Written by James Killen
I’ve been dwelling over YouTube videos of Jackie Venson for months, sharing them with friends, and looking forward to getting the chance to check her out in person. I was anxious to see if this lady’s jazzy, bluesy, rocking style was consistent with the videos and recordings or if those were just a select sampling of the “best of” her performances. Jackie can count me as a believer at this point, now that I have seen her live.
She started out her set with a trio of solo acoustic versions of “Rollin’ On”, “Last”, and “Back to Earth” featuring jazzy vocals and rocking folk guitar work. She was then joined by bassist, Alan Uribe and drummer, Rodney Hyder to kick off the electric portion of the show with “Always Free”. Venson performs that jazz vocal that follows the guitar lead in perfect time and pitch that sets her work into a separate league.
Jackie’s voice exhibits a nice high to low range and her fingers take turns striding and strutting across the fretboard. One could categorize her style as jazz, blues, rock, reggae or pop depending on the song and most times more than one style at once. Her stage presence is open and inviting, saying ”Come on in, the water’s fine”. Throughout the show, Ms. Venson emits little commentary phrases as though she is happily surprised by the licks that have just flowed through her (much the way Jimi Hendrix did).
The set included tunes like “Run” with its Caribbean drum line, the bluesy “One Step Forward” and the pop-reggae, “Mysterious” from her latest CD. Venson employs many effects pedals and tape loops, but not as a substitute for actual licks, rather as an enhancement there to.
She also performed a rocking “Fear”, the jazzy “Touch” and a very sexy “Fight”. The set was ended with a hard rocking presentation of the title track from Jackie’s latest release “Transcends”. As I have written this, I realize that I gave little recognition to the most able rhythm section that toed the line for Ms. Venson. The contribution of Uribe and Hyder to the set was irreplaceable. Hyder’s percussion was unique not only in the contribution to the sound, but in the fact that he is bereft of sight. I sat for a while after the show, with awe, watching him break down his drum kit.
As young as Jackie Venson is, with the talent that she has developed, the creativity of her sound and the stage presence that she brings, promises to be a big crowd pleaser. I would recommend catching her next appearance in Houston at the Cottonwood on November 14th.