StLJN's 2006 year in review

On this final day of 2006, it seems appropriate to take a look back at what's happened in St. Louis jazz over the last year. So here's a review of some of the most noteworthy items published by StLJN over the past 12 months:

January 2006

• Jazz radio personality Leo Chears dies after a long illness.
• Marty Ehrlich talks about his new CD News on the Rail.
• Jazz at the Bistro becomes Jazz St. Louis.
• NEA Jazz Masters tour skips St. Louis.
• James Carter subs for David Murray at WSQ's St. Louis shows.
• Eric Person releases new CD, premieres "lost" John Coltrane arrangements.

February 2006

• Erin Bode releases new CD featuring original material.
• Washington University holds symposium examining the history and legacy of the Black Artist Group.
• Singer/producer Valerie Tichacek gives StLJN the scoop on Jazz @ Cookie's, a new cable TV program featuring St. Louis jazz musicians.
• David Sanborn joins Chris Botti's tour-in-progress, providing an unexpected bonus for fans who had tickets for Botti's appearance at the TouPAC.
• The US Bank St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival announces its new name and 2006 lineup.
• World Saxophone Quartet performs at Jazz at the Bistro, and Hamiet Bluiett reveals details of their upcoming CD Political Blues.
• Webster University presents music and film programs on Thelonious Monk and the 1960s avant garde.
• The Sheldon announces events to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Josephine Baker.
• Filmmaker Christian Cudnik begins work on a documentary on the history of St. Louis jazz.
• Clark Terry announced as headliner for the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival.

March 2006

• With the New Orleans Ritz-Carlton still closed, Jeremy Davenport re-ups on his gig at Busch's Grove.
• StLJN hosts a roundtable discussion about jazz festivals, featuring thoughts and ideas from local music journalists and DJs including Dennis Owsley, Steve Pick, Terry Perkins and Rene Spencer Saller. Introduction Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7.
• Whitaker Music Festival announces its 2006 lineup.
• Miles Davis inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
• Patricia Barber performs at Jazz at the Bistro, reviewed by guest contributor Terry Perkins.
• St. Louis premiere set for PBS series Legends of Jazz.

April 2006

• Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum signs with Dave Koz' Rendezvous Music label.
• Review of Eric Person's Reflections.
• Brandt's Cafe and Red Carpet Lounge for sale.
• Sheldon Concert Hall announces its 2006-07 concert season, prompting a commentary on race and commercialism.
• StLJN runs its first embedded YouTube clip.
• StLJN celebrates one year of publishing.
• Concert held to benefit Leon Thomas scholarship fund.

May 2006

• Kurt Elling, reconsidered and reviewed.
• Jazz concert wish list.
• Noted jazz pianist and former St. Louisan John Hicks dies.
• Jazz St. Louis announces 2006-07 schedule for Jazz at the Bistro.
• Peter Martin and friends schedule a performance of their Big River concert in Chicago.
• My personal favorite StLJN headline of 2006: Live on the Levee lineup looks lackluster.
• Osby to perform with WSQ at Bistro in the fall.
• Miles Davis' birthday celebrated.

June 2006

• Main Street Jazz and Blues club sold.
• St. Louis Public Library named pilot site for jazz documentary film and discussion series.
• Performance space Radio Cherokee announces it will close.
• The TouPAC announces its 2006-07 season.
• Jazz at the Bistro gets a fancy new neon sign.
• US Bank St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival, previewed and reviewed in two parts.
• Old Webster Jazz Festival announces its 2006 lineup.

July 2006

• St. Louis debut set for legendary saxophonist John Handy.
• A coda to StLJN's coverage of the US Bank St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival.
• Jazz St. Louis adds more acts to the 2006-07 Jazz at the Bistro season.
• A major summer storm knocks out power to St. Louis, including StLJN HQ.

August 2006

• Publication date announced for City of Gabriels, Dennis Owsley's history of jazz in St. Louis.
• Jazz St. Louis moves outside the confines of the Bistro by presenting "Jazz on Broadway".
• Trumpet legend Maynard Ferguson, a frequent visitor to St. Louis, dies.
• New poster from St. Louis artist Kevin Belford shows local jazz legends.
• Maynard Ferguson tribute concert to be held in St. Louis.

September 2006

• Delmark Records issues newly discovered recordings from St. Louis trumpeter Dewey Jackson.
• Jazz@Cookie's finally makes its debut - on YouTube.
• The Sheldon announces a major exhbit on St. Louis jazz history.
• Washington University's Jazz at Holmes series announces its fall 2006 schedule.
• New Music Circle announces its 2006-07 season schedule, just days before the first concert.

October 2006

• Christian Cudnick's documentary about St. Louis jazz history makes its debut.
• Dave Douglas will join SF Jazz Collective for 2007 tour.
• KC Star writer praises St. Louis jazz history, pans our current jazz scene.

November 2006

• "Peanuts" Whalum featured in Jazz Times magazine.
• Jazz historian and critic Dan Morgenstern speaks in St. Louis.
• StLJN updates now available by email.

December 2006

• StLJN opens its Emporium for your shopping and buying pleasure.
• Metheny/Mehldau tour coming to St. Louis in 2007.
• Singer Nancy King's latest CD for MAXJAZZ is nominated for a Grammy award.
• Al Jarreau will headline Jazz St. Louis benefit gala.
• The "Zappa Plays Zappa" tour's St. Louis concert is reviewed.
• STLJN's sister site Heliocentric Worlds goes live with music videos of jazz, blues, soul, funk and more.

Thanks to all the readers, commenters, e-mail correspondents, tipsters, musicians, presenters, publicists, critics, DJs and all the rest who have been part of this site in various ways over the past year. See you in 2007.

