It Was 40 Years Ago Today...

Marty, FWIW, John Mayall considers only Clapton to be in the Freddie King mold. He says Mick Taylor is more like Albert King and Peter Green is more like B.B. King. I don't know Mick's style as well as the others but I agree about Eric and Peter.
I tend to pick things out of fruit salads. I love the earliest F. Mac incarnation and it gradually falls off from there. I do admire the talent of the famous last version and like some of the stuff they did. But, wow, people get carried away IMO.

Tostado,

Personally, I hear Freddie's influence in all of the above, tho clearly at different levels. I certainly understand the influence that BB had on Green's sound (and, for that matter, the difference that choice of hardware and expanded technique had on Green's sound), but I'm always struck by the commonality as well as the delta in the playing of Clapton and Green. Sort of consistent with my earlier post re: the definition of pure rock n roll. It really comes down to how you parse and where you draw the lines.

When I need my shot of elegant blues playing, Green is usually my first choice. However, I frequently like to wander into other playing sensibilities. At the other end, guys with less blues influence - be that Richard Thompson or Lindsey - are essential to maintaining a well balanced diet of guitar music, for me.

I guess I pick at the fruit salad, too - it's just that I'll go for different fruits at different times.

Going back to the sources (something I'm prone to do, as an amateur musicologist---aren't we all?!), I've always preferred both Albert (whom I saw live in '68---fantastic!) and Freddie to B.B. The defining characteristic of B.B.'s playing is that fast finger vibrato he uses a lot on a single, long-held note, which I don't care for. I hear a lot of that influence in the San Francisco guitarists (in Big Brother, The Airplane, Country Joe & The Fish, Quicksilver). It seems to be used by guitarists with, shall we say, less than well-developed technique. I don't hear it in any of Mayall's guitarists, or in British players in general.

I don't think it was directed at me, but just in case.....it was not I who referred to Buckingham/Nicks as a "bubblegum team". But if I had, it would not have been done to denigrate them---I much prefer bubblegum music to some others. I would rather listen to, say, The Rubinoos that The Grateful Dead, for instance. That didn't keep me from getting some gigs with hippie type bands, but it didn't help!

The defining characteristic of B.B.'s playing is that fast finger vibrato he uses a lot on a single, long-held note

You should go back and listen to more B.B. Your description is lacking.

Certainly each of the three Brits in question were influenced somewhat by each of the three Kings--listen to how much Strange Brew sounds like Albert's Crosscut Saw, for instance--and by other early blues artists as well. I hear a ton of B.B. in Peter's early records and thought it worthwhile to mention what Mayall, after many years of listening and reflection, had to say on the subject. As for B.B., he once said that Peter Green was the only white blues player who made him sweat, FWIW.