Chicago’s New Royalty of Swing
Chicago Life Magazine
By Gillian Engberg
Winter 97 Issue
“I’ve played everywhere, and I’ve heard musicians swing as hard as they do in Chicago,” said jazz trumpeter Red Rodney. Since their first gig raised the roof off Buddy Guy’s Legends just two years ago, The Mighty Blue Kings have been setting new standards with their infectious blend of swing music, and the city has taken notice.
Take an average Tuesday night at the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge. A diverse crowd of fans lines up around the block far in advance to catch the band’s irrepressible stage show. The Kings have played Chicago’s huge range of venues, including Navy Pier’s Skyline Stage and the Stock Exchange Room at the Art Institute, and each performance seems to generate more buzz.
Part of the excitement is that the Kings play music that is at once familiar and completely new. “We’re not a blues band; we’re not a swing band; we’re not a jazz band; we’re not a jump band,” says Ross Bon, lead vocalist and co-founder of the band. “We do all of those things, but I don’t want to say we’re one thing because that’s subject to change. We are the new alternative; it’s different from anything that’s out there right now.”
Despite the nostalgic influences, most of the band’s members didn’t grow up listening to Little Junior Parker, Bobbie “Blue” Bland, or any other legends that you hear echoed in the band’s music. Ross Bon says “I was born in 1972. I listened to the Stones, Eric Clapton when I was little. All their music is influenced by the Blues, which is one way I got into the music – by listening to those guys.”
When asked why The Mighty Blue Kings play the music they do, Bon gets straight to the point: “because it feels good.” Bon founded the band two years ago with bassist Jimmy Sutton. Born in Chicago, Bon started playing around town with small combos and began to make a name for himself as a talented vocalist. On nights off from the bands, he would check out jam nights in local clubs to get to know the other musicians playing around the city. “I felt pretty quickly which musicians in town were serious about music and which ones weren’t.”
It was through these local jam nights that Bon hooked up with Jimmy Sutton and the two decided to form a band. “I always dreamed about creating a big sound with horns,” says Bon. “Jimmy sparked this idea and we gave each other the motivation to get the band going; he was as excited about it as I was. We had no idea what to expect though.”
Sutton and Bon added saxophonist Jerry DeVivo, drummer Bob Carter, guitarist Gareth Best, pianist Donny Nichilo, and saxophonist Sam Burckhardt, who has since been replaced by Jonathan Doyle. After seeing the band play a local “roots” night at Déjà vu, owner Dave Jemilo signed the Mighty Blue Kings to their notorious Tuesday night gigs at the Green Mill. Since then, the band’s reputation has spread with epidemic speed. Bon says, “the Green Mill really had a built in audience. You’ve got people coming in after shows at the Aragon and the Vic. After we started playing there, we really built up momentum.” In addition to regular Chicago appearances, the band has wooed the West Coast. After their debut appearance at the Viper Room in Los Angeles, they were asked to be flown out to perform on a weekly basis. Television and radio appearances have followed. They seem poised for a major invasion of mainstream music. Where are they aiming? Ever the confident frontman, Bon says: “We want to cover the world.”
Like Bon, all the current members of the band were born in Chicago, and the city’s enthusiastic, almost feverish reception continues to impress the musicans.
“We’re proud to be in Chicago, We’ve done the West Coast and we want to do the East Coast and Down South…Audiences here are different. In Chicago, everyone hoots and hollers and gets involved. In the Midwest there’s this down-home kind of feeling. This isn’t a town of name dropping, although that goes on. Basically people are just going out to have a good time. You go other places and people are more reserved. Maybe they’re mislead by our appearance. We come out with our suits and the whole thing, and they think that we’re these straight forward guys. My job is to show the audience the way.”
“My biggest challenge personally,” Bon continues, “is connecting with the crowd. It’s like being a good comedian. The trick is just being natural, not get all glitzy and show-biz. It’s not an easy job. Sometimes the audience doesn’t respond. That’s when we (in the band) motivate each other.”
A show at Navy Pier’s Skyline Stage tested the band’s ability to reach out to such a large audience. “The Skyline is huge; it has a capacity of 1500. The bigger the place gets, the farther out you have to throw (the sound). Everyone was in their seats, in their nice rows, and we started playing.”
As in the famous Carnegie Hall riot inspired by Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa’s wild performance, The Mighty Blue King’s audience at the Skyline could not be tied to their seats.
“We watched two people come down to the front,” says Bon. “The security guards were all ready to stop them, but then they realized the aisle was completely filled with people who wanted to dance.”
A list of live performers have inspired Bon to create magnetism with the crowd. “I saw B.B. King at Poplar Creek… He had that whole place riveted. It was amazing to watch. I really try to catch B.B. King and Joe Williams when I can.” In Chicago, Bon would go to blues clubs on the south side. “I’d go to see Buddy Scott, who has unfortunately passed away, at these small bars on the south side, like the Checkerboard and there might be three people there. But the band would get up on stage and really put on a show.”
Bon and the band have no trouble getting an audience excited. As their many fans attest to, a Mighty Blue Kings show is anything but reserved. Drawing all types, the shows are a circus of fun – an endless string of exuberant hijinks on stage with dancers swinging and jumping in a frenzy below. Mighty Blue Kings’s concerts feels like celebrations; they are all high spirits and driving energy without any of the corniness sometimes attached to the eras that influence them.
In collaborative live shows, Bon says, “I really like to club people over the head.” Bon adds that he gets a lot of energy from playing with bands completely different from his own. “We played a few shows with Citizen King (acclaimed Milwaukee based band also known for its combustible live shows). When Citizen King went on stage, I saw all these young kids in Mighty Blue Kings T-shirts in the mosh pit, dancing.”
With their avid following, The Mighty Blue Kings shows become a scene. But driving the energy and hijinks of these live shows is the music.
Bon says, “On the West Coast they’ve got this whole swing theme going on. There are guys in monkey suits like it’s 1942. Everybody is dressed up. But with us its more about the music.”
The musical backgrounds of the band vary between the members Bon says, “I wanted to study the mechanics of singing, and I realized once I got into it that this is a whole new world that I want to learn more about.” The players are versatile. Bon says that in addition to singing, he plays harmonica. Tim Wilson, master harp man with the Fabulous Thunderbirds, is one of his favorite live performers. “I can pick up the other instruments in the band and play them. I love pianos. In fact,” he adds, “I’m looking for a small upright in good condition.”
The band seems to put together its tight, energetic sound with similar instinctual momentum. “I don’t talk music. I talk shapes and colors, but everyone understands,” says Bon who writes many of the songs. “I have an idea of the structure – I’m hearing this and that – and the band members will pick up the sound. There’s a lot of communication there.”
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