(Edited after posting to fix some formatting problems.)

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: A tribute to Miles Davis' Bitches Brew

Saxophonist, composer and arranger Bob Belden recently staged a tribute to Miles Davis at Merkin Hall in New York City involving a live performance of all the tracks from Davis' classic album Bitches Brew. Since it helped jump-start the fusion movement or the 1970s and showcased many of the most important musicians of that genre, Bitches Brew certainly qualifies as an historic and influential album, one equal in importance to many other more conventional recordings comfortably enshrined in the jazz canon.

But given the complex, multi-layered, improvisational nature of the recordings; the rather elusive nature of some of the thematic material; and the amount of post-production and studio manipulation involved in creating what have come to be the familiar versions of the tracks, Bitches Brew as a repertory piece to be performed live would seem to present a substantial challenge for even the most highly skilled musicians.

Now, you can judge for yourself how well Belden and his cohorts did, for they've put YouTube videos of what seems to be just about all of the Bitches Brew show online. Here are their versions of the title track "Bitches Brew," originally composed by Davis, and "Pharoah's Dance," which was written by Joe Zawinul. The band includes Belden on saxophone, Tim Hagans on trumpet, DJ Logic on turntables, Scott Kinsey on keyboards and electronics, Guy Lachada on drums and Matt Garrison on five-strong electric bass.

You can see the rest of the performances from that night, along with some older videos of Belden's big band and various other stuff, at Belden's YouTube page.

Rounding up the "Best of 2006" lists

As 2006 winds to a close, many jazz critics are publishing their lists of the year's best CDs, with Sound Grammar, the latest recording by saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman (pictured), appearing at or near the top of many of those lists.

Personally, I've never been much for year-end list-making under any circumstances, and due to my limited budget and idiosyncratic listening habits, plus the difficulty of getting service from many jazz labels' promotional departments, there are many major releases from this year that I simply haven't heard yet. At some point, I may or may not weigh in with some thoughts about some of my favorite recordings from the year, but for right now, in lieu of publishing a list of my own, I'm just going to point you to a link-dump of a bunch of other people's picks:

• Dan Ouellette of Billboard and Down Beat looks at 2006 jazz sales charts, calls it a lackluster year for mainstream jazz.
• Village Voice 2006 jazz critic's poll results and an introductory essay by Francis Davis
• Ben Ratliff of the New York Times - Top 10 Jazz and Pop recordings for 2006
• Nate Chinen of the New York Times - Top 10 Jazz and Pop recordings for 2006
• Best of 2006 lists from various writers at All About Jazz.com
• All About Jazz.com forum thread on the best of 2006
• eJazzNews' Top 50 jazz CDs of 2006
• Amazon Editors' Picks for best jazz of 2006
• Fred Kaplan of Slate picks his favorite jazz CDs of 2006
• Avant Music News' Best of 2006
• 10 Best Experimental and Avant Garde releases of 2006
• PopMatters' Will Layman's best jazz of 2006
• Clive Davis' (UK music writer, not the US record executive) best jazz & world music of 2006
• Italian jazz critics' top recordings of 2006

If you've read any other good "best jazz of 2006" lists, by all means please leave a note and the link in the comments. And if you'd like to talk about some of your personal favorite releases from the past year, your comments are also very welcome.

In the meantime, if you're so inclined, you can check out some vintage video of Coleman from 1988 in the embedded window below. This performance of "Happy Hour" was filmed at the Montreal Jazz Festival and features Coleman, the Prime Time band and special guest Pat Metheny on guitar. Also, depending on when you're reading this, you may be able to find some individual Coleman audio tracks for free download by checking the Hype Machine music blog aggregator, (which is actually quite a nice resource for finding all sorts of free MP3s.)

Site news: You're invited to visit Heliocentric Worlds

As a reader of StLJN, please accept this invitation to check out our new spin-off site Heliocentric Worlds.

Those of you who are regulars here know that over the last year I've used a lot of videos from YouTube and other sources as part of the coverage of the St. Louis jazz scene. Well, believe it or not, although I've run a whole lot of YouTube clips, they are actually but a fraction of the stuff that's available online. So I've started this new site to share some of the clips I find that are cool, fun or interesting but don't necessarily fit StLJN's format.

(And, just in case you were wondering, I don't see this new site taking much time away from StLJN. HW is really more like a byproduct of the routine information-gathering done for this site, and since it's not necessarily about breaking news, I can prepare posts in batches and save 'em for future use, just like the game show producers in Hollywood do with episodes of Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy.)

Heliocentric Worlds will feature a new music video every day from genres including jazz, blues, soul, funk, experimental, progressive rock, classic rock and more. I've been posting over there for a few days just to give the place a "lived-in" look, and so you can already find clips of Sun Ra, Bill Evans, Ray Charles, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Frank Zappa, Booker T and the MGs, Ornette Coleman, Freddie King, Soft Machine, Duke Ellington, the Don Pullen/George Adams Quartet, and War, plus a multi-clip Christmas special and a tribute to late Godfather of Soul, James Brown. And while I don't want to tip my hand too much, there's lots more good stuff in the pipeline.

There are still a few design kinks to be worked out, material to be added to the sidebar, and so on, but for the most part, I think the place is ready for a few visitors. So, please go on over to Heliocentric Worlds, check it out, leave comments if you like, and bookmark it for future reference.

Ethan Iverson of The Bad Plus interviewed by P-D's Durchholz

The acclaimed-yet-controversial piano trio The Bad Plus will be the first act to perform at Jazz at the Bistro in the New Year of 2007, as they come to town for a four-night stand at the club from Januarry 3-6.

