Looking for Remnants of the Chicago Blues in the 21st Century
Nashville has country, New Orleans has jazz, and Chicago has the blues; a tad reductive perhaps, but these three cities and corresponding American musical genres are forever intertwined. In the case of the latter city, however, its relationship to the blues is somewhat complicated. Unlike New Orleans, which has long been considered to be the birthplace of the American art form, Chicago is not even close to being the point of origin for the genre, as the blues famously was born as the ¨Delta Blues¨ in Mississippi, even as the Delta Blues´ most iconic figure Robert Johnson famously penned the anthem ¨Sweet Home Chicago¨(Geography apparently was not up to snuff in the 1930s, as Johnson, who most likely had never been to the Windy City, throughout the song mistakenly refers to Chicago as being located in California).
However, a key subset of blues, the electrified and harmonica-fueled ¨Chicago blues,¨ indeed did originate in the Illinois metropolis, mostly thanks to African-American Southern migrants who fled the racism and poverty of the region and found refuge in the sprawling, bustling city during the immediate post-war era. It was during this age, starting in the late 1940s and extending until the early ´60s, when many of the most iconic practitioners of the Chicago Blues style reigned; the commanding baritone and guitar licks of Muddy Waters, the songwriting genius and thumping bass of Wille Dixon, the frantic harmonica playing of Little Walter, the intimidating rasp of Howlin´ Wolf, the outsized flamboyance of Bo Diddley, the scorching guitar and enthusiastic smile of B.B. King, the howling passion of Koko Taylor, and the simultaneously traditionalist and cutting-edge Buddy Guy, the last man standing in Chicago Blues in the 21st Century.
Many of these artists (but not all) recorded their most renowned works at Chess Records on South Michigan Avenue, under the guidance of ambitious Polish-Jewish immigrants Phil and Leonard Chess. Almost all of these musical legends honed their chops in the dozens of blues bars that once lined the city.
In 2021, there are but a handful of blues bars left, many of them cherished by tourists and locals alike, while Chess is currently a museum and not an active studio (although that could change someday). Unlike in the aforementioned music cities New Orleans or Nashville, not to mention Memphis, the ghost of the blues and its legendary shadow does not hang over seemingly every corner of the city. The nation´s third-largest city has an array of cultural and tourism offerings that have nothing to do with its most prominent musical heritage, and there are far more deep-dish pizza places and Garrett´s popcorn shops than blues clubs in downtown Chicago.
Nevertheless, even decades after the blues reigned as a musical style, the legacy of Chicago´s unique form of an iconic American musical style can still be seen and heard, even if one has to search a little bit more than in the Big Easy.
Blues Bars in Chicago- Past and Present-
Unfortunately, one of the most hallowed shrines dedicated to the blues is no longer standing- the Macomba Lounge, which lasted a mere four years during the initial boom of Chicago blues, yet retains an aura and a mythical quality more than six decades after its demise. Owned by Leonard Chess, most well-known for the record company of his name, the Lounge, located at 3905 South Cottage Grove, was in a seedy neighborhood but attracted night owls and pure music lovers. The club initially was a jazz haven before blues icons like Muddy Waters held court.
After the sudden fire that extinguished the bar´s sizable impact, a series of blues bars popped up during the 1950s, the most prolific decade of the genre. Among these clubs included The Flame, The 708 and Silvio´s, the majority of which were located along Indiana Avenue on the South Side or Lake Street on the West Side, home to the majority of Chicago´s growing African-American population.
In the 21st Century, virtually none of the post-war institutions remain, with a handful of neo-classical bars that try to emulate the past (despite the majority opening up in the 1980s or later) and keep the flame alive. The most popular include the sprawling, soul food-tinged Kingston Mines in Lincoln Park and the small, gritty and divey Blue Chicago, located right near downtown and the Chicago River on Clark Street.
Meanwhile, right by Grant Park and Lake Michigan the previously noted Buddy Guy keeps the blues alive with his touristy but charming Buddy Guy´s Legends, while farther afield from the Loop one can find no-frills bluesy rawness at the local favorite (and not as overtly tourist-friendly) Rosa´s Lounge. All of these bars have their unique pleasures and all are must-visits for blues aficionados, even if they cannot quite capture the spirit of the heyday of Chicago Blues as the original landmarks.
Heading to Blue Chicago on a cool, refreshing Thursday night in September, I expected lines out the door as the clock ticked until 9 PM. Instead, I saw a modest crowd at a humble, intimate blues club that could been straight out of the 50s or 70s; it is not a place that capitulates to trends but instead is stubbornly old-fashioned and grand in its dive-bar fashion. The surly bartender took my order, as all beers and mixed drinks were surprisingly affordable- and non-trendy.
A Goose Island, one of Chicago´s two local, non-craft beers of choice (the other being Old Style) was the closest to a hipster beer on the limited drinks menu, while the cocktail list (all 6 to 8 dollars) included such staples as Cuba Libre, Whiskey Sour, and a Gin and Tonic. Posters advertising the simply-named club, as well as affordable postcards and shirts, lined the walls. The club was strictly cash-only, but at least offered an ATM for cash-weary tourists.
Like the majority of the blues bars in the Windy City, it was founded not in the the rollicking post-war age but in 1985, long after the blues was at its peak of influence and popularity. Despite this fact, it retains a decidedly vintage feel, and the crowd skewed older, although there were a few young guns who seemed as possessed by the music as their older brethren.
The house band is the formidable Mike Wheeler Band; the namesake of the group and its frontman is a commanding vocalist and scorching guitarist. During the first few songs, the music was solid but missing something; it did not even dawn on me that the drummer was not present until the bartender offhandedly mentioned that the drummer was MIA after being caught in traffic. As soon as he joined in shortly after, the band kicked it up another notch, but things really began to cook when the second vocalist of the evening stepped on stage, Sheryl Youngblood.
