Music-sharing blog The Heat Warps has re-posted free downloads of two performances by Miles Davis' "Lost Quintet," the late-1960s configuration that bridged the span between his classic mid-1960s acoustic ensemble and his later electric groups of the 1970s.
The "Lost Quintet" featured Davis (pictured) on trumpet along with Dave Holland (bass), Wayne Shorter (tenor and soprano sax), Jack Dejohnette (drums), and Chick Corea (keyboards).
The Heat Warps post includes two sets from November 3, 1969 at the Salle Pleyel in Paris (which have showed up online before) and an earlier show from July 25, 1969 at La Pinède in Juan-les-Pins. You can find the links to download them here.
Pianist Peter Martin is the subject of a feature story written by freelance journo & friend o' this website Terry Perkins and now online at the St. Louis Beacon. In the piece, Martin talks about his new Peter Martin Music series at the Sheldon Concert Hall and the series' first concert next Friday with singer Dianne Reeves. You can read it online here.
Saxophonist Kim Bock's organ-driven trio FLOW (pictured) will be returning to St. Louis next weekend for two events - a performance at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, February 5 at The Gramophone, and a concert/clinic at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, February 6 at Saxquest.
In addition to Bock on saxophone, the group features organist Soren Moller and drummer Peter Retzlaff.
Their last trip to St. Louis was in April, 2009, and you can see pictures from the clinic that Bock did then at Saxquest here. Tickets for the February 5 show at The Gramophone will be $10 at the door.
The Jazz Education Network has announced hotel and vendor information for its first annual conference, which will be held Thursday, May 20 through Saturday, May 22 on the campus of the University of Missouri - St. Louis.
The official hotel for the conference will be the Hilton St. Louis Airport, located just a few minutes from the UMSL campus. For information on rates and reservation for the JEN conference, go here, and for information on how to become an exhibitor at the conference, go here.
The Jazz Education Network was formed in 2008 and "is dedicated to building the jazz arts community by advancing education, promoting performance and developing new audiences."
To celebrate the occasion, Calvin Wilson of the Post-Dispatch has a feature story in today's paper about Terry and how he's part of a great tradition of St. Louis jazz trumpeters; you can read it online here. (Note that the Grammy Awards will be broadcast tonight on CBS, but won't include the presentation of Terry's award, which was done at a private ceremony yesterday. )
Part of the famous New Orleans musical family, he and brother Wynton first gained fame as the most-hyped of the early 1980s "Young Lions." But by the middle of the decade, Branford went his own way, continuing to perform acoustic jazz but also pursuing other interests including playing with rock musicians such as The Dead and Sting; starting the hip-hop-influenced ensemble Buckshot LeFunque; and briefly serving as bandleader on The Tonight Show.
Since the mid-1990s his main focus has been on his own quartet, classical performance and education, but in 2002 Marsalis also started his own record label, Marsalis Music, and since 2005 has been actively involved in post-Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts in his hometown.
Marsalis' most recent CD Metamorphosen marks the tenth anniversary of his quartet, and today's first clip features the current edition of that quartet performing "Jabberwocky," a tune from Metamorphosen, during a recent engagement at NYC's Jazz Standard. Along with Marsalis on sax, the band features his longtime cohorts Joey Calderazzo on piano and Eric Revis on bass, plus recent addition Justin Faulkner, a 19-year-old percussive phenom who's gotten an enthusiastic reception from fans and critics since coming on board.
Down below is a video of a 2003 performance of "In The Crease," a Marsalis staple for which the saxophonist is aided and abetted by Revis, Calderazzo and Faulkner's predecessor Jeff "Tain" Watts on drums. Below that, you can see and hear the same lineup performing the first three of the four parts of Marsalis' version of John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" - "Acknowledgment," "Resolution" and "Pursuance" - recorded in 2004 in Amsterdam. Not many saxophonists would have the chutzpah to take on one of Coltrane's most famous pieces so directly, but, much to Marsalis' credit, he captures the essence of it and effectively evokes Trane without resorting to simple imitation.
Singer and actress Sutton Foster, who will be here this coming Thursday, February 4 to headline a benefit gala for Cabaret St. Louis at the Sheldon Concert Hall, is the subject of a feature story by theater critic Dennis Brown in this week's Riverfront Times. You can read it online here.
