Whenever the average music listener thinks of a man named King associated with the blues, it’s always B.B. gracefully brandishing his Lucille. And there’s not really a problem with that, B.B. King is the living king of modern blues, after all, but if ever there was a blues King who deserved to be noticed, it’s another man named Albert.

Albert King’s unique guitar style makes him perhaps the most distinctive guitarist of the blues pantheon; he was a left-handed guitar player who never restrung his guitars for the proper hand, thus making his tone distinctive as he pulls on notes instead of pushing on them like his right-handed contemporaries. Bill Belmont, the compiler of King’s recently released Stax Profiles CD, makes a point of showing King’s impact from the very beginning, by opening with a 1983 take of “Born Under a Bad Sign” with Stevie Ray Vaughan on guitar instead of King. While Vaughan of course sails to the blues guitar rock god heights that made him famous, it is obvious by the second track, “Lovingest Woman in Town” featuring King himself on guitar, who truly is the master blues guitarist. While Vaughan was an undeniably good player, never do his skilled fingers ever create the ache, yearning, and sheer, raw awesomeness of an Albert King guitar solo.

Yet perhaps it was by his own desires that Albert King is so much less known than the looming figures of B.B. King and even Vaughan. He was a notoriously gun-shy studio performer; while his live performances were legendary to the point of inspiring Jimi Hendrix, King didn’t record a genuine studio album until after 13 years as a headlining musician, as well as making his way through five different record labels. For that matter, maybe it’s because King’s songs aren’t what a modern listener would describe as the quintessential Stax sound: his famed Gibson Flying V, Lucy, dominates the soundscape, so although such musical notables as the doomed Bar-Kays appear to play backup, never does that brassy hot summer evening sound completely infiltrate a song.

But in direct contrast to Albert King’s standing in basic pop culture, in the musical world, King was a groundbreaker. He was the first Blues musician to play at the Fillmore. He was the first Blues musician ever to play with a symphony orchestra. And perhaps most pivotally of all, King would become one of the most imitated and revered musicians in rock and roll history, with Eric Clapton imitating King’s riff from “As Years Go Passing By” in his impassioned hit song “Layla,” as well as earning such adoration from Stevie Ray Vaughan as to refer to King as “Daddy”. The enormous appeal of King’s emotional blues was enough to build a muilticultural musical heritage. His followers might have inspired the college party-band “Blueshammer“s of the world, but anyone who has listened to enough of King’s own work should be inspired to great, emotionally resonant aural heights.

Even this collection in and of itself is a remarkable piece of Blues history. Belmont (a producer known for his hand in many a modern Stax compilation) gathers some of the high points of King’s career, going as far as the aforementioned 1983 sessions with Vaughan, as well as all the way back to the original Stax numbers. King’s soaring paean to his Flying V, “(I Love) Lucy” demonstrates a wonderful monologue, a precursor to future labelmate Issac Hayes’ style of funk as well as a sexified piece of music history. Also thrilling are the iconic moments, such as the album closer “I’ll Play The Blues for You (Parts 1 & 2)” and King’s trademark “Born Under a Bad Sign”. These are the moments of legend which will spark new listeners to continue a deep and epic quest through the rest of King’s output. He might not have been as prolific as most artists who had been playing as long as him; he might not even be the official King of Blues. But Albert King is a great musician, who shines and breathes passion with every recorded note of his legendary guitar.

In celebration of the recently-released Stax Profiles series, the Modern Pea Pod is hosting Stax Records Week. In the following days, we’ll cover discs by Otis Redding, Booker T. & The M.G.’s, Rance Allen, Johnnie Taylor, Little Milton, and the Staple Singers, all of them specially compiled by noted musical figures from Elvis Costello to Steve Cropper. Watch this page for updates!

Reviewed by Megan Giddings