Bye Bye B B

The first time I saw BB King was at the old Loew's Theatre in Waterbury, Connecticut on a double bill with Malo, which was an offshoot of Santana, an incredibly strange combination, especially since Malo disappeared off the radar shortly after the concert. BB was a match for downtown Waterbury, his blue collar blues catching the working class mood, interspersed with classics like "Lucille" and "The Thrill Is Gone", the tune that every newscast in the country used for background when they announced King's passing at the age of 89 in Las Vegas,

The second time I saw him was as the closing act at the Newport Jazz Festival in - I think - 1985. By then, I realized just how much stature he brought to the blues, making his mark in Memphis as a dee jay first before embarking on his long long career. I also knew by then that BB was always dressed to a "T" , super polite, and capable of spinning off the smoothest riffs matched by a mournful vocal. I was familiar with "Every Day I Have The Blues", "How Blue Can You Get?". "Paying The Cost To Be The Boss" and all the other standards that were part of his permanent repetoire. The only problem was I had dragged my poor pregnant wife to the Festival to see Miles Davis, so her incredible patience was gone by the time BB got onstage,  so we stayed for maybe two tunes.

The last time I saw him was a little over a year ago in Providence. This time his band came out and warmed up the crowd - who seemed to spend more time getting selfies than listening to the blues (As I explained in a previous blog !) - before the King himself made a grandiose entrance in a wheelchair. I can't really say he was resting on his laurels, but BB seemed more intent on interacting with the audience, in between choruses of "You are my SUN-shine - my only SUN-shine" but eventually breaking into "Thrill" and "Everyday"  as a kind of musical tapestry. He was led off at the end by a dude with the King's coat and hat a la James Brown.

I guess I witnessed the three stages of BB King , as well as playing his music on the radio, truly the last of the Mississippi Delta masters. He was fortunate enough to live long enough to see himself crowned "King of the Blues." .