Masego: Fix Your Face Tour

The Read

The trap-house-jazz label Masego attached to himself was half a joke and half an accurate description: horn lines and jazz phrasing built on top of programmed rhythm, sung more than rapped. Live, he plays the sax himself, which changes the math. It turns a beat-driven set into something closer to a band show with a very charming frontman. The Ryman rewards this. The room is built for voices and acoustic instruments, so the horn will carry in a way it does not in a club. Expect looseness, a fair amount of flirtation with the crowd, and at least one stretch where the arrangement dissolves and he just plays. That is usually the best part.

The Room

Ryman Auditorium

116 5th Ave N

Built in 1892 as a tabernacle by river captain Thomas Ryman, who was converted at a Sam Jones revival — little did he know it would become the church of American roots music.