SOUL OF JOHN BLACK: Funk, jazz, rock, soulster bets on ‘Black’

Scroll down to listen to the hit single 'Betty Jean'

      In true JB style, as he’s worked with the likes of Dr. Dre, Nikka Costa, Eminem, and Fishbone, the CD, titled, “Black John” is laced with cross-genre tracks. It’s new and old. It’s R&B, rock, blues and jazz. It’s John Black, Black John, and John Bingham.

      “John Black is the name of the band. John Bigham is my name. People call me JB, and that’s pretty much it,” the singer explained. “It’s a good band name. It represents the other side of me. It’s an alter ego. When I found this character, I felt like it was coming from an unknown place. It was something that had probably been building since I was a kid in Chicago, just listening to music on Chicago radio.”

      The Chicago native followed his musical roots all the way to Los Angeles where his avant-garde style impressed even the late, great jazz legend Miles Davis. He said that a friend of his passed on a mix tape of instrumentals he did to Davis. It was Bingham’s assorted sound that drew Davis in.

      “I was really listening to jazz fusion and stuff like that; just funky stuff,” he said. “There was no real style in particular. I don’t consider myself writing in any style. If it’s a style, it’s after I write it. It’s like, ‘What is it?’”

      What it is is basic and recognizable, but fresh and edgy.

      “That’s what it is. That was a conscious effort.”

      Bigham’s story begins quite modestly. The guitarist had hob-knobbed with legends and played with some impressive bands, but as he explained, he had no designs on being a lead.

      “I wasn’t really trying to be a front man. I just do whatever I need to do,” he said. “My main thing was that I wanted to be a musician. When I decided I wanted to do my own thing, of course I had to step out in front because there is nobody else – there’s me.”

      After playing with Fishbone for eight years, Bigham decided to try something new – which he’s since become a pro at.

      “That was my longest stint doing anything. I figured it was time for me to do something else. I wrote a few songs and found I could actually sing these songs myself. I decided that the best way to get my songs out there was just to do it myself. So I just started teaching myself to be a performer,” he said.

      While his sound attracted a respectable following, record labels wanted to hear more of what Bigham & co gave on stage. Enter the first official record from the Soul of John Black in 2003.

      “It did really good. So I said, ‘Why not do another one?’ I’m not really trying to be this big thing. I’m just doing the music and having fun doing the music and we just kept it going and we decided, let’s try it again,” Bigham described.

      “Before this record, I did ‘The Good Girl Blues’ last year and that thrust me into the blues world all of a sudden. I did a record, we put it out on our own, and then someone called us up and wanted to take over the record. That was a blues label and next thing you know I was up for a WC Handy Blues Award for Best New Artist.”

      So for “Black John,” Bigham wanted to do all kinds of blues styles, which he explained includes the basics of R&B.

      “I am doing blues styles that people may not be familiar with. Some of the other blues styles are Rhythm & Blues, like Bobby Blue Bland, Jerry Butler, or Johnny Taylor – people like that.”

      For the disc, Bigham said that music fans can expect a familiar sound that’s fresh and new.

      “The sentiment is vintage, but they can expect something that’s fresh and original.”

      To check out what’s fresh and original, visit the website at thesoulofjohnblack.com where you can download (for free) the lead track, “Betty Jean.”

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