This just in: British singer/songwriter/pianist Jamie Cullum (pictured) will return to St. Louis on Sunday, March 14 to perform at the Roberts Orpheum Theater downtown.
As of right now, tickets are available only as premiums from local PBS affiliate KETC (Channel 9), which is airing Cullum's special Live at Blenheim during its current pledge drive. Cullum's last appearance here in March 2006 also was welcomed by KETC.
A $120 contribution to KETC will get you two tickets to the March 14 show, with additional tickets available for another $60 each. Members pledging at the $60 level get a copy of Cullum's CD The Pursuit, while an $80 pledge gets you the Live at Blenheim DVD. (You can see a clip from the special of Cullum perfoming his song "Twentysomething" in the embdedded video window below.)
Members pledging $120 or more also get a KETC/Channel 9 MemberCard, which gets you discounts from participating merchants. Ticket vouchers are guaranteed for holiday delivery, but KETC will not guarantee delivery of the CD or DVD.
If you'd rather just buy tickets to the show without contributing to KETC, you'll have to wait and see if any are made available for sale to the general public after the current pledge drive wraps up. Tickets for shows at the Roberts Orpheum Theater are handled by Ticketmaster.
This week, our video lens is trained on singer Kurt Elling, who will be in town starting Wednesday, December 2 through Saturday, December 5 to perform at Jazz at the Bistro.
Elling's sets during this trip to St. Louis will focus on material from Dedicated to You, his recent CD revisiting the songs from the famed 1960s collaboration between singer Johnny Hartman and saxophonist John Coltrane.
The first video seen up above features a live performance of the title song from the CD, while the second clip shows Elling performing "All or Nothing At All," with saxophonist Ernie Watts joining in as he does on the recording. (St. Louis' own Willie Akins will provide the sax parts for Elling next week at the Bistro.) The third clip is the electronic press kit for Dedicated to You, featuring some brief audio samples and comments from Elling about the project.
Down below the EPK are two more clips that help demonstrate some of Elling's conceptual range as a singer. The first is a so-far-unreleased piece called "Life of the Mind" that shows off Elling's cerebral, poetic side, while the second clip, a terrific version of the late Betty Carter's signature song "Tight," provides convincing evidence of his ability to swing. (Edited 11/30/09 to fix typos.)
Though it's a holiday weekend, there still are some notable happenings around St. Louis for fans of jazz and creative music. Here's a short-form summary of the highlights:
On Friday and Saturday, trumpeter, singer and St. Louis native Jeremy Davenport (pictured) returns home for what 's become an annual Thanksgiving weekend gig at Jazz at the Bistro.
For a taste of Davenport performing material from his latest CD, check out the videos here; for a biography and background, see this post. Also, late word via the Jazz St. Louis Twitter feed is that the 8:30 sets for both nights are already sold out, so definitely call ahead for reservations if you'd like to see one of the 10:15 sets.
Also on Friday, bassist/multi-instrumentalist Tatsu Aoki, who combines jazz with traditional Japanese music, will perform a free concert at the Saint Louis Art Museum's Grigg Gallery. For more on Aoki, see this post.
Elsewhere this weekend, on Friday the Robert Edwards Big Band plays at Robbie's House of Jazz, and singer and local legend Mae Wheeler returns to Seasons St. Louis in Chesterfield. On Saturday, pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True, which features her son David on drums, will take the stage at Robbie's.
On Sunday, singer and actress Anna Blair is doing a cabaret show of Fran Landesman songs at the Kranzberg Arts Center. Jim Dolan of The Presenters Dolan tells me that Blair was a supporting player in Landesman's own cabaret show in St. Louis last year, which inspired her to develop a show of her own centered around Landesman's lyrics, aided and abetted by pianist Joe Dreyer.
Editor's note: Barring any major breaking news, StLJN will be on a light posting schedule through the rest of the holiday weekend. Look for the Saturday Video Showcase as usual, but otherwise things may be relatively slow here for a few days.
In the meantime, for information on more jazz and creative music events this weekend and beyond, check out the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, available for viewing on the left sidebar, or by clicking here. Also, you can follow St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes and become a "fan" by signing up on the StLJN Facebook page.
(If you have calendar items, band schedule information, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)
Here's the latest compilation of assorted news briefs and links related to jazz, improvisation, and creative music in St. Louis, including news of musicians originally from the Gateway City, recent visitors, and coming attractions, plus assorted other items of interest:
* There are big doings on the Miles Davis front this week, with the imminent release of the boxed mega-set The Complete Miles Davis Columbia Collection, which brings together in one deluxe package the trumpeter's total output for the label, plus unreleased material, on 72 discs.
