West Virginia native Jess Baldwin’s new EP Anima explores themes of finding her own original inner voice after years of self-repression.
“Home is where one starts from.” ~TS Eliot
Anima, from the Latin meaning “spirit,” is an apt title for the journey Jess Baldwin has taken to find her personal musical expression.
It may seem odd in this age of social media sharing saturation that a musician would struggle with personal expression and yet this is exactly what happened to the Bluefield native.
Growing up in a family where religious observance was taught and strictly practiced (the family was in church four times a week), as a child she felt that her own feelings or thoughts were not as important as “the word of God, God’s will” and therefore were not expressed, but suppressed for fear that she was being “selfish.”
To compound this feeling, mental illness in the family made her feel a personal responsibility to “help the family be OK as much as possible.” She says that there was not an overt “you’re not allowed to have something to say,” but this was her interpretation within the family dynamic.
In her twenties, her inner voice began to emerge. First by joining bands, playing covers and then taking interest in arranging (a re-harmonization of Somewhere Over the Rainbow can be found here) and eventually songwriting.
Anima is her new EP where six original tracks highlight her jazzy, soulful with a touch of pop songwriting style. The moods vary from quiet and reflective to joyous bursts of anthem-like choruses, but it is her tender, warm and expressive voice that draws us in. (Mountain Stage’s Ryan Kennedy is the guitarist on this album.)
To be sure, Jess Baldwin has made a journey of self-discovery and has come out confident, in full color with all of her wildness intact.
StoryCorps recently visited Charleston, West Virginia to help over 100 people record their stories. One of the conversations recorded was between Mountain Stage Host Larry Groce and jazz musician Bob Thompson. Thompson grew up in New York City, but moved to West Virginia in the 60s to attend college at West Virginia State.
Since 1991, Bob Thompson has played piano on Mountain Stage. In October 2015, Bob Thompson was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.
Bob makes his home in Charleston, West Virginia and has enjoyed a long and active career as a performer, composer, arranger, and educator.
When he arrived by bus to Charleston for the first time in 1960, he faced one incident of racial discrimination. He asked to eat lunch at a business called the Chuck Wagon, and they told him they could serve him, but he couldn’t eat it in the restaurant; he had to take his food and eat it outside.
From there, he said his experience in West Virginia was much better, and at West Virginia State University he met great mentors, who taught him to play music, both in and out of the classroom. At that time, there was a place in Charleston that used to be called the Triangle District, where many African-American owned businesses and nightclubs once thrived. “It was a very vibrant community,” said Thompson.
One night, a professor took him to an after-hours club called, The Crazy Horse, which was on the West Side of Charleston. “There were jam sessions there that went on all night.” Local musicians played with musicians who came through town. “So there was a constant flow of great players. As always, music brought all kinds of people together. You know, young, old, black, white. And that was what was great about it. Plus the willingness of everyone to help you. There was a piano player. And if I thought I knew a song I’d say, ‘can I sit in?’ He’d stand beside me and call out the chord changes to me. And when he felt like I had it he’d say ‘ok kid you got it,’ and he’d go sit down.”
“At that time, liquor by the drink was illegal in West Virginia. It was actually a big house, and there was a big gate, and you went up and you rang the buzzer. Somebody looked out of a window upstairs, and then they buzzed you in. And the club was on the second floor.”
Thompson recalls the music scene in Charleston drastically changed when many of these after-hours clubs were closed down. Many of the businesses in the Triangle District were replaced by urban development in the 1960s and 70s. “But a lot of us just moved into the other clubs. So it was always fun. The thing about it is that the musicians, both black and white, all played together. You know, in other cities I know they had separate musicians unions. But not in Charleston. Musicians were always together. I took it for granted until I saw what was happening in other places.”
Eventually, Thompson decided to stay in West Virginia, instead of returning permanently to New York City. “I was kind of torn, in-between. I liked it here.”
