Fact #32204

B.B. KING - LIVE AT THE REGAL


(Feature researched and compiled by Johnny Black, June 2015. An abbreviated version was published in Hi-Fi News)

On February 24, 1928, The Regal Theater opened its doors on 47th Street, Chicago, Illinois, USA. With a 3,500 capacity, it was one of 34 theaters owned by the powerful Balaban and Katz theatrical corporation. By the early 1960s it was long established as a leading venue in which the world's finest black entertainers exhibited their talents in music, theater, cinema, and comedy.
On November 21, 1964 it became the recording location for B.B. King’s Live At The Regal, an incendiary in-concert album which would not only vault King from being a black urban blues star to a world-wide guitar phenomenon, but would open up the blues in general to a white audience.

B.B. was already thirteen years into his career, and had racked up 32 blues chart hits, including four No1s, but had so far been unable to dent the wider white American and international market-places. He had, however, recently signed to ABC Paramount, which was a much bigger company than he’d worked with before, and one whose sights were set far beyond the local markets.

On that late-November night, King’s band featured Duke Jethro on piano, plus Bobby Forte and Johnny Board on tenor saxophones, with Sonny Freeman on drums and bassist Leo Lauchie. This sextet was augmented by The Regal’s house band, directed by renowned swing-era trumpeter King Kolax, giving the group a significantly fuller sound.

King’s Gibson ES-355 SV, was at that time the company’s top semi-hollow body model, and included stereo electronics and a Vari-tone. With a flick of the switch, King could summon up a tougher, more treble sound for his solo flourishes. To eliminate feedback, he would stuff towels or wadded paper through the guitar’s soundholes.

They delivered what was essentially a crowd-pleasing greatest hits set, starting with Every Day I Have The Blues, followed by Sweet Little Angel, It’s My Own Fault, How Blue Can You Get, You Upset Me Baby, Worry, Worry, Woke Up This Mornin’, You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now, and concluding with Help The Poor.

Local radio personality Pervis Spann introduced the show. Born in Itta Bena, Mississippi, as was his old friend B.B., Spann was a popular DJ on WVON Radio (The Voice Of The Negro), owned by record business entrepreneurs Leonard and Phil Chess, which boasted between 44 and 48 percent of Chicago's daytime black listenership. Span would later manage B.B., and would eventually buy WVON.



B.B. King : I had talked to Fats Domino and he had been with them (ABC Paramount) for quite a while. He told me, because my contract was running out with the Bihari Brothers, "You need to get with ABC". And I said, "Why?" He said, "Well, the company you with is such a small company". He say, "A hit for you on that company is 100,000 copies. When ABC release it’s 100,000." He was right.

So, after I got with ABC, Johnny Pate (producer of The Impressions) was already with them so they got him to do the session.
(Source : transcript of interview on BBC Radio programme For One Night Only, presented by Paul Gambaccini)

B.B. King : Johnny Pate set up everything, making sure that we had a good sound, and he recorded two or three of the shows. And the audience was good. See, we were starting to lose young blacks. I’d never really had a young black audience - blacks were with me according to my age and older, and as I got older, my black audience got older with me. But at The Regal and in Chicago, they still think well of and respect me and the dignity of blues, thanks to Muddy Waters and the rest. That particular day in Chicago everything came together and the audience was right in sync.
(Source : liner notes for King Of The Blues box set)

Johnny Pate : I think what ABC was trying to do was to get in on the rhythm’n’blues, because of the success of Motown, Chess and Stax and some others. There was pressure on me to get a B.B. King album out. When B.B. and I talked, we figured the quickest way to do this would be to do live performance instead of trying to sit down and figure out a studio concept and so forth.
(Source : transcript of interview on BBC Radio programme For One Night Only, presented by Paul Gambaccini)

Johnny Pate : I knew B. was on the road and planning to hit The Regal, which was one of the most important theatres on the R’n’B and blues circuit.
(Source : Interview in Billboard, Sept 21, 1996, by Timothy White)

Duke Jethro (pianist) : We used to play The Chitlin Circuit. It was a circuit of theatres, all in the black neighbourhoods, and you had to do well in those theatres to be stamped as a professional musician, if you will. One of them was The Howard Theatre in Washington D.C.; and of course there was The Apollo in New York; in Philadelphia there was The Uptown Theatre. In Baltimore there was The Royal Theatre, there was also a black theatre in Detroit, and if you were booked in one you were booked in them all. In Chicago there was The Regal Theatre, and that was where you got stamped as a professional entertainer in the black field.

