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As she approaches 79, Jean Kittrell continues to ‘rock ‘em’ with her high energy, great Dixieland Music, building memories with 'Happy Music'

By Daniel Hines
Publisher
www.TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com

One of the pleasures of growing older is the collection of happy memories that we accumulate, memories that help us overcome and cast aside sadder memories.  

That’s why Dixieland pianist and artist Jean Kittrell is such a special person as well as a great entertainer.  Now approaching 79, this saucy, sassy lady, sometimes a ‘red-hot Mama’ has gained an international reputation and following for her high energy rendition of Dixieland music with three different groups, all of which are still playing to enthusiastic audiences.   

But, in addition to being such a great musician, Jean, who lives in the St. Louis area on the Illinois side, has another role.  She’s the one who makes those memories that those who hear and see her can call upon when thinking of a special occasion in one’s life. 

And therein lies the basis of my long-standing affection for Jean and her talented musicians—a situation she didn’t even know about until I interviewed her for this story. 

My Jean Kittrell memory involves my good friend, Steve Dickens, who died just more than a year ago from a long—very long—bout with Alzheimer’s. 

Steve was not only a great friend, but he was also a great photographer.  So, when I was assigned to prepare a party for the going public of the VP Fair in the mid-1980s, and to make it an opportunity for the company president to make a splash with his fellow Civic Progress board members, I suggested a ‘party’—a two-day party, actually, on the Robert E. Lee ‘Riverboat’ on the Mississippi Riverfront in the shadow of the Arch. 

It was a great event.  All the bigwigs from St. Louis were invited and most attended, as did several politicians from Jefferson City.  They swigged down the free drinks and I have no idea how much food they consumed.  And, they had complimentary pictures taken by my friend, Steve, whom I had hired to provide them with a memento of the Fair. 

But, the real memory for me came at the end of the activities when we were closing down and leaving the Robert E. Lee—or so we thought. 

There was a band playing Dixieland music that was the best I had heard, even better than New Orleans.  A blonde woman with a flappers-style dress was belting out music at the piano, and, of all things, there was a guy with a Sousaphone.  We had to sit down and listen and watch.  The band was Jean’s The St. Louis Rivermen, and the Sousaphone player was artist extraordinaire Red Lehr. 

And then, Red jumped up on a table to play ‘Tiger Rag’…the memory was cemented. 

The significance of all this—years later when Steve was stricken with Alzheimer’s and I would make my occasional visit to him in Central Illinois years later, he never failed, even as his other functions deteriorated to remark:

”I’m coming down to St. Louis…and we can see that band again that we saw on the boat…remember them, Dan?”

I would always respond that I looked forward to the chance to go with him and his wife, Mary Lou, to once again be with them to hear ‘that band…’

I shared this story with Jean, and she was genuinely moved. 

“That’s one of the best things about this work,” she explains.  “People are always coming up and telling me of some place they saw and heard us play, and some special memory that they had.” 

Jean’s success and talent wasn’t always so evident to everyone.  While she grew up playing piano in the Southern Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL, and she later majored in music theory at Blue Mountain College in Mississippi, she didn’t start on the road to her eventual stardom until she was 30 years old, playing in the Chesapeake Bay Jazz Band formed by her then-husband Dr. Ed Kittrell.   

“We started with an engagement at the enlisted men’s club at the nearby Naval facility,” Jean recalls.  “After we played a few numbers, a guy got up from his table, plugged in the Juke Box and started playing some music.

”We went back to our apartment, decided to play some later in the night, when there was knock on the door. It was a policeman. The neighbors had complained that we were making too much noise.  We moved out of that apartment almost immediately.” 

It was hardly an “American Idol” moment for Jean. 

A year later found Jean and Ed in Chicago where they joined the Chicago Stompers.  They took them to Germany, where they band was a great success.  Jean recalls that the Germans called Dixieland Music ‘Happy Music.”   

Still, it was only the beginning of what would be a long road to her musical acclaim and success. 

Jean’s versatility and talents aren’t limited to music.  In 1967, she started playing at the Old Levee House on Laclede’s Landing on the St. Louis Riverfront.  It was magic. Jean’s solo performances, her brassy manner, the historic riverfront and the Mississippi within a stone’s throw packed people in and she was performing before standing room only audiences. 

But, while she was doing that, she was also shining on the academic front, working towards her doctorate in Modern British Literature at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville.  Dixieland performer Jean Kittrell became Dr. Jean Kittrell in 1973, after which she joined the English faculty at SIU-Edwardsville.   

But music remained a part of her life as at the same time she joined the faculty, she also joined the Mississippi Mudcats Jazz Band. 

Her ability to multi-task was evident by the fact that she not only continued to excel in her music, but also eventually served four years as Chair of the SIU-Edwardsville English Department, all the while playing jazz with three different groups.  

The Rivermen group was formed in 1982, and as an indication of the deep respect in which Jean is  held by her fellow musicians, Frank Maloney, then president of the St. Louis Jazz Club, who hand-picked the members of the group, asked Jean to be the leader of the band.  It was the start of a relationship that continues today. 

Another tribute to Jean comes from the continuing loyalty of the people with whom she works.  Red Lehr has been a constant factor in her musical life, and plays in all three of her bands—The St. Louis Rivermen, the Jazz Incredibles, and the Old St. Louis Levee Band. 

Others are still with her also.  A visit to her web site at www.JeanKittrell.com includes pictures of the original Old St. Louis Levee Band when they started, and 25 years later.  And, while all of the members, Jean included, might have some additional lines in the later picture that were absent when all of them were so youthful and starting out on a grand journey, one can still see that these are indeed the very same people, examples for all of us of what some would call ‘successful aging.’ 

Jean’s secret is really no secret…she is a happy person, playing happy music and she and her band members seem to just anticipate each other’s playing. 

There would not be enough space to list all of Jean’s honors and accomplishments.  One of them has to be the loyalty of her many fans.  Even as she approaches 79 years, Jean keeps a full schedule of engagements with the bands.
Another example of the rarified atmosphere which Jean has moved into in the musical world was evidenced in 1998 when the directors of the Sun Valley Swing'n'Dixie Jazz Jamboree chose her to receive a "Great Ladies of Jazz" award, an award given each year to one contemporary musician and one from the past.  Bessie Smith was the honoree from the past.   

When one is paired with Bessie Smith, that’s pretty heady stuff.   

But, I have my own ‘Great Ladies’ award for Jean…it‘s one that goes back to one single performance of more than 20 years ago, when she created a memory that lived and brought pleasure over and over again to the mind of my dear friend, Steve—a mind that was fighting the inevitable progress of the terrible disease of Alzheimer’s.  But Jean illustrates the power of music to do good, to make people happy by playing happy music.  And that’s what makes her a great lady of music and life.