The fourth annual Music at the Intersection took place in Grand Center over the weekend, featuring a two-day music festival, a day of industry conferences, the new MATI Places retail event, and all kinds of pre-parties and post-fest bashes. MATI has grown into a premiere festival unique to St. Louis that celebrates our musical footprint, steeped in jazz, blues, soul, funk, gospel, and rock ‘n’ roll for a two-day multi-stage party in the city. Here now are my annual MATI Best of the Fest Awards.
Best Opener: Be.Be the Neo-Soul
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It was an appropriate opening volley for a festival that celebrates the St. Louis musical legacy—including our local heroes, soul music, and river songs—as local belter Be.Be the Neo-Soul opened with Tina Turner’s “nice” version of “Proud Mary.” Backed by six female dancers in picnic-patterned Esther Williams bathing suits, Be.Be worked a feathery red fan while singing her jazz-influenced soul bangers in a Minnie Mouse dress. With such eye-popping visuals up front, the set also featured the best band of the day that nobody looked at. Still, Be.Be and company got the party going on Washington Avenue as early-bird arrivals made their way into the festival.
Best Funk-Flute: Starwolf
St. Louis’ Starwolf filled the Big Top early on Saturday with their unique yachternative polyrhythms and jazz-funk grooves. Starwolf have been at it for a while, but their latest lineup is stellar, with Wes Ragland on keys and Kendrick Smith on flute, which paired gorgeously with percussionist Isaac Johnston and singer/bassist Chris Rhein’s falsetto vocals. The set peaked with “Tropical Disco,” the title cut from their latest album, as local music luminaries the Lazaroff Brothers, Lizzie Weber, and Andy Coco listened from the crowd.
Best Dirty Dozen: Bates & the Strangers
Led by vocalist and songwriter Bates, the Strangers are a 12-piece collective that creates an eclectic wash of sound complete with theatrical themes and breakneck energy. Bates brought an old-school flow to the proceedings, switching between rapping and singing, while the band played a dizzying blend of hip-hop, soul, jazz, and funk, echoing the local musical ecosystem that MATI celebrates. The Strangers—no relation, we assume, to Merle Haggard’s band—are always a feast for the senses, and at the Field Stage wore matching suspendered outfits (although this time only mysterious bassist Madison was obscured by a mask). Pick moment: The band’s rousing reimagination of Stevie Wonder’s “Pastime Paradise.”
Best Alley Cat: Bronze Avery
WerQfest is an arts and culture festival—the most recent edition was held this past July at the Big Top—highlighting the Black queer, trans, and non-binary community. A mini-version of werQfest was held on MATI’s WOW Stage, a charming setting at the end of an alley surrounded by murals painted on the sides of Grand Center buildings. Highlight: werQest organizer Bronze Avery, looking like a young, leatherbound Rick James, shaking his locs and singing great tenor dance-pop vocals to a track. “This has been the most fun block party!” Avery shouted.
Best Study Music: Joe Russo’s Selcouth Quartet
Drummer Joe Russo’s new project is an experimental quartet that created ambient soundscapes and slow, dreamy sonic constructs for a crowd of hippies and jazz-skronk geeks at the Big Top. MATI’s audiences are nothing if not patient and curious, so somehow it all worked. This is a band in which Russo, when not engaged in dangerous syncopation, played the keys, guitarist Jonathan Goldberger knocked sound waves from his telecaster, bassist Jon Shaw triggered synth voices from a keypad, and clarinetist Stuart Bogie surveyed the crowd as though surprised we were engaged in the Selcouths’ esoteric music.
Best Rap Collaboration: Tef Poe and EFG
With Big Boi, Chingy, and others on the bill, Saturday was MATI’s biggest day for hip-hop. Over on the Field Stage, Tef Poe proved that when it comes to straight-up emceeing, he and his EFG crew are as good as anybody. With live drums and guitar alongside a DJ, Tef came hard with that PoeFlow, a relentless barrage of beats and rhymes from a crew of St. Louis lifers, including T Dubb O, Teff Deezy, Bovember, Asa the Artist, and others. Big look for the city. To quote Tef’s call to the crowd, “Put them L’s up.”
