After high school graduation, however, Rhonda was persuaded by her parents to pursue something more practical than show business. While completing her degree in pre-law at SUNY-Buffalo, however, she continued to take classes in art and dance, and even had some singing gigs in local bars. Still thinking about law school, Rhonda obtained training as a paralegal after graduation, and soon found herself working on Wall Street. Yet, “I knew something was missing.” Ultimately she found a voice coach who involved Rhonda in cabaret. “But then I wanted to sing songs differently than the way they were written and my coach did not go for it. So I moved on to work with Hal Schaefer—he was the coach for Marilyn Monroe, as well as a bandleader and pianist. He taught me how to swing…I never looked back, it was all about singing jazz.” In 1989, Rhonda and husband Michael, a Twin Cities native, relocated to Minneapolis, and although she found a job as a paralegal, she soon realized she could not balance a fulltime job with her budding music career. “So I had to quit—I realized I loved music and not my job. And I wanted to model ‘doing what you love’ for my kids, and not just working at a job to pay the rent.” 

As she became immersed in the Twin Cities’ vocal jazz community, she found herself studying with the late Roberta Davis, who connected her to the late Bobby Peterson. “He played a big role in my jazz education…We played a lot together and he hired me for a few gigs, too…” Rhonda has worked with students at Minneapolis North, South and Southwest High Schools, and has taught at the Minnesota School of Business—music business and audio production. “My paralegal background helps to give me a business perspective. I emphasize to students that they need great computer skills and written expression skills, even if they are strictly pursuing music as a career.” 

Over the past few years, Rhonda’s savvy interpretation of jazz classics and less familiar repertoire have been highlighted at venues throughout the Twin Cities, including the Dakota, Rossi’s, 318 Café, Spazzio, and Cave Vin. She’s also been in the recording studio working on her debut solo release. “The main goal for my CD is to have a really nice groove.  I want it to be somewhat of an emotional journey through improvisational music.  I want the music and the lyrics to speak to the hearts and minds of the audience.” 

Sidewalk Café 

As a trio, the string musicians of Sidewalk Café have been performing around the Twin Cities for the past five years, enthralling audiences with their own twists on 1930s hot club music. They released their first recording, Musette Cinq, in 2008. 

The strings of Sidewalk Café:

Reynold Philipsek (guitar) first heard the music of gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt as an eighteen-year-old, and has been pursing the spirit of Django and Stephane Grapelli ever since. With 25+ recordings to his credit, Philipsek is a member of the Twin Cities Hot Club and released two recordings of mostly original compositions in 2009. Master of improvisation on violin, Gary Schulte is a graduate of Indiana University and veteran of Prairie Home Companion. He has appeared with numerous theater and music ensembles, including the Parisota Hot Club and Twin Cities Hot Club. Teacher, composer and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Brueske brings his bass chops to Sidewalk Café. A former student of Anthony Cox, Dennis Irwin and Rodney Whitaker, Jeff has played with Connie Evingson, Laura Caviani, Tanner Taylor, the late Bobby Peterson, and currently plays with Exquisite Corps, the Willie August Project, and has a weekend gig with JoAnn Funk at the Lobby Bar of the St. Paul Hotel. 

Rhonda Laurie first encountered Sidewalk Café about two years ago while singing in a small southwest Minneapolis bistro, Cave Vin. “I wanted to provide jazz music to fit the atmosphere.  It seemed logical to do some gypsy jazz.  It started out with me, Reynold Philipsek on guitar and Jeff Brueske on bass.  Reynold and I worked up some typical Django-esque tunes and I also chose what I thought would fare well with a gypsy jazz/gypsy swing treatment. Reynold and Jeff were already part of a gypsy jazz trio called Sidewalk Café, which also included Gary Schulte...Gary joined us at Cave Vin and all of us were playing together and loving it.  We have a nice groove together. We played at Cave Vin weekly for almost a year. Then the economy tanked.  So we all continued to try to play together when possible.”   

Now with a new recording ready for a spring 2010 release, Sidewalk Café with Rhonda Laurie has performed at a variety of venues, including the 2008 Grand Marais Jazz Festival, 2009 Concert in the Park at the Lake Harriet Bandshell, and the 2009 Grassroots Concert Series in Nisswa, MN. “We are excited to play the Dakota together.  It is such a great venue and a new place for us to perform together...Some of the tunes [ on the recording] have already gotten some airplay, though, including ‘No Moon At All,’ ‘S’Wonderful’ and ‘Hot Toddy.’  [At the Dakota] we will play these and a great variety of tunes from the Great American Songbook and beyond.”  

It will be a swinging evening. Join Rhonda Laurie and Sidewalk Café at the Dakota on Monday, February 1st, 7-11 pm. 

The Dakota is located at 1010 Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis. Cover $5. More on Sidewalk Café at www.sidewalkcafemusic.com. Visit Rhonda Laurie at www.myspace.com/rhondalaurie