I Like To Live The Love

Performer: Bobby "Blue" Bland
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Bobby "Blue" Bland and B.B. King worked together repeatedly over the years, some of their band members regularly performing with both stars. This live set has a vividly spontaneous feel to it; King introduces the second song by saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, nothing is planned tonight, so what I'm thinkin' is we're just gonna pull somethin' out of the hat and get right into it." While Bland and King doubtless had a game plan for the night's possible contents, the set benefits from the edginess of a band and two front men responding in the moment to each other. Both men have honed their skills by performing continually over the decades, and their ease and grace on the stage is inspiring. The accompanying players possess a rough and tumble vigor--one listen to the horns on "That's the Way Love Is" and you'll be hooked by the excitement of it all. The album is warmly recorded, retaining the feel of the live show with depth and clarity.

Bobby "Blue" Bland is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the blues world. Growing up in Memphis, he was influenced by gospel and country as well as blues, and his style has always shown a broader scope than that of most bluesmen. Early on he worked as a valet/driver for B.B. King, but eventually the two men would work together as peers. Bland began recording in the early '50s, but it was his '60s recordings, including the classics "I Pity the Fool" and "Turn on Your Lovelight" that would make him immortal. Among blues musicians his influence is seminal, and in the rock world, everyone from Eric Clapton to the Grateful Dead has reverently covered Bland's material.

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