Meanwhile, the museum of the Cité de la Musique in Paris currently is featuring "We Want Miles," an exhibition celebrating Davis' life and work. If you're lucky enough to be in Paris, you can see the exhibit through January 17; if not, console yourself with this review from the Web site SoulCulture.co.uk.
In other Miles-related news, for the past week satellite radio customers have been able to tune into a temporary channel devoted to Davis. Hosted by the trumpeter's son, Erin Davis; his nephew, drummer Vince Wilburn Jr.; and bassist/producer Marcus Miller, Miles Davis Radio is featuring music from Davis' catalog, never-before-heard soundtrack music recorded by Davis for the 1986 film Wise Guys, and interviews with former Davis band members and various guests. The channel went on the air Friday and will continue until Wednesday, November 25, temporarily replacing Real Jazz on Sirius channel 72 and XM channel 70.
Davis' album Birth of the Cool was the subject of a program held in late October at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, with music by the Don Wilson Trio and a lecture by Bob Perkins. Read the AllAboutJazz.com review of the event by Victor L. Schermerhere.
Long considered a jazz landmark, Birth of the Cool was one of three Davis albums on the London Telegraph's recently published list of the 100 best jazz recordings of all time. (Composer and saxophonist Oliver Nelson's Blues and the Abstract Truth was the only other St. Louis-related entry on the list.)...And here's another review of the recent reissue of Davis' 1950s sessions with Sonny Rollins for the Prestige label, written from AllAboutJazz.com by Chris May
* Moving on to news of other St. Louisans past and present, Marc Myers just wrapped up a multi-part interview for his JazzWax blog with saxophonist and composer/arranger Lennie Niehaus, who was born in St. Louis, helped establish the West Coast "cool jazz" sound and went on to a very successful career scoring films, most notably for director/actor Clint Eastwood. Read part one here, and follow the links therein for the rest.
* Here's a review of Femina, saxophonist and composer John Zorn's recent tribute to female artists, written for AllAboutJazz.com by Mark Corroto.
* Speaking of coming attractions, here's a review from the Hartford Courant's Richard Kamins of Snap Shot: The Original Trio, a new CD from organist Joey DeFrancesco, who returns to St. Louis in March to play at Jazz at the Bistro.
* Singer Steve Tyrell, who will perform here in May at the Sheldon Concert Hall, just began an eight-week stand at NYC's Cafe Carlyle. Read the review of his show by the New York Times' Stephen Holdenhere.
* As we head for the exits of this installment of NftN, here's another review of Larry Ochs Sax & Drumming Core's recent CD Stone Shift, written for AllAboutJazz.com by Kurt Gottschalk. Ochs and the Core performed at the Sheldon in September.
* Last but not least, are you a music fan who is confused, amused and/or appalled by the continual proliferation of ever-more-specific nomenclature for musical genres, micro-genres and nano-genres? If so, check out NPR Music's "Genre Dictionary 2009," and perhaps you too will be able to comprehend the difference between "crabcore" and "grime."
(Edited after posting to add tags. Edited again 11/24/09 to fix a typo.)
The new concert series announced on Friday by jazz pianist and St. Louis native Peter Martin looks to be an interesting and welcome addition to the local jazz scene. Yesterday, I talked with Martin by phone and got a few more details:
* Martin will be directly involved with all the productions, selecting the artists and, at least initially, performing in all the concerts. "It's going to be all stuff that I dig, and people I like to play with," he said. Once the series gets rolling, Martin says he'd like to present concerts on a monthly basis.
* The Sheldon Concert Hall will be home base for the series, though it's possible that other venues might be used eventually as well. Ticketing will be handled through Metrotix and the Sheldon box office, with a block of tickets set aside for online presale through Martin's Web site and the Sheldon's site.
* Martin wants to keep ticket price "reasonable," aiming for the $15 to $20 range, though the first concert on February 5 with singer Dianne Reeves (pictured) likely will cost more like $25 to $30.
* The mix of performers will include both established headliners like Reeves and lesser-known musicians that Martin would like to introduce to local audiences. Though the first concert will be a duo performance, future shows could feature trios or quartets with different instrumentation.