Post-Dispatch freelancer Dan Durchholz has an interview in Thursday's paper with the the band's pianist Ethan Iverson, and you can read it online here.

If you'd like to hear some samples of their music, check the band's MySpace page, or grab a track from one or more of the music sharing blogs indexed by Hype Machine. You can also see StLJN's previous coverage of The Bad Plus, including a couple of music videos, by starting here.

And down below is yet another short video of The Bad Plus, one previously unseen here. This clip shows them performing a composition apparently entitled "And Here We Test Our Powers Of Observation," from the UK TV program Later, hosted by Jools Holland.

Jazz this week: What's happening New Year's Eve, and more

The week between Christmas and New Year's is another slow time for the touring business, so it's no surprise that St. Louis' stages are pretty much devoid of traveling jazz headliners this week. And while many local musicians will still be working their regular gigs this Friday and Saturday, let's first take a look at what's going on Sunday, New Year's Eve.

Unfortunately, the amount of local jazz activity on New Year's Eve is, to put it charitably, rather small. The city's premier club venue, Jazz at the Bistro, is located within the Grand Center arts district, which serves as the site for the annual First Night celebration. Given the competition that event brings for parking spaces in the neighborhood, and the overall street traffic generated by First Night, the Bistro has usually gone dark on New Year's Eve, and they are closed for NYE once again this year. The First Night events begin at 6 p.m. and this year's program does feature some musical performers of interest to jazz listeners, including Swing Set, Kim Massie, Swing DeVille, singer/pianist Beth Tuttle with Sandy Weltman, Farshid Etniko, and Debby Lennon. Visit the First Night Web site for times, venues and details.

Finale Music and Dining has a New Year's Eve package featuring the Vegas-style sounds of trumpeter Jim Manley (pictured) and his mini-big band Wild, Cool and Swingin'. Some local nightspots that regularly feature jazz, such as Brandt's, Crossings Taverne and Grille, the Casa Loma Ballroom and Cookie's Jazz and More, are choosing to present non-jazz entertainment this New Year's Eve, while the New Year's Eve music or entertainment at other places, such as Riddle's, Busch's Grove and Main Street Jazz and Blues, isn't even listed on their respective Web sites.

As for jazz at other venues around town on New Year's Eve, fans of contemporary electric styles may want to check out smooth jazz saxophonist Reedus Miller and guitarist Brian White, who will be at the Casino Queen, or Mo and Dawn, who will bring their acid-jazz/dance sound to the Clark Street Grill. But that's about it, as best as I have been able to determine, for jazz in St. Louis this New Year's Eve.

So if you want to hear some jazz this week, get out on the town before NYE. On Wednesday, singer Jeanne Trevor is at Brandt's in U. City, with pianist Ptah Williams just down the street at Riddle's. On Thursday, trumpeter Dan Smith and singer Debby Lennon are at Cookies. Friday, you'll find harmonica genius Sandy Weltman and his trio at Crossings and Swing Set at Erato Wine Bar, while on Saturday night you can catch Sherry Drake and Scott Alberici at Cookie's and Jim Manley playing in a trio setting at Crossings.

To see a more comprehensive listing of this week's jazz offerings, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar.

(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. No attachments, please.)

Bode interviewed on KDHX

Via the 52nd City blog: Singer Erin Bode was interviewed Monday night on the KDHX-FM program "The Wire," hosted by Thomas Crone and Amanda Doyle. The archived version of the show, which also includes an in-studio performance by Bode, her bassist/husband Syd Rodway and pianist Adam Maness, isn't online as of this writing, but very soon it should be available for streaming from this page of the KDHX Website. The station's streams are available on the Web for roughly four weeks after the original broadcast date.

Merry Christmas to you

Posting will be light around here for a couple of days, but there is one more bit of bonus YouTubeage to share with you this Christmas Eve - namely, Nat "King" Cole singing "The Christmas Song," the now-familiar standard written by Mel Torme and Robert Wells.

Personally, by the time Christmas day rolls around, I've usually had my fill of holiday-related music, but for some reason this particular song never seems to wear out its welcome, maybe because Cole sings it so well, or maybe just because it's such a succinct arrangement. In any event, thanks for reading StLJN, and here's hoping you and yours have a Merry Christmas and/or happy holiday season.

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: Hamiet Bluiett, Greg Osby provide saxophonic support for Charles Mingus, Jack DeJohnette

This week's video clips feature a couple of St. Louis saxophonists in supporting roles. The first clip is of the Charles Mingus Quartet, with Hamiet Bluiett on baritone saxophone along with the leader on bass, Dannie Richmond on drums, pianist Don Pullen and tenor saxophonist George Adams. It was recorded on July 28, 1974 at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Todi, Italy.

The second video showcases drummer Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition, with St. Louis native Greg Osby on alto sax, plus Gary Thomas, Lonnie Plaxico and Michael Cain. The composition is called "On Golden Beams," but alas, there was no other info as to the provenance of the clip.

Jazz this week: Andre Delano, a Chet Baker tribute, Bhob Rainey and more

Many major touring artists are off the road for Christmas week, but there are still some interesting things going on this weekend in St. Louis with regard to jazz and improvised music:

Saxophonist Andre Delano (pictured), an East St. Louis native who has performed with R&B luminaries including Johnny Taylor, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, the Gap Band, Bobby Womack, Maxwell and Stevie Wonder, is in town to promote his new CD of Chirstmas music with a gig tonight at Cookie's Jazz and More. The Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson has a bit more about the Cookie's performance and Delano's new gig in the house band for TBS' Megan Mullally Show in his column from today's paper, available online here.

