Nancy Wenstrom and Blues Kitchen

Artist Information

Biography

About the Band…
NANCY WENSTROM (guitarist, vocalist, composer) is a hot lead
guitarist unlike any woman you’ve seen play the electric guitar. She does it all and does it well! Her many years of experience have put her in a league of respected veterans and truly an original in the field of rockin’ blues performers.
Born in Houston Texas, Nancy grew up as an “Air Force brat” living in Nebraska, California, Washington D.C. and Alabama before moving back to the Bay Area to go to Cal Berkeley She started studying the piano at age 8 and the guitar at 12 and has been a musician in the SF Bay Area singing, touring and recording for years. She was the lead guitarist with the Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra, (13 Souls Out Of Control/Hubbub Records) a premiere R&B band out of San Francisco. Her unique talent as a female lead guitarist has seen her on the stage rocking with such Bay Area greats as the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir, Chris Isaak, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and opening for such acts as Huey Lewis, Joe Cocker and Elvin Bishop. Nancy is also a well-respected songwriter having written for such people as Marty Balin of Jefferson Starship (Rock Justice, EMI records) and Zakiya Hooker who recorded Nancy’s song Angel of the Blues (Next Generation of the Blues).

Nancy’s most recent project is a smokin’ 6-piece band, Blues Kitchen. These veteran musicians have played with everyone from Patti La Belle to the Temptations, to Mel Torme and Sarah Vaughn and they are all talented and seasoned professionals. The energy and quality of this band are up there with the best in the business and when you hear Blues Kitchen, the music speaks for itself. The rhythm section features JAN MARTINELLI, a talented bassist well versed in blues, jazz, salsa, and rock, along with KENDRICK FREEMAN, an accomplished drummer who is a studied player of world styles from the Congo to Haiti. The most recent addition is the very funky and talented SARAH BAKER on keyboards and vocals. A Bay Area favorite for years and competent soloist in her own right, she is originally from Memphis and carries with her the soul and style of traditional blues and boogie-woogie. BRAD CATANIA, trumpet extraordinaire, who has backed artists such as Ray Charles and James Brown, arranges the 2-piece Memphis style horns, along with GUIDO FAZIO on saxophone, a remarkable soloist and author of several jazz instructional books. Blues Kitchen is a platform for Nancy’s new original compositions as well as some of her favorite cover tunes from Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi Hendrix, B.B.King and other great blues artists that have inspired her over the years. Together they have a hot new CD just released on her independent label, WCM Records, entitled Nancy Wenstrom & Blues Kitchen. Visit her website at www.nancywenstrom.com.

Instrumentation

Nancy Wenstrom: lead guitar, vocals, composer
Jan Maritnelli: bass guitar, Keyboards
Kendrick Freeman: drums, bkrd.vocals
Brad Catania: trumpet, arranger
Guido Fazio: tenor saxaphone, bkrd vocals
Sarah Baker:Organ, piano, vocals

Discography

Nancy Wenstrom & Blues Kitchen,WCM Records
Nancy Wenstrom Live at the Saloon,Forbidden Fruit Records
current radio airplay:
KCSM/ San Mateo, KRSH/Santa Rosa, KDHX/St. Louis (streaming), KSJS/San Jose, Radiorockcafe(streaming)/Quebec, Radio Aria/France(streaming), MidnightSpecialBlues Radio(streaming), WomenofSubstanceRadio(streaming), TheWorldofBlues.com(streaming)

Nancy Wenstrom,WCM Records
13 Souls Out of Control with ZPMO, Hubbub Records.

