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Pop Music Reviews : B. B. King on Automatic Pilot at Amphitheatre

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B.B. King stopped being a real bluesman back in the ‘60s. Since then he’s been an R&B; entertainer who occasionally dips into the blues.

Because he’s performed his material so often, his show on Sunday at the Universal Amphitheater often had a formula feel to it, though it was rousing at times. When singing suggestive songs about infidelity and relationships on the rocks, King seemed to be on automatic pilot. It was obvious that he got a bigger charge out of playing guitar on the long, jazz-based, instrumental jams that were the real highlights of the show. As always, he was backed by exemplary musicians.

Second-billed Millie Jackson’s outrageous, unpredictable and uncompromisingly raunchy set was by far the best segment of the show. She’s an excellent R&B; singer but an even better comedian. As usual, her monologues in the middle of songs were the core of her act. Jackson spews out her humor from the point of view of a single, highly sexed, angry, independent black woman. Some of the things she said would make Andrew Dice Clay blush. And just about all of it had the audience in stitches.

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Bobby (Blue) Bland, who opened the show, stuck closer to the traditional blues form. A mountainous man and a dapper dresser, he managed to sing with remarkable intensity without seeming to move a muscle. At his best, he performed sultry, smoldering songs about the seamy side of relationships--numbers geared to the female fans, who were screaming and sighing throughout.

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