We over here at rock nyc are pretty devastated to learn of the passing of the electric blues guitar master of masters BB King last night. Though having said that, BB was playing live as late as last October which means he lived a long life (BB was 89 years old), doing mostly what he wanted to to huge acclaim. Not a bad way to live, right?
King was born in 1925, and began playing a guitar in 1949, which makes him the “Goodbye Mr. Chips” of popular music, a fixture on the scene, performing a coupla hundred times a year, He was always around and I saw him many times, till a messy gig put me off. Bitten by watching Ray Charles decline, I passed on BBÂ till two years ago, when he was at Clapton’s “Crossroads” gig (here):
“Sometimes I wonder if Robert Cray wouldn’t be better off as a session player, as a lead singer he lacks charisma but on the side he can hijack a song. This is completely true when he brings out BB King for a blistering “Sweet Sixteen”. I decided to boycott BB King years ago. It was just too depressing watching the 87 year old man come out one more time and just not have the concentration any more but damn, he was so great Friday night. It is no slight to say that BB King is past it, he is 87 year olds. Bernie Williams was one of my favorite outfielders of all time but I don’t want to see him Center Field today. The same goes for BB King. But his grin is infectious, he looks like Walter Pigeon in “Rio Bravo” and they had a close up of his fingers and BB’s eyes were closed and his head turned to the side, it was a wonderful moving thing. A little later Eric Clapton came out and Eric, Cray and King played “Everyday I Have The Blues” and better than on the extended Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out.”
The great thing about death is it is the reset button in everybody’s brain. King is no longer the elderly man who couldn’t stop touring, he is the vibrant 30 year old electric guitarist changing the blues in the 1950s, and then the breakthrough star in his mid-40s, the hero of the 1960s UK blues movement, and the elder statesman. All those things at once.