Photograph by Kevin A. Roberts
On Saturday nights, the Prohibition-and-pizza nightspot Yaqui’s on Cherokee takes on a special kind of magic as impeccably dressed 20- and 30-somethings descend upon the handsomely appointed space. There to entertain them, most weeks, is a young pianist with East Coast roots, Ethan Leinwand. Recently relocated to St. Louis, the talented 31-year-old performer has found his first regular gig here, where he’s able to play true St. Louis blues for an enthusiastic audience.
“You can come in at 12:30 at night, get a slice of pizza, hear piano blues,” Leinwand says of Yaqui’s. “You can talk over the music, if you want to. It’s the kind of thing that feels great. I like to play for a couple of hours, really get loose. When music has that high energy, it creates a sweet vibe.”
His move here had an interesting genesis. Leinwand says he loves “pre-war St. Louis piano blues. I had gotten pretty obsessed with it. I’d found some people in New York, but not enough to really care about it as much as I did.” In his research, he came upon the book Devil at the Confluence, by Kirkwood blues historian and illustrator Kevin Belford. The two established a correspondence, and last summer Leinwand came to St. Louis, where he saw the Rum Drum Ramblers play to an overflow crowd at Blues City Deli. At that moment, the deal was sealed: He was moving to town.
“As soon as I was here for a week, I knew that I wanted to live here,” he says. “When my lease ran out, I stayed for a longer stay here, then went back, packed my stuff, and came down.”
Once Leinwand was living in St. Louis, he quickly fell in with a variety of musicians and other artists who shared his passion. He began working on material with Valerie Kirchhoff, vocalist of Miss Jubilee and the Humdingers, whom he describes as “someone, finally, who wanted to do the same music I do.” Though they don’t regularly gig as a duo, they have that ability and are working on a combined CD.
Leinwand found a room in a big old South City home inhabited by members of Pokey LaFarge’s band and the Sidney Street Shakers, among others. “I live with people who are as rah-rah about St. Louis history as I am,” he says. “Christian Frommelt is a dancer who goes around the world teaching the St. Louis Shag. T.J. Muller, a trumpet player in Pokey’s band, is all about that early St. Louis style.”
Leinwand credits Belford with reinforcing in him the idea that the history of St. Louis is inextricably tied to the history of its many and varied music scenes. He wants his own musical additions to be of the living, breathing variety, not consigned to the world of history and says that his vibe is one of music that’s “lived in, not precious.
“You know, that is the big struggle,” he says. “Friends in New York were quick to warn me about that, that a lot of armchair musicians can get really stuffy about this music. With something like Yaqui’s, the music feels lived in. Onstage, it’s presented in a way that’s relatable.”
That said, his preferred music’s got a deep history, and, Leinwand says, “It’s that history brought me here. I’m attached to what’s here: Roots and blues have such a great scene going in St. Louis. It’s all connected and feels really good… I’m so grateful that there’s a place for me here, for sure.”
For a full schedule of Leinwand’s gigs, music downloads, and more, go to ethanleinwand.com.
