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Event
BLUES @ KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS Concert & Dining Experience with THE MIMI NOWAK PROJECT Quintet !
The popular and intimate SunRex Events concert & dining experience returns to the area with a special BLUES @ KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS event on Saturday, October 1, 2016 at 7:00pm. The ballroom venue at the comfortable Knights of Columbus of Westfield, located at 2400 North Avenue, Westfield, NJ will host this special concert event featuring the fiery jazz, funk and blues sounds of the accomplished 2014 & 2015 International Blues Competition regional finalist Mimi Nowak Project in concert. The experience includes buffet style dining & chefs choice dessert by Chef Ron Ferreira, soft beverages and coffee. BYO is welcome. Advance reservations are recommended.
As described by a recent David Berlin article about the group on NJ Stage, Mimi Nowak of the Mimi Nowak Project is small, tough as nails, and does not suffer fools gladly. She's never one to mince words. Mimi states We try to do things a little bit differentlywe aren't a standard 12 bar blues band.
Which may be true, but the sound of the Mimi Nowak Project is solidly rooted uptown---where jazz, funk, and blues intersect and mingle to form a blend all their own. From a jazzy take on Ain't No Sunshine to a bouncy, delicious, Sweet Spot, the band is one worth coming to see.
Bassman Joey Van Winkle lays down one liquid, elastic, punchy bassline after anotherhis bass may as well be strung with thick rubber bands, and guitar player Steve Sadowski brings the funk on Married to The Blues and Prisoner of Love.
Bob Stasiak rolls the keys, with a vintage style sound. The electric piano swirls of the Rhodes and the Wurly were right there and he makes great use of them. This is the kind of band that could rock through Superstition without a blink, horns and all.
But Superstition would be a bit pedestrian for this crew; they were probably playing it as teenagers. This is a blues band that errs on the side of jazzy rhythm and blues and soul as in Eartha Kitt and Koko Taylor. Mimi Nowak has a voice as smooth as a Sazerac cocktail with the same sting.
A band without a drummer is like a car without an engine, and Paul Levinsky lets the drums do the talking. Mimi recently gave him a couple of solos during a short set at the Colts Neck Inn in Colts Neck and he had the crowd hooting and hollering for morenot a pounding, power drummer like Bonham nor a math rocker in the vein of Neil Peart but with a technical sound and his own kind of rhythmic force.
Between the five of them, they draw from a sonic palette reminiscent of Little Feat or Albert King--7th chords and jazzy 9ths and minor 9ths abound, along with Mr. Sadowski's fiery solos, played, interestingly enough, on a Taylor solid body electric with mini-hum buckersa bit of a rare bird for a bit of an exotic player. Sadowski plays with a muscle that brings back Stevie Ray Vaughan, or the late, almost-forgotten Albert Collins. He drives the guitar like a rider drives a horse or a motorcycle, just pounding and powering through each note.
Tickets are priced at $40. Off street parking is available on premises. BYO is welcome. For reservations and more information call the SunRex Events box office at 908-301-1285.
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LocationKinghts of Columbus (View)
2400 North Avenue
Westfield, NJ 07090
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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