The blues were on full display Wednesday at the Hollywood Bowl. A rainbow of blues, that is, displaying the panorama of musical hues and rhythms present in this remarkable American cultural creation.
The B.B. King Blues Festival was the source of all this activity, with the venerable King himself in the headliner position for the five-hour show. And the single most remarkable aspect of the evening was the extent to which an uncomplicated musical form -- a 12-bar framework with three basic chords -- can serve as the fundamental source for such a diverse array of music.
Starting with Elvin Bishop's electrifying blues guitar playing, the concert proceeded from Edgar Winter's blues rock, Shemekia Copeland's soulful vocals and Dr. John's atmospheric New Orleans blues to the inimitable tones of King's famous guitar, Lucille.
Virtually everything that was played was either pure blues, blues-based or blues-driven. There were eight-bar blues tunes, blues with a bridge, blues vamps and blues with altered harmonies. There were instrumental blues, vocal blues, rhythm & blues and scat blues.