Too Funky: Thumpasaurus
“I was born in St. Louis!” announced former Ladue High School baseball standout Lucas Tamaren, whose funk-dance band Thumpasaurus held one of the most infectious dance parties of the weekend. Wearing matching painters coveralls covered in Keith Haring-style art, the L.A.-based Thumpsters were relentless with crowd participation, crazy-fast bass solos, Tamaren’s alien-high falsetto, and the heart-racing BPMs of “You Are So Pretty,” “I’m Too Funky,” and “Dance Like It’s Your Life.”
Best Homecoming: Jordan Ward
Wearing a personalized St. Louis CITY SC jersey (#3), Jordan Ward, who has danced on stage with Prince and as part of Beyonce’s celebrated Beychella set, brought star power to the festival midday on Saturday. Ward was backed by live guitar and bass and a laptopist who triggered beats and air horns as the singer worked through skittery-synth R&B cuts like “IDC,” “Lil Baby Crush,” and “Mustard” as Be.Be and her Neosoul dancers boogied down front. The Parkway North grad flashed some of the athletic dance moves that put him on the map, but the focus was on his neo-nineties vocals, culminating with the nostalgic groover “FAMJAM4000.”
Best Powerhouse: Lady Wray
It was a thrill to see Lady Wray, who was a powerful voice under the Big Top, opening with her amazing slow-burn single “Come On In.” Wearing a silver dress and long bright-pink braids, Wray dipped into her back catalog, rapping and singing the lyrics to her Missy Elliot collab “Make It Hot” (back when she was billed as Nicole Wray). But she drew mostly on material from the new Piece of Me, including the excellent “Storms” and “Under the Sun.” With a super-tight rhythm section and a backup singer who deserved a set of her own, Lady Wray’s was one of Saturday’s leanest, meanest sets.
Best T-Shirt: Roy Kasten. Former KDHX DJ Kasten, one of many feloniously fired DJs from KDHX and whose show Feel Like Going Home is sorely missed, wore a “Fire Kelly Wells” T-shirt on both days of the festival, a reference to the current KDHX executive director. In related news, Gary Pierson, president of KDHX’s board of directors, was seen working as a stage manager at the festival, ordering photographers out of the photo pit.
SEE MORE: Check out even more images from Music at the Intersection 2024.
Best Jazz-Funk Masterclass: Lettuce
When it comes to the flawless execution of spacey grooves, hip-hop rhythms, intricate sax, and trumpet lines, nobody does it like the Berklee-trained funk-god eggheads in Lettuce, introduced on stage by local groove ambassador Andy Coco. The sextet packed the Field Stage with some long, stoner’s-delight, space-groove jams and really found a pocket with the sleek soul of “Do It Like You Do” with Nigel Hall on lead vocals and the B3. Later, MATI artist-at-large Keyon Harrold joined in to add a second trumpet, and as the sun started to set, the field was a roiling boil of jam-loving dancers exhaling considerable smoke plumes sent in motion by the remarkable drumming of Adam Deitch.
Best Future Rock Hall of Famer: Big Boi
The peak of Saturday’s party was Big Boi’s hit-heavy set on the main stage, and it saw Washington Avenue as packed as it would be all weekend. Big Boi, paired with his old Organized Noize cohort Sleepy Brown, kept things old-school direct with the two rappers working the stage in front of a DJ. Fans hoping for mostly Outkast classics were not disappointed, and Big Boi, wearing a Braves cap and shades, scratched that itch early with “Rosa Parks,” “So Fresh, So Clean,” and “Ms. Jackson” while the original Outkast videos played on the backdrop screen. Mid-set, the duo made room for newer songs like 2021’s “Can’t Sleep” before returning to Outkast biggies “B.O.B.” and Big Boi’s signature showcase, “The Way You Move.”
Best Fiesta: Cimafunk
The absolute highlight of MATI’s Saturday offerings was Cimafunk’s Afro-Cuban funk party in the Big Top. It was a scintillating set from the charismatic singer, who brought the festival’s first-ever all-Spanish-language set. Nine band members dispensed a jazz-rich set with trombone and trumpet (played by the incredible Cacao sisters), congas, and guitars all over the place, with a drummer and two percussionists. At one point, during “Relajao,” percussionist/vocalist Big Happy took center stage for some earth-quaking dance moves, and things got even hotter when guest trumpeter Keyon Harrold stepped in to make it a 10-piece. Thrilling stuff.
