Sun Ra and members of the Arkestra
in a scene from Space Is The Place
As the old saying goes, I've got some good news and some bad news.
The bad news is that I goofed big time, both in the St. Louis Jazz Notes calendar and in a post a couple of weeks ago, by giving out the wrong date for "Who's Afraid of the Big Band Monk?," the Thelonious Monk tribute program being presented this month by Webster University. I mistakenly listed the date as last Monday, February 13 when it is in fact this Monday, February 20, switching the date with that of a concert featuring Carolbeth True and Paul DeMarinis. My apologies to all concerned; it was your basic boneheaded clerical error, and I''ll certainly try to avoid doing it again.
The good news? Well, if you went to Webster last Monday, you heard what sounds like it was a pretty nice concert from DeMarinis and True; here's a review from the Webster U. student paper attesting to that fact. And if you really wanted to check out the Monk tribute but were busy last week (or decided to go to the Maynard Ferguson show in Belleville), you've still got a chance to hear the performance, which will feature the Webster University student big band plus special guests including saxophonist Willie Akins and pianist Kim Portnoy.
Even better, Webster has added to the program a post-concert screening of Straight, No Chaser, a documentary film about the pianist and composer. The 90-minute movie "features footage of a recording date and tour from 1968, plus priceless scenes of Monk offstage. Shot in gorgeous black and white in 1968 by Michael and Christian Blackwood, the project was completed by veteran documentarian Charlotte Zwerin twenty years later." The program takes place at Webster U's Winifred Moore Auditorium beginning at 7 p.m., it's open to the public, and admission to both the concert and the film is just $3.
More good news comes in finding out that Webster U. will do the film-and-music thing again on Monday, March 20, when the music department's concert presentation of "Tomorrow Is the Question: A Survey of Avant-Garde Jazz Compositions 1955-70" is paired with a screening of the 1974 film Space Is The Place, featuring bandleader, composer and pianist Sun Ra and his Intergalactic Arkestra. "Science fiction, blaxploitation, cosmic free-jazz and radical race politics collide when Sun Ra returns to earth in his music-powered space ship to battle for the future of the black race and offer an "alter-destiny" to those who would join him," says the blurb for the film. "Intentionally created as homage to the low-budget science fiction films of the 50's and 60's, the special effects, outrageous plot line and apocalyptic message harmonize with the otherworldly score and a climactic live performance by one of the most innovative groups in jazz history."
The concert that kicks off the evening will feature music by Paul Bley, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Andrew Hill, Jimmy Giuffre, and George Russell as performed by the Webster Faculty Jazz Ensemble, with Michael Parkinson on trumpet, Paul DeMarinis on woodwinds, pianist Kim Portnoy, guitarist Steve Schenkel and bassist Willem von Hombracht, plus special guest Steve Tatum on drums. Again, the program starts at 7 p.m., and the $3 admission price includes both the concert and the film.
Thanks to Brett Underwood for contributing information for this post.
(Edited for clarity and to fix a broken URL immediately after posting)
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