Corky Siegel's coming back to Tillett Gardens for performances on Wednesday and Friday, Jan. 12 and 14. Not with his Chamber Blues ensemble, but with the Chicago blues band that put him and partner Jim Schwall on the musical map back in the '60s.
St. Thomas music lovers who enjoyed the earlier Corky Siegel's Chamber Blues concerts — and those who skipped them — need to know that what's coming now is the down-and-dirty blues band that made "chamber blues" possible — the famed Siegel-Schwall Band.
Pianist, mouth harpist and vocalist Siegel and guitarist/vocalist Schwall were college music students when they began playing blues and rock in the Second City. The band they put together was playing its second gig at a South Side club called Big John's, Corky recalls, when "I remember some guy coming up and wanting to play harmonica. People said let him sit in — it's Little Walter."
The band went on to considerable success, notably on the West Coast. At one point in Chicago, Siegel's artistry attracted the ear and the fancy of conductor Seiji Ozawa. He dropped in to hear Siegel and Schwall perform night after night and finally invited the blues artists to "jam with my band." His band at the time was the Chicago Symphony. Later, as conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, he invited Siegel to share the stage again, and the groundwork for chamber blues was laid.
But back to Siegel-Schwall. Although the leaders have been pursuing separate interests since the 1970s, the band still gets together every so often. In the '90s, it has consisted of the two founders plus longtime bass player/vocalist Rollo Radford, an S-O-S veteran, and drummer Sam Lay, a founding father of the Chicago blues sound and rhythmic anchor of the original Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Together they add up to what one Chicago critic described as "not a nostalgia act but a musical force to be joyfully reckoned with, especially with the presence of master drummer Sam Lay."
The Wednesday concert is at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 and a pre-performance dinner with concert seating is another $30 plus bar service and gratuity. On Friday, the band returns for a "club night" with cabaret seating from 9 p.m. until. Tickets are again $25. Polli's restaurant will provide a la carte menu and bar service.
Reservations are required for Wednesday's dinner and recommended for both shows. Call 775-1929, fax to 775-9482 or e-mail to tillett@islands.vi.
