What B.B. King Learned This Year!

I wish I liked his music more.

Great interview BTW.

Frampton's Guitar Circus Featuring Peter Frampton and B.B. King

Summer 2013 US tour

B.B. King, 88, is heckled at an awkward St. Louis performance

B.B. King has spent decades singing “The Thrill Is Gone.” Perhaps at long last it actually is.

Make no mistake: King is a living legend, a national treasure, and the sobriquet “king of the blues” is not mere wordplay, but a title earned. To be in the same room as him and breathe the same air is an honor and a privilege.

But for the majority of King’s concert at the Peabody Opera House on Friday night, the sizeable crowd could have been excused for thinking that’s all they were going to get.

King’s shows in recent years have featured as much talk as playing, and the 88-year-old musician is obviously slowing down, just as anyone would. But the balance slipped way out of proportion at this show. King sat center stage and spoke, sometimes in non sequiturs, sometimes inaudibly. He flirted with women in the first few rows and made a few ribald comments, without apology. “I like to have fun,” he said. “I love who I am and what I do.”

For a while, the audience was with him, laughing at his jokes and asides. But it was 45 minutes into the show before King performed anything resembling a song. Even then, his playing was shaky. He explained that he and the band had been off for two months, causing him to lose confidence.

After a capable run-through of “Rock Me Baby,” he played “You Are My Sunshine” and asked the crowd to sing along. The house lights came up and King began noticing individuals and waving to them. As the song went around again and again, nattering on for — and this is not a misprint — 15 minutes, audience members began to heckle, yelling out requests or simply calling for King to “play some music!” Some walked out.

King sensed trouble, but he couldn’t understand the things being yelled at him. Eventually, the music stopped and the show ground to an intensely uncomfortable halt.

Finally, King realized what it would take to save the day, and his guitar sounded the clarion notes that begin his indelible hit, “The Thrill Is Gone.”

That moment provided a hint of the brilliance King’s performances can achieve. But it was the only one. He completed just two more songs.

One is loath to disparage a legend, especially one that is well into his ninth decade. But King is surrounded by a large band and a surfeit of handlers, and they are fair game.

Whoever decided the house lights should be up for almost half the show, distracting King from performing, needs to reconsider, and soon.

And when King was lost for a lyric or simply what to do next, the band seemed more than content to stand respectfully by and watch him (metaphorically) die.

It was enough to give those in attendance the blues. And not in a good way

Saw him last summer and it was pretty sad, though not quite that bad.

Read elsewhere that some folks thought the reviewer was being too mean, but I thought it was fair. BB King shows are expensive, and while no one likely expects him to be as good as he was decades ago, they want a little more than the above.

King's attorney is reporting that B.B. has passed away.

RIP

:(

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6312208/bb-king-dead-blues-legend

I've spent a lot of time the last couple weeks listening to B.B. King and I've come to especially love that 1969-73 period the most (maybe you noticed I posted "Hummingbird" on This Is My Jam earlier today). I also watched the recent documentary about him entitled 'The Life of Riley' on Hulu the other day (http://www.hulu.com/watch/691662), which you should absolutely watch sometime in the near future. Even yammering Bono couldn't ruin it.

As about 20 different people in the doc noted, you could tell B.B. was playing guitar with just one note. That's all you needed to hear and that's some rarefied air. Other musicians, painters, actors, artists of any kind dream of being so singular.

Good night, B.B. Good night, Lucille.

I named my first born Lucille.

I am at such a loss right now.

Playing Live at the Regal right now. GOT DAMN

He's the first musician I ever remember consciously hearing as a kid thanks to my parents, always had personal significance to me.

RIP

Got Newport and Indianola Mississippi Seeds within the last year. I'm always picking up on artists right before they pass. RIP BB.

Playing Live at the Regal right now. GOT DAMN

― Johnny Fever, Friday, May 15, 2015 3:23 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Me too. Such a wonderful record. Gonna put on Midnight Believer next.

thread title change

rip

I saw him in the mid-80s on my university campus and it was the first show I'd attended where the audience was an equal mix of white undergraduates and middle-aged African Americans ... it seems very naive now, but I was startled to see the ladies who fed us in the cafeteria shouting for B.B. and to realize they understood and appreciated him a whole lot better than I did ... an educational moment for sure

RIP

I need to listen again to his album with Bobby Bland. RIP

The last time I saw him, at least a decade ago, the climatic numbers were free jazz blues, but still in the pocket. And in the late 70s, he did a couple albums with the Crusaders, def not just smoove, however. Going back to the early 60s, a good section on him in Charles Keil's Urban Blues. He went a lot of places.
Chronicles of the King, by a reporter who interviewed him several times:
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2015/05/15/mississippi-mourns-bb-king/27360285/

I saw him twice, once in the 90s and once in the early oughts, and he was already leaning pretty heavily on his backup guitarist and coasting through some pretty short sets. Really wish I could have seen him in his prime. RIP.

Saw him once, though it was as much a lecture/demonstration/q&a as a concert:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1990-02-19/news/9001140942_1_blues-style-king-standards-musicians

It was pretty fascinating, and to be in the same room as that sound was an amazing feeling.

I think the only time I saw hin live was a short set at Radio City Music Hall in '97, in between a screening of the When We Were Kings doc and an appearance by Muhammad Ali. RIP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svoPEQHzR7s

I saw him at least three times. The first time was at Cornell in December, totally by surprise. The woman who I was dating at the time took us. That was an amazing night, to be sure.

The second was at a theater in Baltimore in the summer of 1996, where that same woman and I were two of possibly 8 non-black people in the audience. The rest of the audience was a 30 year reunion of Poly High School. And it was double bill - BB and Bobby Bland. THAT was one of the top five best shows I've ever had the privilege of being at. Amazing.

The third was at his annual Indianola, MS homecoming concert and BBQ. I had lived in Indianola for about two years, and my younger brother and I got to see him play for his hometown. Again, amazing.

I put on Live at the Regal this morning, and plugged in my electric guitar, and realized that I was not only able to play along with his guitar parts, but that I was able to play his vocal parts, largely from memory. I don't really know if I'll ever be able to fully explain the profound effect his playing and overall musicianship has had on me, but I'm glad it's woven so completely into who I am and how I approach music.

I knew this day was coming, but I had no idea how it would effect me. Not overly sad - mostly grateful, and somewhat melancholy, but I know I learned a lot from him, and I'm thankful as hell for that.

*That was December, 1995.

@ericburdon

I first met #bbking in 1965 @ApolloTheater Years and years of beautiful blues. You'll be remembered. RIP BB King'

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFFEvRPUUAA9Tak.jpg

Vernon Reid
‏@vurnt22

So Jon Tiven & I were in the studio waiting for Mr King to show up-He came in, sharp as a tack; jacket & tie! I was in a denim shirt(no tie)

Vernon Reid
‏@vurnt22

Mr. King looked me up & down & quipped "I KNOW we didn't come here for VACATION". I believe I shrank down into my shoes SCHOOLED...

Vernon Reid
‏@vurnt22

By the the 3rd take, Mr King's jacket was off, his tie was loosened, and we had a GREAT session! He played & sang MAGNIFICENTLY. INCREDIBLE!

Vernon Reid
‏@vurnt22

To put that story in context, #BBKing was the FIRST Black man I saw play electric guitar on TV (Ed Sullivan)- an INDELIBLE IMPRESSION ON ME.

so awesome

i am loving the stories that are coming out

yes, very much so. I never saw this thread before, that 2006 piece is fantastic.

RIP

Check out today's Google Doodle!

https://i.imgur.com/UIa73cM.jpg

nothing he is dead!