Katherine Davis brought the Chicago Blues and, along with it, a purposeful roll of her ponderous hips, to RedBones the Blues Café, Braemar Avenue, New Kingston, on Thursday evening.
She was not alone on stage, of course, Dave Roberts on keyboards, Jeff Williams on guitars, Marcus David on percussions and, in the early stages, Byard Lancaster on saxophone, delivering the music for Davis's strong voice. And it really got crowded when seven young white girls from Florida came up, at Davis's invitation, to "shake that moneymaker" their assets and movements were dimes to Davis many pounds sterling.
After a half-hour late start and a one-song warm-up, Davis hoisted Williams's guitar like a tollbooth barrier to make her way front and centre. "I know it's hot, but it's OK to be hot sometimes," she said, standing near stock still as she promised musically "we gonna rock this house".
"Somebody help me," Davis said, starting a rhythmic handclap, which was taken up by an audience that was well below capacity. "Everybody. Don't be holding back on me," she encouraged, calling Lancaster up for a solo with "Come here, horn man".
Extra attitude
As Davis held the microphone for him, her right hand met her right hip, commands to say 'oh yeah' and stand ("you can sing better when you are standing up") being obeyed by most, the latter especially by some women in the front.
And when she sang, 'I am a big fat mama, meat sitting on my bones', they cheered, as they did at the end of the extended opening song.
"I came out of the projects on the north side of Chicago," Davis said by way of further introduction before going into the Fats Waller catalogue with Honeysuckle Rose. She put extra attitude into the line 'you know it's sweet when you stir my cup', the result being hoots of encouragement from the audience. But there were no takers when Davis encouraged "somebody grab somebody. Just do it for the heck of it. Just do it because it is Thursday."
"You are moving your fingers all over that honey," Davis told Roberts as he soloed.
When she asked if there were "any birthdays? Anniversaries? Promotions?", there were none, so Davis declared "we are just celebrating life" to loud agreement.
She went on the more sober side of the blues, singing 'Mama, he treats your daughter so mean/he's the meanest man I've ever seen', Lancaster dropping another solo. "Jeff, what you do to her?" Davis demanded to let his solo go.
Blues as foundation
What A Difference A Day Makes was done uptempo and on Stand By Me, after she sang 'and the moon is the only light I see' Davis cocked an eye to the sky, pursed her lips and said, "It's dark."
"You see, the blues is the foundation for the U.S. When people were taken from Africa and placed on the plantation, all they had was the music," she said. "We have to keep the traditional blues alive."
Davis reeled out her musical line, singing: 'I'm a good woman looking for a real good man/I'm going fishing baby' and snagged seven young silver snappers from Florida. They wriggled without rhythm, despite the encouragement and demonstration to "shake that moneymaker", Davis closing her eyes, head to the sky, as she rolled the two safes behind her.
After intermission, it was, of course, more blues and attitude and interaction with the audience to the end coming up to midnight, one more song demanded when she said "that's it". For the 'brawta', Davis went slow at first to guitar and strings, singing on "one summer day, you went away" then closing on an uptempo note, crooning "now baby don't you ever go".
- M.C.
