Bye Bye, B. B.

[Flemtone]

I heard this morning of the loss of BB King. His singing and playing were my introduction to the blues and his phrasing was very instrumental to my understanding of the 'when not to play' concept.

 

Thanks for everything, Mr. King. Peaceful travels, sir.

[butcherNburn]

Terribly sad to see this today.

Thank you for a lifetime of music and awesomeness.

[kenfxj]

BB King was the man. His music will carry on for a long, long time.

 

His club in Manhattan is one of my favorite small rooms.

[jeremy c]

there is probably not a single blues guitarist in the world who was not influenced by him.

 

A giant has left us.

[Richard W]

there is probably not a single blues guitarist in the world who was not influenced by him.

 

Blues guitarist, or any guitarist. Period.

 

And such a great singer, too. Though I read somewhere that he never learned how to sing and play simultaneously and after a while that became one of his signatures.

 

It's nice to see the outpouring of respect he's getting.

[jcadmus]

Saw him open for Marshall Tucker -- of all bands, right? -- in 1980. Blew me away.

[Nicklab]

I saw B.B. back in 2010 at the Crossroads Festival in Chicago. He wasn't in the best playing form. And truth be told, I didn't quite expect that of an 84 year old. But what B.B. did do was hold court during his set. He sat in a semi-circle with Jimmy Vaughan, Eric Clapton, Robert Cray and Cray's band. This is a format that they had done at other concerts before and I had an idea of what to expect.

 

It was fantastic to see these four bluesmen sitting together and playing. Each of them has had a fantastic career on their own, but they all deferred to B.B. And to hear B.B. sit and talk was a thing of beauty. He was so funny and warm that the entire audience felt this sense of intimacy that is very difficult to pull off in a soccer stadium. But B.B. did it. And he made it look easy. Probably because he had spent so much of his life on the road that he just knew how to relate to people. I couldn't get over the fact that he was busting Robert Cray's chops as "the young guy" and his hit record "Smoking Gun"...which was back in the 1980's!

 

And as a musician? B.B. was a tremendous ambassador for The Blues as well as American music. At his peak he was a fierce soloist. You knew his sound when you heard it. And that vibrato? OMG. It's one of those trademarks that a musician strives for that I think people will always identify with B.B. And as a vocalist? There was a power that came from deep within him, but it also had some real honesty to it.

 

 

[Wally Malone]

I really liked the Live In Cook County Jail album. We used to do I'm So Excited. He left us some great music and will live on forever with his unique style.

 

Wally

[jcadmus]

I should note that Toy Caldwell of Marshall Tucker was quite deferential to BB in his comments from the stage, along the lines of "BIG influence on me; WE should be opening for HIM."

 

Invited him back onstage to close the set with them.

 

Very classy.

[b5pilot]

Being a guitar player before playing bass I surely can appreciate BB's skill. When he played you KNEW it was BB.

There were imitators but they couldn't hold a candle to the King of the Blues. All guitar slingers and blues -strike that, music fans have lost a national treasure.

 

That was a truly sad day. RIP.