I think I first heard Kate Olson play solo at the Bourbon Bar at Columbia City Theater. Years ago. Pandemics ago. Maybe it was a century ago, because Kate Olson always seems to transcend time and space. And yet time and space are where she really holds it down, because one of the first things you notice when you listen to “Quarantine Boogie” is the effortless groove in the space between her notes, then the perfect leap from here to there, like a saxophone constellation. And then you hear this singular force delicately lay down each part on top of the next, a galaxy of horn bops.
When I saw Kate Olson some time and space ago at the Bourbon Bar, I was struck by her command of a song and a stage. The way she moves from one note to the next, or one instrument to the next, makes you want to do more with your life, or at least practice your instrument for a few more hours a day. But Kate is much more than practiced. Like some of those icons from a century ago, she’s got impeccable intuition and direction. She leads the listener where she wants them to go, and “Quarantine Boogie” levitates us from the couch to the living room dance floor. Literally providing the levity we need to get some space from our space. This is the boogie I imagine Lisa Simpson and the spirit of Bleeding Gums Murphy duetting and dancing to in the nights of their pandemic pod. So if you’re together or alone, or alone together, let this boogie give you a lift to Space Time.