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B. B. King

I well remember a time in the early ’70s when Ian Paice and I shared a flat in Parsons Green. Despite, or maybe because of, the intense hard rock that we were performing on the road, we had a surprisingly eclectic listening taste at home. It veered, one might say alarmingly, from The Carpenters to Mountain, with the likes of Taj Mahal, Prokofiev, James Taylor, Hendrix, Vaughen Williams, Dr John, Elgar, Dave Brubeck et al. in between.

And B.B. King. Indiana Mississippi Seeds was the album that grabbed us. And for many reasons – great production, great musicians, great grooves (respect to Russ Kunkel), and an orchestra that doesn’t sound at all out of place, sitting with the blues.

Recorded mostly live in the studio, it’s an understated album that is all the more powerful because of it. If you’ve not heard it, it’s one of the greatest blues albums ever. B.B.’s signature playing is all there, at a time when it was still fresh, but it’s his singing that truly impresses, delivered with a maturity, an authority, that’s never in question.

There are stand out tracks like Chains and Things but it was the last track, Hummingbird – one of the first of many gorgeous songs I subsequently heard by Leon Russell – that caught my attention. What a song. What a songwriter. And what a superb vocal performance from B.B. King. Recognized more as a ground-breaking guitarist, it’s all too easy to overlook what a great voice he had, especially on this album. Just listen.

We have lost a true and humble gentleman of music. But his music lives on.

RG

4 thoughts on “B. B. King

  1. Bob Papp wrote on 2015-05-26:

    Roger, I second the fact that you are quite the kind man with no shortage of integrity and humble beyond compare.

    I’ve thanked you for your wonderful talent a few times at gigs and well, one cannot thank another enough. So here it is again, thank you!

    Finally, what drew me to the mentioned classic album at a very young age was the brilliant cover. Thanfully I saw B.B. for the last time just a few years ago at The Count Basie Theater in NJ. And I’ll be in the house next month for Purple!

    With my best,

    Bob

    Reply
  2. marco mastria wrote on 2015-05-21:

    Roger , u r a very kind person !!! Respect for u !!!

    Reply
  3. josh wrote on 2015-05-21:

    True words, Mr. Glover. Rest In Peace – Blues Boy.

    Reply
    • Hans-Jürgen Küsel wrote on 2015-06-20:

      Dear Roger,
      I wrote some words about Blues Boy in the forum of the german DP-fan-club “the aviator”. And that#s my real oppinion. Now, God will have a problem: He’s dammed to celebrate the Blues forever, because he’s not protected against the fantastic charme of this great artist. B. B. King may be dead, but his humanity, his humor and his endless music will live forever. Rest in peace, dear Blues Boy!
      Hans-Jürgen Küsel

      Reply