Blues Clues
At Morongo Casino Resort, Sunday, April 19
By: Jonny Whiteside
When legendary blues man B.B. King takes the stage, he brings with him not only his fabled guitar, Lucille, but also a vast, experiential sweep of American culture and history. Indisputably the blues most renowned and internationally recognized performer, King’s extraordinary career has now spanned more than six decades and the live wire octogenarian shows little sign of slowing up. While King grew up with the blues (his cousin was the great Bukka White, and if he was a “good boy,” an aunt would allow him to crank up the Victrola and play her stack of Blind Lemon Jefferson 78s) he didn’t start performing them until he was almost twenty—a signal case of better late then never. King was a teenage fan of sophisticated jazz guitarists Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt, but once he caught the blues bug, there was no turning back. Since his first hit back in 1952 (a cover of Lowell Fulson’s potent after hours lament “3 O’clock Blues”), King has drawn upon his far-ranging tastes to consistently enhance and advance the sound. Taking advantage of the glut of out-of-work horn men in the post-big band era, King cooked up his classic brand of brassy, uptown Memphis rhythm and blues, a head-spinning mixture of soul-deep vocals and highly spiced musicality, with extravagant arrangements that featured rhythms within rhythms, even, at one point, using a conga player on his records. Stratospheric creativity and resolutely down-home attitude have proved a winning formula, and there’s no doubt he’ll display all that at this shindig. (Jonny Whiteside)
B.B. King at Morongo Casino Resort, 49500 Seminole Dr., Cabazon, (800) 252-4499; www.casinomorongoresort.com. 7PM, $35+
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