L I V
B.B. King shows Eugene he's still the King of the Blues
On Stormy
Monday,
Sept. 2 4,
Eugene au
diences were
treated to a
marvelous
study in contrasts at a concert
featuring the best and the worst
of the blues — a double-bill
with BB King and opening act,
The Paul Delay Band.
You should have been there.
if only because of the sheer
power, drama and glistening
beauty of BB King’s soulful
sound. If you went, you had to
pay a high price for tickets and
then had to listen to the Delay
band for an eternity or so, but
after the intermission, blues
ecstasy was in command and on
stage until midnight.
When BB King and his or
chestra finally strode on stage to
a thunderous standing ovation,
llumicr
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everyone agreed that their
spellbinding music was well
worth the wait.
After his band warmed up the
crowd nearly to melting point,
B.B. himself emerged in a col
umn of fire and opened up with
“Every Day I Have the Blues.”
He continued cooking with a
jazzy instrumental, and then
shazam, burst into a steamy
siege of “I Believe to my Soul,
I‘ve got Some Outside Help 1
Don't Really Need.”
Honestly, I threw away my
pen and just shook with joy for
the rest of the concert. I never
thought that anyone, even B.B.
himself, could surpass the
dazzling genius of his 1972
recording of that song — the
one with Red Callendar helping
out B.B.’s incredible vocals
with a hilarious and funky horn
section featuring his bouncy
tuba.
But Monday night, the Am
bassador of the Blues, fresh
from a world-wide tour, proved
me completely wrong. He
created an extraordinary
musical cyclone that breezed
beyond the past into a fertile
new soundscape of jazz-rock
blues fusion.
The audience loved it. It was
hard to keep the enthusiastic
crowd off its feet and out of the
aisles, whooping and calling
out encouragement to the man
on stage who, lord knows,
doesn’t need to be incited into
sing the blues with feeling. He
gulped Scotch whiskey,
boogalooed around roaring and
bellowing like an old bull
walrus on the beach, then coax
ed and caressed liquid amber
solos from his guitar. Lucille.
He simply blue’em away. In
fact, B.B. and his band blew up
two of their amps in the course
of the concert, with fiery riffs
and solos, great ensemble play
ing, and amazing musical
majesty.
Yet another dimension of
King that the appreciative au
r
si
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dience lapped up was his con
summate skill as an actor and
mime. He portrayed hurt
women and bitter men — dripp
ing with lust for revenge, dren
ched with sexual jealousy,
damned for awakening on the
wrong side of the bed.
Since being born 59 years ago
on a cotton plantation in In
dianoia, Mississippi, King has
shown himself to be wide-open
to all kinds of musical in
fluences. As he says, "There’s
never been any type of music,
including New Wave, where I
don't hear something that I like
and try to use in my music.”
His early idols included blues
greats like Blind Lemon Jeffer
son, Lonnie Johnson, and T
Bone Walker. He was also crazy
about jazz giants like Lester
Young, Duke Ellington and
Count Basie.
As King has said, “For us
blacks, the blues is almost
sacred — it's part of our culture
and part of us."
The current lineup in the
traveling King orchestra is very
talented. Young Russell Jackson
on rhythm guitar was fairly
bursting with energy and mo
tion. A shy but sparkling Leon
Warren got some ravishing riffs
and licks in on bass and solo
guitar. James Bolden was a
bouncy round, blatty trumpeter
with style. Eddie Synigal
played a proud panther on the
tenor saxophone. The solid pro
fessional polish of pianist
Eugene Carrier on piano and
organ, and drummer Charles
Empre gave terrific excitement
to the music.
From the beginning of the
concert to the sizzling final en
core “The Thrill Is Gone,” B.B.
and his band played about 20
numbers including raunchy
versions of "Rock Me Baby”
(with audience participation),
and a delicious suspense-filled
musical drama woven around
the “Tombstone Blues,” which
featured seme beautiful solo
work.
I really was sorry when bed
time rolled around. As the in
comparable King put it “When
it all comes down, look for me
and I’ll still be around.”
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