Union Is at the Heart of a Successful Career for RALPHE ARMSTRONG

February 1, 2025

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Before he’d hit the tender age of 20, bassist Ralphe Armstrong of Local 5 (Detroit, MI) already had an enviable touring and recording resumé. His subsequent career has featured collaborations with a laundry list of household names in jazz, funk, and hip-hop. And he says he couldn’t have done any of this without the backing of the Federation.

“My mother made me join the union,” he recalls. “She knew I wanted to do this for a living, and you had to be in the union to make a good living.”

Union (and musical) roots run deep in Armstrong’s family. His father was the legendary visual artist, musician, and storyteller Howard “Louie Bluie” Armstrong, and his brother played trumpet with Miles Davis. “My dad was a world-famous violinist. He tried me out on the violin when I was 5, but I could never get a sound out of it,” he says.

Ralphe Armstrong wanted to be more like his uncle, bassist Lee (L.C.) Crockett. “He drove a pink Cadillac and was a snappy dresser,” he laughs. “So, when I was 7, my Dad, who was a pretty good craftsman, made me a small bass.”

Armstrong made rapid progress and started playing in Detroit clubs at age 13. One of his first gigs was at a now-demolished jazz club called the Latin Quarter Theater. “I had no idea it was a union house,” he says. And that was when his mom stepped in. “Detroit is and always was a union town. My dad was in the UAW [United Auto Workers]. I come from the era when, if you wanted to be in the big time, you had to join the AFM.”

When he joined at age 17, Armstrong says he was already making more money than his father, and more than his high school principal—and experiencing the benefits of playing under union contracts.

Big Time

While still in high school—Detroit’s venerable Cass Technical High School, which boasts alumni names like Alice Coltrane and Diana Ross—Armstrong auditioned for and landed a slot with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, a jazz fusion band led by English guitarist John McLaughlin.

When asked what he’s most proud of in his storied career, Armstrong demurs. But then he adds quietly that he beat out bassist Jaco Pastorius for the Mahavishnu bassist spot. “I was playing a fretless bass. There weren’t many of us doing that. Afterwards, Jaco went home and ripped all the frets off his bass,” he laughs good-naturedly. Armstrong finished high school, getting in his academic work between Mahavishnu tours.

Armstrong believes winning the Mahavishnu audition came down to his four years of classical training via a scholarship to Michigan’s Interlochen Center for the Arts. While a student at Interlochen, Armstrong focused on learning the 1870 classical bass method of Josef Harvey.

Then, his mother introduced him to a recording of Ray Brown and Oscar Peterson. He got hooked on jazz and transferred his acoustic technique to electric bass. “It’s an effective way of learning where all the notes are, having perfect intonation, and using constructive fingerings to make it musical. I play the same way whether I’m on acoustic or electric,” he says.

It’s this same method that he teaches today at his alma mater, Cass Tech, one of the most prolific jazz high schools in the country. “I’m proud to be an artist in residence. Some of the great jazz artists in the world have come out of Cass, my own teachers included,” says Armstrong.

Armstrong also maintains a private teaching studio, mostly filled with students out of Cass Tech. His greatest reward, he says, is seeing his students become famous. “I’m happy to say that around 70% of them make it big. One of my youngest students is currently playing with Carlos Santana’s wife.” And that’s a full-circle moment, since one of Armstrong’s first union gigs was with Carlos Santana, who is also a member of Local 5.

Enviable Career

Over the course of his long career, Armstrong has enjoyed opportunities to work with some of the biggest names in the music industry. After his three-year stint with Mahavishnu, including recordings with the London Symphony Orchestra, he toured with Frank Zappa, followed by engagements as Herbie Hancock’s bassist. This led to collaborations with Local 47 (Los Angeles, CA) member Jean-Luc Ponty’s fusion group, and work with B.B. King, among others. Armstrong has taken part in countless other tours and recording sessions with a long list of notable jazz and funk names.

And then, he took a break to raise his family. After traveling for a sizeable portion of the year, every year, his family became the priority for a time. He feels it’s a little different now for artists with families, and maybe easier in some ways. But back then, he knew it would have been difficult to do all that touring with kids. “They needed to be stationary and around a full-time mom and dad,” says Armstrong.

