Album Notes

Nikki has that rare combination of Soul, Rock, Blues, Jazz and Funk that stems from a diverse training, the music she grew up with, and a genuine love for all styles. Add to that an enormous vitality and spark, terrific stage presence, and the ability to communicate every song as if she is singing it for the first time.
And, singing it just for you, and you alone!

Nikki started performing at the age of 4 dancing in recitals. Her father, Frank was a tremendous musical influence. As trumpet player with Stan Kenton the house was filled with the music of the Jazz greats. Nikki grew up singing along to the recordings of such artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee and Billy Holiday.

Nikki’s greatest influences while living in the S.F. Bay area were artists like James Brown, Tina Turner and Janis Joplin. While developing her style, Nikki often supported herself as a professional model, actress and dancer. Nikki covers all the musical boundaries including Blues, Jazz, R&B, Standards and Rock. She has performed in numerous stage, video and rock productions and has choreographed Rock and R&B bands on both coasts.

"I love the way you sing my songs"
Michael Lydon (Author, Musician, Founding Editor of Rolling Stone Magazine)

"When I saw The Commitments earlier this year at BB King's, the opening act was a band called Nikki Armstrong & Whole Lotta Blues. Nikki is a dynamite little redhead with a great, big voice and a ton of stage presence (and great hair and great legs to boot) and her band is the poo - extremely tight, great groove." - From a fan

"She’s got that smoky, sexy sound I love. Nikki’s got it all!"
Hal Schaefer (pianist/arranger for Peggy Lee & Marilyn Monroe)

"Your performance was superb! The band is excellent!"
Melvin Sparks – Father of ‘Acid Jazz’ Guitar

“Nikki Armstrong is a musical journey you have to experience. Her lineup of musicians is second to none and you never know who will show up to jam!” - Bob Suede (Producer, Performer, Writer with Richie Havens)

“Her voice ages like fine wine.” - Elliott Randall (Guitarist with ‘Steely Dan’)

“Nikki’s transcendant performance communicates her passion directly to the listener.” - Larry Baeder (Guitarist with Chuck Jackson, Carly Simon, Henry Butler & Bo Diddley)

“She reminds me of Anita O’Day”
Les Paul (Father of the Electric Guitar)

"A great performer- without a doubt an excellent singer with an excellent voice and strong musicality to match!" Michael Hill

Nikki Armstrong & Whole Lotta Blues
"Turnin & Burnin"
CD review by Roger-Z (01/29/06)
The "It" girl. They first used that phrase in the "Roaring 20's." It still applies. When Nikki Armstrong walks down the street, heads turn. When she ascends the stage, her timeless presence titillates, captivates, and just generally mesmerizes. This woman will funk you, blues you, and above all, rock your world. When she coos "I Just Want To Make Love to You" -- lie down. When she begs for "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" -- for God's sake, just give in! Ladies, when she warns you about the "Clean Up Woman" -- take her advice. She knows.
Never underestimate this lady. She leaves nothing to chance. Acting on a last minute request by Ms. Armstrong, proprietor & sound engineer John McAvoy recorded "Turnin & Burnin" direct from the soundboard at The Turning Point Cafe in Piermont, NY on April 23, 2005. This marks the club’s first known, official, live, two-track CD release in its twenty-five year history.
Ms. Armstrong employs the crème de la crème of NY and NJ musicians: Gil Parris (guitar), Stew Cutler (guitar, slide), Keith Lambeth (bass), Kenny Soule (drums), and Rob Chaseman (tenor sax). On every tune, she showcases one, if not two, of the soloists. Gil Parris practically steals the show with his bubbling, country-on-acid solo on "I Just Wanna Make Love to You." He mystifies with progressive jazz chops on the sultry "Summertime," and astounds with animal sounds on "Clean Up Woman."
But everybody contributes to this stellar show. Stew Cutler plays the role of unsung hero with taught rhythm guitar. He steps into the spotlight with powerful blues playing on "For You My Love." Tenor saxophonist Rob Chaseman stamps his presence all over the record. "Rob's Sax Solo" starts on a low flame, builds in intensity only to end in the smoldering fumes that introduce "Summertime." The rhythm section cuts like a brand new knife. Whether playing blues, jazz, funk, or rock, Mr. Lambeth and Mr. Soule lock in and lay it down. Armed with rhythm guitar, they provide the perfect launch pad for vocals and solos.
But in the end, the "Mistress of Ceremony" takes the crowd into her expressive little hands and provides the good time they so richly deserve. "Respect Yourself." Want a musical night that lifts you up, tears you down, and then reassembles you better than ever? Catch Nikki Armstrong & Whole Lotta Blues "Turnin & Burnin" on any given evening!
©2006 Roger-Z

