Brian Albert Gordon Auger (born 18 July 1939) is an English jazz rock and rock music keyboardist who specialises in the

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs ...

. Auger has worked with

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...

, Tony Williams, Jimi Hendrix, John McLaughlin, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Eric Burdon. He incorporated jazz, early British pop, R&B,

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became pop ...

, and rock into his sound. He has been nominated for a Grammy Award.

Career

In 1965, Auger played on "

For Your Love "For Your Love" is a rock song written by Graham Gouldman and recorded by English group the Yardbirds. Released in March 1965, it was their first top ten hit in both the UK and the US. The song was a departure from the group's blues roots ...

" by

The Yardbirds The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963. The band's core lineup featured vocalist and harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist and later bassist Chris Dreja and bassist/producer Paul Samw ...

as a session musician. That same year, Auger formed the group The Steampacket with

Long John Baldry John William "Long John" Baldry (12 January 1941 – 21 July 2005) was an English musician and actor. In the 1960s, he was one of the first British vocalists to sing the blues in clubs and shared the stage with many British musicians including ...

, Julie Driscoll, Vic Briggs, and

. Due to contractual problems there were no official recordings made by the band; nevertheless, nine tracks were laid down for promotional use in late 1965 and released as an LP in 1970 in France on the BYG label. They were released on a CD by Repertoire Records in 1990 (licensed from Charly Records) as well as 12 live tracks from ''Live at the Birmingham Town Hall, February 2, 1964''. Stewart left in early 1966 and soon thereafter the band broke up. With Driscoll and the band

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the ...

, he went on to record a cover version of David Ackles' "Road to Cairo" and Bob Dylan's " This Wheel's on Fire", which appeared on ''Dylan Covered''. The latter track was a number 5 pop hit in the UK. In 1969 Auger, Driscoll, and Trinity performed in the United States on the NBC special '' 33⅓ Revolutions Per Monkee''. In 1970, he formed the

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, amplifiers, and key ...

ensemble Brian Auger's Oblivion Express shortly after abandoning the abortive "Wassenaar Arrangement" jazz rock commune in a small suburb of The Hague. Oblivion Express cultivated the talents of several notable musicians, including Average White Band drummers

Robbie McIntosh Robbie McIntosh (born 25 October 1957) is an English guitarist. McIntosh is well known as a session guitarist and member of The Pretenders from 1982 until 1987. In 1988 he began doing session guitar work for Paul McCartney joining his band fu ...

and

Steve Ferrone Steve Ferrone (born 25 April 1950) is an English drummer. He is known as a member of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from 1994 to 2017, replacing original drummer Stan Lynch, and as part of the "classic lineup" of the Average Wh ...

, as well as guitarist

Jim Mullen Jim Mullen (born 26 November 1945) is a Scottish, Glasgow-born jazz guitarist with a distinctive style, like Wes Montgomery before him, picking with the thumb rather than a plectrum. Biography Jim Mullen was guitarist with Pete Brown & Piblo ...

. In 1971 Auger produced and appeared on Mogul Thrash's only album, '' Mogul Thrash''. Two members of that band, Roger Ball and Malcolm Duncan, would go on to form the Average White Band. Auger toured with

Kim Simmonds Kim Maiden Simmonds (5 December 1947 – 13 December 2022) was a Welsh musician who was the founder, guitarist, primary songwriter and sole consistent member of the blues rock band Savoy Brown. Simmonds has led Savoy Brown since its inception ...

, Gregg Errico, and Tim Bogert in the mid-1980s in a band they called Maestro. No album resulted from this collaboration and tour. In 1986, he played keyboards for the Italian singer

Mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in Sout ...

on the album '' Odissea''. Brian Auger & Pino Presti 2006

In 1989, Auger was musical director for the thirteen-part film retrospective series ''Villa Fantastica'' made for German television. A live recording of the series, '' Super Jam'' (1990), features Auger on piano, Pete York on drums, Dick Morrissey on tenor saxophone, Roy Williams on trombone, Harvey Weston on bass guitar, and singers

Zoot Money George Bruno Money (born 17 July 1942) is an English vocalist, keyboardist and bandleader. He is best known for his playing of the Hammond organ and association with his Big Roll Band. Inspired by Jerry Lee Lewis and Ray Charles, he was drawn ...

and

Maria Muldaur Maria Muldaur (born Maria Grazia Rosa Domenica D'Amato; September 12, 1942) is an American folk and blues singer who was part of the American folk music revival in the early 1960s. She recorded the 1973 hit song " Midnight at the Oasis" and has ...

. Auger toured with Eric Burdon in the early 1990s and recorded the live album '' Access All Areas'' with him in 1993. Oblivion Express was revived in 2005 with recording and touring. The group featured Brian Auger, his son Karma Auger on drums, his daughter Savannah Auger on vocals, and Derek Frank on bass. In 2012, Auger released ''Language of the Heart'', one of the few solo albums of his career, produced by Tea. It features

Jeff "Skunk" Baxter Jeffrey Allen "Skunk" Baxter (born December 13, 1948) is an American guitarist, known for his stints in the rock bands Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers during the 1970s and Spirit in the 1980s. More recently, he has worked as a defense con ...

and Julian Coryell on guitars. In 2014, Auger was invited by producer Gerry Gallagher to record with El Chicano as well as

Alphonse Mouzon Alphonse Lee Mouzon (November 21, 1948 – December 25, 2016) was an American jazz fusion drummer and the owner of Tenacious Records, a label that primarily released Mouzon's recordings. He was a composer, arranger, producer, and actor. He g ...

David Paich David Frank Paich (born June 25, 1954) is an American musician, best known as the co-founder, principal songwriter, keyboardist and singer of the rock band Toto since 1977. He wrote or co-wrote much of Toto's original material, including the ban ...