On Saturday night, trumpeter Randy Holmes and Hard Bop Heritage, along with special guest vocalist Al Oxenhandler, will perform a tribute to Chet Baker at Finale Music and Dining. For more, see this previous post.

Also on Saturday, improvising saxophonist Bhob Rainey headlines a concert at the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center. Rainey is "a composer, saxophonist and electronic musician. His music has become a model
in the world of experimental sound. He is the founder of both nmperign (with trumpeter Greg Kelley) and the BSC, which he also directs...His music occupies a charged space between synthetic and organic sound, bringing forth improbable sensual and narrative experiences through virtuosic extended techniques, homemade synths and sound processors, found recordings, and a kind of living silence that is apt to wreak havoc with the perception of time." The bill will also include St. Louisan Mark Sarich, performing as epicycle, and Ghost Ice, Jeremy Kannapell’s electronic project.

In addition, though the major concert venues are dark this weekend, there's plenty of other music on local club stages. To see a more extensive listing of this week's jazz events, check out the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar.

(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. No attachments, please.)

Holmes talks about Baker tribute

Trumpeter Randy Holmes has an interview with freelance scribe (and StLJN pal) Terry Perkins in today's Post-Dispatch in which he talks about the Chet Baker tribute scheduled for this Saturday night at Finale. Read it online at STLtoday here.

Marty Ehrlich track available as a free download

"Hear You Say," a track from St. Louis native Marty's Ehrlich's most recent CD News on the Rail is available for a limited time as a free download from Ehrlich's label Palmetto Records. I enjoyed the CD and have recommended it to others, and though a single track can't possibly capture the variety of sounds and moods created by Ehrlich and his ensemble, this cut is well worth downloading nevertheless.

Palmetto also is offering free downloads from other CDs on the label, with a selection that curently include tracks by Ben Allison, Javon Jackson and Matt Balitsaris & Jeff Berman. It says tracks available for downloading will change about every two weeks, so grab 'em while you can.

Notes from the Net: Tributes to Miles, Burrage in residence, Metheny interviewed, Brubecks reviewed, and more

Let's start this compilation of news from all over with a video clip of Miles Davis performing at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. The freeform set is caught in its entirety on the DVD Miles Electric: A Different Kind of Blue, which is reviewed here. You can also read a little more about the circumstances of the performance here

Speaking of Miles, the tributes to the late trumpeter continue to come even as we reach the end of the 80th year since his birth. Saxophonist Bob Belden recently staged a tribute to Miles in NYC featuring a live performance of the entire Bitches Brew album, while East St. Louis native Russell Gunn has a new CD coming in January called Russell Gunn Plays Miles. The disc on the High Note label is billed as "a progressive tribute to music spanning a period from the mid-'50s to the mid-'80s by or associated with Miles Davis. Highlights include the songs "Tutu," "Bitches Brew," "Blue in Green," "Footprints," "Nardis," "All Blues" and "Eighty One"."

And speaking of natives of the St. Louis area, drummer Ronnie Burrage (pictured at left) recently spent a week as an artist-in-residence at Penn State University...Meanwhile, pianist Linda Presgrave, who now calls NYC home, writes that's she's back from a vacation trip to Japan, where she sat in for a few songs at a club in Akasuka caled the Jazz Bar and received an invitation to return for five nights in 2007. "If my stepdaughter Rebecca is still there (teaching English)-- we may do it!" writes Presgrave, who's also headed to Italy next year to perform. In the meantime, she can be heard on the new Christmas CD from Metropolitan Records. A Jazz Christmas: That Special Time of Year features Presgrave on piano alongside other artists from the label, including such notables as drummer Carl Allen, pianist Billy Childs, saxophonists Billy Harper and Vincent Herring, bassists Harvie S. and Buster Williams; and more...And speaking of tributes, here's a bit more about the recent Josephine Baker tribute in Kansas City, and a review of the recent opening of the Baker exhibit at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC

Turning to coming attractions, guitarist Pat Metheny, who will perform at the Sheldon in April, is interviewed here, while the new CD from the Brubeck Brothers (pictured at right) coming to the same venue in March, is reviewed here. (Scroll down to see the review)...And the SF Jazz Collective, coming to Jazz at the Bistro in March, released an official announcement of their Spring 2007 tour, and have also released a new CD with live material from last year's tour.

And rounding up some other miscellaneous items of interest, New York Times jazz writer Nate Chinen recently wrote an interesting piece examining how jazz blogs have prompted a reassessment of the music of the 1970s: "But over the last six months, a far-flung contingent of musicians and aficionados has made an effort to upend that prevailing notion, armed with stacks of vinyl, high-speed Internet and a shared conviction that things back then were really far from moribund. Along the way, they touched off the year's most animated public discourse on jazz, a democratic exchange that culminated last weekend in the debut of behearer.com, an interactive database devoted to the music's most conflicted period." More about behearer.com from the UK's Guardian here,.and on a related note, Bagatellen had an interesting piece on how grey market labels help to keep obscure jazz available....Looking for jazz radio stations that stream online? Check out this message board thread from All About Jazz.com in which AAJ readers stump for their favorites....Student musicians (and their teachers) are hereby reminded that the application deadline for the 30th Annual DownBeat Student Music Awards is December 30. Get the application form here.

And finally, if there's anyone out there who hasn't already had their fill of holiday-related music, check out this MP3 download of "O Holy Night," recorded by a brass band of displaced New Orleans musicians fronted by Troy Andrews, as featured on the NBC show Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. The segment served as a poignant reminder of how much there is left to be done in New Orleans more than a year after the disaster, and if you'd like to do something help the city's musicians and the other victims of Katrina and subsequent flooding, Doug Ramsey's Rifftides has some suggestions on where to donate.

