Jan 25

Jan 25 Southern Soul at Logan

Chicago, Festivals, Jazz, Musicians, Performance, Things to Do in Chicago, Blues

[Tonight, one chair on stage sat empty. Hollywood Scott, the Platinum band’s leader, musical director, and rhythm guitarist died on December 31, creating a large void in the Chicago soul and blues scene. This post is dedicated to Hollywood.]

Winter in Chicago is cold and dreary, making it good for only one thing: curling up with a lengthy Russian novel, like Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov. For two years, the Reva and David Center for the Arts did offer an antidote to the winter blues, which ironically took the form of a weekend blues festival. Much to my regret, the Logan Center discontinued that festival several years back.

Not to fear, however. This year, the center incorporated several blues concerts into its longstanding U. of Chicago Presents series. Maybe that’s better than the Bluesfest, because along with jazz, we now have blues offerings on a regular basis. Borrowing from the words of Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah (aka Christian Scott), the Logan Center is ‘Stretch,’ encompassing multiple art forms, languages and cultures.

Tonight, the center offered up Southern Soul Celebration: Blues for the Soul. The featured artists included Joe Barr, Theo Huff, and Nellie “Tiger” Travis, with musical backing provided by the Platinum Band—the folks who accompanied Tyrone Davis and the Chi-Lites back in the early Seventies.

Show curator, Matthew Skoller, kicked the evening off by providing some historical context. What would you otherwise expect? After all, the University of Chicago is an educational institution, so a short lecture was warranted. While introducing Joe Barr, Skoller managed to sneak in a quick blues harp solo. As much as the audience might have wanted Skoller to undertake a second or third number, time constraints carried the day.

Veteran performer Joe Barr was first up. Barr is a vocalist and keyboardist who worked with the likes of Howlin’ Wolf, Luther Allison, and Freddy King before leading the house band at Koko Taylor’s short-lived, eponymously named blues club in what is now Chicago’s Viagra Triangle. When Taylor was performing, no Viagra was necessary.

Tonight, the Platinum Band included two keyboardists—Carlos Patterson and Alvin Carter—so Barr could just focus on his vocals. Of the three featured artists, Barr’s set was the bluesiest, but he still added soulful touches to the mix, with Barr slowly enunciating the words over the Platinum Band’s highly refined musical accompaniment. Guitarist James Gordon stood out, punctuating the air with plenty of space between each note. Gordon adheres to the Bauhaus adage, “Less is More.”

While Barr has a gravelly-rich voice, he is no showman despite his black sports jacket lined with reflective strips of reflective silver fabric. Even though he slowly shifted across the stage, his body was largely static, exhibiting a stiff, upright posture, with his face largely locked into a stone-like expression.

Skoller may have intentionally juxtaposed Barr against Theo Huff, who took the stage immediately following Barr’s set. From the moment Huff hit the stage, he and his unnamed ‘shadow’ never stopped contorting their bodies, leaping and twisting from one side of the Logan Center stage to the other. Born in 1988, Huff is not a veteran of the Seventies Southern Soul scene, but he certainly exuded its ethos. Early in his set, Huff took on Tyrone Davis’ Turn Back the Hands of Time, offering up an extended version. He nailed it. From that point on, Huff could do no wrong.

The hall’s front row was filled with adoring female fans, many who probably saw Tyrone Davis, the Chi-Lites and many other artists who appeared on Soul Train 50 years ago. Huff had brought the fever that usually emanates from Sunday morning church services to the Logan Center on a Saturday night.

Chicago blues harpist Billy Branch was in the audience. Wanting to keep the show at fever pitch, Huff invited him to the stage, where Branch performed one of his signature harmonica solos, adding more swing and gyrations to the mix.

Huff must have seen the great Solomon Burke perform. Like Burke, Huff handed out red roses to the adoring ladies midway through the concert. None of us men were awarded a rose, as I well know all too well. I was standing at the foot of the stage as the females around me received a rose.

As Huff was bringing the curtain down on his set, his shadow brought out a white fur coat, which he draped over Huff’s shoulders as Huff exited the stage. While I understood the gesture, it made no sense. Huff was so hot that the last thing he needed was a heavy coat. Jane Fonda couldn’t have kept up with him.

After a brief intermission, Nellie “Tiger” Travis took the stage. She was born in Mississippi, eventually finding her way to Chicago following a stint in California. She now travels the world.

Travis is deeply indebted to Koko Taylor, who became a surrogate mother following the death of Travis’ mother. Not surprisingly, Travis opened her set with a tribute to Taylor entitled, Queen of the Blues (Tribute to Koko Taylor), which was her bluesiest number of the evening. She quickly shifted gears into full Southern Soul mode. Until her final song, my favorite was Chatty Patty, with its tinges of funk, and its catchy refrain, “Chatty Patty, chat chat chatty, Girl shut yo mouth.” You gotta love the reference to Instagram. Chatty Patty must be an Influencer, so we can all related to Travis’ sentiments.

Along the way, Travis also sang about her relationship troubles—I’m in Love With a Man I Can’t Stand, a slow soulful number. But by the end of her set, Travis was looking for new romance, with her eyes on Mr. Sexy Man. There were plenty of those in the audience, so Travis invited them up on the stage, dancing and singing to each as she repeated, “Hey, Mr. Sexy Man, what’s your name is.”

On cue, all the performers joined Travis for a final number. Billy Branch returned to the stage, as did Matthew Skoller.

Throughout the evening, five singers provided the sweetening with their backing vocals. They included Kalea Payton, Toni Marie Adams, Jolene Barr, and two unnamed singers.

The ecstatic audience soaked up every note. Truly a fun evening of great music.

[Click on an Image to Enlarge It. The Images Are Not Necessarily in Exact Chronological Order]