B.B. King
Kansas City 1972 - Live

Some things don't happen by chance. It is no coincidence that B.B. King has the word King as part of his name.

And if Lucille could talk, who knows how many things she would tell us about him; during his many years of career, she must have seen a lot. I believe she might have known the King in a very intimate and personal way, like anyone in different situations. Perhaps she saw him playing well, playing poorly and getting angry, playing with feeling, or without the slightest desire to do it. She might have felt treated like a lady or perhaps with nonchalance, who knows how many secrets are hidden behind those 6 strings, how much more we would know if only they could speak. No point in fantasizing, a guitar certainly can't talk, darn it, I'm going crazy. But, some things don’t happen by chance, as I was saying...

I had never listened to anything of the Blues Boy King when I bought this live album, and I did it almost absentmindedly, because I had often heard him talked about, and thus, as a blues enthusiast, it seemed like a good idea to “dare” to purchase the first one that came to hand. So unconsciously, I brought home a series of timeless classics, those that never die, and I’m not referring to the craftsmanship of the CD.
From the blues groove as a delightful introduction to more melancholy moments (“The Thrill Is Gone”), moving through pure blues made of class that manages to captivate even the distracted listener (“Nobody Loves Me But My Mother”, “Guess Who”, “King’s Shuffle”) and many others that I’m not going to list now, but if listened to, you can’t help but move and feel somehow swept away.

The ingredients? Warm, deep voice, essential and passionate guitar playing. And beyond the sadness inherent in its name, the blues, it always manages to communicate emotions, ranging from one extreme to the other, from sad to happy, from slow to rhythmic. Reflecting on it, then, Lucille did speak, and she didn’t do it just once, and she told many stories; after all, if she had never done so, I probably wouldn't be writing these lines now.

A long time ago, back in 1972, Lucille spoke to the audience, and she did it with her bluesy voice, that full of feeling and "oh, babe." A long time ago, back in 1972, Lucille spoke, and if you want to know what she had to say, I don’t need to tell you what you have to do...