Rhonda Benin’s Just Like a Woman tour adds some big names
Big names join Just Like a Woman revue
With the seventh annual edition of her female-centric revue “Just Like a Woman,” veteran vocalist Rhonda Benin is truly hitting her stride.
Increased support from the Zellerbach Family Foundation has allowed her to assemble the revue’s highest profile program yet, including San Francisco jazz star Kim Nalley and blues/pop great Maria Muldaur, whose 1974 hit “Midnight at the Oasis” still reigns as one of the great makeout songs of all time.
Benin, who knows a thing or two about turning up the heat herself, brings her own roots-informed R&B to the show, which also features Brazilian jazz vocalist Sandy Cressman, blues powerhouse Tia Carroll, emerging jazz singer Lady Sunrise and R&B vocalist Niecey Robinson. Everyone is backed by the Lillian Armstrong Tribute Band led by the invaluable pianist Tammy Hall.
The concept is simple and effective, featuring each vocalist on an original composition and a song written by or associated with a female artist. There’s no other event in the Bay Area that consistently presents such a wide range of talented women, “which is exactly my goal,” Benin says.
“Stylistically, I want to see the differences, and I want to include everyone so that the audience gets an opportunity to see a little of everything. I want to show women in the best light, with no politics connected.”
Details: 8 p.m. March 30; Freight & Salvage, Berkeley; $24-$28; 510-644-2020, www.thefreight.org.