Review: Jump Sister Jump at The Ellington Jazz Club
Jump Sister Jump at The Ellington Jazz Club
Monday, February 10, 2025
An hour celebrating the enormous legacy of 1950s jump blues and R&B (real R&B, long before autotune and pop charts stole the term) as popularised by immensely important female artists such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Etta James, Big Mama Thornton, Big Maybelle, Wynona Carr, Olive Brown and more? Yes, please!
This music provided the juke joints of the American South with uplifting good times, a welcome distraction from hard times, poverty, and the ever-present threat of racism and oppression. Without these blues, swing, rockabilly, and jazz-based tunes, there’d be no rock n’ roll as we know it now.
The show is presented by Bang Bang Betty & the H-Bombs, who you’ll have seen around town if you have any interest in this sort of music. Fronted by lead singer Coo Jarvis, also handy on the piano, the band also features Andy Jarvis, whose guitar trades fiery licks with Mark Sprogowski’s sax, whilst Marc Gordon and stand-in drummer Trevor Judd’s rhythm section is unshakeably rock solid.
The band are amazing, but if we’re celebrating female blues, we’re gonna need some half-decent singers—and lending Coo Jarvis a hand are earthy powerhouse Peta Lee and wild card Ayla Woodland. Only 21, the latter has not only a deep and abiding love of this music but also an incredible voice to do justice to these classic songs.
The three vocalists—each very different in singing style and sound—take the spotlight for different tracks and back each other up seamlessly, adding to the energetic and uplifting celebratory atmosphere.
Woodland summed it up perfectly when addressing why she loves music from so long before she was even born: she finds it compelling and hopes it will continue to evolve and inspire. It’s fair to say that many present had never heard of Ella Johnson, Dorothea Fleming, or Ruth Brown, hence why it’s so important that shows like this help keep the music alive.
Songs—some familiar, some not so much—included Jump Sister Jump, Do It, I’m Wise, Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On, I’m Gonna Roll, Never Miss Your Water (‘Til Your Well Runs Dry), 3 x 7 = 21, Taint What You Say It’s What You Do, This Little Girl’s Gonna Rock, Up Above My Head, and As Long As I’m Movin’. Phew, it’s like a gospel church, all praising the spirit of the blues and the women who made them so great.
Suffice to say, there were whoops hollerin’, hands clappin’, rumps shakin’, feet tappin’, heads noddin’, and more as Jarvis, Lee, and Woodland and the H Bombs led the communion in swingin’, singin’ celebration.
SHANE PINNEGAR