See Pammy reveal maybe a little too much about herself in the City Paper Pop Quiz from 1999. It's hysterical.

Pam Bricker: Tops on My List
By Eric Brace
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 29, 1998; Page N08

THERE ARE SOME local artists who perform with such frequency around town that they become part of the landscape. It's easy to take their shows for granted. I look at the club listings and see certain names over and over again and I say to myself, "I should check them out." The months roll past, and still I don't go see them.

Pam Bricker has been on my list. After finally seeing her several times over the last few weeks, I'm here to tell you: Go hear her sing. Bricker is (to use the parlance of the biz) a singer's singer. Her voice is her instrument, rather than just something that pleasantly puts across a melody. "I've never thought of myself as just a singer," says Bricker, who grew up in New Jersey and did some time in Massachusetts before landingin Washington in 1981. "My musical training was as an instrumentalist. I started on piano when I was 4, then clarinet when I was 9, and I was a serious student of clarinet all through high school."

You can still hear something of the reed player in her vocal phrasing and breathing, in the dead-accurate intervals, as if she's got a valve in her windpipe controlling her perfect pitch. When she tackles the jazz standards that make up the bulk of her current live repertoire, you can hear her subtly manipulate the familiar melodies just enough to keep them challenging. A frequent musical partner, guitarist Chuck Underwood, says you can't ever coast when playing with Bricker: "She'll sing a verse likes it's a horn solo, and she's counting on you to work with her. You have to react to her voice like it's another instrument on the bandstand. To me, she's Washington's own Betty Carter."

And while area listeners have gotten used to Bricker's jazzier performances, she is quick to point out that her vocal roots are in the folk/rock of singers like Joni Mitchell and Bonnie Raitt. "I just flipped when I first heard Joni Mitchell," Bricker says, "and of course I had to learn acoustic guitar." That led to years on the coffeehouse circuit as a singer-songwriter, then a couple of rock bands, then "I just melted down and took two years off," she says.

"When I landed in Northern Virginia, I started singing jazz, because I was attracted by the sophistication of the material, and I was lucky to be accepted by the jazz community in Washington. I've learned so much from the players in town." She's released four compact discs under her name (including a well-received disc of Dave Frishberg songs), and appears as guest vocalist on several other albums by area musicians. Her prolific performance schedule has recently gotten even busier, so you have fewer excuses to miss her.

For nearly four years, Bricker has performed every Sunday night at U-topia (1418 U St. NW; 202/483-7669) with pianist Wayne Wilentz and drummer Jim West. On Tuesdays, you'll find her at Bailey's (1100 Wayne Ave., Silver Spring; 301/495-4994) with saxophonist Marshall Keys and pianist Dan Reynolds, and two Thursdays a month (including this week) Bricker plays at Lewie's (6845 Reed St., Bethesda; 301/652-1600) along with guitarist Underwood and acoustic bassist Steve Zerlin. And on June 5, Bricker and Underwood play their monthly gig at Bullfeathers in Gaithersburg (9120 Rothbury Dr., 301/947-3734), where they showcase more pop material, including some of Bricker's original compositions.

"These are all small groups," says Bricker, "and it's always a challenge to make exciting presentations of the songs." She's comparing her three combos with Odyssey, a 10-piece variety band she sings with that gets booked at galas and weddings and helps pay the bills. "But no matter what kind of material I'm working with, I learn something about the music or about myself every single night I sing," says Bricker. "I'm always stretching the limits of what I think I can do with the music, and I'm still having a great time doing it."