Omar Coleman Interview

Chicago's Omar Coleman teamed up with Brazil's Igor Prado to collaborate on their hot, new release Old New Funky and Blue. The result lives up to the album's title with songs that reflect early influences -- like Bobby Rush, Syl Johnson, Junior Wells, Albert King and Albert Collins -- that will help listeners get their groove on.

Omar and Igor will join forces again for their album release party at FitzGerald's in Berwyn on May 15, 2026. Bring your dancin' shoes!

Story and Photos: Peter M. Hurley

Photo: by Peter Hurley

By Peter Hurley

Omar Coleman is in possession of one of the most stellar voices on the Blues scene today. His vocal brilliance and harp mastery are often on full display at a myriad of Chicago Blues clubs fronting his kick-ass band, Westside Soul. We tracked Omar at the Northside watering hole, Kingston Mines, on a warm Sunday evening and were treated to a set of solid soulful senders that reflect this musical artist’s wide range of passions and influences. There was no hold-back on his covers of varied blues, R&B and soul masters such as Bill Withers, Bobby Rush, and B.B. King woven through the set alongside Coleman originals.

Following the performance, he sat down to discuss his new CD release with Brazilian Blues guitarist Igor Prado titled Old New Funky and Blue. Currently gaining huge airplay, its official release party will take place at Fitzgerald’s historic nightclub in Berwyn, on May 15 with Prado flying in from his Sao Paulo residence.

Peter M. Hurley for Chicago Blues Guide: What a great new album, man. It’s so tight and crisp sounding – how did you hook up with Igor Prado and with such a great sounding studio in Sao Paulo, Brazil?

Omar Coleman: I first met Igor in Europe. Back in about 2005, I had a buddy that lives in Ohio who had me come out to Columbus every year and play some benefits. He was the first guy who took me on a European tour. We went all over, played all the places: Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, France and Luxembourg. Igor was on a separate tour through the same promoter over there. We crossed paths and hit it off. Since then, I’ve been going to South America to play for maybe the last 11, 12 years and doing tours with him, his brother Yuri and his band. I've played Chile and Argentina and Brazil a lot. People down there, they are great musicians. You’ve got the black church here in Chicago, but they got the black church there too; there are some very religious and great musical people in that culture. The bass player on this new album, he's a big-time church musician, his name's Ted Furtado. And one of the drummers is named Juninho Isidoro. These guys are huge in the church down there.

I had songs written, and then every time we'd see each other, we'd say, “Man, we gotta do a badass soul funk album with blues and all the stuff that we listen to.” I often have downtime when I tour there -- maybe three or four days a week -- and he told me he had access to a studio. “Yeah let’s lay these tracks down.” This album really was written like two or three years ago, but he’s been busy and I’ve been busy since then. So, we recorded the stuff raw and Igor finally got around to mixing and laying horns on it.

PMH: And your new label for this release is Nola Blue Records. So how did you get connected with them?

OC: Sallie Bengston at Nola Blue heard of us through Igor and really took an interest. I met her at Reggie’s last year then she travelled down to Austin to hear us again. It’s been great, Nola Blue is really behind it, and the album is getting tons of airplay. Igor and I are doing our CD release party at Fitzgerald’s on May 15, so tell the people to make reservations there!

PMH: Fantastic that it’s taking off. I want to hear more about Old New Funky and Blue, but let’s touch base with your origins as a harp player and singer for a minute. When did you first realize you wanted to follow a musical path?

OC: Oh, I was probably about 25, in the mid ‘90s. Growing up, I just listened to music, all kinds: Blues, Stax, Soul, R&B, Pop, everything. I sang but I never took it seriously and never thought that I’d be a blues man later on in life - that was the furthest thing from my mind. I was a barber then, I worked downtown and that's really kind of how things came about. One day I had a little break. We had a shoeshine guy, and I would be sitting in his chair when he wasn't using it, sitting back reflecting.

PMH: Big things from little moments?

OC:  I was like, man, if I was to play an instrument, what could it be? I'm gonna learn an instrument. I was thinking like, harmonica; that’d be easy because it's just 10 holes. It's not a big deal. (laughs) Remember the DePaul Music Center down there on State and Jackson? So, I went down there and bought a harmonica. Started driving people crazy playing it because I didn't know what the hell I was doing, making noise, you know, and then - this was before the internet, of course - I realized I needed to grasp the understanding of this thing. So, Harold Washington Library was literally down the street and, I was like, let me go down there too. I went to the section of harmonica books, copied diagrams and all that, and that added to my playing.

