B.B. King
Live At The Regal

"It was a cold autumn evening in Chicago", that's more or less how the booklet notes of B.B. King Live At Regal begin, because what happened that cold evening in November of the now distant '64 is truly legendary for the world of blues, but not only that.     

B.B. King, synonymous with blues boy, real name Riley King, was already playing for over fifteen years by '64 and was certainly one of the major points of reference for the world of blues, R&B, and jazz, given his considerable admiration for the great Django Reinhardt, a great influence of his, and not only. In November of '64, he was preparing to play at the famous Regal Theatre in Chicago. For the audience, it was a sensational event; B.B. was revered by his audience, something that is clearly understood by listening to this live, where in almost every song, people explicitly express their fanaticism towards this authentic legend, an aspect that will recur throughout this review.     

Starting from the introduction by DJ Perviss Spann: the crowd goes wild, "the king of blues" comes forth immediately with the anthem "Every Day I Have The Blues", a cover of the old Peter Chatman, a perfect example of B.B.'s style from those years: blues heavily contaminated with soul and jazz atmospheres. The same can easily be said for the following songs that, among original pieces signed by four hands, and glorious covers, deliver pieces of history that convey relaxation and tranquility, that tranquility that only certain atmospheres can offer: tenor sax, trumpet, and piano overshadow the guitar, present but never overwhelming; and beyond all this, B.B.'s great vocal abilities are also highlighted, so far a great protagonist especially from this point of view.   

Another constant, as mentioned, is the participation of the audience who never fail to acclaim the protagonist and make themselves heard in all their enthusiasm. Announced again by the new DJ E. Rodney Jones, it starts again with a true gem: the brief "You Upset Me Baby" where B.B.'s glorious guitar almost completely disappears, Lucille is gone then, but she is not missed; Lucille, however, returns and reappears more alive than ever in the long "Worry Worry" by Plemmer Davis and Jules Bihari. Lucille is back now, never so present until now but not for self-celebration, but to deliver sweet caresses, and the effects are felt, but in the longest track of the album, there's also space for the rest of what I've spoken about so far. After the classic "Woke Up This Mornin'", which returns to the previous tracks, you arrive at the grand "You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now", again with Lucille at the center in the beginning; with the always great "Help The Poor" by Charlie Singleton, this epochal recording closes.     

A live album of pure refined blues but in equal measure jazz that the old recordings make the listening also pleasantly raw, in any case musically far from future rock blues. The quality is, of course, extremely high, but then again one cannot expect less from the King; but above all, more than the sublime music, the most important thing about this testimony is the atmosphere that is breathed, the affection, the warmth, and the absolute devotion of the audience towards their idol, an affection reciprocated by the bluesman who also interacts with his people, all of which merges into a night from another time.   

B.B. King, I think no one would be offended if we define him as the greatest bluesman of all time, for importance and influence if not strictly for artistic merits. He certainly did not invent this genre, but like few others he accompanied it through decades, transmitting and passing it on to future generations, he is still the last bastion of that old blues from which everyone has taken something.   

"Live At The Regal" cannot be claimed with certainty to be the best of his endless live albums, not even he thinks so, but certainly the one that has most contributed to his legend, the legend of B.B. King.