Biography
During America's golden age of vocal performance in the 1920s and 1930s, the Boswell Sisters stood at the forefront of the style and laid the foundation for every subsequent female vocal ensemble, among them the Andrews Sisters and the McGuire Sisters. New Orleans' Pfister Sisters carry that lineage forward today. Holley Bendtsen, Suzy Malone, and Yvette Voelker launched their career in 1980 and have remained crowd favorites at the French Quarter Festival and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival ever since. Although the trio concentrates on repertoire from that classic period, they occasionally delight listeners with a Motown number or an original composition when the mood strikes.
Marking two decades of performing in the Boswellian manner, the singers released the album All's Well That's Boswell in 2000. The accompanying ensemble draws players from the New Leviathan Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra, the same group that provided the Pfister Sisters with their initial booking twenty years earlier. Additional contributions come from New Orleans stalwarts Amasa Miller on piano, Tom Morley on violin, Tim Laughlin on clarinet, and Charlie Miller on trumpet.
The recording exemplifies the signature Pfister Sisters sound while echoing the Boswell Sisters' approach, delivering the tight harmonies of the 1920s and 1930s on familiar Boswell numbers such as "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Don't Have That Swing," "Minnie the Moocher's Wedding Day," and "St. Louis Blues," together with lesser-known selections like "Was That the Human Thing to Do?" and "Shout Sister Shout."
Five years earlier the Pfister Sisters, who describe themselves as musical blood sisters rather than blood relatives, issued a self-titled collection, New Orleans, that spans material written by figures as varied as Duke Ellington and Mac Rebennack, the latter better known as Dr. John. The album salutes the city's singular cultural legacy through numbers including "The Darktown Strutters Ball," offers the trio's distinctive reading of the Dixie Cups' classic "Chapel of Love," and showcases their voices on the traditional gospel hymn "What Are They Doing in Heaven Today?"
A devoted audience has grown around the group's blend of enduring oldies and golden-era selections. When Suzy Malone relocated northward, the ensemble welcomed Debbie Davies as its new vocalist, and she integrated seamlessly into the Pfister Sisters' characteristically mellow yet spirited style.
Marking two decades of performing in the Boswellian manner, the singers released the album All's Well That's Boswell in 2000. The accompanying ensemble draws players from the New Leviathan Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra, the same group that provided the Pfister Sisters with their initial booking twenty years earlier. Additional contributions come from New Orleans stalwarts Amasa Miller on piano, Tom Morley on violin, Tim Laughlin on clarinet, and Charlie Miller on trumpet.
The recording exemplifies the signature Pfister Sisters sound while echoing the Boswell Sisters' approach, delivering the tight harmonies of the 1920s and 1930s on familiar Boswell numbers such as "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Don't Have That Swing," "Minnie the Moocher's Wedding Day," and "St. Louis Blues," together with lesser-known selections like "Was That the Human Thing to Do?" and "Shout Sister Shout."
Five years earlier the Pfister Sisters, who describe themselves as musical blood sisters rather than blood relatives, issued a self-titled collection, New Orleans, that spans material written by figures as varied as Duke Ellington and Mac Rebennack, the latter better known as Dr. John. The album salutes the city's singular cultural legacy through numbers including "The Darktown Strutters Ball," offers the trio's distinctive reading of the Dixie Cups' classic "Chapel of Love," and showcases their voices on the traditional gospel hymn "What Are They Doing in Heaven Today?"
A devoted audience has grown around the group's blend of enduring oldies and golden-era selections. When Suzy Malone relocated northward, the ensemble welcomed Debbie Davies as its new vocalist, and she integrated seamlessly into the Pfister Sisters' characteristically mellow yet spirited style.
Albums
