Brian Auger

Brian Auger established his presence on the London music circuit during the opening years of the 1960s, immersed in the blues and R&B resurgence that directly precipitated the British Invasion of 1964. Although he stood apart from that particular wave, his energetic and jazz-inflected keyboard style persisted along the outer edges of British rock for the remainder of the decade. Grounded in R&B-tinged jazz, the prevailing sound of the first two-thirds of the 1960s, he flourished from the late 1960s into the 1970s by delivering bold, progressive performances, whether fronting Oblivion Express or pairing with an ever-changing roster of vocalists. He maintained this course across subsequent decades, moving fluidly among jazz, rock, and R&B while sustaining regular live work either independently or in supporting capacities and committing recordings to tape from time to time.

Raised in London, Brian Auger began studying keyboards in childhood and first encountered jazz through broadcasts on the American Armed Forces Network along with his older brother’s record collection. By his teenage years he was performing piano in clubs, and in 1962 he assembled the Brian Auger Trio alongside bassist Rick Laird and drummer Phil Knorra. The following year he claimed top honors in the Melody Maker readers’ poll for both “New Star” and “Jazz Piano,” yet 1964 also marked his departure from pure jazz in favor of an R&B-driven direction; he enlarged the ensemble to include guitarist John McLaughlin and baritone saxophonist Glen Hughes, renaming it the Brian Auger Trinity. That configuration dissolved by year’s end, prompting Auger to switch to Hammond B-3 organ and form a new trio with bassist Rick Brown and drummer Mickey Waller. After issuing several singles, he participated in a session spotlighting blues singer Sonny Boy Williamson that also featured saxophonists Joe Harriott and Alan Skidmore plus guitarist Jimmy Page; the resulting album, Don’t Send Me No Flowers, appeared in 1968.

By mid-1965 Auger’s band had expanded to incorporate guitarist Vic Briggs and vocalists Long John Baldry, Rod Stewart, and Julie Driscoll, prompting a rechristening as Steampacket. Functioning more as an informal revue than a fixed group, Steampacket endured only a year before Stewart and Baldry departed and the unit disbanded. Auger retained Driscoll, added bassist Dave Ambrose and drummer Clive Thacker, and billed the new lineup as Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & the Trinity. Their debut album, Open, surfaced in 1967 on Marmalade Records, the label owned by Auger’s manager Giorgio Gomelsky, though commercial notice arrived only with the spring 1968 single “This Wheel’s on Fire,” written by Bob Dylan and Rick Danko, which preceded the Band’s own version on Music from Big Pink. The track reached the U.K. Top Five, after which Open belatedly entered the British charts. Auger & the Trinity next released the instrumental set Definitely What! (1968) without Driscoll, then reinstated her for the double album Streetnoise (1968), which later appeared on U.S. charts via Atco; a singles compilation titled Jools & Brian had already marked their American introduction on Capitol in 1969. Driscoll exited during a U.S. tour, yet the Trinity remained intact long enough to record Befour (1970), which charted stateside on RCA before the group dissolved in July 1970.

Auger subsequently assembled a fresh ensemble for a less commercial brand of jazz-rock, tongue-in-cheek naming it Oblivion Express under the assumption it would prove short-lived; instead, the moniker became permanent. The original quartet comprised guitarist Jim Mullen, bassist Barry Dean, and drummer Robbie McIntosh. Their self-titled debut appeared in 1971, followed later that year by A Better Land, though the first U.S. chart entry arrived with Second Wind in June 1972, introducing vocalist Alex Ligertwood. Frequent personnel shifts notwithstanding, Oblivion Express maintained consistent U.S. chart presence over the ensuing years via Closer to It! (August 1973), Straight Ahead (March 1974), Live Oblivion, Vol. 1 (December 1974), Reinforcements (October 1975), and Live Oblivion, Vol. 2 (March 1976). Auger relocated to the United States in 1975 and eventually settled in the San Francisco Bay Area. Amid softening sales he moved to Warner Bros. Records for Happiness Heartaches, which entered the charts in February 1977. Encore, issued in April 1978, documented a live reunion with Julie Tippetts (née Driscoll) and concluded his tenure with major labels; thereafter he disbanded Oblivion Express and reduced his recording activity.

In 1990 Auger joined forces with former Animals vocalist Eric Burdon; the pair toured extensively over the next four years and issued Access All Areas in 1993. Auger reconstituted Oblivion Express in 1995. By 2000 the lineup featured his daughter Savannah on vocals, guitarist Chris Clermont, bassist Dan Lutz, and son Karma on drums. This configuration delivered Voices of Other Times on Miramar Records one week prior to Auger’s 61st birthday.

Auger sustained regular performance and recording activity throughout the 2000s and 2010s, including a 2005 revival of Oblivion Express and the 2012 solo album Language of the Heart, which included contributions from Jeff “Skunk” Baxter. He entered a licensing agreement with Soul Bank Music in 2022 for the release of archival material. Soul Bank initiated the series with Auger Incorporated, a two-disc 2023 collection of previously unreleased recordings drawn from sessions with Steampacket, Sonny Boy Williamson, the Trinity, Julie Driscoll, and Oblivion Express.