For 26 years, the Toronto Blues Society has been presenting the Women’s Blues Revue. This year’s event takes place on Nov. 24 at Massey Hall. As one of the highlights of the yearly blues calendar, the revue offers the best blues, roots, R&B and jazz from the top female artists Canada has to offer. A five-time Women’s Blues Revue alumna, Shakura S’Aida gives us some personal insight, in her own inimitable style, on the Women’s Blues Revue house band for this year’s event: Donna Grantis, Suzie Vinnick, Brandi Disterheft, Lindsay Beaver, Colleen Allen, Rebecca Hennessey, Lilly Sazz and Carrie Chesnutt..
Having great vocalists is definitely an important part of having a successful concert. Anyone reading this who doesn’t recognize the significance of having a stellar cast of first-class musicians, who build a strong musical foundation for each of the six entertainers, does not deserve to go to Massey Hall and have their ears treated to the sweet, nasty, bluesy, funked-up rhapsody that will be taking place. These eight musicians could each separately knock your drawers off. When they all show up in the same band, well, you should make sure you’re wearing suspenders and a belt!
Donna Grantis
Music director and guitarist (and my baby sistah) Donna Grantis is one of the hardest-working people I’ve ever known. When she’s not writing, playing, recording and travelling with me, she’s writing, playing, recording and travelling with Saidah Baba Talibah or playing with Amanda Marshall or writing, playing, recording and travelling with her own band. I’ve loved her funky, rockin’ blues touch since the first time I heard and jammed with her. Under her direction, the Women’s Blues Revue house band has become the Women’s Blues Revue All-Star Band.
Guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Suzie Vinnick has one of the sweetest voices I’ve ever heard. My dear friend has a way of quieting a room with her music that is wonderful to watch. Every time we’ve shared a stage, I’ve enjoyed working with her. She brings a sense of hope to even the saddest song that assures you anything can be overcome.
Master bassist Brandi Disterheft scares me. Seriously! She’s that good. She’s that seriously, scary-good about what she does, whether she is playing electric or double bass, jazz or blues, at home in Toronto or at home in New York. This woman brings more than just the funk. She brings down the house. Trust me, you too will scream for mercy!
As the lead singer/drummer of 24th Street Wailers, Lindsay Beaver has made quite a name for herself as a young and upcoming talent in Canada. May I just say how impressed I am by her eagerness, her musicality and ability to listen and to adapt? She might be a youngster, but she is no amateur!
Being a blowhard is never a compliment, except when I’m speaking about a horn player who blows hard enough to blow most others away, like, let’s say, super woman Colleen Allen: alto/tenor/soprano sax, flute, clarinet and accordion. I mean, c’mon, I’m still trying to learn how to play a flippin’ kazoo! She played the hell out of my music on my album, her timing and her arrangements kick ass and I adore her!
Rebecca Hennessey
Rebecca Hennessey is a trumpet-playing, flugelhorn-tootin’, chamber/jazz quartet-composing cowgirl. OK, I’m not positive about the whole cowgirl thing, but I do know that she is one seriously talented player, who plays with a sensitivity that never leaves strength behind. Having her on my album was a major coup pour moi.
I have been fortunate enough to have played the Women’s Blues Revue five times, and knowing that 26-year WBR veteran keyboardist Lily Sazz was there each time made my job easier and much sweeter. She may live outside of the city limits, but make no mistake: Ms. Sazz plays like a down-home, city-fired blues woman.
If Mae West or Jane Russell could have been sax players, their name would have been Carrie Chesnutt. I’ve always thought that this wonderful, sexy saxophonist, flautist and gutsy vocalist was born into the wrong era. With her great sense of showmanship, her music and her looks, my darlin’ girlfriend would have left all the other pin-up girls hanging around, looking for something to do!
The 26th annual Women’s Blues Revue takes place on Nov. 24 at Massey Hall in Toronto.
Related:
Shakura S’Aida introduces the Women’s Blues Revue’s stars
Women's Blues Revue ticket contest
Maple Blues Awards voting open to fans