They’re experts, scholars who have studied the music for years, but they’re never slick. Their performances have the good authenticity and bright flavors of home cooking, and that’s rare. I speak of Miss Jubilee and the Yas Yas Boys, who cause audiences to jump and shout from their St. Louis home to California, Missouri, and points east. They are Valerie Jo Kirchhoff, vocal; Ethan Leinwand, piano; and for this occasion, Ryan Calloway, clarinet; T. J. Muller, resonator guitar; Clint Baker, double bass.
If you have made the best plans, you can see them often in St. Louis, but 2024 will have them (Valerie and Ethan) at the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival in Sedalia, Missouri (starting May 29, which is tomorrow) and in Eureka, California, for the Redwood Coast Music Festival (the first weekend of October). And I count myself terribly fortunate, for I will be able to see them in all of those places. What joy!
Here’s some delightful rough-and-tumble where no one gets hurt:
Groovy, jivey, no artificial ingredients.
May your happiness increase!
JAZZ LIVES 