(Edited after posting to fix some formatting probems.)

Review: "Zappa Plays Zappa" at The Pageant

The Zappa Plays Zappa "Tour de Frank" made it to The Pageant in St. Louis on Thursday, December 14, and it was a well-executed and highly entertaining show. Drawing heavily on Frank Zappa's 1970s material, guitarist Dweezil Zappa (pictured at left) and the band performed for three hours with barely a pause, displaying obvious enthusiasm and impressive musical skills to a full house of delighted Frankophiles.

Special guest Napoleon Murphy Brock (pictured at right) was in good voice on familiar numbers like "Village of the Sun," "Cheepnis" and "Montana". As always, he also added to the ensemble passages with his tenor sax and flute, and provided extra entertainment value with an assortment of silly dance moves and goofy facial expressions.

Coming on for the second half of the show, Steve Vai supplied the expected high-speed solo guitar theatrics, while drummer Terry Bozzio drove the band through a rockin' segment featuring "Punky's Whips" before teaming up with Vai for "The Black Page," done in both the drum-solo and guitar-instrumental versions.

It was good to see Brock, Vai and Bozzio looking well and playing with energy and enjoyment, but their efforts would have been for naught without the band. Comprised of mostly unknown youngish musicians selected by Dweezil Zappa and drummer (and Zappa Vaultmeister) Joe Travers after extensive auditions, the band went through months of rehearsals before embarking on tour this past spring, and they're clearly now a tight, road-tested unit.

Zappa's music is full of stops and starts, odd time signatures, rapid stylistic shifts, difficult unison melody lines and more, but the ZPZ ensemble negotiated every twist and turn flawlessly. Special mention should go to percussionist Billy Hulting, who ably provided the tricky mallet percussion parts so essential to much of Zappa's music, and multi-instrumentalist Scheila Gonzalez (pictured at left), who supplied lots of important harmony and background vocal parts as well as saxophone, flute, additional keyboards and stage presence. (Gonzalez also seems like a natural visual foil for Nappy, frequently exchanging looks and high fives with him and responding to his dance moves with her own impromptu antics. It's too bad the stage design kept them on different levels the whole night.)

Travers proved more than up to the challenge of executing the difficult drum parts in Zappa's music, and, when following a Bozzio solo with one of his own, didn't suffer at all from the direct comparison to his more famous predecessor. Though relegated mostly to the background, the rest of the band, including Aaron Arntz (keyboards and trumpet), Jamie Hime (guitar) and Pete Griffin (bass), also showed plenty of musical skill, humor and energy.

As for the man with the biggest shoes to fill, Dweezil Zappa isn't quite as inventive a guitarist as his dad, but he's got plenty of chops and a fine command of various guitar tones, and he clearly understands and enjoys his father's music. As a result, his solos were satisfying and effective, even without breaking much new musical ground. Dweezil also took the lead vocal on "I'm The Slime" and "Call Any Vegetable" (the arrangement used on Just Another Band From L.A.) and conducted the band through a couple of collective improvisational passages, including a very effective one in the middle of "Florentine Pogen." I don't know if the hand gestures and signals DZ used are the same that FZ once used to lead the original Mothers in group improv, but it was fun to see that the idea still works.

Dweezil also has clearly taken to heart his dad's observation that the concert business is about entertainment just as much as it is about music. He's marshaled the resources at his disposal very effectively, come up with a wide-ranging selection of material, and found a way to weave the diverse threads of Zappa's music together into a coherent, well-paced show. By the time the all the musicians were on stage for the big finale - the medley of "Oh No," "Orange County Lumber Truck" and "More Trouble Coming Every Day" from the Roxy and Elsewhere album - the crowd was really wound up, cheering loudly at the signature guitar and drum licks of "Trouble" and singing along (to lyrics that, sad to say, seem just as pertinent in 2006 as they did in 1966) with gusto. Capping things off with a short, placid version of "Sofa," ZPZ then left the stage having done the family legacy proud.

Given this tour's apparent success, it's not hard to imagine future scenarios involving possible different guest stars and subsets of the Zappa repertoire, but I'm sure a lot of the people who were there Thursday would gladly pay cash money to see the exact same show again, too. Either way, here's hoping the ZPZ concept can help keep Frank Zappa's music alive and accessible for years to come.

(Note: Dweezil Zappa and other band members are blogging the ZPZ tour, though the most recent entry is from earlier in the day of the St. Louis concert, and thus does not include their impressions of the show and our fair city. You check it out here.)

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Saturday bonus video: An interview with Metheny and Mehldau

And speaking of Pat Metheny and Brad Mehldau, we've also got some bonus YouTubeage for you today in the form of a two-part interview that the two famed musicians recorded to promote their recent collaborative CD. (From the subtitles, it seems this clip came from Japanese TV, but that's all I know.) Part one is above, part two below.

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: Fly featuring Mark Turner,plus the Pat Metheny Trio

Today's videos preview a couple of concerts that are coming to St. Louis in the first part of 2007, and they also help trace the interconnections among a certain set of musicians. The first video features the band Fly playing "State of the Union" at the Sunside Jazz Club in Paris, exact date unknown but recent .Fly is a three-piece outfit made up of saxophonist Mark Turner, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard. They'll be doing a four-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro during the second week in January.

