StLJN 2007 year in review

On this final day of 2007, let's take a look back at some of the most noteworthy items published by StLJN over the past 12 months:

January 2007

• Guitarist Todd Mosby helps invent the imratgitar, a new instrument combining traits of the guitar and the sitar.
• A new version of the Black Artists Group is organized, with bassist and composer Zimbabwe Nkenya taking a leadership role.
• A benefit concert is held for singer Mae Wheeler, featuring a diverse lineup of St. Louis singers and musicians.
• Dennis Owsley's book City of Gabriels is nominated for the 2006 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research.
• Jazz St. Louis announces plans to host monthly big band performances by the St. Louis Jazz Orchestra at Jazz at the Bistro.
• Singer Erin Bode guest stars on public radio's A Prairie Home Companion.
• St. Louis-based Jazz Cruises LLC offers a variety of music-themed cruises.

February 2007

• Smooth jazz radio personality and concert impresario Rick Sanborn is profiled by KETC's Living St. Louis.
• Brandt's Cafe and Red Carpet Lounge gets new management.
• Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center approved for not-for-profit status.
• The St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival announces plans to "scale back" its 2007 event, to the dismay of yr. humble StLJN editor.
• Saxophonist and St. Louis native David Sanborn is featured on the cover of Down Beat magazine.
• In an article for USA Today, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis names Jazz at the Bistro one of the top 10 jazz clubs in the United States.
• Singer Erin Bode's charitable efforts for a South African girls school are the subject of a "cover story" on local NBC affiliate KSDK.
• St. Louis' Mardi Gras celebration mostly ignores local jazz and blues bands.

March 2007

• Singer Fontella Bass guest stars on the new CD by Cinematic Orchestra.
• How to save YouTube videos.
• The Neville Brothers step in for Al Jarreau as headliner for Jazz St. Louis' annual benefit gala.
• Once again, the organizers of the Live on the Levee concert series ignore local music, jazz and blues.
• Review: Dave Holland Quintet at Jazz at the Bistro
• St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival announces 2007 lineup
• Singer Denise Thimes heads to New York to perform with trumpeter Clark Terry
• Local literary magazine 52nd City puts out its "Sound" issue
• Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival announces 2007 lineup

April 2007

• The Downtown Trio develops alter-ego as house band for KPLR's The Fan Show
• Sheldon Concert Hall announces 2007-08 lineup.
• Know your St. Louis jazz festivals.
• A video tribute to the late pianist John Hicks
• StLJN marks two years of publishing.
• Review: Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band at the Touhill Perfomring Arts Center.
• Singer Mae Wheeler is profiled by KETC's Living St. Louis.

May 2007

• Guitarist Bob Borgestede passes away.
• Singer Denise Thimes to sing for British monarch Queen Elizabeth.
• Dennis Owsley's book City of Gabriels wins an award from ASRC.
• In search of Richard Martin.
• Jazz St. Louis announces 2007-08 season.
• Singer Mae Wheeler honored by University City.
• Happy birthday, Miles Davis - a video tribute.
• Marion "Buddy" Childers 1926-2007

June 2007

• Touhill Performing Arts Center announce 2007-08 season
• StLJN held hostage by robots.
• Old Webster Jazz and Blues Festival sets 2007 lineup.
• Singer Erin Bode wins Riverfront Times music award.
• St. Louis native Don Cunningham returns home to play the Sheldon.

July 2007

• Living St. Louis profiles singer Jeanne Trevor.
• Guitarist Eddie Fisher dies after a long illness.
• National Public Radio does a story on the 60th anniversary of Mel Bay Publishing.
• Washington University's Jazz at Holmes presents summer concert series.
• Steve Bagby 1941-2007.

August 2007

• Jazz St. Louis announces JazzU education workshops.
• Singer Erin Bode solicits fan donations for legal fund.
• Crossings Taverne and Grille closes.
• Saxophonist Jay Zelenka founds new label Freedonia Music.
• A guitarist leaves town, a guitarist comes to town.
• KMOX cancels Don WOlff's Saturday night jazz program.
• StLJN reaches post #1,000.

September 2007

• Erin Bode returns to South Africa to record "Themba Girls" followup.
• Fans try to save Don Wolff's radio show on KMOX.
• Real estate deal to force closing of Finale Music and Dining.
• Washington University's Jazz at Holmes series announces fall 2007 lineup.
• Don Wolff's I Love Jazz to air on HEC-TV.
• New Music Circle announces 2007-08 season schedule.
• Saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett, Jazz at the Bistro and KWMU's Jazz Unlimited among Riverfront Times "Best of St. Louis 2007" winners.

