Authorized Bootleg" was an unplugged, acoustic live set recorded in Oakland's Yoshi club. As a matter of fact, Ford was inspired to release the LP after coming across a growing number of live bootlegs. While Ford can understand why fans like to buy recordings of his shows, as with many musicians, he still has fundamental issues with this illegal subculture. 'It would not be so bad if these people who are making money off you were giving you a part of it,' he rues. 'The bottom line is that it is wrong.'

It turns out that Ford is currently putting the finishing touches to a new as-yet-untitled studio album, which he speaks about enthusiastically. 'It seems to be a lot more accessible than the work I've done in the past. There are pop sensibilities on this record, which haven't existed in too much of what I've done in the past, and it's not at the sake of the genuine music. Everyone is kinda excited about it. It seems to be very cool ... I'm very excited about it, because the music is very fresh and very accessible. It's hard not to like this record -- that's how I feel about it. And everyone who comes into contact with it says the same thing -- you know, friends, people who might drop by the studio, or the people at my label. Everyone is like, 'Wow, this is really good.' So it's got an R&B thing running through it, but it's also very much a record of the times. It's not like a blues record, per se. It's not like a record from the 60s or 70s or 80s. It's very now.'

Ford has acquired a rep as a notable session player, both playing and recording alongside the likes of Jimmy Witherspoon, Tom Scott, George Harrison, Joni Mitchell, Ricki Lee Jones, Bob Dylan and Kiss, although he tends to shy away from the phrase, 'session player'. Or, at least, he differentiates between musical exchanges and session work. 'As far as Kiss goes, that was basically just a record date, right. The producer (Michael James Jackson) called me and invited me to come and play on the record ("Creatures Of The Night"), and so I said, "Sure, why not". I was paid very well. I was at home and it was easy. But with Joni Mitchell and Miles Davis, those were personal working relationships. I wanted to work with those people. I never would have set out to work with Kiss, you know! They are very different situations. I enjoyed playing on the Kiss album. Again, it's fun just to work, but the experiences with Joni and Miles, as well as Jimmy Witherspoon -- those three artists -- were very special, rarefied situations where I had an opportunity to work with a brilliant artist who was a commanding presence and a mentor in some way. I've never done a tremendous amount of session work. I do it when it comes up and it's convenient. I'm not against it, but I've always preferred to play with people, to be in an environment and to do something that has some legs to it.'

A few years back, Ford met a young Australian fan, kiddie blues guitarist Nathan Cavaleri, whom he sees as having a great future playing blues. 'He's a great kid, a real talent,' Robben says.

Nathan is unique for other reasons. In the 90s there are any number of new musical styles and scenes attracting potentially great artists. Can the blues compete with house, techno, hip-hop, drum 'n' bass and big beat in the late 90s? Ford believes so -- although what he says still might surprise. 'Well, it seems to me that most of the creativity is happening in those areas and that's understandable, because the people who come up in this time are being exposed to that. That is the modern music. So naturally, young talented people are gonna be inspired to go in that direction. You know, I grew up in the 60s and the music then was R&B, blues and jazz -- this was during the time of the British invasion in the US. It was a great creative time in music. And, for me, the 70s were basically a kinda dead period and I felt like the 80s were trying more to find something new. The 80s were kinda a searching period to me. Now, so much of the music is rap and techno. I do not listen to these kinds of music because they are lacking in melody, which I like. You know, I like melody and harmony,' Robben breaks into laughter. 'I would like it all to go back to a more melodic place -- and not be like Celine Dion.'