, Alex Ligertwood, Ray Parker Jr., Lenny Castro, Vikki Carr, Pete Escovedo, Peter Michael Escovedo, Salvador Santana,

Jessy J Jessica Arellano (born December 20, 1982) known professionally as Jessy J, is an American saxophonist. Biography Jessy J was born Jessica Arellano on December 20, 1982 in Portland, Oregon and raised in Hemet, California. Of Mexican-Americ ...

, Marcos J. Reyes, Siedah Garrett, Walfredo Reyes Jr., and Spencer Davis. In the same year, Brian Auger and Oblivion Express played at the KJAZZ festival in Los Angeles, and toured in Japan and Europe with Karma Auger on drums, daughter Ali Auger on vocals, Alex Ligertwood on vocals, Yarone Levy on guitar, Les King on bass, and Travis Carlton on bass.

Discography

With Steampacket

* ''Rock Generation, Volume 6: The Steampacket (Or the First Supergroup)'' (BYG 529.706, 1970)

As leader

* ''Open'' with Julie Driscoll (Marmalade/Atco, 1967) * ''Definitely What!'' (Marmalade/Atco, 1968) * ''

Streetnoise ''Streetnoise'' is a 1969 album by Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger and the Trinity, originally released as a double LP. It includes cover versions of The Doors’ " Light My Fire", Nina Simone’s "Take Me To The Water", Laura Nyro’s "Save the ...

'' with Julie Driscoll (Marmalade/Atco, 1969) * ''Jools & Brian'' with Julie Driscoll ompilation of early singles(Capitol, 1969) * ''Befour'' (RCA Victor, 1970) * ''The Best of Brian Auger'' ompilation(RCA Victor, 1977; later expanded/released as a 2-CD set by One Way) * ''Encore'' with Julie Tippetts (Warner Bros., 1978) * ''Search Party'' (Headfirst, 1981) * ''Here and Now'' (Polydor, 1982 984 * ''Access All Areas Live'' with Eric Burdon (SPV Records, 1993) * ''Auger Rhythms: Brian Auger's Musical History'' ompilation(Ghostown, 2003) * ''Live at the Baked Potato'' (Ghostown, 2005) * ''Mod Party'' featuring Savannah Grace (Ghostown, 2011

013 013 is a music venue in Tilburg, the Netherlands. The venue opened in 1998 and replaced the ''Noorderligt'', the ''Bat Cave'' and the ''MuziekKantenWinkel''. 013 is the largest popular music venue in the southern Netherlands. There are two concer ...

* ''Language of the Heart'' (Ghostown, 2012) * ''Train Keeps A-Rolling'' with Jeff Golub (E1/eOne Music, 2013) * ''Back to the Beginning: The Brian Auger Anthology'' (Soul Bank Music, 9/2015) * ''Back to the Beginning... Again: The Brian Auger Anthology, Volume 2'' (Soul Bank Music, 9/2016) * ''Full Circle: Live at Bogies'' (Freestyle, 2018) * ''Introspection'' ompilation(Sunset Blvd, 2020) * ''Auger Incorporated'' ompilation(Soul Bank Music, 2/2022) * ''Search Party'' eissue(Soul Bank Music, 4/2022) * ''Far Horizons – The Trinity Box Set'' (5-LP box set) inyl reissues of ''Open'', ''Definitely What!'', ''Streetnoise'', and ''Befour''(Soul Bank Music, 9/2022)

With the Oblivion Express

* ''Brian Auger's Oblivion Express'' (RCA Victor, 1970

971 Year 971 ( CMLXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Battle of Dorostolon: A Byzantine expeditionary army (possibly 30–40,000 men ...

* ''A Better Land'' (RCA Victor, 1971) * ''Second Wind'' (RCA Victor, 1972) * ''Closer to It!'' (RCA Victor, 1973) * ''Straight Ahead'' (RCA Victor, 1973 974 * ''Live Oblivion, Vol. 1'' (RCA Victor, 1974) * ''Live Oblivion, Vol. 2'' (RCA Victor, 1974 976 * ''Reinforcements'' (RCA Victor, 1975) * ''Happiness Heartaches'' (Warner Bros., 1977) * ''Keys to the Heart'' (One Way, 1987 996 * ''Voices of Other Times'' (Sanctuary, 1999) * ''Looking in the Eye of the World'' (Ghostown, 2005) * ''Live at the Baked Potato'' (Ghostown, 2005) * ''Live in Los Angeles (featuring Alex Ligertwood)'' (Soul Bank Music, 10/2015) * ''Looking in the Eye Of The World'' eissue(Soul Bank Music, 4/2022) * ''Voices of Other Times'' eissue(Soul Bank Music, 5/2022) * ''Keys to the Heart'' eissue(Soul Bank Music, 5/2022) * ''Brian Auger's Oblivion Express Play the Trinity Hits'' featuring Savannah Grace (Soul Bank Music, 7/2022)

With CAB ( Tony MacAlpine/ Bunny Brunel/ Dennis Chambers)

* '' CAB'' (Tone Center, 2000) * '' CAB 2'' (Tone Center, 2001) * '' CAB 4'' (Favored Nations, 2003)

Filmography

*1969 – '' 33⅓ Revolutions Per Monkee'' *1972 – ''Brian Auger The Oblivion Express'' (dir. Tomas Dillen, 31 min.) *2005 – ''Brian Auger: Insights of the Keyboard Master'' *2005 – ''Live at the Baked Potato''

References

Other sources

* Daddone, Peter
"Brian Auger In Conversation "
''Jazz Review'', 29 March 2012.

''Get Ready to Rock'', November 2006. *Staczek, Jason

''Jelly Music Magazine''