Rhythmic Royalty “Mighty Blue Kings mesmerize; Staples Singers slump

Rhythmic Royalty

“Mighty Blue Kings mesmerize; Staples Singers slump

Chicago Tribune

By: Howard Reich – Tribune Arts Critic

Chicagoans hold great affection for two bands that played the Ravinia Festival on Wednesday evening, in part because each has brought the sound of this city to listeners around the world.

If the up and coming Mighty Blue Kings and the venerable Staple Singers didn’t perform equally well, at least both drew on distinctly local blues, gospel and jazz traditions. So this concert, despite its flaws amounted to an informal homage to a long heritage of music made in Chicago.

By far the stronger set belonged to the Mighty Blue Kings, even if the band was hampered by an unbelievably sedate audience. Anyone who has attended the Kings’ shows at the Metro or Skyline Stage knows that an enthusiastic crowd can inspire these musicians to turn in viscerally exciting work. The uptempo tunes to a little faster, the jump numbers take flight just that much sooner when the Kings are cheered on by their subjects. With the Ravinia crowd mostly sitting on its hands, the band didn’t have the opportunity to create the kind of frenzy that has marked its best shows. Nevertheless, there was much to recommend this set, most notably the vocals of Mighty Blue Kings singer-bandleader Ross Bon.

Though Bon always was a capable vocalist, he’s now singing like a dream. His voice has gotten a bit deeper and more resonant during the past couple years, his phrasing shows more finesse and nuance.

Moreover, Bon sounds completely at ease and unhurried in front of the microphone, his most mellifluous lines recalling a young Dean Martin.

Whether he was dispatching an MBK standard such as “Grinnin Like a Cheesey Cat” or re-interpreting the Blood, Sweat & Tears anthem “Spinning Wheel,” Bon easily cut through the band’s often-thick instrumental sound. More important, he did so not with volume but with the power of projection and self-dramatization.

With just two original members among its instrumentalists (guitarist Gareth Best and drummer Jerry DeVivo,) the MBK’s sound has changed from a few years ago. The instrumental approach now is lean, bracing and often virtuosic.

The MBKs are evolving. Though the band still recalls a gloriously innocent moment in American pop music (the late 1950s, when jump music hadn’t eclipsed by nascent rock ‘n’ roll), much of the MBK repertoire shows more harmonic sophistication and melodic finesse than in the past. Furthermore, the band has benefited enormously from the addition of Chris Foreman, a savvy Chicago organist whose blues-drenched solos and lush chordal backdrops bring character and context to virtually every piece. Add to the mix a sharp, three horn front line, and the Kings clearly have a great deal to say.