The history and legacy of the Chicago blues is a long and intricate story that can be traced back to the turn of the twentieth century and the Columbian Exposition of 1893. The Black population numbered in the dozens at this time; by the middle of the twentieth century, following two world wars as well as waves of the Great Migration, the community population increased to the hundreds of thousands. David Whiteis’ book is not meant to be a history; his portraits portray a community represented by a hierarchy of individuals who have played the role of the elders and laid the foundation for a thriving, ever-evolving community.
However, while Whiteis doesn’t retell the history that’s based in the Southside brownstones and a whole generation of piano players finding refuge in the “North Star on the Lake,” he does demonstrate the relevance of learning from the elders such as Sunnyland Slim, Junior Wells, and Big Walter Horton. These portraits are drawn not only for their significance but because these were the men who acted as the gatekeepers for Whiteis’ trip into the blues community of Chicago.
Whiteis has the ability to paint a family portrait and weave a fabric that presents the essence of the extended family. The broad strokes that illustrate the makeup of the individuals, from the “elders” to the “torchbearers,” help the reader understand and learn about the people who perform and create the music commonly referred to as Chicago blues.
Whiteis exhibits keen insight in understanding the significance of the elders as well as the venues that fed the art form, from the long-gone house parties of the Southside to Maxwell Street, the “port of entry” for many who made the migration from the South to Chicago.
Whiteis uses many terms that reach back to numerous African religious deities, but that only adds to the significance of the societal structure and the deep understanding he has of the elders and the role the torchbearers play in keeping the blues tradition alive today. The image of a blues great like Jody Williams putting down his instrument, then picking it up again years later, is heartfelt. Likewise, the case of artists like Bonnie Lee, who got her start in Chicago from Sunnyland Slim as so many others did, shows the significance of the elders. And the focus on two young men who thirty years ago were the “Sons of the Blues” shows how the tradition continues through generations.
Billy Branch, now a torchbearer, and the blues life of Lurrie Bell portray what it means to sing the blues. This is the soul of the blues story, which can only be felt through the pain of real life and the stories of real life experiences. The trials and tribulations of Sharon Lewis demonstrate what it means to live these blues, and impact the readers’ understanding of the blues tradition as the true meaning of survival.
Many of these essays come from articles written for the Chicago Reader, Living Blues, and other periodicals, and they tell a blues story that many writers, aficionados and even performers feel as they try to understand the legacy of the blues. This legacy of the blues is not found in its past but in its future. Whiteis goes where the blues thrives today in “The Southside of Town,” where the blues is sung in a soul blues vein, a vein that infuses the blues community with the life that keeps the blues tradition alive. It bears the “inner faith” of singers like Artie White and Cicero Blake, who have been misunderstood by the more pedestrian of music critics. The heartbeat of the music still lives within the souls of these artists and provides the stage for the blues to continue to serve the community at large.
Whiteis ends with a coda that is not a portrait, but an editorial on the future. The ending was written a year after the marketing campaign of the “Year of the Blues” and was completed two years prior to the year 2006, which finds all blues fans with a heavy heart. The passing of many blues icons from Clarence Gatemouth Brown and Henry Townsend to Willie Kent, Bonnie Lee, Snooky Pryor, and Robert Jr. Lockwood – a whole generation and a half is passing on, which makes it more important to appreciate the portraits of the individuals discovered in Chicago Blues: Portraits and Stories.
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[Review length: 738 words • Review posted on February 1, 2007]