UPDATE - 4:40 p.m., 1/31/10: Foster also talked with the Post-Dispatch's Judith Newmark for a story in the weekend paper, which you can read online here.
The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2010-2011 schedule, and the slate of upcoming concerts includes some events of interest to fans of jazz and creative music.
For starters, the Orchestra has added some dates to its "SLSO Presents" series this spring, among them the Ozomatli concert on Friday, May 14 that was first mentioned here on StLJN earlier this week. The big additional news is that Ozomatli won't just be playing their regular show - they'll actually be performing with the SLSO, and it should be very interesting to hear what sort of orchestral arrangements are deployed for the occasion.
Additionally, next season's "SLSO Presents" series will include a concert featuring popular trumpeter Chris Botti playing with the Orchestra on February 19, 2011. Given that Botti has a strong following in St. Louis, ticket sales for this concert should be quite brisk.
The SLSO's 2010-2011 season also will feature an ongoing year-long festival of Russian composers; a special commemoration of the 100th birthday of Gustav Mahler; performances of works by Copland, Ives, and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue for the citywide American Arts Experience-St. Louis; and a number of contemporary works by Ligeti, Pärt, Steven Mackey, Christopher Rouse, and others. You can get all the details on the entire schedule plus ticket information at the SLSO's website.
Jazz St. Louis has put online another installment in their ongoing series of podcast interviews. The latest podcast features a conversation between JSL's Bob Bennett and alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson (pictured) , who will be in St. Louis from Wednesday, February 3 through Saturday, February 6 to perform at Jazz at the Bistro.
You can download the Lou Donaldson interview in .mp3 format or listen to an audio stream of it here.
The date is one of several in the Midwest just added to Buble's tour schedule, but has not yet been announced by the venue. The singer's most recent CD Crazy Love was released last year. Watch this space for more details on his St. Louis show as they become available...
There's a brief respite from major touring jazz acts this week in St. Louis, but there are still a number of events over the next few days with potential appeal for fans of jazz and creative music.
On Thursday, Washington University's Jazz at Holmes series continues with a free concert from pianist Ptah Williams and his trio. Also on Thursday, singer Erin Bode and her band will return to the events room at Cyrano's in Webster Groves.
On Friday and Saturday, singer Brian Owens returns to Jazz at the Bistro. This time out, Owens will perform the music of former St. Louisan Donny Hathaway with a band that includes Mark Colenburg (drums), Jesse Gannon (piano) and Alvin Quinn (bass).
Meanwhile, back in Webster Groves, Robbie's House of Jazz will feature the R&B/soul/funk cover band Mystic Voyage on Friday and jazz from guitarist Larry Brown Jr.'s group on Saturday. Another former student of the jazz program at SIUE, Brown will serve up "swing, soul and the blues" with help from pianist Stuart Mindeman, bassist Nick Jost, drummer Alfonzo Jones and trumpeter Quentin Coaxum.
Also on Saturday, New Music Circle is presenting a concert to benefit bassist and composer Zimbabwe Nkenya (pictured) at the Kranzberg Arts Center. All proceeds from the show will go to Nkenya, who had a stroke last fall and has been unable to perform since.
Friends and musical colleagues donating their time and talents for the show include NMC's Jim Hegarty, Fred Tompkins and Deb Summers; drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw and trumpeter George Sams; Dave Cheli's Tribal Chicken; the percussion group HaZMaT, with Tom Zirkle and Matt Henry; trumpeter and percussionist "Baba" Mike Nelson; and poets Curtis Lyle and Michael Castro.
Nkenya has been a tireless force on the local improvised music scene since moving back to the St. Louis area in 2006. Here's hoping for a good turnout (and a full cash box) on Saturday, and a speedy and complete recovery for Nkenya.
For more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. 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.)
The online touring information service Pollstar has just added a listing for a St. Louis show by guitarist Jeff Beck (pictured) on Thursday, April 29 at the Fox Theatre.
It's one of seven new U.S. dates just added to the schedule for Beck, who doesn't tour all that often. (Perhaps some astute reader will chime in via the comments with info on when he last played St. Louis.)