Johnny Pate : The artist would do two or three live shows and, in between each show, they would show a feature movie.
(Source : transcript of interview on BBC Radio programme For One Night Only, presented by Paul Gambaccini)

Duke Jethro (pianist) : We would do four shows a day, something like that, a show after each movie, but it was hard work.
(Source : transcript of interview on BBC Radio programme For One Night Only, presented by Paul Gambaccini)

Johnny Pate : I was based in Chicago at that time, so I discussed the idea with The Regal’s manager, Ken Bluett, and then got two WVON djs, Pervis Spann and E. Rodney Jones, to heat up the audience and introduce the shows. So, when B.B. came out, they were ready for him."
(Source : Interview in Billboard, Sept 21, 1996, by Timothy White)

Johnny Pate : During that time, it’s no secret that there was a lot of payola going on, and here’s a record company (Chess) that owns a top r’n’b radio station, so that fitted pretty well since these (Pervis and Jones) were some of the top disc jockeys around, I figured that the two of them would be ideal to MC.
(Source : transcript of interview on BBC Radio programme For One Night Only, presented by Paul Gambaccini)

Johnny Pate : It was a freezing cold day when we recorded that record in Chicago and, frankly, the engineer Ronnie Steele did a helluva job of capturing B.B.’s great rapport with the fans, who had braved the elements for the two shows he did that day.
(Source : Interview in Billboard, Sept 21, 1996, by Timothy White)

Arthur Gathings (audience) : I was fifteen or sixteen, but I was running around with an older crowd, and I had to be at The Regal every Friday night. Unless you’ve seen it, it’s so hard to imagine so many people dressed up in their finest clothes and most of the time on their best behaviour.

I remember how I got in the show. It was a common occurrence. We would get together with one individual who was going to the early show, and before the audience broke for the second show, he would open the side door. We would generally come in that way if we didn’t have the money for tickets. That particular night, we had a friend who let us in. There was about seven - eight of us, so some of us paid and some came in through the side door and melted into the crowd.
(Source : transcript of interview on BBC Radio programme For One Night Only, presented by Paul Gambaccini)

Duke Jethro : They were supposed to deliver my Hammond B3 organ to the theatre that night when they’d finished repairing it, but when we got there I found out they hadn’t delivered it. I don’t remember knowing anything about we were going to be doing any recording. I do remember seeing all of the recording equipment, the cables and all of that. Before we went on stage, B.B. said, "Oh, by the way fellas, they are recording us live tonight."

I told B.B. "The organ is not here. What am I gonna do?"

He said, "Well, you’re going to just have to play the piano."

And I said, "I can’t play piano."

So he said, "Well, sit there and pretend." And he just sorta laughed. I said, "OK."
(Source : transcript of interview on BBC Radio programme For One Night Only, presented by Paul Gambaccini)

Ron Steele (recording engineer) : We set up under the stage, because that was the only room they had available for monitoring. Before the show and between shows there was a mammoth poker game going on with the band members. I think B.B. King came down once but most of the band members were playing and it was probably the wildest poker game, much like you see on tv now. The first bet would be five dollars, the second bet would be fifty and before you knew it somebody was bettin’ a hundred. The game never got past the fourth card because the betting was so high and these guys were very serious players, and also having a lot of fun too.

