Albert King
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Albert King | ||
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 Albert King performing at the Wattstax Concert, 1972.
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| Background information | ||
| Born | April 25, 1923 in Indianola, MS, USA | |
| Died | December 21, 1992 in Memphis, TN, USA | |
| Genre(s) | Blues | |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Producer | |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar | |
| Label(s) | Stax | |
| Associated acts |
Sweet Miss Coffy | |
Albert King (April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992) was an influential American blues guitarist and singer.
Contents |
[edit] Career
One of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with B.B. King and Freddie King), he stood 6' 4" weighed in at 260 lbs (118 kg) and was known as "The Velvet Bulldozer". He was born Albert Nelson into a humble family in Indianola, Mississippi, at a cotton plantation where he worked in his early days. One of his earlier influences in music was his own father, Will Nelson, who would often play the guitar. During his childhood he would also sing at a family gospel group at a church. He began his professional work as a musician with a group called In The Groove Boys, in Osceola, Arkansas. He also briefly played drums for Jimmy Reed's band. The electric guitar became his signature instrument, his preference being the Gibson Flying V, which he named "Lucy".
His first hit was "I'm A Lonely Man", released in 1959. However, it was not until his 1961 release "Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong" that he had a major hit, ranking 14th on the R&B charts. In 1966 he signed with the famous Stax record label and in 1967 released his legendary album Born Under A Bad Sign. The title track of that album (written by Booker T. Jones and William Bell) became King's most well known song and has been covered by many artists (from Cream to Homer Simpson).On February 1, 1968 King was booked by promoter Bill Graham for a performance at the Fillmore Auditorium on a bill with Jimi Hendrix. The opening act was a band called Soft Machine, which had been opening for Hendrix on a number of dates on a U.S. tour in early 1968. The crowd was eagerly anticipating hearing Albert and Hendrix and so when Soft Machine's set seemed to drag on, a large portion of the crowd began chanting, "Albert King, Albert King," which resulted in Graham taking the stage and castigating the audience for being rude to an artist (Soft Machine). The Soft Machine did not appear the next two nights and do not appear on the infamous Winterland (Bill Graham) poster for this show, known as the "Eyeball" poster. Those in attendance at the Saturday Winterland show report that King almost stole the show from Hendrix. The throng was of course anticipating the electricity of Hendrix (the impact of his appearance at Monterey Pop and the huge hits of "Purple Haze," "Fire," and "Foxey Lady" preceeded this, his second visit to a Bill Graham venue), but King had them wrapped around his finger after a couple of heartfelt songs. A highlight was when Albert meshed replacement of a broken string into a song without missing a beat. On one of the nights, when Hendrix appeared on stage, the first thing he said was, "Yeah, Albert King. I dig him." Then he proceeded to play some of Albert's licks as an homage.
King was a left-handed "upside-down/backwards" guitarist: he was left-handed but usually played right-handed guitars flipped over upside-down so the low E string was on the bottom. In later years he played a custom-made guitar that was basically left-handed, but had the strings reversed (as he was used to playing). He also used very unorthodox tunings (i.e., tuning as low as C to allow him to make sweeping string bends). A "less is more" type blues player, he was known for his expressive "bending" of notes, a technique characteristic of blues guitarists. Jimi Hendrix also played right-handed guitars that were flipped over, but in contrast, Hendrix also flipped the nut and bridge to retain the string layout (low E on top).
King influenced many later blues guitarists including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor, Mike Bloomfield, Gary Moore, and especially Stevie Ray Vaughan, who also covered many of King's songs. Clapton's guitar solo on the 1968 Cream hit "Strange Brew" from the album Disraeli Gears is a close emulation of King's solo on his Stax Records hit "Oh, Pretty Woman".
One of King's last contributions was on guitarist Gary Moore's 1990 Still Got the Blues album, spawning a new version of "Oh, Pretty Woman" (a European hit single). This led to a number of guest appearances on Moore's European tours, along with Albert Collins. His last album was "Red House" released in 1991. The album featured Joe Walsh on guitar was pretty much a rock oriented effort. It featured a nice rendition of James Taylor's "Don't Let Me Be Lonely" as well as the title track, a cover of Jimi Hendrix composition.
King died on December 21, 1992 from a heart attack in Memphis, Tennessee. He has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
[edit] Album discography
- 1962 The Big Blues, King Records
- 1967 Born Under a Bad Sign, Stax Records
- 1968 Live Wire/Blues Power, Stax Records
- 1969 Years Gone By, Stax Records
- 1969 King Of The Blues Guitar, Atlantic Records
- 1970 Blues For Elvis - King Does The King's Things, Stax Records
- 1971 Lovejoy, Stax Records
- 1972 I'll Play The Blues For You, Stax Records
- 1973 Blues At Sunset, Stax Records
- 1973 Blues At Sunrise, Stax Records
- 1974 I Wanna Get Funky, Stax Records
- 1974 Montreux Festival, Stax Records
- 1974 The Blues Don't Change, Stax Records
- 1974 Funky London, Stax Records
- 1976 Albert, Tomato Records
- 1976 Truckload Of Lovin' , Tomato Records
- 1977 I'll Play the Blues For You, Tomato Records (with John Lee Hooker)
- 1977 King Albert, Tomato Records
- 1979 New Orleans Heat, Tomato Records
- 1979 Chronicle, Stax Records (with Little Milton)
- 1983 Crosscut Saw: Albert King In San Francisco, Stax Records
- 1984 I'm In A Phone Booth, Baby, Stax Records
- 1986 The Best Of Albert King, Stax Records
- 1986 The Lost Session, Stax Records (with John Mayall)
- 1989 Let's Have A Natural Ball, Modern Blues Recordings
- 1989 Live, Rhino Records
- 1990 Door To Door, Chess Records
- 1990 Wednesday Night In San Francisco, Stax Records
- 1990 Thursday Night in San Francisco, Stax Records
- 1991 Red House, Essential
- 1992 Roadhouse Blues, RSP Records
[edit] Posthumous Releases
- 1993 The Ultimate Collection, Rhino Records
- 1993 So Many Roads, Charly Blues Masters
- 1994 The Tomato Years, Tomato Records
- 1995 Mean Mean Blues, King Records
- 1996 Hard Bargain, Stax Records
- 1997 Born Under A Bad Sign & Other Hits, Flashback Records
- 1999 Blues Power, Stax Records
- 1999 The Very Best Of Albert King, Rhino Records
- 1999 A Truckload Of Lovin': The Best Of Albert King, Recall Records (UK)
- 1999 In Session, Stax Records (with Stevie Ray Vaughan)
- 2001 Guitar Man, Fuel 2000 Records
- 2001 I Get Evil: Classic Blues Collected, Music Club Records
- 2001 More Big Blues Of Albert King, Ace Records
- 2002 Blue On Blues, Fuel 2000 Records
- 2003 Talkin' Blues, Thirsty Ear Records
- 2003 Blues From The Road, Fuel 2000 Records
[edit] Trivia
- Despite the same title, the 1972 and 1977 albums I'll Play The Blues For You differ in content, and the later one is a collection of previously released songs by King and John Lee Hooker.
- In Session (1999) was actually recorded in 1983 with Stevie Ray Vaughan.
- Talkin' Blues (2003) was recorded live in February 1978, and includes interviews with King.
- King played guitar, and sang on the Finnish rock and blues guitarist, Albert Järvisen's solo 1990 album, Braindamage or Still Alive?.
- Source: Albert King Discography. Retrieved on 20 July, 2005.
