Snarky Puppy returning to Old Rock House on Friday, August 9

From the Dept of "Well, That Didn't Take Long": Snarky Puppy (pictured), who just played in St. Louis earlier this month at The Demo, already have booked a return trip in the form of a gig at 8:30 p.m. Friday, August 9 at the Old Rock House.

This will be the the third St. Louis appearance in the last 12 months for the Texas-born, now Brooklyn-based funk/jazz/world music ensemble  (who, incidentally, were featured on StLJN in a Saturday video post before their last gig here.)

Tickets for the all-ages Snarky Puppy show at Old Rock House are $15 for general admission, and will go on sale at 5:00 p.m. this Thursday, May 23.

Recently on Heliocentric Worlds

Once YouTube lifted its restrictions on video length, a lot of complete concerts began to appear on the service, and over the past year some of the best of those videos subsequently are finding their way to StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds. Each day, there's a new online music video posted, drawing from genres including jazz, blues, soul, funk, classic rock, prog rock, and experimental, and many recent posts have featured full-length sets or complete shows lasting an hour or longer.

Artists in the spotlight this month have included Miles Davis, the Beatles, Sun Ra Arkestra, Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan, Sex Mob, King Sunny Ade and His African Beats, Anthony Braxton Quartet, Brecker Brothers Band, Junior Wells and Buddy Guy, Arthur Blythe, Albert King, Lou Donaldson, George Duke Band, Steve Coleman, Clark Terry, Fats Domino, Herbie Hancock & the New Standard All-Stars, Rebirth Brass Band, Gato Barbieri, Kurt Elling, The Kinks, Aaron Neville, Steve Miller Band, Blood Sweat & Tears, Johnny "Guitar" Waston, Tower of Power, Grover Washington Jr., and Johnny Winter.

Sure, you could spend hours, days or even weeks rooting around YouTube trying to find the good stuff, but here, the virtual cream already has been skimmed for your listening and viewing enjoyment. And in addition to the clips noted above, there are thousands more music videos online in the carefully curated archives, all just waiting there for you at http//heliocentricworlds.blogspot.com/.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: "Showtime" with the Soul Rebels

This week, our video spotlight focuses on the New Orleans brass band the Soul Rebels, who will be in St. Louis this coming Thursday, May 23 for a gig at the Old Rock House.

Formed in the mid-1990s by ex-members of the Young Olympia Brass Band to offer an updated take on the brass band tradition, the Soul Rebels perform weekly at a local spot called Le Bon Temps Roulé when they're home in New Orleans. In recent years, though, they've also traveled quite a bit, becoming regulars on the festival circuit both stateside at events like Bonnaroo and Electric Forest as well as overseas in Europe, Asia and Australia.

The Soul Rebels have recorded a total of seven albums, with their most recent (and first nationally distributed) release, Unlock Your Mind, coming out in 2012 from Rounder Records. One of the most notable things about them is the degree of hip-hop influence in their sound - they seem to use solo vocals, both singing and rapping, in their music much more often than other brass bands, and frequently have been known to serve up live cover versions of hits from the likes of Jay-Z, Kanye West and Outkast.

You can see and hear some examples of the Soul Rebels in action today in a half-dozen video clips, starting up above with a version of their song "Showtime," which, interesting enough, would seem to share some musical DNA with the theme from the old syndicated TV program Showtime at the Apollo). That track and "Let It Roll," heard down below, both were recorded last year at an in-store show at a record store in Orlando, FL and do a good job of demonstrating the influence of hip-hop on the Soul Rebels.

Below that, it's a medley of "Turn It Up" and "Roll, Rebel, Roll," also from 2012, which serves to further elucidate the connection between hip-hop and the traditional chants of a New Orleans street band.

Next up, the Rebels show off some other influences with a somewhat improbable yet effective cover version of "Sweet Dreams Are Made of This," which was a hit for the 1980s synth-pop band Eurythmics. Judging from the number of clips found on YouTube, the song seems to be a staple of their live show; this version was recorded in 2012 in Manchester in the UK.

The final two clips find the Soul Rebels back in their hometown, with a cover of Kanye West's "Touch The Sky" filmed at a place called DBA this past New Year's Eve, and three more songs - Stevie Wonder's "Living For The City," the original tune "Let Your Mind Be Free" and a reprise of "Showtime" - recorded earlier in 2012 at the Louisiana Music Factory.

