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Given his diversified background and experiences, it’s no surprise that John “JB” Bigham would switch gears and issue for his second CD heading his band known as The Soul of John Black one of the year’s most ambitious, sophisticated and thoroughly individualistic projects The Good Girl Blues .
Bigham, who’ll appear in a trio Saturday night at the Mercy Lounge, credits the purchase of a new guitar as the creative catalyst for a 12-track date that explores, illuminates, deconstructs and reinvents the blues.
“There’s a lot of records that I want to do, but the songs for this one kind of wrote themselves once I got an old Stella guitar that (famed producer) Daniel Lanois told me about,” Bigham said. “All those songs started just coming out and it was just a case of writing them down and then fleshing them out.”
That barely describes the magnitude of what Bigham’s doing on The Good Girl Blues . He plays all the guitar parts, doing acoustic, electric and slide solos that range from darting to challenging, combative to contemplative.
Such numbers as “The Hole” and “I Got Work” may lyrically sound like updated Delta blues, but “Slipin’ and Slidin” features DJ Phizz Ed providing turntable backbeats against Bigham’s guitar licks, while “One Hit” is a denunciation of sexual exploitation that also includes frenetic bass assistance from Chris Thomas (who produced the group’s debut CD). The Good Girl Blues includes contributions from keyboardist Adam McDougal, bassist Shawn Davis and percussionist Davey Chegwidden.
Bigham’s best known by most music fans for his eight-year stint on guitar and keyboards with Fishbone, a band that combined rock, funk and ska with verve and flair. Besides helping out with production duties on Give A Monkey A Brain , Chim Chim’s Bad Ass Revenge and The Reality of My Surroundings , Bigham often showed he could deliver either quick, crisp instrumental assistance or more explosive, extensive solos within intricate compositions.
“When I first joined Fishbone things were just starting to take off,” Bigham said. “That first tour we did everyone crowded into an RV. But you could just feel that people were starting to get the music, and it was just a matter of time until we really exploded. I really enjoyed my time in Fishbone, but there came a point when I was just experimenting with different things and they were going in another direction. There was no big problem, and we’re still friends now. In fact, if the chance ever came along and there was something that we could do together and make it work, I’d be glad to work with them again.”
During the post-Fishbone era, Bigham did session dates and occasional tours with such performers as Bruce Hornsby, Everlast, Dr. Dre., Rosey, Joi, Eminem and Nikka Costa, with whom he made a Nashville appearance in 2005.
But the association that intrigues jazz fans is his time with Miles Davis near the legendary trumpeter’s final years. Bigham’s tune “Jilli” appeared on the final Davis studio release Amandla, and Bigham can be seen supplying percussion textures and beats on the new DVD Miles Davis – Live in Paris .
“Miles was the kind of guy who would say deliberately provocative, sometimes shocking things to you just to see your reaction,” Bigham said.
“The first time he spoke to me I was kind of shocked, to be honest with you. But once I got to know him and hang out with him, he turned out to be one of the most approachable guys I’ve ever met. He didn’t do a lot of nostalgic reflection, but if you asked him a question about Coltrane or something, he’d give you an answer. When I was in the group, we spent a lot of time listening to music from the Caribbean, because that was what he wanted me to add to the group.”
Bigham cites obscure 1976 film J.D.’s Revenge starring Glen Turman as the inspiration for calling his group The Soul of John Black.
Although he’s on the road with a trio, Bigham cautions against anyone assuming that his next disc will be a power trio recording.
“There’s things that you do for recording and things you do for performing,” Bigham said. “I can try stuff in the studio that wouldn’t necessarily be economical or practical for taking out on the road, and songs can develop a different way on the stage than you envisioned when you cut them in the studio. I just know that there’s some interesting things that I want to do musically over the next few months and years, but what they are or how they’ll come out, right now I’m not sure.”
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