Live in Cook County Jail is a 1971 live album by American blues musician B.B. King, recorded on September 10, 1970, in Cook County Jail in Chicago. 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 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 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. 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 ABC Records 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 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". 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", "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", 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 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 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 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 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 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 applauded King's "intensity" on renditions of older hits and said, "I prefer the horn arrangements on the Kent 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: "[King] 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 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 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 – guitar, vocals
Wilbert Freeman – bass
Sonny Freeman – drums
John Browning – trumpet
Louis Hubert – tenor saxophone
Booker Walker – alto saxophone
Ron Levy – piano

Production
Producer – Bill Szymczyk
Engineer – Aaron Baron
Photography – Chester Sheard
Art Direction – Woody Woodward
Inner Liner Photos – Geoffrey Harding

See also
List of Billboard number-one R&B albums of 1971

References

Notes

Footnotes

1971 live albums
Albums produced by Bill Szymczyk
B. B. King live albums
MCA Records live albums
Prison music
《Live in Cook County Jail》은 1970년 9월 10일 시카고 쿡 카운티 교도소에서 녹음된 미국의 블루스 음악가 B.B. 킹의 1971년 라이브 음반이다. 교도소장 윈스턴 무어의 요청에 따라 킹과 그의 밴드는 2,117명의 수감자들을 위해 공연했는데, 그들 대부분은 젊은 흑인이었다. 킹의 세트리스트는 대부분 그의 경력 초기에 히트했던 느린 블루스 곡들로 구성되었다. 킹이 ABC 레코드에 공연에 대해 이야기했을 때, 그는 기자들과 녹음 장비를 가지고 오라는 권고를 받았다.

《Live in Cook County Jail》은 빌보드 200 차트에서 33주를 보냈고, 그 곳에서 25위로 정점을 찍었다. 그것은 또한 킹의 유일한 음반인 톱 R&B 차트에서 1위에 올랐다. 평론가들의 호평과 함께 《Live in Cook County Jail》을 둘러싼 언론도 상당 부분 교도소의 가혹한 생활환경에 초점을 맞췄고, 결국 개혁으로 이어졌다.

《Live in Cook County Jail》은 계속해서 킹의 베스트 음반 중 하나로 찬사를 받고 있지만, 비평가들은 종종 1965년 《Live at the Regal》에 찬성하여 간과하곤 한다. 《롤링 스톤》은 《Live in Cook County Jail》을 역사상 가장 위대한 음반 500장 중 499위로 선정했으며, 2002년에는 블루스 명예의 전당에 헌액되었다. 쿡 카운티 교도소에서의 공연은 평생 감옥에서 무료 콘서트를 계속했을 뿐만 아니라 재소자 재활과 레크리에이션의 선진화를 위한 재단을 공동 설립한 킹에게 깊은 영향을 끼쳤다.

배경 
쿡 카운티 교도소의 소장 윈스턴 무어는 1970년 시카고 나이트클럽 미스터 켈리스 공연을 마치고 킹에게 접근해 교도소에서 죄수들을 위해 공연해달라고 요청했다. 킹이 회상했듯이, "그는 나에게 '미스터 켈리스에게는 처음 있는 일이고 이쪽의 흑인으로서도 처음 있는 일이니, 우리 둘 다 모여서 다른 일을 먼저 해서 죄수들을 위해 연주하도록 하는 것이 어떻겠습니까?'라고 말했습니다. 그렇게 된 거예요." 킹은 이에 동의했고, 정치인 제리 버틀러(전 임프레션스 가수)는 교도소에서 특별한 무료 콘서트를 준비하는 것을 도왔다. 조니 캐시의 《At Folsom Prison》에서 알 수 있듯이, 이 무렵 교도소 콘서트 녹음은 인기를 얻고 있었다. 전기 작가 세바스찬 단친은 이 공연이 이 열풍을 이용해 돈을 벌기 위한 것이 아니라 희망을 전하는 것이라고 말했다. 단친은 "죄수들은 킹의 방문을 그들의 인간성을 완전히 인정하는 것으로 보았다"고 썼다.

