the Queens of Boogie Woogie
2013-04-02
Yoshi's
510 Embarcadero West, Jack London Square, Oakland, CA
8:00 PM, Tuesday, April 2, 2013

[7:59 seated and ready to go… 8:03 lights, Wendy DeWitt introduces Sue Palmer]

1. ? One O'Clock Jump (Duke Ellington/Count Basie Medley)
2. ? K-Doe Boogie (maybe Doe's Boogie??)
3. ? Fats Waller #1 »
4. ? FW2
5. After Hours

[8:24 swap SP out, DO in; KH in for rest of show]

1. ? ready to party tonight
2. ? jail boogie
3. Hard Times (ray charles)
4. ? birth of the boogie

[8:45 PM swap DO for WdW]

1. Summertime
2. Nervous
3. ? Easy Prey
4. ?

[9:04 PM swap WdW for LB]

1. ?
2. All By Myself
3. You Got Me Drinkin'
4. Super Duper-Daddy-O
5. Since You Been Lovin' Me

[9:30 PM encore break]

1. What a Wonderful World (inst) (WdW 2 hands bass, DO melody 1 hand » swap twice!)
2. Take the A Train (SP 2 + DO 1 » swap 2x)
3. (Won't You Come Home) Bill Bailey (SP, LB vox)
4. ? (all 4, one hand each)

   [show ends 9:46 PM]

• Wendy DeWitt: piano, vox;
  * Kirk Harwood: drums;
  * Lady Bianca: piano, vox;
  * Doña Oxford: piano, vox;
  * Sue Palmer: piano.

I arrived around 7:30 PM to find about 50 folks waiting ahead of me … uh-oh! You know that means that good seats are going to go fast, but it turned out I needn't have worried, as I was able to get a fine seat on the center-side of table 59 – usually a good spot for both watching and listening. My first impression of the sound tonight is that the piano was way over-amplified … seemed to me like a strictly mono feed from the PA, with little or no impression of any stage component to the sound. In retrospect, it might have been a better choice to have tried sitting down in front, as close to the piano as possible, but I wasn't all that thrilled about the view that went with that choice … feet dancing at the pedals and the bottom of the piano soundboard? BORING

So I tried not to think about that aspect of the experience, and after a song or two, found it easy enough to get swept away in the chug-a-lug rhythm of the boogie woogie beat. All of the performers were fun, and I'd go see any of them again for a full night's gig. Here are a few brief notes about each.

Sue Palmer probably offered the purest expression of boogie woogie – no R&B, no jump blues, no vocals, just that crazy pounding beat. Her first tune was particularly impressive, and left her out of breath at the end, unable to articulate for a moment or two.

Doña Oxford (joined by drummer Kirk Harwood, who remained onstage to offer rhythmic support for the rest of the show) shared a particularly more blues oriented version of boogie woogie, singing on all four of her tunes, and whipping up a strong good-time party-vibe in the audience. Unfortunately, I didn't pay quite enough attention to identify any of her tunes besides the Ray Charles cover.

Organizer and hostess Wendy DeWitt was up next, and started out with Gershwin's Summertime, setting the lyrics to a radical revision of the tune, transforming it from a slow blues lullaby to a hollering boogie steamroller. The following instrumental, Nervous, was another raveup, while the third tune deviated far from the night's theme, offering a cautionary ballad in the style of a Bonnie Raitt tune. I thought the final tune of her set, another instrumental, was cool in that it hopped along to a triple-meter beat instead of the usual 8-to-the-bar figure… kind of a boogie-rockabilly mash-up. The Killer woulda been proud!

Last up tonight was Lady Bianca. I was surprised to note her on the bill tonight, since I'd seen her in the past in a blues context, as such, you probably won't be surprised to hear that her set was heavy on the blues/R&B groove, with only Super Dupper-Daddy-O strictly conforming to the boogie-woogie archetype. Still, Lady Bianca's an engaging performer, and I was happy to hear her contribution to the show.

After a very brief encore break, we were treated to four tag-team encore pieces. For the first three, two of the performers shared the piano, with one playing both hands on the lower registers while the second added treble figures in a third hand on top. In each case, the two swapped places at least once if not twice, maintaining the boogie all the while. Hugely entertaining to watch, but hard to photograph, what with the flying fingers and the necessarily quick changeovers! For the final piece, each woman snuck a single hand in to the keyboard (sometimes right, other times left), and the four performed a merry schottisch, switching hands and places in hugely entertaining fashion.