In honor of February’s Black History Month, the St. Paul
Central Library and the Landmark Center worked to create a series of culturally
based events that would expose the public to popular forms of “Black” centered
entertainment. One of these events was a free jazz concert located in the F.K.
Weyerhaeuser Auditorium in the basement of the regal Landmark Center in the
vintage city-center of St. Paul’s downtown. Moore by Four is a jazz quartet
that has formed a large following within the Twin Cities, frequenting the
Dakota Jazz Club and other high-end performances spaces while selling out
tickets. Although the group hadn’t performed together in more than a year, they
came together to inspire the Twin Cities community to get involved in the black
arts scene. Whether or not this effort was effective is up to the audience to
decide.
Walking to
the Landmark Center in the lush, ritzy atmosphere of St. Paul’s downtown, I
couldn’t help but notice how empty the streets were. Surrounded by old-school
wealth presented in structures like the St. Paul Hotel, The Habadashery Men’s
store, and Pazza Luna, the vibe of the concert made me assume I would be in the
company of a slightly upper-class, older audience, but a part of me hoped I
would see a few who were attending for a dose of culture, maybe those who
wouldn’t usually be able to afford tickets to a jazz show with the talent of
Moore by Four. Shuffling to the basement of the decorated Landmark Center, we
found our way to the Weyerhaeuser Auditorium, a 260-seat theater located in the
back corner of the building’s basement. Three white women over the age of 60
greeted me before handing me a survey and a wristband and thanked me
extensively for attending. As I hung up my coat on a half filled rack, I
overheard them discussing the spread of the audience within the theater and how
it was beneficial in making it look like more people were attending than there
actually was. I noticed the point they were making as I walked to my seat, the
room was half full containing mainly well dressed couples over the age of 55
and almost all appearing to be white. I took a glance at my survey and noticed
the information they were trying to gather; how did you hear about the event,
what would you like to see from us in the future, what gender are you, and how
old are you? Beneath the last question were boxes to check off the
participant’s age group, with the youngest group being 25-30. At ages 20 and 22
this took my friend and I by surprise at first, we weren’t sure how we fit in
with the rest of the audience and we almost got the feeling that we had to be
overly cautious of our actions and discussions, in this way it almost felt like
we were feeling a small amount of culture shock due to the gap in age. We tried
to figure out why we were not even allocated an age group box on the survey,
but as the concert progressed it soon became clear why.
One of the
St. Paul Library’s directors appeared, giving a brief introduction to Black
History Month, mentioning the group’s fame around the Twin Cities area but not
necessarily mentioning anything about the inclusion of jazz in black culture as
I expected before introducing Moore by Four. The band consisted of two black
women, one white woman, and one black man, with a black piano player, all
around the ages of 50-60. It was obvious from the start who the lead singers
were within the group. The man, Dennis Spears danced onto the stage showing the
most confidence of any of the members, followed by the most flashy dressed
woman, Yolanda Bruce, who had on a black ensemble with gold heeled boots
that posed as a the most notable cultural artifact, telling the audience she
wanted the spotlight and that we would definitely take notice of her during the
concert. The nonverbal expressions of the group varied throughout the
performance. At the start the group looked as though they felt uncomfortable,
nervous, which was evidence of their story of not performing together for a few
years. As the show went on the vibe of the jazz music seemed to relax the
performers and in turn it began to play into their nonverbal movements. Then Yolanda complimented her zigzag scat singing with her snapping patterns and hand
motions, moving her hands up and down as her voice went up and down the musical
scale, further emphasizing the passion that Jazz is originally meant to
express, the words don’t matter, as long as the audience is able to feel and
connect with the emotions behind them.