He said the thing that really convinced him to stay was the people. “The friendliness of people, the openness of people. You know, when I first came here, I would walk down Capitol Street, and somebody would pass me and say ‘Hi’. And I was like, ok, what kind of game is this? We didn’t have this in New York. What’s ‘Hi’?”
Thompson recalled another story when he was playing at a ski resort in West Virginia. “And I had a problem with my vehicle. And I drove into Elkins, and I drove into this garage. And I went into Red Stalnaker’s Garage, and he told me what the problem was, and at that time I had this credit card. And he said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m not set up to accept that.’ And I didn’t have a checkbook or anything, so I started out the door. And he came out and got me and said, ‘Hey, but I’ll fix your truck.’ And he fixed it and said, ‘wherever you get where you’re going, send me a check. Now, he didn’t ask my name, where I was from, where I was going, nothing. Just ‘wherever you get where you’re going, send me a check.’”
Happy Retreat is a historic mansion in Charles Town that was once the home of Charles Washington – founder of Charles Town and brother to the nation’s first president. Today, the house is becoming a hub for public events, community outreach, history and tourism.
On a hot Saturday afternoon in June, hundreds of locals and out of town tourists stop by a historic mansion in Charles Town, West Virginia known as Happy Retreat.
They’re here for a day of wine and jazz out on the back lawn.
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
A volunteer serves wine to a man attending the Happy Retreat Wine and Jazz Festival on June 9, 2018.
Inside the Happy Retreat mansion, visitors explore the first floor taking in the historic rooms.
This house was built in the 1780s by George Washington’s youngest brother, Charles Washington – the founder of Charles Town. It was his home until he died. For more than 200 years, Happy Retreat was a private residence, but then in 2006, the owners at the time were elderly, and the future of the house was unclear.
That same year, a group of locals formed a nonprofit group called “Friends of Happy Retreat” to restore and protect the mansion — and boost tourism for the area, too. Nine years later, the group purchased the home and began holding events on the property.
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
A portrait of Charles Washington, founder of Charles Town, W.Va., hangs on the wall of one of the first floor rooms in the Happy Retreat mansion.
“Friends of Happy Retreat” do charge tickets to attend their events and festivals, but everyone involved in putting those events together are volunteers, and all the proceeds go to further restoring the house.
Stephanie Somers was born and raised in Charles Town. She says she’s glad to see the direction the mansion is taking and was excited to come out for the wine and jazz festival.
“By opening places like this up to the public, you’re inviting them in, and you’re; maybe by them coming in, they develop this sense of personal ownership of it; this is a part of my community,” Somers said, “and by developing that sense of ownership, they’re gonna care a lot more about it, and it’s going to be so much easier to preserve and maintain these places forever.”
Another festival-attendee, Evan Clark, is a resident from Winchester, Virginia. He crossed state lines just to attend the event. He says bringing people out to the mansion in this way will help keep the history alive.
“I’m embarrassed to say; I used to be a history teacher, and I didn’t know that George Washington’s brother lived here,” Clark said, “so this type of pairing; you know, wine and jazz festival, brings people to the venue and allows us to learn the history, and then understand also that it costs a lot of money, so maybe they’ll come for a tour, maybe they’ll become a donor or benefactor, and we can preserve that history by exposing more people to it. So, I think this is just a wonderful pairing.”
It’s for exactly those reasons, Charles Town resident Walter Washington wanted to turn Happy Retreat into what it is today – a historic landmark that draws visitors through community events.
“It was important to have a place in town that could really be; that would draw; a place for heritage tourism,” Washington said.
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Walter Washington, descendant of George Washington’s brother, Samuel Washington. Walter is the President of the nonprofit, “Friends of Happy Retreat.”
Fun fact about Walter — he’s actually a direct descendant of George Washington’s other brother, Samuel. Walter’s responsible for starting that nonprofit we mentioned, “Friends of Happy Retreat,” to ensure the mansion’s survival.
“You know, we have the courthouse of course where John Brown was tried, and that’s a hugely important historical structure,” Washington noted, “but this goes back to, you know, the 1780s, and there was no place in Charles Town that really told that story; the story of the early part of town.”
