St. Louis Jazz Notes: December 2009

Thursday, December 31, 2009

StLJN 2009 year in review

On this final day of 2009, let's take a look back at some of the most newsworthy, noteworthy and/or interesting items posted here on St. Louis Jazz Notes over the past 12 months:

January 2009

February 2009

March 2009

April 2009

May 2009

June 2009

July 2009

August 2009

September 2009

October 2009

November 2009

December 2009

Thanks to all of you who have read and/or contributed information, links, comments, and more to this site during this past year. Here's hoping that your New Year will filled with peace, prosperity, and lots of great music. StLJN will be on a holiday posting schedule until Saturday, when the weekly video showcase post will appear as usual.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Jazz this week: New Year's Eve jazz
in St. Louis, and more

While New Year's Eve isn't usually a particularly big night for live jazz in St. Louis, there seem to be slightly more than the usual number of jazz-related options out there this year.

Among the more noteworthy revels occurring this Thursday evening:

* Singer Erin Bode (pictured) and her band will be doing two performances at the Joe Buck Show Room, which is part of the sportscaster's JBuck's restaurant downtown on Clark St.;
* The Robert Edwards Big Band will play at Robbie's House of Jazz;
* Singer Kim Massie will be at Brandt's;
* Singer Cherilyn Evans & CEE JazzSoul are performing at Smoking Joe's Bar-Be-Que downtown on Washington Ave;
* Singer/pianist Anita Rosamond teams up with guitarist Grant Krener at Chandler Hill Wineries in Defiance.

As has been the case for the last few years, the city's premiere jazz room, Jazz at the Bistro, will be dark on New Year's Eve, yielding the streets in the immediate neighborhood to Grand Center's annual First Night event, which usually features a variety of music in addition to dance, theater, visual arts and family oriented activities.

Acts scheduled to perform at this year's First Night include singers Wendy Gordon and Jeannie Trevor; multi-instrumentalist Sandy Weltman's gypsy-jazz band Hot Club Caravan; singer Brian Owens; Le Jazz Hot (with pianist Ptah Williams, saxophonist Chad Evans, bassist Daryl Mixon and drummer Bensid Thigpen); Wackadoo (with singer Valerie Tichacek); and Jazz St. Louis executive director Gene Dobbs Bradford's blues band, the Blues Inquisition. For a complete schedule of performances, visit the First Night website.

Beyond New Year's Eve, it looks to be a relatively uneventful few days for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, save for some regular weekly standing gigs carrying over into the new year. That's not unusual - the first couple of weeks of the year are usually a slow time for live music, and with many people still on holiday, a lot of January schedule information from musicians and clubs has yet to arrive here at StLJN HQ.

As that info comes in, I'll be updating the the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar - which can be found on the left sidebar, or by clicking here - with the latest information on more jazz and creative music events this weekend and beyond. You also can keep up with all the latest news by following St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes or by becoming a "fan" of 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.)

Monday, December 28, 2009

Jeff Coffin & the Mu'tet to perform
Friday, January 22 at 2720

Saxophonist Jeff Coffin (pictured) and his band the Mu'tet will return to St. Louis on Friday, January 22 to perform at 2720, the new performance space run by the production company Loyal Family at 2720 Cherokee on the south side.

In addition to his solo career, Coffin performs with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and with the Dave Mathews Band. His last scheduled appearance in St. Louis was set for August 2008 at the now-closed Lucas School House, but was canceled when he got an emergency call to tour with the DMB after their saxophonist LeRoi Moore suffered what proved to be fatal injuries in an ATV accident.

Tickets for the Jeff Coffin and the Mu'tet show at 2720 will be priced at $10 and available online here.

Recently on Heliocentric Worlds

Before the year ends, it's time for one last shameless plug for Heliocentric Worlds, StLJN's sibling site that features a different music video every day.

Drawing from genres including jazz, blues, funk, soul, classic rock, prog rock and experimental, recent posts have featured clips showcasing Brian Auger and the Trinity with Julie Driscoll, Elvin Jones, Memphis Slim, Nat "King" Cole, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, World Saxophone Quartet, Sun Ra and his Arkestra, Colosseum, Weather Report, Steve Coleman, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Smith, Cannonball Adderley, Stevie Wonder, Betty Carter, Charles Mingus, the documentary film Jazz On A Summer's Day, Tower of Power, Captain Beefheart, Passport, and Groove Collective.

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

Rounding up the "Best Jazz of 2009" lists

Once again, it's that time of year when jazz journalists, DJs, critics and bloggers publish their annual "Best Of" lists, and once again this year, St. Louis Jazz Notes is offering a meta-list with links to all of the "Best Jazz of 2009" lists we can locate.