October 2007

• Jazz St. Louis to begin concert series in St. Charles.
• Jazz St. Louis announces collaboration with Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.
• Don Wolff's "I Love Jazz" now streaming on Live365.
• Webster University sets 2007-08 concert schedule.
• The StLJN Interview: Eric Person.
• Jazz St. Louis launches educational Web site.
• New book focuses on Miles Davis' mid-1960s quintet.

November 2007

• Mel Bay profiled by KETC's Living St. Louis.
• Hamiett Bluiett, Josh Weinstein to receive Kick Ass Awards from 52nd City.
• Local arts presenters plan for Highway 40 shutdown.
• Live on the Levee solicits suggestions for 2008 season.
• Down Beat 2007 readers poll includes St. Louis connections.
• Gaslight Square documentary now available free on Google Video.

December 2007

• WSIE contemplates on-air fund drive.
• Jazz St. Louis announces additions to 2008 schedule.
• Hamiet Bluiett debuts Improvising Youth Orchestra.
• Another way to save YouTube videos.
• Don Wolff's I Love Jazz to premiere January 3 on HEC-TV.
• Will New Year's Eve be the finale for Finale?
• Rounding up the "Best of 2007" lists.

(Edited 1/3/08 to fix a typo.)

Rounding up the "Best of 2007" lists

Once again this year, and for pretty much the same reasons I cited last year, I'm declining the opportunity to post a personal "best jazz of the year" list. However, for those who like that sort of thing - and judging by the hits a similar post garnered at the end of 2006, there are quite a few of you - here's a roundup of links to a bunch of other year-end "best of 2007" jazz lists available on the Web:

* PopMatters best jazz of 2007
* AllAboutJazz.com reader forum thread on the best jazz of 2007
* Organissimo reader forum thread on the best jazz of 2007
* AllMusic.com's best jazz of 2007, part 1 (new releases) and part 2 (reissues)
* Boston Globe's best jazz of 2007
* Best jazz of 2007 lists from 35 members of the Jazz Journalists Association
(Scroll down for links to individual lists)
* Fred Kaplan's best jazz of 2007 list for Slate, plus his bonus lists for his blog at Stereophile
* NPR's best jazz of 2007
* NPR's best jazz box sets of 2007
* USA Today's best box sets of 2007 (covers multiple genres, including jazz)
* Rhapsody's best jazz of 2007
* Destination: Out's best of 2007
* About.com's best jazz recordings and best jazz box sets of 2007
* J.D. Considine'a best jazz of 2007 list for the Toronto Globe and Mail
* Howard Mandel's favorite jazz recordings of 2007, and his list of the year's noteworthy jazz events
* San Jose Mercury News' best jazz releases of 2007
* Another NPR best jazz of 2007 list, via Seattle's KPLU
* Philadelphia critic Stephen Adler's best jazz of 2007
* San Diego Union Tribune best jazz of 2007
* Hour (Canadian entertainment website) picks the best jazz of 2007
* San Francisco Chronicle's best records of 2007 (multiple genres, including some jazz releases)

Please feel free to use the comments to 1) post links to any other year-end jazz lists you've found that aren't listed here; or 2) tell the world about your own favorite jazz releases of 2007.

UPDATE - 1/6/08, 1:00p.m.: More "Best of 2007" lists here.

(Edited after posting to correct some formatting problems.)

Tompkins' tales told via new blog

Composer and flute player Fred Tompkins recently got in touch to pass along news of his new blog, Third Stream Media. So far, the site includes posts recalling some of Tompkins' early career experiences in NYC, where he met and worked with jazz greats such as Elvin Jones and Dave Liebman, as well as information on his current musical activities. You can check it out here.

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: Miles Davis with the Gil Evans Orchestra playing "Blues for Pablo" and "The Duke"

Our final installment of Saturday videos for 2007 features a couple of vintage clips from perennial StLJN favorite Miles Davis.

Both videos are from the same session in 1959, and feature Davis accompanied by saxophonist John Coltrane, bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Jimmy Cobb, and a fifteen-piece band arranged and conducted by Miles' famed collaborator Gil Evans. The first clip is "Blues for Pablo," an Evans composition, and the second is "The Duke," which was written by pianist Dave Brubeck but here receives a distinctive interpretation from Davis and Evans.

Ambassadors of Swing will perform February 9 to benefit some cool St. Louis cats

The Ambassadors of Swing will be the featured entertainment for Furball 2008, a fundraising event benefiting local feline shelter Clowder House that will take place on Saturday, February 9 at St. Wenceslaus Parish Hall (the gymnasium of St. Francis Cabrini Academy), 3022 Oregon, between Gravois and Arsenal.

In addition the Ambassadors' renditions of big band and swing music from the 1940s and 1950s, the event will include various contests with prizes, a special prize for the best period outfit, and a silent auction.