Beck's got a large and diverse fan base, from rock lovers who have been with him since the Yardbirds days to jazz and blues enthusiasts who appreciate his more recent all-instrumental excursions, so this show should be a hot ticket when it goes on sale.
UPDATE - 1/28/10, 4:45 p.m.: Beck's website now has more info about his spring tour, including the news that his band will include Narada Michael Walden on drums, Rhonda Smith on bass and Jason Rebello on keyboards.
UPDATE - 2/2/10, 11:30 a.m.: Confirming the report from Pollstar, the Jeff Beck concert on April 29 is now listed on the Fox Theatre's website, with ticket prices and on-sale date showing as "TBA."
Pollstar also has added a listing showing the Latin/funk/hip-hop group Ozomatli performing at Powell Symphony Hall on Friday, May 14. While the notion of this particular band at this particular venue may seem a bit incongruous at first, it's not completely implausible, given the existence of the "SLSO Presents" series and/or the rental availability of Powell Hall. Guess we'll just have to wait for a bit to see what it's all about...
UPDATE - 1/28/10, 4:45 p.m.: The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra has confirmed that Ozomatli will be performing at Powell Hall with the SLSO on May 14. See this post for more.
In any event, remember that listings on Pollstar should be treated as unconfirmed until officially announced by the venue and/or presenter. When there's an official announcement on either of these concerts, we'll have more details for you right here. In the meantime, you can check out sounds from both Beck and Ozomatli in the embedded video windows below.
The Nu-Art Series has announced a new series of weekend matinees presenting St. Louis musicians performing their own work and the music of a famous jazz composer.
"The Jazz Composers Series: Re-Arrangements & Nu-Compositions" will begin Saturday, February 6 with a concert featuring bassist Darrell Mixon's quartet and the music of Charles Mingus and continue each weekend until April 17. Each concert will feature one set of the musician's own compositions and one set highlighting the work of a jazz great.
Notable dates include a concert on Saturday, February 13 featuring the music of Eric Dolphy as interpreted by drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw, a key member of the Black Artists Group and improvised music veteran whose local gigs have been comparatively rare in recent years; and the return of multi-instrumentalist and St. Louis expat J. D. Parran (pictured), who will perform the music of John Coltrane on Saturday, April 3. Here's the complete schedule:
Saturday, February 6: Darrell Mixon Quartet/Charles Mingus
Saturday, February 13: Charles "Bobo" Shaw Art Ensemble/Eric Dolphy
Saturday, February 20: Ptah Williams Trio/Bud Powell
Saturday, February 27: Chad Evans Ensemble/Charlie Parker
Saturday, March 6: Chris Burchett Quartet/Thelonious Monk
Saturday. March 13: Anthony Wiggins Quintet/Freddie Hubbard
Sunday, March 21: Willie Akins Quartet/Sonny Rollins
Saturday, March 27: Jerome "Scrooge" Harris Ensemble/Miles Davis & Wayne Shorter
Saturday, April 3: J.D. Parran/John Coltrane
Saturday, April 17: Stan Coleman Youth Jazz Band/Duke Ellington
Aadmission is $10 at the door, and all performances are from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Metropolitan Gallery, 2936 Locust St. For more information, call 314-535-6500, send email to nu-artseries@charter.net, or visit the Nu-Art Series website.
Once again this year, Jazz St. Louis is looking for input from local jazz fans regarding who they'd like to see booked next season at Jazz at the Bistro. Interested individuals may offer their opinions by responding to a survey on the Jazz St. Louis Web site.
Jazz St. Louis also is accepting "write-in" suggestions on their Facebook fan page and, presumably, via other means such as email, postal mail and in person as well. Many of the artists in this year's survey have played the Bistro at least once before, with the exceptions including Loueke, Parlato, Potter and Scott. JSL usually announces the next season's lineup for the Bistro in the latter part of May.
A new St. Louis arts festival set to launch in October 2010 will feature a performance by pianist and composer Dave Brubeck at the Sheldon Concert Hall, and likely will include other jazz events as well.