Rather than turn the house into a museum, Walter wanted to bring the place to life by incorporating its history into fun events like wine and jazz, book talks, craft beer festivals, and chamber music concerts.
Walter says by making this historic spot a vibrant and exciting place to visit, he hopes it will enrich the community and help increase tourism for the entire state.
“Jefferson County is really the eastern gateway to West Virginia,” he said, “I mean, we have all of the, I don’t know how many million people live in the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan areas, with all the suburbs of the surrounding counties, and so this is really the gateway to West Virginia for those people. I mean, they come to Harpers Ferry, but that’s; Harpers Ferry is the very eastern tip of the whole state, and so if we can draw them in this way, a little further, we can tell more stories that way.”
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
A potted flower sits in a window of the Happy Retreat mansion. Outside is the back lawn of the house. A temporary stage has been built for the Wine and Jazz Festival on June 9, 2018.
There’s something special about putting yourself in a historic space while listening to music or a guest speaker at the same time, that’s according to Director of the Happy Retreat Wine and Jazz Festival Fiona Harrison.
“I’m from the west coast, you know, we don’t have old buildings like this; we have different sets of history; we have Mexican explorers and the pueblos and the missions and stuff,” Harrison explained, “but to have an old building like this where former presidents have sat and met and probably had dinner and conducted business, it’s, I think the community is missing out if they don’t know that, that sort of thing happened here.”
In the fall, Happy Retreat will host a Craft Beer and Music Festival.
Jazz singer Ann Baker was born on August 21, 1915. She got her start performing in Pittsburgh jazz clubs and made her Broadway debut with Louis Armstrong’s band in the early 1940s.
She later joined the bands of Lionel Hampton and Count Basie.
In 1946, she landed her signature gig, replacing Sarah Vaughan in Billy Eckstine’s band, which included, at different times, jazz legends Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Art Blakey, and Dexter Gordon.
As big bands faded from popularity in the late 1940s, Baker retired and married Charleston tennis star and restaurateur Delaney “Wag” Wagner, who owned a downtown Charleston hot spot. Baker began to perform in Charleston with local combos like The Earl Tate Trio, The Francis Taylor Trio, and the Billy J Trio. She and her husband also started The Shalamar club, where Baker sat in with a succession of big names from Nat King Cole to Errol Garner.
Before integration, the Shalamar attracted Charleston’s elite. In her 70s, Baker became a regular at the West Virginia Jazz Festival and performed several times on Mountain Stage.
“Keep on pickin'”– That’s one of the many mantras of legendary composer, conductor, and performer David Amram. He used that mantra when sending out his composition portfolio to job prospects. Several times that portfolio was returned to him unopened, so he simply changed the address on the package and sent it out again. In 1966, however, his portfolio caught the attention of another legendary composer and performer, Leonard Bernstein, and he received the position of composer-in-residence with the New York Philharmonic.
Before that, Amram had written lush and beautiful scores to films such as The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and Splendor in the Grass (1960), so it was no wonder that he would ascend to the lofty position of composer-in-residence.
Amram is also an incredible instrumentalist, being one of the first people to pioneer Jazz French Horn and an incredible piano player. Amram will show off his talents on the Mountain Stage Radio Show on Sunday, July 23rd at the Culture Center in Charleston. The show begins at 7 PM. Amram will perform songs such as Woody Guthrie’s “Pastures a plenty” and Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” on piano with the Mountain Stage Band backing him.
With a combination of local and national programs, pianist Bob Thompson’s “Joy to the World” once again takes center stage. The producers of “Mountain Stage with Larry Groce” celebrate this 23-year tradition with jazz arrangements of holiday favorites new and old, featuring special guest vocalist Lena Seikaly. This year’s episode premieres Monday, December 19th at 9pm, with several repeats scheduled. A Joy to the World mini-marathon is also planned for overnights during the Christmas weekend.
Local productions during the season include specials with The West Virginia Symphony Orchestra and The Appalachian Children’s Chorus, as well as the unveiling of 2016’s Inspiring West Virginians.