* The series is designed to be "more informal and spontaneous" than the Sheldon's own jazz series in two ways. First, Martin won't be announcing an entire schedule of concerts a year in advance. Instead, he hopes to take advantage of openings in musicians' schedules to bring in performers who might not otherwise be available to come to St. Louis. (Of course, the busy pianist also has to work around his own touring schedule, too.)
Second, Martin hopes to foster a looser-than-usual atmosphere at the concerts themselves, encouraging dialogue and interaction with audience members and, he says, bringing a bit of a club feel into the concert hall.
Having just concluded a four-night run at Jazz at the Bistro with bassist Christian McBride and Inside Straight, Martin seems enthused about the chance to import more of his musical friends and colleagues to perform for hometown crowds. "There's a great audience here, and I wanted to open up more opportunities for stuff I could do here."
Once again this year, we dedicate our pre-Thanksgiving Saturday video post to the St. Louis native, trumpeter and singer Jeremy Davenport, who's coming back from New Orleans next week for his annual Turkey Day weekend gig Friday, November 27 and Saturday, November 28 at Jazz at the Bistro.
For some background on Davenport, please feel free to peruse last year's video spotlight post, which covered his biography in some detail. Since then, Davenport has signed with New Orleans-based Basin Street Records, and earlier this year issued We'll Dance 'til Dawn, his first effort for the label.
These clips show Davenport performing some of the songs from that release for an in-store concert at Louisiana Music Factory this past April during the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. The first clip shows him playing "When I Take My Sugar To Tea," followed by "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To." In the second clip, Davenport does "Mr. New Orleans," a piece he wrote for trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, followed by a brisk gallop through "Lady Is A Tramp."
"I’m excited to announce my new series: Peter Martin Music. I’ve been looking forward to bringing home to St. Louis some of my musical friends and experiences in an intimate, casual, and interactive experience.
I’m pleased to partner with one of my favorite venues, the The Duo featuring my dear friend and special guest, four-time Grammy® Award winning vocalist Dianne Reeves on Feb. 5, 2010, 8pm. Tickets go on sale December 5, 2009, but stay tuned here for special packages and early sale offers exclusive to petermartinmusic.com readers."
In addition to his long tenure as Reeves' music director, Martin currently is performing with bassist Christian McBride and Inside Straight, who are in St. Louis to play at Jazz at the Bistro through tomorrow night. StLJN has reached out to Martin in hope of learning more details about the series, so watch this space for updates.
(Edited after posting to fix some formatting problems.)
Euclid Records, the Webster Groves music store that offers an extensive inventory of jazz on vinyl, is featured in the November issue of the record collecting magazine Goldmine.
Owner Joe Schwab talked to the mag about the store's history, the challenges facing music retailers in today's market, and the fun of serving customers with nicknames like "Mr. 2-Tapes, Schleprock, Grandmaster Fence Post, Elvis’ Sister, Mr. Forgetful and Blind Larry." Read the whole article online here.
We've got an interesting variety of jazz and creative music events in St. Louis over the next few days, starting with the eclectic singer, songwriter, pianist and multi-instrumentalist Nellie McKay, who's in town tonight and Thursday to perform at Kranzberg Arts Center for the Cabaret St. Louis series.
Also tonight, bassist Christian McBride (pictured) and his new acoustic jazz group Inside Straight will begin a four-night engagement just around the corner at Jazz at the Bistro. For more on McBride and the concept behind Inside Straight, which also includes St. Louis' own Peter Martin on piano, see StLJN's recent Saturday video post on McBride here.
For still more, you can see and hear a complete set from the band's performance last week at the Village Vanguard, courtesy of public radio station WBGO and National Public Radio. (Note also that in a Twitter message Tuesday, Jazz St. Louis' Devin Rodino tweeted that the early sets for McBride are nearly sold out, so if you're planning to go, advance reservations would be recommended.)
Friday's noteworthy events includes performances by two veterans of St. Louis' famed Gaslight Square, as singer Mae Wheeler holds forth at Seasons St. Louis and singer Gene Lynn serenades diners and drinkers at Mihalis Chophouse, 1603 McCausland. And as long as we're talking vocalists, let's also note that singer Ron Wilkinson is back in action this Saturday night at Robbie's House of Jazz.
For information on more jazz and creative music events this weekend and beyond, check out the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, available for viewing on the left sidebar, or by clicking here. Also, you can follow St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes and become a "fan" by signing up on the StLJN Facebook page.