According to a story by Diane Toroian Keaggy in the weekend Post-Dispatch, the American Arts Experience-St. Louis will "will showcase American dancers, playwrights, composers and musicians at the region's concert halls, theaters, museums and galleries" from October 1 - 17 in an effort modeled on the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, SC.
Participating institutions and organizations will include presenters of jazz such as the Sheldon, Jazz St. Louis and the Touhill Performing Arts Center as well as the St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Dance St. Louis, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Edison Theatre, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Laumeier Sculpture Park, Stages St. Louis, the Black Rep, COCA, Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis Zoo, Missouri Historical Society and the Regional Arts Commission.
Our video spotlight this week shines on the veteran alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson, who will return to St. Louis to play Wednesday, February 3 through Saturday, February 6 at Jazz at the Bistro.
A native of North Carolina, the 83-year-old Donaldson came of age in the post-war bebop era and first recorded way back in 1952. He went on to work with many of the leading jazz musicians of the 1950s, including Milt Jackson, Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, Art Blakey and Clifford Brown. By the 1960s Donaldson was a staple of the Blue Note label, which released his signature tune "Alligator Boogaloo" as well as many other LPs featuring him. He continues to perform regularly, often teaming up with the organ player Dr. Lonnie Smith, and delivers a crowd-pleasing mix of bop, ballads, blues and backbeats.
Today's first clip features Donaldson swinging the standard "Bye Bye Blackbird" at a 1994 gig in Geneva, Switzerland, accompanied by pianist Horace Parlan, bassist Wayne Dockery and drummer John Riley. Down below, you can check out Donaldson's ballad style on a version of "Laura" from the same show.
Next up, it's an extended version (in two parts) of "Alligator Boogaloo" from the 2008 North Sea Jazz Festival, for which Donaldson was joined by Smith on organ, guitarist Randy Johnson and drummer Fukushi Tainaka. The final clip features Donaldson singing the blues "Whiskey Drinkin' Woman," again backed by Smith, Johnson and Tainaka.
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:
* In this week's Miles Davis-related news, the museum exhibit in Paris devoted to the trumpeter is closing, but will be reborn on this side of the Atlantic in April as "We Want Miles" at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The multimedia retrospective includes musical excerpts; film and documentary clips; paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Mati Klarwein; and photographs by Annie Leibovitz and Irving Penn, plus Davis' own drawings, costumes, musical instruments and scores, on loan from the Davis family, and more. Though the History Museum mounted a Davis exhibit of its own here a few years ago, it sure would be nice to see this new one here in St. Louis, too...
* Here's a review from Jeff Simon of the Philadelphia Inquirer of Only Everything, the new CD saxophonist and former St. Louisan David Sanborn (pictured).
* Jason Crane's The Jazz Session recently featured a new podcast interview with multi-instrumentalist and St. Louis native Marty Ehrlich.
* Moving on to news of recent visitors to our town, here's a review by AllAboutJazz.com's Martin Longley of some recent NYC shows, including The Bad Plus week at the Village Vanguard between Christmas and New Year's. TBP were in St. Louis the following week to kick off 2010 at Jazz at the Bistro.
* The Juilliard School will present the New York premiere of bassist Christian McBride's "The Movement Revisited" on Tuesday, February 2. McBride's musical tribute to the civil rights movement blends spoken texts from Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with music to be performed by the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra and Choir, under the direction of McBride and Brandon Lee. The bassist's group Inside Straight played the Bistro in December.
* Opening the "coming attractions" file, actress and singer Tyne Daly has just opened her new cabaret show in New York, and the Times' Stephen Holden has a favorable review here. Daly and her pianist and music director, St. Louis native John McDaniel, will perform February 10-13 at the Kranzberg Arts Center under the auspices of Cabaret St. Louis.
* Pianist, singer and newlywedJamie Cullum recently let photographers have a peek inside his London recording studio, and you can see the pix here. Cullum will play St. Louis' Roberts Orpheum Theater on Sunday, March 14.
* Here's a review of Pat Metheny's new CD Orchestrion from AllAboutJazz.com's John Kelman. Metheny's label also has released an "electronic press kit" for the CD, which you can see in the embedded video window at the bottom of this post. The guitarist and the roadie's-worst-nightmare setup that is the Orchestrion are coming to St. Louis on May 8 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.