Founded in 1994, Clowder House is no-kill, minimum-cage facility that provides lifetime care in a homelike setting for cats whose owners are no longer able to do so. Clowder House also provides homes for abused, neglected, and unadoptable cats as space and funds allow. Rescued cats that can be socialized are available for adoption.

Tickets for Furball 2008 are $20 in advance or $25 at the door, and include appetizers, beer, soda, and entertainment. Advance tickets may be purchased by mail from Clowder House Foundation, 3134 Wyoming, St. Louis, MO 63118, or by calling 314-776-PURR (7877).

Jazz this week: Bluiett's IYO debuts, jazz on New Year's Eve, and more

The week between Christmas and New Year's Day is usually a slow one for the local music scene. For example, both Jazz at the Bistro and Cookie's Jazz and More are closed this weekend, all the school- and university-based venues are shut down for the holiday break, and the stages of most local concert halls also will be dark.

However, if you're in the mood to hear some jazz on Friday, you can check out the Dave Stone Trio at Mangia Italiano, and on Saturday, there's Willie Akins' early evening show at Spruill's, both regular weekly gigs for the two talented tenor saxophonists. Beyond that, the picking are pretty slim, but there are at least three other noteworthy events worth your attention over the next several days.

On Sunday afternoon, baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett's Improvising Youth Orchestra (IYO) performs at Union Avenue Christian Church. This is the debut for this group of young musicians that Bluiett has taken under his wing, so it's hard to know exactly what to expect, but based on Bluiett's track record, it nevertheless would seem to be a project worth supporting.

For Monday's New Year's Eve celebration, Brandt's has a triple bill of headliners, with singers Mae Wheeler and Jeanne Trevor and singer/pianist/saxophonist Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum performing seperately and perhaps together, all backed by guitarist Dave Black's trio. Also on New Year's Eve, Finale Music and Dining will bring down the curtain for the last time at its current location with a performance by Wild Cool and Swingin' (pictured). Since both rooms have very limited capacities, reservations definitely would be in order.

For a more extensive listing of local jazz-related events, both this weekend and in the new year, 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. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)

Will New Year's Eve be the finale for Finale?

An article in today's Post-Dispatch by pop critic Kevin Johnson confirms that Finale Music and Dining in Clayton will close permanently following the New Year's Eve celebration featuring Wild, Cool and Swingin'.

While the closing had been rumored since September, when it was announced that the hotel building housing the club would be converted to condos for senior citizens, this is the first time anyone from Finale has spoken on the record to confirm the news. Owner Steve Schankman told Johnson that he's keeping all the fixtures and equipment from the club and is seeking another location in the mid-county area, with hopes of opening a new incarnation of Finale in the spring.

Here's hoping that Schankman is successful in his quest to find a new home for Finale, which over the past three years has featured a number of touring jazz acts as well as local jazz performers and a variety of other entertainment.

Happy Holidays from StLJN!

Barring some sort of major breaking news, posting will be light to non-existent around here for the next couple of days.

So, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, Tet, the winter solstice, Festivus, or just the chance to be together with family and friends, here's hoping you have some very happy holidays.

I'll be back starting on Wednesday, December 26 with a year-end recap of St. Louis jazz-related news, the roundup of the "best of 2007" lists, and lots more stuff.

Don Wolff's I Love Jazz to premiere January 3 on HEC-TV

Longtime St. Louis radio personality and jazz advocate Don Wolff (pictured) is ready to go with the first episode of the video incarnation of his "I Love Jazz" radio program. I Love Jazz, the television program, will make its debut at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, January 3 on HEC-TV.

The first show's first guest will be saxophonist Willie Akins, who will perform and do an interview with Wolff. Other segments will cover the history of ragtime in St. Louis, with performances by the St. Louis Ragtimers and the St. Louis Stompers, and jazz education, featuring Jazz St. Louis' young All-Stars ensemble.

I Love Jazz will repeat at 7:30 p.m. on subsequent Thursdays and at 7:30 p.m. Sundays, presumably showing the first episode until the second installment is done. To find HEC-TV on your cable or satellite system, consult your program guide.

KWMU benefit to feature Mardra Thomas on January 24 at the Bistro at Grand Center

Singer Mardra Thomas and the Jazz Gentlemen Quartet will be the featured performers at a benefit for radio station KWMU (90.7 FM) to be he held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, January 24 at the Bistro at Grand Center, 3536 Washington Ave. (Yes, that's the room that's usually home to Jazz at the Bistro, but since this show is not technically under the auspices of Jazz St. Louis, we refer to the venue by its alternate/official name.)

DJ and author Dennis Owsley, who hosts Jazz Unlimited Sunday nights on KWMU, also will act host for these festivities. I don't know who's in the Jazz Gentlemen Quartet, but I certainly hope the very talented pianist Reggie Thomas, Mardra's husband, is involved somehow; look for more details on their personnel as they are made available to StLJN.

