Albums consisting entirely of one artist paying tribute to another are commonplace, especially in the blues world where a particular artist's musical heritage is easy to trace. It's rare, though, for an artist of B.B. King's caliber to do such a tribute, and we're all lucky that the artist he chose to honor is Louis Jordan--the King of the Blues saluting the King of Swing. King's clean, expressive guitar style and rough-hewn voice are so distinctive that there's no mistaking them for anyone else's, and hearing them applied to Jordan's classic songs--including "Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens," "Somebody Done Changed the Lock on My Door," "Saturday Night Fish Fry," and "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out"--demonstrates both King's considerable skill and the great versatility of Jordan's songwriting. That makes this record more than a mere curiosity, as does the stellar piano work from another living legend, Dr. John. --Genevieve Williams
