Brian Auger
Encyclopedia
Brian Auger is a jazz
and rock
keyboardist
, who has specialized in playing the Hammond organ
.
A jazz pianist
, bandleader
, session musician
and Hammond B3 player, Auger has played or toured with artists
such as Rod Stewart
, Tony Williams, Jimi Hendrix
, Sonny Boy Williamson
, Led Zeppelin
, Eric Burdon
and others. He has incorporated jazz, early British
pop
, R&B
, soul music
and rock
, and he has been nominated for a Grammy.
The Steampacket, along with Long John Baldry
, Julie Driscoll
, Vic Briggs
and Rod Stewart. With Driscoll and the band, Trinity
, he went on to record
several hit single
s, notably a cover version
of David Ackles
' "Road to Cairo" and Bob Dylan
's "This Wheel's on Fire
", which was featured on Dylan Covered
. In 1969 Auger, Driscoll and Trinity appeared performing in the United States on the nationally telecast "33⅓ Revolutions Per Monkee".
In 1970 he formed Brian Auger's Oblivion Express, shortly after abandoning the abortive "Wassenaar Arrangement" jazz-fusion commune in a small suburb of The Hague. The Oblivion Express served to cultivate several musician
s, including future The Average White Band
drummer
s Robbie McIntosh
and Steve Ferrone
, as well as guitarist
Jim Mullen
. Likewise, in 1971 he produced
and appeared on Mogul Thrash
's only album
. Two members of that band, Roger Ball and Malcolm Duncan, would also go on to form the Average White Band.
In 1989, Auger was musical director for the thirteen-part film
retrospective series "Villa Fantastica", made for German
TV
. A live recording of the series, Super Jam
(1990), features Auger on piano, Pete York
on drum
s, Dick Morrissey
on tenor saxophone
, Roy Williams on trombone
, Harvey Weston on bass guitar
, with singers Zoot Money
and Maria Muldaur
.
Auger toured with blues
rocker Eric Burdon
in the early 1990s, and recorded the live album Access All Areas
with him in 1993. After several projects, including albums with family members, he reformed the Oblivion Express in the late 1990s, with a line-up that eventually featured both his son and daughter.
The Oblivion Express was revived with a 2005 recording and subsequent touring. The group featured Brian Auger, his son Karma Auger on drums, his daughter Savannah Auger on vocals, and Derek Frank on bass.
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
keyboardist
Keyboardist
A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
, who has specialized in playing the Hammond organ
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
.
A jazz pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
, bandleader
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
, session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
and Hammond B3 player, Auger has played or toured with artists
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
such as Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
, Tony Williams, Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, Sonny Boy Williamson
Sonny Boy Williamson II
Willie "Sonny Boy" Williamson was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, from Mississippi. He is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic and influential blues musicians, with considerable prowess on the harmonica and highly creative songwriting skills...
, Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
, Eric Burdon
Eric Burdon
Eric Victor Burdon is an English singer-songwriter best known as a founding member and vocalist of rock band The Animals, and the funk rock band War and for his aggressive stage performance...
and others. He has incorporated jazz, early British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
, soul music
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
and rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, and he has been nominated for a Grammy.
Biography
In 1965 Auger formed the groupBand (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
The Steampacket, along with Long John Baldry
Long John Baldry
John William "Long John" Baldry was an English and Canadian blues singer and a voice actor. He sang with many British musicians, with Rod Stewart and Elton John appearing in bands led by Baldry in the 1960s. He enjoyed pop success in the UK where Let the Heartaches Begin reached No...
, Julie Driscoll
Julie Driscoll
Julie Tippetts is an English singer and actress, known for her 1960s versions of Bob Dylan's "This Wheel's on Fire", and Donovan's "Season of the Witch", both with Brian Auger & The Trinity...
, Vic Briggs
Vic Briggs
Victor Harvey Briggs III is a former blues and rock musician, best known as the lead guitarist with Eric Burdon and The Animals during the 1966-1968 period...
and Rod Stewart. With Driscoll and the band, Trinity
Brian Auger and the Trinity
Brian Auger and the Trinity were a British group led by the keyboardist Brian Auger. They had a #5 hit in the UK Singles Chart with the Bob Dylan-penned "This Wheel's On Fire" in 1968....
, he went on to record
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
several hit single
Hit single
A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
s, notably a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of David Ackles
David Ackles
David Thomas Ackles was an American singer-songwriter. He recorded four albums between 1968 and 1973.Describing Ackles's style in 2003, critic Colin McElligatt wrote, "An unlikely clash of anachronistic show business and modern-day lyricism...deeply informs his recorded output...
