Albert King

名列蓝调三位最伟大的&king&之一（b.b. king、freddy king），albert king对现代蓝调吉他产生了无可比拟的影响。无论是mike bloomfield、stevie ray vaughan、joe louis walker或robert cray皆欠albert king一个礼赞。如果你仔细聆听eric clapton与jimi hendrix，你会发现那多少带着albert king的风格。在他的风格中最吸引人的是他在单弦上的独奏所表现出的张力，同时借着这张专辑，albert king也证明hard blues与deep soul是能和谐共存。听听the hunter与oh pretty woman你就能明白。
 
Albert King is truly a King of the Blues, although he doesnt hold that title (B.B. does). Along with B.B. and Freddie King, Albert King is one of the major influences on blues and rock guitar players. Without him, modern guitar music would not sound as it does — his style has influenced both black and white blues players from Otis Rush and Robert Cray to Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Its important to note that while almost all modern blues guitarists seldom play for long without falling into a B.B. King guitar cliché, Albert King never does — hes had his own style and unique tone from the beginning.
 
Albert King plays guitar left-handed, without re-stringing the guitar from the right-handed setup; this upside-down playing accounts for his difference in tone, since he pulls down on the same strings that most players push up on when bending the blues notes. Kings massive tone and totally unique way of squeezing bends out of a guitar string has had a major impact. Many young white guitarists — especially rock & rollers — have been influenced by Kings playing, and many players who emulate his style may never have heard of Albert King, let alone heard his music. His style is immediately distinguishable from all other blues guitarists, and hes one of the most important blues guitarists to ever pick up the electric guitar.
 
Born in Indianola, MS, but raised in Forrest City, AR, Albert King (born Albert Nelson) taught himself how to play guitar when he was a child, building his own instrument out of a cigar box. At first, he played with gospel groups — most notably the Harmony Kings — but after hearing Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lonnie Johnson, and several other blues musicians, he solely played the blues. In 1950, he met MC Reeder, who owned the T-99 nightclub in Osceola, AR. King moved to Osceola shortly afterward, joining the T-99s house band, the In the Groove Boys. The band played several local Arkansas gigs besides the T-99, including several shows for a local radio station.
 
After enjoying success in the Arkansas area, King moved to Gary, IN, in 1953, where he joined a band that also featured Jimmy Reed and John Brim. Both Reed and Brim were guitarists, which forced King to play drums in the group. At this time, he adopted the name Albert King, which he assumed after B.B. Kings Three OClock Blues became a huge hit. Albert met Willie Dixon shortly after moving to Gary, and the bassist/songwriter helped the guitarist set up an audition at Parrot Records. King passed the audition and cut his first session late in 1953. Five songs were recorded during the session and only one single, Be on Your Merry Way / Bad Luck Blues, was released; the other tracks appeared on various compilations over the next four decades. Although it sold respectably, the single didnt gather enough attention to earn him another session with Parrot. In early 1954, King returned to Osceola and re-joined theIn the Groove Boys; he stayed in Arkansas for the next two years.
 
In 1956, Albert moved to St. Louis, where he initially sat in with local bands. By the fall of 1956, King was headlining several clubs in the area. King continued to play the St. Louis circuit, honing his style. During these years, he began playing his signature Gibson Flying V, which he named Lucy. By 1958, Albert was quite popular in St. Louis, which led to a contract with the fledgling Bobbin Records in the summer of 1959. On his first Bobbin recordings, King recorded with a pianist and a small horn section, which made the music sound closer to jump blues than Delta or Chicago blues. Nevertheless, his guitar was taking a center stage and it was clear that he had developed a unique, forceful sound. Kings records for Bobbin sold well in the St. Louis area, enough so that King Records leased the Dont Throw Your Love on Me So Strong single from the smaller label. When the single was released nationally late in 1961, it became a hit, reaching number 14 on the R&B charts. King Records continued to lease more material from Bobbin — including a full album, Big Blues, which was released in 1963 — but nothing else approached the initial success of Dont Throw Your Love on Me So Strong. Bobbin also leased material to Chess, which appeared in the late 60s.
 
Albert King left Bobbin in late 1962 and recorded one session for King Records in the spring of 1963, which were much more pop-oriented than his previous work; the singles issued from the session failed to sell. Within a year, he cut four songs for the local St. Louis independent label Coun-Tree, which was run by a jazz singer named Leo Gooden. Though these singles didnt appear in many cities — St. Louis, Chicago, and Kansas City were the only three to register sales — they foreshadowed his coming work with Stax Records. Furthermore, they were very popular within St. Louis, so much so that Gooden resented Kings success and pushed him off the label.
 
Following his stint at Coun-Tree, Albert King signed with Stax Records in 1966. Alberts records for Stax would bring him stardom, both within blues and rock circles. All of his 60s Stax sides were recorded with the labels house band, Booker T. & the MGs, which gave his blues a sleek, soulful sound. That soul underpinning gave King crossover appeal, as evidenced by his R&B chart hits — Laundromat Blues (1966) and Cross Cut Saw (1967) both went Top 40, while Born Under a Bad Sign (1967) charted in the Top 50. Furthermore, Kings style was appropriated by several rock & roll players, most notably Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, who copied Alberts Personal Manager guitar solo on the Cream song, Strange Brew. Albert Kings first album for Stax, 1967s Born Under a Bad Sign, was a collection of his singles for the label and became one of the most popular and influential blues albums of the late 60s. Beginning in 1968, Albert King was playing not only to blues audiences, but also to crowds of young rock & rollers. He frequently played at the Fillmore West in San Francisco and he even recorded an album, Live Wire/Blues Power, at the hall in the summer of 1968.
 
Early in 1969, King recorded Years Gone By, his first true studio album. Later that year, he recorded a tribute album to Elvis Presley (Blues for Elvis: Albert King Does the Kings Things) and a jam session with Steve Cropper and Pops Staples (Jammed Together), in addition to performing a concert with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. For the next few years, Albert toured America and Europe, returning to the studio in 1971, to record the Lovejoy album. In 1972, he recorded Ill Play the Blues for You, which featured accompaniment from the Bar-Kays, the Memphis Horns, and the Movement. The album was rooted in the blues, but featured distinctively modern soul and funk overtones.
 
By the mid-70s, Stax was suffering major financial problems, so King left the label for Utopia, a small subsidiary of RCA Records. Albert released two albums on Utopia, which featured some concessions to the constraints of commercial soul productions. Although he had a few hits at Utopia, his time there was essentially a transitional period, where he discovered that it was better to follow a straight blues direction and abandon contemporary soul crossovers. Kings subtle shift in style was evident on his first albums for Tomato Records, the label he signed with in 1978. Albert stayed at Tomato for several years, switching to Fantasy in 1983, releasing two albums for the label.
 
In the mid-80s, Albert King announced his retirement, but it was short-lived — Albert continued to regularly play concerts and festivals throughout America and Europe for the rest of the decade. King continued to perform until his sudden death in 1992, when he suffered a fatal heart attack on December 21. The loss to the blues was a major one — although many guitarists have tried, no one can replace Kings distinctive, trailblazing style. Albert King is a tough act to follow.