Deanna Bogart

Deanna Bogart - Real Time - 2006 - Blind Pig

"She plays a stellar boogie-woogie piano and a pretty mean sax, flourishes her highly finessed songs, and sings them with equal power and conviction. Even Bonnie Raitt diehards would be impressed." © Philadelphia Daily News

An “extravagant” entertainer, according to Down Beat Magazine, Deanna Bogart demonstrates dazzling technical skills at the keyboard, plays a mean, soulful tenor sax and is an equally powerful singer with relentless energy and strength. Bogart began to develop her style as a side-player with a western swing band, Cowboy Jazz, and later joined the group as vocalist. As her interests broadened, elements of R & B, boogie, modern jazz and rock blended in her original compositions. She formed her own band twenty years ago and made her recording debut with Blind Pig Records shortly thereafter with “Out To Get You” released in 1990. Five self released recordings followed all of which received critical acclaim. Her 2002 independent release, “Timing Is Everything” received rave reviews in publications ranging from The Blues Review to The Washington Post. Coming full circle, her most recent release, “Real Time,” is out on Blind Pig Records. Eight of the ten tracks on this recording are Bogart originals. Blues Review refers to Bogart’s performances as “vivacious and charismatic;” The Washington Post raved about “her two-fisted turns on the piano radiating energy and momentum;” and The Baltimore Sun says Bogart "plays the keyboard and sings like nothing you've ever heard – but should." © 1998 - 2008 The Greater Ozarks Blues Festival , www.greaterozarksbluesfest.com
A great album of boogie-laced grooves, with great organ-tinted blues, jazz, & R&B elements. Deanna Bogart is a great vocalist and musician, and if you haven't heard her work before, buy her "The Great Unknown" album which is arguably a better release than "Real Time."

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1 Real Time
2 Everybody Has a Story
3 Blue by Night
4 Are You Lonely for Me Baby
5 Blues in the 'Bine
6 Baby You Got What It Takes
7 Tender Days
8 Bite the Bullet
9 Wonder What the Weather Is Today
10 Table for Three

All songs composed by Deanna Bogart, except Track 6, by Clyde Otis & Murray Stein

MUSICIANS

Deanna Bogart (Horn), (Keyboards), (Vocals)
Dan Leonard (Guitar)
Scott Ambush (Bass), (Vocals)
Eric Scott (Vocals), (Soloist)
Mike Aubin (Percussion), (Drums)

REVIEWS

On her return to the Blind Pig label where she started her recording career sixteen years ago Deanna Bogart reveals her development into a four way threat: She's not only adept on vocals, saxophone and keyboards, but has become a fine writer as well. Eight of the 10 cuts featured on the disc were penned by Bogart and each reveals an artist with a fair amount to say about the twists and turns of life. On "Real Time" she ruminates about what it would have been like to experience first hand, rather than through the filter of history, the events that define our culture, such as Woodstock, and then expresses her gratitude at actually living through such monumental events as the fall of the Berlin wall. On "Wonder what the weather is today" she turns to the more typical blues fodder about bad relationships as she takes on a lover who is as unpredictable as the weather. While she gets pegged as a blues artist she isn't afraid to step outside that box as revealed by the funky R & B take on "Are You Lonely for me Baby," where she and vocalist Eric Scott do their best Etta James salute. She's also no stranger to straight up jazz which is showcased on a number of tracks including the piano driven instrumental "Table for Three." True to her status as a gifted multi-instrumentalist, Bogart features plenty of keyboards and saxophone on virtually every track. Tenor sax aficionados will find the jazzy instrumental piece "Blues in the ‘bine" particularly engaging with its sax fueled late night vibe and roaring solo. Likewise, "Baby, you got what it takes," benefits from well placed sax accents and from a funky solo on the bridge. Keyboards rule the day on the Billy Joel like piano anthem, "Everybody Has a Story" and on the driving boogie of "Bite the Bullet." As good as she is on keyboards and saxophone you can't ignore Bogart's vocals which she delivers with a previously unheard deep soulfulness reminiscent of Bonnie Raitt. While she has always been adequate on vocals, the spare, unhurried musical back drop provided by Scott Ambush on bass and vocals, Mike Aubin on drums and percussion and Don Leonard on guitar gives her a chance to reveal a vocal richness that adds to the strength of this effort. While there is nothing ground breaking here this is a solid effort. © 2006, Mark Smith, BluesSource.com

After interning in western swing and R&B with Cowboy Jazz and Root Boy Slim, Bogart has fronted her own tight ensemble for over fifteen years. Playing dazzling piano and soulful saxophone, Deanna’s added the energy of boogie-woogie, contemporary blues, country, and Nora Jones-like jazz to create a unique fusion of musical styles. Her vocals and songwriting are as full of vitality as her playing – savvy, sensuous, and deep. © 1996-2008, Amazon.com

