Invitation Wording You Pay

Eric Bibb

There are artists that do the blues not come naturally, is not the obvious. This follows a gradual process, it goes through twists,
quests that delve human nature, for sharing.
But when we see the result, it can be eaten without moderation.
Today, frankly, aside from Eric Bibb
one wonders who is capable of both new with old.
Unless the other way around ...

Eric Bibb, born in New York August 16, 1951, was born into a cultured middle class family, he was raised in an environment where music and education are the best household, and this probably explains the rational approach that dictates his career: " son of a teacher and a professional musician, I have been in contact with a culturally rich environment. I was privileged even if, as an African-American, I was sometimes faced with racism. But I was lucky, my childhood was carefree and happy. From a very young age, music has played a key role in my life, even if we can still say it was an outlet for addressing problems. Relatives of my family had visions of universal and were working for a world where everyone has his place. As an educator, my mother inspired me deeply, especially in the field of reading, but always remaining careful not to deprive us of other forms of culture. "
And among these other cultures, music written in major mode quickly. It must be said that the father of Eric Bibb, Leon, born in 1922 son and grandson of a slave by his mother, a singer whose name appears regularly in sessions from the 1950s, including a record folk but he is comfortable in many styles including blues, gospel, ragtime, jazz, cabaret, musical comedy ... Especially eclectic, politically committed, Leon Bibb also appears in film, theater and in television shows. Still active at age 87, he recorded two CD with Eric A family affair in 2002 and Praising Peace - A Tribute to Paul Robeson in 2006. As for Uncle Eric Bibb, pianist John Lewis (1920-2001), is a founding member of the famous Modern Jazz Quartet.


left, all!
Therefore, Eric Bibb there is quite young: " I started playing guitar at the age 7 years. I took courses at a music school in the district. These lessons are very basic does not excited me much, and I learned more listening to do a lot of discs and surrounded by my father and musicians who accompanied him, often excellent guitarists. 11 years later, I learned classical guitar. My teacher was Myron Weiss, and since my hood, I went to Greenwich Village once a week after school, which took me 1:15. I was not a very disciplined student, but Myron knew me to share his real love of the instrument while making me aware endless possibilities offered by a guitar. These lessons have served the foundation for later develop my own style flingerpicking. I also briefly studied jazz guitar and piano. Stanford Gold, my piano teacher, was a legend in New York. I hope that when I was a better student! At that time among the many artists who influenced me, one of the most important was the bassist Bill Lee (Spike Lee's father), who accompanied my father regularly. This is an excellent bass coupled with a jazz composer who draws heavily on folk music African American (blues spiritual, etc..) for inspiration. "
Although Stanford (born 1911) was actually a renowned jazz pianist from 1930 to 1950 before devoting himself to teaching, Myron Weiss and Bill Lee (who later appeared on two CDs by Eric" Me to You "and" Friends ") are ignored. But relations also allow fathers to meet artists much more famous, including Odetta, Son House, Gary Davis, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan and Paul Robeson (his godfather). Several of these characters are also known for their political commitment at a time when the struggle for civil rights of African Americans is at its peak. Among other actors, writer and singer Paul Robeson (1898 - 1976) is notorious for its commitment against any form of segregation and dedication to communism (in the 1950s, he traveled frequently to the USSR). Leon Bibb Robeson and are longtime friends and share some beliefs that they also apply to be considered leftists blacklisted, a status that does not favor the evolution of their career.
Probably under the influence of Robeson, Eric Leon will enter later at the university where he learned Russian in particular, experience no tomorrow ... But Eric remembers this particular period, " The civil rights movement was very important for my family and many friends. My parents actively supporting the movement led by people like Martin Luther King, and I remember having attended many concerts in favor of civil rights. I also remember that many of the songs performed were in the direction of a rapprochement between people. "
In the same year 1960 the family moved to Greenwich Village Bibb. In Manhattan, the teenager found an atmosphere conducive to the quest of artistic development, even though that has probably not yet fully aware " As far as Greenwich Village and me back in the eyes of preteen I was then, was a kind of musical and artistic utopia . The people seemed more open-minded, sensitive to poetry, freer than anywhere else. Every Sunday, there was a large gathering of folk artists in Washington Square Park. From my 11 years, it has become a regular event in my life. My parents allowed me to go there alone, I enjoyed the freedom and especially, I loved music. "


The metro is really cool!
By wealth, family background and undeniably fosters artistic taste for music by Eric Bibb, still too young to choose a particular style, and it feels so probably closer to folk music than the blues. In 1967, he made humble beginnings playing the guitar during a TV show of his father, but after the university failed, his career has perhaps need a click (click Bibb?). And quite unexpectedly, it takes its cliques and claques in 1970 and leave the U.S. for France! He already knew his family to Europe where he was taken in 1964 (and the USSR, where his father was happening on tour), but there it literally share in the adventure " This time I came in Europe alone, my guitar in hand. Based in Paris, I really had to fight to get out, especially playing in the subway, but in general I enjoyed the experience of young bohemian musician in a city as exciting and new. It was really nice. "This experience enables him to meet a fellow expatriate, Mickey Baker, who will play a key role in directing it towards the blues.
After a year in Paris, his steps led him to Stockholm in Sweden, where he meets certain benchmarks, " In the 1970s, several points of view, Sweden extended the carefree atmosphere of friendship and Greenwich Village in the 1960s. Lots of good music, great times and incorporates a policy! It was a community to which I belonged, and many of my friends are so present in my life today. One of them, Bjorn Hamrin, is an excellent harmonica player who was at that time a small record shop, Earl Birds Records. Bjorn has played a real role in my passion for the pursuit of original blues. Eric Bibb started a family in Sweden, but remains quiet on this page of his life that he does not want to obviously make it public.
However, he expresses himself more easily on the phenomenon that many artists see Americans moving to Europe, " Yes, many musicians (including jazz and blues) left their native America for Europe. For African-Americans was a welcome means of escape from daily stress of racism. This does not mean that Europe is especially friendly to people of color, but it's just because his story is not the same, and therefore the way we perceive others differs. Like many others, I felt this change means renewal and freedom. Europe in general and France in particular have a long history with the African-American music, they love and support. United States, the blues is closely associated with a social drive, and to some extent, it is underestimated as artistic expressions of importance. His story always discomfort that this company is just beginning to consider its brutal past with honesty. John Lee Hooker was right when he sang the blues is a witch! We all share the enduring vitality of the blues has brought a new perspective on our history as about ourselves. "


