Apr 2, 2024 12:59 PM
Saxophonist, Sonic Explorer Casey Benjamin Dies at 45
Casey Benjamin, the alto saxophonist, vocalist, keyboardist and producer who stamped his distinctive sounds on the…
“People gave me so much in this business, I just want to give something back,” Bob Stroger said about playing with younger musicians.
(Photo: Peter Hurley)Just before the COVID pandemic, bassist Bob Stroger’s touring itinerary took him around the world. He also recorded the recently released That’s My Name (Delmark) with his Brazilian blues band, The Headcutters, near their country’s southeast coast. Now that venues are re-opening, Stroger has picked back up where he left off. At 91, he sees no reason to slow down.
“As long as I satisfy my fans, I’ll keep going,” Stroger said from his home on Chicago’s South Side. “I never think about retiring from music. When you retire, if you have the money, you travel. So I’m retired now because I travel around the world doing this.”
That’s My Name encapsulates Stroger’s wide and lengthy experiences. His compositions, especially the title track, showcase his amiably spacious bass lines and expertise in this music’s history. He embraces material by artists ranging from early blues singer Ma Rainey to jazz bandleader Jay McShann. He also revisits pieces that some of his former colleagues wrote, including Eddie Taylor. Such versatility has always been crucial for his work.
“My style changed when I played with Otis Rush, then when I played with Eddie Taylor,” Stroger said. “Then when I played with Snooky Pryor I changed styles again. I had to listen and find styles that fit their playing. With this CD, I didn’t want all the songs to sound the same. So I played all of my heroes.”
The album also highlights Stroger’s quietly compelling voice. Still, he remains humble about his subtle delivery’s emotional impact.
“I’m my biggest critic, I just sing my personality,” Stroger said. “A lot of good singers can sing like different people, but I can’t. I sing the way I talk. I’m a country boy, and it shows in the way I’m singing.”
That country boyhood was spent in Hayti, Missouri. As a young adult, Stroger moved to Chicago, where his father worked for a railroad and, fortuitously, they lived near a hotbed of the city’s thriving West Side blues scene.
“When I was living on Oakley Avenue, Silvio’s was on Lake Street,” Stroger said. “I could walk out my back door and look in the window of Silvio’s and I saw Muddy Waters, Hubert Sumlin, Howlin’ Wolf. I saw all the big guys. I never had a suit and they were wearing suits and ties and I said, ‘I really want to do that.’ When I was in the country cotton fields, we didn’t have the college education, and music was the only thing I could do to get recognized. So I went that route.”
Stroger also developed his technique across different idioms. He played in R&B groups and with jazz saxophonist Rufus Forman before becoming blues guitarist Eddie King’s bassist throughout the 1960s. These encounters continue to shape Stroger’s sound.
“A lot of people said I was a smooth bass player because I play a lot of chromatic notes,” Stroger said. “And that’s kind of smoothing it out, that’s where my style comes from. I think it comes from picking up the jazz notes and some of the stuff you do on upright bass.”
Bandleaders Otis Rush and Sunnyland Slim admired that approach and included Stroger in their ensembles as more global festivals began to feature blues artists during the 1970s and 1980s. Gradually, he started releasing records under his own name, starting with In This House: Live At Lucerne, Vol. 1 (Crosscut) in 2002. Nowdays, his main inspiration for recording is to spotlight his international collaborators, primarily The Headcutters. DB
Benjamin possessed a fluid, round sound on the alto saxophone, and he was often most recognizable by the layers of electronic effects that he put onto the instrument.
Apr 2, 2024 12:59 PM
Casey Benjamin, the alto saxophonist, vocalist, keyboardist and producer who stamped his distinctive sounds on the…
“He’s constructing intelligent musical sentences that connect seamlessly, which is the most important part of linear playing,” Charles McPherson said of alto saxophonist Sonny Red.
Feb 27, 2024 1:40 PM
“I might not have felt this way 30 to 40 years ago, but I’ve reached a point where I can hear value in what people…
Albert “Tootie” Heath (1935–2024) followed in the tradition of drummer Kenny Clarke, his idol.
Apr 5, 2024 10:28 AM
Albert “Tootie” Heath, a drummer of impeccable taste and time who was the youngest of three jazz-legend brothers…
“Both of us are quite grounded in the craft, the tradition and the harmonic sense,” Rosenwinkel said of his experience playing with Allen. “Yet I felt we shared something mystical as well.”
Mar 12, 2024 11:42 AM
“There are a few musicians you hear where, as somebody once said, the molecules in the room change. Geri was one of…
Larry Goldings’ versatility keeps him in high demand as a leader, collaborator and sideman.
Feb 21, 2024 10:45 AM
Are you having any fun? Larry Goldings certainly is. Consider just two recent examples:
Scene 1: “If anyone had…
