BIG CITY BLUES April--May 2003 ACE’S ALLEY Jimmy Pugh: Keyboard Man with Robert Cray By Johnny Ace Jimmy Pugh grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and started to play the piano at 13. And like many others, was turned on to blues by the English blues invasion of the mid ‘60’s. Jimmy found out that many of the original, American blues artists were living and playing in Chicago. At a young age he got to see many of these greats. His main influence is the great Otis Spann. As a freshman in high school, Jimmy was the first person to hire blues artists and their bands for the high school dances such as Otis Rush and Koko Taylor. This went on for an entire year, until he hired the Art Ensemble of Chicago, a band that was just too way out for these suburban high school kids. Jimmy, aside from blues, has a deep love for gospel—especially male quartet singing and he would spend many hours listening to great blues and gospel radio shows from Chicago and Nashville. In 1973 Jimmy moved out to San Francisco and for three months went to a music conservatory, then quit and started going out to Dottie Ivory’s, a great, local San Francisco blues joint, which featured Lewis Madison, former organist of the original James Brown and The Famous Flames. Lewis would wail on jazz, blues and soul—on one song. He was a major influence. At this time, Jimmy got a gig with Luther Tucker, formerly of the James Cotton Band, who was at that time was living in the Bay Area. Then a few years later Jimmy he was hired as keyboardist for an East Bay Soul/ r & bgroup, The Rat Band, named after The Ratskeillers, Larry Blakes’ basement nightclub, which is still there in Berkeley today. The Rat Band backed up Lee Dorsey (“Working in a Coal Mine”), and many r & b greats such as Frankie Lee, Otis Rush, Little Milton, and his hero, Johnny Taylor of “Disco Lady” fame. In the early ‘80’s, Jimmy worked with Elvin Bishop and then later with The Dynatones. For 6 years off and on, he was keyboardist for the great Etta James. Through his friend Tim Kahatsu, the former lead guitar player with The Rat Band who was at that time Robert Cray’s rhythm guitarist, Jimmy got the keyboard slot with The Robert Cray Band. 14 years and 7 CD’s later, he still holds the gig. Jimmy loves playing with Robert Cray, traveling and meeting new people. As of this writing, he is producing Cray’s new CD. About playing Jimmy says, “What I try to do (in playing piano) is to focus more on the feel and less on what the notes are. It’s the same thing trying to play organ. I can’t play jazz organ for beans but I can play a lot of standards because I can play what I think the feeling is. I can play it how I hear it going. So many times I hear guys that are monster players, but the feeling gets sacrificed for technique and chops. And the music is really about feel first. The thing to me is, the more basic the feel, the more I feel it. I am getting to where in my old age I am trying to play less—less is more. I mean I can always flash people, but when I am alone in my basement with my recorder, it comes down to smaller and smaller—like John Lee (Hooker). That simple. When John Lee was on, it was just that one note being played right over and over again. The whole thing about blues is feeling.” I asked Jimmy if he had any advice for young and aspiring keyboard players and he said, “ For me, the more I try to follow my heart—instead of trying to follow my wallet or my brain—the more success I have and the more fulfilling it becomes for me. Any time I try to make money or become more successful, it doesn’t work. It works if you don’t worry about trying to be successful and if you don’t listen to people that say, “You should do this, you should do that. I also think you don’t have to have a formal musical education. I think the more you don’t know, the more advantage you have. The great thing about playing music is that it’s the one business where it’s a prerequisite to play something that nobody’s ever heard before. If you do something that’s unique, then you have a chance at being successful. There are a million guitar players in this world that play like BB King.” I asked Jimmy if there was anything he wanted to add to the story and he said, “I’ve really been lucky and I am lucky to be alive. And like a lot of people, I used to really abuse myself and I haven’t in years. I am very fortunate. When I stopped, my life got better. So, if there is anyone out there that feels lousy about things, who’s abusing themselves, it is possible to not do it. And have a good time. I have been having a great time for 16 or 17 years now. I asked Jimmy if in all his years of traveling so far, who were the 3 most famous people he was most proud to meet, and he answered Count Basie, Shirley Mell Downing, the fastest woman race car driver in the world, who he met in Detroit, and Fidel Castro, who he met in Cuba. Jimmy Pugh continues to blaze trails across the United States and many foreign countries, still riding on his organ in The Robert Cray Band. He also still manages to find time to produce records in both gospel and blues. He also guest artists on other people’s shows such as Boz Scaggs and Tommy Castro—and still finds time to raise a family.