As with R&B, soul, blues and gospel, there is an extensive tradition of live jazz concerts and performances presented in North Nashville. One of the more popular and long-running contemporary series has recently returned in expanded fashion. Nashville Monday Night Jazz, or NMNJ, has returned as a weekly staple and is now available in two different venues.
Simultaneous showcases are held every Monday at both Grandpa Bar on Herman Street and at Kingdom Cafe and Grill on Jefferson Street from 7 to 10 p.m. The series, which was created by saxophonist Stefan Forbus back in 2015, is now in its fifth edition.
Forbus and Fredrick Weathersby are colleagues from the Tennessee State University music department and also the B.B. King All-Stars at Sea — the cruise-ship-based act they’ve both performed with. They began the series at North Nashville’s since-closed The Loft at Ella Jeans in 2015. The new series is part of ambitious plans Weathersby has to help revitalize the North Nashville improvisational music and arts scene.
The mission statement of Nashville Monday Night Jazz (a winner in the Scene’s 2021 Best of Nashville issue) reaffirms the community-based spirit of the events. The organizers note their goal of highlighting “the resurgence of Music City’s historic North Side corridor and its rich ethnic performance legacy,” noting that the showcase is open to “both the longtime traditional connoisseurs of ethnic jazz and people who don’t even necessarily consider themselves jazz fans.”
Kingdom Cafe and Grill
The series features a blend of vintage and traditional idiomatic elements, as well as other forms of expression. “We’ve included in our performance a mix of live visual art, hip-hop and spoken-word artists, comedy, vocalists across the board, flow arts and dramatic artists,” says Weathersby. “Men and women who represent the broad spectrum of artistic excellence in the region.”
There are different bands at the two sites. The featured band at Grandpa Bar is Mythologix, a bebop/fusion band, headed by turntablist Kelly “Top Notch” Buchanan and multi-reed instrumentalist Brandon Nicholas. The Kingdom Cafe and Grill lineup is trumpeter Weathersby and his Fredrick Weathersby Quintet, including Brother Dusty on acoustic bass, keyboardist C.H. McCoy, drummer Anyeiah Jordan and vocalist MzzKeya.
“The success of our revitalization effort is hinged upon the greater Nashville community taking part and being present,” Weathersby concludes. “The combination of gentrification and cultural resurgence is providing the diversity that we need. It represents the best of American values.”
