@uberwaltz and @reubent, I got to see Robben live many times when he was living in San Jose in the early 70’s. He and his brothers (Pat on drums, Mark on mouth harp) had moved down from upstate California, and were living in a house right by the corner of Stevens Creek Blvd. and Saratoga/Sunnyvale Road., about a mile from the house I grew up in. The guy who played bass in the band I was in my senior year of high school (Lou Bottini) was in the Ford band for a while, as was the singer/harp player I was in a band with a year after graduating (Gary Smith; his Up The Line album is great Chicago Blues).
When Robben started playing around San Jose, all the local guitar players got their first up-close look at world-class talent, and realized they didn’t have it, a sobering realization. Robben eventually left for L.A., and was soon working with George Harrison, Joni Mitchell, and Miles Davis!