DIGITAL IMAGES OF THE 2009 CHICAGO BLUES FESTIVAL BY KURT SWANSON AND SOULFUL IMPRESSIONS
E-MAIL: kurtswanson@juno.com
**UNDER CONSTRUCTION ALL SUMMER**
last update 29TH OF AUG 2009

The Chicago Blues Festival is the largest free blues festival in the world and remains the largest of Chicago's Music Festivals. During three days on six stages, more than 640,000 blues fans prove that Chicago is the "Blues Capital of the World." Past performers include Bonnie Raitt, Ray Charles, B.B. King, the late Bo Diddley, Buddy Guy and the late Koko Taylor.

THE 2009 Chicago Blues Festival gallery is dedicated to Koko Taylor
“QUEEN OF THE BLUES” KOKO TAYLOR September 28, 1928 - June 3, 2009

Grammy Award-winning blues legend Koko Taylor, 80, died on June 3, 2009 in her hometown of Chicago, IL, as a result of complications following her May 19 surgery to correct a gastrointestinal bleed. On May 7, 2009, the critically acclaimed Taylor, known worldwide as the “Queen of the Blues,” won her 29th Blues Music Award (for Traditional Female Blues Artist Of The Year), making her the recipient of more Blues Music Awards than any other artist. In 2004 she received the NEA National Heritage Fellowship Award, which is among the highest honors given to an American artist. Her most recent CD, 2007’s Old School, was nominated for a Grammy (eight of her nine Alligator albums were Grammy-nominated). She won a Grammy in 1984 for her guest appearance on the compilation album Blues Explosion on Atlantic.