I think the equipment we used was, at that time, probably the best in the world. The same system we used for B.B. King we also used for Chicago Symphony, and a couple of years earlier I’d used that stuff for recording a bunch of Motown stuff live (The Motortown Revue) at The Regal as well, so they must have figured I know how to deal with The Regal Theatre.

Basically, we set up a control room under the stage, ran our cables up to the theatre. As near as I can figure we recorded on Friday and Saturday. I think the album says the 21st, but I think we also recorded on the 20th.

We were there probably at nine in the morning to do set-up. I remember a soundcheck but with these guys it was more like a party. They weren’t too interested in doing soundchecks because they were more interested in performing.

In those days you didn’t have 24 tracks - you had three. Basically, though, the third track was just to control the vocal, so you had to get a mix right away. Centre track was B.B. King and his guitar but, obviously, his guitar leaked into all of the mics so we got guitar everywhere, on all three tracks, but I think I was able to isolate him pretty well on the centre track, then the two outside tracks were stereo mix of the band, piano, rhythm section … whatnot.

We knew we were going to have leakage and that was part of the skill of recording. You had to use the leakage as part of the sound. One of the tricks was to put the vocals right next to the drums so that you got this really great drum sound, even though it was just leakage, cause the mic was in good proximity to the drums.

We put up these tall stands, we could get 20 feet above the audience, so I put up two audience mics in the aisles, quite high above the audience, and we mixed that in with the instruments and the vocals.
(Source : transcript of interview on BBC Radio programme For One Night Only, presented by Paul Gambaccini)

Johnny Pate : He (B.B. King)’s got quite a band and he seemed to like that sound of the brass.

Johnny (saxophonist Johnny Board) had worked with B.B.’s road band long before I ever met B.B. B.B. is such a loyal person, he stays in touch with people he has worked with in the past. He knew Johnny was in Chicago and I knew him very well, he was a very excellent tenor saxophonist, and I had used him on many studio dates, so when B.B. mentioned that he wanted to use Johnny Board, it was something that I amen’d right away.

We had Sonny Freeman on drums, who had been with him for many years, and Kenny Sands, he was the regular trumpet player, and Bobby Forte, a great saxophone player out of Oakland.
(Source : transcript of interview on BBC Radio programme For One Night Only, presented by Paul Gambaccini)

Arthur Gathings : Pervis had already crowned B.B. King Of The Blues in Chicago. He wasn’t just crowned that night. We already knew that B.B. was the king of the blues. What it did was it opened it up to the world that he was King Of The Blues. B.B. King wasn’t just for black people any more. He was a rainbow person.
(Source : transcript of interview on BBC Radio programme For One Night Only, presented by Paul Gambaccini)

Pervis Spann : It meaned so much to me to have to introduce him onstage. I don’t have to do nothin’ to try to make him any better than he is, because he’s the greatest I know.
(Source : transcript of interview on BBC Radio programme For One Night Only, presented by Paul Gambaccini)

Arthur Gathings : You never heard Pervis introduce B.B. because the audience went wild.
(Source : transcript of interview on BBC Radio programme For One Night Only, presented by Paul Gambaccini)

Duke Jethro (pianist) : We would always open with Every Day I Have The Blues. That was the opening number. After that, nobody knew what was gonna happen next. It was whatever he felt.
(Source : transcript of interview on BBC Radio programme For One Night Only, presented by Paul Gambaccini)

B.B. King : I believe that I have been better doing things live than in the studio. There are things … the way I play, maybe loud, or not so loud, these things that I do with a live audience that I probably doesn’t do, sittin’ there in the studio.
(Source : transcript of interview on BBC Radio programme For One Night Only, presented by Paul Gambaccini)

B.B. King : I usually go through the stereo circuitry (built into his Gibson ES-355 SV), with both pickups working against each other. With just a quick shift of the hand I can set the volume or change the tone. To tell you the truth, I’m not even sure which pickup does what. I just put them both on and use my ear.