Best Mayoral Endorsement: Chingy
St. Louis rap icon Chingy figured he’d take the Field Stage a cool 20 minutes late while crew members cross-crossed the stage moving large dice props around. Sound issues may have played a part, as the opening hype video played three different times. (The only other scheduling snafu of the weekend was Al Holliday, who called in sick with COVID Sunday morning.) Once Chingy finally hit the stage, he sounded just great, his microphone cranked. No one country-grammars like Chingy, not even his more famous counterpart. Keeping the stage to himself—with no musicians, no other rappers, no hype men, just Chingy—and hits like “Holidae Inn,” “Pullin’ Me Back” (which he asked the ladies in the audience to sing), “One Call Away” (ditto), and, of course, “Right Thurr.” Afterward, St. Louis mayor Tishaura Jones presented the rapper with a plaque to officially commemorate the moment as Chingy Day.
Best Psych-Soul: Black Pumas
Black Pumas have earned the reputation as one of the best bands in contemporary soul, and the band delivered with a 90-minute set to close Saturday night on the Washington Avenue stage. The crowd had thinned slightly after Big Boi as festival organizer Chris Hansen took the stage to thank the crowd for helping celebrate St. Louis and its music, and the Pumas came on to reflect that musical ethos and diversity. Playing an even split between their 2019 debut and last year’s Chronicles of a Diamond, they stretched-out tunes like “Know You Better” and “Mrs. Postman,” letting the songs breathe and change shape. There were plenty of surprises: Trumpeter Keyon Harrold made another cameo at one point, and Pumas singer Eric Burton ended up down in the crowd by the end of the set. Burton’s solo turn on Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” followed by the full band’s swirling “Rock and Roll” made for a powerful ending to night one.
Best Church Service: Jeremy and LaToya
Gospel-soul duo Jeremy and LaToya took part in the gospel brunch on Sunday, a new edition to Music at the Intersection that brought morning hours to the festival. The band crammed eight musicians onto the tiny WOW stage at the end of the alley, and early arrivals set their lawn chairs along the shadowed side of the narrow viewing space. “Did y’all go to church this morning?” Jeremy asked the crowd at one point. While listening to the group’s exuberantly bright sound, gospel ringers, and tight harmonies, the crowd responded that they considered church currently in session.
Best Harp Legend: (tie) Boo Boo Davis, Eric McSpadden
Under the Big Top, the day started with Mississippi Delta blues legend Boo Boo Davis. The 80-year-old, a longtime mainstay of East St. Louis clubs, played a seated set, honking and singing, as local guitarist and producer Paul Niehaus IV directed the music on stage. Later, Eric McSpadden, cowboy hat atop him, commanded the WOW stage and drew some hearty applause for his solo on Albert King’s “Call My Job.” Local blues pillar Rich McDonough handled the guitar work, a treat for traditional blues fans who were off to a satisfying start on Sunday.
Best Keys Orgy: Rhythm City featuring Ptah Williams
It was keyboards left and right as pianist Ptah Williams led Rhythm City’s set of new-age jazz, taking turns soloing with ace keytarist Michael Silverman. In fact, everyone solos in Rhythm City, including bassist Larry Kornfield and drummer Rob Silverman. A nice crowd showed up as the band played compositions that sound like ‘70s TV theme songs, which paired nicely with the breeze that drifted across the Field Stage before rain moved in. The band added second bassist Darrell Mixon, not for “Big Bottom,” but for the thorny Chick Corea instrumental “No Mystery.” (They also announced that they hoped to get both basses signed later by Stanley Clarke, who played on the original recording of that tune.)
Best Beyond His Years: Dylan Triplett
East St. Louis’s own Dylan Triplett turned 24 last month, but his command of soul and blues idioms felt fully formed on the Washington Avenue stage. With Al Holliday’s cancellation, Triplett had a full hour, allowing his musicians, all in matching Dylan Triplett T-shirts, to stretch out. Triplett, formerly known as “Little Dylan,” has prodigious vocal and physical instincts, as showcased on his own “Junkyard Dog” and a spot-on cover of James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” which included a smoking solo from Matthew Lesch on lead guitar. At one point, Triplett’s energy proved too expansive for the confines of the stage, as he hopped down onto the street to wiggle with the fans.
