Posts about Music in the Park
By LUCY VOLKER Student Orchestras of Greater Olympia (SOGO) provides musical education, technical training and performance opportunities for aspiring, young musicians. The group offers a variety of intensive classes and training programs for elementary, middle and high-school-aged youth. SOGO aims to prepare students for careers in classical music. Its programs focus on artistic development, ear …
By Adam McKinney Legend has it – and legends have everything – that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil at a Mississippi crossroad at midnight. In exchange for his soul, the devil granted him the ability of a master guitarist. Regardless of whether this event actually took place, what we know from the …
By ADAM McKINNEY En Canto, a seven-piece, Brazilian-dance band, is infused with an undercurrent of unbridled joy. This is a band that creates music solely for the purpose of making audiences happy, getting people out on the dance floor and leaving them with a dizzy afterglow. Breaking with tradition in the Brazilian music world, En …
By ADAM McKINNEY If there’s any wonder why cover bands have played a consistent part in nightlife scenes over the years, one needn’t look any further than the 1960s and ’70s. The sheer wealth of outstanding music to come out of those decades is truly staggering, which explains why it’s that era so often mined …
By ADAM McKINNEY As a unit, the Michelle Taylor Band rides atop an effortless wave of cool, exploiting pose and attitude for all they’re worth. Taylor cites soul and blues powerhouses Beth Hart and Susan Tedeschi as touchstones. Their influence is clear: Like those artists, Taylor exudes a constant sense of a firm hand, leading …
By ADAM McKINNEY Comprising a murderers’ row of blues veterans, the five-piece ensemble Joe Blue and the Roof Shakers brings a wild energy to performances. It’s busted out stone-cold classics since 2006, imbuing favorites like “La Grange,” “Mardi Gras in New Orleans” and “Pride and Joy” with a raucous, lived-in strut. Harmonica, horns, dirty guitars, …
By ADAM McKINNEY Anyone who ever trashed disco has been proven wrong by decades of cultural reappraisal. What is true – and what many always knew to be true – is disco is a joyous and far-from-pretentious musical genre designed to be enjoyed by everybody. Seattle’s Sonic Funk Orchestra, in its desire to recreate the …
By ADAM McKINNEY Blessed with a clear, strong and achingly vulnerable singing voice, Mikaiah Sawyer is one of the brightest spots in the Olympia music scene. Drawing inspiration from blues and folk, smoothed with a penchant for crowd-pleasing pop-rock, Sawyer possesses the ability to get listeners to rise to their feet or shed a tear …
By ADAM McKINNEY Washington is no slouch when it comes to quality and quantity of jazz bands, but some lack a sense of self-awareness and infectious fun. It’s a fate that can befall anyone who spends a lifetime mastering a craft. That’s not the case with Hook Me Up, a Puget Sound quartet that approaches …
by Nora Kovacs for OLY ARTS After releasing its debut album Threes this past February, Oklahoma-based, Americana-and-jazz band Harumph brings its vintage-sounding tunes to Olympia’s Music in the Park. Formed by Olympia native Kate Dinsmore, who leads the group with her effortlessly robust vocals, and composer-pianist David Leach, Harumph is a contemporary twist on old-fashioned …