In my second blog interview I talk to
Ric Hall, one of the best misciains of his generation to come out of Chicago.
Ric had played with everyone from Albert King to Buddy Guy, and is a damn nice guy too.
BG, Sean and Ric Hi Ric, we met just before you played the Buesfestival in New Zealand last Year, how did you enjoy playing in New Zealand?
RH: The jetlag, man…24 hours or so in the air. Usually I need a day to get adjusted to the new time zone and to have some rest after a long flight like that.
But I felt great that we met you and your friends, and jammed together. It cheered me up…I always watch the audience’s temperature and people’s reaction to what we do. Every audience is different, especially when you play shows outside the United States. We never know what to expect. But our meeting with you guys really put me at ease with environment, and put me in tune with the place. I think we played a great show; as far as I remember people loved it; I had a good time.
ANBTB: Had you been to New Zealand before and if so, has it changed much since then?
RH: We were here in New Zealand in 2005 with Buddy Guy. I haven’t noticed any difference. It’s still a pretty cool place.
ANBTB: Did you manage to hear any of New Zealand’s blues acts wile you were here?
RH: When you and I met, you introduced me to your friends at your friend's house – musicians from New Zealand’s blues community. I remember you from The Jukes and other guys. I was glad that it turned out that we spoke the same language exchanging lics, and communicated really well; I had a great jam with you guys.
ANBTB: Is the blues atmosphere here in New Zealand significantly different to the US or the UK and the rest of the world?
RH: I noticed that in New Zealand people who play it (you and your friends) have a core understanding and feel of it. You and I spoke the same language when we jammed together. In some lands people sometimes use the “Blues” label and attach it to something else. It’s ok with me.
ANBTB: Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you got the gig with Buddy Guy?
RH: Initially, I wanted to be a football player but due to trauma, quit that path, and decided to be a music teacher. I enrolled into Chicago Music Conservatory. During my time there, I passed an audition with Albert King who came to audition Conservatory’s students, because he needed a guitar player for his upcoming tour. That was my first gig, and it was so cool that it shaped what I really choose to do in life: to be a performer.
As far as Buddy’s gig: Buddy was looking for a new guitar player, and his brother, Phil Guy (good memory to this man), gave Buddy a word about me. I worked for Phil for many years before that…Buddy gave me an audition but beyond my knowledge: one night during the summer of 2004, he showed up at the small club on the South side of Chicago where I work every Monday and just mixed with the audience. I noticed him but thought he was just hanging out. Next Monday he showed up again. During break he asked me if I want to work for him and left. I was given some time to meet my obligations with The Dells I was playing with at the time, and after about two weeks I hit the road with Buddy’s band and went on tour to Europe and Japan.
ANBTB: Buddy’s a showman and I guess anything can happen during a gig…and I guess you just have to go with it…?
RH: The showman is the right word…We are never told what exactly we are going to do tonight. There are exceptions, of course. If Buddy wants the band to learn a few new songs before the tour, then we have a couple of rehearsals one or two days prior to it.
When we play the annual winter package of 20 January concerts at Buddy’s club in Chicago(Buddy Guy’s Legends), you may hear Buddy saying right in the middle of the song: “Band, hold it, hold it…I don’t like this song” and then he goes right into another one. And he may be doing it during his walk into the crowd offstage. He may be even out of my sight then.
Right at the beginning of my work with Buddy, he said to me: “When in the middle of the show I am giving you a solo, you better be ready to take that solo…If not, I am not going to be sorry for you”.
My way of being prepared is being prepared for anything onstage. And with Buddy, no two shows are exactly the same. He doesn’t like to rehearse too much, he likes to keep it raw.
Ric Hall Buddy’s gigs aren’t strictly wall to wall “Chicago” blues are they? He throws in a lot of different styles and even different genres of music…
RH: Sometimes Buddy makes some kind of a break, in a way, and in the middle of a really dramatic and loud performance, he wants to play an acoustic set – a few songs that Buddy and I play on acoustic guitars. That’s when he sings songs in the style of Mississippi Delta – a region in the South of the United States, also known as a cradle of the blues.
Buddy came from a very strong blues tradition before he came from Louisiana to Chicago in 1957. He played with acclaimed artists in Baton Rouge and was a front man himself back in the days when he lived there. His earliest influences shaped what he brought to Chicago and recorded on Chess records. It was spread around the world under the label of “Chicago Style” of blues. He himself contributed a great deal to what later become known as the blues “Chicago Style”.
Many people made their start from what he had already accomplished. To name a few: Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Rolling Stones. None of them deny that it’s Buddy’s playing that shaped what they wanted to do in music, and paved the way for them. It sounds ironic but sometimes he includes (or has to include, probably under production companies’ pressure) songs by Hendrix and Clapton who rose on his shoulders on the initial stages of their music careers.
ANBTB: He likes his band members to be able to play, but do you get much freedom to do your thing, or is Buddy pretty strict about what he wants from the band?
RH: I don’t feel really restrained in my work for Buddy but the show must have its structure, and certain landmarks apply. Nevertheless, Buddy encouraged me to play my solo by telling me: “You go ahead, man, and do your thing”. That was the only instruction I got from him. So I could do nothing but to go ahead and to shred it.