This year's list o' lists is alphabetized by writers' names. In those cases when a list was collaborative or presented as a staff-written project, the name of the publication or media outlet is used instead. Here's what we've found so far:

* AccuJazz AccuBlog - The Best of 2009, According to People Older and Smarter than I
* David Adler, Lerterland - Jazz impressions 2009, Top shows 2009,
* AllMusic.com - Favorite Jazz Albums of 2009
* Clifford Allen, Ni Kantu - Best of 2009!!!
* Avant Music News - Best of 2009
* Peter Bacon, The Jazz Breakfast - Festive 50
* C. Michael Bailey, AllAboutJazz.com - Top 10 Best Releases of 2009
* Chris Barton, Los Angeles Times - Vijay Iyer, Allen Toussaint, Joe Lovano and the rest of 2009's most notable jazz releases
* Josh Bayer, Michigan Daily - Jazzed about year-end lists
* Larry Blumenfeld, Wall Street Journal - Toasting 2009's Best CDs
* Chip Boaz, Latin Jazz Corner - Best of 2009 Awards
* Philip Booth's Scribe Life - The Best Jazz Discs of 2009
* Bob Brainen, WFMU - Faves of 2009
* Nate Chinen, New York Times - Free Jazz, Futurism, Funk and Ferocity
* Dean Christesen, RVA News - Favorite albums of 2009
* Troy Collins, AllAboutJazz.com - Best of 2009
* J.D. Considine, Toronto Globe and Mail - Analysis: The Year In Jazz
* Jason Crane, The Jazz Session - My Top 10 Jazz Cds of 2009
* Curt Davenport, Curt's Jazz Cafe - Best Jazz Albums of 2009, Part 1 and Part 2
* Destination: Out’s Fave Jazz Jamz of 2009
* eMusic - Best Albums of 2009 (includes some jazz releases)
* Doug Fischer, Ottawa Citizen - Top 10 jazz shows of 2009
* Ken Franckling, AllAboutJazz.com - 2009: The Year in Jazz
* Free Jazz blog - Top 10 - 2009
* Jack Garner, Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle - Top CDs of 2009
* Jon Garelick, Boston Phoenix - 2009: The year in jazz
* Ted Gioia, Jazz.com - The Best CDs of 2009
* Andrew Gilbert, Seattle Times - Top Jazz CDs of 2009 and, in slightly different form, for KQED
* John Gilbreath, KBCS - Best of 2009
* Steve Greenlee, Boston Globe - Top jazz albums for 2009
* J Hunter, AllAboutJazz.com - Best Jazz Discs of 2009
* Peter Hum, Ottawa Citizen - My Favourite Discs of 2009
* Ashante Infantry, Toronto Star - The year in jazz, R&B and hip hop
* Josh Jackson, The Checkout, WBGO - The Year of Living Improvisationally
* Patrick Jarenwattananon, A Blog Supreme (NPR) - The year-end list of lists 2009
* Jazz Journalists Association - Top 10 of 2009 lists from JJA members
* Jazz on 3, BBC 3 - Best Albums of 2009
* JazzTimes - Top 50 new jazz releases of 2009 from their critics poll, plus the individual ballots.
* Kalamazoo Gazette - The 10 Best Jazz Albums of 2009
* Fred Kaplan, Slate.com & Stereophile - Best Jazz of 2009
* John Kelman, AllAboutJazz.com - Best Releases of 2009
* Chris Kelsey - Begrudgingly Submitted for Your Approval: My Top Ten List
* Devin Leonard, New York Observer - The 10 Best Jazz Albums of 2009
* Love, Gloom, Cash, Love - Top 10 of 2009
* Shaunna Morrison Machosky, WDUQ - The Year In Jazz
* Jim Macnie, Lament For A Straight Line - 10 Best Jazz CDs of 2009
* Howard Mandel - Best "Beyond Jazz" Recordings of 2009
* Scott McDowell, WFMU - Top 10 Musical Delights of 2009
* Dan McClenaghan, AllAboutJazz.com - Top Ten for 2009
* Owen McNally, Hartford Courant - Best of 2009: Jazz
* Gabe Meline, North Bay Bohemian - Top 20 Jazz Discoveries of 2009
* Matt Merewitz, The Jazz Clinic - My Top 10 of 2009 + Honorable Mentions
* Bill Milkowski - Top 100 for 2009
* Ralph A. Miriello, Notes on Jazz - My Picks for Best Jazz CDs for 2009
* Tim Niland, Music and More - Best of 2009, Part 1 - New Releases; Part 2 - Historical Releases; Part 3- New Releases Honorable Mentions
* Brian Patneaude, Nippertown - Top 10 Albums of 2009
* Popmatters' Best Jazz of 2009
* Michael J. Ramsey, Washington City Paper - The Top 10 Jazz Albums of 2009
* Ben Ratliff, New York Times - Notable Dispatches From the Edge of Jazz and Beyond
* Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune - Top 10 innovative jazz releases of 2009 and Best jazz box sets of 2009
* Brett Saunders, Denver Post - Elders rule year's big-band limelight
* Richard Scheinin, San Jose Mercury News - For the jazz lover, 2009's best CDs
* Gene Seymour, Seymour & Nahikian - Top 10 Jazz Discs of 2009
* Spinner.com - Top 10 Jazz Albums of 2009
* Karl Stark, Philadelphia Inquirer - Best in Jazz
* Mark Stryker, Detroit Free Press - Top 10 new jazz recordings for 2009
* NPR's Take Five - Top 10 jazz records of 2009
* Derek Taylor, Dusted - Best jazz, blues and country of 2009
* Jacob Teichroew, About.com - Best Jazz Albums of 2009
* Jim Tuerk, Greenleaf Music - The Year In Music
* Village Voice Jazz Critics' Poll - introduction by Francis Davis, poll results, individual ballots, and an alternate top 10 from Tom Hull.
* Brett Watanabe, KBCS - Top 10 of 2009

