Riki Schulz

Barb Bazaldua / Riki Schulz / Seth Jorgenson Band Review at Montague's Wine Bar Cafe in De Pere, WI

By Sarah
December 23, 2008
What a great pairing of talents. The trio: Barb Bazaldua vocals/guitar, Riki Schulz vocals/guitar, and Seth Jorgensen saxophonist talent extraordinaire. Montague's Wine Bar Café was a perfect setting for this laid back trio. The sound was great and the atmosphere leant itself to an intimate evening of music. Not to mention they serve Barb's favorite elixir, red wine.

Barb Bazaldua is probably the most unassuming, modest musician you will meet. She admits she still gets butterflies before a show and even questions herself right up until the moment she starts to play. Once she begins singing and strumming her guitar you can almost see the nervousness melt away. She not only has an amazing voice, but she has the ability to transfer her very heart into her music. To take a quote from Barb's website her style; "It's contemporary rock, industrial folk, with a touch of alternative and a taste of Texas." At times Barb has the grit and power of the Indigo Girls "Closer To Fine" vocal style then Barb can bring it to a soulful sound with Bob Marley's "Is This Love." Some of my other favorites included: Beatles "With a Little Help from My Friends," Paul Simon's "Me & Julio," and The Steve Miller Band "Space Cowboy." The ease of flowing between songs while bantering with the audience is very much part of the experience. There were even a few "guest" singers who joined in the fun.

Riki Schulz has been performing with Barb for the past two years. His voice is pure honey to the ears. He has the ability to pull you in with his music, making you feel the true emotion of each song. Very versatile in his selection he really hits the mark on every artist he covers such as Ben Harper's "Steal My Kisses"(which I asked him to sing twice), and amazing versions of Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry" and Jack Johnson's "Upside Down" just to name a very small sampling of the awesome play list. There were many amazing variations of songs and adding the third element to this trio, Seth Jorgensen playing sax, really gave dimension and fullness. A few songs leant to great solo opportunities for Seth to really let loose and blow us all away. There was a great meshing of vocals/guitar and sax on Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" that was introspective and moving. Seth is a professional musician and this was his first opportunity to play with Barb. He is quite simply amazing and extremely talented.

I haven't even touched on the fabulous originals Barb and Riki have each respectively put out so take the time to check out their websites. If you are looking for something fun to do New Year's Eve you can catch them at The Sports Corner in De Pere.

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