The Olga Watkins Band Mixes Jazz, Blues, Soul and Funk

Sewickley’s Center for the Arts will open its doors on Friday for its SweetJazz series to a band whose sound surpasses basic jazz. 

Rather, The Olga Watkins Band fuses jazz with blues, soul and funk, giving it a unique and fun flare that earned its members the title of "Best Jazz/Blues Band" of 2010 by Pittsburgh City Paper readers.

Formed in 2003, the Olga Watkins Band was a way for Olga Watkins of Highland Park to find her way back onto the music scene.  She had taken a 10-year hiatus from singing and after the birth of her daughter, Ella, in 2001, decided to get back into the groove.

“I didn’t want to be one of those people that ‘used to be a singer,’” Watkins said.  “I wanted to set an example for my daughter that you don’t need to be confined to doing just one thing.” 

Watkins, who is also a trained chef, certainly does not confine herself to one passion. 

When she decided to begin singing again, Watkins knew she’d need to brush up and rehearse after taking so many years off.  She also knew that established bands wouldn’t have time for that many rehearsals, so she formed a band herself.

A friend of Watkins’ brother, Craig Davis, rehearsed with her and soon after, introduced her to Subha Das, who became her drummer and percussionist.  Brian Sanders on bass and vocals, as well as Jay Weaver on guitar also joined Watkins and the four of them became The Olga Watkins Band.

Watkins’ fellow band members were no amateurs when it came to mastering their instruments. 

“Brian is a composer and choir director and has been playing bass since grade school,” Watkins said. 

Weaver and Das are both classically trained — Das in percussion performance.  Das has also studied jazz, as well as orchestral percussion.  He is now principal assistant director for the Mt. Lebanon Percussion Program.

As the band practiced and performed together, “we developed our own sound,” Watkins said. 

With this unique sound came the band’s creation of 10 original songs.  They released their first full-length CD, “Long Time Coming” in April 2009 and will play a few of those songs during their performance at Sweetwater. 

Inspired by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Aretha Franklin and Billie Holiday, Watkins’ band also performs jazz standards, as well as a jam-band arrangement of “Take Five,” a jazz piece from the late 1950s. 

The band also does a Billie Holiday arrangement when they’re in a “jazzier” mood.

While the band’s arrangements vary, they are looking forward to focusing on jazz sounds for their performance at Sweetwater. 

“It’s a jazz performance, so we’ll have the opportunity to hone in primarily on that for the night,” she said.