* And last, but not least, from the "general interest" file: Science may have disprovne many of the claims made by manufacturers of high-end audio equipment, but that doesn't stop them from continuing to engage in what one professional audio engineer and writer calls "audiophoolery." Let the buyer beware, indeed.
Pianist Vijay Iyer is scheduled to be interviewed on "The Charlie Brennan Show" on KMOX (1120 AM) at approximately 10:30 a.m. tomorrow morning, Friday, January 22. Iyer is in St. Louis through Saturday to perform at Jazz at the Bistro.
Brennan's program airs from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. weekdays; you can listen online here. (Scroll down and look under the "News/Talk" heading for the link to KMOX's audio stream.) Also, Jazz St. Louis has uploaded to Facebook a set of photos taken during Iyer's performance Wednesday night at the Bistro; you can see those here.
This week brings a number of potentially interesting jazz and creative music performances to St. Louis, so let's go straight to the highlights:
Tonight, pianist Vijay Iyer (pictured) opens a four-night stand continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Iyer will be making his St. Louis debut as the man of the moment with jazz critics and fans, as his most recent CD Historicity has emerged as a consensus choice as one of 2009's best. For more on Iyer, check out this video post from a few Saturdays back; this interview from Jazz St. Louis' podcast series; and this interview published last weekend in the Post-Dispatch.
Then on Friday, the versatile saxophonist Jeff Coffin, who's known for his work with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and the Dave Matthews Band, will bring his own band the Mu'Tet and their their brand of jam-band jazz to 2720, the former south side furniture store now operating as a gallery and music venue.
There are a couple of noteworthy shows on Saturday, starting with Eliane Elias at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The Brazilian-born pianist and singer first made her mark here in the States in the early 1980s as a member of the latter-day fusion band Steps Ahead, and went on to team with her ex-husband, trumpet player Randy Brecker, for a series of well-received albums mixing straight-ahead, contemporary and Brazilian jazz. As a solo artist, Elias has continued to tap her roots in Brazil, but also has been involved in projects ranging from a big-band album arranged by Bob Brookmeyer to an intimate tribute to pianist Bill Evans.
Also of interest on Saturday, the ScrapArts Percussion ensemble will perform at Washington University's Edison Theatre. The five-member group builds their own instruments "from the castaway scraps of industrial production,' resulting in "a groove-based fusion of world music traditions and 21st century sounds."
Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday pianist Kim Portnoy will perform at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium as part of the University's series of bargain-priced Monday concerts.
For more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. 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.)
The Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University has announced its schedule of free concerts for the winter/spring semester.
Guitarist Matthew Von Doran, backed by bassist Bob DeBoo and drummer Steve Davis, will get things started for 2010 at 8:00 p.m. this Thursday, January 21.
In keeping with the pattern of the last several semesters, the Jazz at Holmes series this spring also will feature a visiting performer along with the lineup of St. Louis talent: singer Jan Shapiro (pictured), a former St. Louisan who now heads the vocal department at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and who will perform on Thursday, April 8.
The Jazz at Holmes series presents concerts at 8:00 p.m. most Thursdays while school is in session. This semester's schedule also includes a concert on Saturday, February 27 by pianist Jay Oliver's quartet. Here's the complete Jazz at Holmes winter/spring 2010 schedule:
Thursday, February 4: Jason Swagler Thursday, February 11: Dave Stone & Randy Holmes play the music of Don Cherry & Ornette Coleman Thursday, February 18: Curt Landes Quartet Saturday, February 27: Jay Oliver Quartet
Thursday, March 4: Paul DeMarinis Thursday, March 18: Bensid Thigpen Thursday, March 25: Kara Baldus
All Jazz at Holmes concerts are free and open to the public. Holmes Lounge is located in Ridgley Hall, on the west side of Brookings Quadrangle near the intersection of Brookings and Hoyt drives. For further information, call Sue Taylor at 314-862-0874 or email staylor@wustl.edu.
(Edited 1/24/10 because Jazz at Holmes switched the originally announced dates for the Curt Landes and Dave Stone/Randy Hplmes concerts, and to add tags.)
