For its second year in Millennium Park, the Chicago Blues Festival has expanded, adding a new stage and extending the hours of an existing one. Whether more quantity translates into more quality, though, remains to be seen. A few of the bookings adopt a refreshingly creative definition of the blues—Vieux Farka Touré brings his Mali-to-Memphis roots-blues fusion to the Crossroads Stage on Saturday, for instance, and the flamboyant and impossible-to-categorize Fantastic Negrito plays Pritzker Pavilion on Sunday. Boogie-woogie pianist Erwin Helfer makes a long-overdue and very welcome return to the festival, and thankfully the schedule also includes several major southern soul-blues artists: Willie Clayton, Ms. Jody, LJ Echols, and Chicago’s own Nellie “Tiger” Travis.
Chicago Blues Festival Fri 6/8 through Sun 6/10, 11 AM-9:30 PM, Millennium Park, Michigan and Randolph, free, all-ages
On Saturday night the fest honors harmonica master Little Walter, and though this salute is just a single set, it’s nonetheless a valuable acknowledgment of the blues’ roots and heritage. If you’re willing to look, you can find plenty of other gems on the bill, rough cut and otherwise. And the culminating Sunday-night set by Mavis Staples, Chicago’s undisputed queen of soul and gospel, should provide sufficient benediction for even the crankiest critic.
by Bill Dahl
She can get pretty raunchy, but never at the expense of her self-worth or good sense.
