LITTLE MILTON’S BIG SET AT BLUES SHOW

If someone had distributed a checklist following Little Milton’s set Saturday afternoon--rating his performance for singing, instrumental solos, arrangements, set pacing, use of dynamics, stage presence and creating audience rapport--the veteran singer/guitarist should have scored 100 in every category. His absolutely masterful, hourlong set brought the opening day of the seventh annual Long Beach Blues Festival to an early aesthetic peak.

The flashy horn lines and powder-blue suits of Little Milton’s crack, eight-piece backing band instantly galvanized the audience. Born Milton Campbell, Little Milton enjoyed several major R&B; hits in the late ‘50s and ‘60s with a big-band blues style that is more energetic than Bobby (Blue) Bland and less Vegas-slick than B.B. King.

A 15-minute medley of several slow blues songs early in the set cemented his control over the crowd. Little Milton capped that bravura performance with a story about a nearsighted dog crossing the railroad tracks as a train bore down on it and the final punch line--”I’m just like the little dog that lost his head / Lookin’ for a piece of tail”--brought the crowd to its feet roaring in appreciation.

It was an age-old blues theme, sure, but that hilarious lyric twist and Little Milton’s impeccable timing and vocal delivery brought it vividly to life. He may not have performed his early hits, but Little Milton simply didn’t make a single false step during an hour of music so flawless you wished you could have bottled it to take home and replay for the next person who wonders what’s so special about the blues.

But the lack of subsequent musical fireworks didn’t mean the rest of the afternoon was a waste of time.

Tucked between school buildings and an athletic field, the substantial crowd of more than 6,000, including a number of families with small children, had ample room to stretch out comfortably on a large, flat grassy area with clear sight lines. There were so many blankets and lawn chairs scattered around that the setting resembled a day at the beach crossed with a picnic. Some kudos are due the production staff for its foresight in placing two scaffolds with speakers well back in the crowd to diminish any need to create a crush in front of the stage.

The kick-back-under-the-sun atmosphere was a double-edged sword for the musicians. It worked fine for the sprightly, danceable style of Rockin’ Dopsie & the Zydeco Twisters, but some subtle duets by pianist Pinetop Perkins (a last-minute substitution for the hospitalized Sunnyland Slim) and guitarist Robert Jr. Lockwood that would have worked in a club at 2 a.m. couldn’t compel the crowd’s attention outdoors at 2 p.m.

Koko Taylor’s set of gutbucket Chicago blues inevitably paled coming on the heels of Little Milton’s blistering set, although the gravel-voiced singer with the blues-mama-meets-Mae-West stage persona worked hard to earn a strong audience response. The concluding “Guitar Showdown,” featuring Johnny Copeland, Matt (Guitar) Murphy and Buddy Guy, was predictably anticlimactic.

Those forced, artificial combinations rarely result in meaningful music, and Saturday’s effort--in which each participant performed 15-minute solo sets and then traded solos on three songs--proved to be no exception. Copeland was straightforward and soulful, Murphy fleet-fingered but ragged while Guy seemed to have permanently traded in his blues sensibilities to cater to the sizable rock contingent that worships speed, volume and lumbering grooves over genuine emotional expression.