Also, while it's not a list per se, the year-end email dialog among critics Nate Chinen, Andrey Henkin, Peter Margasak, Ben Ratliff and Hank Shteamer published over the past week on Chinen's blog The Gig is worth a look:
Part 1: A Gate-Crashing Year
Part 2: Supergroup Outbreak, But No Generation Gap
Part 3: Midwest Represent: Scrambling Purity, Fiercely Independent
Part 4: Hitting the Road
Part 5: Let's Hear It For New York
Part 6: The Oughts, Meet the Dustbin
Part 7: Someone's Tradition, Anyway
Part 8: Final Round: Can You Dig It?

There still are a couple of annual lists that are anticipated but yet to be published, notably the Village Voice's jazz poll, and those will be added to the 2009 meta-list as they appear. And if you've seen any other 2009 year-end jazz lists that aren't mentioned here, please use the comments (or send me an email) to share the information and I'll update this post as needed. Finally, please feel free to use the comments to share and discuss thoughts about your own favorite jazz releases, shows and moments of 2009.

(Edited 12/28/09 to correct a last name and add a couple more lists. Edited again 12/29/09 to add the Village Voice poll link. Edited again 12/30/09 to add seven more lists. Edited again 1/2/10 to add five more lists. Edited again on 1/6/10 to add six more lists.)

Saturday, December 26, 2009

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase:
Sampling the St. Louis scene

For the last Saturday video post of 2009, let's take a look at a grab-bag of clips featuring musicians and singers currently active on the St. Louis jazz and creative music scene. From the top, we've got:

* Singer Erin Bode and her band - bassist (and husband) Syd Rodway, keyboardist/guitarist Adam Maness, and drummer Derek Phillips - performing their original songs "Sydney Come Down" and "Chasing After You" in a show last January 31 at the Old Settlers' Inn in Moundridge, Kansas.

* The Bosman Twins, playing a multi-tempo take on Charlie Parker's "Dewey Square." Be sure to check out pianist Ptah Williams' solo starting at around 6:00 into the clip.

* Trumpeter Jim Manley with guitarist Travis Mattison doing "Take The A Train." This has a nice, relaxed just-a-couple-of-guys-sittin'-around-playin' quality that I found enjoyable.

* Hot Club Caravan, featuring the great Sandy Weltman on harmonica, with their version of "In A Sentimental Mood" from a show last summer in Kirkwood Park.

* Traditional jazz festival circuit favorites Cornet Chop Suey, completing a serendipitous Ellington trilogy with a version of "Caravan" (with a drum solo) recorded at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

* The Urban Groove Project (a.k.a. UG Project) featuring Lamar Harris and Mo Egeston laying down a "Fela Groove" at the St. Louis Art Museum.

In addition to the customary previews of touring artists coming to town and historic clips from greats of the past, in 2010 I'd like to feature more videos from working St. Louis musicians and bands in this space. So if you're in St. Louis; you're doing jazz, creative music, improvisation or something related; and you've got a clip or clips on YouTube, let StLJN know about it by sending an email to stljaznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Jazz this week: Season's greetings
from St. Louis Jazz Notes

With the Christmas holiday on Friday, it's a slow weekend for live music generally in St. Louis, but there are a couple of noteworthy shows happening early next week.

On Monday, bassist David Certain, who's played with Eddie Henderson, Gary Bartz and Little Jimmy Scott, leads a quartet at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups, featuring drummer Stan Hale plus saxophonist "Blind" Willie Dineen and trumpeter Rob Endicott of the Voodoo Blues Band. (Full disclosure: Yr. humble editor has gigged with both Certain and Hale in several different musical situations.)

On Tuesday, saxophonist Larry Johnson celebrates the release of his debut CD Circles with a "Notes from Home" performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Johnson will be supported by a cast of musicians including trumpeter Jim Manley, pianist Carolbeth True, singer Charlie Boehme, trombonist Jim Owens, guitarist Brian Simms, bassist Glen Smith and drummers David True and Joe Weber.

