Columbia’s Blues Ensemble Remembers, Continues the Legacy of Koko Taylor, an Early Supporter

June 8, 2009 – The late KoKo Taylor, the “Queen of the Blues,” had a special connection to Columbia College Chicago through the college’s Blues Ensemble and its dynamic director, Fernando Jones.

Fernando Jones, a self-taught blues musician, grew up to be a blues scholar and professor at Columbia College Chicago. He was half Taylor’s age, but Jones was captivated by the blues in a time when many African-Americans his age considered the blues old-fashioned. For Fernando Jones, the Blues is ” a perpetual courtship of freedom.”

Fernando Jones, Dir. Columbia College Blues Ensemble

When Jones started what he calls “Blues College” at Columbia four years ago, he says “Koko Taylor, and her daughter Cookie were the first people from the Blues community to endorse and fully support The Columbia College Blues Ensemble.” Koko Taylor and Cookie were instrumental in creating and supporting a free annual music business symposium at Columbia, too. Music students, whom Jones calls his “kids” often performed for “Ms. KoKo,” as Fernando Jones refers to the late Queen of Blues, and had opportunities to pay tribute to her accomplishments as a woman and musician. As director of the Blues Ensemble, Jones calls this “giving us our flowers while we are still alive.” The Blues Ensemble has a set at this year’s Blues Festival, and they will continue their tribute to Koko Taylor with their music.

“Ms. KoKo” made unscheduled visits to Jones’ classroom several times each academic school year. In addition to classes for music students, Jones teaches a “History of the Blues” class.

“Even the few of my Blues history students that didn’t know her, knew she was someone of importance upon first glance; most of them couldn’t believe their eyes when the big voiced Queen of the Blues entered our room and sat with them,” he said.

According to Jones, winner of the “Keeping the Blues Alive Award” for education in 2008, “We truly lost an American ambassador to the world. Not just a Blueswoman, but a humanitarian, spiritual philanthropist, a champion of education. A champion of education even though she, like so many southerners born in the ’20s, didn’t have the opportunity to partake formally.”

Fernando Jones hopes to honor Koko Taylor by setting up a scholarship for students in the music department that demonstrate interest and excellence in Blues pedagogics. You can e-mail Jones or contact him at Columbia College Chicago, Music Department, 1014 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60605. Call 773-841-5262 for more information about the scholarship effort.

Koko Taylor’s Wake/Visitation will be Thursday, June 11, 2009 from 4 – 9 p.m. at Rainbow Push Coalition National Headquarters, 930 East 50th Street (at Drexel). Funeral services are June 12th.

Listen to Fernando Jones and more.