www.charliegillett.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=7885B.B. King recording in London 9-16 June 1971
The following is from a music feature in Time Out [Nov 19-25, 1971] which I thought might supplement the B.B. discussion elswhere.
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'Well I woke up this morning, tryin' to play like B.B King
Now my momma done left me 'cos she knows it's nothing
like the real thing'(anon).
Momma's going along to The New Victoria on Saturday
to see the man who has had as much influence on electric
blues as he's had imitators. B.B was last over here in June
to record his new album 'B.B King in London'.
David Walters attended some of the sessions and spoke to the boss man hisself.
More than anyone else, Riley 'Blues Boy' King has made the blues resonant with contemporary experience. To say this much does not in any way belittle the expressive accomplishments of other bluesmen, but rather explains in part the immense influence that King and the blues have achieved in popular music. A recent issue of Time magazine planted him smack in the middle of a Rock music family tree nurturing several smaller blossoms, including the Yardbirds, Cream and the Rolling Stones. Now the circle has fully turned and via the laudatory praises of guitarists such as Eric Clapton and Peter Green, B.B. King has been introduced to a world that ignored him for twenty years. His music has evolved too; the old jazz combo taking second place to today's Rock culture.
LONDON SESSIONS
His last trip to London only added to the Man's mystique. 'We didn't have any tentative plans for studio work when we came over', B.B. explains. However, 34 reels of tape, were culled from a fast series of sessions that have resulted in 'BB. King in London', and it took only a little more than a week. ABC Bluesway producer Ed Michel supervised the recordings, along with lovable genius Joe Zagarino, who was responsible for mixing the Band's second album. Joe also collects 'superstars' and provided B.B. with some interesting and notable sidemen, including Ringo Starr, Stevie Winwood, lan Stewart, Klaus Voorman, Peter Green, Alexis Korner, Steve Marriott, Gary Wright, Jim Price, Jim Gordon Bobby Keys and Jim Keltner. Dave Mason and Jim Capaldi came by to listen; Robbie Robertson had been rumoured; while Clapton, George Harrison and John Lennon promised an appearance, but, never showed. An air of expectant spontaneity graced the sessions, each musician listening intently as BB. shouted his instructions in a clear and forthright manner, then taking his Gibson and removing any doubtful thoughts with a devastating burst of arpeggios.
A week's studio work produced a rich assortment of musical permutations Ringo proved himself a funky little drummer, working splendidly with the Price, Keys, Voorman set-up Next evening, Stevie Winwood sat in on organ adding depth to the proceedings, his set continuing well into the small hours. Alexis Korner then presided over an acoustic session, laying down boogie riffs while B.B. provided suitable runs on his exquisite 1938 Martin guitar; Steve Marriott's harmonica complementing the duo. BB. was ecstatic:
'I'm really happy with what's been happening. I only, only wish every one of those songs could be put out as a single. You know, I'm doing a whole lot of old songs, the kind I feel comfortable doing; but we are using some new material that you haven't heard before. In fact, we tried some that I didn't think were going to work, but we were able to get into them'. One of the numbers BB put down was Little Milton's dramatic 'Dark End Of The Street'. Why that choice? 'Well, I never got that tune from Milton, but from James Carr; that's the one I like. I can get right into that type of number because I can still retain an identity. I can still be B.B King. Now if I lost that identity, then I just wouldn't feel like playing'.
CAN WHITE MEN?
In that case, how does BB feel towards the 'Indianola Mississippi Seeds' album, considered by many as something of a revelation in blues recording technique. Was it his idea to bring people like Carole King and Leon Russell in on the sessions? 'No, that was my previous producer Bill Szymczyk's idea; but he did ask me if I would like to have them. I already knew of Carole King and I knew Leon Russell when he played with Joe Cocker. At that time we were looking for a follow-up to The Thrill Is Gone' . . . I'd heard 'Hummingbird', but didn't see how I could do it. So Leon came out and played it for me on the session. I learned so much from him; that guy is really out of sight'. So how about the big criticism that all Eric Clapton and Mike Bloomfield etc really did was to steal from the best of blues talent like B.B, Otis Rush and Buddy Guy, and to present these ideas to a generation of White kids who never heard the originals? 'Well, if it wasn't Clapton it would be some other guy. I think all of us get ideas from someone. The world wouldn't move if we didn't have ideas to pass along to someone else The offensive part is that Black music that has been denied can be accepted because guys in White skin are doing it. But to be copied—imitation is the first sign of greatness! So if anybody imitate' something I do, I feel a little flattered. That is why I think White groups have helped the blues so much . . . Canned Heat, the Stones, and especially the Beatles-not that I class what I do with them. But with groups like this able to go on television networks, this opened the door to young people to listen to us because a lot of these fellows say they learned from us. The only thing is that some people have said the blues is a low form of culture. There were a lot of middle-class Blacks, especially professional people, doctors, lawyers, preachers and the like that hated the blues, thought it degraded Blacks. Many did not want to be associated with blues (some still don't) because it was too painful a reminder of what they were or where they came from. It's like here in England now. I notice that rarely do you hear blues of my kind on the BBC.
