Wendy DeWitt - piano
Jennifer Jolly - piano
Boogie Woogie Queen Wendy DeWitt lays down 8 to the bar like her life depends on it. She's been doing it since childhood and takes it around the world. Add in a voice for singing the blues accompanied by a style reminiscent of Otis Spann, Memphis Slim and Ray Charles, and settle in for a soulful good time.
Wendy has appeared with Marcia Ball, Charlie Musselwhite, Otis Rush, Maria Muldaur, and Jimmy Thackery and was featured at Freight and Salvage, Berkeley’s historic venue with Big Joe Duskin, appeared at the Cincinnati Blues Fest’s famed Arches Piano Stage, headed to Boston with Hank Ballard and the Midnighters for a performance at Boston Symphony Hall, and played before sold out audiences at San Diego's Museum of Art. With Delmark recording artist and blues heavyweight Steve Freund Band Wendy has performed at the San Francisco Blues Fest and the Monterey Jazz Festival. The year started with a SRO pair of concerts in Paris.
DeWitt began playing blues and boogie woogie at the age of 10 and fell in with a group of former Chicagoans when she came to the Bay Area in 1984. While with the Steve Freund band for 6 years Wendy recorded at the legendary Delmark Recording Studio and performed at Buddy Guy's Legend's. Traveling with Hank Ballard and the Midnighters Wendy toured the Southern US, played the SF Blues Festival, PEER in Belgium and performed shows with Little Richard.
Wendy has six well-received albums of her own, can be heard on numerous compilations, and is a guest on albums by Steve Freund, and many other Bay Area blues artists. Her song What Do You Want was a regional hit for Beach Dancers in Myrtle Beach. Recently released is a traditional style boogie/blues CD featuring songs by her favorite influences as well as her own writing. Produced by Steve Fruend. This was quickly followed up by two solo piano albums focusing on boogie woogie.
Past shows include the Freight and Salvage for the third annual production of "Queens of Boogie Woogie" produced by Wendy, several return engagements in France and Shoreline Amphitheater's New Orleans by the Bay. In San Diego Wendy was on the bill with Hadda Brooks on one of the legendary performers last shows and has been officially designated by the original “Queen of the Boogie” as an authentic “Queen of Boogie Woogie”.Wendy returns regularly to France, Pacific northwest and around the United States.
Wendy’s songs are played on blues radio throughout the world and she has been a featured performer on syndicated radio programs including West Coast Live.Wendy's newest release, Boogie Teaser Too (available on CD Baby) is her 6th on the Wette Music label.
Jennifer Jolly has been “radiatin’ the eighty-eights” in New Orleans R&B, boogie-woogie, blues, funk, and Americana styles throughout the Bay Area for over twenty years. Her deep feel for the traditions of Professor Longhair, Albert Ammons, Ray Charles, Art Neville, and other keyboard greats anchors her full, joyful sound. She performs on piano, electric piano, and Hammond B-3 organ.
Jennifer has appeared at many of the Bay Area’s premier venues and festivals, including The Fillmore Auditorium, Yoshi’s, The Great American Music Hall, Freight and Salvage, Ashkenaz, New Orleans By The Bay, and San Francisco’s Carnaval. She’s performed or recorded with Phil Lesh (The Grateful Dead), David Grisman, legendary folk/jazz vocalist Barbara Dane, R&B guitarist Robert Ward, and many others in genres ranging from jazz to ska.
Currently, Jennifer co-leads The Jolly Gibsons (New Orleans funk/jazz/blues) and The Jolly/Steinkoler Duo (blues/boogie-woogie), plays piano with Big B and His Snake Oil Saviors (country swing/boogie), and performs solo piano shows and various duo and ensemble concerts. For eighteen years she held the keyboard chair in Hot Links (New Orleans R&B) and its successor, Johnny Harper’s Carnival. Other groups have included David Gans and The Broken Angels (improvisational Americana/rock), Bass Culture Revue (neo-soul/reggae), The Uptown Rulers (New Orleans R&B), Marie Schumacher and The Invisible Band (folk pop/rock), and The Big Picture (R&B/soul).
Jennifer is on the faculty of The Jazzschool in Berkeley, CA, has taught every summer at Cazadero Performing Arts Camp since 1999, and maintains a busy private teaching practice. She has appeared as keyboardist and vocalist on a dozen recording projects, including “Happy Jalopy” by The Jolly Gibsons.
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