Chris Bergson & Ellis Hooks: Blues and Soul Partners In Crime
by Matteo Bossi
Right before their gig at the Spirit de Milan last July we had a chance to talk with Chris Bergson and Ellis Hooks, the two friends have long established a successful musical partnership and they have frequently wrote and toured together since reconnecting in 2013. Their fun and energetic live set later on showed how they really complement each other taking turns on lead vocals on a repertoire largely based on original stuff, with some good covers (Grits & Ain’t Groceries, For What It’s Worth…), with great backing by a trio of italian musicians, Pablo Leoni (drums), Andrea Vismara (bass) and Gabriele Bernardi (keyboards).
Bergson’s talent on guitar is evident throughout, both in his tasteful, melodic solos and in his rock solid rhythm, beside being a very good singer himself. Hooks carries in his raw and ebullient vocals the flames of the great soul and R&B singers of the past, yet retaining his very own presence and delivery. Our conversation flowed easily as they fed off each other stories, and sometimes with a resounding laughter.
Where and when did you first meet?
Hooks: We both played in a place called Joe’s Pub in New York…we were on the same bill in 2004 Then one night in 2013 I was walking down the street and I heard this crazy awesome guitar player, I thought it was, what’s his name, Eric Clapton.
Bergson: Playing at Jules’?
Hooks: Yes! I didn’t know where it was coming from. I found it was coming from Jules so I walked in. And it was him. And I was what are you doing here?
Bergson: It was like a small french bistro.
Hooks: He knew me!
Bergson: Yes, I remember you sat in singing Jimi Hendrix’s Red House.
Hooks: and I thought oh we should write together…he thought I was bullshitting him
Bergson: Well it has happened a couple of times in the past and the second time I was man are you ever gonna call me? But he called. And I was Oh my God this guy is serious! We got together and it really clicked. We met in 2004 but we started collaborating in 2013. I was making a Live album, that club unfortunately closed during the pandemic…I invited Ellis to guest on that record and we started writing songs together. Both of us were more used to singing lead and we started singing harmony, we did covers first, like Otis Redding songs, then we really clicked writing together and touring together. I think we did our first tour in France in 2018 and we were happy to resume after the pandemic, we did the Cahors Blues Festival and Cognac last summer, that was nice, a very special duo show. Strangely enough this is just my second time in Italy, I was here with my parents when I was a kid in 1990. We’ve been having a lot of fun.
Chris, you started to play guitar very young and took some lessons with the great Jim Hall?
Bergson: Yes, it was an incredible experience. It’s funny because I’ve just made a new record that’s more of a soul/jazz album that’s gonna come out next year with Larry Grenadier on bass and Herlin Riley on drums, it was originally going to be Al Foster but he passed away three weeks before the session. So we were lucky to get Herlin. It’s sort of a mix of the 30th anniversary of me moving to New York to study with Jim Hall and a look back to my early jazz and blues influences. I recorded a Muddy Waters song, a Ray Charles song, but also a Herbie Hancock song, an original boogaloo blues inspired by the classic Blue Note records of people like Lee Morgan…it’s gonna come out on Lp next year.
It’s kind of full circle for you?
Bergson: It really is. My father passed away this year and I’m feeling very grateful to my parents, they introduced me to a lot of great blues and jazz. When I was a kid they took me to hear Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock…my dad took me to see Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker…when he passed I was reflecting a little bit and feeling grateful for that. And they were very encouraging of me studying music and becoming a musician. And I got to play with many of my heroes. People like Al Foster, Levon Helm, Hubert Sumlin, Bernard Purdie…it’s really a dream to come here in Europe to present our music over here and see some amazing places.
What about your upbringing Ellis, you come from the South.
Hooks: yes, grew up in Alabama, a baptist family on a big farm, we were sixteen kids! When I look back I miss that, but you know I used to hate it when I was a kid. I used to sing in a choir, we all got started in church. If it wasn’t for that I probably wouldn’t be here. I listened to country music and my family hated it, because it was pretty racist back then…rock’n’roll, they hated that too. I had to sneak out to listen to music and I would get my ass beat.
