Live in Cook County Jail (1971)
9
Introductions / Every Day I Have the Blues / How Blue Can You Get?
/ Worry, Worry / 3 O’Clock Blues/Darlin’ You Know I Love You
/ Sweet Sixteen / The Thrill Is Gone / Please Accept My Love
I
saw B.B. King play live once, in 1994. It was at the annual Belgian Rhythm
& Blues Festival (and before you start laughing, let me add that
it’s one of the biggest blues festivals in Europe, if not the world)
and even though it opened an entire new world for me (with steamin’
performances by the Guy Forsyth Band, Rod Piazza & the Might Flyers and
the late great Danny Gatton (still one of the best guitar players you never
heard)), I wasn’t that impressed by the festival’s respected icing
on the cake, Blues Boy King. Oh, the sound was okay, the playing was impeccable,
the crowd immensely receptive and the beer cold, but I just couldn’t
get into that slick revue-styled approach that made me feel as if I was in
Caesar’s Palace. I mean, there was a 30-minute instrumental
introduction with a few guys giving their absolute all (I remembered I wondered
why the trumpet player didn’t lose his head – he was shaking it
like a maniac), but it proceeded like a grotesque TV show and I don’t
like stuff like that. I have no desire whatsoever to be in Las Vegas, Scorsese’s
Casino will do just fine, thank you. Anyway, I guess it’s clear
I like my blues a bit more raw, more straightforward and from the gut and
that also explains why I like the Fat Possum-releases so much. However, notwithstanding
a guitar style that’s usually described as “mellow” and
“fluid,” I soon found out that B.B. also recorded his share of
dedicated, no nonsense-albums, and so far Live in Cook County Jail
is the best of the lot to me. Recorded in 1970, at the peak of his success,
a mere year after he recorded his biggest hit (“The Thrill Is Gone”),
the album finds B.B. in great shape in Chicago’s most infamous prison.
Like most other prison albums (cf. the Johnny Cash ones), Live in Cook
County Jail has this unique atmosphere, which already becomes apparent
from the beginning of the recording, with the announcement that sheriff and
judge so-and-so are also there, which has the inmates booing like mad. But
then King is announced (“the Chairman of the Board of All Blues Singers”)
and the crowd’s moderate hostility is turned into respectful enthusiasm
and rightfully so, as King delivers a performance that’s nothing but
awe-inspiring. I usually tend to prefer concise albums, but these seven songs
and 38 minutes made me long for more, more, more. The sound is not particularly
spectacular, with especially the piano and drums being too much in the background,
but at least the guitar and voice sound excellent, and they steal the show
throughout all seven songs. “Everyday I Have the Blues” is an
ultra-short hard swingin’ slice of jump-styled r&b, and while you
might expect that stuff like this automatically ends up as a highlight on
a classic blues album, the performances only get better and better after that.
“How Blue Can You Get?” is already a fine proof of the man’s
unique style: the first half of the song basically being a long instrumental,
it shows his immediately recognisable style in all its glory. Few guitar players
are able to squeeze and bend such warm and mellow notes from their guitar
as B.B. King, while the playing is wonderfully soulful and passionate as well,
intense but never harsh. Of course the slower blues songs are exactly what
he’s famous for (if you prefer the fast instrumentals and hard-rocking
stuff, there are other Kings for you to check
out) and it’s easy to understand why, as his roaring voice sounds as
if it didn’t need to be amplified. The classic “Worry, Worry,”
already to be found on 1965’s Live at the Regal in its definitive
version is almost as good. Using the complete register of his voice (from
a deep roar to a hilarious falsetto), cracking jokes with the audience and
teaching them about relationships between men and women (“Man is God’s
gift to women”, etc), King reveals himself as one hell of a performer,
feeling completely at ease in front of hundreds of inmates. The first-rate
stuff never really stops, as his first hit (“3 O’ Clock Blues”)
seamlessly transforms into the doo-wop-styled “Darlin’ You Know
I love You” and the slow blues “Sweet Sixteen” contains
more soul and honest fervour than Mariah Carey’s entire oeuvre. Saving
the best for last (well, almost), the unquestionable highlight of the set
is a fantastic rendition of the hit “The Thrill Is Gone.” It’s
performed without the famous strings – WHO NEEDS STRINGS IN PRISON?
– which is made up for by some of his greatest playing I ever heard,
a wonderful atmosphere and backing. It showed him in a more pop-oriented style,
but it’s also a track that’s so universal in its appeal that everybody
can realize what a great piece of music it is and that great ending with its
acceleration and decelerations just tops it off. After that, the r&b ballad
“Please Accept My Love” comes as a bit of an afterthought, but
what song wouldn’t? It’s not that Live in Cook County Jail
is the definitive B.B. King document (you’d at least need a 3CD-anthology
and a few albums), but it serves as a perfect introduction to the man’s
commanding style, especially if you like your blues unembellished, raw and
coming from the gut, like me.
Read album reviews of similar or related artists: Freddie King