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Raven Wolf: A profile of a musician on 9th Street
Journalist, Interrupted
"THE HAZY THOUGHTS OF A FUTURE JOURNALIST"
"THE HAZY THOUGHTS OF A FUTURE JOURNALIST"
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Ravenwolf C. Felton Jennings II is a healer, a St. Louisan, an eccentric, a performer and talented musician, and he definitely isn’t boring.
Columbians learned of Jennings when he began playing music in front of Lakota Coffee Co. and Broadway Brewery two years ago. He drives from St. Louis each Thursday to perform at Broadway Brewery, and then clocks a 14 hour day performing at Lakota, rain or shine, in the dead of winter or on the hottest summer day (his record is 102 degrees).
“My craft is developed, it’s honed, it’s polished. I can play anywhere on any stage, any time. Why not the street? People deserve to hear what good music is,” Jennings said.
“Music lifts you up and puts you in touch with who you are and the things around you,” he said.
He learned his first instrument, the flute, at the age of four, and has performed solo jazz concerts for over 17 years. He emphasizes solo.
“My frequency and the music I am sharing and bringing forward
is very different from other street musicians. There are a lot of street musicians whose level of skill is not where mine is, so it would be a mismatch,” Jennings said.
Skip DuCharme, the owner of Lakota, laughs about this attitude. “I try and honor his position, since he was one of the originals that came to play. He is very protective of his territory,” DuCharme said.
Jennings is a multi-faceted entertainer who sings, and plays the alto sax, tenor sax, piano, drums, orchestral flute, Native American flute, trumpet, clarinet, bass guitar, electric guitar, and acoustic guitar.
He is a consistent Columbia performer because he believes Lakota is home to a vortex of positive energy. He likes Lakota because of the owner, Skip, and because of its Native American name, which reminds Jennings of his own Blackfoot Indian heritage.
And it probably helps that Jennings is immensely popular amongst the surrounding business owners, and with people passing by.
“Everybody knows Ravenwolf, and Ravenwolf knows a whole lot of everybody,” Jennings said.
Jennings is a blessing to DuCharme, who has a close relationship with the performer. Jennings’ positivity, DuCharme said, draws more customers.
“It’s nice to have the positive energy,” DuCharme said. “He’s a good man with a good time and a good vibe. He’s an individual trying to make a living, like me.”
Jennings calls his music spiritual jazz because of its healing qualities.
“Channeling is allowing yourself to let these many energies to flow through you and out of you. I call it spiritual jazz because it inspires you. I put my mouth on the horn and beautiful things happen,” Jennings said.
Jennings is well acquainted with the healing power of music.
Shortly after he lost his mother, his wife died of head and neck cancer. He said he had become primary caretaker of his wife, and music was put on the back burner. When she died, he stopped playing for over a year.
“My mother got me my first flute, and she was very encouraging of my music. My wife loved my saxophone, and she would always say, “play pretty”. My mother and my wife were very connected to my music, and still are,” Jennings said.
It took a concerned friend and fellow jazz musician, Mae Wheeler, to guide Jennings back to playing.
Columbians learned of Jennings when he began playing music in front of Lakota Coffee Co. and Broadway Brewery two years ago. He drives from St. Louis each Thursday to perform at Broadway Brewery, and then clocks a 14 hour day performing at Lakota, rain or shine, in the dead of winter or on the hottest summer day (his record is 102 degrees).
“My craft is developed, it’s honed, it’s polished. I can play anywhere on any stage, any time. Why not the street? People deserve to hear what good music is,” Jennings said.
“Music lifts you up and puts you in touch with who you are and the things around you,” he said.
He learned his first instrument, the flute, at the age of four, and has performed solo jazz concerts for over 17 years. He emphasizes solo.
“My frequency and the music I am sharing and bringing forward
is very different from other street musicians. There are a lot of street musicians whose level of skill is not where mine is, so it would be a mismatch,” Jennings said.
Skip DuCharme, the owner of Lakota, laughs about this attitude. “I try and honor his position, since he was one of the originals that came to play. He is very protective of his territory,” DuCharme said.
Jennings is a multi-faceted entertainer who sings, and plays the alto sax, tenor sax, piano, drums, orchestral flute, Native American flute, trumpet, clarinet, bass guitar, electric guitar, and acoustic guitar.
He is a consistent Columbia performer because he believes Lakota is home to a vortex of positive energy. He likes Lakota because of the owner, Skip, and because of its Native American name, which reminds Jennings of his own Blackfoot Indian heritage.
And it probably helps that Jennings is immensely popular amongst the surrounding business owners, and with people passing by.
“Everybody knows Ravenwolf, and Ravenwolf knows a whole lot of everybody,” Jennings said.
Jennings is a blessing to DuCharme, who has a close relationship with the performer. Jennings’ positivity, DuCharme said, draws more customers.
“It’s nice to have the positive energy,” DuCharme said. “He’s a good man with a good time and a good vibe. He’s an individual trying to make a living, like me.”
Jennings calls his music spiritual jazz because of its healing qualities.
“Channeling is allowing yourself to let these many energies to flow through you and out of you. I call it spiritual jazz because it inspires you. I put my mouth on the horn and beautiful things happen,” Jennings said.