Elsewhere in town, Jazz at the Bistro and various other concert halls and clubs are dark this weekend, while Robbie's House of Jazz is open only on Saturday to host a private fundraising event.

However, there are still a few musical options over the weekend; the RFT's "A to Z" music blog did a post about bars that will be open for Christmas here that may be of some help. If you're wondering about a particular spot not mentioned there, your best bet may be simply to pick up the phone and call; please see the StLJN sidebar for links to local jazz venue websites.

StLJN will be on a reduced holiday posting schedule for the next couple of days, but it will be business as usual on Saturday with the weekly video post. Next week, there'll be something about New Year's Eve jazz in St. Louis, some end-of-year wrap-up posts, and, I hope, a bit of housekeeping & maintenance as well.

Until then, here's hoping that you are safe, warm and in good company this holiday weekend.

For information on more jazz and creative music events this weekend and beyond, please visit 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.)

David King featured in latest
Jazz St. Louis podcast interview

The latest installment of Jazz St. Louis' ongoing series of podcasts is now online, featuring an interview between David King (pictured), drummer of The Bad Plus, and JSL's Bob Bennett.

The Bad Plus will be in St. Louis to perform Wednesday, January 6 through Saturday, January 9 at Jazz at the Bistro. You can listen to a streaming version of the David King interview or download a copy in .MP3 format here.

(Edited after posting to fix a broken link.)

Buyers raising funds for KFUO purchase, responding to petitions

In a story published in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch, classical music critic Sarah Bryan Miller writes that fundraising help for the purchase of radio station KFUO (99.1 FM) by Gateway Creative Broadcasting is coming from a couple of somewhat surprising sources: the families of former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Andy Benes and current Cardinals star, first baseman Albert Pujols:

"After a significant fundraising campaign, the company has more than $350,000 in hand, over $1 million in donor pledges and, as of Dec. 1, a “commitment letter” from Cass Commercial Bank for a loan of $1.7 million. Much of the fundraising has been led by former Cardinals pitcher Andy Benes and his wife, Jennifer. Albert Pujols and his wife, Deidre, have also been involved."

In addition, "The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, which is selling KFUO, and Gateway Creative Broadcasting, which as Joy FM seeks to buy it and change it to a Christian contemporary format, have filed their opposition" to two of the four petitions filed with the FCC by opponents of the sale. And in related developments, Miller wrote in two earlier posts of opposition to the proposed sale among faculty members at Concordia Seminary and of the formal response by the LCMS to a letter from church members questioning the transaction.

StLJN has been following the story because in addition to being the only St. Louis area radio station that plays classical music, KFUO also is home to Don Wolff's long-running program "I Love Jazz," which airs on Friday nights. We'll continue to recap significant developments as they occur...

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Eight more cabaret shows coming
to Kranzberg Arts Center

Impresario Jim Dolan has announced a schedule of eight cabaret performers who will play the Kranzberg Arts Center in February and March under the auspices of his Presenters Dolan organization. The lineup of shows, which features all St. Louis performers and, for the most part, leans toward the theatrical end of the cabaret spectrum, is:

Wednesday, February 17 & Thursday, February 18
Robert Breig - "Feels Like Home"
with Carol Schmidt, music director

Friday, February 19 & Saturday, February 20
Jeffrey M. Wright - "The Dance"
with Neal Richardson, music director

Friday, February 26
Alice Kinsella - "A Stand Up Act"
with Al Fischer, music director

Saturday, February 27
Christina Rios - "Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover - The Good, The Bad and The Hilarious"
with David Horstman, music director

Sunday, February 28
Monya Fisher - "My Seasons of Music"
with Brock Walker, music director

Thursday, March 18 and Friday, March 19
Katie McGrath - "Second Chances"
with Rick Jensen, music director

Thursday, March 25
Joy Powell - "Feminine Standard"
with Michael Frazier, music director

Friday, March 26 & Saturday, March 27
Chuck Lavazzi - "Just a Song at Twilight: The Golden Age of Vaudeville"
with Neal Richardson, music director

Local cabaret performer, director and teacher Tim Schall has a hand in most of these shows as well, serving as director for the productions featuring Brieg, Wright, Kinsella, McGrath, Powell and Lavazzi.

All shows begin at 8:00 p.m., and tickets are priced at $20 each. You can get more information on the performers and order tickets here, or place ticket orders by phone by calling 314-725-4200, ext. 10.

In related news, Jim Dolan tells StLJN that he's parted ways with the not-for-profit presenting organization Cabaret St. Louis, and, after helping book that organization's spring 2010 schedule, will be producing future cabaret shows only under the Presenters Dolan designation. While Dolan did not want to discuss the specifics of the split on the record, it can be noted without violating any confidences that the issues apparently came down to those two perennials, money and creative control.

