Of the three Kings – blues guitarists B.B., Albert and Freddie, all of whom I have great respect and admiration for – my favorite is Freddie. Freddie wrote and played on some of the great blues instrumentals of the late 1950s and early ’60s such as Hide Away and The Stumble, among others, and delivered signature versions of Have You Ever Loved A Woman, Five Long Years, I’m Tore Down, and his own Someday, After Awhile (You’ll Be Sorry).

His influence may very well reach the furthest of the three Kings with Eric Clapton and Peter Green among his disciples. And I played with him in a one-off concert in New York in the early ’70s. But more on that later.

After revitalizing his career in 1971 with Shelter Records for whom he recorded three outstanding albums in as many years with Leon Russell and friends – Getting Ready …, Texas Cannonball and Woman Across The River – Freddie cut a record in 1974 on RSO called Burglar, Hidden Treasure, No. 3 in our series. Nine of the 10 cuts were recorded in England with an all-star lineup of British musicians and produced by blues legend Mike Vernon, who also produced Treasure No. 1, Martha Velez’s Fiends & Angels. The remaining track was produced by Tom Dowd at Criteria Studios in Miami with Eric Clapton and his 461 Ocean Boulevard band guesting.

The Clapton track is a Mel London classic Sugar Sweet, a short uptempo funky romp that appears to feature Clapton on the intro solo and King taking his chorus toward the end of the tune. They sound very similar on this track.

The other tunes feature a core band that includes Bobby Tench, guitar, Roy Davies on a variety of keyboards, Steve Ferrone, drums, DeLisle Harper, bass, Pete Wingfield, piano, and a horn section with Steve Gregory, tenor and soprano sax and arrangements on five of the tracks, and Chris Mercer, noted player from John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, tenor and two arrangements, among others. Brian Auger also joins in on organ for three cuts.

Most of the songs are covers with two attributed to King and members of the studio band, Texas Flyer and Pulp Wood. Others include J.J. Cale’s I Got The Same Old Blues, Jerry Ragovoy’s  She’s A Burglar, Isaac Hayes’ I Had A Dream and the Earl King classic Come On (Let The Good Times Roll), a tune Jimi Hendrix covered on Electric Ladyland.

Vernon and Rick Hayward, one of the guitar forces on Velez’s album, contribute Only Getting Second Best, while the light-hearted Johnson/Perry tune My Credit Didn’t Go Through and the opener Pack It Up (Chandler/Gonzales) complete the record. Most of the album is an upbeat blend of funk and blues, joyful and imbued with a keen sense of humor. King’s playing and voice are showcased beautifully.

The opener and second track, Pack It Up and My Credit, are two of the best performances. King’s solo in Pack It Up in the middle section is concise but biting with a fierce tone from his Gibson ES-335 over a typically funky groove, one of many on the album. He solos on the tag as well and delivers one of his best vocals. Tench offers excellent support on rhythm guitar by interweaving groove-oriented riffs on this track and most of the rest of the album.

My Credit benefits from background singers on the chorus, King’s tasty guitar fills throughout and the Tower Of Power style groove propelled by a Gregory arrangement. Cale’s Same Old Blues has a straighter rock feel and an ample helping of King’s guitar.

Only Getting Second Best is one of the album’s two slow blues, I Had A Dream the other, while Texas Flyer juxtaposes a funky verse with a Lucille-type, riff-driven middle section and tag. Pulp Wood, the other original, is an instrumental blues shuffle, the only track besides the Clapton number that is played without horns. It’s reminiscent of King’s many other seminal instrumentals, with shifting grooves between the main shuffle and straight rock feels.

The track from which the album’s title comes, She’s A Burglar, is a moderate groove with a Mercer horn arrangement and the return of the background singers, Pat (P.P.) Arnold, Vie and Misty Browning to augment King’s heartfelt vocal.

The rocking, rollicking closer, Come On, is played at about half the tempo of Hendrix’s version, more in a New Orleans feel, and boasts an inventive horn arrangement by Mercer with more of Freddie’s typically superior soloing.

Unlike our second Treasure, Full Moon, Burglar is readily available at bargain prices, from about $3 on the Markeplace to $10 at Amazon. Vernon went on to produce a second title for King in 1975, Larger Than Life, which has some high moments but not the overall strength of Burglar. More tracks with Clapton emerged after Freddie’s death in 1976 at age 42 from heart failure. The toll of playing as many as 300 dates a year caught up with him at a young age. That third RSO release, 1934 to 1976, has four cuts with Clapton’s band on the second side. 

I got to play with Freddie by being in the right place at the right time. I was living in Manhattan and playing with Beau Segal and Peter Neri in a group called Island, which had emerged from the ashes of Pulse in 1971. In the late spring, we landed a publishing deal with Sam Gordon, who handled publishing for most of Albert Grossman’s and Benet Glotzer’s acts when they had a management agency together in mid-town. The office also arranged a number of demo sessions for us at Capitol and Blue Rock studios in the city that produced 11 tracks.

Freddie had just released his first Shelter album Getting Ready … when a call came into the office for a pickup band to play with him for a one-off gig at White Plains High School. A drummer who worked in the office (his name escapes me) and keyboard player Barry Flast, who had played on several of our demo sessions and dated a secretary in the office, were recruited along with me to play the gig.

I was given the Getting Ready … album, learned all the tunes and got together a couple of times with Barry and the drummer for acoustic rehersals.

The day of the job, I was at Beau and Peter’s loft in the mid-20s, where our equipment was housed, when  Freddie came by with a rented station wagon and his guitar and a Fender Showman in the back. We loaded my bass and amp rig, which included a Marshall head and a Vox bottom. Having just flown in from Dallas, Freddie was relatively quiet but very friendly. The other band members were already in tow. Beau came with us as we made it out to the suburbs to pick up the drummer’s equipment.

The gig was in a gymnasium at the high school in which we played on risers. A piano was supplied by the school. Freddie had his cherry red 335 and we ran through just about the entire album, which included Dust My Broom, Five Long Years, Key To The Highway, Going Down, Walking By Myself, I’m Tore Down and Palace Of The King.

I was never sure how the gig got booked. It seemed strange for Freddie turning up at a high school in White Plains, one flight, one night. But there were obviously a contingent of students who were very familiar with him because when we burst into Hide Away, the crowd went absolutely bonkers. The sound on stage was far from ideal, it being a very live sounding gym, but Freddie was on fire and his personality and drive were infectious. Beau said it sounded great out front. Definitely a night to remember. It was one of the great jobs I’ve played and a great learning experience.

Freddie stayed in Manhattan for dinner, then caught a late flight back to Dallas. I was absolutely stunned when I learned of his death five years later. He remains my favorite of the three great blues artists with the surname King. He was definitely one.