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"Your sound is your frame of reference, your calling card," says saxophonist Ricky Ford. With its muscular tone and generous warmth, Ford's playing can power its way through a furious 15 minute neo-bop solo one moment, then recall the breathy, vibrato yearning of Ike Quebec or the tender, burred growl of Ben Webster the next. "Your sound comes from respect for tradition and from thousands of hours of practice. And from playing live. There's nothing like live experience." Ford says that was easier to get when he was a kid hanging out at clubs. "Small clubs still featured people like Miles, George Benson, Sonny Rollins, Sonny Stitt. You got a chance to meet them, hang out and sit in with them. The economics have changed. That situation just doesn't exist anymore." Ford was catapulted into professional life in 1974 at the age of 20, when he was tapped by Duke Ellington's son, Mercer. "Both Duke and Paul Gonsalves (the band's great tenor saxophonist) had just passed on two months earlier so it was a very difficult time for the band." Someone told Mercer about this kid who not only could play but already knew the Ellington book backwards. That was all Mercer needed to know. "Mercer came up to me and said, 'Meet me on the bus tomorrow...' That was it! So naturally I was on that bus the next day." What began as a two-week tour extended into an 18 month engagement, which only ended when one of his former teachers, Jaki Byard, introduced him to Charles Mingus, who snapped Ford up. "I was with Mingus for almost two years. We got along very well. He recognized the talent and interest I had and I was moved by that. It was a blessing to have worked with him, and it gave me so much experience. In three years I went from the Ellington repertoire to Mingus, from tradition to avant-garde. It was wild, it was great, it was like a whole education. It was like the Big Bang of jazz!" Ford went on to become Lionel Hampton's musical director and work with pianists like Mal Waldron, Abdullah Ibrahim and McCoy Tyner. He also taught at Brandeis University, developing a special expertise in all facets of the big band. When he moved to France with his French wife a couple of years ago, he decided to start up a big band here. The Ricky Ford Orchestra recently celebrated its second anniversary with an Ellington tribute at the Petit Journal Montparnasse. But on July 30 & 31 Ford will be playing in an All Star quartet, featuring pianist George Cables, bass-player Cecil McBee and drummer Ed Thigpen. They're part of the Sunset's annual American Jazz Festival. Other events to watch out for include tenor giant Steve Grossman and his quartet featuring George Brown on drums, July 12-17; young tenor star Mark Turner July 23-24; and hip-hop altoist Greg Osby, July 27-29. Ricky Ford and All Star quartet, July 30 & 31, 10pm, Sunset, 60, rue des Lombards, 1er, Metro Chatelet, tel: 01.40.26.46.60, 80F. |
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