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The 2004 RFT Music Awards

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The nominees in the Best R&B category of the 2004 RFT Music Awards represented something of a dichotomy -- call it "old school" and "new school," or "youth" and "maturity," if you prefer. Youth was embodied in last year's category-winner Coultrain and the group Soul Tyde, while the old school was well represented by soulful divas Renee Smith, Kim Massie and Fontella Bass. Collectively, there was enough vocal power among the nominees to move mountains, providing a welcome affirmation that St. Louis' great tradition of gospel-influenced soul singing is alive and thriving.

One would hope that none of the other nominees would feel too bad about Ms. Bass' victory in this year's poll, given her distinguished history, worldwide reputation and instantly recognizable hit record, "Rescue Me." A St. Louis native and daughter of gospel great Martha Bass, she was immersed in gospel music at home and in church while growing up and learned the blues in her late teens as a pianist with Little Milton and Oliver Sain. Bass lived in Chicago during her hit-making days of the '60s, later moving to Europe with her husband, the late jazz-trumpeter Lester Bowie (another St. Louisan and a member of the famed avant-jazz group, the Art Ensemble of Chicago). Eventually she returned to St. Louis to raise her children, retiring from the music scene for a spell. Bass began performing and recording again during the late '80s, at first sticking to gospel -- the Grammy-nominated 1995 release No Ways Tired is a fine example -- and later adding jazz, soul and other forms of secular music back into the mix, as on 2001's Travellin' (also nominated for a Grammy).

Bass' current project, the Voices of St. Louis, is something of a family affair, as it includes brother David Peaston on vocals, son-in-law Tracy Mitchell on guitar and son Bonhamous Bowie on keyboards, as well as several other first-rate musicians from the Gateway City. It's an ambitious ensemble that aims to showcase Bass' vision of many diverse styles -- including soul, jazz, blues and gospel -- in one versatile group. Though her St. Louis concert appearances have been infrequent, Bass and the Voices have found plenty of interest and touring work in France, Italy, Turkey and other exotic locales.

"Even if I could retire, I don't think I ever would," Bass told the Riverfront Times in an interview last year. "Music keeps me going."

Let's hope she keeps going for a good while yet. Judging from this year's poll results, there are lots of St. Louis music fans who are looking forward to hearing much more from Fontella Bass. -- Dean C. Minderman

Best Rock & Roll

Chuck Berry

So it wasn't a fair fight. Putting Chuck Berry on the RFT Music Awards ballot was like nominating Thomas Jefferson for comptroller, auditioning Maria Callas for American Idol or sneaking Barry Bonds into the clean-up spot on your softball team. Yes, Charles Edward Anderson Berry cleaned up this year, even though the dude needs another affirmation of his talent like God needs a gift basket on Christmas. But send a little thank-you note to God anyway, because He or She gave us Chuck, and Chuck gave us rock & roll.

And not just the sound and the shape of it. Like Elvis, Berry wanted everything -- the money, the cars, the women, the fame, the power, the freedom -- and he established the conditions that made such boundless desires possible. He was urban, hip and smart as hell, a black man who disarmed a young, white audience with his wit and imagination. They made him a millionaire and he gave them a reason to live like they had never lived before.

How did he do it? By rocking. In the early '50s, honky-tonkers and upstart rockabillies had been cashing in on the riffs and the words of the blues, so Chuck repossessed the whole bank. His guitar still sounded country, but eagerly over-amped and welded to a sped-up rhythm & blues beat; his riffs had to be agile, quick and singular. Check the guitar on "School Days" or "Johnny B. Goode." The quick, sweet-toned chord bursts, then that rare bend, then back to the same bursting -- any competent guitarist, you'd think, could play it. Still, no one had before Berry (and, lest we forget, Johnnie Johnson, who certainly co-sired many of those riffs). No one had even imagined a guitar style so irresistible, so tingling, so fun. Berry dared you to deny the pure pleasure of the sound. In response you could only echo the command he gave you: "Go! Go! Go!"

As a lyricist Berry defined just how flexible and fecund a sub-three-minute song could be. He gave us absurd signifying ("Too Much Monkey Business" and "Nadine"), history-rich allegories ("Promised Land" and "Going Back to Memphis") and narrative epics ("Maybellene" and "Johnny B. Goode"). Songs such as "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" predicted "Respect" and "Dancing in the Streets," the double-edged freedom songs of civil rights-era soul music. And his crazy flow is the very essence of rap: "They furnished off an apartment with a two-room Roebuck sale/The coolerator was crammed with TV dinners and ginger ale."

The RFT Music Awards are supposed to be about community, right? If such a community has a meaning beyond a couple dozen bands that share gigs and swap gear, it's because Chuck Berry tore up racial, class and geographic divisions at a time when doing so was all but unthinkable. It's true that Berry has long outlived his glory, that he hasn't put out a record of new material in 25 years, that his monthly live shows can be sluggish and disheartening. Yes, the man has outlived his glory days and may never write another song, but his musical glory still sustains us and still rocks us -- any old way you choose it. -- Roy Kasten

Best Rockabilly/surf/ instrumental

Trip Daddys

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