B.B. King: Reflections

B.B. KING ALREADY had a career dating back 20 years - first playing to chitlin circuit audiences and then at the Fillmores and other psychedelic palaces - before he splashed big-time into the mainstream in 1970 with 'The Thrill Is Gone'. I still remember the night he appeared on The Tonight Show and so wowed Johnny Carson and the studio audience that they kept applauding until he played 'Thrill' a second time - perhaps the only occasion an artist ever played one song on national TV and then got an encore.