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Albert King

Bluesman Albert King was one of the premier electric guitar stylists of the post-World War II period. By playing left- handed and holding his guitar upside-down (with the strings set for a right-handed player), and by concentrating on tone and intensity more than flash, King fashioned over his long career, a sound that was both distinctive and highly influential. He was a master of the single-string solo and could bend strings to produce a particularly tormented blues sound that set his style apart from his contemporaries.

King was also the first major blues guitarist to cross over into modem soul; his mid- and late 1960s recordings for the Stax label, cut with the same great session musicians who played on the recordings of Otis Redding, Sam & Dave,Eddie Floyd, and others, appealed to his established black audience while broadening his appeal with rock fans. Along with B.B. King (no relation, though at times Albert suggested otherwise) and Muddy Waters, King helped nurture a white interest in blues when the music needed it most to survive.

King was born in Indianola, Mississippi and taught himself how to play on a homemade guitar. Inspired by Blind Lemon Jefferson, King quit singing in a family gospel group and took up the blues. He worked around Osceola, Arkansas, with a group called the In the Groove Boys before migrating north and ending up in Gary, Indiana, in the early 1950s. For a while, King played drums behind bluesman Jimmy Reed. In 1953, King convinced Parrot label owner Al Benson to record him as a blues singer and guitarist. That year King cut "Bad Luck Blues" and "Be On Your Merry Way" for Parrot. Because King received little in the way of financial remuneration for the record, he left Parrot and eventually moved to St. Louis, where he recorded for the Bobbin and the King labels. In 1959 he had a minor hit on Bobbin with "I'm a Lonely Man." King's biggest release, "Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong," made it to number 14 on the R&B charts in 1961.

King didn't become a major blues figure until after he signed with Stax Records in 1966. Working with producer-drummer Al Jackson, Jr., guitarist Steve Cropper, keyboards ace Booker T. Jones, and bass player Donald "Duck"Dunn, better known as Booker T. and the MG's, King created a blues sound that was laced with Memphis soul strains. Although the blues were dominant on songs such as"Laundromat Blues" and the classic "Born Under A Bad Sign", the tunes had Memphis soul underpinnings that gave King his crossover appeal. A collection of these singles were compiled onto an LP in 1967, and it proved to be an important recording in modern Blues history. Titled, "Born Under A Bad Sign," this performance is still quite impressive forty years after its release, a testament to Albert King’s talent and pivotal in the career of the bluesman. He was finally getting the attention and recognition he deserved.

Albert King: Born Under A Bad Sign (SACD)

Read "Born Under A Bad Sign (SACD)" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
May 13, 2023

Originally released in the psychedelicized year of 1967, the altogether earthy blues recording that is Albert King's Born Under A Bad Sign may have gone over the heads of those succumbing to flower power during the Summer of Love. Nevertheless, it made an impression on those who were learning to dote on the genre, many of whom were musicians who not only acted upon the inspiration they found in the music, but also tendered dutiful homage to the artist. Cream ...

Album Review

Albert King: Born Under a Bad Sign

Read "Born Under a Bad Sign" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
April 4, 2013

First things first. Left-handed blues guitarist Albert King played a right-handed, right-strung guitar turned upside down. Left-handed blues guitarist Jimi Hendrix played a right-handed, left-strung guitar upside-down.That said..When Albert King came to Memphis and signed with Stax records in 1966, no parties knew exactly what effect King's blues sensibilities would have on the Southern soul of house band Booker T. and the MGs nor how the band's well-established southern-fried credentials would inspire King. The result, captured ...

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Album Review

Albert King: Talkin' Blues

Read "Talkin' Blues" reviewed by Todd S. Jenkins

by Todd S. Jenkins
October 25, 2003

Electric blues giant Albert King recorded this excellent live set in Chicago in February 1978. It’s unfortunate that no one documented the musicians with whom he was playing that night, but in the end King’s overpowering presence almost renders any other sounds moot. The sheer power of his guitar sound and commanding vocals dominated most every show he ever played a part in, and this disc is no exception.

For a board mix, the sound quality of these old tapes ...

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Album Review

Albert King: Talkin' Blues

Read "Talkin' Blues" reviewed by AAJ Staff

by AAJ Staff
May 12, 2003

There's little need for explanation when it comes to Albert King. Though he never had a profile near that of B.B., the “other" King, he has been incredibly influential on generations of blues musicians. Like fellow lefty Jimi Hendrix, he played a right-handed guitar upside-down and backwards. More than most blues musicians, he lingered on stretched notes to provide emotional emphasis. And rather than aiming for blues purity--which would have been perfectly in character given his Delta and Arkansas origins--he ...

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Album Review

Albert King with Stevie Ray Vaughan: In Session

by Ed Kopp
November 1, 1999

In 1983, blues legend Albert King scheduled a TV appearance on In Session, a program produced by CHCH-TV in Hamilton, Ontario. The show matched like-minded musicians in hour-long jam sessions. In advance of the show, the 60-year-old King was only told that he’d be jamming with another guitarist. His collaborator turned out to be 29-year-old Stevie Ray Vaughan, fresh from recording his first album Texas Flood.This recording of the King-Vaughan summit is not only historic, it's a guitar-lover’s ...