Having survived one serious disruption when the closing of Savor restaurant in 2008 abruptly terminated his successful Cabaret At Savor series, Dolan already has proven to be a resilient sort, and this new series of shows is evidence of his determination to press on.

Meanwhile, one can't help but wonder if a Dolan-less Cabaret St. Louis will fare any better than previous attempts to stage cabaret in Grand Center venues, in which individual productions have sometimes done well but no series has been able to build significant long-term momentum. Stay tuned...

Riverfront Times wraps up
2009 in St. Louis music

The most recent issue of the Riverfront Times contains a look back at the year 2009 in local music by the paper's various freelance contributors, including yr. humble editor. The compilation of short pieces by the various music freelancers starts here, and you can read my segment, which is concerned with blues and jazz in St. Louis, here.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Tickets now on sale for Jamie Cullum's March 14 show in St. Louis

Tickets are now on sale for the performance by singer/pianist Jamie Cullum on Sunday, March 14 at the Roberts Orpheum Theatre.

Seats for Cullum's St. Louis show were first offered as premiums in a recent pledge drive by local PBS affiliate KETC, and are now available to the general public for $35 and $40 at all Ticketmaster outlets, online at www.ticketmaster.com, or by phone at 800-745-3000.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase:
Getting acquainted with Vijay Iyer

This week, let's take a look at some videos featuring pianist Vijay Iyer. Iyer is one of the most talked-about jazz musicians of this year, and will be making his St. Louis debut starting Wednesday, January 20 through Saturday, January 23 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Born in 1971 in Rochester NY, Iyer studied classical violin for 15 years while growing up and earned an undergraduate degree in math and physics at Yale when he was just 20. After moving to California to pursue post-graduate studies in physics at Berkeley, he got seriously involved in the jazz scene in Oakland and eventually shifted his focus to music.

Iyer now is based in New York City and involved in many musical projects, including his own trio, quartet, and quintet; Raw Materials, a duo with saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa; the collective band Fieldwork; and the chamber trio Tirtha. He also has worked with a variety of jazz, hip-hop, spoken word and improvised music performers, including Mike Ladd, Amiri Baraka, Steve Coleman, Roscoe Mitchell, Wadada Leo Smith, dead prez, Amina Claudine Myers, Butch Morris, George E. Lewis, Pamela Z, Burnt Sugar, Karsh Kale, Oliver Lake, DJ Spooky, Ethel, and Imani Winds.

Iyer's most recent CD Historicity features his trio and is showing up on many jazz critics' "best of 2009" lists. Today's first clip (in two parts) shows Iyer, bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Justin Brown performing the title track from the CD in August of this year at the jazz festival in Saalfelden, Germany.

Down below, you can see the electronic press kit for Historicity, with some musical excerpts and comments from Iyer.

Following that, you can see Iyer, Crump and drummer Marcus Gilmore in the studio recording their version of "Galang," which is found on Historicity and previously was a hit pop record for rapper/singer M.I.A. (To get a sense of how Iyer and band have transformed the tune, you can check out the rather minimal original version here.)

The final clip is from another trio gig back in 2007, and shows Iyer, Crump and Gilmore performing the pianist's tune "Questions of Agency" at the Stone in NYC.

For more on Iyer, check out this podcast interview, recorded in September for Jason Crane's The Jazz Session site; this review by the New York Times' Ben Ratliff of Iyer's trio gig last month at NYC's Jazz Standard; this recent guest post by Iyer at Destination: Out, in which he discusses some of the specifics of Historicity; and this 2008 interview with Iyer from Jazz.com.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Larry Johnson CD release event set for Tuesday, December 29 at the Sheldon

Saxophonist Larry Johnson will celebrate the release of Circles, his debut CD as a leader, with a performance at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, December 29 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Johnson is a frequent musical associate of trumpeter Jim Manley and pianist Carolbeth True, and both will be on hand to perform at the CD release event, along with singer Charlie Boehme, trombonist Jim Owens, guitarist Brian Simms, bassist Glen Smith and drummers David True and Joe Weber.

Tickets will be available at the door, and are priced at $10 for adults, $5 for students and children, cash or check only. Copies of Circles also will be on sale for $15 each. You can hear some samples from the CD on Johnson's website; follow the link and scroll down the page to the embedded player at the bottom.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Jazz this week: Oliver Lake Organ Trio with Russell Gunn, Garaj Mahal, Funky Butt Brass Band, and more

We're heading into the proverbial holiday home stretch of 2009, and though some local music venues have gone dormant for the holidays (such as the various university-based concert series) and others are deep into Christmas music to the exclusion of all else, there are still some noteworthy events over the next few days in St. Louis for fans of jazz and creative music. Here's a quick look at some of the highlights:

Fittingly for the holiday season, the weekend's marquee event involves a homecoming of sorts, as saxophonist and former St. Louisan Oliver Lake brings his Organ Trio to town with trumpeter and East St. Louis native Russell Gunn (pictured) as special guest. This band is essentially Lake's version of the classic soul-jazz ensemble, though seasoned with more adventurous and/or contemporary flavors, and they'll be at Jazz at the Bistro through Saturday. For more on Lake and Gunn with some video samples of both, see this post from last week

On Friday, the jam/funk/jazz-fusion band Garaj Mahal will be performing at 2720, a new performance space and gallery in a former furniture store 2720 Cherokee on the south side. Also, on Friday, the Funky Butt Brass Band will be doing a holiday show at the south side rock club Off Broadway, and smooth jazz combo 3 Central will take the stage at Robbie's House of Jazz.

On Saturday, Robbie's has their house band, the Robert Edwards Ensemble, featuring vocalist Larry Hamilton. Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Sessions Big Band will do their last performance of the year at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

UPDATE - 11:00 a.m., 12/17/09: Drummer Kyle Hunnicutt sends word that New Orleans steel guitarist Dave Easley will be in town on Monday evening for a workshop at Fazio's Frets and Friends music store in West County. (Scroll down the linked page to the second item for details.) Easley's resume encompasses jazz, blues, jam bands and more, and his workshop will cover "tetral harmony (harmony based on thirds), quartal harmony (harmony based on fourths), some exotic scales, diversification vs. specialization and the role of the producer." Hunnicutt and bassist Bob DeBoo will provide the musical backing. The cost is $20; to reserve a spot, call Fazio's at 636-227-3573 or email brianv@faziosmusic.com

For information on more jazz and creative music events this weekend and beyond, please visit 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.)

Monday, December 14, 2009

Notes from the Net: Miles Davis re-examined, Clark Terry honored, Grant Green reissued, plus news, reviews, interviews, and more.

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

* The new 70-disc Miles Davis mega-box set collecting all of the trumpeter's work for Columbia/Sony Music is out, and David Was, jazz fan and one of the principals in the group Was (Not Was), reviews it for NPR here. Meanwhile, the major museum exhibit honoring Davis continues in Paris; here's a review from the New York Times by Yasmin Ryan, and here's an article from the UK newspaper the Guardian about Davis' enduring affection for all things Parisian.

Over on this side of the Atlantic, Chris Smith of the Winnepeg Free Press reviews The Blue Moment: Miles Davis's Kind of Blue and the Remaking of Modern Music by British writer Richard Williams. (And speaking of Kind of Blue, here are some transcriptions of Davis' playing on that classic album. )

Meanwhile, Canada's National Post has published an article wondering if we have "too many Miles," asserting that "the forward-looking musician still has us looking backwards, which only makes jazz seem more like a retrospective art form." Closer to home, Christopher McRae, a graduate student at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, recently presented a one-man show about Davis called “Miles Away From ‘The Cool’” inspired in part by a gig Davis had played long ago at Carbondale’s Tuscan Lodge.

* Turning to news of other St. Louis natives, trumpeter Clark Terry will be among the artists to receive the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award during Grammy week in January. Other recipients will include Michael Jackson, Leonard Cohen, Bobby Darin, David “Honeyboy” Edwards, Loretta Lynn, and Andre Previn. The awards also will be acknowledged during the Grammy ceremony on January 31.

* The new vinyl reissue of Grant Green's Matador is reviewed for AllAboutJazz.com here by Matt Marshall, who calls the 1964 recording teaming Green (pictured) with pianist McCoy Tyner, drummer Elvin Jones and bassist Bob Cranshaw "nothing less than Green's best album."

* Opening the "coming attractions" file, singer/pianist Jamie Cullum will release a single from his new CD/DVD The Pursuit in January, then tour the UK for the first time in five years before heading stateside for a series of dates that will bring him to our town's Roberts Orpehum Theatre on March 14. Cullum also recently made the news when he busked with his band in London's Covent Garden in aid of Crisis, a charity that aids the homeless.

* Guitarist Pat Metheny will release his new CD Orchestrion in January, and will follow up with a 37-city North American tour that will bring him to St. Louis' Touhill Performing Arts Center on May 8. The CD and tour showcase the concept dating back to the late 19th century of using mechanical devices to play actual orchestral instruments.

Metheny’s version of the Orchestrion includes "several pianos, drum kit, marimbas, “guitar-bots,” dozens of percussion instruments and even cabinets of carefully tuned bottles." The CD features five new original pieces showcasing the instruments as they are "struck, plucked, and otherwise played via the technology of solenoid switches and pneumatics. " For more Metheny, check out this review writtn by Ed Murray for Popdose of Richard Niles' new book The Pat Metheny Interviews.

* Here's a review of bassist John Patitucci's latest trio album Remembrance written for AllAboutJazz.com by J. Hunter. Patitucci will be in St. Louis at the end of April to play at Jazz at the Bistro.