Mandela, but no disk
After an initial stay of Sweden, Eric Bibb returns in 1980 in the United States, but to no avail, he again left her homeland to return to Stockholm. Despite a big business in the clubs and the musicians premises, although it is odd that he did nothing notable engraved in the 1970s. Of course, in 1977, fate Rainbow people (for the Swedish label Opus 3, recently reissued on cd) but rather poorly recorded this album without any real guidance only partially makes him justice: " This is one of edited my first recordings. In fact, it is a kind of musical book in which I try to identify some directions that I found so interesting. I have since come a long way to get where I am. I was lucky to be assisted by a small independent record label that understood my approach to young emerging artist: I needed this experience and hear how it sounded to find me artistically. "
His reputation grew and his collaborations gradually exceed the Swedish framework. In 1993, Eric Bibb values found paternal singing for Nelson Mandela: "I wrote the song Mandela is Free and I was lucky to interpret for Nelson Mandela at a concert in Stockholm . It was an unforgettable experience in terms of inspiration. Admire and support the movement to end apartheid in South Africa is also natural for me to breathe! "If the disks are still missing, we note in 1994 the output of Spirit & The Blues, an achievement somewhat forgotten today when the gospel is very much thanks to Deacons, whose interventions on titles such as In My Father's House and Just keep goin 'on, are remarkable. And when we talk about the role of spirituality in the blues with Eric, especially reminding him that this music has long carried a certain negative image, it touches a chord: " blues culture is spiritual. Those who revealed that music in the world are inhabited by spiritual people. The world of meaning is consistent with that in mind. Embody many bluesmen. I answer this question so directly and honestly because it involves very complex aspects of human nature, and it certainly deserves more discussion on another occasion! "
In 1997, only released his first" real "widely distributed disc, the aptly named Good Stuff" I started recording my very young side. My father lent me his reel to reel from my 12 years. I wrote and recorded my songs since then. Because my eclectic musical tastes (although I have always been very attached to the roots of folk music), this m'apris time for my production falls within one on a commercial basis. That's why I had a "late blooming" as an artist on the CD market. And the key is to choose the right time. "


Expression in depth
Therefore, Eric Bibb catch up and released a dozen CDs, best known in France as Me To You, Painting Signs, Natural Light, Friends A Ship Called To Love, Diamond Days or I Am Spirit Live at FIP ... His work
discography, a high uniform level, as a whole. Since his childhood, because of its musical and cultural surroundings, his travels, a continuous monitoring of the outside world and its varied tastes, he drew on those experiences that he brings to a work today ' Today a completely successful. This is evident in everything he does: on stage where the fervor dwells a bit with each release, disk-level arrangements such as the choice of accompaniments, finally texts, a register in which he has mastered . Thus, it stands out from some revivalists even when he pays homage to its predecessors. Because its approach is in depth, it feeds a lot of reading, it is based on the story while being very contemporary. Eric Bibb is not content to tell his life, he recounts a life of mutual exchange, it does not relate the history of other blues musicians, he writes of the evolution of Afro-American folk communities in their entirety, from its origins until today. All the strength of his writings is there, so that we may see him as a browser, and almost a historian.
course, modesty prevents him from going that far, and when he recalls writing his wisdom reappears: " is very gratifying for me to hear that people enjoy the songs I write. The texts are essential to me and I write from my experiences as a student of life. When composing, I have always sought to discover more of myself and my relationships. It's great to be able to stomp on a song that really means something to you. In my songs I'm talking about the human condition. This kind of gradual awakening to the world around us, our responsibilities, I try to echo and help its emergence. But I am not defined as a protester. I do not protest against anything in my songs, I celebrate the power we all have, which allows us to overcome difficulties, this spirituality that allows us to work as a community. It is illusory to think that our troubles come from a government or any monster we ourselves, our destiny, and it behooves us to take notice. It does nothing ç protest against something we did ourselves created. This is our own heart to be purified. Forgiveness is the key. "

" I live discs because they contain an energy that can not capture in the studio. Listen to a person on stage is always a good way to know who she really is. In the studio, there is always room for illusion. The best way to work in the studio for a musician is to try to reduce the difference with live conditions. "

Source: Soul Bag No. 197 / Jan-Feb-March 2010

Eric Bibb (official site - English)
Eric Bibb (myspace)

Music

Videos

Eric Bibb - Booker's Guitar


Eric Bibb ...


Eric Bibb Live at FIP 2008