Robben Ford & Lydia Pense New Zealand Tour

Robben Ford & Lydia Pense New Zealand Tour with The Rodger Fox Big Band

Featuring from the USA

Robben Ford – Guitar/Vocalist

American blues, jazz, and rock guitarist and named one of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of the 20th Century" by Musician magazine.

Guitar virtuoso Robben Ford’s latest album, Into The Sun, debuted at #2 on The Blues Charts and shines a bright light on his artful, contemporary songwriting and stunning playing. T

The five time Grammy nominee describes the 11 song set as “one of the top recordings I’ve ever done” and Guitar Player Magazine claims it “explores the breadth of Ford’s sophisticated, visionary writing and playing, creating a new chapter in his brilliant musical history.” Robben has recorded more than 35 albums under his own name and with various bands. There’s also his session and sideman work, which included hundreds of concert appearances and albums by Miles Davis, LA Express, George Harrison, Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt, Barbara Streisand, Charlie Musselwhite, KISS, Ruthie Foster, Warren Haynes,

Jimmy Witherspoon, Larry Carlton, Brad Paisley, Gregg Allman, Phil Lesh and Rickie Lee Jones. Robben continues to tour heavily and teach master classes in the US and worldwide.

Lydia Pense – The voice of the band Cold Blood.

American rock-soul-jazz singer who, since 1969, has performed with the band Cold Blood. Critics have compared her style to powerful singers including Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, and Teena Marie.

Lydia Pense was born in San Francisco and lived there until age 10 until the family moved to Redwood City, California. At age 14, while attending Sequoia High School, Pense started singing with a band called The Dimensions, with Guitarist Fred Tatman, Larry Hatch and Kerry Yates. She was a fan of Brenda Lee and was singing her songs, but the band encouraged her to sing R&B in the style of James Brown, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, and Ray Charles. It was Janis Joplin who recommended Lydia Pense to audition for the band Cold Blood to music promoter Bill Graham. Lydia joined Cold Blood in 1968 and the band was one of the earliest music groups to be signed by Bill Graham's Fillmore Records.

The band Cold Blood separated in the late 1970s. Pense suspended her music career in the early 1980s to raise her daughter Danielle, before re-forming the group in 1988. The band continues to record, tour and perform. This is Lydia’s first visit to New Zealand.

In concert with the Rodger Fox Big Band

© Scoop Media