Pop Music Review : Some Lessons From a Blues Master: Otis Rush : His arsenal of guitar licks and his vocal style are impressive, even if his performance is something less than inspired.

From Alberts King and Collins to Buddy Guy, from Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page to Johnny Winter and Stevie Ray Vaughan, at least two generations of blues musicians have reaped the harvest of seeds sowed as long as 40 years ago by singer-guitarist Otis Rush.

His slick, urban approach to the music remains, to a degree, the template for modern players--even though Rush has been sadly ignored over the years.

So if in his performance Monday night at the Coach House Rush came off as something less than the innovator he undeniably once was, this is due at least in part to the fact that his style has been adopted and flat-out mimicked to the point of over-saturation.

In fact, little has changed or evolved in Rush’s playing over the years, as Monday’s concert demonstrated. While Rush remains in full command of his formidable arsenal of trilled, vibrato guitar licks and testifying vocal style (although a cold prevented him from a full workout on his pipes), his performance was something less than inspired--as opposed to, say, a B.B. King, who performs as if every show might be his last.

Taking the stage in his now-trademark cowboy hat and shades, the 60-year-old Rush played a capable and professional if sometimes tiring set, which included signature tunes (“Homework”), a selection of material from his latest album (“I’m a Fool for You,” “It’s My Own Fault”) and a host of covers (“Crosscut Saw,” “Matchbox”).

The 12-bar blues jams were uniformly overlong, but it was nonetheless a pleasure to witness Rush wring stinging, angry licks from his Stratocaster in his unconventional manner--he plays a left-handed guitar, strung upside down, and picks with his thumb, as did the late Albert King.

Too, he belied his legendary reputation for surliness with a warm and engaging stage demeanor, playfully bantering with audience members and smiling from ear to ear throughout the night.

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If his backup band wasn’t always fully up to the task of complementing the boss man, Rush himself gave a master’s class on postwar Chicago blues, coming off as the knowledgeable if prosaic professor that he is.

If nothing else, the evening presented an opportunity for fans to witness one of the first-string patriarchs of the blues still plying his trade, showing one and all how to do it with style . With the recent passing of too many bluesmen of Rush’s generation, that alone was worth the price of admission.

Many of those who had paid that price, however, spoke with their feet about his performance. The crowd thinned, minute by minute, until a mere trickle of the faithful remained by the end of the show.

The opening band, Lee Rocker’s Big Blue (led by the former Stray Cats bassist), provided a welcome dose of youthful energy and enthusiasm for the night, with a flaming set of rockabilly and jump blues that was much better received--and attended--than the main act.