THANKS to those who attended the EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL BLUES & BOOGIE PIANO SUMMIT
which featured:
MARTIJN SCHOK & GRETA HOLTROP (Netherlands)
WENDY DEWITT & KIRK HARWOOD (San Francisco, CA)
LIZ PENNOCK & DR. BLUES (St. Petersburg, FL)
RICKY NYE & BEKAH WILLIAMS (Cincinnati, OH)
plus:
CHRIS DOUGLAS (upright bass)
PAUL ELLIS (drums)
BRIAN "BOSS" HOGG (tenor sax)
on FRIDAY & SATURDAY NOVEMBER 3rd & 4th, 2017 @ THE SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL
MANY THANKS to the SPONSORS that made it all happen:
PIANO PROS
MS. KAREN TYLER
DEWEY'S PIZZA
POMPILIO'S
YORK / BRANDT / SHOLITON / WALKER FOUNDATION
EAT WELL CELEBRATIONS AND FEASTS
BANG BANG SALON
ESQUIRE / MARIEMONT / KENWOOD / EASTGATE THEATERS
WVXU 91.7
CITYBEAT MAGAZINE
MARTIJN SCHOK & GRETA HOLTROP
The name Martijn Schok is synonymous with boogie woogie and piano blues in the Netherlands. Martijn performs solo, with vocalist Greta Holtrop, as well as with his swinging band, and has released sixteen successful boogie woogie CDs. Martijn's piano style is characterized by a large dose of swing, a steady groove, a high degree of virtuosity, and a great deal of admiration for the music of the early American boogie woogie originators.
Recipient of the German Pinetop Boogie Woogie Award "Pianist Of The Year 2013/2014”, Martijn has appeared at prestigious festivals such as Motor City Boogie (Detroit, Michigan), Blues & Boogie Piano Summit (Newport, KY), Blues Passions (Cognac, France), plus festivals in France, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark and England. Martijn is also Artistic Director and founder of the Heineken International Boogie & Blues Festival Holland.
With her versatile vocal talent and charismatic stage presence, singer
Greta Holtrop forms the perfect partner for Martijn’s swinging piano style. Her expressive voice seduces the ear with sultry interpretations of sensitive blues songs, turning just as easily to lively, swinging boogies. The late great pianist Big Joe Duskin described her vocal tone as somewhere between Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington.
Greta has performed at Boogie Woogie & Blues Festivals in the USA, Switzerland, France, Belgium and England, and sang with world renowned boogie specialists such as Bob Seeley, Charlie Booty, Jean-Paul Amouroux, Axel Zwingenberger, Ricky Nye, Little Willie Littlefield, Stefano Franco and Mark Braun.
Visit their website @ www.martijnschok.com
WENDY DEWITT & KIRK HARWOOD
When Wendy DeWitt, former pianist with Hank Ballard & The Midnighters and long time international boogie woogie favorite joined forces with Kirk Harwood, veteran drummer for artists such as Norton Buffalo (Steve Miller), Huey Lewis and Roy Rogers, the two shared a vision of creating a duo capable of holding its own on any stage with power, pizzaz and presence.
Aside from four years working with Hank Ballard & The Midnighters, Wendy has also shared the stage with artists such as Charlie Musselwhite, Otis Rush, and Jimmy Thackery. She’s appeared at the Arches Boogie Piano Stage (part of Cincinnati’s Cincy Blues Fest), Symphony Hall in Boston, Massachusetts and the San Diego Museum of Art with Hadda Brooks in one of Hadda’s last performances. Wendy has also performed at the San Francisco Blues Festival, St. Croix Blues & Heritage Fest, Les Nuits de Boogie Woogie in Paris, and festivals throughout Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary and Belgium.
Wendy produces the annual Queens Of Boogie Woogie and San Francisco International Boogie Woogie Festival. In 2012 and 2014 Wendy and Kirk Harwood represented The Golden Gate Blues Society in the International Blues Challenge (IBC) held in Memphis, Tennessee, and were finalists in 2014.
More information can be found @ www.wendydewitt.com
LIZ PENNOCK & DR. BLUES
Piano & guitar duo Liz Pennock & Dr. Blues have performed together since 1983. Based in St. Petersburg, Florida, they’ve taken their own brand on blues, boogie woogie and originals around the U.S. as well as Europe. Liz, who was born with only six fingers, also plays rack harmonica and trombone. Both singers & songwriters, Liz & Doc have released seven albums on Upright Records since 1986, including their latest CD Quirky Boogie released in 2016.
Liz Pennock & Dr. Blues were inducted into the Boogie Woogie Piano Hall Of Fame in 2008. Frequent guests at the Arches Boogie Piano Stage (part of the Cincinnati, OH’s Cincy Blues Fest), the duo has also performed at the prestigious Chicago Blues Festival (1996); the Brussels Boogie Woogie Piano Summit in Belgium (2004) and The International Boogie et Blues Festival in Paris (2013). Since 2009, Liz & Doc have organized the Annual Boogie Woogie & Blues Piano Stomp at the Palladium Theatre in St. Petersburg, FL. Over the years, they have appeared with artists such as Pinetop Perkins, Marcia Ball, and Leon Russell.
Visit their website @ www.lizpennock.com
RICKY NYE & BEKAH WILLIAMS
Traditional blues, boogie woogie, and classic New Orleans jazz and R&B all come flying from the fingers of Cincinnati, OH pianist and vocalist Ricky Nye.
The driving force behind the annual BLUES & BOOGIE PIANO SUMMIT held in Greater Cincinnati since 1999, Ricky has been inducted into the International Boogie Woogie Hall Of Fame, voted “Blues Artist Of The Year 2013 & 2014” in Cincinnati’s CEA Awards, and "Best Local Musician" by CityBeat Magazine's "Best Of Cincinnati 2013 & 2014” reader's poll. Ricky began his performing career at age twelve with his family’s band, and in his twenties and thirties established working relationships and friendships with Cincinnati blues icons such as Big Ed Thompson, H-Bomb Ferguson and fellow pianists Big Joe Duskin and Pigmeat Jarrett. For over fifteen years Ricky has maintained notoriety on an international level, performing his infectious blend of American roots music in solo, duo and combo settings in locales such as France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Vienna, England, and Switzerland. Ricky also celebrates a long-time performing and recording collaboration with "The Paris Blues Band", the very finest purveyors of swingin' blues and boogie in Paris, France. Bekah Williams has been singing in front of large audiences since early childhood. The daughter of a Pentecostal minister, Williams learned early on that singing was to her family as common as household chores for other children. At age sixteen she was already singing in the recording studio for commercial jingles.
Her live performance schedule over the years has consisted of several different groups. She fronted the Cincinnati based bands "Rough & Ready" and "The Snakehandlers", the name being a tongue-in-cheek poke at her Pentecostal background. Shortly after, she joined forces with pianist and vocalist Ricky Nye, and Bekah released her self-titled full-length recording in 2005. Specializing in classic blues and jazz, Bekah and Ricky have been performing together for over seventeen years. More information can be found @ www.rickynye.com
