Flanfire

Roscoe Beck may be the best bassist I personally know - and I know a LOT of bass players. I ran into Roscoe Sunday night at the Antone's tribute to Sam Cooke, which celebrated the release of Peter Guralnick's biography, The Triumph of Sam Cooke: Dream Boogie, which coincided with the Austin Book Festival at which the author and Cooke's gospel colleagues, the legendary Soul Stirrers, provided a gospel book brunch.

The Soul Stirrers opened the evening, singing Cooke compositions "A Change Is Gonna Come,"
"Touch the Hem of His Garment," "Wonderful World," and "That's Heaven To Me," and many more -- and thoroughly entertaining the crowd (many of whom were dancing) . [I may have missed "Wade in the Water" and a couple of others that we owe to brother Cooke - songs we Austinites tend to associate with the Imperial Golden Crown Harmonizers and/or Malford Milligan.] On "Amen," lead singer Willie Rogers went out into the crowd and enticed people to belt out the chorus - and some of the amateurs (including the fabulous Tiffani) were quite good!

The current lineup - who have become major favorites of Gospel According 2 Austin producer Greg Adkins - has performed in Austin on several occasions, and they just seem to be getting better.

The night continued as Austin legend W. C. Clark - himself a huge Sam Cooke fan - just tore up the stage, opening with a few of his own songs and then switching to Cooke originals done in WC style. WC even sang "Cupid" (draw back your bow) - and "Bring It On Home to Me." Now, I have a problem in fact remembering which songs W. C. sang by himself and which he did sort of duet style with red-hot Ruthie Foster, who says she learned Sam Cooke songs (both the gospel stuff and the sultry secular stuff) at her mother's knee. The list included "Another Saturday Night," "Twisting the Night Away," "I'll Come Running," "Win Your Love for Me," "Having a Party" (a big favorite of my lovely spouse), and "Today I Sing the Blues." I do not recall hearing "You Send Me," Sam's very first secular hit single, or my own personal favorite (whom many of us also know as a Pretenders hit), "Chain Gang." But so what? Ruthie and W. C. ended the night with a smokin' version of the Willie Dixon classic - often a major part of Sam's own shows - "Little Red Rooster."

The Blue Monday band backed our singers - Derek O'Brien on guitar, Riley Osbourn on keyboards, and Roscoe Beck himself on bass - plus a drummer whose name escaped me. Which brings me back to Roscoe's new CD (for which he has a major release event on November 16 - starting at Waterloo Records at 5:00 pm and ending with a show at (where else?) Antone's featuring the band Beck and Call -- with Mike Cross, Brannen Temple, Riley Osbourn, and David Murray - a classy, classy group indeed. But wait! There's MORE -- Roscoe says at least SOME of the many artists who played on his CD will also be making personal appearances.

So who might that be? Well - guitar players for the 10-song cycle (all songs written by Roscoe, with two co-penned by Cross -- this for the faint at heart is Mike Cross from Forlini and Cross, NOT the fiddle player from North Carolina with the same name) include the legendary Robben Ford (with whom Beck has played for many years), the legendary David Grissom, the legendary Eric Johnson, the immensely amazing Greg Koch, and oh yeah some dude by the name of Mitch Watkins (plus Beck himself doing rhythm fills on "Come Back Baby").

Drums are handled by either Temple or Tom Brechtlein (Chick Corea, Robben Ford, Jean Luc Ponty), and John Calarco (Koch) on one cut, with additional percussion from Jose Galeano (Grupo Fantasma); keyboardists include Beck himself, Osbourn, and Neil Larsen (Rickie Lee Jones, Kenny Loggins, and many more). Horns are mostly John Mills and Eric A. Johnson, but Paul Ostermayer does some tenor sax work on the final cut (more later). Also in the mix are harpists Kim Wilson (another Texas legend) and the even more legendary James Cotton (who now calls Austin home).

Some of these songs reflect difficult moments in Roscoe's personal experience, including the opening "Wasn't It Fine?", which features a searing vocal by Mike Cross and background vocals by Jacqui Cross (leading lady at the Zachary Scott Theatre). Next up is "Outrage," a cut originally included on the "Texas Guitar Slingers" CD which benefitted victims of domestic violence. Then it is Malford Milligan singing Beck's "Say What's On Your Mind," with Cross providing harmonies. Next it's Beck and Cross singing together on "Together All the Time," and then "Rockin' Like 2 a.m." by Cross (with Wilson's harmonica penetrating the senses). The Crosses are together on "Come Back Baby," and then it's another instrumental, "Cotton," featuring both Ford and Grissom on guitars. Cut 8 is "Think Twice," with Ruthie Foster singing the deep blues and Koch providing a wah-wah solo that cuts through the fog of our brains. This is a GREAT CUT -- but perhaps even surpassing it is the next song in the cycle - "Rhumba Nhumba #9," with vocals and a verbal introduction by the great Omar Dykes. Maybe it's just me, but Omar singing the telephone book would be soulful. Finally, it's "Blues for a New Day," a third instrumental featuring piano and bass by Beck and Mitch Watkins on guitar.

It may be that we owe the Dixie Chicks for this wonderful collection. Roscoe was their bassist on their 2003 Top of the World tour and can be heard on the live CD that was made during that tour (one of the best "country" records in my own collection!). Remember - this is the guy with TWO Fender basses with his signature - the 1997 five-string and the 2004 four-string; he also writes the column, "Mastering the Five-String Bass" for Bass Player magazine. I beg of you - if you have never seen Roscoe Beck play, and especially if you are a Beck fan, do not miss his CD release party on November 16.