Best East Boogie: Jazz St. Louis Celebrates the East Side
Organized by pianist Pops Jackson, the combo at the Big Top on Sunday was a reminder of the strength and legacy of the east side jazz scene, featuring Reggie Thomas on electric piano, Anthony Wiggins on trumpet, Carlos “Scooter” Brown Jr. on sax, Terreon Gully on drums, and Zebadiah Briskovich on bass. “You can’t play over in ‘East Boogie’ without making people move,” Thomas told us, and the band did just that on Cannonball Adderly’s “Sticks” and Horace Silver’s “Nutville,” although with Gully’s wildly syncopated drumming, dancing came with some risks. Thomas dedicated a song to the late Ron Carter, longtime band director at East St. Louis Lincoln High School, who passed away earlier this year and who had nurtured many of these players.
Best Rollin’ Stone: Ms. Hy-C
Dressed in a blue sequined dress and matching chapeau, Ms. Hy-C belted, shimmied, and howled over on the Field Stage. She’s a born storyteller, channeling Koko Taylor as she led the five-piece Fresh Start, decked out in disco-ball shirts, on St. Louis-by-way-of-Memphis blues bangers. With two guitarists in the band, including longtime Hy-C sidekick Tommie Johnson, Fresh Start pumped out the blues wallop, and Hy-C’s best moment came during a down-and-dirty cover of Taylor’s “I’m a Woman (Mannish Boy).”
MATI MVP: Keyon Harrold
Trumpeter Keyon Harrold had already been all over the festival as artist-at-large by the time he got to his own set in the Big Top on Sunday. But here he not only stood center stage as a vocalist on his lovely “Find Your Peace” but brought on some special guests of his own. “I knew I had to bring in some superfriends for this,” he said. One was saxophonist and keyboardist Terrace Martin, who broke out some killer sax breaks and led the band on “How Much a Dollar Cost,” Martin’s collaboration with Kendrick Lamar. The other was actor and songwriter Omari Hardwick, who mesmerized the crowd with spoken-word beat poetry over the band’s soft-jazz backdrop.
Best Return to Forever: Stanley Clarke
This was the legendary bassist in slamming fully-electric jazz-fusion mode, and Clarke ceded plenty of stage time to his wingmen, allowing for some long bop-style solos from his saxophonist and violinist. But the pioneer also knew what the audience wanted and locked into the drummer to show off his famous wrist-taxing, string-snapping, percussive bass technique. Fans got to hear the second rendition of “No Mystery” of the day, and the bassists from Rhythm City were positioned down front to hear the master play it, as Clarke worked frantically fast runs on the upper frets and flapped quick-moving bass chords on the lower ones. Clarke switched to double-bass halfway through the set, but even then he stuck to blistering hard jazz, at one point turning the bass into a percussion instrument. As light rain fell, the old jazzheads in the audience delighted at being in the presence of a virtuoso.
Best Second Line: Red and Black Brass Band
St. Louis is the richest brass-ensemble city outside of New Orleans, and this year the Red and Black Brass Band were flat cooking at the end of the alley, drawing the largest WOW stage crowd of the weekend. The RBBB was jammed onto the tiny stage, but they still marched in circles on their signature civic pride numbers like “Gateway Groove.” Ultimately, though, the alley couldn’t contain them, as the octet formed a second line and marched out into the food truck area, where they kept playing, providing an exuberant soundtrack for those in line for food and bleeding over to Samara Joy’s Field Stage set.
Best Torch: Samara Joy
She’s the hottest jazz singer on the scene today, and she brought a little of Lincoln Center to the Field Stage with a seven-piece band seated bandstand-style behind her. She sang Thelonious Monk’s “Worry Later” early, starting off a cappella before the band jumped in to chase her rapid-fire vocal patter. Joy channeled Billie Holiday on “Left Alone,” and at times engaged in ecstatic scatting, her feather-light voice dancing within the arrangements. With St. Louis jazz legend Denise Thimes watching from the wings, Joy ended her set with a gorgeous version of bossa nova standard “No More Blues,” singing half the song in Spanish. It was one of the weekend’s most vibrant performances.
Best DJ: Art Dwyer
The Soulard Blues Band guitarist knows a thing or two about spinning records. For 36 years, he hosted Blues in the Night on KDHX until resigning in protest of the station’s leadership. But he was back at the turntable on Sunday in Sophie’s Artist Lounge, which had DJ programming all weekend for VIP passholders. (Festival-themed drinks included the Cimafunk [tequila], the Right Thurr [whiskey], and the Spalding [gin].) It was raining during Dwyer’s set, so he had cued up tunes for a packed room of folks seeking shelter. Suitably, he put the needle down on Fontella Bass’s “Rescue Me.”
