Talking to Jack Spann, AKA Jon Rosen, About New York, the Geyer Street Sheiks, and “War Horse”

Jon Rosen was a bona fide star on the Webster University campus in the mid-’80s. He might blanch at the idea, but on what was then a much-smaller campus, everyone knew that he was one of the bright lights of the music department, someone who was a steady, gigging player around town at night in addition to taking classes with the rest of us during day hours. On occasion, that meant playing dates just down the street at the bohemian Webster Grill & Café, where he’d play music of all stripes, often with musicians far more experienced than he.

Of course, they all saw and heard something special in his talents. Once departing Webster, Rosen embarked on a variety of projects in St. Louis, notably as part of the early version of Vitamin A, a group that achieved a nice run of local and regional success. He then took the risk that many musicians undertake, moving to New York. As someone able to play across a wide range of styles, he’s been able to craft a unique and interesting career as Jack Spann, still maintaining his desire to play originals, while serving as an accomplished sideman, studio player and live accompanist.

Recently, Alice Spencer of the reborn Geyer Street Sheiks noted that she and Spann would both be in St. Louis during early October, each of them playing dates with the Sheiks and in other combinations. As Spann was a friend and musical compatriot of the original Sheik keyboardist, the late Steve Mote, the band reached out to him to take part in this weekend’s Sheiks shows in town, one already sold out.

Last week, we had a chance to catch up with Spann about a wide variety of topics, from his days at the brand-new Venice Café to his recent run with the Broadway show War Horse. And, of course, we touched on his deep history with the Sheiks, a group’s he’s known for a good, long time. (See the end of piece for a full schedule of Sheiks and Sheiks-related shows this week.)

Do you recall specifics of meeting Steve Mote? Or some of the other Sheiks?

Yeah, I don’t recall the first time I met Steve. He was a few years older than me, and probably intimidated the hell out of me, initially.  I do remember the first time I met Tom Hall, though. I used to drive an old black Chevy panel wagon with the windows painted black, and white mag wheels. It was a cross between what looked like a Woody and the Munsters drag racer, and I carried an acoustic piano around in the back. I used to pull up on street corners and drag the piano out and play, and I was on the corner of Geyer and 10th one Monday night, and this guy just walks up out of nowhere. He had long red hair and a droopy mustache, and he had a five-string banjo with red flashing LEDs all over it, and he says “You wanna play?” And we just started playing. He had “Whispering Tom Hall” painted on the banjo skin, so I knew that was his name. I played a thousand gigs with that guy, and he and I and (Sheiks’ bassist) Mike Prokopf played at the Broadway Oyster Bar together every Friday night for years off and on, with the late, great singer/drummer Billy Gayles and Steve Martin, the guitar player.

I met Billy when I was 17, and he hired me to play in his band at Bernard’s Pub on 39th Street.  Everybody else there was playing punk, and I was playing blues.

Later on, Steve quit the Sheiks. I had gotten to know him better by then. And when I music-directed at a couple of different theaters, I was able to get him to come work for us. We did a show at Ozarks Actor’s Theater in Rolla, and two shows at The Old Creamery in Amana, Iowa. This was probably about 1996. He was practically my roommate for months, and I really learned a lot from him about music history and frankly, attitude. He was a great musician, played banjo, guitar, fiddle, and piano flawlessly.  He was funny and generous. I’ve heard people say that in the old days he could be a jerk, sometimes, hard to work with like temperamental geniuses can sometimes be. But, to me, he was always kind, patient and gentle, and that’s no lie. And, of course, I met Alice about the same time you did, when we were at Webster U. I had dropped out of there two years after starting, then went back to finish my degree in my mid-20s, and here was an 18-year-old gal who sang like a cross between Janice, Judy and Bessie.

What, musically, calls out to you with the Sheiks? What’s interesting and challenging to you, re: their setlist and sound?

Well, just playing with six or seven other people who are all very good, really the best at what they do, you can’t go wrong. I mean, this is a group of people who really play, really listen to each other, it’s challenging, all right. Who wants to be the one who tips that boat over? Also, it’s a treat to be able to sing with a group of folks who all have their own sound, and have no interest in being on The Voice.

And I’ve always admired the great artists: Art Tatum, The Beatles, The B-52’s, Nirvava, Coltrane, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Chuck Berry. If you’re going to try to find your own voice like all these great masters did, what better place to start than with the roots music that The Sheiks perform?

I want to say that you were playing in groups at the old Webster Grill and Café, back when some of the first post-Sheiks projects were starting up. What do recall about that time and place?

Huh. The days I was playing at Webster Grill were before the Sheiks had broken up. The Sheiks played for years I think, then when Alice joined them it became a whole ‘nother animal. At the time I played the Grill, Glenn Savan (the White Palace author) was still slinging sandwiches and soup there. He was the nicest guy; he loaned me his car once when mine broke down, just gave me the keys, told me to be back to pick him up from work. That was about the time I was playing shows with a band called Dharma Bums with Perry Emge; I think we played a show at a Webster U. dance when you were playing with Sean Garcia’s band.  Music radio ruled everything. Record companies were promoting stuff like Hootie and the Blowfish, and Harry Connick Jr.’s Sinatra covers. If you liked that music, it was a golden age. For me, it was miserable. It’s not much better now, is it?

You’ve also played solo dates and full-band shows at a lot of the classic rooms in St. Louis. Which places hold the best, or most-vivid memories?