PMH: Once that captured your imagination, sounds like you were hooked.

OC: Oh, yeah. Once I got the basics down, I would play so much in the barbershop that guys would be like, “Man, you know, they got a jam down there at Buddy’s, Buddy Guy’s.” See, I didn't know I had musicians as customers, too. “You should go down there.” I was like, “a jam?” In my mind, I could not see standing in front of people doing this kind of thing. I'm too bashful for this. But I did go – this was around 1999 or 2000. I’d sit in at the Monday night jams. Then I realized we had jams all over the city so, I was just hitting up every one of them religiously.

PMH: What about singing, how did you develop your strong vocal style?

OC: I just grew up submerged in Soul music, so much so that that it just came through my vocals. Everybody says “it's in my DNA,” but listen, all the Stax Studio sound, blues stuff, R&B stuff, I'll just say all black music; I heard so much that when I started playing harmonica. I wasn't really trying to be a singer, I was just playing harp. And then I realized, well, if I front the band, I can do some things I want to do and sing how I want to sing. So that's what I did. As I developed my stage craft and confidence as a harp player, I just started singing; it followed naturally. Like I tell people now if they ask me how to get started, I say, “Man, all I can tell you is this: if you like somebody, try to emulate them as much as you can. And then when you think you got their style down, stop listening to it and do your own.” (laughs.)

PMH: So you didn’t really have a mentor, you honed your chops by listening, playing and grinding it out on your own.

OC: I didn't even really realize that Chicago was home of the blues. And then I found out, I started discovering Junior Wells on record. And I immersed myself in his stuff. And then I discovered a Sugar Blue CD at a used bookstore. And, man, it just kind of like, you know, everything just kind of opened up. The more I went to the jams, the more I met guys. And then I looked around. I said, damn, I'm a blues man.

PMH: Hell, yeah. Let’s run through the song list on Old New Funky and Blue. It opens with “I’m Leaving My No Good Woman.” That's your song, right? That's a great opener.

OC: Oh, yeah, man. I just, you know, I just look at people's personal experience and stuff and then mix a little of myself in there and voila, I’ve written a song.

PMH: There are another couple of your originals on it that are cool. “Cut You Loose” and “Answer Your Phone.”

OC: “Answer Your Phone” was kind of hilarious. Igor and his brothers, they were vamping on what sounded like an Albert Collins-type thing to me. And then I said, let's see where this goes, you know; we joke a lot. So, I started improvising, “I got a brother living in St. Louis…” I was telling my girl that I was fishing with my nephew and my brother, making it up on the spot.

PMH: Yeah. That's basically a great funk groove with a chorus and no verse. And is that you harmonizing with yourself?

OC: Yes, me and Igor, we took our vocals and we layered it.

PMH: I love that. I’d love to hear more vocal harmony on Blues records.

OC: Yeah, especially on “Brown Nose Man” and a couple others too. That's just me and him. And I love how Igor layered the vocal. I was like, “Oh, wow, man, sounds like an orchestra.”

PMH: Such a great sound when a couple of singers mix it up.

OC: Yeah. I like bands that do that too. My buddy who plays guitar with me, Brian Lupo, he sings, he’s got his own band. So, we do a lot of bantering on the stage with vocal stuff. Because it's just interesting. I feel like I don't want to just play to people, we want to give you all that we got; a show: singing, playing, jokes. Acting. You know, everything.

PMH: You cover Syl Johnson’s “I Let A Good Girl Go” for this album as well. God, that’s beautiful. Just your vocal over a couple of brilliantly played and recorded acoustic guitars. What a gorgeous combination. It’s different than anything else on the CD but perfectly placed. How did you choose this one?

OC: Actually, I think I recorded that on a prior CD. But see, sometimes... I like to re-record stuff with a different band. Because you get a different feel. In the beginning, I had to go along with stuff, you know, with certain things that didn't necessarily mesh with what I wanted. But now I’m at a point where, what you're hearing from Igor and me, the stuff I do with him, that's pretty much what we do, what we want to do. I play blues, but I like funk, R&B, and soul and even some pop. I like to meld them together as much as possible. Doing “Good Girl” with these guys this time, with Igor there, we got that feel. That’s Eduardo Belloni and Rodrigo, his brother, behind me. His brother has a studio there. You know, feel is what I’m searching for, not the mechanics of it. Don't give me a mechanical performance, a safe plan, give me some feeling.

