Happy Birthday to Pavielle
I want to send a birthday shout out to Pavielle. There’s a good chance if you are reading this blog you know who Pavielle is. She has been a part of the Twin Cities music scene for years and for as long I’ve known her I’ve recognized her as one of the real talents our cities have to offer. She has made masterful albums, put on incredible shows and broken boundaries in collaborations with artists and with arts institutions. I had the honor of interviewing her at the Current a couple of times and we’ve shared bills a couple of times. (Once, there was a TPT supported show at Vieux Carre and she “opened” for Heiruspecs, blew us off the stage and I believe won an Emmy for her efforts, here’s her episode). Lately, we’ve been brushing shoulders a lot more because she does a show on Fridays on Jazz88 from 9-11pm (she uses the nom de plume Lady Luca but’s its the Pavielle vibe through and through). Today is her birthday, she’s a Scorpio, I can’t wait to listen the show tonight. You can listen here during the show or afterwards on-demand. She’s releasing some new music and new visuals today and she asked her friends to share online. She didn’t ask us to say anything nice about her with the posting but I’m going to do that too.
A lot of people who feel a lot about music don’t necessarily excel at knowing the “liner notes” side of the music. They can emote, but they can’t rattle off the engineer on a record or which orchestra did the strings on the remix. In the vice-versa column: a lot of people who know liner notes inside and out can’t actually share a feeling about the music. They can tell you what gauge strings the guitar player was using, but they can’t write/say/share something that brings you deeper inside the music in a soulful way. Pavielle can do both and it’s stunning. I remember riding the elevator with Pavielle years ago and she rattled off some relatively deep information about Johnny Otis. Did I know who Johnny Otis was? Yes. Did I know who Shuggie Otis was? Yes. Did I know Johnny was Shuggie’s daddy? No. Did I know Johnny played key roles in the development of r&b? Absolutely not. Did Pavielle? Yes. But she gave me that knowledge with the spirit of someone who just wanted people to know the stories, to dive deeper and come back with stories of their own.
In her almost year doing a show at Jazz88, our conversations haven’t been exclusively about music. We talk radio, we talk St. Paul, we talk life, we talk race, we talk relationships, we talk business and of course we just talk. During that time I’ve learned that Pavielle is a north star. She’s principled, she’s passionate and she cares about how she shows up in the world. She has strong ethics which is a rarity period and even in shorter supply in many corners of the music world. And the two most inspiring things to me I’ve learned about Pavielle this year:
She has humble, hungry ears. She listens to an incredible amount of blues music to offer up a great program on Jazz88 and that effort is clear in every episode. If I knew as much as Pavielle did, I might think I didn’t need to learn much more. But she’s not wired that way.
She cares for the world and takes self-care seriously. When she needs it, she takes a week off, when she needs it, she does something to take care of herself and hit the reset button. She vacations, she enjoys awesome food. She lives her life right. I think this actually amplifies her ability to care for others. I admire it.
I didn’t learn it this year, I already knew it, but Pavielle is a pioneer in the music scene here in the Twin Cities. She has undertaken ambitious projects and has handled the details to make sure they are presented the way she wants them to be. She has done this in a scene that is often content to play it safe, to make the safe play, to repackage the old and keep on working the same circuit. It’s something to see and I’m proud to share some of that work now. Here’s a piece of the Sovereign Suite visuals that she just released today. Give it a look and thank your lucky stars you share a city with Pavielle.