Robben Ford

Robben Ford is without doubt the only musician who can lay claim to performing or recording credits with Miles Davis, Kiss, Burt Bacharach, and Muddy Waters - not to mention George Harrison, Michael McDonald, Joni Mitchell and countless others. Raised in the remote town of Ukiah, California, Robben moved to San Francisco at 18 and was immediately scooped up (along with older brother Patrick on drums) by blues harp legend Charlie Musselwhite. Leaving to form the Charles Ford Band (named after their father) with Patrick and younger brother Mark on harmonica, the short-lived group recorded only one album but left a legion of fans many of them guitarists who owe a huge debt to Robben 25 years later.Stints with blues singer Jimmy Witherspoon and the fusionesque L.A. Express (touring and recording with Joni Mitchell) preceded Robben's long-awaited solo debut, 1979's Inside Story. The album also marked the formation of the quartet that would become the Yellowjackets, with whom Robben performed until 1981. A year later Ford enlisted bassist Roscoe Beck and in 1986 drummer Tom Brechtlein began sitting in, joining officially after the release of Robben's next solo outing, 1988's Talk To Your Daughter.In between Ford played with one of his jazz heroes, Miles Davis, thanks to an intro from Tommy LiPuma. "I first met Tommy when he signed and produced the Yellowjackets," recalls Robben. "I worked with him in some other situations, like Randy Crawford, and then he was the guy who told Miles about me. It's a real auspicious coincidence that Tommy came to GRP at this point and had already been thinking about the Blue Thumb idea. We wanted to be presented in some way so that people didn't see the GRP logo and automatically think we were a jazz act."