By David R. Parvo
The B.B. King Blues Festival
B.B. King and Buddy Guy
Auditorium Shores, September 29
Austin, Texas
For reasons best left unsaid, I arrived late for the B.B. King Blues Festival, missing Corey Harris, who is an up and coming roots guitarist and a personal favorite of mine, but managing to catch the tail end of Susan Tedeschi’s set.
She sounded so much like Janis Joplin and the Big Brother and the Holding Company that it made me uncomfortable. And then, after a barrage of blather supplied by the corporate sponsors at intermission, Buddy Guy hit the stage like a demon, cutting through the mass of preppy dot commers wearing Eric Clapton t-shirts and screaming on their cell phones like a hot knife through warm butter.
Buddy Guy is both an extraordinary guitarist and a consummate showman, and he immediately launched into a scalding “Mojo Working”/“Rainin’ Down in Texas” medley, punctuating it with one bad assed guitar solo in the middle of the crowd that was immediately followed by the unveiling of tenor saxophonist Jeremy Porter. Replacing future guitar-superstar Jonny Lang in Guy’s touring lineup, Porter’s outrageous solos and steady rhythm is a welcome addition to Guy’s traditional blues based structures, signaling a change in musical direction for Guy.
But Guy wasn’t through with us yet, and his combo, led by keyboard wizard Tommy Zito, played “Wanna Make Love to You” so funky you could smell it. And when Guy eased back on the throttle and decided to showcase his vocal acumen with “It Feels Like Rain,” he had the crowd eating out of his hand. With “Hootchie Kootchie Man,” Guy got deep into the blues, sampling everyone from Lightning Hopkins and Muddy Waters to Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn before weaving his way into a snappy new rendition of “Mustang Sally” that allowed both Porter and Zito the room to show off their chops. Unfortunately, the Austin City Council, who brooks no insubordination, had established a curfew for 10:30, and Buddy Guy shut it down at precisely 8:50, leaving the stage free for B.B. King to exploit the hour and a half set that had been so graciously allotted to him by the authorities as best he could.
After a prolonged introduction by the horn section of his rhythm and blues band, the 75 year-old King ambled onstage, took a seat and produced some of the coolest blues sounds from Lucille that I’ve ever heard. With his uncluttered style and signature vibrato, King dipped way back to his chitlin’ circuit day with “Let the Good Times Roll,” “Early in the Mornin’,” and “Caldonia” among several others you’ve surely heard before. The highlight of King’s set was “Ain’t That Just Like a Woman,” which he used to lecture the audience about life and love over the hot licks his dynamic horn section laid down before segueing into his more recent numbers, including the richly melodic “Making Love Is Good for You,” which tore the house down. Following Buddy Guy is a daunting task for anyone, but the “King of the Blues” got right in the middle and tried to do his best.
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