Welcome to the New 12th Gate Coffee House!
We turn to R&B for a bit of a diversion in our look at folk blues to an artist whose career has lasted as long as I have. Born in Mississippi, initially he worked at the local R&B radio channel WDIA in Memphis as a singer and disc jockey, where he gained the nickname “Beale Street Blues Boy”, later shortened to “B. B.” Tonight, I’ve tried to share a variety of clips, some searing jazz, some slow blues, others simply fun. Please welcome to the stage, the King of the Blues – B.B. King!
There has been a long standing relationship between the prison experience and blues. This first clip was taped in 1972 at Sing Sing prison and yes that is Joan Baez in the picture.
In the mid-1950s, while B. B. was performing at a dance in Twist, Arkansas, a few fans became unruly. Two men got into a fight and knocked over a kerosene stove, setting fire to the hall. B. B. raced outdoors to safety with everyone else, then realized that he left his beloved $30 acoustic guitar inside, so he rushed back inside the burning building to retrieve it, narrowly escaping death. When he later found out that the fight had been over a woman named Lucille, he decided to give the name to his guitar to remind him never to do a crazy thing like fight over a woman. Ever since, each one of B. B.’s trademark Gibson guitars has been called Lucille. The original Lucille was stolen from the trunk of B.B.’s car in Brooklyn NY.He put an ad in the paper offering a $20,000 reward for the return of the guitar but no one ever came forward. He says today he would give $100,000.00 for the return of his beloved guitar. (from Wiki)
In our next clip, B.B. King plays live guitar solo. This came from the extras on the DVD The Road to Memphis: I think the video is still available at PBS.
This next clip is worth it, even though it is 9 minutes long. It features B.B. King on Ralph Gleason’s Jazz Casual from 1968. King is joined by fellow musicians: Sonny Freeman – drums, James Toney – organ, Mose Thomas – trumpet Lee Gatling – sax. Three separate songs – Move to the Jungle seems pretty relevant right now. Do note the part about local church stewardship campaigns.
Blues is about communicating. This is a great closing clip, I think from the Crossroads Festival It features not only BB King, but Eric Clapton, Jim Vaughan, and Buddy Guy – Rock Me
I’d never heard that story about Lucille. This is good stuff!
Also listened to BB King, Billy Preston and Bruce Willis doing Sinners Prayer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysiT0P6OtvU