Maryland's Deanna Bogart is an explosive live performer, mixing in several streams of American vernacular music into her sets, ranging from funky R&B romps to hushed, Norah Jones-like jazz-pop ballads, and she just happens to be a dynamite barrelhouse piano player who also plays a pretty mean tenor saxophone, as well. Her versatility is truly astounding, and while it might be safe to say that everything she does grows out of the blues, to label her a blues artist doesn't even begin to cover the half of it. On Real Time she offers up a typically varied program of New Orleans R&B, late-night blues, smoky jazz ballads, a touch of country, and some rousing boogie-woogie piano instrumentals, but what keeps it all stitched together is her strong, sultry singing. Highlights include the rocking opener, "Real Time," the loping, wise "Everybody Has a Story," the lovely and classic "Blue by Night," the late-night jazz of "Blues in the 'Bine" (where Bogart's sax playing gets to shine), and the storming piano instrumental "Bite the Bullet." It's easy to be distracted by this wide range of styles, and given Bogart's explosive piano skills, to view her as a blues piano player first and foremost, but what gets lost in the shuffle is the fact that this lady can sing (and write, as well -- all but two of these ten tracks are Bogart originals), and if some marketing wiz out there can ever figure out how to package all this talent into a form that the mass public can recognize (how about as a funkier Norah Jones?), then Deanna Bogart has a good chance to be a household name. Meanwhile, her albums get tossed in the blues bins, and she truly deserves a wider audience. © Steve Leggett, All Music Guide

Some things you don’t forget. Like the day about four years ago when Deanna Bogart was in a shopping mall near her Maryland home, and a young cashier struck up a conversation. She didn’t know Bogart or her music, but spoke at length about her feelings as an outcast from her peer group. “She told me she was thought of as `the girl in the band,’ and said she didn’t care if people made fun of her,” said Bogart. “When she asked if I though she was crazy, I told her `No. I’m still the girl in the band.’” Such is the life of Deanna Bogart, who calls herself “the homely girl with the guitar who could sing a little.” From the time she first picked up a guitar at age 12, Bogart has never looked back except at such real life stories, which inspire her music — a mix of blues, jazz, boogie-woogie, R&B, and country. The result has not yet been wide fame or fortune but numerous critical acclaim. Expect the same on her latest release Real Time. Once again, Bogart takes the sax and boogie-woogie piano to powerful, sophisticated extremes. But don’t grow so enraptured listening to her musicianship that you miss her powerful singing. Of course, that would be akin to missing a vocal tidal wave, in which Bogart expertly takes her listeners from daydreaming on the song “Real Time” (“I was too young for disco, too late for the hop, didn’t get to Woodstock, missed the birth of bop, and I wonder what it was like in real time”) to heartache on “Are You Lonely for me Baby” (“Will u try, c’mon and try to forget, all the pain I brought you, go on and cry, I know I made u cry”) and “Wonder What the Weather is Today” (“Eggshells under my feet, every time we meet, first you’re out, then you’re in, change direction like the wind, I can’t get a read.”) OK – her vocal talent is matched only by her musicianship, her writing is first rate, her range is incredible and critics sit up and take notice. So why is her music always pigeonholed as blues? “I get in trouble saying this because the blues world has embraced us. I love that and I embrace that,” said Bogart. “But we are obviously not a blues band. I play boogie woogie. And I am all about music growing out of other music. I find that amazing.” Perhaps just as many find it amazing that Bogart — with all her versatility and range — stays in Maryland, instead of seeking fame in New Orleans, Nashville, or Los Angeles. The reason, she said, is her love for her daughter. “I was raised across the country from my dad. He was a weekend dad and it wasn’t the same,” she said. “So I am here. And it’s ok. I would do anything for her.” Another thing you don’t forget. © Nancy Dunham, 25/12/06, © http://blogcritics.org

SHORT BIO

Drawing on a variety of musical sources ranging from boogie-woogie to New Orleans R&B to swing to rock & roll, singer and barrelhouse pianist Deanna Bogart emerged as one of the most eclectic performers in contemporary blues. Born in Detroit in 1960, she cut her teeth on the Maryland blues circuit, developing a crowd-pleasing style that often found her leaping up from her piano bench to chat with the audience; clad in her trademark black fedora, Bogart was also known to blow a mean tenor saxophone. A gifted composer as well, her debut LP, Out to Get You, appeared in 1991, followed in 1992 by Crossing Borders; a four-year hiatus preceded the release of New Address on Lightyear. Timing Is Everything was self-released in 2003, followed by Real Time on Blind Pig Records in 2006. © Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

BIO (Wikipedia)

Deanna Bogart (born September 5, 1959) is a Washington, DC-area blues singer/pianist/saxophone player. Drawing on a variety of musical sources ranging from boogie-woogie to New Orleans R&B to swing to rock & roll, singer and barrelhouse pianist Deanna Bogart emerged as one of the most eclectic performers in contemporary blues. Born in Detroit, she cut her teeth on the Maryland blues circuit, developing a crowd-pleasing style which often found her leaping up from her piano bench to chat with the audience; clad in her trademark black fedora. Bogart is also known to blow a mean tenor saxophone.

