Wendy DeWitt
Thursday, May 22, 2003
7:30 p.m.
$5 cover
Make a reservation for this show by calling (509) 826-5836.
Wendy DeWitt, The Queen of Boogie Woogie, travels north from San Francisco to Omak bringing with her a driving piano and singing described by one critic as "a sweet-voiced chanteuse with a strong reliance on jazz phrasing and inflection."
DeWitt, who writes many of her own songs, brings a piano style based on those of Otis Spann, Albert Ammons and other blues masters.
She performs regularly in San Francisco's best blues venues, at fairs and festivals, and around the world.
DeWitt began playing blues with a group of former Chicagoans when she came to the Bay area in 1984. She met and continues to perform with Apple Jack (Elvin Bishop, Boz Scaggs), led her own four-piece band for 15 years and remains dedicated to her work with the Steve Freund Band, with whom she has worked for the last five years.
With four well-received albums of her own, DeWitt has been a guest on numerous compilations and a guest on albums by Freund, and many other Bay area blues artists. She's appeared with Charlie Musselwhite, Otis Rush and Jimmy Thackery.
She recently released a traditional-style boogie/blues CD featuring songs by her favorite influences as well as her own songs. The album was produced by Freund.
Venues she's played include Freight and Salvage in Berkeley, Cincinnati's Arches Piano Stage at Blues Fest, Boston Symphony Hall with Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, and before a sold-out audience at San Diego Museum of Art.
International performances include a standing-room-only concert in Paris and three weeks touring the Virgin Island where she played at St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas.
This past summer she performed at the San Francisco Blues Fest and Monterey Jazz Festival.
Omak is a stop on DeWitt's spring tour through the Northwest. She returns to Freight and Salvage in June.
The concert is sponsored by Okanogan R&B Society.
