©
By Kevin McKeough
Heavy rain Friday and cold temperatures Saturday hampered attendance, but
Sunday's sunny, somewhat warmer weather helped bring a large crowd to Grant
Park.
Special to the Tribune
Published June 3, 2003
Keyboard players replaced guitarists in the spotlight Sunday, the final day of
the 20th annual Chicago Blues Festival.
On the Petrillo Music Shell main stage, the music was filled with the trills of
Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural's accordion, the synthesizer fanfares behind
Cicero Blake's soul singing, Mose Allison's twisted-in-knots jazz piano, and the
church organ Ken Saydak played in support of Zora Young's gospel-blues belting.
The Mayor's Office of Special Events estimated 20,000 people attended the
festival Thursday, 40,000 attended Friday, 255,000 attended Saturday and 245,000
attended Sunday. The overall attendance of 560,000 was down significantly from
the 750,000 reported for the last two years.
But the Sunday night cool didn't prevent Dural and his band, Buckwheat Zydeco,
from turning the festival into a dance party. Energetic and enthusiastic, Dural
egged on the crowd with jubilant, gruff-voiced shouts and drove the syncopated
swamp grooves of his zydeco songs (a mix of blues and Louisiana Cajun music)
with his wheezy accordion flurries.
Rubbery bass lines, clattering drums, and the rustle of his brother Reginald
Dural's washboard added to the fervor. But aside from a trumpet player's jazzy
solos and flourishes there was little more to the music than the lively dance
rhythms. Dural's reliance on such tired war horses as "Walking to New
Orleans" and "Let the Good Times Roll" also testified to how much
his music has been compromised by the demands of festival and college crowds.
During his set earlier in the evening, veteran Chicago soul singer Cicero Blake
sang about cheating and being cheated on with a light-hearted delivery that
played on his themes for mirth rather than pathos. While his aptly-named band,
Machine Company, alternated between galloping romps and ballads decorated with
gurgling organ and twinkling piano, Blake used feathery trills, gritty warbles,
melancholy calls and playful timing to make songs--including his 1977 signature
hit "Dip My Dipper"--riotous fun.
Mose Allison and his trio played a brief set of his sly jazz songs. Allison's
vocal timing was as idiosyncratic as ever as his light Mississippi drawl skipped
ahead of the band's skittering accompaniment, and his piano ranged from
straightforward stride blues to avant-garde explorations that turned the songs
inside out.
Saydak and Zora Young opened the main stage performances, the last of the
Delmark Records-affiliated artists who performed each night as part of the Blues
Festival's celebration of the stalwart local blues label's 50th anniversary. Two
backing singers swathed Young's growls and shouts in gospel harmonies, while
Saydak played rollicking piano boogie and holy-rolling organ.
Fellow Delmark acts Willie Kent and the Gents, one of the hardest-working and
most reliable blues acts in town, delivered a rousing set Friday night.
Kent's muscular singing, rock-solid bass playing, and the Gents' keyboard-stoked
heat demonstrated why Chicago is a vital blues center not just during Blues
Fest, but all year long.