For more of the Soul Rebels, check out their SoundCloud page and this interview published last year in, of all places, the Anchorage (AK) Daily News.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's the latest wrap-up of assorted links and short local news items of interest:

* Alto saxophonist Kendrick Smith was profiled by the St. Louis American's Bridjes O’Neil in a story spotlighting Smith's weekly Saturday matinees at Premiere Lounge.

* This week in Facebook photo albums, you can check out pix of Lionel Loueke at Jazz at the Bistro, Steizuello at Lindbergh High School and New Music Circle's presentation of Trinity Piano Trio at the William Kerr Foundation.

* The NYC brownstone at 312 West 77th St that formerly belonged to Miles Davis was named an official cultural landmark this week by the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission. Davis' nephew Vince Wilburn Jr., his former saxophonist George Coleman, and trumpeter Wallace Roney were among those present at a ceremony on Thursday unveiling a medallion placed on the building to commemorate the honor. Davis (pictured) bought the townhouse in 1958 and lived and worked there for the next 25 years.

* Saxophonist and composer John Zorn, who once upon a time studied at our town's Webster University, is celebrating his 60th birthday with "a series of concerts on four continents, including a marathon Sunday, May 19 at the Festival international de musique actuelle in Victoriaville."

* On the jazz radio beat, this Saturday on RAF-STL's "Somethin' Else," host Calvin Wilson will offer up a selection of jazz guitarists "from Montgomery to Metheny." Meanwhile, over at KWMU, Dennis Owsley continues his documentary history of St. Louis jazz on Sunday's "Jazz Unlimited" program with part seven of the series, which covers the 1970s and '80s and will include music from Exiles, David Parker, Asa Harris, Jasmine, Willie Akins and Kelvyn Bell.

* Farshid Soltanshahi of Farshid Etniko is doing the music for Upstream Theater's upcoming production of An Iliad, which will run from May 24 through June 9 at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

* The Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson offers his impression of one of actress/singer Molly Ringwald's sets on Tuesday at Jazz at the Bistro.

* Last but not least, woodwind retailer and repair shop Saxquest has given their website a brand new look, which you can see online now at the familiar URL of saxquest.com.

Marty Ehrlich, William Parker to be featured in New Music Circle's 2013-14 season

In the spring, the thoughts of performing arts presenters often turn to the announcement of the next season's schedule. Here in St. Louis, the Sheldon Concert Hall already has announced their various 2013-14 season series, and Jazz St. Louis is set to release next year's schedule for Jazz at the Bistro and the Touhill before the end of the month.

Meanwhile, although New Music Circle isn't quite ready yet to make a formal announcement of their own, NMC administrator Jeremy Kannapell was kind enough to share with StLJN a "sneak peek" at what the organization has planned for 2013-14.

The venues and exact dates are yet to be determined, but NMC's season once again will feature a mix of improvised and composed music and multimedia performances, this year with a bit of a Chicago accent thanks to two shows featuring artists from the Windy City.

First, though, NMC will begin their season in October with a performance from University City's own Marty Ehrlich (pictured). A multi-instrumentalist and composer who plays alto sax, clarinets and flutes, Ehrlich, who turns 58 this month, was influenced early in his career by St. Louis' Black Artists Group and was mentored by saxophonists Oliver Lake and Julius Hemphill.

After attending the New England Conservatory, in 1978 he moved moved to New York, where he's become part of the national and international music scene as both an in-demand sideman and soloist and a bandleader exploring different ways of blending composition and free improvisation. Ehrlich's St. Louis appearances in recent years have been too few and far between, so his visit home will be especially welcome.

Later on in October, NMC will present a concert by bassist William Parker's quartet. Considered to be one of the most important bassists in free jazz, Parker is highly regarded for his work with major musicians including Cecil Taylor, David S. Ware, Peter Brötzmann, Matthew Shipp and many others, as well as for being the organizer of the annual Vision Festival in New York City.

In November, Chicago electronic musician and sound artist Olivia Block, who appeared here in May 2012 as part of an NMC group showcase, will return to do a full length performance. Originally a rock guitarist and vocalist in Austin, TX, Block relocated to Chicago in 1996 and began composing music that incorporates a variety of electronic elements, from drones and glitches to computer-manipulated field recordings, as well as occasional acoustic instruments, too.

