I knew I wasn’t going to catch her on New Year’s Eve at the Casino, so I made a point of catching the lovely and talented Mwansa Mwansa at Casino Lethbridge, Dec. 30.
 I caught them at the beginning of a set break, but was glad I hung out.

 You can’t miss with a backing band of guitarist/ vocalist, James Oldenburg, bassist Paul Holden, drummer Brad Brouwer and new keyboardist Daniel Yaretz, who also plays with the Groove Apostles.

 As always Mwansa Mwansa’s powerful , resonant voice dripped with soul from the get go as she began the set with “I Want to Make It Easy For You” and followed it up with a heart-wrenching version of “ People Get Ready.”

 In addition to playing beautiful and tasteful guitar leads, Oldenburg also added excellent vocal harmonies.

They only had a handful of people in the audience, but most of them  were on the dance floor as soon as the band launched into Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke” which allowed Yaretz to show his skills, covering the horn parts of the sound on keyboards. An exotic sounding number I didn’t recognize was also enhanced by Yaretz‘s keyboard skills.

 I’m not much of a pop music fan, but I always enjoy their version of Prince/ Alicia Keys’ “How Come You Don’t Call Me,” which drew rousing cheers from the audience.
 I left as they finished a cool version of Maroon 5’s “Secret.”