(If you have calendar items, band schedule information, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)
Multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and musical experimenter Tory Z. Starbuck is featured in an entertaining interview done by Jeannette Cooperman for the November issue of St. Louis magazine.
As fate would have it, Starbuck also has a performance this Friday, November 20 called "Japanese Koto meets Space Age Electronics" at S. Carmody Photography, 2707 Sutton Blvd. in Maplewood. Described in typically Starbuckian fashion as "a surreal fusion of Insect Ambient Edge" the event is part of the first-ever Maplewood Arts Walk, which will feature art openings, music, dancing and studio open houses at more than 20 participating businesses from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in downtown Maplewood.
S. Carmody Photography's current exhibition "Color Dance" features abstract digital photographs by Wisconsin photographic artist Sara Risley, who will be in attendance during Arts Walk and also for a reception from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 21.
The jam/funk/jazz-fusion group Garaj Mahal (pictured) is returning to St. Louis on Friday, December 18 to perform at 2720, the performance space and gallery recently opened by the production company Loyal Family in a former furniture store at 2720 Cherokee on the south side.
Garaj Mahal features guitarist Fareed Haque, bassist Kai Eckhardt, keyboardist Eric Levy and drummer Sean Rickman, who replaced founding member Alan Hertz. St. Louis guitarist Teddy Presberg and his band will open the show.
Tickets for Garaj Mahal are $8 in advance, $10 day of show, and can be purchased at the Loyal Family Web site.
This is post number 2,000 on St. Louis Jazz Notes. Many thanks to all the readers, commenters and sources who have been part of this site since it began in April, 2005.
Here's hoping you'll keep reading for another 2,000 posts, and please feel free to use the comments to offer your hearty congratulations, helpful suggestions and/or bitter complaints.
This weekend's Post-Dispatch had a feature story by Calvin Wilson about singer/songwriter/pianist Nellie McKay, who will be in St. Louis on Wednesday and Thursday to perform at the Kranzberg Arts Center under the auspices of Cabaret St. Louis. You can read the article online here.
This week, we turn our spotlight on New Orleans' Dirty Dozen Brass Band, who will return to St. Louis this Thursday, November 19 to perform at the Broadway Oyster Bar. The DDBB have been frequent visitors to St. Louis since the 1980s, with this appearance coming as part of what's being billed as the group's 25th anniversary tour.
Today's clips provide four examples of the band's signature sound, an updated version of the traditional brass band that stirs jazz, funk, soul, blues, gospel and pop into a syncopated stew. First up is a version of "Ain't Nothing But A Party" recorded in 2002 at the Bonnaroo Music Festival. In the second slot, the band tackles the Meters' "Cissy Strut" at a show in Boston.
The third clip features a rendition of "It's All Over Now" from a show in Gainesville, FL, and the fourth is a performance of the gospel standard "I'll Fly Away" taken from the band's show at the Portland Blues Festival. The video quality of the clips varies, as in a couple of cases the videographer seems to be boogieing right along with the rest of the crowd. However, the audio quality is pretty good across the board, and the DDBB's spirit and energy are, as usual, infectious.
The next meeting of the Jazz St. Louis CD Listening Club will be held at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, December 8 at Borders, 1519 S. Brentwood Blvd. in Brentwood.
Jazz historian, photographer, and DJ Dennis Owsley will serve as host and moderator, and the featured CD will be Mingus Ah Um, the classic 1959 recording from bassist Charles Mingus that introduced compositions such as “Fables of Faubus” and "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” and was recently reissued in a special two-disc 50th anniversary edition.
Meetings of the Jazz St. Louis CD Listening Club are free and open to the public. For more information, call 314-289-4037.
While there are no major touring jazz musicians visiting St. Louis this weekend, and a relatively light schedule overall, there are some noteworthy events featuring local musicians coming up over the next few days. Let's go to the highlights:
Tonight, guitarist William Lenihan will lead a tribute to the electric music of Miles Davis, drawing on compositions from In A Silent Way and Filles de Kilimanjaro in a free concert for Washington University's Jazz at Holmes series
On Friday and Saturday, guitarist Shaun Robinson (pictured), best known as a member of Good 4 The Soul, will bring his own band to Jazz at the Bistro for the weekend. I've not heard Robinson's own group yet, and they've released no recordings; however, the advertised ingredients - a mix of jazz, funk, rock and R&B - are similar to those employed by G4TS, and presumably the guitarist has his own personal recipe for combining them.
Also on Friday and Saturday, trombonist Robert Edwards and his ensemble will take the stage at Robbie's House of Jazz, offering a mix of hard bop, soul/jazz and more.
