Brenna Whitaker : Tuesday Night Revisited

While the band Vintage Trouble conquered the UK, singer Brenna Whitaker took Trouble Tuesday in a different direction. Jazzing and blues-ing, she commanded the packed house who responded in kind.

Well... guess who's back?

Brenna will be at Harvelle's Friday - April 1 (I feel journalistically obligated to say that this is no joke). I encourage all who are unfamiliar with her, to come check her out.

...and for a whole 'nother vibe, the owners of Trouble Tuesday - the mighty Vintage Trouble - will be playing Saturday night!! Their Saturday night shows at Harvelle's are legendary, so this is gonna be a hot one. Vintage Trouble is blowing up bigtime and gearing up for their second trip to the UK in May, this time as support for (Queen guitarist) Brian May's tour. UK readers take note!!

Hilary Van Lier : New Tracks!!!

Hilary Van Lier is the chanteuse with the mostest!! She writes great songs and she sings like delicious candy! Sweet and satisfying!! I'm quite happy to hear new tracks by this reclusive and beautiful vocalist!! (When you coming back to Harvelle's Hilary?)

Hilary mines deep down in her soul for feelings, accesses them raw, and polishes 'em til they're reflective and smooth. This is what I wanna listen to!!

Now available on iTunes, do yourself a favor, and treat yourself to Hilary's Layin' Low EP. [buy it here]

NOW, do the following:

-If you're on Facebook, LIKE her [Facebook page]

-Check her out on Reverb Nation [reverb nation]

-Follow Hilary on Twitter [twitter]

-Buy Hilary's track "Can't Pretend (Wear Me Down)". It's exclusively on iTunes [buy it here]

Pinetop Perkins : R.I.P.

Pinetop Perkins, a delta blues pianist who played with Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson and Robert Nighthawk, died of a heart attack at his Austin, Texas home on March 21st. He was 97. "He was one of the last great Mississippi Bluesmen," B.B. King said in a statement. "He had such a distinctive voice, and he sure could play the piano. He will be missed not only by me, but by lovers of music all over the world."*

Enjoy this video of Pinetop Perkins at Harvelle's in 2005:

*Rolling Stone dot com

Dessy DiLauro : Jumpin' & Jivin'

Dessy DiLauro does it right! Bringin' her amazing voice and compelling material, she gets the party started and represents as an extended part of (long running Wednesday night residents) House Of Vibe Allstars! Chea!!

As a first-class singer, Dessy colors her own shade of neo-soul, and doesn't shy away from the sonic power her voice possesses! Her behind-the-scenes partner, Ric'key Pageot is a songwriter/ multi-instrumentalist/ programmer/ producer. He is nothing less than a genius of a musician who gives as dazzling a display of keyboard wizardry as Dessy does on vocals.

Just released is Jump N' Jivin' - Live at The Swing House [Buy it here!] This 7 song CD, captures Dessy at her best - in a live setting. Ric'key and the band's playing is sparkling and fresh and reminds me of the best of 70s and 80s funk/R&B. They add their own ingredients - mixing in ragtime, disco, breakbeats and classic pop songwriting hooks that equal as satisfying and original a collection as I've heard all year!

They'll be performing this Wednesday BEFORE House Of Vibe! Come early (8:30 pm) and check 'em out! [Dessy's Website]

Special welcome back shout-out to Brew, Fish & Corey!

Happy Birthday Guy Harrington!

Sy Smith : Psoulful Psinger

Vintage Trouble still abroad, their time slot was substituted by the soulful Sy Smith. Large of afro and voice - she is commanding visually and sonic-ly filling the club with groovy parishoners worshipping on a Tuesday night. What is one to do except join in the worship of one the best performers I've seen all year? With three albums under her belt, it's surprising she isn't more of a star, cuz she sure does shine!! If she returns, I highly recommend. Hopefully she will play more songs and keep us out a bit later. I could have heard another hour of her voice!!

Special shout-out to Kamasi Washington - who used to blast his sax on a semi-regular basis on Tuesday's back in the (Ryan Cross) SoulFunk days - who was just one of the members of Sy's awesome backing group. (I will amend this post with the rest of the band members' names asap.)

UltraLove : Valentine's Day

What's worse than not having a Valentine's Day date? Having one who cancels at the last minute. I had planned a romantic evening that would have ended at the UltraLove show. I went anyway. UltraLove's music always puts me in a good mood, as does the man himself - Mike "Ultralove" Wagner. That's him in the argyle sweater vest below.

Also in the photo above is vocalists Love Logiq on the left and T-Smidi on the right. The other members of UltraLove include Doug Showalter on guitar, Adam Berg on keys, Mike Gunn on bass and Seth Murphy on drums. Singer Soul Star was recently in a car accident, so she was not in the house. Wishing her a speedy recovery!!
Pan America (above) has been opening for UltraLove recently. Come early and check them out!!

Special thanks to Sheena for these pix!!

Esperanza Spalding : Grammy's Best New Artist

Best new artist Grammy winner Esperanza Spalding may have shocked the Bieber-heads, but at the Harvelle's blog, we've been a fan of Esperanza's ever since she dropped by in September of '09. Back then, she sat in with SoulFunk - bassist Ryan Cross' weekly jazz jam -playing Ryan's upright, accompanied by Gene Coye on drums and Brandon Coleman on keys.

I was in the right place at the right time to capture this performance.

Congratulations Esperanza!

Special shout-out to Ryan, Brandon, Gene, Kiki and Megan!!