The Pfister Sisters

" The Pfister Sisters, a popular tight-harmony vocal trio that has been entertaining New Orleanians since 1979, turned in faithful renditions of the Boswell Sisters’ “Fare Thee Well, Annabelle” and “Everybody Loves My Baby,” along with the Andrews Sisters’ “The Carioca.”

But it was their stirring rendition of Randy Newman’s “Louisiana 1927” (sung with goosebump intensity by original Pfister member Susie Malone Jenner, appearing in a rare reunion with the group, with vocal backing on the chorus by the teenaged daughters of the three Pfisters)

that provided the emotional highpoint of their upbeat and thoroughly entertaining set."
- JazzTimes Magazine, May, 2009

"But another song, performed on stage by an all-women's swing group, the Pfister Sisters, did not go unnoticied .

It sums up the mood of the city while it collectively crosses its fingers and waits for levees to be repaired - "River Stay away from My Door"

- BBC News May 6, 2008

"The Pfister Sisters are exactly what music SHOULD be...they bring joy to your soul, harmony to your ears, and the best and biggest boogie-woogie to your feet. No part of you can stand still when they start singing!

Run, do not walk, to hear them whenever you can! "

May 2008- Amanda McBroom - composer of Bette Midler’s hit song “The Rose” - Amanda Mc Broom

“Any one of these three could hold a stage in her own right.

It's rare for 3 singers of this caliber to work with the intense discipline required to create this sound.

What they accomplish is dazzling. Don't miss them.”

- Provincetown Magazine

" Can't get to the New Orleans Jazz &
Heritage Festival? Create your own. . . 2 dozen current discs by a diverse cross
section of regional favorites playing this year's fest:

The Pfister Sisters, "Puttin' It On".

Yvette Voelker, Debbie Davis and Holley Bendtsen re-create the jazz harmony vocals popularized by the Boswell Sisters during the New Orleans swing era of the 1920's and 30's." - USA Today, May 2, 2008

“Fans, slick with sunscreen, stretched out in front of stages or set up chairs in the shade of
massive oak trees and enjoyed music from groups as diverse as Santana, The Radiators, The
Pfister Sisters and Snooks Eaglin. "

Mary Foster, AP - Associated Press, May 5, 2008

"If any group could ever represent the sweetness and slightly naughty nature of New Orleans's fairer sex, it would, no doubt, be the Pfister Sisters."

Alan Smason, Gambit Weekly Theater Reviewer - Gambit Weekly

The Big Easy Foundation has announced nominees for the 2009 Big Easy Music Awards. The winners will be honored at the awards gala at the Harrah's New Orleans Casino on Sunday, April 19.

Dr. John will accept the Entertainer of the Year award. Recognition also goes to top artists and bands in a wide variety of music genres as well as the top album of the year.

Best Female Performer:

Theresa Andersson

Susan Cowsill

Irma Thomas

The Pfister Sisters
- Gambit Weekly

With their tribute to the Boswell Sisters, the Pfister Sisters have provided a link to the New Orleans’ musical past.

As a rule, tribute albums and acts, no matter how well-intentioned, are to be avoided.

“A Tribute to Louis Armstrong,” or Professor Longhair, or Fats Domino – why bother with them when the original recordings are so well-known and accessible?

What the Pfister Sisters have done is another story. It’s no exaggeration to say they’ve hipped thousands of locals to one of the (sadly) most under- recognized of New Orleans groups: the Boswell Sisters.

The Boswells – Martha, Vet and Connie (also
known as Connee) – grew up on Camp Street 90 years ago during the last days of Storyville.

After extensive classical training, they switched to jazz ad recorded their first sides as teens in 1925, a mere two years after
Jelly Roll Morton and other jazz greats waxed their first cuts Their earliest influences were Mamie Smith, Bessie Smith, Enrico Caruso and the colossus of early jazz singing, Louis Armstrong.

From Satchmo, they learned how to phrase, attack certain notes, use dynamics and the like. They also borrowed his habit of throwing out the melody altogether and fashioning a
simpler, more swinging line.

The sisters hit their stride around 1930, and soon became nationally known through radio and movie shorts. In 1936, they disbanded when Martha and Vet each married. Connee continued for many years as a solo act.

It’s possible to think of the Boswells as a conduit between Armstrong’s innovations and
white pop Americana like the Andrews Sisters.

In fact, they also influenced the black
musicians of their day, such as the Mills Brothers and a young Ella Fitzgerald, who was
unstinting in her praise of Connee Boswell as her main inspiration. The sisters were pioneers in vocal harmony, using arrangements with as many as four or five tempo changes – which somehow always worked. They recorded rumba rhythms 15 years before Professor Longhair, and might have been the first New Orleans musicians to record with a clave beat.

And they certainly had the Crescent City penchant for pleasure at all costs: their music is out-and-out loony at times, as though delighting themselves was as important as entertaining their listeners.

The Pfister Sisters (Holley Bendtsen, Suzy Malone and Yvette Voelker Cuccia) began their Boswell Act about 20 years ago, supplementing their core Boswell repertoire over the years with original tunes and covers of New Orleans rhythm and blues.
They disbanded in the ‘90s before reuniting for the recently released All’s Well That’s Boswell on Audiophile Records. Whereas the Boswells employed sidemen from the Dorsey
Brothers’ orchestras, the Pfisters are pushing this as the first CD of Boswell material recorded exclusively with New Orleans musicians.

Trumpeter Charlie Miller captures sideman honors here, tastefully tooting away like a refugee from a Raymond Scott session. The Pfisters’ vocal blend is a pleasing one, and for the most part they nail the hairpin curves of the treacherous original arrangements. Since the recording, Suzy Malone has left the group to be replaced by Debbie Davis, best know locally for her work with Guitar Vic &
the Slicktones.

“Debbie is fitting in astonishingly well,” says Bendtsen, “and it’s a wonderful feeling to start up again and keep the Boswells’ music alive.” This listener, for one, has the Pfisters to thank for exposure to some of the most charming music to ever come out of New Orleans.

- Tom McDermott (New Orleans, LA)


- Gambit Weekly, New Orleans, April 11, 2000

"The Pfister Sisters were one of the best examples of heritage still at Jazz Fest, and pulled off a stirring double homage to Satchmo and their primary inspiration, underappreciated New Orleans legends The Boswell Sisters.

'Jazz vocal harmonies started right here on Camp Street with the Boswells, and their arrangement of this song was one of Armstrong's favorites,' the Pfisters announced before a sublime version of "When It's Sleepy Time Down South."

— Gambit Weekly, New Orleans, May 15, 2001 - Gambit Weekly