Freddie > BB > Albert : who was King of the Kings?

Jalapeno

Kaki

No really it's BB

AlexO

Freddie.
All of them are brilliant though.

robinbowes

stickyfiddle said:

I'm having at least one shirt made like that

R.

skikdi53

I love Freddie but the king is BB, cause he is staying alive more time and his career is long, he does more for the blues than the others ones.

mburekenge

Love them all. Really depends on the mood i'm in

Caffeine_Vampire

EricTheWeary said:

T Bone Walker. Pretty much the common link between the three.

^ Very this.

telehack

Would be BB for me, but I'm biased as "Live at Cook County Jail" was one of the first blues albums I bought. Plus - style points, I mean come on:

EricTheWeary

Caffeine_Vampire said:

EricTheWeary said:

T Bone Walker. Pretty much the common link between the three.

^ Very this.

T Bone was from an era of short lived singles so if you pick up a compilation very soon you start thinking it's very samey. He's also the end of an era when being a blues singer was about looking sharp and conspicuous consumption, dancing on a Saturday night and pithy comments on social trends. The era of dungarees and home spun 'authenticity' to sell to white folks was yet to come. Horn driven songs about Bobby Soxers probably don't hold much currency with 21st century guitarists but T Bone had been listening to acoustic blues, to Django, to Charlie Christian and then the three Kings ( and Chuck Berry and many others) all wanted to be like him. Even Hendrix stole some of his showmanship. 
For anyone with an interest in electric blues he was ground zero; all the others just took it somewhere else. 

DB1

Added bonus point for BB playing an ES-5. Cool. You're right about T-Bone - I love his stuff, but yes, samey.  T-Bone's most obvious influence from his 'era' onwards was, to my ears and eyes, Chuck Berry. You can hear the notes in Chuck Berry's playing and see the T-Bone showmanship in his performances.  It's interesting to see some of BB's earlier guitars, pre-Lucille. I've seen him with an ES-125 as well. as many others.

Henrytwang

stuagu said:

I'd cop out and say the one I'm listening to at the time.

Yes, the same goes for me, all three of them are masters of their art.

scrumhalf

Freddie for me, he changed music for me.

Dare anyone mention Earl King? 

dcg

I saw all three, Freddie and BB two or three times.  Freddie was powerful, charismatic, and completely spellbinding as singer and player; BB polished, great finesse, and probably the best tone and vocals overall; Albert super-danceable, highly individual, and the best crossover R&B/blues/soul sound of all time.  All models for anyone of us who ever picked up a guitar

proggy

I'd like to nominate Mark, he's a fantastic bassist.

If not, then it's Albert for me.

Blueingreen

BB for me. 

He just sounded more unique.  A lot of the white blues guys in the 60s cited BB as an influence but you heard a lot more of the other Kings in their playing.  They favoured a minor-pentatonic heavy style that let them let rip without having to worry too much about where they were in the progression.  BB was much more likely to play notes that only worked at certain points in the progression.  It wasn't sophisticated compared to the jazz guys, but it was a little harder than getting the minor pentatonic boxes under your fingers and going for it.  Every local bar band had their guy who could do a reasonable Eric (and by extension Freddie) but guys who could do a decent BB were rare.

(Before someone corrects me I'm not saying Clapton and the other Kings weren't familiar with that more chord-specific vocabulary, but they used it less frequently and you could sound pretty like them without being very comfortable with it yourself.  To sound like BB, you HAD to be on top of this stuff).

edenfield99

If I was held at gun point and made to answer (after discussing why someone thought my option mattered enough to hold me at gunpoint) I’d say BB for me...with Freddie a close second...Albert third but there’s a hair breadth in it. BB covers the jump stuff which I love if you go back all the way to more modern styles (approximate split between the two at the live at the regal album). But I love all three. 

ICBM

BB

Because he arguably invented sideways finger vibrato, and thus had more influence on every blues, rock and almost every other genre of guitarist since. OK, someone else would have done it sooner or later, but he was the first...

No-one's mentioned Ed yet either .

springhead

I think BB for me for a choice of one.  Freddie close behind, I like his early stuff the best.  I was looking through old gig tickets recently, I chuck them in a drawer.  Turns out I saw BB 5 times, and loved every one.  Sadly didn't get to see Freddie and only saw Albert when he came on stage with Gary Moore for one song.    

Ted

Well if the King himself was playing on 'Guitar Man' then it is actually the King. Otherwise I would say BB King

HAL9000

Freddie, BB, Albert, Carole, Jonathan.

scrumhalf

Ledley.