B.B. King: The Life of Riley

B.B. King: The Life of Riley (Emperor Media/MVDVisual) is a documentary film by John Brewer that traces the King of the Blues career from his days growing up as a poor Black in Mississippi to his present iconic musical stature reflected by the countless awards he has received including the Kennedy Center Honors and the Polar Music Prize. The film is narrated by Morgan Freeman and incorporates interview clips from King, childhood acquaintances, music peers, and contemporary rock artists who have been influenced by King’s music, particularly his guitar playing.

The documentary traces Riley King from his very humble beginnings growing up in a plantation economy to his emergence as a major rhythm and blues artist to the period of crossing over and his current status as a musical icon. There are interviews which those who knew B.B. when he was growing up along with folks who played a part in his emerging career including Rufus Thomas, Joe Bihari (who produced so many of B.B.’s greatest recordings for the Modern group of labels) and Robert Lockwood as we get the picture of the plantation youngster who develops his musical skills, becomes a music personality and becomes a consistent recording star while starting a grind of hundreds of touring dates a year that he only is starting to slow down from today.

The film takes us from these humble beginnings to his iconic status today as his crossover from the Chitlin Circuit to the mass market is detailed with discussions of his signing to ABC-Paramount; the recording of The Thrill Is Gone; the performance and recording of Live at Cook County Jail: his participation in the legendary concert associated with the Ali-Foreman Rumble in the Jungle; other recording sessions including those with Leon Russell and members of the Crusaders; and his collaborations with Eric Clapton and U2. In addition to appreciations from a various pop-rock luminaries including Clapton; Dr. John, Bonnie Raitt, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi; Kenny Wayne Shepard, Carlos Santana, Slash and others, there are a variety of performance clips including some from his appearance on Ralph Gleason’s Jazz Casual TV show, and some from a recent DVD of a concert at Royal Albert Hall (I cannot recommend the DVD from this performance). Also included is a clip of King receiving the Polar Music Award (the equivalent of a Nobel Prize) from Swedish King Gustav.

There is little, if anything, about King’s very successful collaboration with Bobby Bland in the mid-70s (and a clip from Soul Train of the two would have been quite enjoyable). Also, while some of B.B.’s band members are interviewed, one wishes that they had interviewed folks like Ron Levy (who played piano with B.B. in the 1970s (he was with B.B. King in Africa) and whose stories about playing with King would have been enlightening). Also in lieu of, or in addition to, the rock stars, it would have been illuminating if more performers of color, such as his contemporary Lloyd Price (who would have insights on the African concert that Price helped organize), and contemporary guitarists such as Vernon Reid and James Blood Ulmer, had been asked for their insights with respect to B.B. King’s influence and legacy. Extras in the DVD package include a portion of the  Royal Albert Hall concert and some interviews with some of the rock stars who appear in this documentary. Life of Riley is a well put together documentary that the general audience should enjoy, although long-time King followers will be not fully satisfied with it.

I received a review copy from the MVD Entertainment Group. Here is a trailer for the film.

Record Makers And Breakers Is Story of Independent Record Industry

Record Makers and Breakers 

John Broven
University of Illinois (2009 640 pages)

John Broven, the author of Rhythm and Blues in New Orleans and South to Louisiana, to important studies of regional Louisiana music, has authored an important new volume Record Makers and Breakers. Subtitled Voices of the Independent Rock’n’Roll Pioneers, Broven has provided an invaluable history of the many small independent labels that helped launch most of today’s contemporary music. While his prior books had a primary focus on the artists, while discussing some of the regional labels and the men who were behind the label, the aim of the present volume is a focus on the emergence of the small labels and other aspects of the independent record scene through interviews with the label owners, A&R folk, juke box operators, independent distributors, radio personalities and some performers.

This history of the Independent record Industry is documented in 480 pages of the main body of the text which Broven developed in interviews over the past several decades. There are 97 photographs of some of the people discussed, and appendices with US Record Sales, a listing of Independent Record Distributors over several points of time, a listing of pressing plants, a listing of many postwar record labels and their current owners, list of record men in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, biographical data on Record Makers, and those he conducted oral history with. The are 44 pages of End Notes, and 11 pages of Bibliography that includes a list of selected reissues from these small labels and a very extensive index.