MORE ABOUT DEANNA BOGART [ © www.deannabogart.com ]

Down Beat magazine describes Deanna Bogart as "an extravagant entertainer"-- and entertain is what Bogart does best. The Maryland-based blues and boogie pianist / saxophonist combines the energy of 1930's style boogie piano blues with contemporary blues sounds emanating from places like New Orleans, Chicago and Memphis. "The goal when we play live," says Bogart, "is to create a fusion of all these different musical styles with the blues and boogie genuinely at the core." Bogart began to develop her unique style as a sideplayer in Cowboy Jazz, a Maryland-based group that dedicated itself to the sound of 1940’s western swing music. She joined the group at age 21 as vocalist and spent several years learning and playing the cowboy rhythms that are central to western swing. As her musical appetite grew she spent nearly two years playing R&B with the Washington D.C.-based Root Boy Slim. Bogart combined these disparate influences in her own original compositions that blend elements of boogie music with modern jazz and rock. After getting her own band off the ground in 1988, she began playing throughout the mid-Atlantic region and the West Coast, slowly building a following and a reputation. After hundreds of live shows, Bogart made her recording debut in 1989. Whereas for years her fans accepted as an article of faith that none of Bogart's recording ventures could match up to the experience of live performances, that assumption has been transformed since the release of her last two CDs, The Great Unknown and 2002’s Timing is Everything. While home listeners will be deprived the pleasures of Bogart's peripatetic piano style–these new recordings reflect a decided turning point in Bogart’s writing and playing talents. While continuing to utilize her musical roots in the blues, her musical sensibilities have ventured into other textures, her voice has developed an increasingly emotional force, and her songwriting has expanded into a growing breadth of complexity and lyrical subtlety. A woman who has managed to balance middle-aged single motherhood with the vicissitudes of life leading a successful band for 15 years on the road has now begun to create music that reflects a similar synthesis of the traditional and the non-traditional. Bogart is philosophical about striking out in new directions. “Nothing hurts creativity like safety” is her credo, “in art as in life, you can't have magic if you're not willing to risk the train wrecks.” Addressing an increasingly broad range of personal subjects and life experiences, Bogart has become much more than a splashy unforgettable performer–she has established herself as a unique artistic spirit. Despite the power of her recordings, Bogart still loves performing live with her band. “Musicians play for 'one of those nights.” For me, that means the moment I’m at the place where all past and present, pain and joy, meet as one. For lack of a better term, I call it “Deannaland.” And it’s a place that both audiences and other artists never tire of visiting along with her. Bogart has appeared on stage with the likes of BB King, Brian Setzer, Buddy Guy, James Brown, Doctor John, They Might Be Giants, Spyro Gyra, Ray Charles, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, and the Neville Brothers. The recipient of no less than 20 Washington Area Music Awards–the “Wammies”–her most recent album, Timing is Everything, helped garner her five awards in one year, including Best Blues Vocalist, Best Group, Songwriter of the Year, Song of the Year, and Musician of the Year. The press is equally effusive. Cashbox called Bogart a “butt-kickin’ barrelhouse player that could give a good chase to old Jerry Lee.” Blues Revue gushed that “A big part of what makes Deanna Bogart such a delight is her vivacious, charismatic live show. Whether displaying dazzling technical skills at the keyboard or playing soulful tenor sax, the ensemble sound Bogart and her band is skintight.” The Washington Post raved about “her two-fisted turns on piano that radiate plenty of energy and momentum!“ Music Monthly delights in Bogart's ability “to blend savvy street smarts with an earthy sensuality that is spontaneous from the very minute her music jumps from the speakers.” The Baltimore Sun celebrates how Bogart “plays the keyboard and sings like nothing you've ever heard–but should! Her vocal style is as full of vitality as her piano playing–both are sexy and deep, with unstoppable strength and unflagging energy!” Bogart herself explains that, “It became clear to me a long time ago that my goal was to be the best player I could be, and that on my death bed at 107, with people I love gathered around me, my last words would be ‘Man, what a good gig last night!” Beyond all the superlatives, The Washington Post may have best described Deanna Bogart with three words: Luster, Sophistication, and Soul. This is a one-of-a-kind artist, whose music veers from the depths of the blues to the playful heights of swing, from the subtleties of jazz to the hard-won grit of soul. She brings to her music everything it means to be a woman–everything it means to be human–and delivers it to every line of music played, every phrase of lyrics written and sung, until the pure truth of her sound and message pierces the heart of her audience. Once you hear her–once you feel her–you will never be quite the same.The Deanna Bogart Band since 1995 includes Mike Aubin on drums, and Eric Scott on bass