Bergson: What was that show you told me you watch?
Hooks: Midnight Special, but the norm back then if you’re black you were not allowed to listen to white people music, because they hated you. But for me it was whatever music resonated. My mom wanted me to sing gospel. I left home pretty young.
When did you move to New York?
Hooks: In the Eighties. I was playing in the streets a lot, seven or eight years…it was a lot of training and the money was good back then.
Ellis Hooks ph Adriano Siberna
How did you meet Jon Tiven? That was a turning point for your career.
Hooks: I used to play in the East Village in a little place called the Oasis, I took a break, I don’t to that after that time, you lose the audience…but I saw a beautiful girl walk in, she was mexican and really beautiful, she – said let me sing…so I did, and the people walked out!
Bergson: She wasn’t good?
Hooks: She didn’t get it… Anyway she said, look tomorrow I have to see this producer up on 61st Street, but I don’t trust him, will you come with me? And I said yes. True story. So we went up there and Tiven was pissed off, like who is this? She said that’s my friend. She was just supposed to give him a CD and leave. But she said I want to play this song. And I thought, don’t do that. So she starts playing and he stops her. He looks at me and he goes, “what do you do?” “I play guitar and I sing”, I say. And he says, “here, play”. I start playing and the hair on his neck starts rising. When she went to the bathroom he gave me his number. “Call me”, he said. And two weeks later ha got me a deal with some company E music something…they went under but I got ten grands out of it and they gave us back the masters. That’s how I started.
Bergson: Was it Evidence?
Hooks: No some other company, but they folded soon after.
Bergson: I don’t know if I ever told you this, it’s so funny the way life works, my parents when I was a kid gave me this great Albert King album, The Lost Session, do you know this record?
Yes, John Mayall produced it.
Bergson: Yes! Anyway that was a cool record and Jon Tiven wrote the liner notes. So I knew his name from then. It was a new find, it came out in the Eighties.
Tiven produced a lot of records in the Nineties, Wilson Picket, Freddie Scott, Garnett Mimms, Little Milton…
Hooks: yes, a lot of guys, soul singers. I didn’t know that when we met. He worked with a lot of people, he’s friends with Steve Cropper, Dan Penn…We did Lincoln Center with Cropper!
Chris, can you tell us something about your Levon Helm connection?
Bergson: Yes, my band and I were up in Woodstock recording at his studio, it was just an amazing experience. It was the “Fall Changes” album. And a couple of days after I got home, I was living in Brooklyn at that time, I went out for brunch with my wife and the phone rang. And it was Levon. He was wondering if I could come up in Woodstock that night to play at his Midnight Ramble. He said there would be some shows coming up that Jimmy Vivino could not make. He said, with his great Arkansas accent, “hey son, it’s Levon, can you come up to Woodstock son? And start learning the book, Jimmy V would be there you can start learning the songs.” And then I started subbing in the band for either Jimmy V or Larry Cambpell. I did a gig with each of them and a couple of times I did gigs where I was the only guitar player. I remember being in the kitchen with Levon making the set-list. They taught me “Rag Mama Rag” sitting around Levon’s kitchen table. Those were pinch me moments, where one can’t believe.
He was one of my absoulte favorite singers and drummers, The Band has been a great influence on my songwriting. He was a really sweet guy, with an incredible spirit, incredible groove, such a joyous energy. I was the youngest guy in the band, I was just thirty years old, it was the fall of 2006. My band opened for him and a couple of times I got to sing The Weight with him. Every show was being recorded back then so it was documented somewhere. And it was a great experience recording in his studio…at the same time he was finishing his Dirt Farmer album, that ended up winning a Grammy. We worked with the same engineer. If you’d told me when I was a teenager that I would play with Levon Helm or a few years later with Hubert Sumlin, I don’t think I would have believed it.
