Numero Group’s Eccentric Soul Revue

Renaldo Domino

Up onstage, he’ll wear a shiny suit the color of some desert gem, a pocket square, a tie clip, some worn-in alligator loafers. At the end of the show, those dressings undoubtedly will be sweat drenched and loosened from pelvic thrusts, hollering and shuffling.

Off the clock, 73-year-old soul tornado Syl Johnson is most likely kickin’ it in baggy jeans and a ski cap. The workhorse of Twinight Records, Chicago’s preeminent R&B factory of the late ’60s and early ’70s, Johnson cut beautifully wounded and angry anthems like “Is It Because I’m Black?” In the four decades since, the South Sider has been on the road working (and shouting) for respect. He’s quick to point out—onstage even—that the Wu-Tang Clan and Kid Rock lifted his drum breaks. (Which explains his fashion sense.) But he’s so much better than that.

In April, the Numero Group, the local crate-diggers who reissued the Twinight catalog, hosted their first Eccentric Soul Revue at Park West. Johnson slayed, busting his septuagenarian ass as hard as he could, backed by retro revivalists the Uptown Sound. Labelmate Renaldo Domino was there, too, cooing blue-balled ballads with a deceptively sweet tenor. But this week’s performance is no mere encore.

For starters, Pastor TL Barrett and his Mt. Zion gospel choir will be stuffed in the balcony of Lincoln Hall, offering funky prayers to the heavens. Also added is Linda Balintine, who recorded one single, “Glad About That,” as a 16-year-old in 1972. Only three copies of the thing exist (Numero reissued it and other 45s of the Bandit label in 2004), but she’ll perform it. Probably just this once. After the curtain drops, she goes back to being a paralegal in the Merchandise Mart. Few concerts are so rare and lovingly curated.

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