“It’s sound-art, both word and song, performed in the moment, playful, moving and surprising.” –Steve Blons, Soul Café 

Brad Holden, Laura Caviani and Steve Blons © Andrea Canter

The merging of jazz with poetry and spiritual passions has an extensive history. From Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concerts to Coltrane’s Love Supreme to the many weekly jazz services at local churches, from the rich gospel heritage that spawned generations of great jazz artists from Nat King Cole to Cyrus Chestnut, jazz has been a natural medium of religious expression. And the merger of jazz and poetry has similarly been explored, from the presentations of the late Steve Lacy to Fred Hersch’s Leaves of Grass to Patricia Barber’s recent reinvention of Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Mythologies), and locally from Prudence Johnson’s Millay Project to the weekly open poetry night at St. Paul’s Artists Quarter. And for the past five years in the Twin Cities, jazz, poetry and spirit have found a very successful partnership through Soul Café, a project originally funded by the Hennepin Foundation of the Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church.

Without bass or drum, the musical challenge for the trio has been to generate –or at least imply—the pulse. Sometimes the trio has featured a guest artist, but otherwise the three musicians have carried the groove, always seeking new territory to explore. Says Blons, “We began experimenting with two-part and three-part improvisation, with dropping out to leave just a duo or a solo voice.  We rehearse very little and play mostly new material each time, so our interpretations and choices are very fresh.  We enjoy the risk and adventure of this kind of music.”

Poetry reading © Andrea Canter

The Musicians

Soul Café’s leader, Steve Blons (aka Dr. Jazz), grew up around jazz as the son of Twin Cities’ Dixieland musician Harry Blons. Gigging around town as a teenage guitarist, Blons pursued other career directions, and worked in higher education, adoption, and conference center management before turning to fulltime music about ten years ago. Blons and Michele Jansen co-hosted Jazz and the Spirit for several years on KBEM radio.

Laura Caviani is one of the area’s busiest jazz performers, composers, and educators. Her formal education included degrees from Lawrence University in Appleton, WI and the University of Michigan; study in Japan at the Akiyoshidai International Art Village; and a grant to study with another highly inventive pianist, Joanne Brackeen. She has toured with Toots Theilemans, Bob Mintzer, Dave Liebman, and Karrin Allyson; has released four acclaimed recordings as well as appearing on a long list of CDs of local musicians; and teaches at Carleton and St. Olaf Colleges in Northfield, MN. In addition to her work with her own ensembles, she appears regularly with the Pete Whitman X-Tet and has recently presented the works of Mary Lou Williams and Alec Wilder. Of her involvement in Soul Café, she says, “I’ve enjoyed focusing on a poem as we play a standard or a free piece…I love Steve and Brad's positive energy and their willingness to collaborate and especially their willingness to take risks.” 

Alto saxman and Fergus Falls, MN native Brad Holden first became interested in the saxophone after attending a junior high jazz band concert at age ten. Today he notes that “for the last twenty-eight years, the alto saxophone has been at times both my best friend and my worst enemy.”  Studying at the University of Minnesota where he played in jazz ensembles, Holden worked for a while playing on street corners of New Orleans. Returning to Minneapolis, he played professionally around town and studied with local legend Eddie Berger. His local gigs have ranged from solos on the rooftop of the old Loring Cafe to the Twin Cities Jazz Orchestra Big Band. His current projects include Lineup, which features the music of Lennie Tristano, Lee Konitz, and Warne Marsh, and of course, Soul Café. Of his bandmates, Holden says “Their ears are always open and ready to follow or lead.” 

One of the underlying joys of an evening with Soul Café has been the involvement of musicians and their audience, whom Blons notes have been “our partners, whose listening created the space and whose readings created the Yin for our Yang.” The set begins at 7 pm."Come ready to rattle your cage," says Blons.

Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church is located at Lyndale and Groveland near the I-94 Lyndale exit off Loring Park in Minneapolis; information at 612-871-5303. Donation of $10 suggested. Click here for a more detailed article about Soul Café!; see Jazz Police review of the CD, The Poetry of Jazz. Soul Cafe is made possible by a grant from the Hennepin Church Foundation.

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