Looking beyond the weekend, there are two free concerts early next week featuring up-and-coming talent from local jazz studies programs. On Monday, the Webster University Big Band will perform at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus, and on Tuesday, the SIUE Big Band will play at Dunham Hall on campus in Edwardsville.
For information on more jazz and creative music events this weekend and beyond, check out the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, available for viewing on the left sidebar, or by clicking here. Also, you can follow St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes and become a "fan" by signing up on the StLJN Facebook page.
(If you have calendar items, band schedule information, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)
Here's the latest compilation of assorted news briefs and links related to jazz, improvisation, and creative music in St. Louis, including news of musicians originally from the Gateway City, recent visitors, and coming attractions, plus assorted other items of interest.
The answer, in part: "Miles’s celebrated urge to keep moving — to play music that was one minute beguiling, the next baffling (“It’s my curse”) is one reason...But music aside, Miles remains an eminently marketable star...Today’s jazz names — from Diana Krall to Pat Metheny — look a meek lot by comparison. "
In other Miles-related news, AllAboutJazz.com has a review by C. Michael Bailey of the recent reissue of Davis' 1950s sessions with Sonny Rollins, and another by George Kanzler covering the 50th anniversary reissue of Sketches of Spain plus a new tribute CD, Miles Ahead Live, by saxophonist Dave Liebman and the Manhattan School of Music Jazz Orchestra.
* Moving on to news of other locals past and present, singer Phil Perry, another former East St. Louisan, is recovering after collapsing while on stage in Connecticut with Pieces of A Dream on October 23. Perry spent three days in the Hospital of Saint Raphael in New Haven, Conn and was equipped with a new defibrillator. Perry says he is doing fine and will be back on the road soon: “My heart is wired like the Energizer Bunny, with a nifty little defibrillator to keep me on beat and keep me on my feet.”
* Writing on the band's blog Do The Math, The Bad Plus' Ethan Iverson recently linked to an interesting 1994 interview with the late saxophonist and former St. Louisan Julius Hemphill.
* The prolific saxophonist and composer John Zorn, who once studied at our town's Webster University, has a new CD called Femina, featuring an all-female ensemble performing a suite dedicated to women artists from various disciplines, such as Louise Bourgeois, Gertrude Stein, Sylvia Plath, Meredith Monk and Yoko Ono. Here's a review from AllAboutJazz.com's Troy Collins.
* Turning to news of recent visitors, here's a review of Stone Shift, the most recent CD from saxophonist Larry Ochs & Drumming Core. Ochs and the Core were here last month for a performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall.
* Moving on to the "coming attractions" file, bassist Christian McBride and his band Inside Straight, with St. Louis' Peter Martin on piano, will be featured on a live audio/video Webcast from NYC's Village Vanguard starting at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, November 11 (tomorrow evening). They'll be here in St. Louis next week for a four-night run at Jazz at the Bistro; meanwhile, you catch the Webcast on the site of NYC public radio station WBGO,
* An article by Nate Chinen in the latest Jazz Times calls singer Kurt Elling "the most influential jazz vocalist of our time." Elling will be in St. Louis in December to perform at Jazz at the Bistro.
* Here's a review of singer/songwriter/pianist Nellie McKay's new CD Normal as Blueberry Pie, written for AllAboutJazz.com by Matt Marshall. McKay (pictured) is coming to St. Louis under the auspices of Cabaret St. Louis to perform next Wednesday and Thursday at the Kranzberg Arts Center.
* Organist Joey DeFrancesco has a new disc called High Note, reviewed here by Music and More's Tim Niland. DeFrancesco returns to St. Louis at the end of March for four nights at Jazz at the Bistro.
* Pianist Vijay Iyer, who will play the Bistro from January 20 through January 23, just wrapped up a gig at NYC's Jazz Standard, reviewed here by the New York Times' Ben Ratliff, and also was just featured on NPR's "Song of The Day."
* Last but not least, from the "miscellaneous items of interest file": A new research paper done by the Council for Research Excellence (CRE) with support from the Nielsen Company challenges many of the myths about how people today listen to music. The study tracked 752 days of audio media usage last year by participants in five markets and found that "from broadcast radio to MP3 players, some popular notions about listening in the digital age appear to be horribly off the mark." Read more about "How U.S. Adults Use Radio and Other Forms of Audio" here.
