 2006
International Blues Challenge winner, Eden Brent, is a masterful
boogie-woogie pianist and vocal stylist. Whether booked as a solo artist
or bandleader, her performance is fresh and spontaneous, often filled with
audience requests and participation. She appears nationally and
internationally at festivals, concerts and clubs, and organizes workshops
and educational performances for virtually every age and proficiency
level. She is currently coordinating a U. S. tour with the release of her
new album, Mississippi Number One, available November 2007. The yearlong
tour begins and ends in Mississippi. Portrayed by one critic as “Bessie Smith meets Diana Krall meets Janis Joplin,” other critics have compared her to Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughn and Norah Jones. Never mind the comparisons. This self-described “song interpreter” is a one-of-a-kind, and her interpretations of jazz, blues, soul and pop, in addition to her own songs, are expressive and memorable.  A native of Greenville, Mississippi, Brent enjoyed a sixteen-year apprenticeship with duo partner, the late Abie “Boogaloo” Ames (1918 – 2002), who dubbed her “Little Boogaloo.” Although she achieved a Bachelor of Music from the University of North Texas, Brent credits Ames with teaching her to play piano. "Music school taught me to think, but Boogaloo taught me to boogie-woogie, " she acknowledges. Together with Ames, Brent starred in the 1999 television documentary, Boogaloo & Eden: Sustaining the Sound. The award-winning feature, which aired nationally on PBS affiliates, explores the bond between mentor and protégé. Under Ames’s tutelage, Brent performed across Mississippi and for events around the country, including a Millennium Stage performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in 2000.  The pair’s
final appearance was in the 2002 South African television production,
Forty Days in the Delta, a blues documentary series taped in Mississippi
shortly before Ames’s death. The program spurred Brent’s 2002 solo tour in
South Africa, with a second solo tour and the release of her debut album,
Something Cool, following a year later in 2003. Dedicated to Ames, Something Cool reached #2 on the South Africa Rock Digest chart, and Brent’s balladic tribute to that country, “South Africa,” reached #3 on the singles chart. About the song, Brent reflected, “I had spent so many years with Boogaloo, and I was a little lost without him. So, in the months after his death, traveling half way around the world by myself was liberating, and I wanted to express that joy to the people there.” Brent has secured her place in Mississippi Delta music, allowing her unique style to evolve while continuing Ames’s legacy. Receiving warm reviews from critics and fans alike, her new album, Mississippi Number One, includes her own Memphis-style "He'll Do the Same Thing To You," urban soul “Afraid to Let Go,” gospel endeavor “Until I Die” and the blues classic "Trouble in Mind." |
||
