Jazz Musician Erica von Kleist Returns to Whitefish With New Musical Comedy

Award-winning musician Erica von Kleist didn’t make it very far into Whitefish’s O’Shaughnessy Center on Monday morning before being wrapped in a hug and catching up with a familiar face — one of many warm welcomes for the former resident who a few years ago returned to New York City to continue developing her musical comedy material. 

The multi-instrumentalist, educator and composer, who spent more than 10 years in Whitefish and its arts scene, was eagerly waiting for the arrival of her band from NYC, excited for the week of rehearsals ahead of the debut of her new show: “The Swing Resistance.”

“My favorite part is about to happen, and that’s the band and rehearsing this stuff,” von Kleist said. “That is the very cherry on the top of a ginormous sundae of incredibly hard work and preparation to make this happen. This has been a year at least of working on this.”

“The Swing Resistance” is a comedic jazz show featuring a selection of von Kleist’s original songs performed alongside five of the “best, brightest and funniest” jazz musicians from New York City, exploring themes ranging from women’s rights and religious hypocrisy to aging and the wealth gap. The one-night performance will take the O’Shaughnessy Center stage at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 6. 

Von Kleist began her career as a saxophonist and flautist in the New York jazz scene, studying at the renowned Juilliard School and in 2004 earning the first bachelor’s degree in jazz in the school’s history. Von Kleist’s next 10 years were met with performances, tours and several recordings, but after feeling burnt out, she made the leap to Whitefish — an area she “fell in love with” during a month-long stint with the Alpine Theater Project. 

While in Whitefish, von Kleist in 2018 began venturing into the world of musical comedy, writing funny songs connected to the #MeToo movement and reminiscent of her time in NYC as a woman in the male-prone field of jazz. In 2019, von Kleist debuted her one-woman musical comedy show, “BOOBS!,” which featured original songs about everything from women’s rights to menstruation. 

A South Arts Creative Residency Grant, however, has now given von Kleist the chance to build a show beyond her one-woman act, offering the support for additional musicians and a documentary, which von Kleist will edit herself, about the performance in Whitefish and the importance of resistance music today. 

“I’ve tried marrying the comedy and the jazz before in other situations, and I think this is the newest iteration of doing it,” von Kleist said. “I really feel like I’m gonna nail it this time. I feel like the stars are aligning with this particular iteration of my work.”

“The Swing Resistance” aims to explore societal issues through what von Kleist believes are two of the “biggest forms of resistance in the arts:” jazz and comedy. 

“You see people get up on stage and talk, and it’s either a political rally or you’re going to a comedy show,” von Kleist said. “If you’re there to listen to somebody speak, it’s usually a political thing, or maybe an educational thing, or it’s comedy. That’s a huge platform to make people laugh and make people think about prominent things.”

With jazz deeply rooted in the blues — a genre that came out of slavery — “the act of jazz just existing is resistance unto itself” — a sentiment von Kleist resonates with as she has navigates the field. 

“Being a woman in jazz … just being present is an act of resistance,” von Kleist said. “When you are the minority in some situation, it’s like you have to almost prove yourself more, so my music has always been very strong for that reason.

“But when I started writing comedy songs, that’s when my voice really came out. Instrumental jazz can be very resistance minded, but it takes on a whole new flavor when you put words to a song because people really understand words and can understand a message much more clearly.”

Von Kleist will explore themes of resistance and “just being nicer to people” through a variety of new comedic and musical material, including “40,” which explores beauty standards for women as they age, and “Don’t Be a Dick,” which is self-explanatory. 

“I have another song that’s basically like a sex ed class,” von Kleist said. “We talk about all the body parts in this song, and I have the audience scream them back. So, if you’ve ever wanted to scream ‘scrotum,’ that’s the song.”

It’s bringing these messages to Whitefish and a band full of NYC jazz musicians who would’ve otherwise never made it to Big Sky country that von Kleist believes made the project stand out to secure the show’s grant. 

“Whitefish is such a hugely progressive, open arts community here, and that’s part of what makes something like this possible,” von Kleist said. “But at the same time, it is very much a diversely thinking community, and I know that there are going to be people who come see the show who may not agree with everything, but I think that the main objective here is to outline how important the arts is for resisting ignorance and resisting fascism and resisting a lot of the things that are happening right now in our world and in our communities.”

Von Kleist is excited to be playing in front of the community where she workshopped so much of her early musical comedy work, saying she and the band are looking forward to the “home team advantage” as they “play [their] asses off” on Friday. 

“It’s been a huge amount of work, but the fun part’s about to begin,” von Kleist said. “The most fun is going to be the concert on Friday. That’s going to be the most fun part of it all because the audience will be there, and that’s what fuels us.”

“The Swing Resistance” will be at the O’Shaughnessy Center in Whitefish from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, March 6, and tickets can be purchased here. There is also a free short preview performance on Thursday March 5 at 7 p.m. No tickets are needed for the Thursday performance, which will be toned down for high school-aged audiences. 

[email protected]