Singer/saxophonist Jessica Butler (daughter of Ralph) does it all
By Roscoe Crenshaw For the St. Louis American
When I telephoned Jessica Butler, the vocalist/saxophonist promised that her gig at the Atomic Cowboy would be “a lot of fun.” She didn’t disappoint. Her appearance there with the Usual Suspects alternately featured her alto sax and alto voice on vastly diverse material.
“Song For My Father,” “In A Sentimental Mood,” “It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing,” “Chain Gang, I Wanna’ Be Around,” and “Straight, No Chaser” sampled her repertoire. Then she broke out in fluent French on Edith Piaf’s “La Vie En Rose” and moved to English after the intro. On Dexter Gordon’s “Fried Bananas,” Butler’s alto sax displayed surprising force and facility on a tune usually tackled on the tenor.
Jessica cameoed her sweet vocal timbres at chosen intervals, but sustained a preference for raspy, high-decibel passages and spontaneous scatting. She continually flirted with the audience and plugged the hosting venue, encouraging healthy tipping.
When introducing Miles Davis’ “Four,” the gorgeous, zany artist asked the patio guests to “have some jazz for dinner.” On “All Blues,” her liquid vocals flashed the upper register with a touch of tenderness, but never abandoned her bluesy bellow. She nailed “In Walked Bud,” simply made “God Bless the Child” her own, and raised “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise” from a pre-dawn murmur to a deep mid-day growl.
Her version of Roy Hargrove’s “Without You” at one point exploited Craig Florez’s funky electric guitar and she threw down on Bonnie Rait’s “Love Me Like A Man,” then closed by enlisting support from the audience – some of whom were now dancing – with Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish.”
Butler attributes her talents to “genetics, definitely.” The daughter of the immensely popular singer/musician Ralph Butler, she begged her mom to let her play piano at age eight. Her grandfather paid for the lessons.
“I just kind of picked up everything that I could,” she said.
“Learned to play guitar a little bit. I played French horn a couple of years in grade school and then switched to saxophone (at age 12 or 13). It was my cousin’s – he wasn’t playing it.”
Living in Chesterfield with her mom, Butler was in choir, marching band and jazz band at Parkway Central High.
She earned an undergrad degree in French at Washington University, spent a year in Normandy, France, then returned stateside and played with a ska band she and her college friends formed, the Skalars. After touring with them, she felt unfulfilled working mundane non-musical jobs.
“I had wanderlust,” she said. “I wanted to be able to keep up with the boys in jazz.” Consequently, she sold her car and borrowed $10,000 from the bank, and migrated to Paris, where she briefly studied jazz.
As we viewed some photos I shot of her, she said, “It looks like I’m in some kind of blissful agony.” She then loosely translates the prominent tattoo displayed in ancient Mandarin Chinese on her left shoulder: “Accomplish everything without fear.”
“That was just to remind me I could live by myself in Europe,” she said.
She came back because she wasn’t happy any more “living without papers – I was under the radar.”
Returning to live with her dad for about seven months, Butler experienced culture shock. But playing as a full time member of the Ralph Butler Band “kept me really busy – reinforced how to make a show.”
The tireless spirit also plays with her own band, Linn (her middle name), and the Usual Suspects (Craig Florez, guitar; Rich Mendoza, bass; and Grover Stewart, drums).
She also manages The Royale (a diverse South Side restaurant and bar) three nights a week. Meanwhile, she plans to pursue her master’s degree in foreign languages at Lindenwood University and to teach.
She said, “I can work full time, have my summers off and go to Europe, and still play music at night.”
Jessica Butler will appear at The Royale, 3132 S. Kingshighway, from 7-9 p.m. Wednesday, July 18. Admission is free. Call 314-772-3600.
