Sunday 31 July 2011

B. B. King




B. B. King - Blues On The Bayou  1999
 












01.  Blues Boys Tune
02. Bad Case of Love 
03. I'll Survive 
04. Mean Ole' World 
05. Blues Man 
06. Broken Promise 
07. Darlin' What Happened
08. Shake It up and Go 
09. Blues We Like
10. Good Man Gone Bad 
11. If I Lost You
12. Tell Me Baby 
13. I Got Some Outside Help I Don't Need 
14. Blues in "G"
15. If That Ain't It I Quit

Personnel:
B. B.  King (vocals, guitar); Leon Warren (guitar); Melvin Jackson (saxophone); Stanley Abernathy, James Bolden (trumpet); James Sells Toney (keyboards); Michael Doster (bass); Calep Emphrey Jr.  (drums); Tony Coleman (percussion).


Having just turned 73, B. B.  King released BLUES ON THE BAYOU as a kind of retrospective look at 50 years of playing the blues.  King produced BLUES ON THE BAYOU himself and recorded it at a remote studio in the heart of Lafayette, Louisiana with the band he'd been playing with for the past 10 years.  A relaxed and well-oiled feeling is felt throughout this group of songs, some of which were newly written while others are older numbers that were dusted off and re-recorded specifically for these sessions.  "Blues Boys Tune" and "Blues We Like" are solidly rendered King instrumentals and "I'll Survive" is a '50s nugget softly gilded by strings and horn charts punctuated by James Sells Toney's fluid piano playing. King's economical use of notes means that "Mean Ole World" becomes more than just a standard shuffle and "Blues Man" not only possesses a slow burn, but could easily become his trademark song.  Digging deep into his considerable catalog, B. B.  King shows impressive acumen towards life's potholes by pulling out numbers dealing with betrayal ("Broken Promise" ), sassy, Louis Jordan-flavored relationship problems ("Shake It Up And Go" ), jealousy ("Good Man Gone Bad" ) and despair ("If I Lost You," "Tell Me Baby" ).

Recorded at Dockside Studio, Maurice, Louisiana.






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