Grenadier and Ballard also serve as the current rhythm section for pianist Brad Mehldau, and all three are touring this spring with guitarist Pat Metheny in support of the recently issued CD Metheny/Mehldau. That show is coming to the Sheldon Concert Hall in April, but since the tour hasn't started yet, there's really no footage of them playing together - at least, not any I could find. However, I did run across a clip that shows Metheny playing in a trio situation with Bill Stewart on drums and Grenadier on bass, and that's today's second featured video. The composition is called "Lone Jack," and the video was made in 1999 at the Montreux Jazz Festival. For a bit more on the Metheny/Mehldau tour, see the next post.

Victor Goines, Juilliard Jazz Ensemble returning to the Sheldon in February

The Juilliard Jazz Small Ensemble, directed by and featuring saxophonist and clarinetist Victor Goines (pictured), will return to The Sheldon Concert Hall for a public performance and two days of workshops with St. Louis area music students on Thursday, February 8 and Friday, February 9. The Ensemble features the top young jazz musicians from the Juilliard Institute for Jazz Studies, and during the workshops they and Goines will work with jazz students from St. Louis. The is the third consective year the workshops have been held, and this year's event culminates in a public concert at 8 p.m., Friday, February 9 featuring performances by each participating school and the Juilliard Ensemble. Tickets for the concert go on sale January 6.

The Sheldon has also officially released information about the Pat Metheny/Brad Mehldau concert mentioned here earlier. The concert is scheduled for Wednesday, April 4, and tickets go on sale January 26.

Jazz this week: Houston Person, Zappa Plays Zappa, and more

Hard-swinging veteran tenor saxophonist Houston Person (pictured at left) returns to Jazz at the Bistro this week for a four-night stand that runs trhough Saturday. St. Louis jazz fans are quite familiar with Person by now, as he's appeared at the Bistro as both leader and co-leader several times in recent years. His soulful, meat-and-potatoes style, built on blues, bop and ballads, may indeed be from the "old school," but Houston is a musician of substance as well as a real crowd-pleaser. Some things, done well enough, never get old, and Person's classic approach would seem to be one of those things.

On Thursday night, the Zappa Plays Zappa tour, which has been on the road since the spring of this year, arrives at The Pageant. ZPZ is a repertory project of Frank Zappa music under the direction of his eldest son, Dweezil, and features a band of young unknowns fronted by DZ and guest stars Napoleon Murphy Brock, Steve Vai and Terry Bozzio. For more on what to expect, check out the interviews Dweezil did with RFT's Michael Allen Goldberg here and the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson here, as well as StLJN's previous coverage here, here and here.

On Saturday, the Pageant has the smooth jazz package show "A Holiday Celebration" with singer Will Downing, guitarist Norman Brown and saxophonist Gerald Albright. Sales for the first performance were brisk enough that the The Pageant added a second show at 11:00 p.m., and as of this writing it seems that tickets are still available for that late show. You can also see a brief video interview with Albright, courtesy of the ever-handy YouTube, in the embedded window below.

UPDATE: 3:00 a.m., 12/14/06: STLtoday now has online an Q&A with Will Downing by P-D pop critic Kevin Johnson. For concert-preview purposes, the key quote is:

"This is a glorified regular show," Downing said..."We throw in a few Christmas songs to get everybody into the holiday spirit. But me, Gerald and Norman do the best of the songs we're known for, and then we throw in Christmas. That's the excuse to come back to town."

Some other noteworthy sounds this weekend nclude singer Valerie Tichacek at Cookie's Jazz and More on Thursday; trumpeter Jim Manley's Wild, Cool and Swingin' at the same venue on Friday; and the Willem Von Hambrecht Trio with Debby Lennon at Crossings Taverne and Grille on Saturday. On Sunday, the St. Louis Jazz Club is having its annual Christmas Party, featuring music by Jean Kittrell and the St. Louis Rivermen, at the Moolah Shrine Center, and guitarist Tom Byrne does a free, in-store matinee performance at Webster Records.

For more of this week's jazz events, please consult the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar.

(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. No attachments, please.)

Al Jarreau to headline Jazz St. Louis fundraiser

Vocalist Al Jarreau (pictured) will headline Jazz St. Louis' 2007 benefit gala on Friday, March 23 at the Hilton at the Ballpark. Ticket prices have not yet been announced, but given that this is one of JSL's major fundraising events of the year, ducats are likely to be quite expensive. No word yet as to whether there will be a "concert-only" ticket offered.

Jarreau has received significant media attention in recent months, thanks to the sales success of Givin' It Up, his duet album with guitarist/singer George Benson. Along with his previous release Accentuate The Positive, the CD offers what many critics and longtime fans consider a welcome return to a musical approach that gives significantly more weight to Jarreau's jazz roots than to the commercial R&B sound he's employed with varying results since the mid-1980s.

(To help refresh your memory of the more improvisational Jarreau, take a look at the video clip at the bottom of this post. It's a performance of "Spain," the Chick Corea song recorded by Jarreau during his early period of national success that became one of his concert staples for many years. This version features a all-star band including guitarist Buzzy Feiten, Philippe Saisse on keyboards, Freddy Washington on bass, Joe Sample on keyboards, Steve Gadd on drums and percussionist Lenny Castro.)

In other JSL news, they've added additional bookings at Jazz at the Bistro for winter/spring 2007, filling in all but one of the weekends that had been listed as "TBA" when the bulk of the Bistro season was announced back in May.

The performers who have been added to the schedule are singer Anita Rosamond (January 12 and 13); drummer Montez Coleman (January 26 and 27); saxophonist (and noted jazz educator) Ron Carter apperaing with OGD, the organ trio led by keyboardist Reggie Thomas (February 23 and 27); and the Bosman Twins (April 6 and 7).

