Boogie-woogie has its roots in the African-American communities back in the 1870s. It is a music genre of blues that became popular during the late 1920s. Boogie-woogie is mainly associated with dancing which is still being performed up to this generation. You can still see boogie-woogie performances at special events like social gatherings, music festivals, and even in dance competitions.
Musically inclined or not, those who attended the Waterfront Blues Festival were treated to a special performance from the one and only Doña Oxford.
But wait, it wasn’t just a spectacular musical show. She also gave the crowd some boogie-woogie “lessons”.
Get ready for a vibrant musical act that’s as much fun to watch as it is to listen to.
Oxford is not just a musician – she is a master. In fact, she’s called the “Goddess of Soul, Blues & Boogie.”
She’s someone you really need to see in action to grasp her incredible talent.
Together with several other musicians, Oxford brought fire on stage!
This spectacular show happened during the Portland, Oregon festival. But before they begin performing in the video, she has a question for the crowd. Oxford asks:
“Ya’ll know what boogie-woogie is? Can I play a little boogie-woogie?”
The crowd excitedly replies “yeah” to which she informs them, “I’m gonna show you what the boogie-woogie is … I’m gonna school ya.” For how skilled of a boogie-woogie keyboardist Oxford is, they were in for a real treat!
Oxford starts with her left hand moving at lightning speed on the keyboard. Only a moment later, she takes over the keys with her right hand too. It’s boogie-woogie time!
The musical performance instantly sky-rockets straight to cloud nine when Oxford starts to groove along while playing the keyboard.
And for the record, she’s wearing a pair of heels!
Doña Oxford is a world-class musical performer and she’s already brought the same level of performance to audiences around the world.
On top of her incredible keyboard playing abilities, she’s also a songwriter and soulful vocalist. According to Oxford’s website, many believe the combination of her vocals and rock-and-roll piano playing is similar to, “Gladys Knight meets the Rolling Stones.”
Oxford has already played as a keyboardist with numerous legendary rock and blues artists.
Van Morrison, Keith Richards, Buddy Guy, Harry Shearer, and Julia Fordham are just a few of the many!
It’s near impossible to sit still listening to boogie-woogie music. So by no surprise, the crowd can be seen clapping, dancing, and tapping their feet. However, it could be too that Oxford and her band’s energy are contagious!
The lesson that day is about boogie-woogie music and Oxford starts the lesson by asking the crowd:
“Do you want to know why we call it the boogie? Do you want to know why we call it the boogie-woogie?”
Oxford gives them a demonstration of the answer.
Oxford tells them:
“Well you see, it’s because we’re playing the “boogie” on the left hand and we’re playing the “woogie” on the right hand. So when you put them together that’s the boogie-woogie.”
She then shows the crowd what it sounds like only using her left (boogie) hand. Eh, it’s good, but it seems to be missing something…
With so much passion and energy, Oxford tells the crowd, “The boogie ain’t nothing without the – woogie!”
She then jumps back onto her keyboard in full boogie-woogie style and completely rocks it! The video is nearly eight minutes of non-stop energy and pure talent on stage. It’s been “liked” more than 38K times on YouTube and gathered numerous comments from viewers who’ve been blown away.
One viewer wrote:
“Set that keyboard on “FIRE”!!!!!!!!!!! Wow……..”
Stage performances and music festivals are just among the many things that people miss. We are all hoping for the pandemic to be over so we could all go back to our normal lives, of course, that includes grooving and listening to boogie-woogie!
Don’t miss this boogie-woogie performance, so make sure to hit the play button below.
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