Article & Photos: Jim Summaria

photo: Jim Summaria
Buddy Guy and Kingfish at Buddy Guy's Legends, Chicago, IL, January 9, 2025
Buddy Guy opened his Legends night club in 1989 and every January he headlines the entire month and brings in top blues acts to open the show. The first night of his residency for 2025 was Friday, January 9, and Christone "Kingfish" Ingram was his guest.
First a little about Christone. He was born in 1999 and raised in Mississippi. As a youth he attended church where gospel music began his interest in music. At a very young age he watched a documentary about Muddy Waters and it piqued his interest in the blues. This led him to the recordings of Robert Johnson, Lightin' Hopkins and B.B. King to Jimi Hendrix and Prince.
He started his musical journey playing the drums which led him to the bass and finally the guitar of which he excelled. In 2015, at the age of 16, he was discovered by B.B. King's drummer Tony Coleman and the next year he met Buddy Guy who became his mentor. His career was launched.
Kingfish has released three albums, all on the Chicago based blues label Alligator Records. In 2019, he released his self-titled debut album which went to number one the Billboard Blues Chart and earned a Grammy nomination. His next album 662 was released in 2022 and won a Grammy. In 2023, he was named the Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year at the Blues Music Awards. His latest album , Live In London, recorded at the Royal Albert Hall, received a GRAMMY nomination. Living Blues Magazine named Kingfish the 2024 Blues Artist Of The Year (Male) in both their Critics' and Readers' Polls. He also won recent Blues Music Awards for Male Artist Of The Year and Album Of The Year for Live In London. Kingfish has now won a total of 13 Blues Music Awards since his 2019 self-titled debut.
Now onto the show. Johnny the announcer welcomes everybody to the sold-out Buddy Guy's Legends and lets them know they are in for a night of the blues; past, present and future. Then out steps the present and future in the form of Christone "Kingfish" Ingram. This young man quietly plugs in and with his guitar soaring, plays a "wow" intro. The bass and drums kick in with a funky beat and the band leads right into his first song of the night, "Midnight Heat." Kingfish adds an amazingly fluid solo using uncommon notes in the middle of the song and now has the crowd transfixed on this soon- to-be superstar.

The songs that followed were "Fresh Out" from his debut album and "Hard Times" which featured a nice jam with Kingfish and his keyboard player. The song of the night for Kingfish was "Not Gonna Lie" from his 662 album. Again, he and the keyboard player dueled back and forth which brought the song to a great musical height. Without hesitation the group led into a long slow blues instrumental with Kingfish bending notes that would make B.B. King proud. All the members of the band showed off their talent with exceptional solos.
His final song of his sixty-minute set was "Long Distance Woman" also from his 662 album. The start of the song had a George Benson feel, followed by a Santana influence. His soulful voice and guitar rocked out on this song with the audience bobbing their heads and grooving to the music the band was laying down. Johnny the announcer reappeared as the crowd was chanting for more, but it was time for the main attraction of the evening. The young star would reappear later.
Buddy Guy is an American institution and his path to this status began in Louisiana but really took off when he moved to Chicago in 1957. Under the guidance of Muddy Waters his career began to flourish. Later, a partnership with Junior Wells, gained Buddy more renown.
He has jammed with just about every major artist and has influenced Keith Richards, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan, among many others. He's in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Blues Hall of Fame, he's a National Medal of Arts recipient, been honored at the Kennedy Center, and he's won many Grammys.
It's a wonderful treat to see and hear this icon in a small club in his adopted home town. Buddy Guy is the youngest acting 88-year-old you'll find. As he takes the stage the first thing you notice about him is his wide smile. It actually warms up the room on this cold night. He then blasts out the opening chords to "Damn Right, I've Got the Blues"
and already the crowd is his.

With Kingfish watching from the side and local Chicago bluesmen Ronnie Baker Brooks and his brother Wayne Baker Brooks with Toronzo Cannon in the house, you can tell that all those people are there because they know they are going to have a wonderful time and a very special experience.
After Buddy greets the audience he's right back into the blues with Muddy Waters'," I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" which morphs into "She's Nineteen Years Old." I'm not sure if Buddy has a set list because from then on it seems like he just winged it with the band. He said something to the band and they went right into "Skin Deep" and "How Blue Can You Get" with Buddy playing his signature unpredictable leads.
Taking a moment to refresh by taking a sip of his special elixir (no doubt Remy Martin VSOP cognac) he walked through the crowd playing Al Green's "Take Me To the River" and he stopped by a table to introduce his large family in attendance.
Back on stage he took a drum stick and started pounding out Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love." Buddy was now in the moment and his leads became fiercer, especially on John Hiatt's "Feels Like Rain," Guitar Slims' "The Things I Used To Do" and Titus Turner's "Grits Ain't Groceries." A little more elixir and some stories, and Buddy was back to the blues with "Five Long Years" by Eddie Floyd and "Drowning On Dry Land" by Albert King. There was a buzz in the crowd because it's hard to believe that a man of 88 can perform this long and hard!

But there was still more to come. More stories, another sip of his cognac, and he was ready to move on. He turned to his talented band and proclaimed he always wanted to do the Isaac Hayes song "Do Your Thing" for which they promptly played a short version. Another little off-color story about the meaning of B.B. Kings "Sweet Little Angel" had the crowd laughing and enjoying the song.
Next up was a nice tribute to his former partner Junior Wells, and the band kicked into "Messin' With the Kid." Buddy had been on the stage for over ninety minutes but the show was not over. He wanted to say thank you to a waitress who has been an employee for a long time and he serenaded her on stage with another Muddy Waters song "Close to You."
The anticipation of an encore jam with Kingfish materialized and the duo traded guitar licks on "Got My Mojo Working" with Buddy having a great time with the lyrics. I'm not sure who had the most fun on stage, Kingfish or Buddy as they were all smiles throughout the jam. But I do know who had the most fun -- the fans in the audience.

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Jim Summaria began professionally photographing rock concerts in 1973 at the age of 19 when he became the staff photographer for the Chicago rock concert promoter Flip Side Productions. Jim's photos have been published in numerous books, magazines and CDs. His rock ‘n’ roll photos have been viewed at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum and Hall of Fame on Rt.66 and the Grammy Awards. Jim and writer Mark Plotnick co-authored the books Classic Rock: Photographs From Yesterday & Today and the October 2024 release ‘70s Chicagoland Rock Concerts.