Live at the Regal is a 1965 live album by American blues guitarist and singer B.B. King. It was recorded on November 21, 1964, at the Regal Theater in Chicago. The album is widely heralded as one of the greatest blues albums ever recorded and was ranked at number 141 in Rolling Stone's 2003 edition of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list,[6] before dropping to number 299 in a 2020 revision.[7] In 2005, Live at the Regal was selected for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress in the United States.
It was voted number 604 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000).[10] In the same book it was number 6 in the Top 50 Blues albums of All-Time.
Recording
Live at the Regal was recorded on November 21, 1964, at the Regal Theater in Chicago, a venue King claimed to have played at "hundreds of times before".[11] King's backing band consisted of Duke Jethro on the piano, Leo Lauchie on the bass, Kenneth Sands on the trumpet, Johnny Board and Bobby Forte on the tenor saxes, and Sonny Freeman on the drums.[11] Jethro was originally scheduled to play the organ, but after his organ broke, King instructed Jethro to play the piano.[12] When Jethro said he did not know how to play the piano, King replied "Well, just sit there and pretend — that's what you do most of the time anyway!"[12]
^Rucker, Leland (2002). MusicHound Blues: The Essential Album Guide (2 ed.). Visible Ink Press. p. 227. ISBN978-1578-5903-0-8. B.B.'s vocal-like guitar playing is part and parcel of his rare ability to communicate intimately with an audience, a powerful rapport which is perfectly captured on Live at the Regal, a 1964 performance considered by many to be not only his finest recording but the greatest album in all modern blues.
^^ Robert Dimery; Michael Lydon (23 March 2010). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN978-0-7893-2074-2.
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