It’s difficult to find a musician in St. Louis who has not played with Ish Ensemble. When vocalist/guitarist Brit Lockhart started the band in 2016, he did so for his love of St. Louis’ music scene and putting its musicians first.
“I grew up in Collinsville, kind of a smaller town. I had a good upbringing with my mom’s side of the family, but I always wanted to leave, and St. Louis was the closest city,” Lockhart told St. Louis on the Air. “I always resonated with the scene over here. I just knew that something in the musical atmosphere was calling me.”
Lockhart’s main motivation in his music and creative process is simple: Do what feels right. That ethos is evident in his writing, his performance partners and even the genre he’s come to be known for — Afro fusion jazz. The characteristic improvisation of jazz is also how he arrived at the name of his band: The group was nameless when it had its first performance with Kansas City indie group the Life and Times, so Lockhart and his bandmates came up with the name before they hit the stage. He said the name Ish Ensemble “plopped out of the ether.”
“We did not know what to call this music because it had so many different influences. It wasn’t one genre or one thing. And the word just came out,” Lockhart said. “Someone just said, ‘Ah, ish,’ and I was like ‘That’s it!’”
Since then, Ish Ensemble has gone on to assemble nearly 38 performers who have appeared in various performances. Lockhart said he’s met his collaborators by way of mutual friends and simply going to shows in St. Louis.
“It’s very natural, especially in St. Louis. Everyone is [part of] a very tight-knit group. I met Volume [Speaks] at a beat battle…and I was like, ‘I love your work, so we’re going to get into it one of these days,’” Lockhart said. “[We started] with a New Year’s Eve show, and she just knocked it out of the park.”
Ish Ensemble has become a regular in venues like the Dark Room in Grand Center, Atomic and Platypus in the Grove Business District. This summer, Ish has secured a summer residency at Pie Guy Pizza: The relationship between Lockhart and proprietor Mitch Frost came about organically by way of mutual friends and the shared love of music from St. Louisans.
“[Mitch Frost], that dude… that’s my brother. It was actually Lacey Robinson who pitched this idea to me. They were thinking about doing a music series, and they both approached me like, ‘How about Ish?’” Lockhart said. “You can hire a DJ any Friday night that you want, but they wanted something super personal to them. We were friends ever since, [and] I think Ish and Pie Guy is a really good partnership.”
To learn more about the musicians who make up Ish Ensemble and what they have in store for their MATI Festival debut, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or click the play button below.
Related Event
What: Ish Ensemble summer residency
When: 9 p.m. to midnight Fridays
Where: Pie Guy Pizza (4189 Manchester Ave., St. Louis, MO 63110)
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Jada Jones is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
