Chicago Bluegrass and Blues Festival- a blue chip feast

I WENT TO THE CHICAGO BLUEGRASS AND BLUES FESTIVAL SATURDAY AND DUDE IT WAS AWWWSSSOOOMMMEE!!!

Sorry for yelling, but 12 hours of nonstop amped up guitars does something to your eardrums. The 2nd annual Chicago Bluegrass and Blues Festival (the CBB) was held Saturday, Dec. 12th, at the historic Congress Theater on N. Milwaukee Ave. and featured 35 bands in overlapping non-stop rotation. The music wasn't just blues and bluegrass. Country, rock, fusion, and even Motown found their way into the mix. And a marching band. Sorta. Cobalt & the Hired Guns, a terrific local quartet with serious enthusiasm, kicked things off at 11:00AM and things didn't quiet down until midnight.

There were too many bands to try to review each one, but a few stood out, at least to my admittedly limited knowledge and understanding of this end of the musical spectrum. Squeeze-Bot, a funky Louisville group made up of accordian, banjo, tuba, and drums, put a jazz-tinged edge on tunes as diverse as Thelonius Monk and Boy George. The Right Now, from right here in Chicago, killed with soulful powerful vocals by Stefanie Berecz, backed by a hard driving rhythm section and horns. Hints of Chicago (the band), Motown, and some serious funk lit up the crowd. The afore mentioned marching band, the Environmental Encroachment's Magic Circus Band, made up for a lack of major talent with extreme enthusiasm channeling Carnivale and New Orleans Mardi Gras, and of course the crowd ate it up. Very infectious good time stuff. Less successful was legendary (he's 74) Eddy "Chief" Clearwater, a genuine bluesman with the history to show for it. His set on the main stage seemed a little lackluster and the solos lacked the soulful hard-living-my-woman-done-me-wrong angst that's the core of the blues.

The headliner was Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, the Grammy winning banjo-led band that defies catorization. There were a lot of banjo players among the 35 bands and I expect most if not all of them look to Fleck as their spiritual leader. His technique is astounding and he brings a wide ranging creative musicality to his playing. His bass player, Victor Wooten, is nothing short of astonishing. Victor's brother, AKA Future Man, invented and plays a wierd looking instrument (It looks like the offspring of a Stratocaster and E.T.),  using his fingers to recreate the sounds of a traditional drum set. Yup. That's what it does and it works amazingly well. Jeff Coffin on sax and flute rounds out the group.

The focus of their set was the Christmas songs from their latest CD. Believe me, you've never heard  "The Twelve Days of Christmas" done their way before. The other selections were also fresh takes on songs everybody knows. All the pieces had a strong rhythmic undercurrent and a driving momentum that sustained interest throughout. The most interesting and unusual aspect of their set, if not the entire festival,  was a performance by Alash, a quartet of 4 men from Tuva in Siberia. They specialize in throat singing, which is a method of producing more than one note with just your vocal cords. It's a haunting otherworldly sound that has a mesmorizing effect, especially when combined with the more conventional (well, almost conventional) sounds of the Flecktones. A truly unique sonic experience. That this unusual chant-like music was so well received is a testiment to the variety and open-mindedness of the music loving crowd packing the theater floor. 

There were 2 main performing areas, one in the entry lobby and the other on the stage of the theater itself. Between acts on the main stage, bands played on one of the balconies, so the music was pretty much continuous. Since the doors leading into the auditorium were always open, the sounds of one band would bleed into the other, depending on where you stood. There were no curtains or other absorbtion devices, so sounds tended to bounce around quite a bit, resulting in a loss of clarity and detail. Sometimes that didn't matter much, but with some of the groups, you would miss a lot of nuance and intricacy. Apparently it didn't dampen the crowd's spirits though, because virtually every performance was well received.

There was a limited amont of food available and bars serving beer, spirits and soft drinks were scattered here and there. Most of the bands had tables set up to sell CD's T-shirts, etc. and talk to the crowds. Even though it was a non-smoking venue (aren't they all now?) cigarette smoke somehow made its way into the theater. Not a lot, but enough to be annoying and make your throat raspy.

This was a very successful festival musically speaking and hopefully will continue for years to come. It's a great way to hear a lot of terrific musicians, some justifiably world famous, all in one place. As it becomes a more established event, the quality of the music, already at a high level, should improve even more. The venue is not so great, given the accoustic problems, but it's big enough and it's nice and warm on a cold December day. There needs to be a larger selection of food, especially since you can't leave and get back in after 6:00PM. These are minor quibbles, given the tremendous value you get for your ticket price. ($35.00-50.00 for the whole 13 hour day.) You can learn more about the festival and listen to samples from all the bands at http://www.cbbfestival.com.

When Alan isn't getting his hearing checked, he creates sculptures at alancarterstudio.com.