B.b.+king

Riley B. King, known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimmering vibrato and staccato picking that influenced many later blues electric guitar players.

Universally hailed as the reigning king of the blues, the legendary B.B. King is without a doubt the single most important electric guitarist of the last half century…

Universal's 2012 box set Ladies & Gentlemen…Mr. B.B. King is hardly the first B.B. King box set – MCA assembled a similar four-disc set called King of the Blues in 1992, Ace had a tremendous four-CD box called The Vintage Years in 2002 that covered his pre-ABC/Paramount recordings (apparently every ten years it's time for a new B.B. box) – but it certainly is the most ambitious, arriving in two separate career-spanning incarnations…

In 1983 when this performance was taped in Cannes, France during the Midem Festival, B.B. King was carrying one of the best bands of his entire career. Under the leadership of trumpeter Calvin Owens the band were tight and concise supporting B.B's stinging guitar and vocals to exceptional effect. These workouts on many of his greatest hits are the perfect introduction to the King of the Blues.

Although Live & Well wasn't a landmark album in the sense of Live at the Regal, it was a significant commercial breakthrough for King, as it was the first of his LPs to enter the Top 100. That may have been because recognition from rock stars such as Eric Clapton had finally boosted his exposure to the White pop audience, but it was a worthy recording on its own merits, divided evenly between live and studio material. King's always recorded well as a live act, and it's the concert tracks that shine brightest, although the studio ones (cut with assistance from studio musicians like Al Kooper and Hugh McCracken) aren't bad.

The seventh volume in Ace's ongoing mid-price series based on B.B. King's original Crown LPs with bonus tracks. "More B.B. King" was released in 1961 and is an entertaining mix of booting R&B, blues ballads and instrumentals, drawn primarily from the Kent singles of the period. The bonus tracks comprise eight related Kent singles that have mainly escaped the reissuers net. These are quality recordings orchestrated by the great Maxwell Davis. As always, there is an eye-catching front cover, while compiler John Broven supplies the explanatory background notes.