* The Independent Ear has an interesting interview with multi-instrumentalist Douglas Ewart, who will be in St. Louis on Saturday, January 30 for a duo performance with Zimbabwe Nkenya presented by New Music Circle at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

* Catching up with news of some recent visitors, singer Kurt Elling, who was here in St. Louis earlier this month to perform at the Bistro, has earned his ninth career Grammy nomination for his CD Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman.

* Saxophonist Najee, who was here last weekend for a concert at the Ambassador, will play the national anthem on Christmas Day for the NBA's Orlando Magic.

* Here's another review of Dr. Lonnie Smith's latest CD, The Art of Organizing, this time from the prolific Tim Niland's blog Music and More. Smith has played the Bistro with saxophonist Lou Donaldson and in March of this year with his own trio.

* Saxophonist Larry Ochs, who was here in October at the Sheldon Concert Hall with his group Sax & Drumming Core, recently made the international news when he aroused the ire of a Spanish concertgoer who proceeded to call the cops, claiming that Ochs and his group weren't playing jazz.

* Closing out with some items of more general interest for jazz fans, the new issue of Bill Shoemaker's webzine Point of Departure now online.

* Saxophonist and radio host Dave Koz says it's time to stop mourning the demise of the smooth jazz radio format.

* Finally, Newsweek's music critic Seth Colter Walls is getting a bit of blogospheric buzz with a year-end piece examining the state of jazz, saying that "It's time, finally, to separate the question of "Is today's jazz good?" from the question "Is today's jazz popular?" and concluding that "this music deserves wider hearing, and greater coverage."

He adds that "jazz's economic status isn't a hideous reflection of poor aesthetic health. But even if jazz is finally buried in that (expanding) graveyard of former mass-culture obsessions, that doesn't mean the music isn't still happening, or that it isn't still perfectly capable of talking to us at an individual level. As long as they don't starve to death, committed jazz musicians will be there for you, the forbidding economics of their pursuit be damned. And even if no one you know is talking about what they're playing, be wary of any strangers who tell you they aren't swinging anymore." Read the whole thing here.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase:
Live performances from
Oliver Lake and Russell Gunn

Two former St. Louisans from different generations, saxophonist Oliver Lake and trumpeter Russell Gunn, will share a stage here next week as Jazz at the Bistro hosts four nights of Lake's Organ Trio with Gunn as special guest. (Jazz St. Louis is offering a special two-for-the-price-of-one deal on tickets for the Lake/Gunn extravaganza; see this post for details.)

Both men have been the subject of previous video posts here - Lake most recently in September, when he performed with Trio 3 at Luna Bar under the auspices of the Nu-Art Series, and Gunn back in June 2008 - and I had hoped this time out to be able to share some clips of Lake's Organ Trio, but alas, there seem to be none to be found online, with or without Gunn.

Instead, we've got a couple of clips each from both Lake and Gunn, all previously unseen here. First up is an excerpt in two parts from a performance by Lake's trio at Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2009 in Germany. According to the notes on the video, this was the first time in 25 years that Lake, guitarist Michael Gregory and drummer Pheeroan akLaff had played together. In this segment, Lake solos briefly, yields the floor to AkLaff for a while, then returns to instigate some three-way interaction.

Down below, we go back in time with a much older clip of Lake performing with the World Saxophone Quartet, probably from 1986 or 1987. It's the original lineup of the WSQ, playing their superb arrangement of "Lush Life," which was recorded for the 1986 album World Saxophone Quartet Plays The Music of Duke Ellington. The clip hasn't gotten many views on YouTube, perhaps because it's not labeled with the song title, let alone the performance date or location, but it's a choice version of the tune, and, from what I can tell, the only WSQ performance of it available on video.

Below that, we're back in the present day with a clip of Gunn, who now lives in Atlanta, fronting a funkified, guitar-drive trio at the Half Note Jazz Club in Athens, GA Greece. The view is shaky and often obscured by audience members walking in front of the camera, but the sound is good, and the clip serves as a representative example of Gunn's approach to electric music.

To close out today's set, there's a video of Gunn jamming some straight-up bebop with drummer Chris Burroughs' Collective at a gig in Atlanta. This version of Charlie Parker's "Au Privave" begins with a trumpet solo by Gunn, followed by a trumpet solo by Dashill Smith, a piano solo by Kenny Banks, and ends with Gunn and Burroughs trading off some two and fours. Craig Shaw rounds out the group on bass.

(Edited 12/17/09 to correct the location of the Half Note Club.)

Friday, December 11, 2009

Bob Borgestede memorial concert
set for Friday, January 15

Friends and musical colleagues of Bob Borgestede are planning a memorial concert to honor the late guitarist on Friday, January 15 at the Rialto Ballroom in the Grand Center district of St. Louis.

