“The
blues has always been the traditional underpinning of all American pop,” says
John Hammond via telephone from his Phoenix hotel room. Hammond has been
playing traditional folk-blues for more than 40 years. He’s now reaching even
deeper, teaming with Tom Waits, whose oddball-troubadour Americana underpins
the blues.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Hammond’s latest album, the
Waits-produced Wicked Smile (Virgin),
is a salacious collection of 12 Waits idiosyncrasies like “Heartattack And
Vine,” “Big Black Mariah,” and “Shore Leave.”
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Waits was slated to produce the
album, but Wicked Smile was not
originally intended to have virtually all Waits-penned material.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย “One song just led to another, then
another, then another,” he says. “We recorded 20 songs in five days. It just
flowed.” Some knuckleheads have called this venture daring. But it makes
perfect sense. Hammond and Waits are both living the culture they long to
perpetuate.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย “Because of my connection with Tom,
my friendship and admiration for him, it was an inspiring time,” he says. “It
opened me up in a whole lot of ways to other material than what I’d done
previously.”
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Coming from music biz royalty (his
father, John Hammond, Sr, was responsible for discovering Bennie Goodman, Count
Basie, Billie Holiday, Robert Johnson, Bessie Smith, Bob Dylan, Bruce
Springsteen, etc…), Hammond is known primarily for acoustic, foot-stompin’,
harp-honkin’, one-man blues. He has championed the sound and its icons since
1962, with the release of his first self-titled Vanguard recording at age 22.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย “I was a blues fan from my early
teens,” he says. “At 18 I bought my first guitar and by 19 was playing
professionally. It was a wave surging inside me and it finally came out.”
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Hammond’s elbow rubbing at this time
was like seeing the face of God. “I was on shows with everybody,” he says. “Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Dixon, Son
House.” Jimi Hendrix was discovered while playing in Hammond’s band at the Cafรฉ
Au Go Go in Greenwich Village.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Hammond is trekking the globe with a
“stripped to the basics” trio, playing acoustically and electrically, and has
begun working regularly with a five-piece group. Though flying solo seems to be
his forte, he enjoys a few more cooks in the kitchen every now and then.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย “It’s always an adventure with a
trio,” he says.
John Hammond plays
Saturday, November 9, at Milestones, 170 East Avenue, at 9 p.m. Tix:
$15.50-$20. 325-6490.
This article appears in Nov 6-12, 2002.
