Robben Ford made no compromises on Tiger Walk, the gifted guitarist's seventh solo album. The all-instrumental outing sends Ford in a new direction, a cracking, chugging chunk of smoking funk with more in common to records by Booker T and the MGs and the Crusaders than the records Ford has been making though the past decade.

"This project for me was like 'I'm going to do exactly what I want,"' said the guitarist. "It was a perfect situation."

He recruited his dream rhythm section, drummer Steve Jordan and bassist Charley Drayton, who Ford first heard playing on Keith Richards solo albums ("I just loved the sound of the rhythm section. I wrote the music with these guys in mind, " he said.) and obtained the services of engineer Niko Bolas, who also worked on those same Keith Richards records, to co-produce the album with him.

"This is a guitar album," explained Ford. "The last three records I've done have been band oriented records, but I haven't done a Robben Ford record. I like bands. The best music in the world comes out of bands; it doesn't come out of sessions. When I started doing the blues records, to some extent my guitar playing went into the background. The records I did with the Blue Line are mostly song performances. But I;m a guitar player first and this record showcases my guitar playing."

While Ford has performed brilliantly in a number of contexts since he emerged at age 18 from the nether regions of the San Francisco Bay Area club scene in the early '70s playing in a band with his brothers named after their father, the Charles Ford Blues Band, Ford doesn't think he has revealed himself as completely and fully since his first solo album, Inside Story, released in 1979 by Elektra Records.

In between, he has recorded playing fusion with the group he put together, the Yellowjackets; blues with Robben Ford and the Blue Line; jazz with Miles Davis. As a young sideman with Tom Scott and the L.A. Express, he fit himself equally well into the backup bands for George Harrison and Joni Mitchell. "But my intent has always been to work with my own band making my own records," said Ford.

His 1988 return to the blues, Talk To Your Daughter, propelled Ford back into the thick of the music he played with the Charles Ford Band and blues giants Jimmy Witherspoon and Charlie Musslewhite before he reached age 21-- with his own twist, of course. "I was struggling with record companies until I was able to release Talk To Your Daughter," he said. "That was my best guitar playing to date. I like everything I did on guitar, but vocally it was weak. So it had its pros and cons."

After three more blues albums, Ford decided it was time to change directions. "I felt like I was holding back on the guitar side in order to present a band," he said. "I played out my commitment with the Blue Line and then decided to take some time off and find some new inspiration."

Once Ford contacted Jordan and Drayton, the die was cast. At the suggestion of the other players, Ford added on keyboards Bernie Worrell, a onetime member of Parliament-Funkadelic who has made powerful contributions to the work of the Talking Heads, among others. They met at Avater Studios in New York, site of the former Power Station, the exact place Ford wanted to make the album.

We cut all the music, for the most part, live in the studio," he said. Basically I played rhythm guitar and I played solos. The melodies were put on afterwards. It's something like 90 percent live playing with the occasional keyboard overdub, one or two rhythm guitar overdubs."

Ford will put together a touring edition of the band and take this new direction on the road. His straightforward rhythm and blues approach may surprise a lot of people who think they already know Ford.

"The Stax/Volt thing is very strong in my background.", said Ford. "When I was in bands in high school, that's all we played--Otis, Sam and Dave,Wilson Pickett." And that shows on this record. It's an R&B record, like a modern Booker T. and the MGs. It's a rhythm and blues band, all about the groove. I've always tried to keep a strong element of backbeat in my music. But on this record, I'm avoiding any complex musical issues. On 'Red Lady,' there's a few hip chords that are sort of surprising. But otherwise I think it's a funk oriented record. I played the way play.

"There's some good playing on the other records, " he said, 'but you have to look for it. With this record, I feel a guitar player--not a bandleader or a songwriter--but a guitar player."

Robben Ford on Tiger Walk

"'In The Beginning' was the first thing written for this record. I sat down and just started playing the rhythm guitar figure. I think it's a little variation of the Miles Davis' "Jack Johnson" lick. I like the contrast in the melodic and open feel of the bridge."

'Ghosts' was inspired by a salsa tune I heard in a coffee house--no idea who it was. I wanted to write something that had a little humor in it as I tend toward writing in a minor keys most of the time."

"Freedom' was written over a year ago. I didn't think it worked at first and hesitated to play it with my group. As usual with things like that, it turns out to be most people's favorite thing we play.

"' Red Lady w/Cello' was written for Me'Shell Ndegeocello. The red lady is the guitar. I love the way she has brought hip-hop and an expanded sense of musicality together. This song is a tribute to that."

"' Oasis' is inspired again, I think from Miles. I wanted to write something I felt was contemporary yet came out of very simple but beautiful pieces like 'So What" or Coltrane's "Impressions." Just a couple of chords but getting a lot music out of them."

"'Just Like It Is' come straight out of Hendrix, obviously. But also from the classic 'Rhythm & Blues Review' kind of thing; very 'Apollo Theater' was the idea. We did a thing like this when I was playing with Michael McDonald and I always wanted to get to something like it with my band."

" I Can't Stand The Rain' is just a great song."

"'The Champ' started with my little twist on a Coltrane melody. I just took a theme of his and developed it my own way. I really love the way this song turned out."

"' Tiger Walk' was a way to bring chords directly into a melody, and it would up a little 'Link Wray' like 'Rumble.' The improvisation on this really got out there, which I hadn't expected but it turned out great. I love what Bernie does on the organ on this one."

"'Comon' Up' is straight out of Keith Richards--- "999" from the 'Main Offender' record. I've got some rock in roll in me, you know."