Music At The Intersection Returned For Another Stellar Year
—by Randy Thompson
–photos by Vertrell Yates, Antonio T Harris, and Martell Stepney
The MATI festival is one of the premier St Louis metropolitan area music events of the year. As a matter of fact, Music At The Intersection is an annual event that has a very special purpose involving the arts in general. The mission is to bring people together, building the support that all artists need. It is an all-inclusive event that is created to inspire people’s interest in the arts and the Grand Center Arts District is the hub of activities. There are events such as mural painting, poetry readings, and fashion shows. People are encouraged to express themselves through their craftsmanship and creativity. You can even roller skate in the middle of the street dancing to the music of the day.
We have been attending this festival for the last 4 years and have noted quite a few positive changes this year. Here are a few things that this festival has added and evolved into this year.
To start with, the outdoor venues have been limited to two outdoor stages that seem to be having consistent on time performances. The Theresa stage behind the Big Top with live music just inside the entrance on Theresa Street and the Leonard Stage, on Leonard St. near Urban Chestnut, that hosted fashion and circus shows. All of the other performances, especially the main stage acts, took place in venues along Washington Avenue: the Big Top, the Sovereign, Sophie’s, Urban Chestnut, and Jazz St Louis. As wonderful as it has been in the past to have more musicians and more new music to choose from, it was really wonderful not to stand in a shadeless field in 95 degree weather to wait to hear the bands.
There were plenty of non-profit booths, artists, and vendors selling their products. The food trucks were there selling wonderful food and refreshments throughout the day. The food selection is incredible and well-managed; the food that we sampled was always delivered hot, fairly quickly, and was delectable. There were plenty of tables scattered throughout the area for people to stand and eat, and even a few common seating areas for people to linger and chat.
Kendrick Smith Quartet – Theresa Stage
Musician, composer and arranger, Kendrick Smith is an amazing saxophone player and bandleader who hails from East St Louis. The quartet is made up of seasoned jazz musicians who carry the soul of St Louis music and allow it to spark their audiences around the country. He and his exceptional musicians lit up the Theresa stage as the first act opened the festival, and they had a steady and solid group of supporters to get things kicked off.
Smith dedicated the first song to Ken and Nancy Kranzberg who were seated along the sidewalk to hear him play. They head the St Louis based Kranzberg Arts Foundation which supports the development of the arts in the St Louis metropolitan area, MATI and the Grand Arts District. The couple told me that they were excited for this event to get under way, and were wanting everybody to have an exceptional time taking in all that the festival has to offer. The band played a solid set with help from an amazing guest singer. We were treated to original work from their upcoming album as well as classics such as “Dream A Little Dream of Me” and “Girl from Ipanema” among many others. The entire quartet jives together extremely well, and you can tell they have been working hard on their newest album as they are a tight group whose music certainly pleased the engaged audience members.
Mississippi Knights – The Sovereign
The Mississippi Knights featuring Steve Ewing, Chris TurnBaugh, Miles Vandiver, Adam Hansbrough and Brian Kasmarzik opened the show with a strong, steady line of rock and roll tunes. Mississippi Knights is a full-on, classic rock band that covers a wider gamut than that label suggests. They were playing early rock hits, calling Brian Owings to the stage and launching into Isn’t She Lovely then on to Johnny B. Goode (with a shout out to local legend Chuck Berry) all with a flare and energy that sets classic rock apart from other genres. The backing band was solid and we were treated to a second guest singer, Sarah Jones who came on to stage with a great take on Sheryl Crow’s “All I Want To Do”, to add some zest to the proceedings. One of the highlights of the evening was the performance of two songs by local band The Urge. This really caught fire with the audience and got things rocking even harder. They finished up with the Police hit “Message In A Bottle”.
The Sovereign is a nice, cool and spacious venue that might have had some blurs at the top end of the speakers system ability, but overall, the performance was high energy, enjoyable and well-attended.
