DATE: Tue, 05 Jul 1994 21:05:42 CDT From: sawy~di.com Subject: B.B. King And Harps
I was very surprised at the query about B.B.'s harp player. I have him play together with noted harp players who might join him on stage, or vice versa, but in all the time since 1968 when I first saw him, I've never known him to have a harp player in his band. Once I was privileged to see him sit in at Boston's famed Jazz Workshop (now long gone) when he came down to see James Cotton after a concert at Harvard Stadium. Also present and playing was Paul Butterfield who had opened for B.B. earlier. Hearing the three of them together was, well, ... [no words here]. Also worth noting is the appearance of Butterfield in "B.B. King And Friends", in whose memory the show was dedicated, due to his death shortly after filming. It was first aired on HBO, then last year on The Family Channel. [It includes a chilling image of Stevie Ray Vaughn, Albert King and Paul Butterfield together.] Finally, it might be of interest to harp-l readers to know that B.B. played the harp when he was young. I know only because he mentioned it to me in passing. I never heard him play a note.
--Charlie*
* Author of "The Arrival of B.B. King", Doubleday (hbk), Da Capo (pbk).