Caroline Dahl
Boogie Woogie Piano
Discs

A Boogie Woogie State of Mind is Caroline’s fourth CD.  It’s Boogie Woogie All Stirred Up! with some traditional-style solo piano, some Rock, Swing, Jazz & Blues grooves, and some beautiful Caroline medleys. (Check out the latest Reviews.)

She’s joined by premier San Francisco Bay Area musicians:   Jeff Ervin on tenor & alto saxes, Joe Kyle, Jr. on acoustic bass, drummers Bowen Brown & Kevin Hayes, and Steve Parks on electric bass and adding beautifully strong vocals on three songs.

Six of the album’s 12 tracks are Caroline originals, two are her arranged medleys of some standards, and the other four are covers of oldies but goodies.

If you like your Boogie Woogie music All Stirred Up! in American Roots grooves, you’ll love A Boogie Woogie State of Mind.

Devil Digit Boogie Woogie is Caroline’s third CD & first solo piano album — all Caroline, all piano.

All 15 tracks (except one) are her own songs showcasing her special groove of Boogie Woogie and American Roots music.

Caroline’s unique compositions include snippets of great tunes like La Vie En Rose, Habanera, Just A Closer Walk With Thee, Anitra’s Dance, Those Were The Days, My Old Kentucky Home, My Favorite Things and others.

Reviewers of Devil Digit have said:   “With as much rollick as one person can pack into the bytes, Dahl rolls out the barrel, rolls out the red carpet and arrives in a sonic Rolls Royce. Playing with the kind of verve and brio on this set of originals will inspire wannabes to play when they should remain rapt listeners. Boogie woogie piano might generally exist in its own time zone but this set is a gasser for all. Hot stuff throughout.”  (Chris Spector, Midwest Record)

“Classy, inventive and full of imagination, it’s not only fantabulous, it’s Piano Heaven, period! My favorite track is Tricky Devil. I can hear echoes of early 20th century Italian popular songs in it, more specifically Neapolitan with maybe a passing quotation of Renato Carosone.”   (Edoardo Fassio, host of the Catfish Blues Show)

Night House has 14 instrumental songs featuring her extraordinary piano playing. Twelve of the songs are her original compositions and all are in the American roots styles of boogie woogie, blues, jazz and country swing. One reviewer has said about Night House:

“Caroline’s impulsive beats and relentless rhythms drive her sound into near-frenzy. Totally original, but far from being over-stated, she pumps out the songs in a way that would make Jerry Lee Lewis beg for mercy.”

Night House has a couple of songs showcasing Caroline’s solo piano, while the duets, trios and quartets feature the outstanding San Francisco Bay Area musicians Bowen Brown and Kent Bryson on drums, Tim Wagar on bass, Tom Rigney on violin, and Rob Sudduth on tenor sax.

Caroline shared top billing with other boogie woogie piano players in 2009 at the International Boogie Woogie Festival in Lugano, Switzerland; in 2008 at the Festival de Blues in Barcelona, Spain; in 2006 at the Boogie Woogie Piano Festival in Vierreres du Buisson, and in 2005 at the Festival in Villebon sur Yvette (both Festivals near Paris); in 2004, the Brussels Boogie Woogie Piano Summit in Belgium; in 2003, the Motor City Boogie Woogie & Blues Festival in Detroit; and in 2002, the Queen City Blues Festival in Cincinnati, the New Liberace Museum opening reception in Las Vegas, and Les Nuits Jazz & Boogie Piano Festival in Paris.

She’s also an award-winning fabric artist, whose work has been published and exhibited internationally. The Night House cover and album notes page feature two of her embroidered artworks.

On No Hats, Caroline is featured on acoustic grand piano and accordion with no other accompaniment than trap drums featuring the best of San Francisco Bay Area expert sticksmen:  Jimmy Sanchez (Roy Rogers, Boz Skaggs, Rhythmtown-Jive), Kent Bryson (Johnny Nocturne Band), John Hanes (Pearl Harbor & The Explosions, Paris Slim), and Bowen Brown (Swing Session, Indigo Swing, John Lee Hooker).

With 11 of the 12 tracks being original compositions, No Hats showcases Caroline’s virtuoso piano playing boogie-woogie, blues, vintage rhythm & blues, and country swing. (The CD cover and other parts of No Hats also feature several pieces of her embroidery.)

If you want to hear some extraordinary piano pieces in the tradition of American roots, with a pure sound of just piano and drums, then this is the disc for you!