Selby Avenue Jazz Fest (September 13, 2025)
The Selby Avenue Jazz Fest is in the heart of St. Paul, specifically, the Rondo neighborhood. It was founded in 2002 as a response to the one-year anniversary of 9/11. Co-founder, Michael Wright, felt a need to celebrate the good things going on in the world and in the heart of St. Paul, and he felt, “Nothing gets people together like a good old-fashioned block party.” The inaugural Jazz Fest had 600 people. There were quite a few more on Saturday.
With summer still sticking around even as leaves begin to fall, how could one pass on a block party, especially when jazz is on the menu?
The Selby Avenue Jazz Fest is in the heart of St. Paul, specifically, the Rondo neighborhood. It was founded in 2002 as a response to the one-year anniversary of 9/11. Co-founder, Michael Wright, felt a need to celebrate the good things going on in the world and in the heart of St. Paul, and he felt, “Nothing gets people together like a good old-fashioned block party.” The inaugural Jazz Fest had 600 people. There were quite a few more on Saturday.
The original intent of getting people together was evident on arrival for it seemed everybody knew everybody. I have never seen more hugs shared at a music festival and I’ve been to a few EDM concerts. The colorful clothing added to the flair to the festivities. And as a side note, I was surprised to see so many tattoos, especially on attendees who could visit the AARP booth. My favorite sighting was a guy in his 80’s, dressed like he was going to go work out at the local gym. On his left calf there was US. On his right calf MC. Hooah!
I came early to catch HEYARLO, a local group known for its lush, laid-back sound. The group is fronted by Hippo Campus member, DeCarlo Jackson on trumpet and flugelhorn. It was my third sighting this summer of Jackson who I saw playing with the Selby Avenue Brass Band at the Twin Cities Jazz Festival in June and guest-soloing with Creeping Charlie at Lake Harriet Bandshell in August.
Jackson was joined on stage by Evan Slack on guitar, Sam Rosenstone on keys and Rick Haneman on drums. Trevor Peterson was a sub on bass, but he seemed to blend right in.
It was the perfect band to listen to as the sun began to descend as they played an original “Grease” and a traditional “Soledad y el Mar.” They also played “Remembrance” which allowed Jackson to take two extended solos on flugelhorn before playing “Plumes” from their album HEYARLO, which just released in August.
The Yuko Mabuchi Trio next took the baton and continued the cool sounds with “Carribean Canvas” from Mabuchi’s 2022 album with the same name. Then it was the classic jazz standard “Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)”, which had Mabuchi doing a little singing before leaning into her piano.
From there Mabuchi demonstrated a mastery of not only the piano but multiple musical genres. There was the first song she ever wrote “Yahoo” and then off to Brazil for “So Danco Samba” by Joao Gilberto.
Mabuchi is based in Los Angeles, but she moved there from her home in Fukui, Japan. She started early at age four, practicing classical music, and she told the crowd that Mozart was her favorite. “And if he were alive today, he would be a jazz musician.” And to prove her point she did a jazzed-up version of his Piano Sonata No. 11 aka “Rondo alla Turca” which seemed the perfect song for the Rondo neighborhood.
And as Mabuchi ended with “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, she had won over the crowd as she stood and hovered over her piano to give it all she had to close the set.
As the sun began to dip into Selby Avenue, church was in session as Cory Henry & The Funk Apostles took the stage and started grooving to the funkiest “Staying Alive” I have ever heard. If John Travolta aka Tony Manero would have danced to this version he would have won any dance contest.
What do you need to know about Cory Henry other than he can play the Hammond B-3 organ. I mean PLAY! He beat Mabuchi by two years, starting the instrument at age two, then playing the Apollo Theater by age six. He’s toured with Bruce Springsteen, Michael McDonald and the Roots. He was a member of Snarky Puppy before he went out on his own with his debut album Art of Love in 2018. He’s also won three Grammy’s, his latest was for his album Church, which won Best Roots Gospel Album.
Henry has a new album out Divine Time and he kept the dancing going with “Get Lifted” which means get out of pew or lawn chair because “Dancing ain’t no sin.” And then “Just Got Paid” which Henry admitted was his favorite song. So much so he kept on singing the lyrics even after the song ended.
It was a fantastic set for not only the crowd but the band as well. “I would love to come back,” Henry said before the last song. “Hope we can have a proper sound check and play for three hours.”
Somehow an hour went by like minutes and Henry and his Apostles were having too much fun to end their last song, playing in a gospel vein, singing “It’s all over.” The song meant that the Holy Spirit was all over, but one could also infer that what was an hour of joyous music was unfortunately drawing to a close.
1 thought on “Selby Avenue Jazz Fest (September 13, 2025)”