Bassist David Certain sends word that he's put together a show with guitarist and St. Louis native Marvin Horne (pictured) and drummer Greg Bandy for Sunday, March 14 at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.
Born in St. Louis in 1953, Horne has worked with Chico Hamilton, Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine, The Dells, Nancy Wilson, Billy Eckstine, James Spaulding, Jack McDuff and many others. He can be heard on recordings with Pucho and His Latin Soul Brothers and on Luther Thomas and the Human Arts Ensemble's cult favorite Funky Donkey.
Known to NYC fans and musicians as "The Mayor of Harlem," Bandy first gained wide attention at age 20 performing with Charles Mingus. He has played with prominent jazz artists such as Gary Bartz, Joe Henderson, Betty Carter, Pharoah Sanders, Freddie Hubbard, Olu Dara, Curtis Fuller, Jack McDuff, Leon Thomas, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine, George Benson, Yusef Lateef, and many others. Bandy has recorded with many artists as a sideman, and his own 1997 CD Lightning in a Bottle earned two Grammy nominations. He also is a busy teacher and clinician, and leads an ensemble called Bandy Does Blakey paying tribute to the late Art Blakey with former members of Blakey's Jazz Messengers.
Certain moved to St. Louis from the San Francisco Bay area in 2006. He performs with singer/guitarist Billy Barnett, serves as bassist and musical director for The Oliver Sain Revue tribute band, and works with many other St. Louis jazz and blues performers. He has played with a number of well-known national artists, including saxophonists Gary Bartz, Willie Smith and Vincent Herring, free jazz pianist Bobby Few, organist Jimmy McGriff, singer "Little" Jimmy Scott, trumpeter Eddie Henderson, percussionist Babatunde Lea, and singer Paula West. Certain also makes makes custom instruments for bassists around the world through his company CertainBass.
Certain says set times will be 8:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., with a third set possible if there's still a crowd. Tickets for Marvin Horne with Greg Bandy, David Certain and CertainBeat WorldBop at BB’s Jazz, Blues and Soups will be $15, and available in advance at BB's and at the door the evening of the show.
(Full disclosure: Yr. humble StLJN editor has worked with David Certain in the aforementioned Oliver Sain Revue and on various other gigs.)
(Edited twice after posting, to add set times and disclosure information. Edited again to clarify advance ticket info.)
The weekend Post-Dispatch has an interview by the P-D's Calvin Wilson with pianist Vijay Iyer, who will be in St. Louis this week to perform Wednesday through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. You can read the article online here.
As always, there are lots of newly posted music video clips for your perusal at StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds, which each day features a different video from genres including jazz, blues, soul, funk, classic rock, prog rock and experimental.
Over the last three weeks, featured artists have included Muddy Waters, David Sanborn, Stevie Wonder, Betty Carter, Charles Mingus, Wadada Leo Smith & Organic Resonance, Tower of Power, Ohio Players, Freddie Hubbard, James Brown, Ray Charles, Bruce Springsteen, John Zorn's Electric Masada, Earl Hines, Marvin Gaye, Gil Evans Orchestra and Bill Evans, Ensemble Modern, Liquid Soul, George Adams Quartet, Brian Auger and the Trinity with Julie Driscoll, Elvin Jones, and Memphis Slim.
The esteemed drummer Ed Thigpen (pictured), known for his elegant bearing and tasteful timekeeping in support of jazz luminaries such as Oscar Peterson and Ella Fitzgerald, died Wednesday in Copenhagen, Denmark at age 79.
Born in Chicago and raised in Los Angeles, Thigpen also had a couple of connections to St. Louis. Between college and his move to New York, he lived here for about a year circa 1950 with his father, the drummer Ben Thigpen; and his brother Bensid Thigpen, also a drummer, still lives and performs here in St. Louis.
Ed Thigpen had lived in Denmark for 37 years, but he continued to perform, teach and tour all over the world, with more than 900 recordings to his credit. In addition to his brother, he is survived by a sister, son, daughter and granddaughter.
You can read more about Ed Thigpen here and here. He also was the subject of a 2009 documentary film, Ed Thigpen: Master of Time, Rhythm and Taste, and you can see a short excerpt from the film in the video window below.