In addition, the Bistro has scheduled yet another weekend of performances by singer Erin Bode - her third during the 2006-07 season, in case you're keeping track - on May 4 and 5, as well as a weekend devoted to the the THF Realty All-Star Student Ensembles (April 20 and 21) and one for the annual Jazz St. Louis open house, which will be held on May 18 and 19. The weekend of February 9 and 10 remains TBA.

To inject a bit of commentary here, while Bode is good at what she does, and presumably a reliable audience draw as well, booking her three times in one season seems like going back to the same well a bit too often. After all, there are other St. Louis jazz artists who are arguably deserving of a weekend gig at the Bistro who haven't been tapped multiple times in recent years.

For example, several of the musician/educators associated with Webster University, such as Carolbeth True, Kim Portnoy and Paul DeMarinis, have played the room years ago but seem to have been shut out recently. A number of other St. Louis players and groups with significant followings, skills, and/or achievements, such as saxophonist Dave Stone, trombonist Lamar Harris, the Downtown Trio, pianist Ptah Williams and multi-instrumentalist Sandy Weltman have, to my knowledge, never been booked to play the Bistro. (Williams may have performed there backing someone else, but I don't think he's ever been the leader on a Bistro show.)

And given that longtime St. Louis favorite.Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum now has a recording contract with national/international distribution, it 'd be nice for him to be heard at least once in the Bistro's "listening room" atmosphere, too. If JSL really wants to develop new attractions and to encourage and promote a diversity of jazz in St. Louis, getting more and different local musicians into the booking mix at the Bistro would seem to be both appropriate and necessary.

(Edited after posting.)

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: When Hawk met Bird, plus Monk's "Round Midnight"

There's no St. Louis connection in this week's videos, just a couple of clips showcasing seldom-seen performances by some true jazz icons. The first video documents a meeting between saxophone legends Coleman Hawkins on tenor and Charlie Parker on alto, performing a tune called "Ballade" backed by a rhythm section of Hank Jones on piano, Ray Brown on bass and Buddy Rich on drums. It was filmed in 1950, presumably during a "Jazz at the Philharmonic" tour, although there's no location given in the notes. Still, whatever the provenance, given that there's so little film of Parker performing, even a few more minutes of footage is a treat.

The second video features one of my personal favorites, pianist and composer Thelonious Monk, performing one of his most famous compositions, "Round Midnight." It's an excerpt from a Polish television broadcast, shot while Monk was touring Europe in 1966 and the group includes Monk's longtime saxophonist Charlie Rouse, bassist Larry Gales and drummer Ben Riley. This footage supposedly has just resurfaced recently, and though there's a good deal of Monk video material already in circulation, this certainly seems like a worthy addition.

MAXJAZZ release nominated for Grammy Award

The CD Live at the Jazz Standard with Fred Hersch, recorded by singer Nancy King and pianist Fred Hersch and released earlier this year by the St. Louis-based independent label MAXJAZZ, has been nominated in the "Best Vocal Jazz Album" category of the 49th annual Grammy Awards. King's CD is in some well-known company, as the other nominees in the category include Diana Krall and Nancy Wilson, as well as newcomer Roberta Gambarini and former Kansas Citian Karrin Allyson.

Hersch will be in St. Louis in February to lead his own group in a performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall, and there are some other names among this year's nominees who either have performed in St.Louis recently or will soon, including Allyson, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones (nominated for Best Contemporary Jazz Album), and pianist Taylor Eigsti (nominated for Best Instrumental Solo.) Also nominated for "Best Large Ensemble Recording" was saxophonist Joe Lovano's CD Streams of Expression, which features a suite based on Miles Davis' landmark album Birth of the Cool.

You can see a complete list of the 2006 jazz Grammy nominees here, and read more about the rest of the awards here.

(Edited 12/12/06 to fix a typo and correct an error regarding Karrin Allyson's current home.)

Coming attractions for 2007 include Flecktones, Metheny & Mehldau

It's been a while since we've had a "coming attractions" post, and a couple of major concerts for the first part of 2007 have been announced in the interim.

* The Pageant has announced that the singular jazz-bluegrass-world music band Bela Fleck and the Flecktones will be returning to St. Louis for a concert on Monday, February 5. Tickets go on sale at 5 p.m. this Friday, December 8, via Ticketmaster and the Pageant box office.

* Guitarist Pat Metheny (pictured) and pianist Brad Mehldau will do a three-week tour in the spring in support of their recent collaborative CD Metheny/Mehldau, and they're coming to St. Louis on Wednesday, April 4 to perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The show isn't on the Sheldon's Web site yet, but it is listed on a number of others, including Metheny's site, various tour-tracking sites including Pollstar, and the site of jazz mega-manager/booking agent Ted Kurland and Associates, so I'd say it looks like a done deal.

* Finally, though I'd guess the information has been out there for a while, I've just noticed that the Arts and Issues series at SIU-Edwardsville has a couple of events coming up that are of interest to jazz listeners. The eclectic woodwind ensemble Imani Winds, part of the Josephine Baker tribute that played the Edison Theater here last Spring, will give a concert of their own music at SIU-E on Wednesday, January 24. The series has also scheduled an appearance by the Glenn Miller Orchestra on Saturday, April 28.

(Edited after posting to fix a link.)

Site news: The StLJN Emporium is now open for business

Those regular readers who are especially observant and/or bandwidth-challenged have undoubtedly noticed that over the past week I've finally added some advertising to the site. Specifically, the sidebar is now displaying some context-sensitive text ads provided by that big Internet company whose name rhymes with the brass instrument used to play "Taps" and "Reveille," as well as affiliate links from some music-related companies like Amazon, Sheet Music Plus, Zzounds and eMusic. I'm still tweaking the number and appearance of the ads so as to achieve the best look possible while also keeping the site's load time reasonable, so if things seem to run a little slowly or look funny for a day or two, that's probably why.

