Music
Buhs Buzz
New collective the Buhs features a slew of local talent.
By
N ata l ie G a l l a Ghe r
A
Chris Mullins
fter midnight on a Thursday, trumpeter and Diverse Jazz co-leader Hermon Mehari is laughing with a group of friends — Kansas City rapper Reach, Hearts of Darkness drummer Brad Williams, soul singer Lee Langston, Good Foot singer Julia Haile — at a beat-up Formica table at YJ’s Snack Bar. Scraps of scribbledon paper are littered around the group. Mehari has partaken in, and partly moderated, a nowwaning brainstorming session among this mix of local music veterans. “We’re here pretty much every week,” he says of these late-night creative conferences. No one seems low on energy, despite the hour. A week later, Mehari is back at YJ’s for lunch, explaining the evolution of a new musical collective called the Buhs (pronounced “buzz”), set to make its official live debut Friday, October 25. That show, at the Kill Devil Club, marks the arrival of a project that has been more than two years in the making. It started when Mehari and the rest of Diverse began working with other genres — local hip-hop was a big one — and then decided to take on pop. “Michael Jackson is one of my favorite artists, so we decided to explore that,” says Mehari, who scouted the local scene for artists to flesh out the “Diverse Plays MJ” project. “We did the MJ thing a couple times, and I remember after the first show [at RecordBar in 2010], I was like, ‘Guys, we have to continue working together.’ ” brains also means having more ideas and more Fast-forward to the Buhs: a pop-centric material. Each member of the group comes project featuring that talented group from from a different musical background — Price’s the midnight YJ’s meeting, plus seven more members: drummer Ryan J. Lee, keyboardist is gospel, for example, and Saunders is a proKinyon Price, guitarist Tim Braun, bass player ducer who has penned songs for the likes of Ben Leifer, singer Anthony Saunders and rap- Justin Bieber. There would seem to be the risk of a “too many cooks in the per Les Izmore. kitchen” scenario. “One of the greatest parts The Buhs Fortunately, Mehari and about this is that I am surFriday, October 25, his cohorts are pros, and the rounded by the greatest muat the Kill Devil Club group has three simple goals. sicians around here,” Mehari “One is to have some sucsays. “We’ve accepted that, with any one of our gigs or projects, anyone cess in songwriting,” he says. “Although we’re within the crew is welcome to come and sit in. a group that forms original material, we want to write songs that can get picked up by an artist I think there are scenes here that are boxed, as well. Two, we want to be in an established and there are people that don’t go out of that. group, where people are following our music We’ve been doing it long enough where people and following us. And three, we want to be a have accepted that. dependable collective, where we’re supporting “I think that the majority of people in these each other and all our individual endeavors. boxes are keeping it [the music] segregated. If Les is going on tour and needs a band, well, There are exceptions but not enough to make it a rule,” Mehari continues. “It [collaboration] is here is a group that he not only works with still a new thing, and I would like to see it hap- regularly but also knows his music.” The Buhs’ songwriting leans toward a pen more often because it benefits everybody to do that. It not only benefits the musicians, kind of socialism. Sometimes a piece that one but it benefits the community to see and hear member has written is taken and reworked by the group. Often, though, a song starts with more stuff.” a collaboration among multiple bandmates. For the Buhs, the meeting of 11 inspired
26
the pitch
o c to b e r 24 -3 0 , 2 0 1 3
pitch.com
The Buhs: busy bees Whatever the method, the results are ready to be aired at the Kill Devil. “This show will be the first time that all of us are together, and we’re featuring our original music,” Mehari says. “It’s pretty eclectic across the board, but this group itself is more pop. There are some songs that are straight-up ’80s MJ. There’s some that are a couple more rock songs, some hip-hop. There’s one small aspect that’s jazz, but it’s not strong enough to call it that. It’s more pop than anything.” With so many members, each a professional musician with other projects going on simultaneously, scheduling shows and booking recording dates can be tough. For now, the Buhs is recording demos and planning to record a full-length album early next year. “We wanted to put our music out there with this initial debut,” Mehari says. “We want to put it out intelligently — we don’t want to just throw it out there. We want to have a smart marketing plan. ... I think my part, other than playing trumpet and writing, is just to keep the momentum going.”
E-mail natalie.gallagher@pitch.com
J a z z B e at Jazz DisciplEs fEaturing lisa HEnry, at tHE BluE room
Lisa Henry already had a huge following in Kansas City before she competed in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition. When she took second place in the contest in 1994, she captured the world’s notice, too. Henry’s vibrant voice, layered with a delightful sass, masterfully swings through jazz standards. On Friday, she joins the Jazz Disciples, a quartet of local jazz masters, led by Gerald Dunn’s fun and thoughtfully inviting alto sax. This is the music of 18th and Vine played with a contemporary sensibility, then interwoven with a voice and a vocal style honored as one of the best. — Larry Kopitnik Jazz Disciples featuring Lisa Henry, 8:30 p.m.–12:30 a.m. Friday, October 25, at the Blue Room, 1616 East 18th Street, $10 cover, club.americanjazzmuseum.org