Jennings is well acquainted with the healing power of music.
Shortly after he lost his mother, his wife died of head and neck cancer. He said he had become primary caretaker of his wife, and music was put on the back burner. When she died, he stopped playing for over a year.
“My mother got me my first flute, and she was very encouraging of my music. My wife loved my saxophone, and she would always say, “play pretty”. My mother and my wife were very connected to my music, and still are,” Jennings said.
It took a concerned friend and fellow jazz musician, Mae Wheeler, to guide Jennings back to playing.
“She asked me why I stopped playing, and I told her, and she said it would be the one thing that would bring me back to living and life. I said, ‘But every time I play I start crying, and no one wants to listen to a cat cry to his horn.’ She said ‘Well, they may not want to sit and listen, but it’s important that you start playing,’” Jennings said.
“I’m able to do it without crying. Sometimes I cry, but not a lot,” he added.
Beneath his cool demeanor, it is clear Jennings has a nostalgic and deeply sentimental side. Whenever he performs on the street, he surrounds himself with objects of great importance in his life: a table runner that his late wife, Linda, loved, and a drum stand she gave him; artificial flowers from his grandmother’s coffin; and, a portrait a fan gave him.
Now music is his career, and Jennings has two CDs and a fledgling record label, Pug Dog Records, to show for it.
Jennings found inspiration for his 19-song second CD, “Spiritual Jazz on South 9th Street” from playing at Lakota, and it is available for purchase at pugdogrecords.com. And his growing fame in St. Louis, Columbia and Kansas City has led him across the country to perform with the Dalai Lama Orchestra in Hollywood and Brentwood, Calif.
His performances with the Dalai Lama Orchestra were exciting and life-changing experiences, Jennings said.
“I got to play a $11 thousand solid silver flute, and that was life-changing. It was kind of like I was in tune. My whole perception of sound is different now because of this instrument. There was no key noise, there was just pure tone,” he said.
Now that Jennings can focus on his music, he has re-started Pug Dog Records after he abandoned the project when his wife fell ill. The name of the project is sentimental in itself.
He named the record label after his late wife’s pug, Fred, who he credits with saving his life. When he began to fall asleep at the wheel between driving across the state for shows, Fred woke him up.
“Before that I never let him sleep in the bed, but after that he could. If he was tired, I would pick him up and carry him. I gave him whatever he wanted to eat,” Jennings said. “He saved my life.”
Despite growing fame in Missouri cities, Jennings plans on continuing to perform on the street.
“I create the melodies, the songs and everything that day, so that the jazz and the music is fresh for the people listening, as opposed to playing someone else’s music, or something that has been rehearsed for years,” Jennings said.
He added, “I choose to play on the street because this is where the people are, and music is for people. Music should not be left in the hands of professionals.”
“My spirituality allows me to see a little bit of me in everybody, so when I meet somebody, I see me in them. I don’t see any differences,” Jennings said. “I just hope they think well of me, and I hope what I do when I share music and who I am when I move through life is a benefit to their life and their spiritual growth.”
“I’m able to do it without crying. Sometimes I cry, but not a lot,” he added.
Beneath his cool demeanor, it is clear Jennings has a nostalgic and deeply sentimental side. Whenever he performs on the street, he surrounds himself with objects of great importance in his life: a table runner that his late wife, Linda, loved, and a drum stand she gave him; artificial flowers from his grandmother’s coffin; and, a portrait a fan gave him.
Now music is his career, and Jennings has two CDs and a fledgling record label, Pug Dog Records, to show for it.
Jennings found inspiration for his 19-song second CD, “Spiritual Jazz on South 9th Street” from playing at Lakota, and it is available for purchase at pugdogrecords.com. And his growing fame in St. Louis, Columbia and Kansas City has led him across the country to perform with the Dalai Lama Orchestra in Hollywood and Brentwood, Calif.
His performances with the Dalai Lama Orchestra were exciting and life-changing experiences, Jennings said.
“I got to play a $11 thousand solid silver flute, and that was life-changing. It was kind of like I was in tune. My whole perception of sound is different now because of this instrument. There was no key noise, there was just pure tone,” he said.
Now that Jennings can focus on his music, he has re-started Pug Dog Records after he abandoned the project when his wife fell ill. The name of the project is sentimental in itself.
He named the record label after his late wife’s pug, Fred, who he credits with saving his life. When he began to fall asleep at the wheel between driving across the state for shows, Fred woke him up.
“Before that I never let him sleep in the bed, but after that he could. If he was tired, I would pick him up and carry him. I gave him whatever he wanted to eat,” Jennings said. “He saved my life.”
Despite growing fame in Missouri cities, Jennings plans on continuing to perform on the street.
“I create the melodies, the songs and everything that day, so that the jazz and the music is fresh for the people listening, as opposed to playing someone else’s music, or something that has been rehearsed for years,” Jennings said.
He added, “I choose to play on the street because this is where the people are, and music is for people. Music should not be left in the hands of professionals.”
“My spirituality allows me to see a little bit of me in everybody, so when I meet somebody, I see me in them. I don’t see any differences,” Jennings said. “I just hope they think well of me, and I hope what I do when I share music and who I am when I move through life is a benefit to their life and their spiritual growth.”