' "Road to Cairo" and Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's "This Wheel's on Fire
This Wheel's on Fire (song)
"This Wheel's on Fire" is a song written by Bob Dylan and Rick Danko. It was originally recorded by Dylan and The Band during their legendary 1967 sessions, portions of which comprised the 1975 album, The Basement Tapes...
", which was featured on Dylan Covered
Dylan Covered
Dylan Covered is a compilation album by Mojo magazine, released in their September 2005 issue. It feaures covers of Bob Dylan songs by various artists...
. In 1969 Auger, Driscoll and Trinity appeared performing in the United States on the nationally telecast "33⅓ Revolutions Per Monkee".
In 1970 he formed Brian Auger's Oblivion Express, shortly after abandoning the abortive "Wassenaar Arrangement" jazz-fusion commune in a small suburb of The Hague. The Oblivion Express served to cultivate several musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
s, including future The Average White Band
The Average White Band
Average White Band is a Scottish funk and R&B band, who had a series of soul and disco hits between 1974 and 1980. They are best known for their million selling song, "Pick Up the Pieces". The band name was initially proposed by Bonnie Bramlett...
drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
s Robbie McIntosh
Robbie McIntosh (drummer)
Robbie McIntosh was a Scottish drummer from Dundee, who was a founder-member of the Average White Band. His father was American born actor, Bonar Colleano, who had a successful career in films,especially in the U.K...
and Steve Ferrone
Steve Ferrone
Steven "Steve" Ferrone is a British drummer.He was a member of the Average White Band, and has recorded and performed with numerous other high-profile acts, including Slash, Chaka Khan, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Scritti Politti...
, as well as guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Jim Mullen
Jim Mullen
Jim Mullen is a Glasgow-born jazz guitarist with a distinctive style, like Wes Montgomery before him, picking with the thumb rather than a plectrum.-Biography:...
. Likewise, in 1971 he produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and appeared on Mogul Thrash
Mogul Thrash
Mogul Thrash was a progressive rock band from the United Kingdom active in the early 1970s.-Biography:British jazz-rock band Mogul Thrash evolved from James Litherland's Brotherhood, which in addition to guitarist Litherland also featured guitarist/reedist Michael Rosen , drummer Bill Harrison and...
's only album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
. Two members of that band, Roger Ball and Malcolm Duncan, would also go on to form the Average White Band.
In 1989, Auger was musical director for the thirteen-part film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
retrospective series "Villa Fantastica", made for German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
TV
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. A live recording of the series, Super Jam
Super Jam (album)
Super Jam is a live studio recording featuring jazz, pop and traditional standards, many of them film scores, included in the German TV series, Villa Fantastica...
(1990), features Auger on piano, Pete York
Pete York
Pete York is a rock drummer who has been performing since the 1960s.-Early life:...
on drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s, Dick Morrissey
Dick Morrissey
Richard Edwin "Dick" Morrissey was a British jazz musician and composer. He played the tenor sax, soprano sax and flute.- Background :...
on tenor saxophone
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
, Roy Williams on trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
, Harvey Weston on bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, with singers Zoot Money
Zoot Money
George Bruno Money, known as Zoot Money is a British vocalist, keyboardist and bandleader best known for his playing of the Hammond organ and association with his Big Roll Band...
and Maria Muldaur
Maria Muldaur
Maria Muldaur is a folk-blues singer who was part of the American folk music revival in the early 1960s...
.
Auger toured with blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
rocker Eric Burdon
Eric Burdon
Eric Victor Burdon is an English singer-songwriter best known as a founding member and vocalist of rock band The Animals, and the funk rock band War and for his aggressive stage performance...
in the early 1990s, and recorded the live album Access All Areas
Access All Areas (1993 album)
Access All Areas is a live album by Eric Burdon and Brian Auger Band recorded in on May 10, 1993.-History:When they first met in 1991, Auger asked Burdon if he wants to play with him. Burdon agreed and they formed the "Eric Burdon – Brian Auger Band"...
with him in 1993. After several projects, including albums with family members, he reformed the Oblivion Express in the late 1990s, with a line-up that eventually featured both his son and daughter.
The Oblivion Express was revived with a 2005 recording and subsequent touring. The group featured Brian Auger, his son Karma Auger on drums, his daughter Savannah Auger on vocals, and Derek Frank on bass.
