JAZZ REVIEW : House of Blues’ King Tribute the Right Mix of Old and New

Talk about multimedia. The House of Blues’ tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. Monday was a classic meeting of old and new, a fascinating encounter between the most primal sources of popular music and the cutting edge of cyberspace technology.

Two separate performances--in the morning and the evening--by the Five Blind Boys of Alabama, one of the great traditional gospel ensembles, were broadcast live over the Internet. Stevie Wonder was a surprise guest at the morning program, and the evening program included Charlie Musselwhite and the Count Basie Orchestra, led by Frank Foster.

The mechanics of using the Internet for video broadcast are still in the formative stages. On screen, the visual images were small, and movement was herky-jerky at eight frames per second. Nonetheless, and despite the fact that other broadcasts (including appearances by the Rolling Stones and the Seattle group the SkyCries) have taken place, there was the feeling of being present at an important developmental step forward in the delivery of music to the public.

The choice of programming was particularly appropriate. Musselwhite, the Blind Boys and the Basie ensemble represent three sides of a triangle of intersecting facets of the blues. Musselwhite’s sliding harmonica lines and down-home, working-man Chicago blues style both joined and contrasted with the Blind Boys’ rousing, can-I-get-a-witness spirituality (aided, on one number, by the redoubtable Solomon Burke).

The Basie band, playing at a level comparable to its finest post-war work with its founder, demonstrated the coming together of gospel and blues into a sophisticated blend of composition and improvisation. Yet, even when the band was blasting out be-bop-driven melodies and thick-textured ballads, it never lost touch with the essential rhythms displayed by Musselwhite or the rapturous soulfulness of the Blind Boys.

The performance was the first in a continuing series of events, labeled Backstage Pass, which will be broadcast live from the House of Blues over the Internet every two months. Quick Time and MPEG movies of Monday’s concert will be available for access on the Internet through February via World Wide Web:https://www.iuma.com/HOB/.