A staple of the local blues scene who performs at most of the clubs in the Chitown area, Youngblood boasts a powerful voice and charismatic presence that truly brought the house down, causing the small but passionate group of vaccinated blues lovers to dance the night away at levels not seen since the pandemic started. For an affordable, non-flashy evening of raw live blues, one simply cannot do better.
After catching an incredible free concert outside the historic Chess Records building the following Sunday (more details in the following section), I positively had Chicago blues fever, and saw that that living embodiment of the city´s legacy, Buddy Guy, had re-opened his popular club near the lake and Grant Park, after being shut down for well more than a year. At 85, he rarely shows up to his own bar, so I had no great expectations of actually seeing the man himself. In spite of this, I decided during my last full day in the city to live it up.
The crowd on a Sunday night was surprisingly subdued, and while the atmosphere was overtly touristy and Hard Rock Cafe-esque, at least the spaciousness and separation of the bar and table area gave one more confidence in terms of COVID infections. Even better, like apparently virtually all blues bars in Chicago, vaccination proof is necessary to enter. Suddenly, while trying the Goose Island Green Line beer, I saw a masked, slightly frail familiar figure-the legend himself. He hopped on stage, performing an improvised, extended version of the blues standard ¨Hoochie Coochie Man¨ to the delighted crowd, then stuck around to chat and sign autographs.
The band itself consisted of the aging but soulful Smiley Tillmon, but the show truly was stolen by the young guitarist Kate Moss, who played mean, smoking guitar that sounded like a cross between a young Bonnie Raitt and Jeff Beck but had a unique style all her own. The ambience was a bit sterile compared to the slightly grimy yet charming Blue Chicago, but it still was a must see and certainly a key site in the busy Grant Park area.
Chess Records- A Building as Living History
All this legacy of Chicago blues would truly not have been possible without the record label that defined the blues as much as Sun Records defined rockabilly, Motown defined pop-oriented R&B, and Stax defined Southern Soul; the mecca of South Michigan Avenue, Chess Records, founded by the eponymous Polish immigrant brothers Phil and Leonard. At the tail end of the 1940s, these two hardworking and ambitious immigrants saw the power of the local blues scenes that popped up right after World War II. Feeling a kinship with the black migrants who left everything to come to the Windy City, the Chess brothers saw that this hard-edged, electric take on traditional blues could have a major following.
The first track recorded for the fledgling Chess Records, however, was not a storming blues jam but a slow, sexy and romantic jazz-inflected instrumental number, ¨My Foolish Heart¨ by Gene Ammons. The second track recorded, like the first in 1950, was the far more emblematic ¨Rollin´Stone Blues¨ by the immortal Muddy Waters (born McKinley Morganfield), which influenced a certain group of British Bad Boys and helped launch the Chess aesthetic.
The label of course was known for Chicago electric blues, the majority of which were written by the incredibly prolific Willie Dixon (he wrote a stunning 600 songs that were recorded on Chess) and performed by the likes of Waters, his scarifying rival Howlin´Wolf with his scratchy voice and commanding presence, and the hopped-up harmonica of Little Walter. However, the label also recorded legends of rock and roll (St. Louis´ Chuck Berry, arguably the true king of the genre), R&B (Etta James, Fontella Bass), doo-wop (The Moonglows, The Dells) and some wacky hybrid of all three (the incomparable Bo Diddley, who invented a whole new guitar sound).
For the last 30 years, the studio has become a foundation and museum, as spearheaded by Dixon before his death in 1992, and today it is known as Willie Dixon´s Blues Heaven Foundation. Due to the ongoing pandemic, regularly scheduled tours remain closed, but I was lucky enough to receive a free, limited capacity tour, followed by a free outdoor concert in the Willie Dixon Blues Garden adjacent to the building.
Seeing the building where Berry, Waters, James, Diddley, Koko Taylor, Wolf and countless others recorded, not to mention the Rolling Stones themselves, is truly a piece of priceless living history. The tour ends with a selection of classic recordings piped through the pristine audio system in the room where these very same tracks were originally recorded. Even after all these years, the songs sounded like they were being played right in that very room.
It was difficult to top that moment, but a couple hours later, John Primer, a living Chicago blues legend (although like a large number he hails originally from Mississippi) and the former lead guitarist for Muddy, Magic Slim and other late Chicago icons, took the stage with an acoustic guitar and the steady accompaniment of harmonica virtuoso Steve Bell.
On a warm, lovely Sunday fall evening in Chicago, the duo played for more than 2 hours, mixing originals and spirited covers not only of blues standards but stone-cold soul gems (by the likes of Sam Cooke, Sam & Dave etc.) and blues-based rock (an inspired rendition of the Stones classic ¨Let It Bleed¨), before mixing in must-plays such as the previously noted ¨Sweet Home Chicago¨. It was truly a a transcendent moment- and this was before getting the chance to interact with Buddy Guy.
What Comes Next for Chicago Blues?
Despite the fact that a relatively small clutch of blues clubs exists nowadays in the Windy City, and that Chess is a museum and not an active studio, it was easy to imagine in some spare moments that the blues genre is alive and well in Chicago. Just as the ghost of Elvis seems eerily present in Memphis and the legacy of Louis Armstrong beckons on many corners of New Orleans, the wailing harmonica of Little Walter and buzzing guitar licks of Muddy Waters can be discerned on some Chicago streets. However, as the years linger on and more and more gentrification takes over a city once known for a distinctive musical legacy, it remains to be seen how much of this extraordinary cultural contribution will be evident in future decades. For now, in drips and drabs, the spirit of the blues lives on in ¨Sweet Home Chicago.¨
