Bonnie and Hot Stuff made their debut at Primavera Ristorante on January 21st with a mixed audience of ‘Regulars’ and some of their fans who followed them here.
Bonnie Jeanne
Bonnie Jeanne has been performing classical, Jazz, Blues, and Country music for many years. She also studied vocal performance at the New England Conservatory of Music and is an avid member and frequent guest performer at many New England to Nashville showcases at Loretta’s Last Call in Boston.
http://www.bonnieandhotstuff.com/
Hot Stuff is comprised of Bonnie Jeanne on vocals, ‘Ragtime’ Jack on keys, and Don Barry on upright bass; but Don Barry was unavailable, so this evening was just Bonnie and Jack. They worked together on love songs, Patsy Cline and Willie Nelson country favorites. Some 20’s Jazz and Ragtime.
Bonnie brought her own sassy, upbeat and modern sounds to their repertoire, with a wide variety of eras: All of Me, Squeeze Me, It Had To Be You; a tune Elvis recorded in 1957, Don’t. Louis and The Hot Five – Big Butter and Egg Man. Both sang in harmony, like the Everly Brothers with Love Hurts. Bonnie evoked Nine Simone’s Since I Fell For You.
They moved to a spiritual, Ramsey Lewis’s Wade In The Water. I’ve Got a Weakness, Jack’s fingers flying across the keyboard. An upbeat Bessy Smith’s Ain’t Nobody’s Business changed the mood. Jack warned us that the next tune was bawdy with Bonnie singing a lively Wild About That Thing.
Jack played solo with Jelly Roll Morton’s Don’t You Leave Me Here, and Keeping Out of Mischief Now. He is immersed in Jazz history, recounting when Andy Razaf came to Tin Pan Alley and got a job as an elevator operator. One day a very large gentleman stepped in the elevator, very upset because he had a tune to present, but it needed lyrics. Andy said “How about Every honey bee, fills with jealousy, when they see you out with me”? That’s how Fats Waller finished Honeysuckle Rose, and Andy Razaf embarked on a career as a lyricist.
Jack embarked on a wild Honeysuckle Rose, followed by his own composition, Newport Getaway, stride piano; he thanked James P. Bonnie returned with lovely songs, When I Fall in Love, and singing soft and slow, You Don’t Know Me.
That’s The Story of Love and Making Whoopee was a fun upbeat medley, with Bonnie and Jack singing the two songs simultaneously. Amazing!
Jack joined Bonnie on Willie Nelson’s Remember Me, beating time with snapping fingers. She continued with Bessie Smith’s 1927 Blackwater Blues, about the first New Orleans’ flood.
Crazy – the tune Willie Nelson wrote at age 19; the words paid off all his fines! Walking After Midnight. They went from Patsy Cline to Nina Simone’s You Know How I Feel.
“Ragtime” Jack
Jack embraces a wide variety of emotions and textures in his work. Ragtime’ Jack Radcliffe has been performing for more than 45 years. He is a master ragtime and stride piano, of traditional country blues, and is a powerful singer/songwriter, as well. www.wepecket.com/radcliffe.htm
He is going to N. O. from February 11 to March 2nd, right after Mardi Gras, making his home at Check Point Charlie’s, a popular night spot in New Orleans. He played and sang a heartfelt Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans? and continued with Scott Joplin, “who wrote much timeless classical music.” In 1904 Joplin wrote Easy Winners, a ragtime two-step. Jack absorbed it, added a little ‘Papa Joe’.
Time was running out. Bonnie returned with As Time Goes By, and then Duke Ellington’s, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.
They closed with Utah Phillips’ “Starlight On The Rails.
“Looking back, down along the road I’ve traveled
Every mile could tell a million tales.
Each year is like some rolling freight train
And cold as Starlight On The Rails.”
Bonnie and Hot Stuff with Don Barry are at Blackthorne Publick House, 402 Turnpike St., So. Easton, MA. February 12, 8pm, folloiwing The Boston Boatmen. Jack will be in New Orleans.