Tickets for the benefit are $15 in advance, $20 day of show and can be reserved by calling 314-516-KWMU, or for more details, see the event listing on KWMU's Web site.

(Edited 1/3/08 to correct the day of the week.)

Another way to save YouTube videos

There's lots of great jazz video footage available on YouTube, Daily Motion and other online video sharing services, but those sites don't make it easy to save copies of the videos you view on your own hard drive. Back in March, StLJN covered one way to save those videos, and while the site mentioned in that post, SaveYouTube.com, now is known as Downloader9, it still seems to perform the same video-saving functions in pretty much the same way.

However, given the ongoing battle between the online video services (who want you to watch videos on their sites, so as to increase their page views) and would-be video savers, it's always good to have alternative methods available. Which brings us to TubeSock, a piece of shareware that gives you another way to sock away those clips. I haven't tried the fully enabled version, which costs $15, but the demo, which allows you to save 30 seconds of a given video, seems promising. You can read more about TubeSock and/or download a copy here.

Jazz St. Louis reschedules NYC trip

Jazz St. Louis' group trip to New York, which will offer participants a chance to check out four NYC jazz clubs as well as opportunities for shopping and dining, has been rescheduled for May 2 and 3. JSL has a .pdf file with information on activities and prices online here, or for more info you can contact development director Melissa Jones via email at melissa @ jazzstl.org (remove the spaces) or by phone at 314-289-4037.

RFT's "2007 Year in Music" essays now online

And speaking of newspapers and critics, the Riverfront Times has a special issue this week recapping the year 2007 in music and movies. A number of local contributors, including yr. humble editor, chipped in with short essays about theirs like and dislikes and the major events of 2007 in their particular areas of interest, and there's also material from writers for other papers owned by RFT parent Village Voice Media. The multi-page feature starts here, or you can skip ahead to my my take on some noteworthy local events in jazz and blues by going here.

Post critics describe holiday comforts

The weekend Post-Dispatch has a feature in which the paper's various arts and entertainment critics describe some of their favorite holiday traditions and comforts, and a couple of those short essays involve jazz. Visual arts critic David Bonetti has a personal holiday tradition involving Bob Dorough's "Blue Xmas," while jazz critic Calvin Wilson plans to use some of his free time over the holidays this year to dig into a Sonny Stitt box set. Read the whole article online here.

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: The Blue Note All-Stars featuring Javon Jackson and Greg Osby

This week's videos were found while searching for some footage of tenor saxophonist Javon Jackson, who will appear at Jazz at the Bistro from January 16 through January 19. As it turns out, there's not much video of Jackson as a leader available online, but these two clips feature him as part of the Blue Note All-Stars, a short-lived group that did one CD and a couple of tours together together in the late 1990s.

The idea, which came from a record company executive, was to bring together some of the young musicians associated at the time with the Blue Note label, and so Jackson was teamed with St. Louis native Greg Osby on alto sax, Bill Stewart on drums, pianist Kevin Hays, trumpeter Tim Hagans and the marvelously named Essiet Okun Essiet on bass.

While their name might suggest some sort of hard bop or soul/jazz repertory group, the All-Stars actually did original music composed by the various members of the band, and in these two cuts, "Our Trip" and "Twist and Out," you can hear some interesting contrasts in approach between Jackson and Osby, as well as some very capable playing from the rest of the musicians.

Jazz this week: Good 4 The Soul, a tribute to Chet Baker, Anita Rosamond's holiday show, and more

With Christmas fast approaching, there are no touring jazz groups in St. Louis this week. But if you've got time in your busy schedule over the next few days to go out and hear some music, there are some performances worth noting by some of our fine homegrown talent.

On Thursday, singer Mae Wheeler will perform at Brandt's. The club's Web site indicates a 5 p.m. start time, earlier than the usual for a weeknight, so if you're thinking of going it might be wise to call ahead for details.

On Friday and Saturday night, the jazz/funk/soul quartet Good 4 the Soul returns to Jazz at the Bistro. The band is made up of four veteran musicians from East St. Louis - Adaron "Pops" Jackson on keyboards, John King on bass, Shaun Robinson on guitar and drummer James Jackson - and you may have seen one or more them in various configurations backing other artists around town, including singers Brian Owens and Kim Massie and Jazz St. Louis' own tenor sax man/director of operations Bob Bennett. I still haven't had a chance to hear all four members of G4TS play as an ensemble yet, but the audio excerpts on their Web site sound promising, and I've been impressed with the musicianship of the individual members when I've heard them in other contexts.

UPDATE - 12/21/07, 11 p.m.: Terry Perkins did a feature story about Good 4 The Soul that appeared in yesterday's Post-Dispatch. The article is available online here.

