Jazz Articles about B.B. King

B.B. King: Through the Years

by Alan Bryson
June 13, 2020

Sixty-six years passed from the time in 1948 when Riley King auditioned for a spot on Sonny Boy Williamson's radio program, until his final performance at the House of Blues on October 3, 2014 in Chicago. His life was a remarkable odyssey from a sharecropper's cabin to the pinnacle of success. We'll never know how many millions of miles he logged on his tour bus in the 50s and 60s --he and his band essentially lived on the road in ...

B.B. King: Live in Cook County Jail and More…

by C. Michael Bailey
May 26, 2015

In his ALLMUSIC artist's biography of B.B. King, Bill Dahl states, “Universally hailed as the king of the blues, the legendary B.B. King was without a doubt the single most important electric guitarist of the last half of the 20th century." That is hyperbole of the order of Stephen Thomas Erlewine's introduction in the same publication to Johnny Cash as, ..."one of the most imposing and influential figures in post-World War II country music." Of course, neither statement is hyperbole ...

B.B. King Live At The Hollywood Bowl, September 5, 2007

by AAJ Staff
May 15, 2010

One of the greatest blues figures is, of course, B.B. King. King fused the Texas blues playing of T-Bone Walker with a broader, almost literary sensibility; his thicker solo lines provide the opportunity to tell a story, to impart depth, and to dominate a horn section or at least supplement it on equal terms. Walker had learned his art from leading Blind Lemon Jefferson around from bar to bar when Walker was a young teenager in Dallas. Jefferson ...

B. B. King in Denver

by Geoff Anderson
May 5, 2010

B. B. King Buell Theater Denver, CO April 19, 2010

B. B. King is the last of the authentic Delta bluesmen. That group includes legends like Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. King is the real deal. He was born in the Delta and grew up on the plantations, doing farm work. He logged many a mile guiding a plow behind a mule. Later, he drove tractors ...

B.B. King: One Kind Favor

by Woodrow Wilkins
September 29, 2008

It's well-established that the blues, an art form born out of the Mississippi Delta cotton fields in the early 1900s, is a root of all forms of popular music: rock, pop, jazz, funk and even hip-hop. The man known as Riley B. King was born in the environment of that Delta, and has since become the most recognized name in blues--and perhaps, the most influential as well: B.B. King. Though Itta Bena, MS has long been recognized ...

Jimmy Smith: Dot Com Blues

by Chris M. Slawecki
January 11, 2001

He's known as one of the founding jazz fathers of Hammond B-3 organ funk, but Jimmy Smith has always played the blues. Born in December 1928 in a suburb west of Philadelphia, Smith has been performing since he was 12, at that time in a song and dance act with his father. After a stint in the navy, Smith took advantage of the GI Bill to study bass, piano and music theory upon his service discharge. During this period Smith ...

B.B. King: Let The Good Times Roll: The Music of Louis Jordan

by Ed Kopp
January 1, 2000

B. B. King pays tribute to his late friend Louis Jordan with this swingin' collection of covers.Jordan’s music has not been lacking for attention of late. First, the Broadway show “Five Guys Named Moe" became a smash hit on the strength of his tunes. Then a horde of zoot-suited ex-rockers became Jordan imitators during the retro-swing craze. With the swing thing now waning, the King of the Blues has decided the time is right to put his own ...