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New collection of classic and rarities from the celebrated music figure<\/b><\/p>\nNew collection of classic and rarities from the celebrated music figure<\/b><\/p>\n
Organist, composer, vocalist and band leader Brian Auger is best known for his work leading two bands: in the \u201860s he launched The Trinity, a pioneering soul\/jazz\/rock outfit featuring powerhouse vocalist Julie Driscoll. And in the early \u201870s Auger pursued ambitious yet accessible jazz fusion, fronting Oblivion Express; that band achieved the distinction of an album that charted simultaneously on jazz, rock and soul charts.<\/p>\n
But those credits are only part of the story. Even before The Trinity, Auger was part of a short-lived group of future superstars including Rod Stewart. And as a session musician, he provided the most distinctive sonic element to a monster hit single by another important and influential group. Later, he co-starred on television with The Monkees. And in the years after Oblivion Express\u2019 most commercially successful releases, he has gone on to create a compelling and formidable body of work, and has toured far and wide with superb bands featuring his talented offspring.<\/p>\n
Auger has dozens of albums to his credit. And the most recent is Auger Incorporated<\/i>, a carefully selected compilation chronicling his career from its earliest days through his work with Oblivion Express. Mixing classic tracks with previously-unheard recordings, Auger Incorporated<\/i> is designed to appeal both to longtime fans as well as those discovering the work of this iconic musician for the very first time.<\/p>\n
Auger\u2019s life in music started amid the blitzkrieg, the relentless World War II bombing of his hometown Shepherd\u2019s Bush, London. His family had a player piano, and as a toddler, Auger would hang onto the keyboard and operate the foot pumps that drove the rolls. \u201cI\u2019d pedal like a demented cyclist,\u201d he recalls with a laugh. \u201cI had all that music going on; that was what surrounded me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bomb craters surrounded him, too. Auger recalls that on multiple occasions during his early years, he and his five siblings would be awoken by his parents: \u201cQuick! We\u2019ve got to go to a shelter \u2013 now!\u201d He says that on one of those episodes, \u201cone of Hitler\u2019s super weapons, the flying V-1 bomb, dropped behind our house. This thing took out the whole block!\u201d Luckily, Auger\u2019s mom had stashed him under a sturdy dining room table, so even as the walls and ceiling came down, he was safe. Other than his father getting cut by a bit of flying glass, the entire family came away uninjured.<\/p>\n
Standard practice at the time meant that families whose homes were destroyed would be relocated well outside of London, presumably out of harm\u2019s way. Families were often split up. Young Auger was sent with a sister to stay with a family near Yorkshire. \u201cThey looked after us, and they were very kind,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd they had a piano!\u201d<\/p>\n
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A natural talent, Auger quickly learned how to play Glenn Miller\u2019s \u201cIn the Mood\u201d with his right hand. \u201cI hadn\u2019t gotten around to the left hand yet,\u201d he says with a chuckle. Completely self-taught, he worked out songs by ear. After two years in Yorkshire, he was reunited with his family back in London. And the Augers\u2019 new home still had the piano. \u201cMy<\/i> piano, I called it,\u201d he says, smiling at the memory.<\/p>\n
By the time he was 12, Auger had mastered an impressive number of tunes on the piano. He regularly listened to the American Armed Forces Radio broadcast from postwar Hamburg. He soon fell in love with the music of jazz greats including Miles Davis, Les McCann, Horace Silver, The Jazz Messengers, John Coltrane, Bill Evans and more. He was especially drawn to the sounds from Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff and Jimmy McGriff, all of whom played the organ in a style that would come be known as soul jazz.<\/p>\n
At 15, Auger was already playing piano in a jazz band; they had a regular gig at the Cottage Club, just off Cambridge Circus in London. The late-night club was a popular haunt with Americans and anyone else into the burgeoning jazz scene. \u201cAnybody who was in town would make a bee line to the place,\u201d Auger recalls. Playing piano accompanied by a drummer with a small kit, he entertained the likes of Billie Holiday and members of Duke Ellington\u2019s and Count Basie\u2019s bands.<\/p>\n
At that point, Auger says, he could play almost anything\u2026 as long as it was in the key of C or G. So when a well-known trombone player dropped by and wanted to sit in and play \u201cPerdido,\u201d Auger asked him, \u201cWhat key do you want to play it in: C or G?\u201d The trombonist was aghast, and told the teenage pianist that if he wanted to be a serious musician, he\u2019d have to learn songs in the keys in which they were written.<\/p>\n
A few weeks later, the trombonist returned, and gave Auger bits of direction: \u201cThat tune there, the middle eight goes to an A flat minor 9th<\/sup>.\u201d Auger looked at him, perplexed: \u201cWhat the hell is that?\u201d The horn player was even more shocked, replying, \u201cHow can you play these things if you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re playing?\u201d Auger explained that he was playing by ear. The trombonist \u2013 sixty-plus years later Auger doesn\u2019t recalls his name \u2013 recommended some books on musical theory. Auger took the advice to heart. And when the man came back the next time, Auger was fully prepared to play \u201cPerdido\u201d \u2013 and other tunes as well \u2013 in their proper keys.<\/p>\n Within a couple of years, Auger had begun to make a name for himself in London\u2019s jazz scene. He was asked to join a band that played at Ronnie Scott\u2019s, The Flamingo and The Dorchester. One night he was called upon to fill in last-minute for pianist Georgie Fame. \u201cHe had fallen asleep on the beach in Cornwall and got sunstroke,\u201d Auger recalls. When he arrived for the date, Auger looked around and asked, \u201cWhere\u2019s the piano?\u201d There was only an electric organ, an instrument Auger had never played.<\/p>\n He spent a few minutes with the Hammond M3 and then did the gig. After the set, an audience member approached him to compliment his work. He asked Auger how long he had been playing the organ. \u201cWell,\u201d he replied, \u201cabout 45 minutes, I think!\u201d He soon bought one of his own.<\/p>\n