King Of The Blues: The Rise And Reign Of B.B. King

★★★

Daniel De Vise

The seventh biography of B.B. King – and perhaps the last? ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS. £20

King Of The Blues does not outdo its forerunners in every respect, but it tracks B.B. King’s multifarious career with such efficiency and clarity that surely little of biographical significance remains to be said. It supplements Charles Sawyer’s first biography by investigating King’s early life in rural Mississippi and Memphis, and strikes an independent path away from the official account composed by David Ritz. Respect for his subject does not prevent De Vise from being candid about King’s womanising and gambling, or the disappointing concerts of his later years (“less Live At

The Regal and more Prairie Home Companion”). Musically curious readers may sometimes fret at sketchy or impressionistic descriptions of King’s guitar playing, and eyebrows will twitch at phrases like “slide master John Lee Hooker”, but the evaluations of King’s recordings are comprehensive and almost always judicious.