The show will start at 7:00 p.m., and will include music from faculty members and alumni of SIUE, UMSL and Southwestern Illinois College (SWIC) - all schools where Borgestede either studied or taught - as well as the Funky Butt Brass Band and Arvell and Company. Light appetizers will be provided and there will be a cash bar.

Tickets are $15, or $10 for students, and all proceeds will benefit the Bob Borgstede Memorial Scholarship for full-time SWIC students majoring in music education, music performance or music technology. Borgestede died in May, 2007 of acute pancreatis caused by a gallstone blocking a pancreatic duct.

To purchase tickets or make a donation, call the SWIC Foundation at 866-942-SWIC (7942), ext. 5215 or go to www.swic.edu/foundation. For more information, you can contact SWIC assistant professor of music Adam Hucke via email at adam.hucke@swic.edu.

Jazz St. Louis offering 2-for-1 tickets for Oliver Lake/Russell Gunn performances at Jazz at the Bistro

Jazz St. Louis is offering two tickets for the price of one for next week's performances at Jazz at the Bistro by the Oliver Lake Organ Trio with special guest Russell Gunn .

The regular price for tickets is $30 for Wednesday and Thursday, $35 for Friday and Saturday, with sets at 8:30 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. To get the two-for-one discount, you must purchase your tickets by calling the Jazz St. Louis offices at 314-289-3040 and using the coupon code FC1216.

Cabaret St. Louis announces
benefit gala, more shows for 2010

Cabaret St. Louis has announced its schedule for the first part of 2010, and will kick off the year with a benefit gala at the Sheldon Concert Hall featuring actress and singer Sutton Foster.

Foster (pictured), who has starred on Broadway in Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Drowsy Chaperone, Little Women, Young Frankenstein and Shrek the Musical, will perform at the Sheldon on Thursday, February 4. VIP tickets are $200 each, and include priority seating, free parking and a post-concert champagne reception with Foster. Regular seats are priced at $50 and $45, and tickets at all price levels are now on sale via Metrotix.

Meanwhile, Cabaret St. Louis' winter/spring 2010 schedule announced this week would seem to downplay jazz influences while emphasizing the theatrical and pop aspects of the form.

The schedule will include performances at the Kranzberg Arts Center by Broadway and television actress Tyne Daly, with St. Louis native John McDaniel on piano (February 10-13); Lennie Watts, another St. Louis native, with a tribute to Barry Manilow (March 3–6); Eric Michael Gillett, doing songs from and about the movies (April 7-10); and Karen Akers in "Anything Goes," a collection of Cole Porter songs (April 28-May 1).

Tickets for all of these shows go on sale next Monday, December 14 via Metrotix.

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Jazz this week: Bill Charlap and Sandy Stewart, Najee, Erin Bode, Cornet Chop Suey, and more

Holiday hustle-and-bustle may be going into full effect, but over the next few days there are a number of events in St. Louis that you may want to stop and check out if you're a fan of jazz and creative music.

Tonight, singer Erin Bode opens a two-night run at Jazz at the Bistro. If my understanding is correct, this will be a holiday themed show, which means Bode likely will be performing music from her CD A Cold December Night, which was released last year at this time. Word is that Bode and band also have been recording a new CD for release next year, so it's possible that some of those new songs may find their way into her sets as well.

Also this evening, just around the corner from the Bistro, pianist Bill Charlap and singer Sandy Stewart (pictured) will open a four-night stand of performances presented by Cabaret St. Louis at the Kranzberg Art Center. Charlap was here with the Blue Note 7 in February at the Sheldon, and often is ranked among the top piano players in jazz by critics and various jazz polls. For her part, Stewart, who is Charlap's mother, had a thriving career in musical theater, cabaret and jazz before retiring in the 1960s to raise her family; her comeback in the 1990s prompted renewed interest in both her older work and her present day performances, as described in this feature story from the New York Times.

On Thursday, guitarist Matthew Von Doran performs a free show with his trio at Broadway Bean, a new coffee house, art gallery and music venue at 7619 South Broadway in the Carondelet neighborhood.

Moving on to the weekend, on Friday the smooth jazz saxophonist Najee will headline a "Jazz Explosion" show, also featuring unspecified "special guests," at the Ambassador Events Center, 9800 Halls Ferry Rd.

Continuing in that contemporary, electrified vein, the quartet Good 4 The Soul, featuring pianist Adaron "Pops" Jackson, bassist John King, guitarist Shaun Robinson and drummer James Jackson, will bring their mix of jazz, funk, soul and gospel back to the Bistro on Friday and Saturday nights.

On Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents Cornet Chop Suey in a concert of traditional New Orleans style jazz and swing at the Doubletree Hotel in Chesterfield.

For information on more jazz and creative music events this weekend and beyond, please visit 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.)

St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar

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Thursday, December 31, 2009

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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Sunday, December 20, 2009

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