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Suzie
Vinnick
Suzie Vinnick releases her highly-anticipated CD Happy Here on Wednesday October 8th at Hugh's Room and will once again be leading the Women's Blues Revue Band on November 29th at Massey Hall. This year she will be a featured vocalist along with Little Miss Higgins, Alana Bridgewater, Elizabeth Shepherd and more to be announced.
Suzie Vinnick made her way from the prairies to the nation's capital and is now firmly ensconced in the Toronto music scene. Her music has always stretched the boundaries - she is not conscious of boundaries. She opens her mouth and music flows out. and it always has her stamp on it - even when she's hamming it up on Stuart Maclean's Vinyl Café or with her side project Betty and the Bobs. And that Suzie Vinnick stamp is more than just a great vocal sound ("A Voice of Spun Gold and Honey"), but a conviction and a work ethic that is probably a residual of her Ukrainian pioneer heritage.
Kerry Doole is reviewing her new album "Happy Here" for Exclaim Magazine and writes, "Her solo work jumps genre barriers with the ease of an Olympic hurdles champion... She's equally at home in folk, blues, pop and country, and has come up with her best work yet here. Big creative assists go to producer Stephen Fearing and a formidable cast of co-writers that includes Fearing, his Blackie comrade Tom Wilson, and Josh Finlayson (Skydiggers). The A-list of Musicians includes Gary Craig, John Dymond, Kevin Breit, Dennis Keldie and Kevin Fox."
As a bassist, she is one of those rare players who has a seventh sense and never sounds wrong even when they're not playing the "right" note. Suzie has been quite content to be a "sideman" for lots of musicians, including this writer, and Toronto is blessed to have her on the music scene. The Toronto Blues Society Women's Blues Revue is doubly blessed to have her leading the band for the 22nd Annual Women's Blues Revue and this year, in celebration of the release of her new CD "Happy Here", Suzie will also step out front and be one of the featured vocalists at this prestigious event, once again being held at Massey Hall on Saturday, November 29.
Suzie
has been part of the Women's Blues Revue since 1994 and many will remember the
occasions when she would step out to the front of the stage to do a "warm-up"
number that would never fail to kick-start the soiree.
Suzie Vinnick is an award-winning singer, songwriter and musician. She was nominated 2007 Female Vocalist and Bassist at the Canadian Maple Blues Awards, and was the recipient of 3 2006 Maple Blues Awards for Female Vocalist, bassist and shared Songwriter of the Year with Rick Fines for their 2006 release, Nothing Halfway. In 2006 she also won 3rd place in the Blues Category of the Unisong International Songwriting Contest for her co-write entitled "The Honey I Want". Rick Fines is a frequent collaborator and her biggest fan: "When I first heard Suzie - playing bass and singing with Back Alley John at the time - I found myself at the side of the stage asking when we could play music together. Now, some 15 years later, we've toured, written and recorded together. Suzie is great musician; a multi-instrumentalist, powerhouse singer who understands harmony and nuance. She's a fine songwriter and a wonderful friend"
She has been featured nationally on CBC Radio on Saturday Night Blues, on Stuart McLean's Vinyl Café, and has performed across Canada and the US, and for Canadian Peacekeepers in Bosnia and the Persian Gulf. She performs powerfully as a solo act or with her tasteful side players; with Rick Fines in a duo or a band, and is also a member of the groups Betty & the Bobs, the Marigolds (with Gwen Swick and Caitlin Hanford of Quartette), and the folk-pop trio, Vinnick Sheppard Harte (VSH).
This year's Women's Blues Revue will feature another line-up of great female vocalists including Alana Bridgewater, Little Miss Higgins and more to be announced. The band is Suzie on guitar; Lily Sazz, keys; Margaret Stowe, guitar; Brandi Disterheft, bass; Michelle Josef, drums; Sarah McElcheran, trumpet; Carrie Chesnutt, sax; Colleen Allen, sax. Suzie is the Musical Director with Marg and Sarah doing the charts and arrangements. You would be hard pressed to find a tighter unit, male or female, anywhere on the blues scene today. Tickets are now on sale at www.masseyhall.com and there is a handsome discount for TBS members.
- Brian Blain
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