Peel Off That Label

Don’t call Tinsley Ellis a blues man.

He doesn’t feel worthy. He thinks it’s a disservice to the older guys who spent their whole lives paying dues and playing three chords over 12 bars.

“Working in the blues medium is something I do, but calling me a blues man?” Ellis asks rhetorically. “I really don’t like labels.”

Nevertheless, guitarist-singer Ellis, who’s playing at B. B. King’s on Friday night, describes himself as a rock ‘n’ roller playing the blues, and the label fits. And if the label fits, you might as well wear it.

Ellis has been compared to Eric Clapton, and it’s easy to hear why. His playing combines superb technique and a tastefulness that’s rare. He’s currently on tour to promote his brand-new album, “Fire It Up,” which was released just this week. The CD, which was produced by music industry veteran Tom Dowd, is Ellis’ fifth solo album on Alligator Records of Chicago.

Ellis, who was born in Atlanta and grew up in south Florida, started playing the guitar at the tender age of 8. Like many musicians of his generation, he made first contact with the blues through the records of British rock bands such as the Yardbirds, the Animals, Cream and the Rolling Stones. Those influences, as well as hints of his Southern roots, are apparent in his music.

As a teenager, Ellis met B. B. King, who was playing in the lounge of a north Miami Beach hotel. Ellis got a chance to speak to King after the show and he was indelibly impressed, not only by King’s performance but also his personal warmth and openness.

“He spoke with everyone in the lobby,” Ellis said. “Whoever rises to the status of ‘King of the Blues’ after him should keep that attitude.”

King gave the awe-struck young man a broken string from his guitar Lucille as a souvenir and Ellis still has it.

“Fire It Up” is Ellis’ first collaboration with Dowd, who has worked with Clapton, the Allman Brothers, Ray Charles, John Coltrane, Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding, among others.

“I had to get over feeling nervous over it, and get over any preconceptions of what it would be like working with him,” Ellis said. “He led me down so many musical paths.”

Although definitely blues-centered, “Fire It Up” offers a good mix of styles and rhythms.

Ellis even covers “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In),” a 1968 psychedelia-tinged hit by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition. Is Ellis a big fan of Rogers?

“I’m a medium Kenny Rogers fan,” he said.

“We chose not to do ‘Coward of the County’ on this album. It was a career move,” he added facetiously. “ ‘Just Dropped In’ is definitely a flower power, Summer of Love kind of statement.”

Dowd also drew legendary Memphis, Tenn., bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn into the project.

As a member of Booker T. & the MGs, Dunn was one of those primarily responsible for Stax Records’ punchy Memphis soul sound of the 1960s. Keyboardist Booker T. Jones, guitarist Steve Cropper, drummer Al Jackson and Dunn worked as the house rhythm section at Stax, laying down tracks for recordings by Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett and others.

“He’s probably the best rock and roll bass player in the world--transcending all these different styles,” Ellis said.

Obviously, Ellis has not been around long enough to be jaded about playing with fabled musicians.

At one of their first sessions for “Fire It Up,” while warming up, Dunn launched into the distinctive bass line for “I Can’t Turn You Loose,” the 1965 Otis Redding hit. Ellis started playing along when he realized he was playing with the man who helped create that record years ago in Memphis.

“It didn’t sound 33 years old,” Ellis said. “It just sounded like him.”

BE THERE

Tinsley Ellis performs Friday night at B.B. King’s, Universal CityWalk. $12 cover. (818) 622-5464.