I have also added an Amazon store, dubbed the St. Louis Jazz Notes Emporium, selling CDs and music-related DVDs and books. My hope is that the Emporium will provide yet another way to call attention to the work of St. Louis jazz artists, as well as perhaps generating a few bucks in commission revenues for yr. humble editor. The store has section specfically devoted to items by and/or about St. Louis jazz musicians, as well some general jazz offerings auto-selected by Amazon, and also lets you search for and order pretty much anything else that Amazon sells. I'll also be adding some additional pages and/or special sections to the Emporium over time, but it is up, running and open for business now.

If you find St. Louis Jazz Notes to be useful, informative and/or entertaining, buying something through the Emporium or one of the other affiliate links is an easy way to show your appreciation and help support the continued existence of this site. These are all reputable companies that have been around for a while, and clicking through one of the affiliate links on StLJN to make a purchase you had alrady planned doesn't cost you a penny more than if you went directly to the merchant.

Given that I've been blogging for almost 20 months without earning a dime from this site, I hope it is clear that I'm not doing this just for the money. However, it does take a considerable amount of time and effort to keep fresh news and content coming. Given StLJN's modest (though steady) traffic, I don't expect the store or the ads to produce a lot of revenue, but as someone who gets 100% of his income from freelance work, I'm not really in a position to leave any potential amount of money lying untouched on the table, either.

So, head on over to the St. Louis Jazz Notes Emporium and have a look around, or check out the offerings from Sheet Music Plus, Zzounds and eMusic.You can buy a Christmas present for a fellow jazz lover; compile a few items and links for your own holiday wish list; or even just go ahead and buy something for yourself. It's a win-win situation - you can get some cool stuff, and at the same time help keep StLJN going strong into 2007 and beyond.

Jazz this week: MSMW, Beegie Adair, more holiday music, and more

Time is a bit short today, so my apologies if this post seems kind of terse. There are just a couple of touring attractions in St. Louis this week that are of of interest to jazz fans, the most notable being the collaborative tour involving guitarist John Scofield and the jazz/funk trio Medeski, Martin and Wood. The foursome, billed as Medeski, Scofield, Martin and Wood, have been on the road for several weeks performing in support of their recent CD, and they'll play Misssissippi Nights this evening. Also in town will be pianist Beegie Adair (pictured at left), a Nashville resident who makes a return visit to Finale Music and Dining for two shows on Saturday.

As for performances by our local contingent, two popular St. Louis singers are delivering holiday-themed sets this week, starting with Anita Rosamond (pictured at right), who's having a release party on Wednesday night at Finale for her new CD This Is Christmas. Drawing on some of the players who performed on the CD, Rosamond's band will include drummer Miles Vandiver, bassist Tom Kennedy, trumpeter Keith Moyer, saxophonist Lew Winer III, pianist Corey Kendrick (an up-and-coming young talent who's studied with Reggie Thomas at SIU-Edwardsville) and various other special guests, including singer Brian Owens. Also in the holiday spirit is singer Erin Bode, who's returning to Jazz at the Bistro to perform Wednesday through Saturday, offering a mix of Christmas music and her regular repertoire.

Other noteworthy local shows this week: On Thursday, Phil Dunlap, another young pianist who matriculated in Edwardsville, will bring his trio to Washington University''s Holmes Lounge for a free concert to close out this semester's Jazz at Holmes series. On Friday, singer Danita Mumphard and Trio Tres Bien will perform at Cookie's Jazz and More, while Swing Set goes to work a block away at Crossings Taverne and Grille. And on Saturday, it's guitarist Todd Mosby at Crossings, and pianist Arthur Toney (who's on the mend from a recent hand injury - get well soon, Arthur) and singer Wendy Gordon at Cookie's.

As always, you can find more local jazz listings by visiting the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar.

(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. No attachments, please.)

(Edited after posting to correct a spelling error and add a link.)

Scofield, Rosamond and Fiddmont featured in P-D stories

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch/STLtoday this weekend has online three stories of interest to area jazz fans:

* Guitarist John Scofield has a few words with the P-D's Calvin Wilson about the Medeski, Scofield, Martin and Wood show coming up at Mississippi Nights this Tuesday.

* Singer Anita Rosamond talks with pop critic Kevin Johnson about her new CD, This Is Christmas, which gets an official release party on Wednesday at Finale Music and Dining.

* And Johnson also interviews Lynne Fiddmont (pictured), a St. Louis native turned Californian who's sung backup for a bunch of big names and is now devoting more time to her own music, about her recently released soul-jazz-R&B CD, Flow.

(Edited after posting. Edited again on 12/18/06 to fix a spelling error.)

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: The Bad Plus, and some "Dirty Love"

Since last week's video feature showcased some historical footage, it seems appropriate this week to focus once again on some musicians who will actually be coming to St. Louis soon.

Today's first clip features The Bad Plus, who will perform at Jazz at the Bistro for four nights during the first week in January, playing "Physical Cities". These guys have been heavily hyped in the jazz press for the last couple of years, and while I'm not necessarily buying the notion that they've somehow completely reinvented the piano trio, they are certainly skillful musicians who have developed their own approach to playing jazz.

The second video features guitarist Dweezil Zappa, who's currently fronting the "Zappa Plays Zappa" repertory tour performing his dad's music. Here, he engages in a bit of a guitar showdown with former FZ sidemen Steve Vai (who's also part of the ZPZ tour) and Mike Kenneally on the lyrically salacious composition "Dirty Love." The ZPZ tour comes to St. Louis on Thursday, December 14.