ATOM Band, Riggins keep the music alive

By John Benson

entertainment@vindy.com

For veteran bassist Ernest Riggins, performing on New Year’s Eve is just another gig.

That doesn’t mean the 72-year-old Warren native won’t be enjoying every second of his new jazz-blues band A.T.O.M. — Riggins (bass, vocal), Al Spencer (guitar), Clifton Douglas (trumpet), Oscar Chatman (sax, vocals) and Ricky Harris (drums) — at its Friday show at the Lemon Grove.

“I played The Apollo, The Regal in Chicago, The Uptown in New Jersey and The Royal in Baltimore,” said Riggins, who calls Youngstown home.

“I could go on and on. I’ve been doing it all my life, playing almost 50 years, and New Year’s Eve is just another night’s work as far as I’m concerned, but I love playing here at home.”

For 50-plus years, music has been Riggins’ business. Including stints with Jackie Wilson, Brook Benton, Etta James, Johnny Taylor and Gene Chandler.

Even though retirement came last decade, the fiery musician remains adamant about keeping the music of yesteryear alive with the new band he formed roughly six months ago.

That’s not an easy task in the new millennium, where pop and hip-hop command the attention of the youth.

“We play oldies but goodies all the way up to the modern time,” Riggins said. “We do some Michael Jackson, George Benson, Miles Davis, John Coltrane. It’s a variety of music, which is why we’re called A.T.O.M. — all types of music. I still play more or less for fun, and at the same time today I want the young people to hear the real music because they don’t do that anymore. They love it when they hear it. They ask me how I learned it and where did I learn it so well. ”

Born in Mississippi but raised in Northeast Ohio, the 1958 Warren G. Harding High School graduate started out as a vocalist, but by the early ’60s, he discovered his love of the guitar and bass. As for forming A.T.O.M., the idea had been on his mind for a while with only one pressing problem.

“It’s hard to find qualified musicians that know the music and who have experience,” said Riggins, who has five children, 16 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. “I was satisfied as a retired musician just enjoying my family, but when jazz guitarist Al Spencer came from Chicago after he retired as a schoolteacher, that got me thinking. Spencer went to the Chicago Conservatory of Music and he played all over Chicago over the last 30 years with various artists.”

Invariably, A.T.O.M. not only provides audiences with a history lesson of 20th-century jazz but is unlike any other live band in the area or region.

“I think that’s right, because everyone who hears us says, ‘Where the hell have you guys been?’” Riggins said. “We’re playing music people haven’t heard for many, many years around here, and it will be gone pretty soon if it’s not heard. I think people are amazed this music is being played again, and some of them are amazed because they never heard it before. They always walk out feeling a sense of euphoria.”