Taking us from the early days of the Indie labels including a couple like Capitol and Mercury that would become majors, we learn about how the Bihari Brothers and others started recording performers to have records for juke boxes they company serviced. We join John R and other radio legends as they start broadcasting rhythm and blues on radio sponsored by Randy’s in Nashville and meet other characters and innovators. There is Sam Phillips in Memphis who starts recording Howlin' Wolf and others for the Bihari Brothers and then when he feels that the Biharis were not doing him right sends Rocket 88, to Leonard Chess and soon Joe Bihari himself is traveling in the Deep South with Ike Turner recording Elmore James, Sunny Blair and others leading to the eventual resolution of the dispute with Chess that gives Howlin’ Wolf to Chess and Roscoe Gordon to the Modern labels and results in Phillips forming Sun records.

It isn't simply the well-known stories like Sam Phillips and Sun that is the subject of Record Makers & Breakers. The meat and potatoes of the book focuses on the personalities and the doings of independent record companies. Leonard Chess and others get into their cars laden with records and travel to meet distributors, juke box operators and disk jockeys. This iss a world of payola for dee-jays and free records for promotional persons. Labels would provide their distributors with 1000 records to distribute to mom and pop stores and other retail locations while adding another 300 for the distributor to use when visiting dee jays and other promotional activities. Then there was the small independent pressing plants that were used, and if luck struck and one had a hit,  the label hopefully would get paid so it get more copies pressed. One hears about how  artists got ripped off, but the labels themselves often were on a tightrope in their constant battle to keep producing hits and stay in business.

The focus on the labels and distributors is initially on the R&B and hillbilly labels and some of the regional labels that focused on ethnic music such as cajun music, but there are slight detours into the world of children’s music as well as the New York office of a British label that licensed the music of various independent labels for English release. There are shady characters and mob connections, bootlegging of smash hits and the payola scandals along with the decline of the independent labels during the sixties and seventies as the major labels fully embraced rock’n’roll.

This only suggests some of the threads that Broven weaves together in this history of the post-war Independent Record labels. There are some independent labels that are not discussed, but practically every single major label that led to the rise of rock’n’roll gets its due. Obviously in considering the history of popular music, the performers and styles are prominent. However, without the business  of producing, manufacturing and distributing for sale, and broadcast, music, the music simply does not get disseminated and distributed. Record Makers And Breakers is a book that anyone seriously interested in understanding today's  popular music and the development of the record industry needs to obtain.

I likely received a review copy from the publsiher or a publicist for the publisher. This review was written several years ago, but I do not believe it was published. There is a paperback edition for this book and it is available as an ebook.

Modern Records Classic Delta Downhome Sessions

The Modern Record labels are perhaps best known for classic blues and R&B recordings by the likes of Hadda Brooks, The Cadets, Etta James and B.B. King, but the Bihari Brothers (the principals behind the group of labels) also recorded some tuff downhome jukejoint blues in the deep south area around Memphis and Jackson, Mississippi. The Modern Downhome Blues Sessions, Arkansas & Mississippi 1951-1952 Volume 1 (UK Ace) collects a number of recordings at sessions organized by Joe Bihari and Ike Turner. 

These are mostly tough small group blues groups which opens up with Elmon Mickles aka Drifting Slim reworking a couple of John Lee ‘Sonny Boy’ Williamson songs. He was part of a group that also included harmonica player Sunny Blair and Junior Brooks whose rendition of Muddy Waters’ Appealing Blues, She’s the Little Girl For Me has Brooks doing a remarkable job of evoking Waters’ distinctive slide style. 

Other sides represent Charlie Booker and Houston Boines, the latter who was a member of Eddie Cusic’s group that the young Little Milton was a member of. Boines’ Relation Blues makes effective use of the Dust My Broom riff, likely played by Ike Turner on piano. Turner’s piano also is present on Charlie Booker’s fine Rabbit Blues. Boyd Gilmore, supposedly a cousin of Elmore James is heard on nine tracks, which does include some alternate takes, including three of his rendition of Ramblin’ on My Mind with fine piano from Turner.

There are two Elmore James tracks included Hand in Hand and Please Find My Baby that illustrate why he was among the favorite singers of Jules Bihari and the latter includes some slashing, distorted slide guitar to compliment the intense singing. There are also two sides from pianist Ernest Lane who is still active and playing, before the closing instrumental from Red Boyd’s Big Band, which is a bit out of character from the rest of the music here. 

There are extensive liner notes from Living Blues founding editor Jim O’Neal that go into depth on the artist and the recordings. I first got exposed to a number of these recordings on vinyl reissues on the Blues Classics label 35 years ago, and these recordings still hold up. With advances in technology, they sound better than ever. This is a must for fans of down-home, juke-joint blues. 

This review originally appeared in the July-August 2003 DC Blues Calendar, then the newsletter for the DC Blues Society. I purchased this CD.