There’s No Mash Bill for Jazz: Owsley Brown III To Sit In With Dick Sisto Trio

By Kevin Murphy Wilson • Photos Provided

This month, Filmmaker/philanthropist Owsley Brown III will once again be back in his hometown of Louisville to participate in a Jazz at the Filson session with The Dick Sisto Trio. This time around the beloved group, whose namesake is a bona fide legend in the music world, intends to meander through the “Best of Contemplative Jazz,” including iconic standards and spiritually inspired compositions by the “Greats” of the genre. Ahead of that performance, during which he will be sitting in with Sisto’s regular crew as guest vocalist, we caught up with Brown to hear a bit about what makes this occasion, scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 21, at the Filson Historical Society, special to him. 

VOICE-TRIBUNE: When did you first become aware of [musician/band leader/disc jockey] Dick Sisto? 

Owsley Brown III: “Probably, I would have listened to him on the radio first, back when WFPL was known as a ‘Jazz and Information’ station. They must have had something like 12 hours of jazz programming each day. And then beginning in 1992, I would go hear him play after my work day was through at the old Seelbach [Hotel] Bar, before there were so many televisions around.” 

VT: You have long been a champion of Louisville’s Center for Interfaith Relations and its annual Festival of Faiths. Did Dick ever share any stories about his jazz-loving Trappist friend, Thomas Merton, with you? 

OB3: “Oh yeah, over the years we’ve talked a lot about Dick’s direct connection with Merton, and his own commitment to living a life that is connected to the earth and to art and to his pursuits as a spiritual being. That, more than anything, is our real connection.” 

VT: Several of your documentary films circle around the importance of sounds and spaces, perhaps most notably, “Music Makes a City.” What are your thoughts on Louisville’s music scene, both past and present, and where does Dick Sisto fit into that rich tradition? 

OB3: “Well, I think that the Louisville music scene is so vibrant, and you know, at the same time, and in a certain sense, fragile. Live music, and recorded music too, needs an audience for the circle to be complete. That is part of the fragility I am talking about. Dick fully understands that, and he has worked so hard to help local audiences see why they should care about musical offerings, and in his case, specifically jazz. He cares deeply about it himself and obviously wants to see it go on as a living art form.” 

VT: What has your own relationship to music been? How does it feel to be a guest vocalist for the upcoming installment of Jazz at the Filson? 

OB3: “It starts, funny enough, really with being fortunate enough to receive a basic music education in school and with my experience of the choir. And then it deepened through my exposure to the radio. I feel like, growing up in Louisville in the 70s and 80s, it was a pretty magical time. There was a lot happening on the radio when we were kids, and, as I mentioned earlier, jazz was one of those things. I can’t tell you how lucky I feel to be a part of this concert. I am, by all means, an amateur at best, but Dick is giving me the opportunity to taste what it is like to hang with some really serious musicians. I think him doing so, in turn, makes me a better ambassador for what might just be America’s most important form of expression.” 

VT: The venue is also near and dear to your heart. What can you tell us about that? 

OB3: “The Filson [Historical Society] is such an important institution for the city by virtue of what it does and by virtue of where it is. Its commitment to Old Louisville as its home is an important declaration of what it values. The Filson should also be applauded for the breadth and depth of how it is living out its mission through events like this.” 

For more information, visit filsonhistorical.org.