Site news: StLJN post #2,000

This is post number 2,000 on St. Louis Jazz Notes. Many thanks to all the readers, commenters and sources who have been part of this site since it began in April, 2005.

Here's hoping you'll keep reading for another 2,000 posts, and please feel free to use the comments to offer your hearty congratulations, helpful suggestions and/or bitter complaints.

Nellie McKay featured in Post-Dispatch

This weekend's Post-Dispatch had a feature story by Calvin Wilson about singer/songwriter/pianist Nellie McKay, who will be in St. Louis on Wednesday and Thursday to perform at the Kranzberg Arts Center under the auspices of Cabaret St. Louis. You can read the article online here.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Party time with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band

This week, we turn our spotlight on New Orleans' Dirty Dozen Brass Band, who will return to St. Louis this Thursday, November 19 to perform at the Broadway Oyster Bar. The DDBB have been frequent visitors to St. Louis since the 1980s, with this appearance coming as part of what's being billed as the group's 25th anniversary tour.

Today's clips provide four examples of the band's signature sound, an updated version of the traditional brass band that stirs jazz, funk, soul, blues, gospel and pop into a syncopated stew. First up is a version of "Ain't Nothing But A Party" recorded in 2002 at the Bonnaroo Music Festival. In the second slot, the band tackles the Meters' "Cissy Strut" at a show in Boston.

The third clip features a rendition of "It's All Over Now" from a show in Gainesville, FL, and the fourth is a performance of the gospel standard "I'll Fly Away" taken from the band's show at the Portland Blues Festival. The video quality of the clips varies, as in a couple of cases the videographer seems to be boogieing right along with the rest of the crowd. However, the audio quality is pretty good across the board, and the DDBB's spirit and energy are, as usual, infectious.

Jazz St. Louis CD Listening Club schedules next meeting for Tuesday, December 8

The next meeting of the Jazz St. Louis CD Listening Club will be held at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, December 8 at Borders, 1519 S. Brentwood Blvd. in Brentwood.

Jazz historian, photographer, and DJ Dennis Owsley will serve as host and moderator, and the featured CD will be Mingus Ah Um, the classic 1959 recording from bassist Charles Mingus that introduced compositions such as “Fables of Faubus” and "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” and was recently reissued in a special two-disc 50th anniversary edition.

Meetings of the Jazz St. Louis CD Listening Club are free and open to the public. For more information, call 314-289-4037.

Jazz this week: Shaun Robinson, a tribute to Miles Davis, student big bands, and more

While there are no major touring jazz musicians visiting St. Louis this weekend, and a relatively light schedule overall, there are some noteworthy events featuring local musicians coming up over the next few days. Let's go to the highlights:

Tonight, guitarist William Lenihan will lead a tribute to the electric music of Miles Davis, drawing on compositions from In A Silent Way and Filles de Kilimanjaro in a free concert for Washington University's Jazz at Holmes series

On Friday and Saturday, guitarist Shaun Robinson (pictured), best known as a member of Good 4 The Soul, will bring his own band to Jazz at the Bistro for the weekend. I've not heard Robinson's own group yet, and they've released no recordings; however, the advertised ingredients - a mix of jazz, funk, rock and R&B - are similar to those employed by G4TS, and presumably the guitarist has his own personal recipe for combining them.

Also on Friday and Saturday, trombonist Robert Edwards and his ensemble will take the stage at Robbie's House of Jazz, offering a mix of hard bop, soul/jazz and more.

Looking beyond the weekend, there are two free concerts early next week featuring up-and-coming talent from local jazz studies programs. On Monday, the Webster University Big Band will perform at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus, and on Tuesday, the SIUE Big Band will play at Dunham Hall on campus in Edwardsville.

For information on more jazz and creative music events this weekend and beyond, check out the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, available for viewing on the left sidebar, or by clicking here. Also, you can follow St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes and become a "fan" by signing up 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.)

Notes from the Net: Phil Perry recovering; the continuing legend of Miles Davis; plus news, reviews, interviews, and more

Here's the latest compilation of assorted news briefs and links related to jazz, improvisation, and creative music in St. Louis, including news of musicians originally from the Gateway City, recent visitors, and coming attractions, plus assorted other items of interest.

* Starting, as we usually do, with some Miles Davis items, it seems that the impending release of Miles Davis: The Complete Columbia Album Collection, the upcoming book The Blue Moment by Richard Williams, and the exhibit "We Want Miles" at the Cité de la Musique in Paris recently prompted the London Times to ask, "Why is Miles Davis so legendary?"

The answer, in part: "Miles’s celebrated urge to keep moving — to play music that was one minute beguiling, the next baffling (“It’s my curse”) is one reason...But music aside, Miles remains an eminently marketable star...Today’s jazz names — from Diana Krall to Pat Metheny — look a meek lot by comparison. "

In other Miles-related news, AllAboutJazz.com has a review by C. Michael Bailey of the recent reissue of Davis' 1950s sessions with Sonny Rollins, and another by George Kanzler covering the 50th anniversary reissue of Sketches of Spain plus a new tribute CD, Miles Ahead Live, by saxophonist Dave Liebman and the Manhattan School of Music Jazz Orchestra.

