On September 10th, 1970, B.B.King performed a live concert in Chicago's Cook County Jail to an audience of 2,117 inmates. This well recorded CD captures the sound of that historic concert and actually began with the inmates booing. So, why the booing? Well, before B.B. King and his band were brought on stage, Sheriff Woods, who appointed a much hated warden, Winston Moore of Cook County Jail was introduced to the captive audience. Next, judge Powell was introduced. Much booing greeted both of them. It was only then that B.B. King was introduced and began right in with Everyday I have the Blues that the audience cheered and clapped. How Blue Can You Get? follows, with a great guitar solo by King and an extended musical introduction. Piano, horns, bass and drums all follow the lead of Lucille, King's beloved guitar. Its not until well into the song that B.B. actually begins to sing the song. Although this doesn't get quite the same full out treatment as it did on Live at the Regal, the song sounds great. Worry, Worry again starts with a long musical introduction lead by B.B.'s signature style guitar playing. A medley of 3 O'Clock Blues and Darlin' You Know I love You is performed next.

Sweet Sixteen is howled out next, a love song about a young gal, perhaps the reason some of the audience was there. This is not the well known Ringo Starr tune, that wasn't written yet.

One of my favorite B.B. King songs was next The Thrill is Gone (written by Rick Darnell and Roy Hawkins). I have heard this song done better on other albums, but it gets a nice treatment here. The show closes with Please Accept My Love a slow ballad.

Sound Quality If there's one thing I've noticed about most of the B.B. King albums, whether they be greatest hits or concert albums is the quality of their mastering. Many albums in my blues collections have less than perfect recordings, but this concert, like all of the concerts I have from B.B.King (I have four live CDs) is that the recordings are very well made. Instruments are all clear as can be, and the sound stage makes you feel like you were there. Well, I almost felt like I was there listening; I didn't have anyone whispering in my ear what they were going to do to me back in the cell. Perhaps this is one concert CD that is truly best listened to on CD than actually being there.

Liner Notes I really liked the liner notes included with this CD, it detailed a bit of history about just how B.B. King came to play at the Cook County Jail, and his career at this point.

The Band
On this album, B.B. King is of course on guitar and vocals.
John Browning - trumpet
Louis Herbert - tenor saxophone
Booker Walker - alto saxaphone
Ron Levy - Piano
Wilbert Freeman - bass
Sonny Freeman - drums


Summary This was a great live album to listen to, but one of the first live blues concerts that I am certainly happy that I was not in the audience. It's not the best live concert by King, but it is well above average. I purchased this as part of an outstanding live concert trilogy ,B.B.King Chronicles. This gets slightly more than four stars really, but for epinions rating system, it gets a solid four stars.

If you like B.B. King, you may also want to read some of my other reviews:

B.B. King's 80th Birthday Bash" about actually seeing B.B. King live at Boston's Symphony Hall on January 29th, 2006.
Reflections one of B.B. King's latest releases on SACD and
Riding with the King a fine DVD-Audio that B.B. King released with Eric Clapton

Recommend this product?