Brian Auger's Oblivion Express - Closer To It! / Straight Ahead (2010)

Born July 18, 1939 and growing up in London, BRIAN AUGER began taking notice of his parent's player piano at the age of three; "After a while I noticed that I was able to recognize the patterns in all the notes... I began to copy the notes [and] I was actually able to copy these melodies", he recalls. After the Auger home was bombed and destroyed in 1944, Brian found other pianos and was determined to keep playing. In addition to the British and American pop music of the time, he also became fascinated with jazz artists like Duke Ellington, Count Basie and other popular jazz coming in through Armed Forces radio. Soon the great modern jazz pianists captured him, Oscar Peterson, Hampton Hawes, Bill Evans, Red Garland, Victor Feldman, and McCoy Tyner.

By eighteen, his musical prowess began attracting attention and in 1962 he formed a trio with bassist Rick Laird, Phil Knorra on drums, adding a young John McLaughlin and saxophonist Glen Hughes. 1964 saw AUGER winning a Melody Maker jazz poll, soon becoming in-demand among London's music scene. Though a fan of rock (the BEATLES in particular), AUGER was more interested in the technical side of playing and after hearing JIMMY SMITH on Hammond organ, he knew he had to have one. In November 1964, he formed the TRINITY with drummer Micky Waller and bassist Ricky Brown. By 1965, English blues singer LONG JOHN BALDRY had put together a band with AUGER and with the addition of Rod Stewart, Julie Driscoll and guitarist Vic Briggs, the band STEAMPACKET emerged and lasted almost a year playing the mix of R&B, blues-jazz and rock that would cement AUGER's reputation. September 1966 saw a rebirth of the TRINITY that included Driscoll and Briggs, guitarist Gary Boyle, bassist Roger Sutton and Clive Thacker on drums. "The idea of the Trinity", he reflects, "was a combination of Blues, Mowtown and Messengers". They released a debut in 1967 titled "Open" from which a Bob Dylan cover reached #5 and put the LP on the charts. "Definitely What" was an instrumental record released in 1968, and "Streetnoise" that same year, this time with Driscoll on vocals. The outfit disbanded finally in 1970 after the flop "Befour" but never one to give up, 'Aug' formed OBLIVION EXPRESS with Jim Mullen on guitars, Barry Dean on bass and drummer Robbie Macintosh. After several good jazz-rock fusion albums, a new version of OBLIVION EXPRESS recorded "Closer To It", the band toured the U.S. and the album landed on both the R&B and Jazz charts, as did the follow-up "Straight Ahead". The band opened for ZZ TOP, LED ZEPPELIN, and HERBIE HANCOCK among others.

Auger took a break from professional music in the early 80s but released "Keys to the Heart" in 1987 and toured Europe. By the mid-90s he had reformed the OBLIVION EXPRESS with family members and BRIAN AUGER continues to make music and tour the world.