New guy in town eyes landscape

Working in the arts and entertainment business, I get to meet all kinds of interesting people from all walks of life. Everybody likes music of some kind.

So with all the people who work in the business and all the consumers, the playing field of social intercourse is full.

People who work in the industry are the most interesting. We're a different breed. Producers, musicians, technicians, media types, ushers, house managers, all feel the beat that comes from presenting art.

Living in even more rarefied air are the few who participate on stage and off.

They bring the passion of the performer and the prescription for perfection of the presenter. Lots of energy, lots of study, lots of work. And they make things happen.

Haunting bars, restaurants, clubs, dives, concert halls and the like for years now, pursuing good music has exposed me to a variety of types of people who are on the same quest that I am.

You get to where you can sense them.

I had that feeling when I met Steve Simon in Charleston Grill a few months ago.

I was at the bar with Jonathan Green, having a drink before meeting some other people at Charlton Singleton's performance at The Cistern for the MOJA Arts Festival.

Sitting next to each other, the three of us exchanged greetings, got to know each other a bit, finding common ground around music and art.

Jonathan and I have been prowling the Lowcountry for years, I, the writer, looking for more music, and he, the artist, looking for more art, every day, all the time.

Steve, we found out, is here from St. John, Virgin Islands. He's a businessman, working musician and presenter.

We agreed to meet again, which we've done several times. I now know he, among his many pursuits, puts on blues and jazz shows.

He likes it here. He's slowly but surely checking out the live music scene and sees opportunities to ply his entertainment craft here. He's already calling Charleston home and hasn't been here a year yet.

He strikes me as having the potential to be a major player on our music scene -- if he has time to and if he wants to. His business interests are worldwide, including music festivals in the Caribbean.

Steve has a great sense of humor. He can tell a story with the best of them. And living in his middle years, he has a wealth of experiences to draw on for interesting stories about his life, especially in show business.

He doesn't waste time.

He's booked the Charleston Music Hall for a show billed as the Charleston Blues Festival on Feb. 13. It will be headlined by the reigning blues diva, Shemekia Copeland. More on that later.

He said he's seriously eyeing contemporary jazz saxophonist Kim Waters for a gig here next spring.

I wouldn't bet against him.

The second time we talked, I found out he saw Charleston Jazz Orchestra's Latin Night show in September, where I was the host.

It was also then, at his Archdale Street office, we got to know each other better and talked about what music has meant to our lives.

He gave me a CD of a live recording of his jazz band in St. John and another of him performing with a full orchestra.

In another conversation not too long after that, I realized after talking, we were seated two people away from each other at the Boney James show in September.

Our paths have crossed in numerous ways already. We'll see what's in store.

Steve seems to know his way around the business.

He's not a bad clarinet player, either.

For the record

I missed the Jason Marsalis show at Alluette's on Dec. 5. The drummer/vibraphonist is on the road. I was told it was a really good show. By the time I heard about it, though, I had been committed to the Bela Fleck and the Flecktones show the same night at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center.

That was an amazing show. Bela, a jazz banjo avatar, led his band, which included the terrific bassist Victor Wooten, through a repertoire of mostly holiday music that comprised virtuoso technique and melodic and rhythmic ideas.

As if the quintet weren't enough, Bela brought out in the middle of the show Alash, a quartet of throat singers from Tuva in Central Asia. Throat singing is an ancient art that has a vocalist singing more than one pitch of a note at the same time.

It's a startling effect, especially when they swung with the jazz band.

Jack McCray, author of "Charleston Jazz," can be reached at jackjmccray@aol.com.