StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Jeanette Harris & Althea René

This week, StLJN's video spotlight shines on saxophonist Jeanette Harris and flute player Althea René, who will be performing on a double bill on Saturday, November 30 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Billed as the "Queens of Soul Jazz," the two are touring together after teaming up to release the single "We Are One" in January of this year.

Harris, who's originally from Fresno, California, grew up playing both saxophone and piano and graduated from Berklee College of Music with a degree in music performance. She then built a local following in her hometown through live gigs and a series of self-released CDs. Harris gained further recognition as an opening act for Kirk Whalum, Najee, The Rippingtons, Babyface, Phil Perry and others, and working in the bands of singers Howard Hewett, Deniece Williams and Teena Marie, with her 2013 album Summer Rain helping her secure national attention as a solo artist.

René, a Detroit native, studied music at Howard University, but subsequently wound up working as a police officer in her hometown for 11 years while moonlighting as a musician. Her debut album Flute Talk was released in 2000, helping her transition to a full-time music career.

Since then she's released seven more studio albums, the most recent being 2019's Flawsome, as well as one in-concert recording, Live in Detroit, which came out last year. René's festival appearances include dates at the North Sea Jazz Festival, Austin Jazz Festival, Norman Brown All-Star Jazz Cruise, and others. She's also the author of a book, Becoming Chocolate Barbie: A Guide for Professional Women in the Music Business, published last year.

While Harris and Rene did make a music video for "We Are One," there doesn't seem to be any video online of the two performing live together. So instead, today's collection of clips features them individually, starting up above with Harris performing her version of Stevie Wonder's "All I Do" in a recording made at a gig last year.

After the jump, you can see her take on the 1979 dance floor smash "Ain't No Stopping Us Now," followed by a live version of the title track from her album Summer Rain.

Next up, there are videos of two tracks from René's Live in Detroit album, "Deja Vu" and "In the Moment." The final video is a full set of her music recorded in June 2019 at an outdoor festival in Winston-Salem, NC.

For more about Jeanette Harris, read her Q&A with SmoothJazz.com and listen to her being interviewed on the podcast "Talking Smooth Jazz" in 2016. For more about Althea René, check out the review of Flawsome from TheJazzWord.com and listen to her being interviewed earlier this year on the podcast "Smooth Jazz Global."

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...