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Cathi Walkup

Cathi has been called "the thinking person's jazz singer" for her choice of lyric driven songs, "a natural comedian" for her wit and ease on-stage, and an "important bop oriented singer ...and ... also an excellent lyricist" by Scott Yanow, respected jazz writer, in his new book, "The Jazz Singers, The Ultimate Guide".

Her "smoked cheddar alto" can take the knots right out of your neck, or she can rip through a vocalese number and energize the entire room. Being an accomplished lyricist herself she highly values the written word and delivers the story from the heart, giving fresh meaning to words you may have heard a thousand times.

Cathi's singing career has taken her to New York, San Francisco, St. Louis, Hawaii, all around the Pacific Northwest and of course her home base, Oakland. She has played tiny bistros to large concert halls and jazz festivals

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Album Review

Cathi Walkup: The Secret of the Song: Lyrics of Cathi Walkup

Read "The Secret of the Song: Lyrics of Cathi Walkup" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Oakland California vocalist/lyricist Cathi Walkup is a character. You know, that familiar term reserved for those with a personality just a bit larger than those around it? But in a good way? Yes, she is a character. What being a character does, when you have the smarts, is enhance the ability to entertain, and that is exactly what Walkup does on her recording, The Secret of the Song. Walkup composes the lyrics to fifteen pieces (six of which she also ...

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Album Review

Cathi Walkup: Living in a Daydream

Read "Living in a Daydream" reviewed by Dave Nathan


On her second album, San Francisco denizen Cathi Walkup offers a play list of standards and her original material. Walkup continues favors up and medium tempo material almost completely eschewing the ballad form. Even “Angel Eyes" is given a medium tempo presentation, with some fine Tal Farlow like guitar by Brad Buethe and subtle flugelhorn by Dmitry Matheny. The combos are unusual in that there's a piano on just one cut, as Walkup uses the guitar and vibes as her ...

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Event

Women of Song Benefit Concert

Women of Song Benefit Concert

Source: Jeff Rzepiela Public Relations

On March 18th, the women of Be a Dear and Donate a Brassiere, an organization dedicated to collecting undergarments for disadvantaged women, will be celebrating International Women's Month (IWM) with a benefit concert at Red Rock in Mountain View at 8PM. The concert features The Women of Song, a group of four very talented Bay Area singer/songwriters. The ladies—Cathi Walkup, Jennifer Lee, Leanne Weatherly and Melissa Dinwiddie—will take the stage for an evening of original music ranging from comical swing ...

"The lady's voice is of the intimate variety and of an obvious jazz pedigree"

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