Search - Ken Saydak :: Foolish Man

Escaping the shadows of many years' service to other Chicago bluesmen for his first feature recording, Ken Saydak uses the 88 keys of his piano to express active and fresh musical ideas that are mostly tied to the blues piano tradition of Sunnyland Slim, Eddie Boyd, and Memphis Slim. Ably assisted by harmonica player Ron Sorin and drummer Jon Hiller, he gets the job done with ebullience and a sense of implacable purpose on an appealing program of originals and material from Boyd, Slim, Ray Charles, and a few more of his all-time heroes. Anyone who has heard him on many past Delmark blues sessions or with Johnny Winter or in the roots band Big Shoulders knows he can really play, but few blues fans outside Chicago knew he also was a perfectly capable singer. Almost always rising above the pale of the routine, he works his low-down, obliquely affable voice into the flow of his music with emotional self-assurance. He's to be believed when revealing his lack of faith in the bottle or women in "Ain't Found the Answer Yet" (the one number where he adds organ) or when sarcastically sizing up modern American culture in "Shoppin' and Snackin'." The title track finds Saydak assuming a role in which he reflects on a wasted life as his piano cadences release the tension generated by his vocals. Saydak's right at home covering Memphis Slim's "Mother Earth" and Eddie Boyd's "Save Her Doctor." Worth investigating. --Frank-John Hadley