Video / DVD

Five Guitarists With the Blues

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
September 17, 2020

By 1971, my family had moved out of Manhattan for the northern reaches of Westchester County. I wasn't happy about being there, but it was better than dealing with overcrowded classrooms in the city and muggings in school stairways. Craving the city at 15, I started taking the train into New York to spend hours at record stores. I'd often come back with four or five albums paid for with lawn-mowing money. By then, many of my friends had grown ...
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Recording

Albert King's Late '60s "Born Under A Bad Sign" To Be Reissued On Stax Records

Source: conqueroo
February 21, 2013

Release teems with King’s best-known songs: “Born Under a Bad Sign,” “Crosscut Saw,” “Oh, Pretty Woman” and “Laundromat Blues.” Steve Cropper, Booker T. & the MGs, the Memphis Horns and Stax’s songwriters help make it an all-time blues classic. LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Any list of seminal 1960s electric blues albums is incomplete without Albert King’s Born Under a Bad Sign positioned near the top. The Indianola, Mississippi-born “King of the Blues Guitar,” who cut his professional teeth as a ...
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Recording

Albert King Classic Album from Stax Remasters

Source: conqueroo
May 22, 2012

Concord Music Group will release Albert King’s I’ll Play the Blues for You as part of its Stax Remasters series on May 22, 2012. Enhanced by 24-bit remastering by Joe Tarantino, four previously unreleased bonus tracks, and newly written liner notes by music journalist and roots music historian Bill Dahl, the reissue not only spotlights one of the most entertaining and influential blues recordings of the 1970s, but also underscores the album’s enduring nature four decades after its original release. ...
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Recording

Albert King on Stax

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
April 20, 2011

When I was a teenager in the 1970s living with my parents an hour north of New York in Westchester County, I had friends who worked in the record departments of stores that anchored local malls. They knew I loved music and that on my trips to New York I often brought back hip jazz records from stores called Sam Goody and King Karol. One of my cashier friends offered me a deal: He'd buy any three records I wanted ...
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277

Recording

Concord Music Group Spotlights Miles Davis, Bill Evans and Albert King in Latest Round of "Definitive" Volumes

Source: conqueroo
February 22, 2011

Two-disc sets capture some of the finest jazz and blues of the past six decades. All three collections to be released on April 5, 2011. LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Concord Music Group has assembled three new titles in its ongoing Definitive series, one of which marks the series' initial foray into CMG's vast blues catalog. The Definitive Miles Davis on Prestige; The Definitive Bill Evans on Riverside and Fantasy; and The Definitive Albert King on Stax span a total of 60 years ...
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Recording

Albert King & Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'In Session' in Top 5 Billboard Blues Catalog Chart, to be Carried at Starbucks February 15

Source: conqueroo
February 4, 2011

Seen nationwide as a PBS special, CD/DVD combo reaps critical praise LOS ANGELES, Calif.—If blues legends Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan were still alive, they'd be blown away by the reaction to their 28-year-old live collaboration. The 1983 performance, shot in Hamilton, Ontario for the TV series In Session, has sold an astounding 360,000 units as both an audio CD and combined CD/DVD, according to Nielson Soundscan. The deluxe CD/DVD twofer, released on November 9, 2010 on Stax Records ...
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Video / DVD

"Albert King with Stevie Ray Vaughan - In Session" Scheduled for November Airing on PBS

Source: conqueroo
November 30, 2010

Deluxe DVD of historical blues summit released on Stax Records LOS ANGELES, Calif.—PBS has announced that the Albert King with Stevie Ray Vaughan — In Session program will air as a special on its stations beginning November 27 and throughout the month of December (check local listings). Grammy Award winning bluesman Robert Cray will serve as special fundraising host on the public television broadcasts. In 1983, when legendary blues guitarist Albert King, then age 60, was joined by his disciple ...
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Video / DVD

Albert King/Stevie Ray Vaughan 'In Session' Summit Now on DVD on Stax

Source: conqueroo
September 28, 2010

Guitar titans' one and only meeting to be released as a deluxe CD/DVD November 9th on Stax LOS ANGELES, Calif.—On December 6, 1983, legendary blues guitarist Albert King joined his disciple Stevie Ray Vaughan on a Canadian sound stage for the live music television series In Session. Magic happened. The highly sought after video footage from that one- time legendary summit becomes available for the first time ever on November 9 with the release of Stax Records' deluxe two-disc CD/DVD ...
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Recording

Albert King & Stevie Ray Vaughan's "In Session" Album Reissued on Stax

Source: conqueroo
June 15, 2009

In Session Album, which reached #1 on the blues chart, has been digitally remastered for this reissue.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Albert King never got the mass recognition he deserved. He always seemed to be in the shadow of B.B. But among blues guitarists and fans of the craft, he was the master. Austin, Texas’ Stevie Ray Vaughan, 31 years King’s junior, exploded onto the scene in 1983, first as guitarist on David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” followed by his own ...
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Recording

Albert King "Talkin' Blues" release date April 22, 2003

Source: All About Jazz

In cooperation with the Albert King Trust, Thirsty Ear has unearthed a previously unreleased live recording, featuring the legendary blues man backed by a full horn section in one of his finest moments.

Recorded in Chicago on February 10, 1978 this performance features over 50 minutes of live music including such classics as “I'll Play the Blues for You" & “Born Under a Bad Sign". But what sets this one apart is a never before heard interview with the man ...
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