Best Lung Capacity: Trombone Shorty
A steady rain did nothing to dampen the spirits of the crowd on Washington Avenue on Saturday, who danced with their umbrellas and in their rain ponchos to Trombone Shorty’s raucously entertaining late-afternoon set. Shorty and his Orleans Avenue are crowd-pleasers, hitting early with a slamming cover of Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” and later finding the Big Easy sweet spot with “When the Saints Go Marching In.” But the set’s jaw-dropping moment was when Shorty held a note on the trumpet for an astonishing four minutes. Shoutout to Ken and Nancy Kranzberg, founders of the Kranzberg Arts Foundation, presenting sponsors of Music at the Intersection, who stuck out the rainstorm to watch Shorty’s set from their soggy seats in the crowd.
Best Interpretive Dancing: Esperanza Spalding
The Big Top was positively packed for Esperanza Spalding’s gorgeous set, as crowds overflowed outside the tent to get a look at the genius bassist and singer-songwriter. The nicest surprise with Spalding’s set was the presence of two female dancers who executed expressionistic choreography to several of Spalding’s songs. Looking and sounding fantastic on both the electric and the double bass, Spalding captivated the audience with “Dancing the Animal,” a song about phone addiction, and especially, “Thang,” about loosening up your hip joints. At the end of the latter, Spalding put down her bass and sank into her own thang, joining her dancers in a celebration of “stride grease” in one of the most delightful moments of the whole festival.
Best Sacred Steel: The Robert Randolph Band
Festival mainstay Robert Randolph made his Music at the Intersection debut by holding forth from the Field Stage as the rain started to move out. It was a steel-string blitz as Randolph fronted his hard-driving four-piece band, featuring Marcus Randolph on drums and Lanesha Randolph joining midset to supply call-and-response vocals. But it was heavy on the strings, as Robert switched between pedal steel and a modified seven-string resonator guitar. “Let me hear you say, ‘LOVE!’” he asked the crow before breaking into his funk-soul signature hit, “I Need More Love” followed by a pile-driving, wah-wah-heavy “Foxy Lady.”
Best Rock and Roll Hall of Famer: Chaka Khan
With the rain ending, the crowd stuck around for the Queen of Funk, Chaka Khan, who celebrated 50 years in the business with a hits parade on Washington Avenue backed by a wrecking crew of slick players, including a dazzling drummer and percussionist combo that never let up. The Disco Diva was in tip-top shape, vocally and physically, newly svelte in a black pantsuit. An opening video told the singer’s storied history with clips featuring Prince, Quincy Jones, and more, and then Khan took the stage and ran brassy vocal blats and scats across smashes “Tell Me Something Good,” “I Feel For You,” and “Sweet Thing.” Three back-up singers helped “I’m a Woman” soar, and Khan showcased her own stratospheric range on “I Remember U.” “St. Louis, it’s a hot one up in here,” she said at one point. She may have been referencing the late-summer heat, but the band and the crowd were also bringing the fire to Washington Avenue.
Best Fest-Closing Tradition: Marquise Knox with the Funky Butt Brass Band
The all-star collaboration between blues biggie Marquise Knox and the Funky Butt Brass Band has become a high-energy capper to the fest two years running. The Funky Buttsters took the Big Top stage first with their own “I’m Trying” and a funky butt-kicking cover of Van Halen’s “Finish What Ya Started.” Knox joined in during a steely cover of Albert Collins’ “Travelin’ South,” and from there, the party proceeded with no setlist as Knox called out tunes, including a couple of canine classics: Bobby Bland’s “I Wouldn’t Treat a Dog (the Way You Treated Me)” and Rufus Thomas’ “Walkin’ the Dog.”
Best Diversity: MATI Crowds
Every year, artists who attend Music at the Intersection mention the diversity of the festival’s attendees. “We don’t see crowds like this,” Gary Clark Jr. said in 2022. Again this year, the most refreshing and encouraging aspect of MATI was the beautiful, friendly blend of the demographic melting pot in the audience as all races and ages enjoyed the fest together. As festival organizer Chris Hansen told us, “It’s a festival that brings people together from all walks of life and backgrounds as a representation of what we really look like and what we can be.” This year’s festival was a successful fulfillment of that hopeful promise.
