"One for the Road:" Yoko Noge's Jazz Me Blues

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Jan 5, 2011 10:30PM

Now this is pure nostalgia. Back in my bartending days, Mondays were my rent nights, thanks in large part to Yoko Noge's Jazz Me Blues. Yoko Noge, simply put, is a local treasure and one of my dearest friends. The woman came to Chicago from Osaka, Japan, by way of a broken down car on Route 66, solely to learn how to sing and play the blues the way it's done in Chicago. When she was stood up on one gig by her piano player, she decided to learn how to play piano — in her thirties — because she didn't want to be stood up again. Under the steady guidance of stride piano master Erwin Helfer, she became a formidable pianist. But it's her voice, one that seems like it's coming from somewhere other than her tiny body, that's the true revelation.

No wonder she called this original composition "Sister Persistent."