Via a Kevin Johnson blog post at STLtoday.com, word is that smooth jazz saxophonist Najee is coming to St. Louis on Friday, December 11 to perform at the Ambassador Events Center, 9800 Halls Ferry Rd.
Billed as a "Jazz Explosion" concert, the show is also supposed to include some "special guests," though no specific musicians were listed. Najee has been part of several package tours using that name in the past, with other recent participants including keyboardist Alex Bugnon, guitarist Nick Colionne, saxophonist Gerald Albright, and singer Ledisi.
Ticket for Najee's performance at the Ambassador are $25 and $30, and will be on sale via Metrotix.
This week, we've got some video footage of bassist Christian McBride, who will be in St. Louis from Wednesday, November 18 through Saturday, November 21 to perform with his new band Inside Straight at Jazz At the Bistro.
As McBride explains in a short promotional video made for the band's record label - a clip that, alas, has had the embedding feature disabled - Inside Straight was formed as an acoustic jazz group capable of playing the famous NYC club the Village Vanguard, which eschews the electrified music offered by some of McBride's other ensembles.
Inside Straight's first CD Kind of Brown came out earlier this year, and they've followed up with a series of live dates in NYC and on the road, including the November week that will mark their St. Louis debut. Because the group is relatively new, there's not a whole lot of video available of them online, save for today's first clip which features them playing McBride's tune "Brother Mister."
In addition to the leader on bass, the lineup for this gig included Warren Wolf (vibes) and Steve Wilson (alto sax), both of whom played on the CD, plus Ulysses Owens. Jr. on drums and St. Louis' own Peter Martin on piano, replacing Carl Allen and Eric Reed, respectively. Though he didn't play on the CD, Martin has been on many of the subsequent Inside Straight gigs, and will be at the piano for their St. Louis run.
Down below, there's a clip of McBride demonstrating his technique with a solo on the Ornette Coleman tune "Turnaround," taken from a gig a few years back with Joshua Redman, Pat Metheny and Brian Blade. The final video is a short biography of the bassist from the series Philly Jazz.
The second season of I Love Jazz, the HEC-TV program hosted by longtime St. Louis jazz DJ Don Wolff, begins tonight with a program featuring singer/guitarist John Pizzarelli and the St. Louis band Dizzy Atmosphere.
I Love Jazz airs Thursday and Sunday nights at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday mornings at 8:00 a.m. , with this latest episode set to run throughout the month of November and into December. HEC-TV can be found on Charter Cable's channel 26 and AT&T U-Verse Network channel 99, and I Love Jazz also can be viewed on the network's Web site at www.hectv.org. The program also is available as a free download on the iTunes U website, though there's normally a time lag of a few weeks before a new episode is posted.
Webster Records will host a free live performance from guitarist Dan Rubright (pictured) and singer Lydia Ruffin as part of an "open house" sale to be held this Sunday, November 8.
Rubright and Ruffin will perform from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., playing songs from their new CD Christmas Cafe, which will be available for purchase.
The store also will be holding a bake sale in support of owner Jennifer Bellm's participation in the Phoenix Rock n' Roll Marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). Bellm hopes to raise $4,000 to fight blood cancers by taking part in the 26.2 mile run, which will be held in January.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the Internet...it's another shameless plug for StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds, where each day we serve up a different music video from genres including jazz, blues, funk, soul, classic rock, prog rock and experimental. Whether you click over to the site occasionally and browse around, or add it your newsreader or home page as a "video of the day" delivery system, you'll find something worthy of your time and attention.
Recent posts have included videos featuring Isaac Hayes, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Curtis Mayfield, Dave Holland Quintet, Bill Evans Trio, Defunkt, Sunnyland Slim, Paul Motian Quintet, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Don Pullen/George Adams Quintet, Hank Crawford, Les Paul, Rahassan Roland Kirk, Miles Davis, Sun Ra and his Arkestra, Ella Fitzgerald, Weather Report, Cassandra Wilson, Jimmy Smith, Muddy Waters and Cannonball Adderley.
It's a busy weekend for jazz in St. Louis, with shows coming up from four touring ensembles in styles ranging from modern to traditional, plus plenty of activity from our local contingent of musicians. Let's go straight to the highlights:
Tonight, guitarist Stanley Jordan opens a four-night engagement that continues through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Jordan is no stranger to St. Louis audiences, having performed here in recent years at Finale Music and Dining, but if you'd like to see and hear some samples of his playing, check out the video post from last Saturday here.
