B.B. King – 1925-2015

I was saddened to wake up to the news that B.B. King has passed away. He was always an inspiring artist. I saw him perform many times over the years and he was most gracious when I met backstage at the Molson Centre (now the Bell Centre) in Montreal before his 2001 concert there. Here’s my review from the February 2, 2001 issue of the Montreal Gazette of that concert.

B.B. King stands out sitting down

By Mike Regenstreif

Let the Good Times Roll! B.B. King was back in town last night and the good times, infectious, joyful good times rolled through the Molson Centre, planting big smiles on King, his band and the 4,500 or so in the crowd.

The only concession that King, 75, makes to age is that he now does the show sitting in a chair at the front of the big arena stage. But he still sings just as sweet on the ballads and shouts the blues with almost all of the power he had 50 years ago when Riley B. King, the Beale Street Blues Boy, became B.B. King, the undisputed King of the Blues.

The band started without the boss. Eight veteran musicians as tight a band as I've heard in years played a mid-tempo New Orleans second-line theme. Standout musicians including guitarist Leon Warren and keyboard ace James Tony, complemented by a rhythm section and four fat-sounding horns developed a groove that they would hold all night long. They slowed things down for a second number, a jazzy treatment of Summertime that had the crowd lounging in the hot Delta sunshine on a cold night in Montreal.

Seconds later, elation swept through the hall as King walked to his chair at centre stage. The crowd was on its feet shouting, King picked up the hollow-body Gibson electric that he calls Lucille and tore off a few riffs that seemed to tear the roof off the house.

King is an amazing guitar player, one of the most influential in music history. His lead lines positively sting as he bends the high notes like no one else. But, the thing is, King doesn't really play that much guitar. When he's singing, he's not playing, when he's listening to Warren or Tony take a solo, he's not playing, but he'll use his guitar in just the right places, providing just the right accents whether the tune is a swinging, jump blues or a quiet, soulful piece.

King plays another instrument brilliantly: the audience. Having done a couple of hundred shows a year for half a century, he's a master showman who knows how to work the room. He says just the right thing at just the right time. The facial movements and body language play to the folks down front and to those up top. And he's sharp as a tack. When his microphone lost its juice in the second song he started shouting out one-liners. "I thought it was just California that missed paying the electric bill," he told the laughing audience.

But, for all the show biz, it was a great night of music by a master musician. Whether he was delving into Memphis soul on Peace of Mind or jiving the crowd on Louis Jordan's Caldonia, King was absolutely terrific.

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--Mike Regenstreif

Eric Bibb -- Booker's Guitar

ERIC BIBB
Booker’s Guitar
Telarc
ericbibb.com

Three years ago, I wrote in the Montreal Gazette, that if there’s a more inspiring, or inspired, acoustic blues artist than Eric Bibb working today, I’ve no idea who it might be. Eric’s magnificent singing, his deft guitar work and his original songs can’t help but make anyone feel better about life.

I still think that.

Eric’s new album, Booker’s Guitar, is a back to basics set. Of the 15 songs, six feature Eric playing solo. The superb harmonica player Grant Dermody is the only other musician on the other nine songs – and, boy, do I like hearing Eric in this context. Thirteen of the songs are Eric’s originals, all steeped, some way or another, in the folk blues tradition. He also does superb versions of “Wayfaring Stranger” and Blind Willie Johnson’s “Nobody’s Fault But Mine.”

The album opens with the title track, a partly-spoken, partly-sung piece inspired by Delta blues pioneer Booker (Bukka) White and by Eric’s getting to play a National steel guitar that had been owned by him. Eric plays the guitar on the track. (A personal reminiscence: In 1974, as a 20-year-old stage manager at the Mariposa Folk Festival, I got to meet and work with Bukka White, who, by the way, was an older cousin and guitar teacher of B.B. King. He died just a few years later.)

Speaking of B.B. King and his connection to Bukka White, Eric includes a new version of “Tell Riley,” a song he wrote about King’s early days that mentions White. Eric first recorded it on Natural Light, another great album.

Among my other favourites – truth be told, every song is really a favourite – are “Flood Water,” about the legendary Mississippi River flood of 1927 (which has so many parallels with the Katrina flood of 2005); “New Home,” which musically or lyrically evokes “Alabama Bound” and “Michigan Water Blues,” both done back in the day by Jelly Roll Morton; “Walkin’ Blues Again,” a song inspired by the use of music by the early blues musicians to cope with the overt racism and exploitation they faced. Obviously, from the song title, there’s a nod to Robert Johnson’s “Walkin’ Blues.” There’s also a great verse inspired by “John Henry”; and, “Turning Pages,” about the joys of reading books.

As I mentioned, the only other musician is harmonica master Grant Dermody. Grant’s playing is always creative – I especially like his use of chromatic harmonica on “Flood Waters” – and complements Eric’s singing and playing beautifully. Eric and Grant’s playing together is some of the finest guitar-harmonica duo work since Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee were in their prime.

--Mike Regenstreif