40 Greatest Hits (2 Cd Set)

B.B. King

B.B. King epitomizes the sound and the image of the blues. His heterodox style has influenced generations of blues and rock guitarists and has been copied by many imitators-who rarely play with King's fluency. With his shiny gold plated, pearl inlaid Gibson 335 guitar - affectionately known as Lucille - at his side, King wowed the world with his mesmerizing new blues style.
His passionate, heartfelt vocals and superb guitar technique gained him a massive international popularity after his music was "discovered" by white audiences the world over. King fused Walker's jazz-oriented lines with the delta blues bottleneck tradition of guitarists like Lonnie Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson. But instead of using a slide, King developed a left-hand finger vibrato technique whose influence on blues and Rock & Roll remains incalculable.
This technique resulted in a powerfully emotive and lyrical guitar style that used sustained notes - characteristic of a saxophone or trumpet - to imbue the music with a sense of breath and space. The vibrato technique combined with King's unique use of string bends and off the beat rhythmic phrasing created a very personal guitar sound unlike that of any of his contemporaries.