Links

• Facebook
• MySpace
• Nancy Wenstrom web site
• YouTube Videos

Audio

• Too Hot to Stop
  Listen  
• Help the Poor
  Listen  
• T-Bone Shuffle
  Listen  
• Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go
  Listen  
• That's What Love Will Make You Do
  Listen  
• Freedom
  Listen  
• Angel of the Blues
  Listen  
• Anybody's Man
  Listen  
• So Excited
  Listen  
• Don't Ever Give Up
  Listen  
• Walk Together Children
  Listen  

Lyrics

• Angel of the Blues
• Too Hot To Stop
• Walk Together Children

Video

NW & Blues Kitchen Let's Go

Blues Kitchen Video Promo 2010

Photo Gallery

Press

• Blues Kitchen Cooks [+ Show ]
  

  Nancy Wenstrom and Blues Kitchen turned up the heat last night at the Mojo Lounge serving up some ve...Nancy Wenstrom and Blues Kitchen turned up the heat last night at the Mojo Lounge serving up some very hot & tasty blues. They rock the blues with soul and style and Nancy Wenstrom's guitar playing is both melodic and firey.
  
  This is an up and coming band not to be missed. Go see them if you get the chance.
  

• Baubles, bargains abound at arts festival [+ Show ]
  

  Fremont show, the largest west of the Mississippi, expected to have drawn 400,000 by end of today. ...Fremont show, the largest west of the Mississippi, expected to have drawn 400,000 by end of today. On Saturday morning, the Blues Kitchen kept things hopping on the Paseo Padre (Main) Stage..."I think it's great," said Jacque Mason, a Hayward resident...

• Blues Kitchen CD cooks
  

  Blues Kitchen is a hot blues band with great original material.

• Blues Kitchen gets airplay [+ Show ]
  

  Nancy, thanks so much for your excellent CD -- I've used it on "Crazy 'Bout the Blues" and it will g...Nancy, thanks so much for your excellent CD -- I've used it on "Crazy 'Bout the Blues" and it will get airplay...thanks for your great music!

• Music at the (Fremont) Festival / A Crowd Pleaser Year After Year
  

  Blues Kitchen...a really great blues band.

• CD Reviews/ Nancy Wenstrom, Blues Kitchen [+ Show ]
  

  This one’s a winner. Wenstrom’s “Blues Kitchen” will give roadhouse/rockin’ blues fans their money’s...This one’s a winner. Wenstrom’s “Blues Kitchen” will give roadhouse/rockin’ blues fans their money’s worth. The songs are chosen well for Wenstrom’s pleasing contralto and her guitar playing stretches from mellow to incendiary as the tunes demand. Wenstrom’s voice is extremely pleasing...and is continuously strong. She’s not a belter, nor does she need to be... the one-two punch of her vocals and guitar playing is enough. Her equally impressive guitar chops are a treat for listeners throughout... sultry, jazz infused at times, and she can play blues with a feeling.
  “Angel of the Blues” is most likely the strongest track on the recording, and features an impassioned vocal along with her terrific guitar accompaniment.
  The album’s horn arrangements by co-producer Catania are outstanding and..., the horns alone are pretty much worth the price of admission on this one.

Setlist

*Original Songs
Angel of the Blues
Anybody’s Man
Bricklayer Blues
Don't Ever Give Up
In Between The Lines
Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go
Loosen Up
No Big Deal
Piece of the Pie
Reusable Blues
So Fine, So Young, So What
Too Hot To Stop
Walk Together Children

*Cover Songs
Angel
Anything It Takes
At Last
Bad Case of Love
Bigger & Better
Born Under A Bad Sign
C’est La Vie
Cold Shot
Crosscut Saw
Crossroads
Don't Lose Your Cool
Freedom
Gonna Make It Somehow
Got My Mojo Working
Help The Poor
House is Rockin'
Iko (medley)
Imagination
Jesus Just Left Chicago
Leftover Love
Let the Good Times Roll
Love Sneakin' Up
Love Struck Baby
Night Train
No Way Out
Nothing But the Blues
Rude Mood
Sen-sa-shun
Shake Rattle & Roll
So Excited
Spit Of Love
The Stumble
T-Bone Shuffle
That’s What Love Will Do
Thrill is Gone
Too Hot To Handle
Voodoo Child
Who's Foolin' Who

Our sets consist of a mix of covers and originals. Typically sets are about 1 hour long.

Basic Requirements

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