On Saturday, New Orleans-born trumpeter Nicholas Payton (pictured) performs at the Sheldon Concert Hall, with piano phenom Taylor Eigsti as part of his band. You can see some videos of Payton in action here, read an interview with him here, and find information on how to get tickets for the show at half-price here.
On Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club welcomes the long-running Salty Dogs Jazz Band for a concert of traditional jazz at the Sheraton Westport Hotel. Then on Sunday evening, New Music Circle presents composer and producer Rob Voisey's 60 x 60 Project at Mad Art Gallery. The event will feature 60 one-minute performances from local dancers and choreographers set to 60 different pieces of music created by 60 different composers and curated by Voisey.
Looking beyond the weekend, on Tuesday morning the St. Louis Ragtimers will do the first of two "Coffee Concerts" at the Sheldon, with the program repeating on Wednesday morning. And on Tuesday night, Jazz St. Louis' CD Listening Club will meet at Borders in Brentwood, with singer Erin Bode and JSL executive director Gene Dobbs Bradford leading the discussion of the featured CD for the month, John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman.
For information on more jazz and creative music events this weekend and beyond, check out the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, available for viewing on the left sidebar, or by clicking here. Also, you can follow St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes and become a "fan" by signing up on the StLJN Facebook page.
(If you have calendar items, band schedule information, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)
Way back in June, StLJN told readers about a Pollstar listing showing a performance by Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in March 2010 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Today, the Sheldon issued a press release announcing that Marsalis and the JaLCO (pictured) would indeed be coming to St. Louis next year on Saturday, March 13 to headline the hall's annual benefit gala.
Patron tickets for the event are on sale now, and can be ordered by calling the Sheldon at 314-533-9900. Prices start at $500 and include cocktails, dinner, preferred seating, complimentary valet parking and a tax deduction.
Single tickets will be priced at $75 for orchestra seats and $65 for the balcony, and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, February 13 via Metrotix.
Sunday's Post-Dispatch featured a brief interview with Nicholas Payton, who's performing next Saturday at the Sheldon Concert Hall, and one thing that jumped out from the conversation with the P-D's Calvin Wilson is the fact that the trumpeter's band for the gig will include much-hyped keyboard phenom Taylor Eigsti. Read the whole thing online here.
It's a new week in a new month, and with it come some new features on this site:
* If you'd like to read St. Louis Jazz Notes using a iPhone, Blackberry or similar gadget, there's now a version of StLJN formatted especially for mobile devices available at http://stljazznotes.mofuse.mobi/. (I'll also be adding a permanent link for the mobile service over on the right sidebar, below the "Subscribe to StLJN" section.)
Essentially, it takes the RSS feed of the site and formats the text in a way that's optimized for a small screen. Lacking the requisite hardware, yr. humble editor hasn't had a chance yet to test the service, but I'm interested in feedback and comments from anyone who does, so please try it out and then leave a comment or send me an email with your impressions.
* Also finally up and running this week is a long-delayed project: a map of St. Louis jazz clubs and concert venues, which can be found at http://stljazznotesmap.blogspot.com/. (I've also added a permanent link to the map in the "Site Navigation" section.)
It's built on Google's map technology, so you can move the map around with your cursor; use the controls at upper left to zoom in and out; toggle between the map and satellite photos; and click on each "point of interest" for an annotations box with additional information, phone numbers, Web site URLs, and so on.
I imagine it's something that locals will use only occasionally, but it should be particularly handy for visitors and new arrivals. Again, please feel free to offer your suggestions, corrections, additions and observations via email or in the comments for this post.
* Meanwhile, the StLJN calendar of events can now be found at http://stljazznotescalendar.blogspot.com/, where it's gotten a makeover to match the map page, allowing for the addition of an identifying banner up top, plus a sidebar with links, ads and a visitor counter. (If you'd prefer to see the larger, unframed versions of the map and calendar, there are links at the bottom of each page that will let you do that.)
The 18th annual St. Louis International Film Festival, which begins Thursday, November 12 and continues through Sunday, November 22, once again will feature the St. Louis premieres of several recent music-related movies, including two that should be of particular interest to jazz fans.
The first of those two films is Icons Among Us: Jazz in the Present Tense, which is based on the Documentary Channel's four-part series of the same name and will be shown at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, November 17 at the Tivoli Theatre. The film examines the contemporary jazz scene through interviews with 75 artists and live recordings culled from 25 hours of concerts, spotlighting musicians such as Herbie Hancock, Terence Blanchard, Bill Frisell, Ravi Coltrane, Medeski Martin & Wood, The Bad Plus and East St. Louis native Russell Gunn.
