The pairing of singer-guitarist Albert King and multi-instrumentalist/producer John Mayall was an inspired one, King being the most influential guitar stylist of the modern blues era and Mayall being the chief conceptualist of the British blues revival of the Sixties. Recorded in 1971 but not issued until 1986, The Lost Session is different from anything King recorded before or after: a three-way fusion of Mississippi Delta blues, British blues, and Los Angeles jazz. Also making the session unique was the fact that Mayall intentionally chose keys for some of the tunes that were different from those in which King normally played. "It kept him from clichés," Mayall stated, "and he came out with some wonderful stuff."