''Live in Cook County Jail'' is a 1971 live album by American
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
musician
B.B. King
Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, sh ...
, recorded on September 10, 1970, in
Cook County Jail
The Cook County Jail, located on in South Lawndale, Chicago, Illinois, is operated by the Sheriff of Cook County. It is sometimes referred to as ''California'' or ''Hotel California'', as its address is on California Avenue. A city jail has e ...
in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
. 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
A set list, or setlist, is typically a handwritten or printed document created as an ordered list of songs, jokes, stories and other elements an artist intends to present during a specific performance.
A setlist can be made of nearly any materi ...
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 bef ...
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, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' ranked ''Live in Cook County Jail'' at number 499 on its list of the
500 Greatest Albums of All Time
5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number.
Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs.
Mathematics
5 is a Fermat pri ...
,
and in 2002, it was inducted into the
Blues Foundation
The Blues Foundation is an American nonprofit corporation, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, that is affiliated with more than 175 blues organizations from various parts of the world.
Founded in 1980, a 25-person board of directors governs t ...
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
The Cook County Jail, located on in South Lawndale, Chicago, Illinois, is operated by the Sheriff of Cook County. It is sometimes referred to as ''California'' or ''Hotel California'', as its address is on California Avenue. A city jail has e ...
, 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
Jerry Butler Jr. (December 8, 1939 – February 20, 2025) was an American soul singer-songwriter, producer, musician, and politician. He was the original lead singer of the R&B vocal group the Impressions, who were inducted into the Rock and ...
(former singer for
the Impressions
The Impressions were an American music group originally formed in 1958. Their repertoire includes gospel, R&B, doo-wop, and soul.
The group was founded as the Roosters by Chattanooga, Tennessee natives Sam Gooden, Richard Brooks and Arthu ...
) 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
''Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison'' is the first live album by American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records on May 6, 1968. It comprises recordings of performances by Cash and his band at Folsom State Prison, California, on J ...
'' by
Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...
. Biographer 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
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 bef ...
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, Massachu ...
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
A set list, or setlist, is typically a handwritten or printed document created as an ordered list of songs, jokes, stories and other elements an artist intends to present during a specific performance.
A setlist can be made of nearly any materi ...
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 on ...
", "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 to 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 recording 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 ...
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
In popular music genres such as country, blues, jazz or rock music, a lick is "a stock pattern or phrase" consisting of a short series of notes used in solos and melodic lines and accompaniment. For musicians, learning a lick is usually a form ...
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 an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' reporter felt the need to define blues music for the mainstream readership.
''Live in Cook County Jail'' received positive reviews from critics. ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' 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 advertis ...
'' 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 ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' 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. 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 influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...
applauded King's "intensity" on renditions of older hits and said, "I prefer the horn arrangements on the
Kent
Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
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
5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number.
Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs.
Mathematics
5 is a Fermat pri ...
.
''Live in Cook County Jail'' entry on the magazine's list of the greatest albums of all time states: "
ing
Ing, ING or ing may refer to:
Art and media
* '' ...ing'', a 2003 Korean film
* i.n.g, a Taiwanese girl group
* The Ing, a race of dark creatures in the 2004 video game '' Metroid Prime 2: Echoes''
* "Ing", the first song on The Roches' 199 ...
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
The Blues Foundation is an American nonprofit corporation, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, that is affiliated with more than 175 blues organizations from various parts of the world.
Founded in 1980, a 25-person board of directors governs t ...
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 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 cassette j-cards.
Origin
Liner notes are descended from the prog ...
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
*
B.B. King
Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, sh ...
– guitar, vocals
*Wilbert Freeman – bass
*Sonny Freeman – drums
*John Browning – trumpet
*Louis Hubert – tenor saxophone
*Booker Walker – alto saxophone
*
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, Massachu ...
– piano
Production
*Producer –
Bill Szymczyk
William Frank Szymczyk (; born February 13, 1943) is an American music producer and recording 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 ...
*Engineer – Aaron Baron
*Photography – Chester Sheard
*Art Direction – Woody Woodward
*Inner Liner Photos – Geoffrey Harding
Primitive Radio Gods sampling
In 1996, the
Primitive Radio Gods
Primitive Radio Gods is an American alternative rock band from Southern California. Current members consist of frontman Chris O'Connor, who performs vocals and bass guitar; percussionist Tim Lauterio; and Luke McAuliffe, who contributes various ...
sampled the line "I've been downhearted baby, ever since the day we met" from King's version of
How Blue Can You Get from this album for the chorus of their single "
Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand".
See also
*
List of ''Billboard'' number-one R&B albums of 1971
References
Notes
Footnotes
{{Authority control
1971 live albums
Albums produced by Bill Szymczyk
B. B. King live albums
ABC Records live albums
Prison music