This week, let's check out some clips of singer Dianne Reeves, who will be coming to St. Louis on Friday, February 5 to perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The show will serve as the kickoff performance for the new Peter Martin Music series conceived and curated by Peter Martin, the pianist and St. Louis native who serves as Reeves' music director.
Born in 1956 in Detroit and raised in Denver, Reeves first gained public attention in the late 1970s as a featured vocalist with the group Caldera. She subsequently worked with pianist Billy Childs, singer Harry Belafonte, and pianist/composer Sergio Mendes before launching her solo career and signing with the revived Blue Note Records in 1987. She's won four Grammy Awards for "Best Jazz Vocal Performance," most recently in 2006 for the soundtrack to the film Good Night and Good Luck.
Reeves' powerful voice, keen sense of swing, and ability to convincingly interpret a wide variety of styles have made one of the most highly regarded singers in jazz. She's performed in St. Louis a number of times before with her band, but in February, she'll be doing a duo concert with Martin - something that's apparently a rare enough occurrence that I couldn't find any videos online of just the two of them performing together.
However, there are a number of worthy clips featuring Reeves and Martin along with her other regular band members, bassist Ruben Rogers and drummer Greg Hutchinson, and we've got four of them here for you today, all with fine performances from the singer and substantial contributions from the pianist.
First up is Reeves' rendition of the ballad "That's All," featuring a very tasty intro from Martin (and some good work by the camera operator looking over his shoulder). Down below, there's the swinging blues "I Remember Sarah," recorded in 2005 at the Red Sea Jazz Festival in Israel and showcasing Reeves' scat-singing skills. Then, there's the funky "Do I Move You?" with some rumbling piano from Martin and polyrhythmic funk from Hutchinson. Finally, there's a version of "In Your Eyes," one of Reeves' most popular recordings, recorded for Italian television.
A diverse group of St. Louis musicians will take the stage of the Sheldon Concert Hall at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, February 9 to raise money for Doctors Without Borders’ Haitian earthquake relief efforts.
Tickets are $15 for general admission, and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, January 16. You can purchase tickets via metrotix.com or by calling 314-534-1111. For more information, call The Sheldon at 314-533-9900 during normal weekday business hours, which are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.
With at least a momentary break from the winter deep freeze, it should be a good weekend in St. Louis to get out and hear some music. And while there are no major touring headliners in town this week, there are some noteworthy performances featuring local and regional musicians, so let's go to the highlights:
Tonight, singer Erin Bode and her band return to Brandt's. Bode worked frequently at the Delmar Loop nightspot when she first began her career, and the overall vibe of Brandt's still seems like a good fit for her music, although her fan base has grown to the point of likely overwhelming such an intimate venue. If you hope to get a good seat, I'd suggest getting there early.
On Friday, there's a memorial concert honoring the late guitarist Bob Borgestede at the Rialto Ballroom, 3547 Olive St., just east of Grand. A well-liked and seemingly always busy performer and teacher, Borgestede passed away in 2007, leaving a wife and young son. His friends and colleagues will celebrate his life (and, it is hoped, raise a little money) with sounds from the Funky Butt Brass Band (pictured), the pop/soul cover band Arvell & Co., and faculty members from SIUE, UMSL and Southwestern Illinois College, where Borgestede studied and/or taught music.
Also on Friday, singer Kim Massie begins a two-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro, where her renditions of blues, soul and pop songs, plus the occasional unexpected cover like Gretchen Wilson's "Redneck Woman," are always a good draw.
That same night, Robbies House of Jazz will feature the St. Louis debut of the McMoore Movement, a group of young musicians who met while studying in saxophonist Ronald Carter's jazz program at Northern Illinois University. The group plays a mix of straight-ahead and groove-oriented tunes, and features alto saxophonist Chris McBride, trumpeter John Moore, Jr., keyboardist Willerm Delisfort, guitarist Larry Brown, Jr., and drummer Bernard Long, Jr. The club's house band, the Robert Edwards Ensemble, will hold forth on Saturday night.
For more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. 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.)
