PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS… JOHN BLACK
Musician John Bigham on his band,”The Soul of John Black.”
Presented by Electronic Urban Report.
What’s in a name? Soul, funk, jazz, bluesified band The Soul of John Black may not have the answer — after all, there is no one by that name in the band – but the new disc from the group and frontman guitarist JB a.k.a. John Bingham certainly tells a lot.
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 Bingham 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 basic and recognizable, but fresh and edgy.
“That’s what it is. That was a conscious effort.”
Bingham’s story begins quite modestly….
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