B.B. King - One Kind Favor

Presenter

Stephen Hall

Published

Friday 12th September

Geffen Records

B.B. King might be eighty-two years old; but he still has what it takes; stylish, elegant, and classic are the words that come to mind in attempting to review this album.

BB King has been recording for sixty years, he was first taught the guitar by his cousin, Bukka White, for 10 months in 1946. White’s influence can be heard in the trademark trill that became King’s signature guitar style. Country and gospel music influences can also be heard in King’s approach, along with the styles of blues giants T-Bone Walker and Lonnie Johnson and jazz guitar pioneers Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt.

While earlier work showcased his pleading vocals and stinging guitar, this album plays to King’s current strengths: the vibrato of his established voice, interspersed with his signature raunchy guitar technique. King has a top shelf backing band made up of the legendary Jim Keltner (John Lennon, Mick Jagger and many more) on drums, Nathan East (Clapton) on stand-up bass and Dr. John on piano. This top shelf crew provides a solid framework for King’s voice and guitar and yet it subtly remains in the background.

There’s a mature sophistication to this excellent collection of blues classics and this is one of the strongest studio sets of B.B. King’s career. Producer T-Bone Burnett gave King a list of 200 songs to pick the tracks for this album and those included show the styles that have influenced King over the years. All are songs that King has not recorded previously, including three tunes by his hero Lonnie Johnson. The album opens with ‘See That My Grave is Kept Clean’ which sets the level of excellence and this recording of ‘Backwater Blues’ is a bound to become a classic.

The songs sound like they were recorded in a dark smoky post war nightclub; in fact Burnett re-created a 1950’s recording studio and captured King’s trademark sound by recording the songs live. This has given the album that warmth is often missing in an age of digitalia.

Others have said that this album is a masterpiece; I can only agree. King and Burnett are to be congratulated. It might have taken sixty years to get there, but this album is timeless!