Moonchild – Big Top
Moonchild is a name well-known within the R&B/jazz genre. They have a long history of producing exceptional music. The lead singer Amber Navran, commands a lot of attention with her silky soft, yet still powerful voice. The songs are a beautiful mix of R&B, soul, and jazz. Max Bryk and Andris Mattson
played various instruments, highlighting their incredible versatility, in support of Amber’s voice. Each band member plays at least 4 instruments, including Amber, who played flute and tenor saxophone on various songs. Each of the members of the band also had a spotlight solo that featured their individual talents.
Their audience was exuberant and involved throughout the entire set. Despite the heat, the pregnant singer continued to maintain a high level of energy while the tone of the music slid from Jazz to Soul to R&B and back again but always maintained a solid and exceptional atmosphere that kept the audience on their feet and dancing.
Zapp – Big Top (add Talk Box)
Moving along under The Big Top where the stands were packed, the veteran funk band Zapp took the stage with the energy of a cyclone. They danced, bobbed, and twirled across the stage including exceptional singer/dancer Manny Pemberton and Terry “Zapp” Troutman who did at least 5 back flips during the show. The veteran musicians took pleasure in honoring past members of the group as well as their history. The crowd gratefully embraced the act with pure joy. The energy was strong and truly uplifting.
About the middle point of the concert, the trio making up Tuxedo came on stage singing a few R&B tunes with solid professional skills, to keep things moving at a less frenetic, but pleasurable pace. Zapp came back on with full organized chaos as they back flipped (more), slid across the stage, and danced the night away while their electric funk powered its way through the evening. Everyone was on their feet dancing along and all the way home as well.
Keyon Harrold – The Sovereign
We were dancing our way out of Zapp on the way to the car but we saw a crowd going into The Sovereign. Being curious we entered and found a place in the crowd and were enthralled. Keyon Harrold is an amazing and exceptionally talented trumpeter who sets a beautiful pace for the rest of the band. They are all very talented musicians with a slant towards jazz. The first guest invited up was rapper Tef Poe. He had a staccato, fast-paced and gritty reality as his approach but was also very motivational and positive about spiritual growth and everyone working together. His skills as a rap artist are undeniable and he certainly had a quick and immediate connection with his audience.
Keyon and the band presented a haunting ‘urban noire’ feel that lurked in the background behind the rap and seemed to carry the atmosphere in the mood beautifully. The mix of urgent emotional messages and smooth yet gritty jazz undertones was exceptional. We left after that but the music continued with Rapsody, Moonchild, and AJ McQueen joining Keyon on the stage to close out the first day of MATI.
MATI – Day 2
JAZZ ST LOUIS GLOBAL ALLIANCE – THE BIG TOP
We were very fortunate to experience the Jazz St Louis Global Alliance play on Saturday evening. As the name implies this performance included amazing jazz music and musicians from around the world. The group included jazz musicians Hector Molina, Venezuela; Juan Quesada, Argentina; Aska Maret, Japan; Janet Evra, England; andDawn Weber and Claire Maue, US; thus forming a definitive global alliance on stage in front of us.
Dawn Weber, an accomplished trumpet player and singer, presented as the group’s spokesperson and shared a great deal of history about the evolution of jazz music around the world. She spoke about Dizzy Gillespie’s tours to Cuba and Japan and how it influenced his work and others.
The band played a solid mix of jazz classics along with new music written by various members of the group including one by Aska Maret titled Waking Eye. The audience was connected immediately and many were familiar with not only the standards that they played but also the original music that the band has been performing in the St Louis area over the past years. We had the honor of seeing two of the band members at Jazz St Louis, which is also one of the venues that was presenting performances during the festival.
Memphis Soul All-Stars – The Big Top
The crowd was sparse initially, but as the Take Me To The River Memphis Soul AllStars began their show, the space quickly filled with dedicated and enthusiastic audience members. Once the Hi Rhythm Section appeared, their spokesperson, Boo Mitchell revealed a major focus of the band is to lead with education so people can learn more about the history of Memphis blues and its evolution through the last few decades. Boo then paid tribute to his father, the late, great Willy Mitchell and proceeded to play one of his greatest hits, 20-75. They then provided versions of standards from the heart of Memphis while the audience swayed and sang along through the set.