On Friday, trumpeter Randy Holmes leads his Hard Bop Heritage group in a tribute to Chet Baker at Finale Music and Dining. Vocalist Dean Christopher, who's fronted his own Rat Pack-themed show at Finale a number of times, will be a special guest, singing some of the tunes Baker once interpreted. Also on Friday, singer, pianist and saxophonist Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum performs at Brandt's, and Cookie's Jazz and More hosts a reunion for their Young Jazz All-Stars ensemble.

On Saturday, singer Anita Rosamond (pictured) brings her holiday show to Finale. Rosamond will draw on material from her 2006 holiday CD This is Christmas, backed by a band including Mark Christopher on saxophone, Philip Burton on bass, guitarist Grant Krener and drummer Josh Costello.

UPDATE - 12/21/07, 7 p.m.: Just got an email that Boston-based improvising saxophonist Bhob Rainey is making one of his periodic trips to St. Louis and will be performing at 8:30 p.m. Sunday night at the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center. Also on the bill are St. Louis musicians Jim Hegarty, Mark Sarich, Jeremy Kannapell and Andrew Heffner.

For more local jazz-related events this week and into the New Year, 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. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)

Frank Vignola to perform, record DVD at the Sheldon on March 7

The Sheldon Concert Hall has just announced that guitarist Frank Vignola's quartet, plus a "special guest" yet to be revealed, will perform at the Sheldon on Friday, March 7, recording the concert for release on DVD.

The news release doesn't say who's putting out the DVD, though the St. Louis-based jazz guitar label Mel Bay Records, which released Vignola's recent CD of Gershwin tunes and also has done DVDs for some of its other artists, would seems to be a possibility.

In the meantime, know that tickets for Vignola's show will cost $30 and $25, and go on sale January 19 via Metrotix. Vignola's group just played Jazz at the Bistro in October; in addition to his work leading his own bands, his extensive list of credits includes touring and/or recording with David Grisman, Bucky Pizzarelli, Les Paul, Lionel Hampton, Donald Fagen, Queen Latifah, Elton John, Ringo Starr, Mark O’Connor and others.

Bluiett's IYO to debut December 30 at Union Avenue Christian Church

Via email, StLJN has been informed that the Improvising Youth Orchestra (IYO), directed by baritone saxophonist and composer Hamiet Bluiett, will have its debut performance at 3 p.m. Sunday, December 30 at Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 Union Avenue in the Central West End. No ticket price is specified, but donations will be accepted.

It's a rather terse email that, oddly, refers recipients seeking more info to Bluiett's Wikipedia page, rather than hamietbluiett.com. Odd, because the Wikipedia page makes no reference to IYO or, for that matter, anything since that's happened since 2002.

However, said message does seem legit, and also promises that more details will be forthcoming. In the meantime, I'd guess that IYO probably involves some of the teenage musicians that have appeared with Bluiett on gigs like his free concert this summer at Ivory Perry Park, such as drummer Zack Morrow and brothers Jo’el Williams on saxophone and Joshua Williams on trumpet. Whether or not Bluiett himself will be playing as part of the IYO show is, at this point, unknown, but either way, it's good to see him passing some of his knowledge on to a younger generation.

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: Ahmad Jamal, then and now

This week's Saturday video feature shines the spotlight on veteran pianist Ahmad Jamal, who will be in St. Louis to perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall on Saturday, January 26.

Up top is a clip from a 1959 television performance that shows Jamal playing his composition "Ahmad's Blues," accompanied by Israel Crosby on bass and Vernel Fournier on drums. This configuration of his trio was the group that helped Jamal make his initial reputation in the jazz world, and if you look at the gentlemen standing in the background and listening, you may recognize some famous faces digging the sounds.

The second video is from a 2005 performance at a jazz festival in Vienne, France, and features Jamal playing another one of his own tunes, "Topsy Turvy," backed by his current compatriots James Cammack on bass and the great Idris Muhammad on drums.

Notes from the Net: Miles Davis, Oliver Lake CDs reviewed, Marty Ehrlich pictured, Anat Cohen profiled, and more

Hanukkah's already come and gone, and Christmas and Kwanzaa are fast approaching, but StLJN never takes a holiday from bringing you the latest links to news, reviews and more about jazz and creative musicians from St. Louis, recent visitors and coming attractions:

* Let's start this installment with yet another review of Miles Davis' Complete On The Corner Sessions box set.

* Meanwhile, Downbeat magazine has compiled all their coverage of Davis over the years, including news, reviews, interviews and more, into a new book, The Miles Davis Reader.

* As mentioned in our last installment, Toronto trumpeter Nick "Brownman" Ali recently mounted a series of five concerts, each paying tribute to a different period of Miles Davis' career. For a look at how Ali instructed his sidemen to capture the spirit of Miles' mid-1960s ensemble, check out this thread from rec.music.bluenote.

