Bluesman Scott got the inspiration to create a set of commemorative posters using as its background, the famous Maxwell Street Blues musician group portrait photographed by Robert Jr Whitall, publisher and editor of Big City Blues Magazine. The photo appears as the centerfold in the June/July 2001 issue of Big City Blues.

Says, Frank Scott Jr., "That is a beautiful picture. Everyone I meet says so. I was in it too, first row, far right. Robert Jr took that photo earlier this year by the Maxwell Market hot dog restaurant at Liberty and Halsted, a block south from Maxwell Street. Almost all the Blues musicians, now living, who ever played on Maxwell Street were there. And the spirits of deceased ones, like Freddie King, Muddy, Johnny Shines, Little Walter, Willie James, David Lindsey, Big Walter Horton, Robert Nighthawk, Jewtown Jimmie, One Leg Sam, Blind Arvella, Earl Hooker, seemed there too. I kind of felt their presence when I sat down."

Scott Jr. further says "I love that picture. It's so spiritual and historic. So, I created these different posters in different sizes using Robert Jr Whitall's picture and added images of my own into it. They call it a collage but I just mix it up. Robert Jr kindly gave me permission to use that photograph any way I wanted so I could raise some money to help the Blues musicians who still come down there to play on old Maxwell Street."

Frank 'Little Sonny' Scott Jr.. was born on a Texas plantation in 1927. From out of the Navy, he came to live and play Blues in the Maxwell Street area in 1950. He, along with Jimmie Lee Robinson and Freddie King, formed the band the Every Hour Blues Boys.

Frank 'Little Sonny' Scott Jr. is Blues musician, singer, songwriter, folk artist, booking agent, and creator of the Blues percussive House Keys. He is a member of the Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition and, working with Jimmie Lee Robinson, Bobby Davis, and Mr. H, organizes the weekly Blues jam sessions down there every Sunday at 1PM..

Mr. Scott Jr. has long created folk art work about Maxwell Street including his famous Maxwell Street crosses and the internationally photographed Juketown Community Blues Band Stand at the northeast corner of Halsted and Maxwell, which was torn down last year and treated like garbage by the University of Illinois at Chicago. Scott Jr. was the featured artist in Maria Montes's Maxwell Street Show at Gallery Two of the School of the Art Institute.

The photo-collage posters come in different designs and sizes: 4 x 2.5 inches, 4 x 3, 4 x 5 1/2, 8 1/2 x 5 1/2, 8 1/2 by 11, and 11 x 17. Some even larger ones are available too.

Displayed here are low-resolution thumbnails of three of the designs: Blues Star Frank, Red Sweater Girl, Wall of Fame.

They sell for $20.00 and up. Postage and handling is $4.00. To order one or some, contact Frank Scott Jr. directly:

or

buy them in person from him on Sundays from 1 to 5PM on old Maxwell Street, Maxwell and Halsted, across from Original Jim's Hot Dog Stand.

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For more information about Maxwell Street, visit the website <www.openair.org/maxwell/preserve.html> or <www.maxwelstreet.org>.

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