This band itself includes some of the most highly regarded performers in the genre. Boo has put together a strong group of veterans and a young, brash 25-year-old guitarist, Lina Beach, who he discovered in the lobby of his recording studio. Lina played an amazing original song, Stars with hints of James Bond and David Gilmore of Pink Floyd. Her style is amazing, electrifying, and she presented a beautiful blend of hard, edgy rock with the Memphis soul spirit. This is pure Blues played sideways with a significant rock edge.
Jerome Chism was the next singer to step out onto the stage. He is a young and vibrant performer who carries on the Soul tradition with an exceptional voice and incredible stage presence. He has a definite ‘church music’ voice. His range is incredible, and his devotion to the blues sound was quite evident as he sang “Feel Like Breaking Up” “Somebody’s Home”, “Let’s Stay Together” as well as “Love and Happiness”.
The organ, drums and horns were the soulful heart of the band and they held that spirit close to the stage while the lead singers and guitarists moved into and out of other musical territories periodically. About midway through the show, the great Carla Thomas came out to the stage. She is the matriarch of the family and Boo’s Auntie. Carla had been a pioneer in the expansion of Memphis blues throughout the rest of the country in the early 1960s performing with stars like Otis Redding and Willy Mitchell. She shared insightful stories that reflected upon a history she loved and that described perfectly how the Memphis Blues became a part of our everyday lives on the radio, touring shows, and wherever they could get the word out. She hasn’t lost a step musically over the years, while her biting humor and infectious laughter carried the day. She was vibrant, in excellent voice, and there was exceptional interplay between her and Jerome Chism as they sang the song “Tramp together”. The set ended with Carla and the band singing “B-A-B-Y”, one of her biggest hits. The performance had raised the energy under The Big Top with plenty of dancing, laughter and joy.
BIG FREEDIA – The Big Top
The Big Top had an electric atmosphere and was jam-packed from beginning to end with exuberant and excited followers. The DJs from 93.6 FM, worked up the audience and had things ready for when the bands hit the stage. They did that throughout all of the shows at the Big Top that we attended. Special notice is sent out to Infamous DJ Quinn who grabbed our attention from the get-go.
Big Freedia is a presence. She came out with solid support from DJ Rusty Lazer, and his skills were as important and evident as the lyrics and the rap itself. This was a performance filled with wild energy as the audience rarely sat down and shout/sang every song. The excitement of the act totally riveted the crowd and no one even noticed the heat in the tent. Confidence and energy seem to be the hallmark of this show, as Big Freedia is fearless, extremely talented, and definitely rules the stage. There was also a direct connection between her and the audience immediately, and we found several times that her fans filled in lyrics every time that she gave them an opportunity, which was often.
Twerking has always been a hallmark of what Big Freedia does, I even read that she set a Guinness world record for most twerks in a row. Well, we saw a sample of that tonight with her own three dancers, one male and two females, and audience members who were invited on stage to show their stuff. And show it they did. It was a celebration of confidence and power with the human body becoming a symbol of that. The freedom to express one’s self however they want.
At the end of the show, we realized that what we had witnessed was a performance of extreme pride, individuality, and yet still a coming together of people who share a common value of joy and a love of music. It was a unifying experience designed to make us all feel as one. And they succeeded.
THE MOTET – The Sovereign
The Motet is an extraordinary band from Denver, Colorado that has played at MATI in the past. They said that they have some special St Louis connections, and were excited to be playing at the Sovereign again. The audience members were definitely anticipating this show and were in full gear when the band started up. Lead singer Sarah Clarke was in great form, as she commanded the stage with an incredible presence and powerhouse vocals. However, the minute she stepped away from the spotlight, the incredible band behind her stepped up and showed off what gives them their legendary funk status. All of the musicians are extremely talented, and the way that the guitar riffs and the horn section blend with her voice (and without it), makes this a very intriguing and soulful ensemble. Her excursions to the side of the stage left plenty of room for the band members to each step up and present solo performances that were stunning and fit in perfectly with the mood of the show while keeping the audience on their feet the entire time.
