The King is dead, long live the King

 I had a text message from a friend at 8.21am on Friday 15th May saying "Have you heard that BB King, the legendary blues guitar player, has died?" Until that point I hadn't, but the strangest thing was that at the exact same time the text message came through "The Thrill is Gone" was playing in my stall in Newport Market.

You don't have to be a blues fan to have heard of BB King, a name synonymous with blues much as Louis Armstrong's is with jazz. Rolling Stone magazine placed him behind only Jimi Hendrix and Duane Allman in its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time and his vibrato style of playing influenced a generation of rock and blues guitarists. Perhaps not top of the list of greatest guitarists but certainly the king of vibrato.

BB was 89 when he died and exactly 5 years ago last Tuesday a certain young Newport lady made her first appearance at Newport Open Mic just 2 days before her 13^th birthday when she sat behind the drums and played Led Zeppelin's “Rock and Roll”alongside her older brother. The young lady in question is Remynie-Kiah Faith and since then she has been a great supporter of Open Mic and more so a great emerging talent not only as a multi instrumentalist but also as a superb vocalist, one of the few who can hush a crowded room and make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up when she sings.

Remynie was back behind the drums on Tuesday, 2 days before her 18^th birthday to start the evening off alongside bluesman Dave Sanford, 18 year old Olly Flavell and the ever grinning Andy Clarke on bass with a great blues/jazz set which included Dave's self penned song “Black Country Boy” and the 1958 Chuck Berry rock and roll classic “Johnny B Goode”. A real treat in store next with Dave and Olly performing a lovely acoustic set together and of course the obvious opener, BB King's “The Thrill is Gone” followed by a couple of Clapton classics who himself was a great friend of BB King as well as musical collaborator. Two songs by John Martyn, “May You Never” and “Sweet Little Mystery” and sung by Dave brought an excellent acoustic set by these talented musicians to a close.

Another delightful set to follow this time from Remynie accompanied by boyfriend Gaz Giles on guitar. Three great songs sung beautifully by the birthday girl and not the easiest choice with Billy Bragg's “Birds and Ships” followed by “Girl With One Eye” by Florence and the Machine. An already hushed room was delighted to hear Remynie's version of “Bang Bang” written originally for Cher in 1966 by her then husband Sonny Bono but also covered by Nancy Sinatra in the same year but remaining in relative obscurity until it was used in the opening credits of the 2003 film Kill Bill. Remynie's version is more akin to Nancy Sinatra's cover and is quite simply breathtaking as is Gaz's accompaniment. By way of complete contrast Gaz played his own death metal version of “Happy Birthday” which had the crowd smiling and Remynie trying to hide her blushes.

Always a sign of good musicianship when a vocalist can choose 3 or 4 songs and find a couple of guitarists who can accompany him and so it was with Alex Ash singing alongside Dave Sanford and Olly Flavell, totally unrehearsed but melding easily together with songs by Bill Withers, Tom Petty, Marvin Gaye and Wilson Pickett.

A good crowd at Newport Open Mic were treated to a splendid evening of mainly acoustic music – two nights are never the same – and what better way to send a happy crowd home on an unseasonally cold May evening with the final song of the night from Dave Blu “Miss You at the Dawning of the Day.

Same time next week, Tuesdays at the Royal Naval Association, Newport Open Mic

 KEEPING MUSIC LIVE.