Monday shows can be a crapshoot, but Alberta born, Duncan, B.C. based gypsy-jazz duo Blue Moon Marquee ended up having a decent crowd, June 13 at the Slice. They did a fantastic job on the East Stage of the South Country Fair last year, so I expected a lot more people. But the 30 some people who were there were extremely enthusiastic.
The duo, A.W. Cardinal playing guitar and singing and Jasmin Colette, grooving and dancing behind her upright bass and an assortment of drums placed at her feet, focused on music from their excellent new CD “Gypsy Blues.”
Cardinal played tasteful leads which drew enthusiastic applause from the audience to which he grinned and bowed his head.
Colette weaved and bobbed behind her bass, playing a snare drum with a brush attached to one foot and a bass drum and cymbal on the other.
They played songs from throughout their career as Blue Moon Marquee as well as under the A.W. Cardinal band.
They opened with a couple of highlights from their 2014 CD “ Lonesome Ghosts” including “ In the Henhouse,” which set the mood for the night with a sweet guitar solo and toe-tapping groove which immediately drew in the “small but mighty crowd.”
“Sugar Dime” from that CD was another highlight early on in their first set.
After that the focussed on the new CD “Gypsy Blues,” with a couple of highlights including “Hoodoo Lady,” which Cardinal introduced in his deep, gravelly, Tom Waits style baritone as being about falling in love with a hoodoo lady aka Jasmin Colette.
“Runaway Lane” got a couple of couples swing dancing in front of the stage after which Cardinal thanked them for dancing.
They went all the way back to 2012 for an early ragtime style song called “Moon Gone Down.”
Cardinal introduced Colette who sang the sultry slower blues “Ain’t No Stranger” from the new CD and got some more applause for his guitar solo.
They wound down the first set by singing blues classic “Shine a Light on Me,” and went back for another earlier song called “December Rain.”
They both sang “Double Barrel Blues” from the new CD, played a Charlie Patton song and ended the first set with “ Gypsy‘s Life from “Lonesome Ghosts.”