* Moving on to news of other locals past and present, singer Phil Perry, another former East St. Louisan, is recovering after collapsing while on stage in Connecticut with Pieces of A Dream on October 23. Perry spent three days in the Hospital of Saint Raphael in New Haven, Conn and was equipped with a new defibrillator. Perry says he is doing fine and will be back on the road soon: “My heart is wired like the Energizer Bunny, with a nifty little defibrillator to keep me on beat and keep me on my feet.”

* Writing on the band's blog Do The Math, The Bad Plus' Ethan Iverson recently linked to an interesting 1994 interview with the late saxophonist and former St. Louisan Julius Hemphill.

* The prolific saxophonist and composer John Zorn, who once studied at our town's Webster University, has a new CD called Femina, featuring an all-female ensemble performing a suite dedicated to women artists from various disciplines, such as Louise Bourgeois, Gertrude Stein, Sylvia Plath, Meredith Monk and Yoko Ono. Here's a review from AllAboutJazz.com's Troy Collins.

* Turning to news of recent visitors, here's a review of Stone Shift, the most recent CD from saxophonist Larry Ochs & Drumming Core. Ochs and the Core were here last month for a performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

* Moving on to the "coming attractions" file, bassist Christian McBride and his band Inside Straight, with St. Louis' Peter Martin on piano, will be featured on a live audio/video Webcast from NYC's Village Vanguard starting at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, November 11 (tomorrow evening). They'll be here in St. Louis next week for a four-night run at Jazz at the Bistro; meanwhile, you catch the Webcast on the site of NYC public radio station WBGO,

* An article by Nate Chinen in the latest Jazz Times calls singer Kurt Elling "the most influential jazz vocalist of our time." Elling will be in St. Louis in December to perform at Jazz at the Bistro.

* Here's a review of singer/songwriter/pianist Nellie McKay's new CD Normal as Blueberry Pie, written for AllAboutJazz.com by Matt Marshall. McKay (pictured) is coming to St. Louis under the auspices of Cabaret St. Louis to perform next Wednesday and Thursday at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

* Organist Joey DeFrancesco has a new disc called High Note, reviewed here by Music and More's Tim Niland. DeFrancesco returns to St. Louis at the end of March for four nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

* Pianist Vijay Iyer, who will play the Bistro from January 20 through January 23, just wrapped up a gig at NYC's Jazz Standard, reviewed here by the New York Times' Ben Ratliff, and also was just featured on NPR's "Song of The Day."

* Last but not least, from the "miscellaneous items of interest file": A new research paper done by the Council for Research Excellence (CRE) with support from the Nielsen Company challenges many of the myths about how people today listen to music. The study tracked 752 days of audio media usage last year by participants in five markets and found that "from broadcast radio to MP3 players, some popular notions about listening in the digital age appear to be horribly off the mark." Read more about "How U.S. Adults Use Radio and Other Forms of Audio" here.

Najee to perform Friday, December 11 at the Ambassador

Via a Kevin Johnson blog post at STLtoday.com, word is that smooth jazz saxophonist Najee is coming to St. Louis on Friday, December 11 to perform at the Ambassador Events Center, 9800 Halls Ferry Rd.

Billed as a "Jazz Explosion" concert, the show is also supposed to include some "special guests," though no specific musicians were listed. Najee has been part of several package tours using that name in the past, with other recent participants including keyboardist Alex Bugnon, guitarist Nick Colionne, saxophonist Gerald Albright, and singer Ledisi.

Ticket for Najee's performance at the Ambassador are $25 and $30, and will be on sale via Metrotix.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Christian McBride

This week, we've got some video footage of bassist Christian McBride, who will be in St. Louis from Wednesday, November 18 through Saturday, November 21 to perform with his new band Inside Straight at Jazz At the Bistro.

As McBride explains in a short promotional video made for the band's record label - a clip that, alas, has had the embedding feature disabled - Inside Straight was formed as an acoustic jazz group capable of playing the famous NYC club the Village Vanguard, which eschews the electrified music offered by some of McBride's other ensembles.

Inside Straight's first CD Kind of Brown came out earlier this year, and they've followed up with a series of live dates in NYC and on the road, including the November week that will mark their St. Louis debut. Because the group is relatively new, there's not a whole lot of video available of them online, save for today's first clip which features them playing McBride's tune "Brother Mister."

In addition to the leader on bass, the lineup for this gig included Warren Wolf (vibes) and Steve Wilson (alto sax), both of whom played on the CD, plus Ulysses Owens. Jr. on drums and St. Louis' own Peter Martin on piano, replacing Carl Allen and Eric Reed, respectively. Though he didn't play on the CD, Martin has been on many of the subsequent Inside Straight gigs, and will be at the piano for their St. Louis run.

Down below, there's a clip of McBride demonstrating his technique with a solo on the Ornette Coleman tune "Turnaround," taken from a gig a few years back with Joshua Redman, Pat Metheny and Brian Blade. The final video is a short biography of the bassist from the series Philly Jazz.

