The Star Online: Entertainment: Music
The Star Online: Entertainment: Music |
| Posted: 05 Jun 2011 03:08 AM PDT After 50 years of keeping the blues alive, John Paul Hammond gave Malaysian audiences a piece of himself at this year's Borneo Jazz 2011 festival. JOHN Paul Hammond remembers the first time he heard the blues. He was seven and his father, John Henry Hammond, had taken him to see Big Bill Broonzy. That was back in 1950, and despite his tender years, the music made a deep impression on him, seeping into his soul. "I'd never heard anything like it, I was completely astonished," he says. Hearing him speak for the first time is surprising, his voice is soft, almost tender, and with an innate air of humility. In contrast, his singing has been likened by critics as low, soulful, smoky and "booming" like an oncoming train. In Malaysia, performing at the Borneo Jazz 2011 festival recently, Hammond intimated he knows 400 songs by heart, insisting that every one of them is special to him. At 68, his face is deeply lined, weathered by the years that have not altered the dedication and energy that comes through his performances on the road. Watching him play live with his rack harmonica and two favourite guitars (one of them a 1935 National Duolian, which his wife bought him for his 48th birthday) is a raw experience, like watching a man possessed by the dark, gritty passions of the blues. "When I was 10, I started buying records, gravitating towards country blues," he recounts. "And when I got my first guitar at 18, it just all came together for me. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life." It may be worth mentioning that his father was one of the most important figures in 20th century popular music. Back in the day, Hammond senior was a talent scout for Columbia Records in a time when the United States was still rife with institutionalised racism. He changed the course of music by ignoring the Jim Crow (racial segregation laws enacted from 1876-1965) boundaries of colour, producing records for giants like Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin and Count Basie. Hammond Jr, however, didn't grow up with his father – his parents split when he was young and he would only see him several times a year. Nonetheless, perhaps music was in his blood. Although initially enrolled in art school, Hammond soon dropped out and reinvested whatever artistic talent he had for painting and sculpting into music. Got his mojo working Over the years, he became deeply involved with the evolving music scene of the 1960s and began a musical career that has seen him play or record with artistes like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Tom Waits (who once described him as a force of nature, with a voice so compelling, complete, symmetrical and soulful, that it is at first impossible to imagine improving it). His tight relationship with Waits led to his much loved and critically acclaimed 2001 release, Wicked Grin, an intense album produced by Waits, who also provided husky backing vocals and instruments to Hammond's earthy interpretations of many of his own compositions. Although he has penned a few originals himself, Hammond has never professed to be much of a songwriter; but his role in the 1960s blues renaissance is widely commended as invaluable – most of his work has been in keeping the classics alive. Grammy winner and multiple nominee, he still tours tirelessly today, reinterpreting blues songs from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, so much so, some have likened him to a white version of Robert Johnson. He brings songs like This Train and Crossroads Blues from the 1920s and 1930s back to life, giving contemporary audiences a chance to savour some of that pre-war delta blues fire. To date, Hammond has produced 34 albums and remains among the last of a generation that made the blues famous. In that sense, he is a piece of walking history – full of priceless stories about countless musicians. He took the time to share one such anecdote with a roomful of journos. Apparently, Eric Clapton, who was a friend of his, had given that famously charismatic 1970s blues-rocker Rory Gallagher his address and phone number in New York. One day, he got a phone call from the Irishman, who happened to be in town. Gallagher told him he was interested in finding a guitar that Jimmy Reed had on an album cover. Hammond knew this pawn shop on the lower East Side and brought him there, and sure enough they found exactly what Gallagher wanted. The pawnshop happened to be owned by this tough couple, so Hammond, being the gracious host, said to Rory: "Why don't you let me do the talking, I'll get a good price, you know?" Having asked "How much?" the pawnshop lady looked Hammond up and down, sizing him up. "She didn't like me, I guess, cos the next thing she said was, that'll be five hundred dollars!" Hammond laughs in recollection. Still open mouthed and in shock, Hammond suddenly felt Rory give him the elbow, his companion then stepped up, put on his Irish brogue and knocked the price down ten times lower. At the end of it, says Hammond, the lady was practically crying, and Gallagher got the guitar for 50 dollars. "So that's how I met Rory Gallagher. He was incredible, but unfortunately, he didn't take good care of himself, but what a terrific guy!" Having been repeatedly voted one of the Top 10 blues artistes in the world, Hammond was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Blues Hall of Fame earlier this year. Nothing but the blues So what is it that draws him to the blues? "I don't know how to put it in words, it's a feeling that everyone can relate to somehow, and when you do it right, it just knocks you out." Although he struggles to articulate it, Hammond explains the heart of the blues has to do with the human condition, which he says doesn't really change from generation to generation. "We just keep on making the same mistakes over and over," he smiles. Hammond confesses he still feels the same today about the music as he did when he first started out. "Something comes through me when I play, it's kept me going all these years and enables me to be on the road 300 days a year." Part of it is also being able to share that "feeling" he can't really describe, with the audience, and knowing they can feel it, too. "I've been so fortunate in my career to have those experiences where the audience really likes it and makes you feel good ... it's inspiring." On what he thinks about the blues today, especially in the context of today's popular music culture, he answers that it's like a continuum. "The blues has always been blues, I don't think blues has ever really been mainstream. If you do too much to it, it isn't blues anymore, but if you do too little, it becomes a ballad or something. "So, I think every generation discovers the blues, and some people will be so drawn to it that they'll want to do it all the time. You don't get to hear it on the radio, so you kind of have to seek it out." Despite the wide acclaim Hammond has received, his commercial success over the years has been moderate. "I've had a lot of ups and downs. I've been told two or three times in my career that I was washed up, that I'll never go anywhere," he says with a raw and touching honesty. But he hasn't let that stop him from doing what he loves, he just lets "all that stuff" roll off his back. "I know what I love to do." And do it he does. 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