One of the Best Shows in My Life
In my short 58 years, I have seen and produced some of the most famous jazz performers of all time such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Betty Carter, Oscar Peterson, Billy Cobham, Buddy Rich, and Ray Charles to name just a few of the nearly 100 shows. Any while I have raved recently about all of the shows this year at Jazz St. Louis, last night’s performance was one of the top 5 I have ever seen. Keyon Harrold, Jazz St. Louis, artist in residence and his special guest, multi emmy winning PJ Morton from Maroon 5, hit it out of the park. Not just over the wall, but OUT OF THE PARK.
The audience ranged from the old school regulars like me (including John Ferring, boards members, and Kevin Johnson of the Post-Dispatch), to dozens of younger fans who hooted and hollered, danced in the aisles and sang along as they all knew all Morton’s word by heart. In addition to Keyon and PJ, the band included critically acclaimed artists who play on the world stage, and some who hail from St. Louis and East St. Louis. If you question whether or not jazz has a future, the band cemented the future of jazz in the 50 or so younger audience members, and everyone there last night. It was undoubtedly one of the best shows I have ever seen!
Keyon will play throughout the 2021-2022 season, but don’t miss out on his debut weekend. It promises to be different every show, with Keyon cokmplimenting his talents with some of his friends who are helping kickoff his artist in redence gig in grand fashion. For tickets, click here: https://my.jazzstl.org/events?startDate=2021-12-01&endDate=2021-12-05.
Keyon Harrold was born and raised in Ferguson, MO, the St. Louis suburb that tore into America’s national consciousness in 2014 with the police shooting of Michael Brown and the bitter protests and riots that followed. While Ferguson looms large in Harrold’s album The Mugician, it examines our troubled times through a far wider lens than any one tragedy. Sweeping and cinematic, the music draws on elements of jazz, classical, rock, blues, and hip hop to create something uniquely modern, unmistakably American. Guests including Pharoahe Monch, Gary Clark, Jr., Big K.R.I.T., Guy Torry, Georgia Anne Muldrow and Robert Glasper add to the record’s eclectic nature, but it ultimately triumphs as a unified, cohesive whole both because of Harrold’s virtuosic skill as a trumpeter and songwriter and because of his relentlessly optimistic belief in brighter days to come.
Harrold grew up one of 16 children in a family that prioritized music and community across generations. His grandfather was a police officer who retired from the force to found a drum and bugle corps for local youth, both of his parents were pastors, and nearly all of his siblings sing and perform music today. Culture shock hit Harrold hard at 18, when he left Ferguson for New York City to enroll in The New School. In New York, he landed his first major gig with Common, an experience which he says broadened his musical horizons beyond jazz to include funk, Afrobeat, R&B, and hip hop. Soon he was performing with stars like Snoop Dogg, Jay Z, Beyonce, Rihanna, Eminem, Maxwell, and Anthony Hamilton.
In 2009, he released his solo debut, Introducing Keyon Harrold and then won wide acclaim for his trumpet performances in Don Cheadle’s Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead. The Mugician is a portmanteau of “musician” and “magician, a nod to a nickname Cheadle bestowed upon the young virtuoso, and it’s an apt descriptor for a record that pushes beyond the traditional boundaries of jazz trumpet. In fact, the album doesn’t even begin with trumpet, but rather with a track called ‘Voicemail,’ which features an inspirational message from Harrold’s mother set to a stirring, orchestral soundscape. Entirely unedited, her words lay the groundwork for an album that celebrates the importance of family (ten of Keyon’s siblings appear on the record) and the absolute necessity of optimism in the face of darkness and doubt. These days, Harrold is a parent himself, and he pays tribute to his son with a pair of tracks on the album, “Lullaby” and “Bubba Rides Again.” Issues of identity and equality percolate throughout the record, sometimes subtly beneath the surface, sometimes more pointedly, as in “Circus Show.” However, the album’s most powerful moments come with the one-two punch of “MB Lament” and “When Will It Stop,” songs written in the wake of Michael Brown’s death and the senseless killings of so many others like him.
It’s a monumental task, one that calls for tremendous empathy and sensitivity. To give voice to the silenced requires more than just talent and ambition, it requires faith, imagination, strength, and determination. Above all, it requires perspective. Fortunately, that is what Keyon Harrold brings most of all.
PJ Morton (left) and Keyon Harrold on Dec. 1, 2021 at Jazz St. Louis