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"Live at the Regal"
by B.B. King
By Webjockey CasimirPulaski
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Live at the Regal by B.B. King
B.B. King is a blues guitar-playing god. He helped to bring the blues to the mainstream with a stunning 74 songs on the Billboard R&B charts between 1951 and 1985. Beyond that, his phrase-based soloing style has influenced every guitar player of any worth since. But beyond his fantastic guitar chops, King possesses a gripping voice for the blues and a gift for entertaining. All of this can be heard on his 1966 release Live at the Regal, an album essential to any blues collection.
The album opens with the hopping "Every Day I Have the Blues," and the listener is introduced to the backing band up upright bass, swinging drums, big band horns and piano with a jazzy disposition. To say the band is tight would be an understatement. These guys are so deep in the pocket it's as if they're all nursing wounds from the same girl. B.B.'s voice runs the gauntlet from roaring gravel to sweet falsetto and he leads his band with unwavering control. They are perfectly in tune with where B.B. wants to go dynamically and are always ready to swell or stop at a moment's notice.
B.B. also interacts with the audience quite well. On most tracks he talks directly to them, and many songs, like the stand out track "Worry, Worry" are running narratives that the crowd seems to identify with quite resoundingly. "Worry, Worry" is the perfect example of all of B.B.'s greatest qualities in full effect, with the crescendo of the roaring B.B. over a stirring swell of big-band gusto and it's as moving as any comparable moment in blues. If those six or so minutes were all we had of the King one would still be hard pressed to not consider him a blues legend. Instead, we have this stunning live album, and an extensive library to back it up.
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