This performance by the American musician Robben Ford was the first of two sell-out nights at the 229, continuing the run of excellent artists appearing at AGMP’s January Blues Festival. This was the first time I had the pleasure of seeing him live and it was a total revelation. I was familiar with quite a lot of his history, and had heard bits and pieces, including his 1988 album ‘Talk To Your Daughter’ (which my son had got me), and a pre-release listen of his forthcoming album ‘Two Shades Of Blue’ (which is fabulous), so was looking forward to seeing him without being totally giddy at the prospect.

His collaborations and guest appearances over the years amount to an incredible roster of talent, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise, but his recordings don’t really prepare you for the way he plays guitar live. Most guitarists have a style of their own, but I haven’t come across anyone before that hits the strings with such precise force and energy while also playing with great fluidity and seemingly endless invention. A lot of very good guitarists can get locked into playing repetitive fast runs when soloing, which often lose their momentum very quickly and become mind numbingly tedious to the point that the discerning listener loses faith in the musical credibility of the artist in question (after giving a bit of leeway for a smidgen of self-indulgence).

From the moment Robben strolled out on stage without much fanfare he spent a lot of time improvising extended instrumental passages without ever giving the impression of losing his way, or being self-indulgent. He was backed only by Elles Bailey’s usual keyboard player, Jonny Henderson, his head barely visible above his Hammond organ and drummer Ian Thomas, a man with a pretty impressive CV himself. This set up left a lot of space for the guitarist to expand into.

Ford didn’t introduce many of his songs and kept the onstage chatter to the minimum, while giving the impression of being relaxed and comfortable. I haven’t got a clue what he played first, which was an extended instrumental that demonstrated his combination of playing the sharpest, cleanest chords, often those associated with Jazz, rich inversions following each other, interspersed with melodic, Bluesy runs that would burst out into flowing solos. His incredible rhythmic sense and the use of those absolutely hammered but controlled, staccato chords gave each number a structure that grounded the instrumental passages so they remained interesting, even when extended into powerful improvisations.

One song he did introduce early on was ‘Blues in D’, commenting that it was something that was featured at each concert he played with Miles Davis. At the end of this workout the guitarist seemed out of breathe and mentioned that he had a cold and needed some antihistamines, adding “or some uncle-histamines” while tapping his forehead “always thinking” (which he seemed very pleased with). He played several songs off his new album, including a very good version of John Lennon’s ‘Jealous Guy’, which demonstrated that he has a more than decent voice, even if didn’t exactly hug the mic stand during the course of the evening.

Other new songs (which featured vocals) included the funky ‘Make My Own Weather’ and his Bluesy cover of Charles Brown’s song ‘Black Night’, which got a few members of the audience over-excited at the thought of a Deep Purple interlude. Ford mentioned that the new album is intended as a tribute to the late, great Jeff Beck and introduced a segue of three numbers from the ‘Jeff Beck’s Guitar Workshop’ album, the first of which was definitely the reggae groove of ‘Behind The Veil’. There might have been a bit of ‘Where You Go’ in there as well and I’m sure there was also a nod to JB’s version of ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat'. Whatever it was, it sounded great.

To be honest he could have played the theme from Eastenders and it would have sounded like a Jazzy, Blues and Funk classic. He played old faves ‘Rose of Sharon’ and ‘Chevrolet’ before finishing the set. Returning for an encore he seemed undecided what to play before someone shouted out ‘Freedom’, to which he responded “that’s not a bad shout actually” and proceeded to play it for the enthusiastic audience. It was an absolute masterclass in sublime guitar technique, and also, a pretty impressive display of sympathetic support from his two backing musicians, who had the chops to adapt quickly as the guitarist selected songs on the fly.

Earlier in the evening Kyla Brox had filled the support spot, accompanied by her husband Danny Blomeley on acoustic guitar. His use of bass note runs and chord vamps, with the odd solo, filled out the sound admirably and he played with a lot of energy. Kyla has a seductively Rootsy and melodic voice, not to mention a charming personality, and entertained the crowd with a number of her own songs, including ‘Beautiful Day’, ‘Devil’s Bridge’, ‘Pain & Glory’ and a song about, and in tribute, to her father, ‘Bluesman’s Child’. A very pleasant set and a nice warm up for the main event. An excellent evening all round.

Review, photos and video: Simon Green