One summer evening in 1982, at the
Hammersmith Odeon in London, I had the great
good fortune to spend some time in the
company of Blues royalty in the form of a
triple headed concert bill that featured B.B. King, John Lee Hooker and Bobby 'Blue'
Bland. The three giants played individual
sets, Hooker, beneath a single spotlight, on a
bare stage with just his guitar and
stamping foot for company, while King
fronted a large, gregarious, well-groomed
band, though in truth, it was Bland I was
mainly there to see. I'd recently become
enthralled by a series of his albums from
the 1970's, 'Come Fly With Me', 'His
California Album' and, best of all, 1974's
'Dreamer', thereafter working my way
backwards through his catalogue and
discovering his, often majestic, Duke
recordings of the 1950's and 60's.
At the conclusion of the show back in 1982,
the three legends gathered on stage to
perform a short series of songs together, to
rapturous applause. The highlight of the
evening came a little earlier for me though,
when Bobby Bland led his own modest band
through a terrific reading of 'St James'
Infirmary'. Here, to mark his passing, is his sublime 1961 recording of the
song.
Two more great Bobby 'Blue' Bland tunes are
featured on these fine blogs, here and here.
