By CHRISTOPHER BLANK
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
B.B. King was feeling nostalgic for one of his old records.
Not just any of his hundred or so albums, but the monumental "Live at the Regal," released in 1965 _ one of those desert island discs for the blues lover.
Could he ever recapture that magic? Or was the thrill truly gone away for good?
"We started with that sound in mind," said producer Jim Dollarhide. "B.B. said to me, 'If we do this right, it'll be like that.' That was the benchmark for what we were setting out to accomplish. I was like, whoa."
Last week, King, 81, the most famous living bluesman, returned to Memphis and played the first concert of a two-night stand at the Beale Street club that bears his name, a continuation of two previous gigs at his Nashville club.
Surrounded by high-definition video cameras, hot lights, and a crew of about 50 technicians, King took the stage to remake history.
The forthcoming "Live at B.B. King's" DVD and soundtrack (a release date has not been set) will combine the best moments from all four performances.
Dollarhide gently coached the audience on the tone of the show. He played "Sweet Little Angel" off the 1965 album.
He pointed out the give and take between the bluesman and his audience _ a crucial synergy that defines any live recording.
"B.B. is the happiest he can be when putting on a good show and the audience is loving it," he said. Then Dollarhide exited out the back door and climbed into the mobile recording studio parked out back.
He'd spend most of the concert behind a bank of television monitors, coordinating the eight cameras prowling the stage for moments of vintage B.B.
Warming up the crowd was easy for King's eight long-time band mates.
Finally, the legend appeared wearing a silk smoking jacket and a bow tie.
It wasn't the first time he'd made a concert film in his club. In 1993, the popular Beale Street nightspot was the set for "Blues Summit," which piggybacked on his Grammy-winning album of the same name. That concert featured guest appearances by Buddy Guy, Irma Thomas, Robert Cray, Koko Taylor and the late Albert Collins.
This show was all King, with much freedom given to his orchestra.
From the moment he took his seat front and center, King struck a convivial tone with the audience. "I feel like it's a town meeting," he remarked.
Dollarhide described him as a "guy sitting in his living room with friends."
Fans know that King plays fewer notes these days and does more talking, reflecting, advice giving and just feeling the love.
Few topics escaped his musing over the course of two hours.
His enthusiasms included Muddy Waters, the benefit of hot toddies, the Great Spirit, Eric Clapton, women ("God's gift to the planet"), women ("They all make me feel so good") and more women ("my chief doctor is Dr. Cialis").
Mortality was also a recurring theme throughout the night.
Sometimes he laughed about getting older.
"My hair got white," he said. "I never thought I'd have anything turn white."
Other times his musings seemed more fateful. While talking about how he expects the music to keep on living after he's gone, King shook his head. "Should this be my last live concert, the only thing you'll miss is this big black face."
Meanwhile, the cameras gobbled it all up.
When his guitar, Lucille, finally got a word in edgewise, she was often the more elegiac and concise of the two _ distilled, electrical emotion saying in just a few notes what King expressed in soliloquies.
How close did he come to invoking the spirit of "Live at the Regal" by a then 39-year-old bluesman?
Dollarhide said they'll know in time, once the editing is finished and the best musical moments are fleshed out of the four shows.
The only certainty is that the blues is still keepin' on at a nightclub on Beale. And by the sound of it, the singer's come down with a bad case of it.
"Got a good mind to give up livin' and go shopping instead. / Gonna get me a tombstone, 'cause I'm better off dead."
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