(25 April 1923 – 21 December 1992)

The last few years I have been spending more and more time listening to blues from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, and then mostly to blues made by African-Americans. Musicians like T-Bone Walker, Memphis Slim, Muddy Waters, and many others. Blues rock just does not interest me anymore, although there are exceptions in the genre. Must be something to do with getting older.

Last night I decided to play my Albert King CD’s again and that reminded me of a very special performance. As I mentioned before, the first blues performance I attended was my big hero Freddie King in the Paradiso in Amsterdam. After that I hit the record stores every week, looking for those fantastic LP’s and managed to obtain quite a collection of blues records. I also went to concerts every week and saw all my blues heros live. So not long after Freddie, I saw my second King at work, B.B. King.  B.B. came to the Netherlands every year, so I was able to see him several times. It was not so easy to see the third King live. But finally after many years, there he was, Albert King, in the Paradiso. No doubt, this concert I could not miss !  Tickets were arranged and I could not wait for the big night.

This was back in the days when the Paradiso was filled to the rafters for blues concerts and that was this case for this concert as well. On the podium we could see all the instruments set up and the spotlight focused on a bar stool, upon which Albert’s open guitar case lay. The band opened with a tight blues theme and after a few measures the smoke from his pipe snaked its way onto the stage, followed by the man himself, Albert King, a giant.

Freddie and B.B., talented as they are, are small fry compared to Albert. At nearly 2 meters in height and 118 kilos in weight, Albert picked up his Gibson Flying V as if it were a mere feather and from that moment on the familiar guitar sounds filled the hall. Beautiful numbers like ‘Pretty Woman’, ‘Cadillac Assembly Line’, ‘Born Under a Bad Sign’ and many others followed. I listened with goose bumps. Unfortunately this was the only time I ever saw him live, I had hoped to have this chance one more time. Many years later I did get to see Jimmy King, so that my King quartet was complete.

If you ever have the chance to be in Memphis, visit the Stax museum. There is a special memorial exhibit devoted to Albert, where you can see his Gibson Flying V.

Websites:
http://staxrecords.free.fr/king.htm
www.cascadeblues.org/History/AlbertKing.htm

Translation by: Amy Crawshaw

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