Bridie King’s piano rolls and pumps its way through blues and soul music, holding down the grooves for Leon Beshlei’s mighty, soaring saxaphone
while Nadya Golski’s deep voice will reach knto your soul, whoopig & hollering in true blues style, with Skeet Gerbasch growling his rock’n’roll and crooning his sweet Southern soul. 4 top shelf artists.
Listen to Bridie’s recordings My Blues (1999), Way Back Home (2009), Blue Ivories (2012), and Old Skool RnB (2020), and you will soon appreciate the depth of both her musicianship and her love of the Afro-American music tradition. Reviewing Blue Ivories in The Australian, John McBeath commented “Right from the jump opening of Memphis Slim’s Nat Dee Special, the style and exuberance of authentic barrelhouse, blues and boogaloo piano leaps out from these 13 tracks, including two of King’s originals.”
Bridie King’s career dates right back to the late 70s and the halcyon days of the Sydney blues and r’n’b scene. It was an era in which the pubs of Balmain and other inner city suburbs were packed every weekend with punters grooving to the sounds of Mona & The Wail, The Ratbags Of Rhythm and The Hippos, all of which featured Bridie at the keyboard as a pivotal part of their sound.
Playing in this vibrant pub scene allowed Bridie to not only hone her considerable musical skills but provided the impetus to explore the vast treasure trove of American music styles – everything from New Orleans soul and r’n’b to jazzy piano based boogaloo. With sixteen years studying classical piano including a six year stint at the Sydney Conservatorium she already had a head start when it came to keyboard technique but the experience of the live scene was invaluable.
In 1997 Bridie became a bandleader in her own right when she formed Bridie & The Boogie Kings, sustaining a record nine year residency at Rozelle’s Bridge Hotel. During that time the band became an academy for some of Sydney’s finest young musicians including Ray Beadle, Adam Pringle and Stephanie Marchant to name just a few – with the actual residency voted in the Top 10 of Sydney gigs in 2002 by The Sunday Telegraph. The band also played regularly at other Sydney venues and were featured on numerous festivals such as Manly, Darling Harbour, Narooma, Thredbo, Wangaratta and the Melbourne International Women’s Jazz Festival.
In July 1999 Bridie released My Blues, the first album recorded under her own name and immediately drew some great reviews including John Shand from the Sydney Morning Herald who commented: “Bridie oozes vitality”. The album chalked up an impressive 2000 plus sales and was followed in 2008 by the equally acclaimed Way Back Home which featured the Harmony Queens vocal trio of Stephanie Marchant, Narelle Evans and Karana Nepe.
Testament to her ability as a musician and the high regard in which she is held is the number of international artists who have played as guests with Bridie including Albert Collins, Buddy Miles (Jimi Hendrix Band), Jimmy Vaughan (Stevie Ray Vaughan and The Thunderbirds), Johnnie Johnson and Soko Richardson (Tina Turner’s Band).
Bridie has also been in strong demand for radio and TV appearances including a spot accompanying The Animals’s Eric Burdon on Bert Newton’s Good Morning Australia, numerous TV shows with the Hippos and live performances on both ABC and community radio.
From 2002 Bridie King researched and studied for a Music Education Master’s degree in traditional blues and improvisation teaching methods. She graduated in 2007, and also was awarded a high distinction for her thesis and research into her students’ development in this topic. Since then she has concentrated her efforts into her busy teaching practice at home and her blues piano course at the Conservatorium of Sydney.
With her albums receiving rotation airplay on the ABC and some excellent reviews in the mainstream media Bridie looks forward to many more years of both recording and playing live – exploring and promoting the American based roots music that she loves so much.