Okay, I remember playing the Venice Café back before they served alcohol. We played this song, “Holy Roman Condom Sex” which Jeff Lockheed wrote, and we had a handful of fans who would go up in the balcony and throw down dollar bills at us, we always got like 15 or 20 dollars together and when the chorus came around, “Money money, yeah money,” they’d float these bills down. And one night, this lady came up to the stage and just slapped me in the face, she was really offended by the song’s lyrical content. She just slapped me, and my keyboard fell off the stand and broke and the show stopped, and she stormed out, and half of the audience broke out into applause, not because I had been slapped, but because it was so weird, and I never saw her again. I was scared, then pissed, then I just had to laugh. I played Venice for years with a bunch of different groups, with The Wobblies, with Kip Loui, with Tony Vrooman from Vitamin A, hundreds of solo shows. I remember Lockheed eating a light bulb on stage.

Also the old Mississippi Nights was great for me, I got to open for Albert King, Buckwheat Zydeco, Steve Forbert, Widespread Panic, David Lindley and El-Rayo X, a bunch of really good groups coming through town. I moved to New York in 1998 or ’99, so I know very little about the St. Louis scene since then.

Let me tell you something about St. Louis versus New York, though.  And this is something I’ve discussed with a lot of New Yorkers, people that are new there, and people that have been there many years. I think a town like St. Louis has a lot to offer original bands, in ways more than a New York. In the ‘60s, ‘70s, even ‘80s, I’ve heard New York was really different. It seems more conservative now than it was then, and way more spread out.  A lot of music clubs are closing there, although believe me, in the borough of Manhattan with two million people, there’s still a lot of live music clubs. But even on the LES, or in Alphabet City, it’s become gentrified, and it’s just like publishing, record stores, bookstores, etc., a lot more people just get their entertainment from the Internet these days. If anybody knows New York, the Back Fence in the West Village just closed, and is now a CVS drugstore. Banjo Jim’s in Alphabet closed, and became a wine bar. New York is really a theater town, and still the only game there is in those terms.  But it seems like a city like St. Louis with a SLU, a Wash. U., a Rams team and their fans, a Cardinals team and theirs, a Budweiser factory and their thousands of workers… in other words, with a bunch of people who want to go party and listen to tunes and not that many places in which to do it, has a lot to offer an original sounding and talented group, if they can figure out how to use that energy.  And not break up before it happens.

To get us into a more-contemporary vein, how will these shows come together, in terms of rehearsal and the like? It sounds like the group has a routine down now. How do you plan to slot into that new working arrangement of the band?

Hah, well, that remains to be seen. We do have rehearsals this week, and I’ve been listening to, and playing piano to the music for a couple of months now. Let me remind, you I’ve known these guys for years and years. Steve Mote, when playing piano with the Sheiks, played in the traditional stride style, which I have studied particularly, so it comes naturally to me, and I’ve played many gigs with Tom, Mike, and some of the other guys. And saw the Sheiks in their heyday. Actually, one of the best gigs I’ve ever seen was when I was playing at SXSW with Vitamin A, and the Sheiks were playing at… I forget the name of the venue in Austin, and we went to see them. I just remember I was so far from home, and Alice’s voice actually made me cry.

For those who like to be kept in suspense, come see the show! Maybe something really weird will happen!

What are your current projects?

Let me explain by backing up a few months, and say that I actually had the good fortune to be in the Broadway show War Horse at Lincoln Center Theater. I was hired in October of 2011, and War Horse closed earlier this year. Being in a Broadway show, and especially at Lincoln Center, which is the temple of the arts in the western world, was unbelievable in many ways. I got to meet a good many people, to play for over a thousand paying customers every night. But the schedule was grueling, 12 hour days for long stretches at a time, six days and eight shows a week, plus publicity appearances and rehearsals for over a year, people getting injured constantly, working in replacements, etc. I put my music career on hold while I was doing War Horse; I honestly had no time to do anything else. However, I’m now back out playing the clubs in New York as much as I can, and have a new album which should be on iTunes any day (if anyone wants to check out some tunes, go to http://jackspann.com/music), or else wait and buy the songs on iTunes.  I sang “Take Me Out To The Ball Game,” at a Mets game earlier this year, and I’m playing with two different bands, because I have two distinct threads in my music: roots and bluesy, and rock ‘n’ roll esoteric.

Also being in War Horse opened up a few doors; I no longer have to stand in line to go to auditions, I have a good agent. I’ve got some stuff cooking I don’t wanna refer to yet, hopefully something will come up. But I’m really focused on original music again.

You’ve got another date, or two, while in St. Louis, correct? How did this little tour come together? And who would you like to see at your shows?

I do have two other dates. One’s this Wednesday, October 2 at the Shanti in Soulard. And then, Thursday, October 3 at BB’s, where I’ll be playing bluesier stuff and stride piano. I’m really trying to lay the foundation for something in the near future, a touring band situation. And, if anyone is reading this and likes great, original, piano-based music, created with the best of intentions, they should come out. I’ll be playing old and new originals and some of my favorite cover songs, and hopefully a few old pals will show up to play, also.

Jack Spann Dates:

Wednesday, October 2, The Shanti, 825 Allen, 314-41-4772, soulardshanti.com 

Thursday, October 3, BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, 314-436-5222, bbsjazzbluessoups.com 

Geyer Street Sheiks Dates:

Saturday, October 5, BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 8-10 p.m.

Sunday, October 6, Focal Point (sold out)

T&A (Tom Hall and Alice Spencer) Dates:

Thursday, October 3, Joe’s Café, 6010 Kingsbury, 8-10 p.m., joescafegallery.com

Saturday, October 5, Tower Grove Farmer’s Market, 4256 Magnolia, 10 a.m.-noon, tgmarket.com