There are tribute records, and then there are records like this – the sort where the guestlist alone looks like it should come with security on the door. “B.B. King’s Blues Summit 100” is exactly that. Put together by Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith to mark what would have been B.B. King’s 100th birthday, it could have been a worthy, respectful nod to a giant. Instead, it feels bigger than that. It feels like a gathering. A celebration. A roll call of players and singers who know full well that if you love blues, in one way or another, it all goes back to B.B.
And as classic as the blues gets, it starts right there from the opening riff of “Paying The Cost To Be The Boss.” Christone “Kingfish” Ingram is the perfect choice to kick this thing into life, because he understands the tradition but never sounds trapped by it. From there, “Don’t Answer The Door” slows things down and lets Marcus King add that trademark soul of his, all ache and feel, with a solo that is simply incredible.
One of the album’s great strengths is that it never sounds like people turning up to politely do karaoke with old standards. “To Know You Is To Love You” amounts to Tedeschi Trucks turning a B.B. King song into their own thing entirely, while still treating it with obvious love. Likewise, “Let The Good Times Roll” sounds like Kenny Wayne Shepherd belongs here completely, and the good-time air of what he and Noah Hunt do suggests a session everyone involved must have enjoyed. “Sweet Little Angel,” with Buddy Guy, reminds you what really comes across again and again across these songs: the timelessness of all this music. It is old, yes. But old in the way that truth is old.
There is real class in the details too. The backing vocals throughout add real soul, and where horns appear, they add colour without clutter. “When Love Comes To Town” is a brilliant example of that sense of balance. It amounts to Slash and company conspiring on a classic, and with Shemekia Copeland and Myles Kennedy in the mix the duet works in much the same way it did when U2 tackled it – except this version has a dirtier, more lived-in feel. And really, that is the pull of the whole project. The cast is sensational. Absolute Premier League stuff. But it only works because these people are so steeped in the sound.
That matters, because all across these 32 songs there is a fascinating tension. Some of them sound oddly out of time, as though they’ve floated in from another age. But they also sound timeless. “There Must Be A Better World Somewhere,” with George Benson, has the air of a jazz club at 2am, all low lights and last orders, and the way the saxophone wraps around Benson’s voice is glorious. Elsewhere, “Night Life” with Paul Rodgers leans into that late-night mood too, and “Ain’t Nobody Home” carries the timeless theme of a woman-done-me-wrong blues while still sounding fresh in the telling.
And then there are the songs where the gentleness of the music hides real pain. That contrast is all over “B.B. King’s Blues Summit 100,” and maybe that is the blues in a nutshell: music that can smile through gritted teeth. Some tracks take their time, meander a little, wander where they please. Others burst out of the speakers with sheer enjoyment. “Heartbreaker” has that latter quality in spades, while “Chains And Things” feels heavier, weightier, like it is carrying the world on its shoulders. Maybe that contrast is the point.
There are inspired pairings everywhere. When one of rock’s great voices meets one of its best players, sparks are bound to fly, and there are several moments here where that happens. Jade MacRae, one of Bonamassa’s own singers, is absolutely on form here, and Joanne Shaw Taylor sounds immense on “Bad Case Of Love,” just as she did on her wonderful covers record. The women-led tracks in general offer something a little different, a slight shift in perspective that stops the whole thing from ever feeling too uniform. Dion, too, sounds like the experienced old hand he is on “Never Make A Move Too Soon,” while Josh Smith turns up in fine form on “Playin’ With My Friends” – not that you’d expect anything else from the man Bonamassa always introduces as the best guitarist on stage.
There are surprises as well. Train and Chris Buck might not scream obvious blues summit on paper, but “Think It Over” ends up being one of the highlights. Kim Wilson’s “It’s My Own Fault” has the title insisting on one thing while the performance tells you another, and D.K. Harrell’s “Every Day I Have The Blues” has that uplift that great blues can somehow conjure from hard luck. “Please Accept My Love” has an almost Elvis-like quality at times, the kind of phrasing and warmth that taps into something deep and familiar. And when Bonamassa himself takes one on his own, it sounds exactly as it should – like something that might have sat proudly on one of his solo records.
Maybe that is the biggest compliment you can pay “B.B. King’s Blues Summit 100.” Over 32 tracks, the quality never really dips. That in itself is remarkable. But more than that, it never forgets why it exists. This is not a vanity project, even if Bonamassa’s name is the one on the sleeve. It is a labour of love, a tribute made by musicians who understand the depth of what B.B. King gave them all. You can hear that in the performances, in the choices, in the care with which these songs are approached.
Plenty of tribute albums are respectful. This one is respectful, yes, but it is also alive. With touching tributes, inspired performances and a deep, obvious love for the people who made these songs matter in the first place, “B.B. King’s Blues Summit 100” does exactly what the best blues records do: it honours the past, lives in the present, and sounds like it is going to last forever.
RATING: 9/10