Block will be joined by her frequent collaborators, filmmakers/performers Luis Recoder and Sandra Gibson. The three have have been working together since 2007, and their best known piece "Untitled" has been performed at the Sundance Film Festival and in London, Los Angeles, Texas, and Naples, Italy. Gibson and Recoder employ a variety of live performance techniques, including some - film loops, spray bottles, colored gels, unfocused lenses and hand-shadows - that evoke memories of late 1960s psychedelic light shows, though they're used in different ways and for different ends. For more about Recoder, Gibson and "Untitled," check out this video interview.

After a break for the holidays, NMC will resume in February with a concert from bassist Joshua Abrams, who has worked with various groups in Chicago's improvised music scene. His credits include the band Town and Country, Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble, Jeb Bishop, and Hamid Drake, as well as leading a quartet with Guillermo Gregorio, Axel Dorner, and Jeff Parker, and the trio Sticks and Stones with Matana Roberts and Chad Taylor.

In March, NMC will present its annual showcase of St. Louis musicians, with the lineup still TBA at this point.

The season will conclude in April 2014 with a performance from the Claire Chase Quintet. Chase, 35, is a California native who studied music at Oberlin College before founding the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) in 2001. She has premiered over 100 new solo works for the flute incorporating extended techniques and electro-acoustic elements, and has played in diverse venues around the world as a soloist and chamber musician.

When New Music Circle releases their full season schedule complete with dates, venues and ticket prices, StLJN will have details for you right here.

Jazz this week: Molly Ringwald, Grand Marquis, "Great Guitars 2013," Hot Club of Cowtown, Bob Sheppard, Reunion Jazz Band, and more

In this slightly early edition of StLJN's weekly highlights post, we find a lineup of jazz and creative music performances that includes a movie star-turned-singer, plus a variety of musical styles ranging from jump blues and Western swing to straight-ahead jazz to fusion, both electric and acoustic. Let's see what's happening in the next few days....

Tonight, the aforementioned movie star, singer and actress Molly Ringwald (pictured), comes to town for the first of two evening at Jazz at the Bistro.

The daughter of a jazz pianist, Ringwald reportedly considered going into music even before she ever began acting in hit films like Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club. More  recently, she has acted and sung on stage in musicals such as Chicago. Now, nearly 30 years after conquering multiplexes all over the USA, she recently released her first album, Except Sometimes, to generally favorable notices. Though Ringwald's celebrity has attracted a measure of local media attention, there may be some tickets still remaining; call the Jazz St. Louis box office for the latest.

Also tonight, funk organ trio Downstereo plays their last regular Tuesday night gig at the Crow's Nest before going on a hiatus from performances to do some recording. According to the band's Facebook page, they'll also wrap up their weekly Thursday shows at Atomic Cowboy for the time being.

Tomorrow night, the Cabaret Project of St. Louis will present their monthly open mic night at the Tavern of Fine Arts, and singer Sarah Jane and a scaled-down version of her band the Blue Notes are playing at the Feasting Fox.

On Thursday, the Kansas City jump blues and swing band Grand Marquis will be back in town for a performance at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups.The group is preparing to release a new album, Blues and Trouble, next month, and so this gig likely will feature some of the 12 original songs from that project.

On Friday, Jazz at the Bistro offers up the first of two nights of a specially assembled program called "Great Guitars 2013," featuring six-string slingers Tom Byrne, Shaun Robinson and Eric Slaughter, backed by drummer Montez Coleman and bassist Jahmal Nichols. Byrne and Slaughter have been doing some gigs together recently, so they've already got some shared repertoire as a result of that; an email from Byrne says this weekend's gigs will feature a mix of originals and covers with a jazz-fusion sound.

Also Friday, the jazz/Western swing trio Hot Club of Cowtown will be in Edwardsville to perform at the Wildey Theatre; pianist Ptah Williams brings his trio to the Cigar Inn; and singer Tony Viviano and his band will return to Fortel's Creve Coeur.

On Saturday, the Bosman Twins will reunite with some old friends for a gig billed as the Reunion Jazz Band at Robbie's House of Jazz; singer Feyza Eren will perform at the Wine Press; and guitarist Randy Bahr and pianist Carolbeth True will be at One 19 North Tapas and Wine Bar.

On Sunday afternoon, saxophonist Bob Sheppard, who's toured with Steely Dan and recorded countless sessions for TV, movies and albums, will be in town for a free concert and clinic at Saxquest.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday saxophonist "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective are at BB's; and the eclectic acoustic quartet The 442s, with multi-instrumentalist Adam Maness and bassist Syd Rodway of Erin Bode's group plus violinist Shawn Weil and cellist Bjorn Ranheim, plays at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. You also can keep up with all the latest news by following St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes or clicking the "Like" icon on the StLJN Facebook page.