ANBTB: What do you think is the state of the “blues” right now?
RH: It’s a big question. .. The state of the blues can be better described if we talk about the quality of blues musicians’ lives… It’s a long talk and I am not sure if the format of your blog gives me enough space for it.
I’ve heard that San Francisco Blues Festival has been cancelled this year altogether.
Chicago Blues Festival will run for 3 days this year instead of the usual 4…To get a better answer to your question, take a look at the page “groups” on Myspace. What are the most numerous groups there? The answer is: rock and hip-hop. Their followers are numbered in millions. The group of the blues lovers includes a few thousand members. So, you can see what kind of music feeds musicians better.
But I personally think that the elite group should not become a “majority” group. In order to be saved from bad taste and from worthless contributors, it must be carried by selected few. Yet there are should be parties interested in preservation of this cornerstone of American cultural heritage, in supporting musicians who live a life of blues – by giving them jobs, by giving them more venues and festivals to play at, by recording them, by giving them grants for their projects etc etc.
ANBTB: Your playing encompasses a wide range of styles, doesn’t it with a background in R&B, soul and jazz, can you tell us a bit about it?
RH: I started my music career as a performer playing R&B on Chicago scene. I worked with many bands covering Motown tunes, contemporary funk artists etc. Most of the music we were playing in the 60s and 70s was, basically, R&B. I play funk, rock, jazz, blues, R&B, reggae, Polka, swing jazz, smooth jazz.
ANBTB: Was there anyone you saw play or heard, and thought “Damn! That’s what I’m gonna do…”?
RH: My idols of my early days still fascinate me: Earth, Wind and Fire; Tower of Power, George Benson, Phil Upchurch, Wes Montgomery, Blues Conte (guitarist for Tower of Power), Skips Pitts (guitarist for Isaac Hayes).
ANBTB: And what about your gear, can you give us insight to what you are using on stage?
RH: Take a look at my website:
Ricjaz.net. It has “endorsements” page. It describes all the gear I use: Flaxwood – guitar company; Musicman Guitars – Earnie Ball company; Writeman Spin – spin guitar unit; Dean Markley – accessories; Chicago Blues Box- guitar amps; Dunlop- accessories; Ernie Ball – accessories; FuziBro – foot pedals; distortion/overdrive stomp box; Uncle Funky Guitar Cables – cables; Analysis Plus inc. – guitar cables.
ANBTB: The “spinner” strap has become a bit of a trademark for you, how did you come to use that?
RH: I worked for the NAMM show one year in Chicago, and at the end of the run the companies don’t want to take the items back with them, so they would try and sell to anyone for very low prices to get rid of the items…So at the end of my work day I went around checking for sales and walked upon the spinstrap company and said: “Hey, man,…how much?”
So, for a very low price I took the last one he had not knowing it would become my trademark. The year was 1999…I’ve been spinning since then.
ANBTB: You have shared the stage with plenty of music legends in your time. Do you have a favorite?
RH: I played with The Dells, Jerry Butler, Bobby Womack, Ray Goodman and Brown, Stylistics, Delphonics, Bloodstone, The Emotions, Tower of Power, Manhattans, Millie Jackson, Robert Townsend (5 Hearts Tour), Gladis Knight, Steevie Wonder, Howard Hewitt, Eddie Griffin, Albert King, BB King, Rolling Stones, John Meyer, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Keb Mo, Hendrix Experience tour people (Johnny Lang, Eric Johnson, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Hubert Sumlin), Koko Taylor, but Carlos Santana is my favorite one.
Carlos is a great musician, deeply spiritual man and, most importantly, has a lot of respect for his colleagues. We played at Montreaux Jazz Festival and the DVD of our live performance was made. A great DVD, many great artists played there – Buddy Guy, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Bobby Parker, Carlos Santana. It’s called “Carlos Santana Presents. Blues at Montreaux”. He was really meticulous trying to make sure all the band members’ names were included in the “credits” section of the DVD. I want to thank him for that. It reveals a man of high ethical principles. I don’t take it for granted.
ANBTB: It’s been a very busy time for you and the band, was there a particular highlight in the Experience Hendrix tour for you?
RH: I am glad that I met people of the original Jimi Hendrix band – Jimi’s bass player Billy Cox, late Mitch Mitchell who died during that tour, Jimi Hendrix’s sister Janie, and a host of great guitarists!!!...the whole tour was a highlighted experience for me!
ANBTB: In your time off do you get to do much in your studio?
RH: No, the studio is at the hiatus at this moment. Buddy keeps me on the road these days, we are only home for a short time, then back on the road.
ANBTB: What have you got coming up in the next year or so? Do you think you might be back in New Zealand soon?
RH: I hope to return back to play in New Zealand during the next year or so.
Looks like Buddy makes it to New Zealand every other year. We went there with him in 2006 and 2008. I don’t know if that’s a pattern. I want to believe so.
ANBTB: Thanks very much for talking to me Ric. Thanks to to your publicist Tony Musicz for arranging and recoping the interview. I really hope to catch up with you in New Zealand (although it would be great to see you in Chicago...) sometime very soon.
The Bay of Plenty Blues Club Inc. presents its 4th annual Blues Festival in Rotorua on Queen's Birthday weekend.
