Jazz Articles about Ken Saydak

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Ken Saydak: It's My Soul

by Chris M. Slawecki
August 18, 2005

Born in one of the blues' most essential cities, this Chicago native learned from some of the Windy City's best by playing piano and keyboards on tours by Mighty Joe Young and Lonnie Brooks. In the 1980s, Ken Saydak played an essential part in Texas blues guitar legend Johnny Winter's renaissance as pianist on several tours and albums, including Winter's justly famous, Grammy-nominated Guitar Slinger.

This solo album, his third, would certainly be catalogued under “blues. But listened ...

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Ken Saydak: Love Without Trust

by Robert Jarovi
July 1, 2001

It’s got to be hard to make a living as a blues pianist in Chicago nowadays. The legacy of those born or based in the Windy City is enough to intimidate the best-intentioned pianist: Jimmy Yancey, Maceo Merriweather, Roosevelt Sykes, Little Brother Montgomery, Willie Mabon, Johnny Jones, Sunnyland Slim, or Otis Spann. How do you add to this lineage, and still retain an individual sound? Ken Saydak is well aware of what he is up against and rises to the ...