(If you have calendar items, band schedule information, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Vintage tenor time with Harry Allen

Today, let's take a look at some video clips featuring tenor saxophonist Harry Allen, who will team up with pianist and singer Freddy Cole for a four-night run starting Wednesday, May 22 through Saturday, May 25 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Given his generation, Allen, 46, is something of a musical throwback, as he's been heavily influenced by the pre-WWII swing tradition of tenor saxophonists such as Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster and Lester Young and their successors like Stan Getz and Zoot Sims, rather than by the more standard list of recent modern icons like Coltrane, Rollins and Shorter. Drawing primarily on a repertoire of familiar standards, Allen is known especially for his ballad playing, and his overall musical sensibility should make for a good cross-generational pairing with the 81-year-old Cole, brother of legendary singer-pianist Nat "King" Cole.

By way of examples, here are a half-dozen videos showing recent performances by Allen of a mix of ballads and swing tunes. The first track, "Blues in A flat," features the saxophonist with a rhythm section of pianist Rossano Sportiello, bassist Joel Forbes, and drummer Chuck Riggs, and was recorded in June of last year at Feinstein's in NYC.

Down below, you can hear Allen take on the ballad standard "My Romance," abetted by Sportiello, bassist Glenn Holmes and drummer Bill Ransom in September 2011 at Jazz at Chautauqua in New York.

The third clip features Allen playing "If I Were A Bell" with Allen Farnham (piano), Bill Moring (bass) and Steve Johns (drums) in April 2010 at the Union County Performing Arts Center New Jersey. That's followed by another classic ballad, "I'm in the Mood for Love," as rendered by Allen, Sporiello, bassist Richard Simon and drummer Ed Metz in April 2012 at the Atlanta Jazz Party.

We close with two more videos from June 2012 at Feinstein's, in which Allen and the rhythm section are joined by trumpeter Jon-Erik Kellso and former Duke Ellington orchestra baritone saxophonist Joe Temperly. In "Sweet Georgia Brown," note that Allen's solo starting at around 3:28 includes some licks that border on bebop, and there's also what sure sounds like a quote of the "Salt Peanuts" lick in the closing trading of eights and fours. The final track features Allen and friends on "Did You Call Her Today" and "In A Mellotone."

To see some videos of Freddy Cole, who will team with Allen at the Bistro, check out this post that preceded Cole's last appearance at the Bistro in 2010.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's the latest wrap-up of assorted links and short local news items of interest:

* Tonight's New Music Circle concert featuring Trinity Piano Trio was previewed by Terry Perkins of the St. Louis Beacon and Sarah Bryan Miller of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

* Actress/singer Molly Ringwald, who will be in St. Louis to perform next Tuesday and Wednesday at Jazz at the Bistro, had a few words with the P-D's Kevin Johnson.

* Oliver Lake's recent big band release Wheels was reviewed by Aaron Cohen and made an Editors' Pick in the latest issue of DownBeat, while All Decks, the saxophonist and former St. Louisan's recent collaborative effort with Christian Weber and Dieter Ulrich, was reviewed by John Sharpe for AllAboutJazz.com

* Singer and former St. Louisan Jan Shapiro's latest CD Piano Bar After Hours was reviewed by AllAboutJazz.com's C. Michael Bailey.

* Saxophonist David Sanborn is profiled in the latest issue of the American Federation of Musicians' publication International Musician. Sanborn and keyboardist Bob James are about to launch a tour in support of their new collaborative album Quartette Humaine, and to promote it, they've also released a "making of" video and are offering a free download of a sample track, "Deep In The Weeds," from the recording.

* Speaking of Sanborns, longtime local DJ and impresario Rick Sanborn (no relation to David) will be a guest on this Saturday night's broadcast of "The Jazz Collective" with Jason Church. The program airs at 9:00 p.m. as part of the Saturday night jazz block on Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis' new classical station, following the syndicated "Jazz at Lincoln Center" at 7:00 p.m. and "Somethin' Else" with Calvin Wilson at 8:00 p.m.. RAF-STL's programming can be heard on 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.

