Bluesman King’s Cohort to Offer a Musical Tribute

Albert King had been talking about new music, new records, new tours and other plans in the weeks before he died of a massive heart attack Dec. 21 in Memphis, just days after performing his last official concerts in Los Angeles. Contracts had just been signed with Silvertone Records to cut new blues tracks and he hoped to gather a new horn section to take with him into the studio.

The Albert King Blues Band--guitarists Randel Boykins and Roubaix Fairfax, keyboardist Jesse Didson, drummer Dave Harrison and bassist James Kinard--are set to continue playing King’s music along with their own during a tribute tour, beginning Friday and Saturday at the Country Club in Reseda, where the blues master played one of his very last shows.

“They were so emotional at first that when tribute requests started coming in, they weren’t into it,” said Pat Louallen, who was King’s manager for the last five years. “Then they decided: ‘We’re going to do what Bub wanted, and keep playing the blues.’ ”

King led the quintet of musicians for the last 12 years, in spite of his brief attempts at retirement.

“He had to sit down through the whole tour,” Louallen said of King’s final road trip, when the singer-guitarist had begun complaining of chest pains. “But he’s never been known for canceling a gig. He just wouldn’t do it. He said: ‘When the Lord brings me home, I’ll still be playing the blues. But I’m going when the Lord wants me, not when the doctors tell me.’ ”

The Albert King Blues Band performs at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday with the King Brothers Blues Band, Otis Clay, Delaney Bramlett & Friends, Jerry McGee, J. J. Badboy Jones, Redbone and special guests at the Country Club, 18415 Sherman Way, Reseda. Tickets are $20 general admission , $30 for VIP seating. Call: (818) 881-5602 .

ON THE AIR: Local rock act Downy Mildew, a quintet that mixes modern pop elements under layers of subdued, sometimes melancholy, guitar rhythms, will be Chris Douridas’ guest on “Morning Becomes Eclectic” Feb. 18 on KCRW (89.9 FM). The 11:15 p.m. program of performance and interview segments, taped in the last week of January, comes in advance of a Feb. 19 performance at the Troubador in West Hollywood.

Downy Mildew performs Feb. 19 with the Loud Family and Grant Lee Buffalo at the Troubador, 9081 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. Tickets $10. Call (310) 276-6168.