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Ken Saydak
June 26, 2023 @ 7:00 pm
KEN SAYDAK, a native of Chicago, Illinois, has enjoyed a fifty-year career as a musician, writer, vocalist, and producer. He currently hosts a two-hour weekly blues radio program, The Trinidaddio Blues Hours on CRT-FM, a commercial station near his home in southern Colorado.
2018 saw the release of a long awaited project, The Rockwell Avenue Blues Band, Back To Chicago, featuring Ken along with lifelong friends and collaborators Steve Freund, Tad Robinson, Harlan Terson, and Marty Binder in a collection of original songs. The rave reviews of this Delmark Records release by a stellar group of Chicago veterans resulted in the band’s appearance at the 2018 Chicago Blues Festival (where Ken also performed solo on the mainstage in a tribute to Delmark’s legendary catalog of renowned blues artists). The band also appeared at the 2019 Trinidaddio Blues Festival.
Ken is the pianist, organist, and accordionist on over seventy albums by national and international artists. His 2015 release, Live In La Veta Vol. 2 (SnailWorx), and 2013’s Live In La Veta Vol. 1 follow his other solo-career recordings, It’s My Soul (Evidence Records) in 2005 and two discs on the Delmark label, Love Without Trust (2001) and his solo debut, Foolish Man (1999). All of his recordings showcase his instantly recognizable vocals and piano style, as well as his insightful, engaging, and often humorous songwriting.
A co-producer of the two Rounder Records CDs with his 1990’s American roots band, Big Shoulders, Big Shoulders and Nickel History, he also produced his latest SnailWorx albums, both of his Delmark CDs, blues singer Zora Young‘s critically acclaimed 2000 release, Learned My Lesson (Delmark), and international blues ambassador and bassist Bob Stroger‘s solo debut, In The House, recorded live at the Lucerne Blues Festival in Switzerland.
Ken’s career as a performer has taken him to concert and festival stages on four continents, including extensive tours and appearances in Europe, Israel, South Africa, and Japan. The list of artists who have enlisted his talents both on stage and in the studio include Johnny Winter, Otis Rush, Willie Kent, Bo Diddley, Lonnie Brooks, John Primer, Mighty Joe Young, Billy Boy Arnold, Sam Lay, Dave Specter, James Wheeler, Tad Robinson, Lurrie Bell, Mississippi Heat, Bonnie Lee, Steve Freund, Zora Young, Johnny B. Moore, Karen Carroll, Eddie Shaw, The Cash Box Kings, Billy Flynn, Jesse Fortune, Barkin’ Bill Smith, Bandallamas, Alex Wilson, Paul Filipowicz, Al Miller, and Ron Sorin.