* And while we're on the radio beat, the sixth part of Dennis Owsley's audio documentary on the history of St. Louis jazz, covering the Black Artists Group of the late 1960s and early 1970s, will air during Owsley's "Jazz Unlilmited" program at 9:00 p.m. this Sunday on KWMU (90.7 FM). Also, the Sheldon Art Galleries have announced that they will reprise the companion exhibition for Owsley's book City of Gabriels: The History of Jazz in St. Louis, 1895-1973 this summer from June 7 until August 17.

* Saxophonist Fred Walker (pictured) is one of the plaintiffs in a suit filed this week by the American Civil Liberties Union challenging the City of St. Louis' new licensing requirements for street performers. The suit alleges that, by forcing performers to audition and charging a $100 fee for a permit, the ordinance violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments with vague terms that outlaw “a substantial amount of expressive activity.”

* Lastly, filmmaker Rod Milam sent a link to a brief video showing artist and fellow U City native Tom Seltzer installing his original limited edition prints of portraits of jazz greats at Dizzy's On 5th in Park Slope in Brooklyn, NYC. The show went up this past Sunday, May 5 and will hang until November 2013. Seltzer's subjects include Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker and Sonny Rollins. The images can be seen online and prints purchased at http://seltzerstudio.com/store.

Saxophonist held on bomb threat charges

Police in St. Louis County are holding saxophonist William Schafer on charges of making a false bomb threat following an incident Wednesday in Creve Coeur Park.

According to a report by Joel Currier published earlier today by STLtoday.com, Schafer "went in Creve Coeur Park at lunchtime Wednesday to play his saxophone, police say. He carried it in a case, approached a group of people and told them he had a bomb hidden in his sax case."

"The people got scared, police said. They called 911. Maryland Heights officers arrived, found Schafer tooting his horn in the park and arrested him."

"He admitted telling people about a bomb in the sax case, but claimed he was simply touting his saxophone skills, court documents say. Nonetheless, St. Louis County prosecutors charged him Thursday with making a false bomb threat. Maryland Heights police took Schafer to jail, where he is being held on a $25,000 bail."

An online bio says Schafer is a graduate of the University of Missouri and Maryville University, and a search shows he's played with some reasonably well-known local groups including the Brian Sullivan Quartet, the Pat Sajak Assassins, and several others. Known in some online fora as "jazzresin," he's studied to be a music therapist and has been around the St. Louis scene long enough to have made jazz historian and DJ Dennis Owsley's honor roll of notable local musicians.

Add it all up, and Schafer sounds not like a legitimate threat to public safety, but rather someone who made a bad joke and then possibly got stupid with a cop. Not something to be encouraged or applauded, certainly, but not something that merits a disproportionate use of scarce local law enforcement, correctional and court resources, either. Here's hoping the County prosecutor will reconsider at first opportunity and adjust the charge and bond to something more appropriate, or drop them entirely. 

In the wake of the recent bombing in Boston, a certain amount of caution is understandable, but in this case, do you think the authorities in Maryland Heights and St. Louis County are over-reacting? You can weigh in with your comments below, and in the meantime, StLJN will be following further developments in this story.

Update - 4:15 p.m., 5/10/13: A message on Schafer's Facebook page says that he's been released after posting 10% of the $25,000 bail bond. More as we get it...

Photo from William Schafer's profile on Blogger.com. 

Paul Taylor, Denny Jiosa presenting free workshops at Mozingo Music

Mozingo Music is presenting two workshops next month that may be of interest to local jazz musicians and fans.

Saxophonist Paul Taylor will be at Mozingo's O'Fallon store, 4689 Highway K, to present a workshop, performance, and "meet and greet" at 6:00 p.m. Friday, June 14. Taylor, an endorser for Cannonball Saxophones, has released eight albums as a leader and collaborated with jazz and R&B acts including the Rippingtons, LaToya London, Regina Belle and Terry Dexter. He'll be in town to perform the next night, Saturday, June 15, at the Chesterfield Amphitheater.

Next up, Nashville-based guitarist and engineer Denny Jiosa will present a program focusing on guitar effects at 7:00 p.m. Monday, June 24 at Mozingo's O'Fallon store. Jiosa (pictured) has a released a half-dozen albums as a bandleader, and also has been nominated four times for Grammy Awards as a recording engineer. An endorser of TC Electronics, he'll be demonstrating how he uses the company's line of pedals and guitar effects. TC Electronics reps will be on hand, and the store will offer special pricing on products from the company.

Both events are free and open to the public.

(Edited after posting to correct the day of the Paul Taylor event.)