* Downtown Music Gallery has a bunch of photos from a couple of recent Marty Ehrlich gigs. (Scroll down the page to the entries from November 25.)

* AllAboutJazz.com has reviews of saxophonist Oliver Lake's CD Zaki, as well as two recordings from hometown label Mel Bay Records, Frank Vignola's Vignola Plays Gershwin and Jonathan Kreisberg's The Sound of Everywhere.

* Blogcritics has a review of guitarist Joe Friedman's Cup O' Joe.

* From the "recent visitors" file, drummer Roy Haynes led an all-star band to open the new San Francisco location of Yoshi's jazz club, previewed here and reviewed here. AAJ.com also has reviews of Haynes' CDs The Sound of Sonny and We Three here.

* Saxophonist and clarinetist Anat Cohen of Waverly Seven is profiled by AAJ.com here and by the Associated Press (via the International Herald Tribune) here. Also, the 3 Cohens CD Braid is reviewed here.

* Guitar and singer John Pizzarelli, a frequent visitor to St. Louis in recent years, just did a gig at NYC's Birdland, reviewed here.

* Turning to coming attractions, trumpeter Chris Botti, who's playing in January at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, just did a gig at NYC's Blue Note (with St. Louis native Peter Martin on piano) and was reviewed by the New York Times here.

* Here's another review of pianist Cyrus Chestnut's recent CD of songs associated with Elvis Presley. Chestnut (pictured) returns to Jazz at the Bistro on March 7 and 8.

* Pianist Ahmad Jamal, who's performing at the Sheldon Concert Hall on January 26, recently did a concert in San Diego and was interviewed by the San Diego Union Tribune here.

* Lastly, productivity site Lifehack had an interesting post on how the skills of a jazz improvisor may also be useful in many non-musical situations.

Jazz this week: The Kennedy Brothers, Manhattan Transfer, a tribute to Clark Terry, and more

With Christmas just a couple of weeks away, there are several seasonally themed jazz shows happening this week, as well as a pre-holiday homecoming for a couple of St. Louis' favorite sons.

On Wednesday night, the Manhattan Transfer brings their holiday show to the Touhill Performing Arts Center. This will be the popular vocal group's third appearance at the TouPAC since the hall opened in 2003, and their repertoire for this tour includes material from their two Christmas albums as well as a few familiar fan favorites drawn from the rest of their extensive catalog.

Also on Wednesday, the Kennedy Brothers open a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro, performing two sets a night through Saturday. Pianist Ray Kennedy probably is best known to jazz fans for his long tenure backing singer-guitarist John Pizzarelli, while bassist Tom Kennedy (pictured) has played with a number of well-known musicians, most notably serving as the regular bassist for fellow St. Louisan Dave Weckl's acclaimed electric jazz ensemble. This week, the brothers, who grew up in Maplewood, will be in the spotlight doing their own music as they get a relatively rare chance to perform together as headliners for their many friends and fans here in their hometown.

Other noteworthy shows this weekend: Singer Jeanne Trevor performs at Brandt's on Thursday night, and trumpeter Randy Holmes will lead Hard Bop Heritage in a tribute to St. Louis trumpet great Clark Terry on Friday night at Cookie's Jazz and More. Meanwhile, Finale Music and Dining will feature two local singers offering jazz-flavored holiday shows this weekend, as Dean Christopher presents "A Swingin' Holiday" on Friday night, and Debby Lennon goes "Home for the Holidays" on Saturday. And on Sunday afternoon, traditional jazz and swing band Cornet Chop Suey will perform in a concert sponsored by the St. Louis Jazz Club at the Moolah Shrine Center, 12545 Fee Fee Rd.

To see a more extensive list of local jazz-related events, 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. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)

Recently on Heliocentric Worlds

StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds features a different online music video every day, drawing from genres including jazz, blues, soul, funk, classic rock, prog rock and more.

Recent posts have included some choice stuff from artists such as John Coltrane, Memphis Slim, Pharoah Sanders with Jean Paul Bourelly, Derek Bailey and Michael Welch, the Neville Brothers, Santana, Dizzy Gillespie's Bebop Reunion, Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, Archie Shepp, the Temptations, Ray Charles, Colosseum II, Karl Denson, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, Mike Bloomfield, Nick Gravenites and Junior Wells, Etta James and Dr. John, Paul Butterfield, Sonny Rollins, Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman, Nina Simone, Count Basie, Isaac Hayes, Junior Walker and the All-Stars, McCoy Tyner and Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Blood Sweat and Tears, Duke Ellington and B.B. King.

To see these videos, plus many more in the archives, visit Heliocentric Worlds at http://heliocentricworlds.blogspot.com/.