Dennis
Spears, the male vocalist must not have been fully aware of his nonverbal
expressions as they tended to distract the audience more than add to anything
he was singing. During his performing time he appeared connected with the music
and the audience, playing off our cheering levels to excite us or lead us into
the next song with snaps and clapping, but when others stepped forward to share
the spotlight he appeared to be in his own world. He would cross his arms and
look behind the curtain at side stage, he would rock back and forth offbeat
with the rhythm of the music, and at one point he walked completely off stage
and distracted other members of his group as they stared confused at his
direction. I think in this we see the group dynamic coming into play, the only
male in the group wanted to assert his dominance, trying to keep the power
distance large while lacking a connection with an audience that is atypical to
his usual packed house, jazz aficionado crowd.
Halfway
through the show an interesting shift occurred within the sound levels of
group. The white woman, Connie Evinston petite and quiet for most of the show,
stepped forward to explain the meaning behind the “Scat” technique the group
had been using. She gave a brief, structured definition, using Louis Armstrong
as an example and telling the audience it was he who had influenced the group
most strongly in truly feeling the music. For the rest of the show it was
noticeable that although she was not the strongest singer, her microphone was
turned up the highest. As an audience member who was looking critically and
analytically at the performance in order to write this report, this part of the
night struck me as very odd. In honor of Black History Month, I was hoping to
see a performance that would connect one culture to another through the
mutually respected medium of music. Instead it seemed like a regular concert,
no goal of intercultural communication, just the enjoyment of art. The fact
that the only white member of the group was the only one to speak about the
history of jazz and the integration of culture within the music felt weird,
almost like if I tried to describe the history of hip hop, I enjoy it and I try
my best to understand the cultural meanings and values behind it, but the central
cultural connection is just not there. I wish there would have been more talk
about what jazz meant to the black members of the group in regard to their
culture, or even just more talk about the components of jazz and how they come
together in artistic expression. I felt if this would have been incorporated
into the show, it would have made it a truly educational experience for the
members of the audience like the St. Paul Library presented it to be.
As mentioned
earlier, I felt critical of the Connie Evinston's microphone being turned up louder
than all the other members, even though she was still more of a background
singer than the lead. This could’ve been a mistake on the sound engineer’s
part, but based on the reactions of my friend and audience members around us
after the show, it was definitely noticeable. While talking with a few of the
50+ white women behind us, they mentioned that they also expected a bit more
from the concert than what we received. One of the women said, “I saw on the
library’s website this was supposed to be an educational experience based on
jazz and black culture, if I wanted to just hear them play their hit songs I
just would’ve gone to the Dakota [Jazz Club] like I always have.” I felt a bit
over analytical in my speculation but I wondered after the concert was over if
this was the St. Paul Library’s way of making Black History Month more
approachable. Since this event was marketed in a way that felt welcoming to all
cultures, the ultimate goal may have not been to go in depth to the utilization
of jazz in African American culture, but instead to make a historically African
American musical medium available and understandable to a more diverse
audience. It could have been assumed by the marketing team that by turning up
the vocals of the white woman, the songs could have been made more relatable
for the main crowd in the audience, older white women.
It was
noticeable that this wasn’t an event that hoped to gain a lot of attention in
the area as there was little to no media coverage of the event. Looking online
before the show I was able to see a small article on the KARE 11, St. Paul
Library, and Dakota Jazz Club websites but saw no media representatives at the
event itself. The most documentation was provided by the audience, with
iPhones, cameras, and camcorders present throughout the show.
If I could
do this assignment over I would most likely go to an event that incorporated a
culture that has less of a presence in the Twin Cities area. Although black
culture is still within the minority of Minneapolis and St. Paul, it is a
culture that has been incorporated more and more in the last fifty years. It
would be interesting to contrast this event with something directed at a
specific cultural group-such as the Year of the Snake Tet Festival or the Rusin
Festival and Fair. I wonder if I would experience some of the culture shock we
have read about in our textbook or even be able to use the generic assessment
tool of the staircase model outside of something that I am already exposed to
such as age or gender. I feel like placing myself in a situation like this would
be an excellent way to assess the intercultural communication skills that I
assume I have but have never quite had to use.
Dennis Spears, Yolanda Bruce, Connie Evinston, and Ginger Commodore
The ad on the St. Paul Library's Website
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