Funkin' on 4-TREY…DNA Blues!

Over the  weekend of the Blues Fest in Chicago … 

I've been time traveling through some of my Blues memories…& flashbacks...

Flashbacks of 4-Trey (43rd St.)...

Tonight  I've been listening 2 some industrial 
Blues~Funk I played back in the day…
when I was jammin' with guitar player,  

Dale Williams …😎

We had been hanging out and playing with Dizz  

(Lefty Dizz) 
up at the original Checkerboard 
on 43rd St. 
(Muddy Waters Drive)

and we hadn't gotten our fill…

After playing with 

Dizz  

we were all upbeat and craZY...

So we stopped at my house...

I turned on my drum machine…  

and we kicked out some Chi -Town Blues grooves…

I was zooming on my Juno 60 synth..🎹🎹😎

and Dale was on his gee-tar….😎 
and we were gone…

There were a few Prince & Dizz riffs floating in there…

BUT it was really all about 

some serious Cosmic  CHICAGO Funk!

     ~♪♫•*¨*•¸¸*¸.•*¨*•♫♪  ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸*¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪~

We were playing some serious pocket! 

with some chords that were flying  around..

all Atonal and Free….♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪

some of 'dat straight up  Chicago free Jazz~Funk...   
We were sprinkling in some SUN RA 'cause Dale used to play in RA's band...

and MOI… 

I was just kicking a flurry  of colors & grooves… 
A combination of techno FUNK  Rhythms and some industrial and indigenous 
Akisan TribaL  Funk!

And Once again we were…

Funkin' on the 4-TREY!

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From Tokyo 2 Bronzeville…Dreams of Lefty Dizz

From Tokyo 2 Bronzeville…. 

Dreams of Lefty Dizz...

Pen &Ink  by Jun Ogasarawa c2014

She had been writing about her dreams of the late great Bluesman…Lefty Dizz…

Said he had whispering some things in her ear…

At the Chicago Bluesfest….  
by Aki Antonia 6-13-2014 BAB

Today after many, months of writing I had the honor to meet a young artist and art student who has been writing to me for almost a year from Tokyo in my inbox…    Jun Ogasawara

Jun Ogasarawa in Tokyo

She had been writing about her dreams to come to Chicago...  

She had been writing about her dreams of the late great Bluesman…Lefty Dizz…

Said he had whispering' some things in her ear…

Said she didn't know how…but she was determined to come to Chicago to pay homage to him, his music and to follow path of the great Bluesmen...

She spoke of how she enjoyed the Blues and that she went to Blues concerts in Tokyo..

Said she hoped to meet me at the Chicago BluesFest! 

I had never met her in person but it seems we had dreams that interfaced across the waters from Bronzeville  to Tokyo in a magical... mystical and musical way….•*¨*•♫♪♪♫¸.•*¨*•♫♪♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸ .•*¨*•♫♪

We began  our conversations  online when she read an article  on my Bronzeville Arts blog about my encounters with Lefty Dizz at the Checkerboard where I had the honor to play with him... and eventually interview him for a cover story in Jam Sessions paper.

Blues In the Night 

The Lefty Dizz Interview - Jam Sessions

by Aki Antonia

She was so excited to learn that I had grown up right around the corner from the Checkerboard…and  had seen Buddy Guy Lefty Dizz, Jr Wells all the time ..

 The Checkerboard Lounge 

423 E 43rd St. (Muddy Waters Drive)

Aki points out the Checkerboard just before it closed. 

And...that I been there the night that Muddy Waters, the Rolling Stones and Lefty Dizz and more…. had lit up the block with their Blues in the Night!!!

And so we met… on the steps of the Art Institute and began to continue our conversations on her wonderful Blues Adventure in Chicago!

6132014 cAki Antonia 

Pen & Ink by JunOgasawara c2014 
All rights reserved.

Speaking 'bout the Blues..Lefty Dizz took me 2 School

Blues In the Night - The Lefty Dizz Interview - by Aki Antonia
Jam Sessions Magazine

Never used 2 really like the Blues. Thought they were 2 depressing.

All the songs sounded the same and it seemed like they were

all played in one key.

But what did I know? 

I had never really listened 2 my own Blues inside.

Had tuned them out...

Had never really played the blues...

Had never really paid no dues...

Never really used to understand the Blues until I had the opportunity 2 interview Bluesman, Lefty Dizz for an article on the Blues in Jam Sessions Magazine.

He told me... one day the Blues was gonna sneak up on me and seep into my soul. Then I would really know how to play the Blues...

Then I would know how 2 play a solo that ment something. 

Not just a bunch a notes played up against the right chords...

but a feeling.

He said the Blues is a feeling...

by Aki Antonia

(click to enlarge photo)

He talked about how he had sat with a young left handed guitarist named Jimi Hendrix and taught him a few things on the guitar..... Told me about how he would reverse his thinking 2 get low down and dirty on the left hand....

I got a chance to play with Dizz on a gig or two. Got the opportunity 2 jam with him and a guitarist friend, Dale Williams right there at the Checkerboard. What a joy! We were playin' the blues that night! He taught me 2 feel my way through. "Have a conversation with your melody. Make yo melody talk! He played me some examples all left handed and crazy.....

I swear the lines sounded just like English!

I learned 2 play my own blues.. to tell my own stories and 2 bend the notes in between...Bamp! bampr! Bamp! Bamp!

Why u come home so late baby?

U might as well stay out all night long!

Why--aiiiii U stay out so late baby?!

U might as well stay out all night long.

Next time the sun catch u crying.

U gon' find out that I am gone."

AA lyrics c 2008

LC and Buddy Guy speak about the Checkerboard Lounge

Baby I'm Going Down to the Checkerboard! 

Jam Sessions Interview

by Aki Antonia

I used to go in the Checkerboard on 43rd St. when Lefty Dizz was playing.

Yes, I remember Jr. Wells and Johnny Dollar would be hanging out and..........

Buddy Guy was always around lighting up the room with his big smile and his big sound.

One night in 1981.... the Rolling Stones... Lefty Dizz and Muddy Waters rolled into the Checkerboard and this is a little something from that night....

I was there! And they played the blues that night!

With Muddy in the House, class was over!

Yes, yes, yes!

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Blues on Muddy Waters Drive...43rd St.

The Checkerboard Blues Club on 43rd St.- Chicago

James Cotton , Lefty Dizz and a bluesman

in front of the Checkerboard Lounge on East 43rd St. Chicago

In the 80's the Name changed from 43rd St..... 2 Muddy Waters Drive.

It all started on 43rd St. The Blues that is.

Gut-bucket, and greasy like some Rip tips with no napkins.

4-Trey didn't play when it came 2 the Blues!

At the Checkerboard Lounge? Please!!

Out front here’s Lefty Dizz, James Cotton and another

bluesman chatting up - maybe the next set.

They could be talking about the card game

that went on daily.... or they could be talking about the Blues.

LC or Buddy Guy could be inside setting up the bar and the stage.

Pepper’s Lounge was on 43rd and Vincennes

about a block west of the Checkerboard

and Theresa’s wasn’t that far away.

All up in Bronzeville you could stay up all night listening 2 the blues.

It looks to be in the the 1970’s.

Dizz has on his dashiki with a cool ‘fro so

everything was still copesectic about that time.

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