New episode of I Love Jazz premieres tonight on HEC-TV

The second season of I Love Jazz, the HEC-TV program hosted by longtime St. Louis jazz DJ Don Wolff, begins tonight with a program featuring singer/guitarist John Pizzarelli and the St. Louis band Dizzy Atmosphere.

Pizzarelli's segment was taped last April before his concert at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, while Dizzy Atmosphere was captured in concert in September at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

I Love Jazz airs Thursday and Sunday nights at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday mornings at 8:00 a.m. , with this latest episode set to run throughout the month of November and into December. HEC-TV can be found on Charter Cable's channel 26 and AT&T U-Verse Network channel 99, and I Love Jazz also can be viewed on the network's Web site at www.hectv.org. The program also is available as a free download on the iTunes U website, though there's normally a time lag of a few weeks before a new episode is posted.

Rubright, Ruffin to perform this Sunday at Webster Records

Webster Records will host a free live performance from guitarist Dan Rubright (pictured) and singer Lydia Ruffin as part of an "open house" sale to be held this Sunday, November 8.

Rubright and Ruffin will perform from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., playing songs from their new CD Christmas Cafe, which will be available for purchase.

The store also will be holding a bake sale in support of owner Jennifer Bellm's participation in the Phoenix Rock n' Roll Marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). Bellm hopes to raise $4,000 to fight blood cancers by taking part in the 26.2 mile run, which will be held in January.

Recently on Heliocentric Worlds

Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the Internet...it's another shameless plug for StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds, where each day we serve up a different music video from genres including jazz, blues, funk, soul, classic rock, prog rock and experimental. Whether you click over to the site occasionally and browse around, or add it your newsreader or home page as a "video of the day" delivery system, you'll find something worthy of your time and attention.

Recent posts have included videos featuring Isaac Hayes, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Curtis Mayfield, Dave Holland Quintet, Bill Evans Trio, Defunkt, Sunnyland Slim, Paul Motian Quintet, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Don Pullen/George Adams Quintet, Hank Crawford, Les Paul, Rahassan Roland Kirk, Miles Davis, Sun Ra and his Arkestra, Ella Fitzgerald, Weather Report, Cassandra Wilson, Jimmy Smith, Muddy Waters and Cannonball Adderley.

You can still see them all, plus hundreds more choice clips from the archives, by visiting http://heliocentricworlds.blogspot.com/.

Jazz this week: Nicholas Payton, Stanley Jordan, Kahil El'Zabar, Salty Dogs Jazz Band, and more

It's a busy weekend for jazz in St. Louis, with shows coming up from four touring ensembles in styles ranging from modern to traditional, plus plenty of activity from our local contingent of musicians. Let's go straight to the highlights:

Tonight, guitarist Stanley Jordan opens a four-night engagement that continues through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Jordan is no stranger to St. Louis audiences, having performed here in recent years at Finale Music and Dining, but if you'd like to see and hear some samples of his playing, check out the video post from last Saturday here.

On Thursday, saxophonist Willie Akins and his group will perform a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. That same evening, KWMU DJ and and jazz historian Dennis Owsley will begin his three-week class on "The Great Jazz Soloists" at the Ethical Society.

On Friday and Saturday, Chicago-based percussionist Kahil El'Zabar and his Ritual Trio return to take the stage Robbie's House of Jazz.

On Saturday, New Orleans-born trumpeter Nicholas Payton (pictured) performs at the Sheldon Concert Hall, with piano phenom Taylor Eigsti as part of his band. You can see some videos of Payton in action here, read an interview with him here, and find information on how to get tickets for the show at half-price here.

On Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club welcomes the long-running Salty Dogs Jazz Band for a concert of traditional jazz at the Sheraton Westport Hotel. Then on Sunday evening, New Music Circle presents composer and producer Rob Voisey's 60 x 60 Project at Mad Art Gallery. The event will feature 60 one-minute performances from local dancers and choreographers set to 60 different pieces of music created by 60 different composers and curated by Voisey.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Tuesday morning the St. Louis Ragtimers will do the first of two "Coffee Concerts" at the Sheldon, with the program repeating on Wednesday morning. And on Tuesday night, Jazz St. Louis' CD Listening Club will meet at Borders in Brentwood, with singer Erin Bode and JSL executive director Gene Dobbs Bradford leading the discussion of the featured CD for the month, John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman.

For information on more jazz and creative music events this weekend and beyond, check out the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, available for viewing on the left sidebar, or by clicking here. Also, you can follow St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes and become a "fan" by signing up 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.)

Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra confirmed for Sheldon Concert Hall benefit gala in March

Way back in June, StLJN told readers about a Pollstar listing showing a performance by Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in March 2010 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Today, the Sheldon issued a press release announcing that Marsalis and the JaLCO (pictured) would indeed be coming to St. Louis next year on Saturday, March 13 to headline the hall's annual benefit gala.

Patron tickets for the event are on sale now, and can be ordered by calling the Sheldon at 314-533-9900. Prices start at $500 and include cocktails, dinner, preferred seating, complimentary valet parking and a tax deduction.

Single tickets will be priced at $75 for orchestra seats and $65 for the balcony, and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, February 13 via Metrotix.