PMH: Did you ever know Syl Johnson?

OC: Not really, but I’d see him around, I'd see him at B.L.U.E.S. His brother Jimmy Johnson would play there all the time and Syl would come sit in. He was going through some stuff about some of his songs being sampled that he wasn’t properly compensated for. But Jimmy, he was funny as hell, I knew him well, he was great. I miss those guys. My influences from guys like Al Green, Syl and Bobby Rush is strong and that is reflected on this CD.

PMH: Who in that generation or close to that period have you played with?

OC: I played with John Primer one of the last nights at the Checkerboard Lounge, then I played with him for about a year. He knew I was into my own thing and not just a side man and he expressed his appreciation. I played with the Kinsey Report and I played a few times with Killer Ray Allison before they closed another club. I got in at the tail end of the heyday of all the clubs around but I’m glad I experienced a piece of it.

PMH: Let’s talk about some of your activities during the day hours, when you’re not playing. I know you work with leather…

OC: I keep busy, man. Yeah, I’ve worked with leather for a long time, about 15 years. It started when I needed a harp belt and didn’t want to purchase one for the type of money that was being asked. I said, ‘’I can make that.’’ I went to the Harold Washington Library again and checked out the whole leather craft section! And then I just started buying leather and making my belts. And then that kind of spun off until I was like, well, what else can I make? I realized I knew a million guitar players, so I got off into making guitar straps. Then I started making purses, belts, wallets, earrings. I got some crocodile - I started buying exotic leathers, like alligator and ostrich and stuff like that. I got an old crocodile hat that I made my girlfriend and I made me one. And it's bad ass. You know, it's a hard, I've acquired sewing machines and all that, but I also do a lot of hand stitching. I even started making shoes.

PMH: Shoes? Shoes is a whole other thing, isn't it.

OC: Oh, yeah, that's a whole other ball of wax. (laughs.)

PMH: That’s remarkable. Anything else occupy your days?

OC: I’m going to Brazil in the next month until the end of June. I want to start a microgreen business. When I come back, when I have downtime, that's what I'm going to do.

PMH: What are microgreens?

OC: Oh, it’s everything like broccoli, arugula, cucumbers, green peas that I grow. I got sunflower, I got amaranth, I got beets. I'm growing some stuff for sushi chefs. Some shiso, herb, all kind of stuff. Yeah, I've been growing those for the last, I don't know, eight years, ten years.

PMH: In a backyard garden?

OC: No, I have an apartment underneath me, a separate vacant apartment. I’ve got shelving and lights and hydroponic equipment.

PMH: That’s brilliant.

OC: Man, everybody should be eating those broccoli sprouts, though, and microgreens. It’s like eating your medicine. With the sulforaphane in it, it's in high amounts when it's that small. So, it's really good for you. I tell anybody, I say, Broccoli sprouts is the truth.

PMH: That’s fascinating. You’re a man of all seasonings.

OC: Thanks, I keep active and interested. I’m present and look forward. But it’s funny, as far as some of the past goes, I swear I forget more stuff than I remember.

PMH: It sounds like answering questions must dredge past experiences up for you.

OC: Yes, for sure, it jiggles the memory (laughs).

With that, we exchanged compliments, goodbyes and promised to see each other at the Old New Funky and Blue release party at FitzGerald’s on May 15 where Mr. Coleman agreed to wear one of his custom-made leather goods, per our request.

PMH: That alligator hat will photograph well.           

 OC: Man, I’ll be dressing out that night.

The party will continue on Friday, May 15, 2026 at FitzGerald’s in Berwyn for the album release party with a rare appearance by Sao Paulo's blues guitar great Igor Prado.

To stream or purchase Old New Funky and Blue: www.nolabluerecords.com

Artist website: https://www.omarcolemanmusic.com/

About The Author: Peter M. Hurley is a photographer/writer/artist whose interest in Blues began as a young boy upon first hearing the distinctive and haunting Chess Records sound of Bo Diddley. Exposure to Little Walter, Junior Wells and Howlin' Wolf in later years led him to further discover more Blues originators. After many years as an artist, Mr. Hurley shifted his visual focus, bringing his painterly sensibilities to the art of photographing musicians in the throes of performance on Chicago Blues stages. Combining music and visual art goes to the heart of what he had felt growing up with rock 'n roll and then discovering its source: the Blues.