The career of blues guitar legend B.B. King has spanned some six decades, and he has earned a reputation of one of the best of the blues through constant touring and dynamic live performances. One of the frequent stops along King's seemingly never-ending tour is the annual jazz festival in Montreux, Switzerland, where the guitarist has made better than 20 appearances through the years.
King's Live At Montreux DVD documents one of the guitarist's best performances at the festival. Backed by his road-tested B.B. King Orchestra, King delivers a crowd-pleasing set of songs. This release includes King's entire sixteen-song 1993 performance, while a Blu-Ray version adds three songs from a 2006 King appearance at Montreux.
B.B. King Live At Monteux 1993
The set opens with the instrumental "Fanfare," a jazzy romp where the various members of King's top-notch touring band get to flex their muscles. Each instrumentalist takes center stage for a few minutes to rock the house with a brief solo. After several minutes of the extended jam, including a fine guitar solo by rhythm guitarist Leon Warren, the great B.B. step on the stage to large applause.
When King starts working his fretboard magic, the band dynamic changes; now they're working hard to keep up with the blues legend. A guitarist of incredible skill and charisma, King lights up an audience whenever he takes the microphone or starts in on a solo. After a short intro, they jump into "Let The Good Times Roll," a raucous get-the-crowd-on-their-feet number designed to get the audience's blood flowing and their adrenalin pumping. King tears off a houserockin' solo that, accompanied by James Bolden's white-hot trumpet, gets the crowd suitably primed and ready to roll.
Classic Blues, R&B and Soul
With a firm foundation built by their opening numbers, King and crew launch into an energetic set of blues, R&B, and soul classics. A few, like the swinging fan favorite "Caldonia," have been in the guitarist's repertoire for decades. His playful reading of the song does not disappoint, his roaring vocals and rattling fretwork set against blustery sax solos from Walter King and Melvin Jackson. Each saxophonist provides a different musical texture for King to imprint with his scorching guitarplay.
Ever the veteran showman, King doesn't miss a beat during "Chains Of Love," changing out a broken string on his guitar while soulfully belting out the song's lyrics above James Toney's rollicking piano pounding. Bolden lends the song a jazzy heartbeat with a muted trumpet solo while, his errant string replaced, King lays down a few scattered notes before the song's slow-burn conclusion.
Visiting The Blues Summit
In 1993, King released Blues Summit, an album of inspired collaborations with old friends like John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, and Koko Taylor as well as youngsters like Robert Cray and John Louis Walker. Performing his version of the Ivory Joe Hunter gem from Blues Summit, the smoky blues-ballad "Since I Met You Baby," King's gruff-hewn vocals are accompanied by a slow, shuffling drumbeat and tinkling keyboards until the song reaches a crescendo, King's guitar churning loudly against the blaring horn section.
"Playing With My Friends," King's collaboration with Cray from the Blues Summit album, is an old-fashioned R&B Revue rave-up with a roller-coaster rhythm, plenty of keyboard-bashing, and supple hornplay. King's joyous solos are short but sharp, his lively vocals perfectly capturing the camaraderie of the song' lyrical celebration of pure music-making.
Why I Sing The Blues
A lengthy instrumental version of "Why I Sing The Blues" delivers everything that fans have come to expect from the blues legend. The performance displays King's vital interplay with the band. Michael Doster is provided a funky bass solo, exhibiting both grace and exceptional dexterity, grinding his axe like a lead instrument.
Percussionist Tony Coleman cuts loose here, slapping out a beat on the bongos before picking up the sticks and jumping into a vigorous drum solo. Drummer Calep Emphrey, Jr. dives into his own solo with explosive beats, both musicians joined by King's six-string shredding. By the time they've concluded the song, the audience is exhausted by the instrumental virtuosity they've witnessed.
B.B. King, the Blues Man
King delivers a heartfelt spoken intro to "Blues Man," recounting the 42 years of his career and those years when blues music had fallen out of favor with the record-buying public. Through thick-and-thin, King has remained faithful to the blues, his vocals here strong and with a purpose, his solos full of power and emotion. The set concludes with the King classic "The Thrill Is Gone," the song intro'd by a gorgeous flurry of notes.
Seated, with sweat running down his grimacing face, King delivers his most soulful vocal performance, of the night, his tearful vox matched by his lonely single-note leads. With the camera close-up on his fingers as he bends and tortures the notes, King's slow-burning fretwork suits the song's underlying heartbreak. As the tempo picks up and King's fingers tear into his guitar, the song roars its way to a crowd-pleasing conclusion.
The Reverend's Bottom Line
If you're not familiar with B.B. King and his elegant, jazzy guitar tone by now, you must be new to the blues. Live At Montreux is a fine collection that showcases both King's immense talents and the phenomenal chemistry he shares with his backing band, a group of talented musicians in their own right. If you're already a B.B. King fan, you'll enjoy every one of the 99 minutes included here; if not, you owe it to yourself to witness the guitarist in his element, on stage and performing in front of an appreciative audience. (Eagle Rock Entertainment, released June 2, 2009)
