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| King in full effect |
The youngest of the three men, Freddie King matured musically at the same time that people like Chuck Berry, Ike Turner and Bo Diddley were in the process of creating rock-n-roll. King's playing showed these modern influences. Freddie King was just as comfortable playing surf-rock, Chuck Berry style grooves, and other uptempo instrumental R&B as he was playing slower blues. King's early albums were attempts to cash in on the early sixties surfing craze. He was briefly on the same label as James Brown but unfortunately I don't think they ever recorded together. Maybe I'm wrong and there's some cut out there with Freddie King backing up Soul Brother Number One! King also spent a lot of time as a session guitarist for Chess and Cobra records during the day while by night he was making a name for himself as an up and coming blues guitarist on Chicago's competitive west side guitar circuit.
Like the other Kings of the blues he had a HUGE voice to go along with his guitar stylings. Freddie King was among the last major blues guitarists with an instantly identifiable sound. He was not a great songwriter but was a talented improviser.
Freddie King eschewed a normal pick attack but played with a thumbpick and fingers, something which was quite common for the Texas country blues guitarists he had grown up emulating. He had a very distinctive and immediately familiar vibrato in his playing.
King was also playing much more loudly than most other blues guitarists and quite a few rock guitarists in the early seventies. Unlike most rock guitarists though King had mastery of dynamics and tension. He wasn't just playing loudly ALL the time. As were many musicians of his generation, Freddie King was a direct influence on several rock musicians -most notably Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, the Vaughn Brothers, and Grand Funk Railroad to name a few.
"Up all night with Freddie King/I got to tell you poker's his thing" -We're an American Band -Grand Funk Railroad
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| King and Clapton |
Ain't no Sunshine Have you ever loved a woman Ghetto Woman Ain't that I don't love you
Hideaway Going Down Ain't Nobody's Business if I do Gambling Woman Blues
Donny Hathaway
Like Wonder, Hathaway excelled both live and in studio, but for me Hathaway's best work was usually recorded live. He was a very organic musician for lack of a better word. Hathaway, like Wonder, worked with some of the best soul, jazz, and R&B musicians around. He demanded and received a very high level of quality of work from himself and from his fellow musicians. Luminaries such as Stanley Clarke, Phil Upchurch, David Newman and Cornell Dupree worked with Hathaway.
Similar to many other soul musicians, Hathaway started out singing gospel as a child and took many of those abilities and influences into popular music. Hathaway was an educated musician, having attended Howard University on a music scholarship. At Howard, Hathaway was recognized as being so skilled that when he bothered to come to music theory and composition class, his teachers would often let him teach the class. For those of you who are into such things, Hathaway was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha.
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| Hathaway and Flack |
When you listen to these cuts notice how well produced and mixed they are-the vocals are upfront but everything fits together. You can simultaneously pick out all of the individual instruments but no one instrument dominates the sound-with of course the occasional exception of Hathaway's piano. I really like these sounds. In my opinion production like this has become something of a lost art.
To Be Young, Gifted and Black Giving Up Be Real Black for me
Jealous Guy A Song For you I love You more than you'll ever Know Some day we'll all be free Where is the Love The Ghetto Magnificent Sanctuary Band We need you right now
This Christmas You've Got a friend