JAZZ INFLUENCE
BB's way of expressing blues, almost from the beginning, has been remarkably pure but complex. Considerably important to his development was his association with several fine jazz artists among them George Coleman (who later played with Miles Davis), Booker Little and Phineas Newborn with whom he worked on one night stands. B.B's impact as a musician is based in part on his ability to fuse the fundamental blues with jazz techniques as in the use of horns and the effective 'bending' of notes sustained on his guitar. 'One of the reasons why I started to bend the notes was because I could never play in the 'bottleneck' style, like Elmore James and my cousin Bukka White. I loved that sound but just couldn't do it. I love the steel guitar but I can't play that either. So the only thing that sounded similar was the trill of my hand. Lonnie Johnson was one of the first to do that; but I also listened, for instance, to the way Lester Young bent notes on the tenor. Incidentally, I've always played a Gibson guitar, except on some of my earlier records when I played a Fender Stratocaster'.
FAVOURITE GIRL
B.B has also developed a potent vocal style, most distinctive, again, in the ways he tends to punctuate phrases; his shout-singing announces that even when hurt, he is in command. This is his inimitable way of seeming to straighten out his woman when she wont do right threatening retribution in a high falsetto wail that is masculine and yet sexually evocative. Always he cuts through to the heart of the matter to speak in everyday terms: 'I don't want no mouth from you woman about the way I'm supposed to live. . .'often collaborating with what he calls 'my favourite girl, Lucille', meaning the Gibson he plays in such a way as to endow it with the eloquence of the human voice. 'Yes, most of my songs pertain to women; it's just like trying to sell a product, any type of product that you want to sell . . . you got a beautiful lady and the people are going to take a second look. You see, I'm familiar with the situation between man and woman . . . and I don't think there's anything on this earth that's greater than a woman. You know what I mean? Well now, I seen them throw their panties up at Tom Jones . . .believe me, it's the truth, they did; they did it in Las Vegas. Bras and panties up there on the stage. So it's not such a bad thing if they faint just a little bit from Lucille'.
B.B's music is often a far cry from the uncompromising 'down home 'blues of, for instance, the legendary Muddy Waters/Little Walter band, which is especially popular with student audiences. Had he ever considered recording in this style? 'No I haven't. You see, each one of these fellows you mention has a distinctive style; so have 1. So I always kind of like to stick to my own bag. Try to be creative in my own way of creating. I like what they do; I love them but I just can't do what they do. It's like Rock. I can't play Rock as well as a lot of the guys I hear, or the fellows I play with. I just can't feel it. I could probably play some of it, but there would be no feeling in it'.
HENDRIX
Perhaps at this point, B B could clear up the recurring rumour that Jimi Hendrix once played in his band? 'No, he didn't at any time play in my band; but we have jammed on stages together. He was a good musician, a good friend. I liked Him very much and I believe that anyone who makes a name like he did must influence somebody. Lets see, we first jammed at the New Generation Club in New York, we jammed there three or four nights, that was in '681 think. Yes, it was the year Dr King was assassinated. Then later, we jammed at the Scene; that's another place in New York. I guess that must have been about ten months before he died. To me, his style was as a Rock musician—and a hard Rock musician at that. I don't think he played the Blues. That wasn't his thing at all. Now, I don't mean that he couldn't play the blues if he wanted to; but for me, that's just my idea of how he was'.
DOWN TO BUSINESS
Since the late forties, B.B has made literally hundreds of recordings, mostly for the Kent/Modern Company. Did he receive all his royalties for those early sides? 'Well, I think it's very few people that got all of their royalties, even today. You take a musician who was just starting out; unless he had a very good manager who was into business, it would be very hard for him to really know. Most of us didn't really care, we wanted what belonged to us, yes; but we didn't fight too hard to get it, because that was our only chance to get a better life. So some, I know I did, thought that if you did fight too hard, they may stop releasing your records, and if they did you'd have to go back to the same type of life you had prior to that'. Often, B.B was un" able to collect fees for his engagements and today estimates that approximately $180,000 is still owed to him, expressing no hopes of ever getting it. Times have changed, however, and B.B is now hot property, having successfully broken through the media barrier Stateside with regular appearances on TV spectaculars such as the Ed Sullivan show. What kind of pressure is he under from sponsors and promotional people? 'I had pressure `\n me from the very beginning. So, if you've got a thousand pound weight on your head, there's not much difference if you have a ten thousand pound one. I have a good manager, Sid Seidenberg. You know, he also looks after the Stateside interests of Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck. Well, for a while he was just my accountant, a real nice guy; and as I like nice people, I asked him to be my manager. For a long time he wouldn't, then finally decided that he would. We worked for over a year without a contract between us. That was the confidence. he had in me and I had in him. So it was a beautiful relationship even then'.
TOMORROW’S BLUES
How does B.B see the future for himself and Black music in general? 'I see quite a few groups that are really coming in sincere with the blues, but I'm sorry to say I don't really run into many. Black ones. It's hard for me to actually name any because a lot of them I work with on shows, and if I say they are coming up, it may kind of seem that they are not today. I have met many, many groups lately that are really on the move and there are a lot of the older ones that I wish could get breaks. Number one I would say is Bobby Bland, who is one of the great blues singers, also: Junior Parker and Little Milton are really with the blues. As for myself, well, I don't think I'll ever just concentrate on studio work solely. As long as we are wanted by the public, then I don't intend to stop. But I do hope in the future to make fewer personal appearances than like one every day'.
[The pictures on these pages were taken at the London Sessions and show, apart from B.B King and others, Peter Green, Steve Marriott and Alexis Korner. I've got one of Ringo Starr too but it wouldn't fit in the layout. Keith Morris pushed the buttons. D.W.]
Alan Balfour
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