Then on Sunday, November 21, Jazz St. Louis and SLIFF will co-sponsor a free screening of Chops starting at 6:00 p.m. at Winifred Moore Auditorium, 470 E. Lockwood Ave. on the campus of Webster University. The film tells the story of kids in an acclaimed public-school jazz program in Jacksonville, Florida, and will be followed by a discussion led by pianist Reggie Thomas, who teaches music at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and serves as a judge for the Essentially Ellington festival, which is depicted in the film.
Other music-related movies in the 2009 St. Louis International Film Festival, listed here in order of their screening dates, will include:
1:00 p.m., Saturday, November 14 at the Tivoli Branson focuses on three entertainers in "the Vegas of outstate Missouri," including Jackson Cash, "an astonishingly good Man in Black impersonator whose own troubles with addiction parallel those of his idol."
3:30 p.m., Saturday, November 14 at the Tivoli Saint Misbehavin’: The Wavy Gravy Movie tells the "outlandish but true" story of countercultural phenomenon Wavy Gravy (a.k.a Hugh Romney), a poet and proto-performance artist who roomed with Dylan and opened Greenwich Village’s coffeehouses to folk singers; boarded the Magic Bus with Ken Kesey; founded the Hog Farm commune; and emceed Woodstock; and now works to restore the eyesight of impoverished people worldwide through the Seva Foundation.
9:15 p.m., Sunday, November 15 at Plaza Frontenac Cinema 4:30 p.m., Monday, November 16 at Plaza Frontenac Cinema The Drummer (Zhan gu) is a Chinese drama about the son of a Hong Kong gang boss forced to flee to Taiwan, where he meets a group of Zen drummers. He joins the group and remakes his life, until twist of fate forces him to choose between loyalty to his family and his newfound faith in himself.
9:00 p.m. Thursday, November 19 at the Tivoli Say My Name is a documentary from the Netherlands about female hip-hop performers. The film features interviews and musical performances from Remy Ma, Rah Digga, Jean Grae, Erykah Badu and Estelle, as well as pioneers MC Lyte, Roxxanne Shante and Monie Love and newcomers Chocolate Thai, Invincible and Miz Korona.
7:00 p.m. Friday, November 20 at the Tivoli Old Dog, New Trick and The Pride of St. Louis are rock documentaries featuring St. Louis musicians who gained fame during the 1970s. Old Dog, New Trick follows Steve Scorfina, formerly of Pavlov’s Dog and REO Speedwagon, as he balances a life in antiques-dealing with a re-launched career as a blues-rock bandleader, guitarist and vocalist, while The Pride of St. Louis recycles the name of the filmed biography of Cardinals pitcher Dizzy Dean to tell the history of blues/rock band Mama’s Pride and its key members, singer/guitarists and brothers Pat and Danny Liston.
7:00 p.m., Friday, November 20 at Winifred Moore Auditorium Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love features concert and behind-the-scenes footage of the African music star as he travels the world with his elaborate “Egypt” concert tour.
9:00 p.m. Friday, November 20 at Winifred Moore Auditorium Rise Up features up and coming reggae performers Turbulence, Ice and Kemoy plus established stars Lee “Scratch” Perry, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, shot on location in the streets, back alleys and crowded dancehalls of Kingston and the countryside.
2:00 p.m. Saturday, November 21 at the Tivoli See What I’m Saying is a documentary that follows four deaf entertainers - an actor, a comic, a rock drummer and a singer - over the course of a single year.
1:00 p.m., Sunday, November 22 at the Tivoli The Choir was shot over four years in Leeuwkop, South Africa’s largest prison, and records "the inspiring efforts of a bank robber to transform his life – and those of his fellow inmates – through song." The documentary focuses on a 19-year-old newcomer, Jabulani, who initially resists the choirmaster’s guidance but eventually becomes a key member of the group as they compete for a victory at the National Prison Choir Competition.
For a complete festival schedule, plus ticket and venue information, visit the SLIFF Web site.
(Edited 11/3/04 to reflect the fact that Reggie Thomas, not Phil Dunlap, now will be leading the discussion after the screening of Chops.)
This just in: British singer/songwriter/pianist Jamie Cullum (pictured) will return to St. Louis on Sunday, March 14 to perform at the Roberts Orpheum Theater downtown.
