On the heels of the near-universally lauded second iteration of Grand Center's Music at the Intersection festival, organizers have a clear guiding principle moving into the event's third outing: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
It's an understandable position. The fledgling fest, focused on the blurred boundaries between jazz, blues, R&B, soul and hip-hop — and specifically, St. Louis' numerous contributions to those genres' influence on generations of popular music — proved itself capable of flight in its second year. More than 50 acts converged on four stages within a well-plotted festival footprint in Midtown for last September's two-day affair, bringing out more than 8,000 music fans for a weekend of breezy festival fun. In the weeks following the event, the city buzzed about the hit it turned out to be, an all-too-rare celebration of St. Louis that actually brought large crowds to parts of the city where tall buildings can be found. Since it was a winner by nearly every measure, why would you mess with success?
According to Chris Hansen, executive director of the Kranzberg Arts Foundation, which organizes the fest, you wouldn't.
"We're going to do more of the same," he says, reached by phone in early August. "We're going to bring great people of all walks of life together in the streets of St. Louis. And we're going to make sure to just accentuate all the positives from last year, you know, more.
"We're not making too many tweaks," he adds, "because we heard and listened to the feedback, and we're trying to deliver another great festival."
Barring the unforeseen, that shouldn't be a problem. The September 9 through 10 affair has once again delivered in the booking department, with the likes of Smino, Herbie Hancock, Masego and Thundercat grabbing top billing, and such luminaries as Tank and the Bangas, Grandmaster Flash, Rayvn Lenae, Pharoahe Monch, the Bad Plus and more appearing in the flyer's smaller print. St. Louis' stellar musical talent is prominently present on the lineup as well, with a roster of scene stalwarts including Sir Eddie C, Alexis Tucci, Blvck Spvde & the Cosmos, Marquise Knox, Root Mod and more.
"Top down, St. Louis is well-represented," Hansen says. "So many St. Louis greats — great jazz, great hip-hop, great R&B, great soul and our great blues giants. St. Louis will be on every stage, all day long."
While there are no major changes for the third year of the festival, Hansen says organizers are making small tweaks to further enhance the things that have already been working. The DJ stage, which felt a little secondary to the other three stages last year, will be beefed up. "We want our DJs to really be honored and featured," Hansen says. Additionally, the festival will better incorporate the grassy areas within its footprint.
While he is careful to note that trying to grow the fest too fast could bring complications that would harm the overall experience, Hansen says that incremental growth is a big part of the overarching goals for Music at the Intersection, and he expects to see bigger crowds this year. Whereas last year brought in somewhere between 4,500 and 5,000 people per day, he says they are anticipating 7,500 per day this year. In keeping, they've made some small changes to the festival's layout in order to address pinch points and prevent bottlenecks.
"We're just carefully growing, understanding the limitations of our footprint, making sure that we have the type of security and infrastructure in place, and that we've done it enough times that we understand what we're doing before we take that next step," he says.
When all is said and done, Hansen says the key measures of success would involve a diversity of those in attendance. He also wants the St. Louis artists who are performing to leave the show with a sense that their careers have been taken to the next level. He wants the people of St. Louis, as well as the civic entities that approved the festival, to feel good about what it brings to the city. Most of all, he wants to see it elevate St. Louis as a whole.
"Our goal for this festival is for it to be civically rooted and generationally connected, both in the people that are coming and also the long-term standing of it," Hansen says. "Our goal is to look back in 50 years and say, 'Look at this.' ... And always be tied to our musical legacy and our culture as a region.
"That's success for us," he adds. "A generational event, rooted in our 'why,' rooted in our footprint on the American Songbook — and a festival you can only get if you come to St. Louis."
In anticipation of the big weekend, we asked Hansen to share with us some of the artists he's most excited for on this year's lineup. Read on for just a few of those thoughts, as well as some of our own picks for must-see acts on the bill.
Smino
9:30 p.m. Saturday, Washington Avenue stage
St. Louis native Smino may have shipped off to Chicago for college before becoming a breakout hip-hop and R&B star with 2017's critically acclaimed blkswn, but he's always repped his hometown roots, consistently insisting that he is a St. Louis artist, not a Windy City one. His annual holiday Kribmas shows are packed affairs that highlight his love for the city that raised him. Since appearing on the national scene, the rapper has collaborated with the likes of JID, Ari Lennox, Chance the Rapper, SiR, Doja Cat, J. Cole, Lil Uzi Vert and countless others. "We're super excited to be able to welcome Smino back home, to just put him in front of this amazing audience and put him on that stage representing St. Louis that he deserves to be on," Hansen says.
Peter Martin ft. Dianne Reeves
5:15 p.m. Saturday, Big Top stage
In the years since St. Louis' Peter Martin took home second place in 1993's Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition, the acclaimed pianist has criss-crossed the world, bringing his singular talent to six continents while performing alongside the likes of Wynton Marsalis, Christian McBride, Betty Carter, Joshua Redman and more. His work as jazz icon Diana Reeves' artistic director helped secure her a Grammy in 2006, and Martin went on to win one of his own in 2016. Reeves will join Martin in a celebration of their shared talents, with a bevy of musicians both local and beyond lending their skills to the set. "Peter Martin [is] one of our great pianists, who has been touring the world with jazz giants his whole life," Hansen notes. "And Dianne Reeves is going to be sitting in and featured in his ensemble of St. Louis and internationally renowned artists."
