Review: B.B. King In France Live at the 1977 Nancy Jazz Pulsations Festival
By Jim Hynes
The iconic B.B. King is revered for a half dozen classic live albums with Live at the Regal and Live in Cook County Jail, and Live & Well among them. Now we can add In France: Live at the 1977 Nancy Jazz Pulsations Festival to that sterling list, a never-before-released performance featuring his seven-piece working band at the time. This is the second release for the award-winning archival producer Zev Feldman, AKA The Jazz Detective, and the second release on his Deep Digs label, having debuted with Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s Live in France last year. This is made possible partly through Feldman’s excellent relationship with the ORTF, France’s national radio agency.
At the time, King was riding high with commercial success, having crossed over to a white audience with his biggest hit, “The Thrill Is Gone,” in 1970. This was his fifth trip to Europe and his first appearance at the biannual Nancy Jazz Pulsations Festival.
What makes this special though is the potent, horn-infused seven-piece backing band, known as the B.B. King orchestra. This looks at an undocumented period in King’s career following the disbanding of his longtime touring unit, Sonny Freeman and the Kingpins, who backed him on 1967’s Live at the Regal and 1969’s Blues Is King, His concert releases of the mid and late ‘70s did not include his working band but paired him with Bobby Bland behind all-star combos. So, even to those who profess to know King’s music thoroughly, this is a pleasant, unexpected surprise.
Commensurate with the format of an expansive jazz festival which featured Buddy Guy and Junior Wells in the company of such jazz artists as Elvin Jones, Max Roach, Sonny Fortune, and others, King’s band relished the opportunity to take lengthy solos. They begin the set by moving from Monk’s “Blue Monk” into a medley of Louis Jordan’s “Caldonia.” King is in fine voice and establishes instant rapport with the adoring audience. He built a program designed to alternate familiar material such as “Sweet Little Angel” with newer pieces, some that have since become classics such as “I Like to Live the Love” and “I Got Some Outside Help (I Don’t Really Need).” The latter appears arguably in the strongest three song sequence of the performance, sandwiched between “Why I Sing the Blues” and “The Thrill Is Gone.”
The performance also casts King as the preeminent band leader, introducing his bandmates and crediting them for their solos through such instrumental pieces as “I Need My Baby,” “When I’m Wrong” and “Have Faith.” There’s plenty of Lucille (his beloved ES-335 Gibson) too as King stretches out on “Sweet Little Angel,” Brook Benton’s “It’s Just a Matter of Time,” “I Got Some Outside Help” and some of the instrumentals. His command of dynamics and show pacing is incomparable. The audience gets engaged early with their rhythmic clapping and singalong on “I Like to Live the Love’ and stays right with King throughout. The joy is so palpable that it’s easy to see why the BMA is named their award “B.B. King Entertainer of the Year” when listening to how he conducts this show.
This same orchestra was with King in hundreds of concerts but was never documented as it was here. Trumpeter Eddie Rowe and alto saxophonist Cato Walker III had been with him for four to five years along with excellent guitarist Milton Hopkins (listen to his solo on “It’s Just a Matter of Time”). Organist James Toney at appeared with King in his first European concert in Paris in 1968 and played with King for decades as did tenor saxophonist Walter King, B.B.’s nephew. Bassist Joe Turner and drummer, Calep Emphrey Jr., were new additions to the orchestra. Emphrey may be the only musician to have played with all three Kings, B.B., Albert, and Freddie. He went on to back B.B. for 30 years.
As with any Feldman release, it’s accompanied by an informative booklet with rare photos and liner notes by French writer Jean Buzelin.
This sizzling, passionate performance is as a strong a cut of prime B.B. King that you get.
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