In light of BB King's passing last week, I was thinking about when he and I first met and decided to share the story with you all.
1969:
I met BB in his manager's office; my manager at the time was there too. He had brought me to the office, but I don't really remember why he brought me there. BB said, "A tuba? You're playing a tuba with the blues and jazz?" and I said, 'oh yeah.' He was a little interested, but wasn't going to offer me a playing gig without my manager prodding. So, he suggested I come down and play and BB said yeah.
1969:
I met BB in his manager's office; my manager at the time was there too. He had brought me to the office, but I don't really remember why he brought me there. BB said, "A tuba? You're playing a tuba with the blues and jazz?" and I said, 'oh yeah.' He was a little interested, but wasn't going to offer me a playing gig without my manager prodding. So, he suggested I come down and play and BB said yeah.
It wasn't a big commitment, but I told my tuba player friend, Bob Stewart, that I was going to go do that. And he said, "hey I'd love to do that," so I told him to come down. I don't know how I was so bold back then.
We got on either side of BB, so our bells were pointed towards him. Around that same time Jimi Hendrix and his entourage showed up. They had come to seen BB, but when they sat down, they saw the tuba players and thought it was going to be stupid and started laughing. Bob Stewart and I were used to it; everyone's expectations were pretty low about the Tuba.
BB looked at us and said, 'let's go,' and Bob and me started putting in riffs and playing harmony and having a good time. By the time we came off the stage, on the dark side of the stage, Jimi Hendrix was there and he said, "Man, brothers, that's the damndest shit I ever heard. You know, when I was in High school I played the baritone horn the euphonium, I told everyone I just played it to get into the football games for free, but you know, I liked it."
I played with BB a few other times: baritone saxophone on Guess Who (1972) and contributed an arrangement on the tune "Any Other Way," on that album.
We got on either side of BB, so our bells were pointed towards him. Around that same time Jimi Hendrix and his entourage showed up. They had come to seen BB, but when they sat down, they saw the tuba players and thought it was going to be stupid and started laughing. Bob Stewart and I were used to it; everyone's expectations were pretty low about the Tuba.
BB looked at us and said, 'let's go,' and Bob and me started putting in riffs and playing harmony and having a good time. By the time we came off the stage, on the dark side of the stage, Jimi Hendrix was there and he said, "Man, brothers, that's the damndest shit I ever heard. You know, when I was in High school I played the baritone horn the euphonium, I told everyone I just played it to get into the football games for free, but you know, I liked it."
I played with BB a few other times: baritone saxophone on Guess Who (1972) and contributed an arrangement on the tune "Any Other Way," on that album.