Spokane has been the home of many talented artists including jazz pianist Jimmy Rowles, Singer Billy Tipton, Bing Crosby of course, as well as jazz musician Tyrone Wells and a long list of others in various music genres. These people made it big on the global music scene, but quality talent is often hard to come by on a here back at home scale, especially by such an amazing and diverse performer who captures the spirit of the art's essence, while still keeping the grass roots appeal. I'm talking about the super talented Abbey Crawford!
Back in the 90's I first had the pleasure of hearing Abbey do cabaret while working at one of the once popular night spots downtown Of course Abbey has played at various venues all over the region and has been heavily involved in local theater as well including Civic Theater and Lake City Playhouse where she directed. More recently I was thrilled to see, and hear, her sing the National Anthem at a Spokane Chiefs Hockey game. What a beautiful voice that only that sound system can do justice to! I heard her sing out on the ice this and last season and it's always extra fun when you can tell your friends you know the person singing the Star Spangled Banner!
At the Rocket Bakery near Brown's Addition where we met recently over coffe I asked about her background in music, and was surprised to find out that she has formal training with the cabaret conference at Yale. Amazing! Currently she is lead vocalist with a gypsy jazz band (drums, guitar, sax, bass, fiddle...) called Hot Club of Spokane. She also does private gigs including weddings, even funerals when called upon and cabaret of course. I'm pretty sure her favorite style of performance is the Cabaret. She says she just loves to sing, and being the mother of three adorable kids, she says "If I could sing holding my kids I would", and when asked really how she would describe cabaret music Abbey replies that it's "...songs about real life". It's at that point I realise that while she loves her art, she also has a family to take care of and we continue talking about big city music versus the smaller places like Spokane, and how a musician or singer really has to work hard, as do the venues to keep the art going.
Abbey will be performing March 27, 2011 doing a Cabaret Concert at the Unitarian Universalist Church (4340 W. Fort Wright Drive, Spokane, Wa. 99224) a part of the "Sundays at Seven" series directed by Deborah Jacquemin. It's a fundraiser to help support the church's music program. Tickets are $15.00 at the door, or $12.00 in advance. Students $10.00. Call 325-6383 ext. 303 to order over the phone.
Abbey has a gig scheduled in June buy you will have to fly to New Orleans to catch that show! Thank you Abbey for a wonderful morning of visiting at the coffee shop. I look forward to the show!
Comments(0)