Chico Banks at Harlem Avenue Lounge

It's been 10 years since the release of Chico Banks' debut CD, Candy Lickin' Man. Although there were no follow-up CDs, Banks has remained relatively active in the Chicago blues scene, appearing about once a month at B.L.U.E.S. on Halsted and playing at the occasional blues festival here and there.

It had also been about 10 years since I had seen Chico Banks perform, so when I saw he was on the lineup at the Harlem Avenue Lounge on Aug. 31, I decided to drop by. I liked Candy Lickin' Man quite a lot (the CD features guest star Mavis Staples), and I wanted to see how the young guitarist had developed over the years.

Banks, now about 45, is high-powered, fiery guitarist with obvious technical skill. Like many blues guitarists of his generation, he's been influenced as much by soul and rock as he has by the blues, although he comes by his blues credentials honestly. His father, Jesse Banks, played guitar with the gospel group, the Mighty Clouds of Joy. At age 19, the younger banks hooked up with Johnny Christian and soon afterward found himself touring with James Cotton.

Unquestionably, Banks has the talent, good looks and stage charisma to front a blues band. But in the first set at the Harlem Avenue Lounge on Friday night, only glimpses of his potential were seen. The evening did not start positively. The music was set to begin at 9:30 p.m., but the drummer was nowhere to be found. Finally at about 10:15 p.m., he cruised in and set up, and the music started.


The band consisted of Brian James on keyboard, Andre Howard on bass and Pookie "Sticks" Melvin on drums. They're all very good musicians, and at times they hit a satisfying groove. But the set list was uninspired, made up of prolonged versions of over-covered blues/rock standards like "Tore Down" and "Five Long Years." When Banks immersed himself in the song, he was excellent. But he frequently interrupted to banter with the crowd and to imitate the styles of blues greats like B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Little Milton. (I don't like it when Buddy Guy does this, either.) The best song he did was an instrumental of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On.

I had to go after the first set, so I don't know how the rest of the evening went. It's possible Banks pulled out some original tunes and showed his stuff. But I was left with the feeling that this was a young contemporary blues guitarist who had not yet found his own voice.

A photo of Chico Banks is featured in this month's blues column in the Illinois Entertainer. He's mentioned as part of the lineup of the Taste of Lincoln Avenue festival.