JENNIFER JORDAN & MIKE BARRIS
Jennifer Jordan and Mike Barris create dizzy excitement with their passionate presentations of classic blues of the 1920s and ‘30s. Jordan is a throwback to the era of female blues belters such as Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey, while Barris, on the acoustic guitar, is a perfect accompanist and top-notch vintage-jazz guitarist-singer.
Whether the tune is a bawdy blues like “I Need A Little Sugar In My Bowl,” a spiritual like “Motherless Child,” or a good-time piece of business like “Tight Like That,” you can count on this New Jersey duo to serve up a show that is nothing less than intoxicating.
“This music is the soul of jazz,” declares Barris, known for leading well-crafted prewar jazz and blues concerts under the auspices of the Jersey Shore Jazz & Blues Foundation. “The stories in these songs are human stories – and we tell them with great feeling. At the same time, we are having a ton of fun when we play.”
Jordan, a classically trained singer, was the vocal engine of Terraplane Blues, a highly regarded electric-blues band that had shared the stage with such notables as the late Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. Some years ago, Jordan was performing at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, N.J., as part of a “Women Who Cook” blues showcase, when the legendary Koko Taylor proclaimed Jordan a torch-bearer for a new generation of female blues singers. Sadly, Taylor is no longer with us, but her endorsement strengthened Jordan’s determination to grow as a blues singer.
Jordan teamed up with Barris, an accompanist with the ability to both create space and provide rhythmic and melodic variations to support her vocal line. The pairing and the move to classic acoustic blues has helped both musicians find their artistic niche, resulting in a deeply focused, enthralling musical performance. And listeners should be grateful for that. (To hear their audio samples, click here.)
(To watch the duo performing "I Need A Little Sugar In My Bowl," see the video, below.)
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Booking information:
Mike Barris
732-222-4237
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