StLJN Saturday at the Movies:Manhattan Transfer's "Jeannine" meets Tom Scott's "Dirty Old Man"

This week's videos feature a couple more of the coming attractions that St. Louis jazz listeners will be able to enjoy in the not-too-distant future.

Up top, it's the vocal group Manhattan Transfer, who will be in town next Wednesday to do their annual holiday show at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. While the Transfer will be doing mostly Christmas music at the TouPAC, here they can be seen and heard doing their arrangement of "Jeannine," a song written by pianist Duke Pearson that's perhaps best known for the vocal version done by Eddie Jefferson, who wrote the lyrics. While they definitely remove some of the rougher edges found in Jefferson's version, the Transfer's rendition still swings pretty hard while also showing off their tight four-part ensemble vocals.

The clip down below features saxophonist Tom Scott, who will be in St. Louis in April as one of the guest performers and clinicians at the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival. It's a 2003 performance of Scott's tune "Dirty Old Man," with backing from keyboardist Larry Goldings, drummer Rick Marotta, guitarist Michael Landau and bassist Jimmy Johnson.

Jazz St. Louis announces additions to 2008 schedule

Jazz St. Louis has announced some additions to the Jazz at the Bistro schedule for 2008, filling in dates that had been left open in the second half of their 2007-08 season.

Most of the musicians and singers added to the schedule should be familiar to local listeners, including Hard Bop Heritage (January 11 and 12), Montez Coleman (January 25 and 26), Mardra and Reggie Thomas (February 8 and 9), Erin Bode (May 2 and 3) and Kim Massie (May 15 and 16).

In addition, JSL education director Phil Dunlap's band, the Legacy Jazz Quintet, will perform on March 21 and 22, and the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars, JSL's student ensemble, will play April 18 and 19. The Bistro also will continue the series of monthly Thursday night performances by the St. Louis Jazz Orchestra next year, with the SLJO taking the stage on February 7, March 6, April 3, and May 1.

Last, bur certainly not least, on Wednesday, April 16, the club will once again host a performance by some of the guest musicians in town for the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, including stellar session saxophonist Tom Scott (pictured), pianist Shelly Berg and trombonist Paul McKee, who will be backed by St. Louis' Jim Widner on bass and Miles Vandiver on drums.

Tickets for all these shows will go on sale next Thursday, December 14 via Metrotix.

Jazz St. Louis announces lineup for St. Charles concert series

Jazz St. Louis has announced the rest of the lineup for their St. Charles concert series.

Singer Erin Bode will perform at the Foundry Arts Centre, 520 N. Main in St. Charles, on Tuesday, December 18. Next year, Reggie Thomas and OGD, plus vocalist Mardra Thomas, will perform at the Centre on Wednesday, February 6, and the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars (the student ensemble formerly known as the THF Realty All-Stars) will wrap up the series on Wednesday, April 30.

To purchase tickets for Bode's show, call the Foundry Arts Centre at 636-255-0270.

Manhattan Transfer, Bob Dorough previewed in Post articles

Today's Post-Dispatch has a couple of articles of interest to jazz listeners. The paper's former theatre critic Joe Pollack, who retired a few years back but still does freelance work, returns to the P-D's pages to do an interview with Bob Dorough, found online here.

Also, Terry Perkins has an interview with Janis Siegel of Manhattan Transfer about the group's holiday show, which comes to the Touhill Performing Arts Center next Wednesday. You can read that article online here.

Jazz this week: Bob Dorough, Brian Owens, BAG Trio, St. Louis Jazz Orchestra, and more

Due to various deadlines and some Blogger balkiness, this will be a rather terse chronological summary of this weekend's most noteworthy jazz-related events:

Tonight, the St. Louis Jazz Orchestra, directed by Jim Widner, will do their monthly gig at Jazz at the Bistro, and pianist Kim Portnoy does a free concert at Washington University's Holmes Lounge as part of the Jazz at Holmes series

On Friday and Saturday, soul/jazz singer Brian Owens (pictured) performs at the Bistro. For a brief sample of Owens' singing style, see the video window at the bottom of this post.

On Sunday, the BAG Trio featuring Zimbabwe Nkenya, Gary Sykes and Mike Nelson will be featured in a free concert at the Scott Joplin State Historic Site.

Also on Sunday, singer and pianist Bob Dorough returns to St. Louis for the first time in 47 years - no, that's not a typo; he last performed here in 1960 - to do a one-nighter at the Bistro. For a bit more about Dorough, whose long career has included everything from guesting on two Miles Davis albums to writing many of the songs for the educational cartoon series Schoolhouse Rock, see the story about him that I wrote for this week's Riverfront Times. (Note also that the phone number appended to the RFT story is incorrect. The correct phone number for advance tickets for Dorough's show is 314-961-1898.)

