Buddy Guy headlines Russian River Jazz and Blues Festival

Fans who flock to Johnson’s Beach in Guerneville for the 39th annual Russian River Jazz and Blues Festival this month can look forward to more than just two days of sunshine and good music.

The crowd on the beach can also witness a bit of walking, talking history, when Buddy Guy takes the stage.

Following the death of B.B. King earlier this year, many blues buffs consider Guy, at 79, possibly the last great electric blues guitarist and singer of his generation.

After King died in May, Guy told huffingtonpost.com that it was “scary” to realize that he was one of the few old-school blues players still around, with a duty to carry on the tradition.

“After we lost the great B.B. King and all of the great ones that I got all of my lessons from … I thought I owe all of them the respect of saying, ‘Let me see, can I just try and keep it alive?’?” Guy said.

Guy was there when the blues emerged from the deep South and electrified Chicago and eventually the world. In the early 1960s, he played with Muddy Waters as a house guitarist at the Windy City’s famed Chess Records before forming a longtime duo with harmonica master Junior Wells.

Like King and Waters, Guy influenced a whole generation of younger guitarists, including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

True to its name, the two-day Russian River Jazz and Blues Festival devotes one day each to jazz and the blues.

The first day, Sept. 12, stars two popular smooth-jazz artists: saxophonist Dave Koz and trumpeter Rick Braun. The day’s roster also features R&B singer Kenny Lattimore, jazz bassist Kyle Eastwood and WAR, the Southern California funk fusion band that emerged in the late 1960s with a string of hits (including “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” and “The Cisco Kid”) and briefly backed English rock singer Eric Burdon.

The second day, Sept. 13, features not only Buddy Guy, but also another veteran musician, Taj Mahal, 73, whose repertoire embraces not only traditional and modern blues, but musical influences from around the world as well. The rest of the lineup includes singer-songwriter Jackie Greene, as well as B.B. and the Blues Shacks and the Rad Trads.

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @danarts.

RUSSIAN RIVER JAZZ AND BLUES FESTIVAL

When: Sept. 12-13

Where: Johnson’s Beach in Guerneville

Admission: $55 for one day; $90 for two.

Information: russianriverfestivals.com.

The lineup:

Sept. 12: Dave Koz, Rick Braun, Kenny Lattimore, WAR, Kyle Eastwood.

Sept. 13: Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal Trio, Jackie Greene, B.B. and the Blues Shacks, The Rad Trads.