Duke Jethro (pianist/organist) : Every night was a new night. He never played the same thing twice the same way. It was whatever he felt.
(Source : transcript of interview on BBC Radio programme For One Night Only, presented by Paul Gambaccini)

B.B. King : I never write down tunes for the band. When I play, I will play whatever seems to be right and fitting. I haven’t written it down, haven’t even thought about it, but when I get on the stage I play what I feel like playin’.
(Source : transcript of interview on BBC Radio programme For One Night Only, presented by Paul Gambaccini)

Duke Jethro (pianist) : People asked how we could do it, not knowing what he was going to play, but there were little things he would do on the guitar, maybe one little note that would let us know where he was going, or he would modulate from one key to another on his guitar and, "OK! I know where he’s goin’" So we just listened. It was just a feeling. We’d never miss a beat. It was great.
(Source : transcript of interview on BBC Radio programme For One Night Only, presented by Paul Gambaccini)

Rowena Dixon (audience) : We were dancin’, just forget about our bills. I had left a home with no lights or gas, and I could have such fun that night until i feel like I’d just left a palace and everything’s just fine. He would just take us, just lift our spirits, and we would leave there feeling great, like it’s gonna be OK, everything’s gonna be all right.
(Source : transcript of interview on BBC Radio programme For One Night Only, presented by Paul Gambaccini)

Arthur Gathings : There were very few people who left that night who could actually speak, because they’d been yelling and singing along all night long. Yet’n’still no-one got mad because they couldn’t hear the words, because everybody was singing along at the same time.
(Source : transcript of interview on BBC Radio programme For One Night Only, presented by Paul Gambaccini)

B.B. King : I don’t think it’s the best thing I ever done. Everybody could see it but me. I never did. I knew it was good, and working with Johnny Pate was great.
(Source : transcript of interview on BBC Radio programme For One Night Only, presented by Paul Gambaccini)

Buddy Guy : B.B. King was a big influence on me and the moment I heard Live At The Regal I felt so good. This was the first live album I had heard so I was interested to hear how it would sound. B.B. King’s guitar here is very different to his usual recordings - more wild using different techniques. On the record he played all of his old recordings but being live they were raw and passionate. They sounded so much more natural. In the studio you can add or take away bits but when you're live it captures exactly what that person is putting out. I wish I'd been there at the gig in person but on record it feels as if you are in the crowd. The crowd are all enthusiastic. It's a great response. The Regal was a real small theatre not like the stadiums and arenas you get these days. It was a very popular venue in the 1960s and this album goes to show that the Blues still had massive appeal.

B.B. King’s singing and playing blew the top of my head off. Blues players sing about everyday life and he tells us, 'If you haven't lived it then just keep living and you will experience it'. I got that record and took it in a room and turned it down low and listened to what he was singing and playing. He sings sad songs and he sings happy ones. He pleases everyone. On Sweet Little Angel he sings, 'I've got a sweet little angel / I love the way she spreads her wings / When she spreads her wings I get joy and everything'. It really captures B.B. King in his prime.
(Source : not known)

John Mayer : It has inspired generations of guitar players. That record has so much going on in it … I call it required listening.
(Source : not known)

Carlos Santana : B.B. King had the sound, that’s the DNA, all the sounds that all the other other musicians play from then on, the seeds came from Live At The Regal.
(Source : not known)

Carlos Santana : With that record, B.B. King became an international sound, like Louis Armstrong, Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye or John Lennon.
(Source : transcript of interview on BBC Radio programme For One Night Only, presented by Paul Gambaccini)

Eric Clapton : I would encourage you to go out and find an album called B.B. King: Live at the Regal, which is where it really started for me as a young player.
(Statement made at the time of B.B. King’s death in 2015)

On May 11, 1965, Live At The Regal entered the Billboard albums chart in the USA, and went on to peak at No6. Widely hailed as one of the most important and influential blues albums ever recorded, it has been listed at No141 on Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2005, Live at the Regal was selected for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the Library Of Congress, Washington, D.C.

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