Taj Mahal
4:30 p.m. Sunday, Washington Avenue stage
Harlem-born guitar legend Taj Mahal's influence on modern blues is impossible to overstate. Widely credited as one of the first, if not the first, major blues artists to incorporate world music into his sound, Mahal approaches his work with an open mind and a keen ear for out-of-the-box influences, due in part to his studies in ethnomusicology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. An incredibly prolific artist with dozens of albums and more than 50 years of experience to his name, the multi-instrumentalist has worked with such towering icons of the form as Buddy Guy, Howlin' Wolf, Lightnin' Hopkins and Muddy Waters, and he's served as an inspiration for the likes of Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones. "After Buddy Guy retires, [Taj Mahal] is the next, you know, is the Godfather, and will be the last and oldest remaining blues icon," Hansen says.
Thundercat
8:45 p.m. Sunday, Washington Avenue stage
For most in the Music at the Intersection target audience, this little factoid might not mean much. But for the few for whom it does, it's cool as hell: Virtuoso bassist and winner of multiple Grammys Stephen Lee Bruner, better known as Thundercat, used to perform with the legendary Los Angeles crossover thrash band Suicidal Tendencies. Encouraged to join the group at only 16 by his brother, who was also a member at the time, Thundercat spent nine years whipping bandana-clad crowds into circle-pitting frenzies before striking out on a solo career in 2011. And what a career it's been. Since that time, he's collaborated frequently with fellow Brainfeeder artist Flying Lotus, including on 2017's game-changing Drunk and 2020's Grammy-winning It Is What It Is, in addition to lending his otherworldly chops to everyone from Mac Miller to Kamasi Washington to Terrace Martin to Gorillaz to Erykah Badu. His work on Kendrick Lamar's universally acclaimed 2016 album To Pimp a Butterfly secured him his first Grammy, in the category of Best Rap/Sung Performance, and his head-spinning approach to R&B and funk forms will make him an easy standout on this year's bill.
Angela Winbush
9 p.m. Saturday, Big Top stage
Angela Winbush is one of the most successful musicians to ever call St. Louis their place of birth, a towering figure of soul and R&B who has sold more than 10 million albums and singles since getting her start in 1977. Her early work with R&B duo René & Angela saw her star rise quickly, with singles "You Don't Have to Cry," "Your Smile" and "Save Your Love (For #1)" reaching the upper echelons of the Billboard R&B charts. From there, Winbush nabbed five additional top-10 R&B hits as a solo artist, while also writing and producing songs for everyone from the Isley Brothers to Sheena Easton to Lalah Hathaway to Stephanie Mills. "Having Angela Winbush perform live to a festival audience in St. Louis — I mean, her contributions to R&B over three decades have been massive, and St. Louis hasn't always given her her flowers," Hansen says. "So last year she won the Legends Award; this year she'll perform."
The Mighty Pines
2:45 p.m. Sunday, Washington Avenue stage
St. Louisans in the know weren't too surprised when Mighty Pines singer/guitarist Neil Salsich popped up on season 23 of NBC's The Voice, wowing celebrity coaches Kelly Clarkson, Chance the Rapper, Niall Horan and Blake Shelton with a soulful rendition of Hank Williams' "Honky Tonk Blues" that resulted in a rare four-chair turn. A staple in St. Louis' music community, Salsich is a founding member of the Mighty Pines, a genre-bending roots act that has been delivering rock & roll-damaged bluegrass and acoustic soul since its inception in 2012. Replete with layered harmonies, razor-sharp instrumentation and a mastery of thoughtful songwriting, the Mighty Pines effortlessly move through roots and folk forms to rock and soul jams and back again with an expert delivery that consistently leaves fans wanting more. "To have the Mighty Pines and Neil out, with everything they've been doing, is a great honor," Hansen says.
Celebrating 50 Years of Hip-Hop, curated by DJ G. Wiz
Between acts on Washington Avenue and Field stages
As the world celebrates hip-hop's 50th anniversary, a bevy of St. Louis' premier DJs will band together for a multimedia presentation tracing St. Louis' contributions to one of America's great musical art forms. Who better to lead the show than the Time Traveler G. Wiz, one of St. Louis' most respected DJs, with a career that has spanned more than four decades, perhaps most notably as the man behind the boards at KDHX's (88.1) African Alert radio show, the station's very first hip-hop program. His current Traveling at the Speed of Sound show has likewise been a standout since it debuted in 2018 on KDHX, and prior to that, he spent some seven years spinning records on WFUN (95.5 FM), pulling from multiple decades' worth of deep cuts for the finest in funk, soul, hip-hop and R&B at each post. G. Wiz will be joined on stage by fellow crate-diggers DJ Kut, DJ Sir Thurl, Charlie Chan, Fly D-Ex, She Beatz and more. "We've got a special audio/visual experience that DJ G. Wiz and a host of other DJs are going to be bringing to you from the main stage," Hansen says. "You're gonna go on an audio/visual journey of St. Louis' imprint on 50 years of hip-hop."
Grandmaster Flash
6:30 p.m. Sunday, City Wide stage
No celebration of hip-hop's history would be complete without acknowledging the artists who started it all, and few in the world can lay as strong a claim to that honor as the legendary Grandmaster Flash. A pioneering DJ who is credited as the first to use his fingers to manipulate a spinning record as a form of art, Grandmaster Flash is responsible for the very concept of the turntables as a musical instrument. He was there on the scene for the early Bronx block parties of the 1970s where hip-hop was born, and his creation of the Quick Mix Theory became the guiding principle for all DJs who were to follow in his footsteps. Simply put, the face of hip-hop would be wholly unrecognizable today were it not for his contributions to the art form, and his Sunday set will be a can't-miss affair.
Music at the Intersection takes place September 9 and 10 in Grand Center Arts District. Single tickets are from $99 to $350 and passes from $179 to $650. More info at musicattheintersection.org.
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