''Live in Cook County Jail'' is a 1971 live album by American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

musician

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimm ...

, recorded on September 10, 1970, in Cook County Jail in

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. Agreeing to a request by jail warden Winston Moore, King and his band performed for an audience of 2,117 prisoners, most of whom were young black men. King's set list consisted mostly of slow blues songs, which had been hits earlier in his career. When King told

ABC Records ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels befo ...

about the upcoming performance, he was advised to bring along press and recording equipment. ''Live in Cook County Jail'' spent thirty-three weeks on the ''Billboard'' Top LPs chart, where it peaked at number twenty-five. It also reached number one on the Top R&B chart, King's only album to do so. In addition to positive reviews from critics, much of the press surrounding ''Live in Cook County Jail'' focused on the harsh living conditions in the prison, which led to an eventual reform. Although ''Live in Cook County Jail'' continues to receive praise as one of King's best albums, critics often overlook it in favor of 1965's '' Live at the Regal''. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' ranked ''Live in Cook County Jail'' at number 499 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and in 2002, it was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame. The performance at Cook County Jail had a profound impact on King, who not only continued to perform free concerts at prisons throughout his life, but also co-established the Foundation for the Advancement of Inmate Rehabilitation and Recreation.

Background

The warden of Cook County Jail, Winston Moore, approached King after a 1970 performance at the popular Chicago nightclub Mister Kelly's and asked him to perform for the prisoners at the jail. As King recalled: "He said to me, 'It's a first for you at Mister Kelly's and it's a first for me as a black person over here, so why don't we both get together and do another first and get you to play for the inmates?' That's how it came about." King agreed, and politician Jerry Butler (former singer for the Impressions) helped to arrange a special free concert at the jail. Recordings of prison concerts were becoming popular around this time, as indicated by '' At Folsom Prison'' by

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

. Biographer Sebastian Danchin noted this performance was not to cash in on this craze however, but instead was to deliver hope. "The prisoners saw King's visit as an all-too-rare recognition of their humanity" wrote Danchin. When King told his record label

that he was going to perform at Cook County Jail, label executives told him to bring along the press and recording equipment. King and his backing band were given a personalized tour of the prison, and were taken through the mess hall and hallway of cells. The musicians felt uncomfortable while walking through the prison; pianist

Ron Levy Ron Levy (born Reuvin Zev ben Yehoshua Ha Levi, May 29, 1951) is an American electric blues musician and composer. Levy was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. He primarily plays piano and organ. Levy grew up in Brookline, Massach ...

described the stares from the prisoners as "hauntingly hollow". The musicians were given a small stage in the courtyard, while the prisoners were given hundreds of folding chairs. ''Live in Cook County Jail'' was recorded on the afternoon of September 10, 1970. King's backing band consisted of: Levy on the piano, John Browning on the trumpet, Louis Hubert on the tenor saxophone, Brooke Walker on the alto saxophone, Wilbert Freeman on the bass guitar, and Sonny Freeman on the drums. The crowd consisted of 2,117 prisoners, who were required to sit through the performance. Prisoners who wanted to dance were allowed to stand toward the back of the yard. Around 80% of the prisoners attended the performance, while the rest stayed in their cells. King estimated around 70 to 75% of the prisoners were black or of other minority races, and were either in their late teens or early twenties. Prison officials hired additional security for the event, mainly retired boxers.

Composition and recording

''Live in Cook County Jail'' opens with a female official introducing members of the prison administration. A light applause is quickly followed by loud booing. The official then introduces King and his backing band, who begin to play a brief, fast tempo version of "

Every Day I Have the Blues "Every Day I Have the Blues" is a blues song that has been performed in a variety of styles. An early version of the song is attributed to Pinetop Sparks and his brother Milton. It was first performed in the taverns of St. Louis by the Sparks ...

". The rest of the setlist in ''Live in Cook County Jail'' features slow blues tracks, with lyrical themes of separation and loneliness. King occasionally has conversations with the audience, such as on "Worry, Worry, Worry", where he tells the audience that men and women are God's gift to each other. Biographer David McGee describes these conversations as "a classic bit of bluesman as evangelist or soothsayer". The setlist in ''Live in Cook County Jail'' favors King's early hits – songs which had been in his live repertoire since the 1950s. "

3 O'Clock Blues "3 O'Clock Blues" or "Three O'Clock Blues" is a slow twelve-bar blues recorded by Lowell Fulson in 1946. When it was released in 1948, it became Fulson's first hit. When B.B. King recorded the song in 1951, it became his first hit as well as one o ...

