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Recent Articles By Dean C. Minderman

  • Chris Botti
    8 p.m. Friday January 18 and Saturday January 19. Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, One University Boulevard.
  • Smooth Operators
    Schoolhouse Rock's songwriter celebrates a few special birthdays in St. Louis while we pit Kenny G vs. Trans-Siberian Orchestra in a fight to the holiday death.
  • Preservation Blues

    Local niche labels keep the music coming.

  • Backstoppers Benefit
    7 p.m. Sunday November 4. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard.
  • It's Educational!
    Esperanza Spalding helps polish some of this city's bright young stars.

National Features

Audiences first encountered blues guitarist and singer B.B. King in the '50s, thanks to relentless touring of the so-called "chitlin circuit" and a series of memorable recordings. But that was just the beginning: By crossing over to a rock audience in the '60s and '70s, King played a crucial role in popularizing blues among several generations of new listeners. Now, as the last major blues star of his generation still standing, he continues to enjoy the enduring respect and affection of fans worldwide. Although his tour schedule isn't quite as hectic these days, for a man in his eighties he still puts on a powerful show, his singing voice perhaps slightly dimmed by time — but his unmistakable guitar tone and vibrato still very much intact.

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