Blues Medley: BB King, James Brown, Bobby "Blue" Bland

[MarkRhodes]

[DawgBone]

Watched that one many times. Absolutely outstanding. 3 powerhouse vocalists.

[Stringswinger]

I met Bobbie "Blue" Bland in LA in 1975. He was staying at a motel in Hollywood that I was living at (Carolina-Hollywood Motel at Sunset and La Brea). I was a 17 year old emancipated minor at the time. After taking about music for a bit at the motel's swimming pool, Bobbie invited me to sit in with his band at a club in Watts. I did not take him up on it and regret that to this day.....

[DawgBone]

I met Bobbie "Blue" Bland in LA in 1975. He was staying at a motel in Hollywood that I was living at (Carolina-Hollywood Motel at Sunset and La Brea). I was a 17 year old emancipated minor at the time. After taking about music for a bit at the motel's swimming pool, Bobbie invited me to sit in with his band at a club in Watts. I did not take him up on it and regret that to this day.....

I bet. I do not understand why you didn't take him up on it. Lack of faith in blues chops? Intimidated? One of my favorite Bobby covers of a blues classic:

[Stringswinger]

I bet. I do not understand why you didn't take him up on it. Lack of faith in blues chops? Intimidated? One of my favorite Bobby covers of a blues classic:

I think I was a bit intimidated. He had a huge Tour bus and I was just a 17 year old kid who had never played anything bigger than my high school auditorium stage. In retrospect, I would have done just fine. That was an opportunity missed. As luck would have it, I have seized more opportunities than I have missed in this life. But I missed that one for sure....

[Rob MacKillop]

That first video was superb. Many try to play and sing like these three, but nobody comes close.

[skykomishone]

B.B. King was kind to me the once in a lifetime opportunity that I met him, offering me a beer out of a cooler back stage and asking me if I wanted to play Luciel! Which I did. I'll never forget those few minutes. I played some B.B. licks that I knew, excited and nervous as can be. He had a kind and generous soul and showed tremendous humanity. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time when the guy standing next to me in the packed audience, seeing my enthusiasm asked me if I wanted to meet him between sets. That was magic. He was a local radio personality and friend of his. Talk about lucky. It certainly didn't happen because B.B. King knew I was there!

[Aiq]

“You can bet your last money it’s gonna be a stone gas, honey.”

[alltunes]

Posted this here before but my band got to open for B.B. around 1990. We actually opened for quite a few “national” touring bands back then. B.B. was the only one to give us a shout out during his sets. Will never forget that show of class.

Around 1980 I saw a concert at the Beacon Theatre with B.B. , Muddy and Bobby Blue Bland all on the bill. Thar was a life changing event for me as was Muddy”s album Muddy “Mississippi” Waters Live.

[Rob MacKillop]

Wow, alltunes, great experiences to draw upon. BB remains the King for me, though Muddy is a close second, then maybe Duane Allman. They all had something special. Whenever I hear them, I can’t help but feel it’s time to give up jazz and get back to where I was 50 years ago, discovering these guys for the first time. I learned guitar with a basic chord sheet and a pentatonic scale diagram, and tried playing along with these three, soon realising they were doing things differently, so I worked things out by emulating them. Now I feel I’m lost in the forest.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

I met Bobbie "Blue" Bland in LA in 1975. He was staying at a motel in Hollywood that I was living at (Carolina-Hollywood Motel at Sunset and La Brea). I was a 17 year old emancipated minor at the time. After taking about music for a bit at the motel's swimming pool, Bobbie invited me to sit in with his band at a club in Watts. I did not take him up on it and regret that to this day.....

BBB had a difficult life, with drugs and alcohol taking a serous toll on him from the early days of his career. I was hired to back Frankie Lee (Jones) a few times back in the late '90s by Billy Baltera and Jimmy Pritchard, who were members of Sonny Rhodes' band (Sonny was friends with BBB and Frankie). On one gig, Frankie brought BBB with him to sing a few. Bland looked terrible and even seemed a little out of it at times. He must have had severe damage to the inside of his nose from drug use, because he was constantly snorting and sniffing throughout the show. The guys told me he'd been like this for a long time. It was depressing to see what had happened to a bluesman who had so much promise as a young performer.