For more local jazz events this weekend and beyond, 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. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)



(Edited after posting to add more tags.)

Bob Dorough featured in this week's Riverfront Times

This week's Riverfront Times includes a short feature I wrote about pianist and singer Bob Dorough, who will be appearing at the Bistro in Grand Center this Sunday, December 9. You can read the article online here.

Unfortunately, the phone number to call for tickets listed at the end of the story is incorrect. Dorough's show is an independent production, and tickets are not being sold via Jazz at the Bistro's usual outlets. The correct phone number to order advance tickets for Bob Dorough is (314) 968-1898. If there are any seats unsold as of show day, they'll be available at the door on a first-come, first-served basis.

BAG Trio to perform this Sunday, December 9

BAG II has announced another free event, set for 7 p.m. this Sunday, December 9. From the news release:

The BAG Trio, with Zimbabwe Nkenya on bass and African Mbira, Mike Nelson on shells, trumpet and percussion, and Gary Sykes on drums, are just back from Chicago, where they were featured with Douglas Ewart at the Velvet Lounge. This Sunday, December 9th, they will offer a free evening of creative music at Scott Joplin House State Historic Site from 7 – 9 PM.

The Trio plays everything from Cuban & European to African Jazz. They incorporate the sacred Bata Drums with the sacred African Mbira as well as traditional trio work on trumpet, bass and drums.

For more information call 314-340-5790 or email bag_blackartistgroup@yahoo.com.

More on Waverly Seven and the 3 Cohens

Missed this last week somehow, but the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson had an interview with clarinetist/saxophonist Anat Cohen of Waverly Seven, viewable online here. It's short, but worth a read for more background on the band and Ms. Cohen.

For more Cohen coverage, check out Ben Ratliff's New York Times review of the new CD from from the 3 Cohens - (Anat, trumpet-playing younger brother Avishai (also a member of Waverly Seven), and older brother/saxophonist Yural) here.

Living St Louis feature on Mel Bay now online

Living St. Louis, the local magazine show broadcast by KETC (Channel 9) has put online its recent feature story about Mel Bay, who founded a local music store bearing his name that eventually grew into a leading publisher of music instruction materials as well as a record label specializing in jazz guitarists.

To access the .wmv (Windows Media) file directly, go here. If for some reason that link doesn't work for you, you can also go the program's archive and scroll down the list of recent stories to access the link.

WSIE contemplates on-air fund drive

According to an article in the Post-Dispatch, jazz radio station WSIE (89.9 FM) soon may have to do its first on-air fund drive in 10 years to raise money for operations. Although WSIE is affiliated with and receives some support from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, the article says the station "faces a money crunch as grants are cut and expenses rise."

The piece also takes a look at the on-air fund raising practices of other area public broadcasting entities, including radio stations KDHX (88.1 FM) and KWMU (90.1 FM) and local PBS affiliate KETC (Channel 9). If WSIE does have to fundraise on-air, here's hoping that the implementation is more like the twice-yearly drive on KDHX, which ;eaves the regular schedule relatively intact, rather than KETC's practice of pre-empting regular programming for weeks at a time to run the same handful of "specials" over and over and over again. Read the whole thing here.

Jazz St. Louis revamps Web site, sets NYC trip itinerary

Jazz St. Louis has set the itinerary for its group jazz trip to New York City on April 18 and 19, 2008. The JSL group will visit jazz clubs Iridium, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola (at Lincoln Center), the Jazz Standard and the Village Vanguard, and dine one evening at Blue Smoke, a restaurant owned by St. Louis native Danny Meyer. For more information about the trip, or to make a reservation, contact JSL development director Melissa Jones by calling 314-289-4037 or via email at melissa@jazzstl.org.

JSL has also revamped their Web site once again, giving the pages a slightly different look but maintaining the same basic structure adopted for the site's redesign earlier this year. Marketing director and Web guy Adam Roach has also added audio samples to the individual pages for artists coming to the Bistro. You can check out the new look and the audio samples here.

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: They're not just bad, they're The Bad Plus

It's been almost a year to the day since we've featured any video from The Bad Plus in this space, and since they're returning to St. Louis to play Jazz at the Bistro during the first week of January, now seems as good a time as any to serve up some more clips of this much-talked-about band.

Specifically, today's first video is a live version of "Prehensile Dream," and down below you'll find a live performance of "Anthem for the Earnest". Both songs are from The Bad Plus' 2005 release Suspicious Activity.

There doesn't seem to be much quality video online featuring material from the group's 2007 release Prog, but these two tracks should provide the uninitiated with a feel for how these guys operate. And as a little lagniappe, at the very bottom of the post you'll find an interview with band members Reid Anderson, Ethan Iverson and Dave King, in which they discuss the aforementioned Prog and their approach to making music.