Nikki Armstrong at Mexicali Blues Cafe, Englewood New Jersey
December 17, 2004
In the hot bright stage lights, a tight-as-a-tick blues band laid down a rolling groove. Tenor sax player Rob Chaseman finished a chorus and pulled his mike up to chin level. "Okay, everybody, let's give a warm Mexicali welcome to a lady with a lot of class, you all know her, Nikki Armstrong!"
Out into the lights stepped a slender, good looking woman, bright eyes and a quick smile, long red hair flowing over her shoulders, a leopard skin jacket, long black gloves up to the elbow, and below a black miniskirt, long shapely legs and black high heels. As the applause settled down, Nikki fell into the band's dancing groove and took her mike from the stand.
"I don't want to you to be no slave, I don't want you to work all day," Nikki sang, her eyes taking in everybody in the house. Guitarist Mike Torres slipped in a bluesy bottleneck cry. 'I just wanna make love to you."
As the choruses rolled on, Nikki cast off her jacket, peeled off her gloves, and let fall a cobweb shawl of bangle-beads until she was dancing and singing in a sexy little black dress. "I don't want you to be sad and blue, I just wanna make love to you!"
The Mexicali crowd cheered as Nikki and the band brought the old Muddy Waters tune to a close. They know the blues at the Mexicali and they know that with Nikki Armstrong and the Whole Lotta Blues band--guitarist Terry Lee, bassist Keith Lambeth, and drummer Kenny Soule with Chaseman and Torres--they had the real blues in the house.
Before the applause fell to silence, the band rocked out and Nikki took charge again: "I'm a woman, I spell it W-O-M-A-N." Nikki Armstrong, who has been singing in and around New York for a decade and more, is a hardworking artist always digging deeper into her craft. Nikki loves music, studies music, and teaches music too. She knows how to put a good band together, and because she's fun to work with, she gets the best cats in the business. She loves to perform for the people and gives her all in every show. "Nikki is the most generous gal I've met on the blues scene," said one regular at the Mexicali bar. "You feel the love coming from her on stage, and off-stage she's always encouraging young singers, introducing a guitarist new in town to everybody. Nikki's always thinking of the other guy."
From "W-O-M-A-N" Nikki counted off a taut four-four, and the band jumped into "Hipshake"--"You don't move your lip, you just shake your hip"--and on to a soulfully sincere "Respect Your Self." The blues as Nikki sings them come mixed with jazz, pop, and folk rock--"Love the One You're With" was one of her best numbers that night at the Mexicali--and they come with dancing, Nikki, a big grin on her face, tossing her mane of hair and moving and grooving with the guys in the band as they take their solos.
Nikki has a warm, rich contralto voice that she colors over a wide spectrum from intimate growls and passionate whispers to long haunting, ballad lines. A sparkling sense of fun comes through Nikki's voice too: in the middle of a lyric, without losing a note, she can tell the audience to get off their butts and start dancing or say hello to a pal at the bar. She's also a singer who listens to her band, and half the fun of watching Nikki perform is seeing and hearing her react to drummer Soule's ferocious backbeat, Lambeth's rotund but agile bass, and Lee's driving rhythm guitar.
As the show rolled on, a few up-tempo tunes, more steady grooves, Nikki and Whole Lotta Blues held the crowd in the palm of their hands, and we were glad to be there. Outside was cold dark December, inside were warmth, lights, and a first class blues singer with her band laying the music on us like hot buttered rum. Nikki's smile, her shouts of pain and joy, and her blues songs old and new had drawn us all in to a circle of good times and affection none of us wanted to leave.
“Every day, every day," Nikki sang, "Every day I have the blues." Sing it, sister, ain't it the truth!
By – Michael Lydon
Founding Editor of ‘Rolling Stone’ Magazine and Author of “Ray Charles : Man and his Music”

The downside to researching music sometimes is that you can only find a few, limited tracks. And when you’re hunting down an artist like Nikki Armstrong, soulful, sultry, smoky, swarthy, and any other s-synonyms you can think of, this can be a very discouraging thing. But fear not, gentle readers! Northeast In-Tune digs deeper to bring its fan base what it wants!
On her live cut, a cover of “Love the One You’re With,” Armstrong actually actively seeks out audience members to kiss each other and advocates a kind of love that’s missing in a barren and soulless pop landscape. And Ms. Armstrong is anything but pop. She is emotive, she is funky, and her backing band, Whole Lotta Blues, plays all of their own instruments (and well, too. Shocking). Her blues sound is original while still employing many of the techniques that hearken back to the greats: Janis, James, and Ella. The well-laid harmonica infusion, the slow twang of a sad country guitar, all overlaying the steady and driving and building drum crescendo, these elements combine behind Armstrong’s voice to leave the listener with a silky feeling on the brain and a smile on their lips. Any one who can sing convincingly that rollin’ and tumblin’ will lead you to bad luck and whiskey is authentic blues. Any one who can ask you to be their “te na ne na nu” and make you believe that you could be, if only for a night, is authentic blues. Nikki Armstrong is of this type. Her track, Rollin’ and Tumblin’, is some down-home grits n gravy blues that makes a southern girl hanker for days gone by. You know you’re authentic when a girl from the San Fran bay area can make a true believer of a true Southerner. Nikki Armstrong does. Nikki Armstrong is true blue, baby. Sit n listen for a spell and believe for yourself. By David Esposito - New York, New York – In Tune Magazine