B.B. King’s new album, One Kind Favor, (Geffen Records, 26 August 2008) is a welcome addition in the discography of the king of blues.  Recorded in July 2008 in Los Angeles, this project seeks “to sound like an album recorded in the 50s” according to the liner.  At first blush, one might wonder why attempt such a thing in this age of electronic enhancement of every sort of music?   But as soon as the first song starts, and growing stronger with each track, it becomes eminently clear why.  This is the way blues should sound, this is the right atmosphere.

That B.B. King would attempt such a project is remarkable in itself.  After over 40 years in the business, 14 Grammies, and countless albums, B.B. can rest on his laurels.  Good artists never do though; witness Tony Bennett still creating unique sounds and projects into his 80s.  B.B. once said he does what he likes in his art … and the result is always genius.  We are grateful to Geffen Records for taking us back to the King’s roots with this latest production.

The track arrangements alternate between a swinging ‘I don’t care that you left me’ kind of blues to a jazzy ‘I don’t worry because I’m “sitting on top of the world” (the title of one of the tracks) to a melancholy ‘Why did you leave me?’ mood.  The ballads are slow and sultry poems from a man to his lost lover.  Only B.B. can pull such transitions off and make each track sound believable, drawing the listener closer to his heart-pain with each bar and each word.

The band is small and at the top of their game.  The instruments could comprise an album alone.  B.B.’s guitar solo on the second track, “I Get So Weary” is so impeccably executed and, accompanied by Nathan East’s acoustic bass, one finds oneself being absorbed into the “room” that B.B. presents … that smoky, dark bar where The Breakup just occurred and love just left.  Like Count Basie on the piano, each of B.B.’s notes is perfectly accurate and perfectly placed.  There is no energy wasted, no extra effort needed, yet each note is expressive and necessary.

B.B. is in full voice on this album.  When he sings the first few bars of the final number “Tomorrow Night” ( “… will you still remember what you said tonight?”) with only the pure select keys of a piano, he drives right through each note with the remorse of a man crazy about his girl.  And when the sax and guitar pick up that mood, they only carry it to its natural feeling of that dank room where men are crying in their drinks. This is pure blues.

Highly recommended for any fan of the blues or for those just discovering this uniquely American music as only its preeminent artist can create it.

Michael Avari

www.americancivility.us

www.mynextclient.com