Out of all the illustrious names in his musical life, Armstrong says his fondest connection is with the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, with whom he worked on the road for years as her longtime bassist. He was fortunate to call Franklin, a fellow Detroiter who passed away in 2018, a close friend.

“Aretha was the most generous human being I’ve ever met,” he remembers. “She was also one of the biggest supporters of the union out there. Aretha said, if you were not in the AFM, you were not playing for her.”

Armstrong recounted his memories of Franklin in a recently published book, My Friend the Queen from Her Court Jester Ralphe Armstrong. “Everybody else was terrified of her, but I always used to make her laugh, which is why I call myself the court jester. In the book you can also see all the royalty statements she paid over the years. She only used union contractors, all over the country, every place she played. She paid hundreds of thousands of dollars into her musicians’ union pensions. In the end, she really just wanted to be a regular person.”

Union for Life—and a Living

Of course, Armstrong shares the benefits of being an AFM member with his students, with a considerable amount of positive firsthand experience to add. “First and foremost,” he says, “after decades of work, I have that great pension, which almost covers my rent in Detroit.”

Union membership also allowed Armstrong to challenge the illegal use of his material. One afternoon in 1996, he was relaxing in front of the TV when an ad for Adidas came on. Something about the music sounded familiar—and then he heard himself singing. The clip was from an earlier album he’d recorded with the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Two lawsuits followed, involving not only Adidas but also the rock group Massive Attack, which had used the sample in 1991; a record company; and a film studio that included the same clip in the 1993 Sharon Stone film Sliver.

“Some of these folks will try to get away with what they can. The best way to teach them a lesson is by suing the shit out of them,” he laughs. Then, he gets serious. “If it wasn’t for the AFM, we would have zero legal recourse against anyone who uses our music unfairly. At the time, [AFM Contract Administrator] Idele Beltzman was head of recording for the union at Local 47 in Los Angeles, and she helped me to get restitution. In the end, I was able to recoup all the revenue from usage of that clip.”

These days, he adds, the preponderance of streaming has made it even more complicated. “And that’s another place the AFM helps. Keeping track of all that streaming revenue is their job.”

Beyond being a longtime member of Local 5, Armstrong has served on the executive board. He also chairs the local’s nonprofit 501(c)3 corporation, the Detroit Musicians Fund, which assists members facing hardship and provides scholarship assistance to college music students. Armstrong is justifiably proud of his work with the fund.

“As an example, one of our Detroit musicians had cancer and couldn’t work,” he recalls. “The fund helped them with day-to-day living expenses. Another of our members recently had his heart stop, at age 50. We gave him a check to assist him. We also have a COVID-19 fund.”

Get Involved

Unsurprisingly, Armstrong has plenty of thoughts on how and why younger musicians should get involved with their locals, beyond just being members. “They can help to improve things not just for the pros, but also for the average layman who plays music for extra cash,” he says, adding that the Detroit local also offers discounts on health insurance. “We all need to understand that music is a business, and we should have something to show for our hard work. I play in the oldest jazz club in the world, and the club owners pay into our pensions every gig.”

On the flip side, the union is there when an employer doesn’t treat its musicians properly. “You have legal representation when you file that union contract. There’s even a clause where, if you’re stranded on a tour, the Federation will work to get you home,” he says.

There’s also the opportunity to play an active role in improving how the local does business on a day-to-day basis. “I think at Local 5 we’ve gotten more organized with our finances, especially with George Troia, Jr., as president. George is open-minded and comes up with modern ideas,” says Armstrong, who also focuses on recruiting younger musicians, from ages 15 or 16.

“Teach them young, as the saying goes,” he says. “I tell them you have to learn how to be a businessperson, know the correct wages, and learn the rules. Cover yourself, and don’t get taken advantage of.”

Armstrong believes that coming to meetings and learning how the union functions is crucial. “At Local 5, I encourage them to understand what the officers do, learn about the fund, and get educated about the different venues and the wages they pay.”

In the end, he says, being more deeply involved with the local has been a blessing. “I’ve had so many good things happen to me because I was a union member, especially doing so much TV work and recordings over the course of my career. But the Federation looks after my interests just as much as it looks after those who have other jobs and play music for fun, or gig to make some extra money.”

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