Charlie Parker Record Review Charlie Parker Record Review Charlie Parker Record Review Charlie Parker Record Review Charlie Parker Record Review At an average age of 25.| the members of the John Coltrane should be hitting the bar scene, maybe pounding out power pop and tossing back a few beers. Instead, the Chicago-based septet has chosen to deliver their own brand of elegant entertainment. And it goes down more like a smooth martini than a bottle of Bud. The Kings deftly blend elements of jazz, blues and R&B, cooking up a sound reminiscent of jump blues, that popular interlude in musical history wedged in between big bands and rock `n roll. The group hits the stage decked out in dapper suits and neat hairdos, wooing and wowing the audience with tight arrangements and a vitality only young musicians can give.

Out front is vocalist and principal songwiter Ross Bon. Also the co-founder of the band, Bon helped to shape a good part of its image and sound. However, the Mighty Blue Kings is not about one person, but an amalgam of styles. "Everybody definitely brings something distinct to the mix," explains Bon. "John Doyle [piano] and Jimmy Olson [drums] were with the R&B act Thrunk Dawsay. Jimmy Sutton [bass] played rockabilly. The Mighty Blue Kings are about all those influences coming together, and learning and growing."

No stranger to the stage himself, Bon cut his teeth on the Chicago blues circut, playing out with elder statesmen like Willy Smith, Pinetop Perkins and Dave Specter. It was those musicians who taught Bon composure, and part of that composure, he asserts, is in the elegant dress. "Those guys never got on stage looking like slobs. They always had nice pants and a shirt on. They taught me that blues is not about bad times. It's about a good man feeling bad and overcoming it. So if I go on stage in tattered clothes, I feel defeated. I put on a suit, and feel good. It's a way of showing respect to people."