Hubert was another sweet and welcoming guy beside being a fabulous guitar player.
Bergson: He was. One of the greatest nights of blues I have ever heard was at B.B. King’s club in New York, it was Levon on drums, with Hubert on guitar and David Johansen playing the music of Howlin’ Wolf. Hearing Hubert and Levon was really special, I’ll never forget that. Levon had a very unique shuffle, his groove was just so powerful and incredible. I remember thinking-how does a skinny guy like that hit the drums so hard?-
Have you ever met a guy who played a lot with Levon, Chris O’Leary?
Bergson: Yes, you know it’s funny last fall we were both teaching at a blues camp in France and we ended up jamming together and sharing Levon stories. He had played in the Barn Burners and he had moved to New Orleans when Levon opened a club there…we had played with a lot of the same musicians but actually had never met before. It was cool to hang out with him, he’s a great guy.
Chris, you played sometimes both on stage and on records with Alexis Suter, she’s a great singer, how did you first meet?
Bergson: I met and first heard Alexis P. Suter at Levon Helm’s Midnight Ramble concerts at his barn studio in Woodstock, NY back in 2005 – 2006…She was opening the show for Levon and I was subbing in his band on guitar. I was blown away – then and now – by the emotional power of her singing!
Ellis, you put out several records on Zane, Evidence, Artemis and toured a lot in the first decade of 2000.
Hooks: It all happened pretty fast. We went to Nashville and locked into Tiven’s house, that’s how we did, we were just writing. And I wasn’t used to that kind of pression. He had a studio in his house…to me it was magical, I had never wrote songs like that and I had nerve pushed myself like that. He kept me busy, I’m very blessed that I met him. I learned a lot from him about my abilities and what I can do with my voice and my songwriting. I wasn’t very good at structuring my songs and Tiven could do that, like “put that phrase here and the bridge here…”, it was like being at school. And also I got to meet all these great guys like Penn or Cropper, guys that I had only heard about. Like I’ve said, he put me on the map. And I toured a lot then.
If it wasn’t for that I’d probably go back to Alabama to become a preacher, because it’s easy money and that’s what they wanted me to do anyway. My sister has a church in upstate New York I go visit her sometimes but she never calls me on stage because my music is not God’s music. It’s really weird that today they’re still like that. I slowed down a bit then, I had a daughter in 2009 and it’s a beautiful experience…when we hooked up with Chris it was right time and I was ready. We’re thinking about doing an acoustic record, it’s gonna be good.
Chris Bergson ph Adriano Siberna
Chris, I read that at first you just played guitar and you started to sing a little later on, how did you become such a good singer?
Bergson: I actually sang in bands all throughout highschool but I put singing on the backburner when I moved back to New York when I was 18 as I felt there was so much to focus on to become a better jazz guitarist. Singing is something that has always come naturally to me and I’ve never taken a single voice lesson. I’ve learned so much by listening and copying the phrasing of my favorite singers like Ray Charles, Muddy Waters, Gregg Allman and Levon Helm. I initially discounted my singing as I didn’t have to work as hard at it as I did with other aspects of the guitar and music.
It was actually my wife, Kate, who encouraged me to start singing again after she heard me singing some Robert Johnson blues one night for some friends at our apartment. She was like “What’s this?!? Why have you been keeping this to yourself?” This is what you should be doing!” I honestly hadn’t thought much of it. It was a “Oh, that’s something I used to do for fun when I was a tennager” kind of a thing. My wife has always had good producer’s instincts and I’m very grateful. I love to sing and now can’t imagine not singing!
You have also written a lot of songs over the years with her how did you develop that over the years?
It developed gradually over the years. Kate is a great actor and theater director with a strong Shakespearean background. She has an excellent command of language and rhythm. For many years, we collaborated on the lyrics to the songs. On the most recent album, Comforts of Home, she contributed more than she had previously to the music – the melodies, the structures of the songs. and some of the individual instrumental parts. My band mates also contributed some excellent ideas to the arrangements.
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