King David Biography

Brahms’s two sonatas for clarinet and piano, Op 120, composed in 1894, were followed only by the four Serious Songs and a set of organ chorale preludes (some of which may have been written at earlier times). His farewell to chamber music was also his farewell gift to the clarinet.

B.B. King is the most influential guitarist in the instrument's electric history. His string-bending, vibrato, and phrasing are the raw material that players as diverse as Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and Pink Floyd's David Gilmour have spun into their own epic solos. This CD draws on King's '60s efforts for the defunct Kent label, tapping rarely heard instrumental tracks to present a crash course in his unique fusion of country blues, the single-string soloing perfected by Lonnie Johnson, and the swinging phrasing of jazz guitar pioneers like Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt. Tunes like "Slidin' and Glidin'" and "Calypso Jazz" are tickets to blues heaven.

When these recordings first came out, far in advance of the period instrument revolution, they were revelations. Though modern instruments were used, there was an effort to get performance practices right… And there was the incredibly powerful, absolutely heavenly sound of that chorus of men and boys, as well as the lifelike recordings that perfectly captured the vast space of the Chapel of King's College. Since that time there have been other performances that depict the letter of each work to a greater degree than these, but many listeners will argue that there are none that have better encapsulated the spirit of this music… These are star-studded "great singing" recordings in which the artists will be remembered as much as the music itself.