There I was in the spotlight, alongside my daughter, Sonia, playing Blues harmonicas onstage in front of a lively crowd. Was this some sort of a surreal dream? It certainly felt like one in the moment. But this was, in fact, an actual event that occurred on a Friday morning earlier this month.
It all began with a Chicago Sun-Times article by Neil Steinberg that I read about a Blues Camp for children at Columbia College. I thought surely that this was some sort of misprint. Why were children learning about the Blues, and why would the music be of interest to them? After reading the column, I contacted Neil, who assured me that what he wrote was indeed not a work of fiction. Fernando Jones, whom Sonia recently met by coincidence on her morning walks, had created the international music program, Blues Camp, in 1989, and it has since grown into a recognized nonprofit.
This realization immediately brought me back to the days of my youth. My love for the Blues began in Grade School. None of my friends could understand why I would want to listen to people they had never heard of like Muddy Waters, Albert King and Howlin’ Wolf. My curiosity had now peaked regarding what sort of kids would attend a camp devoted to Blues music. Thankfully, Sonia is always up for an adventure like I am, so I asked her to join me for the Blues Kids Foundation’s camp recital at Columbia. What we found there entertained and delighted us.
The stated mission of Fernando’s nonprofit is to preserve, perform and promote Blues among America’s youth, educators, parents and community members. The organization operated as a free Blues Camp for children around the world, focusing on providing cultural, social and emotional enrichment activities for its young participants. Though not all of the budding musicians we saw at Columbia are destined to be breakout performers, we enjoyed how their participation in an ensemble taught them to collaborate and cooperate with each other. It also helped them to be less self-conscious when performing in front of others. There were at least a couple standouts, particularly a ten-year-old bass guitar player named Ricky, whose mannerisms were that of an older Blues man.
Watching remarkable kids like Ricky caused me to reflect on Chicago’s profoundly rich history of music. We are home to such greats as the Father of Gospel, Thomas Dorsey; the Queen of Gospel, Albertina Walker; Mother Willie Mae Ford; Mavis Staples and the Staple Singers; the Edwin Hawkin Singers; Tammy McCann; and the glorious Mahalia Jackson. We also have Blues greats and other musicians who either were from Chicago or became famous here, from Buddy Guy, Quincy Jones, Earth, Wind and Fire, the Chi-Lites, Herbie Hancock, Nat King Cole, Lou Rawls and Bo Diddley to Esther Phillips, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan, Jennifer Hudson, Etta James and Chaka Khan, to name a few.
House Music was invented here in Chicago by the late Frankie Knuckles, among others, and thousands flocked to Jackson Park on July 11th for the annual Chosen Few Picnic & Festival honoring him and the other visionaries behind that genre. More recently, Chicago was home to Rappers and Hip-Hop artists like Common, Chance the Rapper, Ye (formerly Kanye West) and Da Brat. What a rich tapestry.
Albertina Walker will be honored posthumously by Calvin Bridges next month on her birthday. Calvin was my classmate at John M. Smyth Elementary School, and recently performed at the inaugural FECK Awards in April. However, his fame extends internationally, where he has been all over the world spreading the Gospel message. He will be joined by singer Sasha Daltonn for Albertina’s birthday celebration. An even bigger event is being planned in Walker’s honor for next year.
I also feel overcome with immense gratitude for the newspaper article in Roger’s beloved Chicago Sun-Times that had informed me about this amazing camp. Though today’s newspapers are not what they used to be, I do believe that they are still an important and necessary part of our lives, especially when they prioritize local reporting. The Chicago Tribune’s Robert “Colonel” McCormick and the Sun-Times’ Marshall Field III should be commended for establishing Chicago as a leading newspaper town. Though most print media has melted away in recent years, keeping up to date on the daily news cycle is more vital than ever. I doubt the Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan would’ve had one of the most successful engagements in the history of Chicago’s Lyric Opera with his sold-out show, A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness, had it not received ample coverage from the city’s papers.
All of these thoughts were running through my mind as Sonia and I were invited to join a jovial 94-year-old woman from the audience onstage to be taught how to play the blues at the camp recital. It was as surreal a moment for me as any in recent memory, not to mention indicative of how you’re never too young or too old to learn a new skill.
For more information on Fernando’s Blues camp, visit his organization’s official site.
