Four Great Singers & One Hot Band

The kick-off of Four Great Singers & One Hot Band at Yoshi’s shows strong evidence of a continuing creative alliance for Lucia | Kosut Productions to bring more attention to premiere Bay Area music talents. All the performers involved in this opening-night revue have the chops and have played with many of the greats.

On a low stage, the Max Perkoff Band backed up the four singers with piano, trombone, bass, and drums. As each vocalist took the stage, the music varied in tones, all accomplished in distinctive styles.

To open, the “Queen of Boogie Woogie” Wendy DeWitt took the piano to sing and play her original compositions. She likes to spread the gospel of Chicago blues. She has performed with preeminent musicians ranging from Otis Rush to Hank Ballard and Memphis Slim. Her playing is thoroughly competent and emphasizes the inflected phrasings of her vocals. Her light soprano voice is smooth, sweet and articulate, but does not always address the audience. Even with amplification, having the vocalist face upstage, away from the audience seems a poor choice, although subsequent acts made better use of the stage setup.

Then Linda Kosut took the stage and Max played the piano. In Yoshi’s intimate atmosphere, this worked much better. Linda held the mike and faced the house. With her animated presence and her sultry, dark voice she presented a litany of great jazz works, going from her favorite, Oscar Brown, Jr. through Joan Baez and into Randy Newman’s controversial song “Short People.” Her ability to tell stories in songs of widely different genres is always entertaining.

Kenny Washington next delivered an unpredictable variety of vocalization. His wide range can take him into the channeling of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn and even Stevie Wonder. He presents an enthusiasm for keeping the audience guessing about what he might do next.

Elaine Lucia closed the show with her supple interpretation of some blues songs, although her classically trained vocal instrument can support more than that. Her sources in this set ranged from Miles Davis and k. d. lang to Peggy Lee.

This Lucia | Kosut Productions collaboration among some outstanding local musicians (future dates to be announced) has a great potential to build a loyal following. Keep your ears out for more. Information is available from Jizel Music and Design at http://www.jizelmusic.com