B.B. KING - ONE KIND FAVOR

この人を知らない人はいないでしょう。氏の遺作だとのことらしいですが、バックミュージシャンもネーザン・イースト、ジム・ケルトナーの名を連ねていれば興味がわかないはずはありません。派手さはないですが渋くて最高の仕上がりだと思います

Sencillamente genial su último disco.

Considering the lead booklet image---B.B. King gazing upon the Mississippi River, six parts weary and half a dozen parts beatific, his guitar strapped around his back---you might have expected this to be a self-eulogy, accounting for the man's age and long, long, long miles gone. But then you remember that, even if "See That My Grave is Kept Clean" might have a profound significance for a man in his dotage, B.B. King has been many things but a brooder isn't exactly one of them. He could have taken the leadoff song's hint and turned out an album of mourning, but he didn't.What King has done is produce a celebration of life by way of material he never covered (at least on records or CDs) from the people who moved him to the blues in the first place, including three nicely chosen and nicely played selections from one of his early idols, Lonnie Johnson. Using these songs to ruminate on life itself as well as his own, King comes across as introspective as he's ever done; if there's heartbreak there's also transcendent joy, a balance that always was the underwriting of his best music in the first place. He has nothing left to prove, of course. The voice may show its age but here he uses it judiciously and lets his feeling do the work; his guitar playing may not have the old classic sting, but in the calm phrasing and noirish tone it's almost more affecting than most of what he did in the twenty years previous.Credit producer T-Bone Burnett for helping King assemble the the musicians able to bring off this intriguing union between quiet elegance and earthiness. Jim Keltner (drums) and Nathan East (bass) haven't produced rhythm section work this pulsating and empathetic in a very long time; Dr. John and Neil Larsen use their keyboards like charcoal on canvas; the horns punctuate without trying to punch out the lights; and the support guitarists ride the groove as if they were traveling a long train home. You can choose for yourselves which tracks illustrate the achievement best; for me, it's King and company's take on Johnson's "Backwater Blues." The rhythm section harks back to some of King's 1950s sides; Dr. John almost nudges his piano to move the proceedings; the horns breathe in the background as though giving a kind of weather report; and King's vocal expresses as much marvel as memory, while his spare, crying guitar phrases never succumb to the temptation to imitate his past.Clearly these songs have meant something special to him over many years; he's never really denied his roots but he's rarely given them the kind of thanks he's given here. If this album isn't the most important work of B.B. King's long and distinguished career, this is certainly the most appropriate and affecting coda to it. The health issues erupting in earnest since its release may well mean the end of that career, but if so then a lot of lesser lights (and no few legends), among bluesmen and elsewhere, would probably give everything they had to say farewell with music as quietly powerful as this.

BB King, à plus de 80 ans, avec Buddy Guy et Eric Clapton est le dernier monument du Blues, celui qui a vécu, crée et participer à la grande époque du blues. Celui qui par un regard, une note de guitare, ou une simple phrase peut vous électrifier d'émotions.Il est vrai qu'il n'a plus toujours la même pêche, mais là, comme sur l'album "Blues of the Bayou", il est poussé, et propulsé par de bons musiciens, Jim Keltner à la batterie, Dc John au piano, Nathan East à la basse...qui le forcent à donner le meilleurs de lui même.Le "Vieux chêne", dés lors, nous distillent 12 morceaux très sensibles et bien rythmés. Sa voix et sa guitare se font parfois "claquantes", "de velours", ou "faussement-désabusés", mais BB King jamais ne désarme et nous distille une nouvelle leçon de vie. Espérons, pour nous, qu'il y en aient beaucoup d'autres !

In a world of media blandness where the words genius or legend are often over used and subsequently under valued, in this case those words are fully justified. Speaking as a life long fan of the blues, this latest release from BB King could only be the product of a legend. The album has the feel of a musician taking the time to explore ideas and standards old and new and the result is superb. I found this album genuinely moved me at times and left me wanting more. This album has the potential to spread the blues word to the mainstream in the same way the John Lee Hooker acheived with 'The Healer' almost 20 years ago.Any music fan should have this in their collection it is that good. This album is the sound of a man still at the top of his craft, pulling off licks that only a man with his prolific experience and output can muster. Couple this with a superb legend laden backing band and the much spoken about clean honest production and this album can only be five stars.