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PAGE FOURTHE STANFORD DAILYFor H Imi IWorthB.B. King’s Blues Fill The FillmoreBy CORKY GOODMANThe King of Blues, B. B. King, was at The Fillmore over the weekend and played his blues with The Allman Brothers Band and Buddy Guy. It was a really fine concert, and except for perhaps the Fleetwood Mac - Byrds • John Hammond concert a few weeks ago, it was one of the only shows where everybody was good and the night just flowed from one good sound to another.The Allman Brothers Band started things out by surpassing the good reputation their latest album has. They have two drummers, but the two of them do nothing unusual except give a strong backing to the main focus of the group, the two lead guitarists. The group plays their own blues, the vocals coming from the deep voice of Greg Allman on organ and Dick Betts and Duane Allman doing most of the interaction between their gwo guitars.Guy on StageBuddy Guy came on next, and as typical of the old blues men of which Guy and B. B. King belong, his back-up group came on first and played a few songs. Buddy Guy himself is a great showman, appearing in his flashy blue suit, and sliding through fast guitar runs while looking up as if it were easy. He did a good job with standard blues songs, and those songs of his own are all in the same familiar yet enjoyable simple chord progression story-telling blues style.Sonny Freeman and the Unusuals, the supporting group for B. B. King, appeared next, and gave a more solid backing and filling to B. B. King than Buddy Guy’s group had done. They were smoother, and though neither supporting group got a chance to really show what they could do, it seemed as if the drums, bass, and piano behind B. B. were better musicians.Sonny Freeman and the Unusuals used to have a rhythm guitar, but have now replaced him within the last year by a horn section. I used to like the more blues guitar backing B. B. King used to get on songs like “Why I Sing The Blues,” the same sort of blues guitar backing he gets on his Lite and Well album, rather than the horn section now. But the music is still good blues, and its still the same old B. B. King.Someone had said outside The Fillmore, ‘‘I came to see The Man,” and that was what most people were there for, to see “The Chairman of the Board” sing and play Lucille. Though his music and style hasn’t changed much over the last year or two, his songs continue to change. Every time he appears he has new stories about his favorite topic: love and women.So if B. B. King plays the same style blues and if all of his songs have the same progression, what makes him so great? First would be his voice - probably the best blues voice around. And of course then there is his guitar, the old standard blues guitar phrasing and twangingthat everyone tries to copy.The Jam UnjamsAt the end, B. B. said that he was going backstage to (making signs as if smoking) get ready, and that in a few minutes, he and everyone else would be back for a jam. The jam was exciting for a while, to see B. B. and Buddy Guy playing together, with the guitarists from the Allman Brothers Band coming on to join him (and all the time, Carlos Santana and the gang were going crazy standing behind the amps and watching).But after a while, the jam started unjamming, with the same progression going on and on and the King/Guy interaction slowing down. And so I left, a little disappointed with what could have been a really fine jam, but really satisfied with a night full of blues.
Newspaper Details
Stanford Daily
Stanford, California, US
Wed, Jan 21, 1970
Page 4
Full Page
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CA, USA 06 Mar 2019
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