Discography
- 1965 - Don't Send Me No Flowers - Sonny Boy WilliamsonSonny Boy Williamson IIWillie "Sonny Boy" Williamson was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, from Mississippi. He is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic and influential blues musicians, with considerable prowess on the harmonica and highly creative songwriting skills...
- 1965 - Attention!
- 1965-1969 - The Mod Years (Complete singles, B-sidesA-side and B-sideA-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
, and rare tracks) - 1967 - Open (Trinity's first album)
- 1968 - Definitely What
- 1969 - StreetnoiseStreetnoiseStreetnoise is a 1969 album by Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger and the Trinity, originally released as a double LP.It includes cover versions of The Doors’ "Light My Fire", Nina Simone’s "Take Me To The Water", Laura Nyro’s "Save The Country", Miles Davis' "All Blues", Richie Havens' "Indian Rope Man",...
(double albumDouble albumA double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....
) - 1969/1970 - Befour (Last Brian Auger Trinity album)
- 1970 - Oblivion Express (First Oblivion Express album)
- 1971 - A Better Land (Oblivion Express)
- 1972 - Second Wind (Oblivion Express)
- 1973 - Closer To It (Oblivion Express)
- 1975 - Straight Ahead (Oblivion Express)
- 1975 - Live Oblivion Volume 1
- 1975 - Live Oblivion Volume 2
- 1975 - Reinforcements (Oblivion Express)
- 1976 - Best of Brian Auger (double album)
- 1975 - Happiness Heartaches (Oblivion Express)
- 1978 - Encore - Brian Auger & Julie Tippetts (Reunion album)
- 1980 - Search Party
- 1982 - Here and Now
- 1987 - Keys to the Heart
- 1990 - Super JamSuper Jam (album)Super Jam is a live studio recording featuring jazz, pop and traditional standards, many of them film scores, included in the German TV series, Villa Fantastica...
- 1993 - Access All Areas: Live - Eric Burdon/Brian Auger Band (double album)
- 1993 - Tony Williams: Live in Tokyo 1978
- 1998 - Blue Groove - Karma Auger
- 1999 - Voices of Other Times (Oblivion Express)
- 2001 - Soft & Furry - Ali Auger
- 2004 - Auger Rhythms: Brian Augers Musical History (The Trinity, Julie Driscoll, Oblivion Express)
- 2005 - http://www.brianaugervideo.comBrian Auger: Insights of the Keyboard Master (DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
)] - 2005 - Looking In the Eye of the World (Oblivion Express)
- 2005 - Live at the Baked Potato (Oblivion Express) Double CDCompact DiscThe Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
- 2005 - Live at the Baked Potato (Oblivion Express) DVD
See also
- List of Hammond organ players
- List of jazz organists
- List of jazz fusion musicians
- List of performers on Top of the Pops
- 33⅓ Revolutions Per Monkee
- CABCAB (band)CAB is a jazz fusion supergroup featuring Bunny Brunel , Tony MacAlpine , Brian Auger , Patrice Rushen and Dennis Chambers...
Further reading
- Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul by Irwin Stambler
- Jazz-Rock Fusion: The People, the Music by Julie Coryell & Laura Friedman
- The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll by Jon Pareles & Patricia Romanowski Bashe
- Encyclopedia of Rock by Phil Hardy & Dave Laing
- Urban Spacemen and Wayfaring Strangers: Overlooked Innovators and Eccentric Visionaries of 60s Rock by Richie Unterberger
- Jimi HendrixJimi HendrixJames Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
: The Man, the Magic, the Truth by Sharon Lawrence - Soul Picnic: The Music and Passion of Laura NyroLaura NyroLaura Nyro was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist. She achieved considerable critical acclaim with her own recordings, particularly the albums Eli and the Thirteenth Confession and New York Tendaberry, and had commercial success with artists such as Barbra Streisand and The 5th...
by Michele Kort - The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin
- The Encyclopedia of Jazz in the Seventies by Leonard Feather & Ira Gitler
- The New Musical Express Book of Rock, 1975, Star Books
External links
- Official Site - Brian Auger's Oblivion Express
- Brian Auger Instructional Video/DVD - Insights of the Keyboard Master - Web Site
- BBC - Classic Pop/Rock Review - Brian Auger Julie Driscoll & The Trinity, Open, Definitely What!, Streetnoise
- Soul Patrol Jazz
- Brian Auger at All About JazzAll About JazzAll About Jazz is a leading jazz music website for enthusiasts and industry professionals based in Philadelphia in the United States.Founded by Michael Ricci in 1995, the Web-Site is maintained by a volunteer staff of writers, editors, and musicians, and provides coverage of all genres of jazz from...