킹이 자신의 음반사인 ABC 레코드에 쿡 카운티 교도소에서 공연할 것이라고 말하자, 레이블 경영진들은 그에게 언론과 녹음 장비를 가져오라고 말했다. 킹과 그의 백 밴드는 교도소를 개인화된 투어를 받았고, 지저분한 복도와 감방 복도를 통해 옮겨졌다. 음악가들은 교도소를 걷는 동안 불편함을 느꼈고, 피아니스트 론 레비는 죄수들의 시선을 "놀랄 정도로 공허하다"고 묘사했다. 음악가들은 안마당에 작은 무대가 주어졌고 죄수들에게는 수백 개의 접는 의자가 주어졌다.

1970년 9월 10일 오후 《Live in Cook County Jail》이 녹음되었다. 킹의 백 밴드는 피아노의 레비, 트럼펫의 존 브라우닝, 테너 색소폰의 루이스 휴버트, 알토 색소폰의 브룩 워커, 베이스 기타의 윌버트 프리먼, 드럼의 소니 프리먼으로 구성되었다. 군중들은 2,117명의 죄수들로 구성되었고, 그들은 공연을 끝까지 해야 했다. 춤을 추고자 하는 죄수들은 마당 뒤쪽으로 서 있는 것이 허락되었다. 수감자들의 약 80%가 이 공연에 참석했고 나머지는 감방에 머물렀다. 킹은 포로들의 70~75%가 흑인이나 다른 소수민족이며, 10대 후반이나 20대 초반이라고 추정했다. 교도소 관계자들은 이 행사를 위해 주로 은퇴한 권투선수들을 위한 추가 경비를 고용했다.

구성 및 녹음 
《Live in Cook County Jail》은 여성 간부가 교도소 행정 조직원을 소개하는 내용으로 나온다. 가벼운 박수 소리가 빠르게 이어지며 큰 야유가 쏟아진다. 이 관계자는 킹과 그의 백 밴드를 소개하는데, 그는 〈Every Day I Have the Blues〉의 짧고 빠른 템포를 연주하기 시작한다. 《Live in Cook County Jail》의 나머지 세트리스트는 이별과 외로움을 서정적으로 주제로 한 느린 블루스 트랙을 특징으로 한다. 킹은 가끔 관객들과 대화를 나누는데, 〈Worry, Worry, Worry〉에서, 청중들에게 남자와 여자는 신의 선물이라고 말한다. 전기 작가 데이비드 맥기는 이 대화들을 "전파주의자나 설교자로서의 전형적인 블루스맨"이라고 묘사한다.

《Live in Cook County Jail》의 세트리스트는 킹의 1950년대 이후 라이브 레퍼토리에 있던 초기 히트곡들을 선호한다. 〈3 O'Clock Blues〉, 〈Darlin' You Know I Love You〉 그리고 〈Every Day I Have the Blues〉는 그의 경력 초기에 중요한 히트를 쳤으며, 〈Please Accept My Love〉, 〈Worry, Worry, Worry〉, 〈Sweet Sixteen〉은 1958년~1960년 작이다. 1969년의 유일한 컨템포러리 노래인 〈The Thrill Is Gone〉은 최근 몇 년 동안 킹의 가장 큰 히트곡 중 하나가 되었다. 작가 울리히 아델트는 주로 흑인 관객들로부터 향수를 불러일으키기 위해 이 세트리스트를 선택했다고 믿는다. 공연을 녹화하기 위해 프로듀서 빌 심칙은 로케이션 레코더라는 회사의 소유주인 애런 배런을 고용해 원격 트럭에서 쇼를 녹화했다. 그러자 배런은 심칙에게 테이프를 섞으라고 주었다.

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각주

외부 링크 
 

1971년 라이브 음반
B.B. 킹의 라이브 음반
MCA 레코드 음반