", "Darlin' You Know I Love You", and "Every Day I Have the Blues" were important hits early in his career, while "Please Accept My Love", "Worry, Worry, Worry", and "Sweet Sixteen" date from 1958–1960. The sole contemporary song, 1969's "

The Thrill Is Gone "The Thrill Is Gone" is a slow minor-key blues song written by West Coast blues musician Roy Hawkins and Rick Darnell in 1951. Hawkins's recording of the song reached number six in the Billboard R&B chart in 1951. In 1970, "The Thrill Is Gon ...

", became one of King's biggest hits in recent years. Author Ulrich Adelt believes the setlist was chosen to elicit the feeling of nostalgia from the primarily black audience. To record the performance, producer

Bill Szymczyk William Frank Szymczyk (; born February 13, 1943) is an American music producer and technical engineer best known for working with rock and blues musicians, most notably the Eagles in the 1970s. He produced many top albums and singles of the 19 ...

hired Aaron Baron, the owner of a company called Location Recorders, to record the show from a remote truck. Baron then gave Szymczyk the tapes to be mixed.

Release and reception

''Live in Cook County Jail'' was released in January 1971, by ABC Records. The album cover features a photo of King playing a guitar lick against the background of blue prison walls and barred windows. It spent thirty-three weeks on the ''Billboard'' Top LPs chart, where it peaked at number twenty-five. It also spent thirty-one weeks on the Top R&B chart, and became King's only album to reach number one. Much of the press surrounding ''Live in Cook County Jail'' focused on the jail itself. Journalists interviewed many of the prisoners and learned how some of them had been awaiting their trial for over a year. "A TV network did a big story on that some time later on and they changed the system somewhat and that made me happy. I felt that we had done something good" said King. The press surrounding the jail also gave King greater exposure to a white audience, to the point where a ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' reporter felt the need to define blues music for the mainstream readership. ''Live in Cook County Jail'' received positive reviews from critics. '' Variety'' wrote: "King's mellow guitar notes and soulful voice shine throughout." ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' noted the prison setting brought upon new meanings to tracks like "Everyday I Have the Blues" and "Please Accept My Love", before ultimately writing: "King has done it again with this LP". John Landau of ''

'' wrote a more mixed review, where he criticized King's tendency to talk too much, as well as the audience's lack of enthusiasm. He did however like Freeman's drumming and King's guitar play, which he described as "in top form from beginning to end".

Legacy

Although ''Live in Cook County Jail'' continues to receive praise as one of King's best albums, critics often overlook it in favor of ''Live at the Regal''. Ulrich Adelt believes this is because ''Live at the Regal'' is routinely cited by critics as one of the greatest blues albums ever made. Neither ''

The Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'' or '' MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide'' mention ''Live in Cook County Jail'' when discussing King's discography, and instead simply assign it a score. Reviewing in '' Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' (1981),

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

applauded King's "intensity" on renditions of older hits and said, "I prefer the horn arrangements on the

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

originals, but the unpredictable grit with which he snaps off the guitar parts makes up for any lost subtlety." ''Rolling Stone'' listed ''Live in Cook County Jail'' at number forty on its list of the greatest live albums ever made, and at number 499 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. ''Live in Cook County Jail'' entry on the magazine's list of the greatest albums of all time states: "

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won over the hostile prisoners with definitive versions of his blues standards and his crossover hit 'The Thrill Is Gone.'" In 2002, ''Live in Cook County Jail'' was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame under the category of "Classic of Blues Recording – Album". The performance at Cook County Jail had a profound impact on King. Saddened by the underlying racist conditions endured by some of the black prisoners, King offered his services for free to not only Cook County Jail but also to other prisons willing to have him. By 1998, King had performed in over fifty prisons. He also established the Foundation for the Advancement of Inmate Rehabilitation and Recreation with attorney

F. Lee Bailey Francis Lee Bailey Jr. (June 10, 1933 – June 3, 2021) was an American criminal defense attorney. Bailey's name first came to nationwide attention for his involvement in the second murder trial of Sam Sheppard, a surgeon accused of murdering ...

in 1972. According to King: "I don't think that when a guy does something wrong he shouldn't be punished, but if he does it as a human being, he should pay for it as a human being."

Track listing

Writing credits adapted from the

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

of the original 1971 release. Reissues and other recordings often list different writers.

Personnel

Personnel credits adapted from the liner notes of the original 1971 release.

Musicians

– guitar, vocals *Wilbert Freeman – bass *Sonny Freeman – drums *John Browning – trumpet *Louis Hubert – tenor saxophone *Booker Walker – alto saxophone *

– piano

Production

*Producer –

*Engineer – Aaron Baron *Photography – Chester Sheard *Art Direction – Woody Woodward *Inner Liner Photos – Geoffrey Harding

References

Notes

Footnotes

{{Authority control 1971 live albums Albums produced by Bill Szymczyk B.B. King live albums MCA Records live albums Prison music