Keyboardist Reggie Thomas (pictured) and his group will join forces with the East St. Louis Senior High School Jazz Band for a free concert in February celebrating Black History Month and the music of Stevie Wonder.
The event will be presented by Jazz St. Louis as part of its Whitaker Community Concerts series, and will take place at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, February 10 at East St. Louis Senior High School, 4901 State Street.
Thomas also will be featured at JSL's next CD Listening Club meeting on Tuesday, February 9, discussing Wonder's Songs In The Key of Life.
(Edited 2/3/10 to correct the date of the CD Listening Club meeting.)
Nigerian singer and guitarist King Sunny Ade (pictured), who helped popularize African music in the US and Europe during the 1980s, is back on the road and is bringing His African Beats to St. Louis to perform at 9:00 p.m. Tuesday, April 20 at the Old Rock House, 1200 South 7th Blvd (between downtown and Soulard).
Rooted in Nigeria's Yoruba culture, Ade's music was some of the first so-called "world" music to gain wide popularity in the West, and his breakthrough recordings Juju Music and Synchro System helped introduce instruments such as pedal steel, clavinet and synthesizer into African pop. Though international attention has waxed and waned in the years since Ade's first rush of popularity in the US, he has developed various business interests and a charitable foundation while continuing to perform and record, earning his second Grammy nomination in 1998 for Odu, a collection of traditional Yoruba songs.
Tickets for King Sunny Ade and His African Beats at the Old Rock House in St. Louis are $22.50 in advance, $25 day of show, over 21 only. For more information, call 314-588-0505
Singer and pianist Anita Rosamond (pictured) is escaping the St. Louis winter cold this week, heading down to the Caribbean where she's been added to the roster of performers for the 2010 Dave Koz Smooth Jazz Cruise.
The sold-out cruise, which starts Saturday and continues through January 24, is produced by St. Louis-based Jazz Cruises LLC. It will feature nearly 40 musicians and singers, including Rosamond and two East St. Louis natives - vocalist Phil Perry and saxophonist Andre Delano - as well as Marcus Miller, Stanley Jordan, Rick Braun, Richard Elliot, Euge Groove, and other smooth jazz stars.
Rosamond performed on the company's Jazz Cruise in November of last year, and also is booked to appear on the Jazz Cruise scheduled for January 2011.
This just in: New Music Circle will present a benefit performance for bass player and composer Zimbabwe Nkenya (pictured) at 7:30 p..m. , Saturday, January 30 at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N. Grand.
Nkenya has been an active participant in the local improvised music scene since his return to St. Louis from New Mexico in 2007. Over the course of his career, he has played with many well-known creative musicians here and in New Mexico, New York and around the USA. He had had been scheduled to co-headline a concert with Douglas Ewart for NMC on January 30; however, according to today's news release, he had a stroke "earlier this past fall," and has been unable to perform since then.
The release said that NMC plans to reschedule Ewart, with more information available soon. Admission to the January 30 benefit for Nkenya will be by voluntary contribution, with all proceeds going to the bassist and his family.
Scheduled performers include Jim Hegarty, Fred Tompkins, and Deb Summers, who will represent New Music Circle; Dave Cheli's group Tribal Chicken; and percussionist Thomas Zirkle (HaZMaT). All the musicians are volunteering their services, and additional performers will be announced on NMC's website.
UPDATE - 5:20 p.m., 1/12/10: In addition ot the St. Louis event, Nkenya's friends and musical colleagues in New Mexico, including trumpeter Paul Gonzales, are staging a benefit for the bassist at 6:00 p.m., Sunday, January 31 at the Outpost Performance Space, 210 Yale SE in Albuquerque.
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:
Next, there's more on the Davis exhibit currently running in Paris from Joel Dreyfuss of The Root here, and a review of the CD reissue Miles Davis - In Paris Festival International de Jazz from Tim Niland's blog Music and More here. Also, saxophonist and former Davis sideman Dave Liebman last month headed an ensemble playing music from Davis' On The Corner in a concert at Paris' Cite de la Musique; see some video of the show here.
Finally, I'm sure you'll also be glad to know that in the ongoing competition of personalities, movies and memes at the website Pop Culture Gauntlet, boxing aficionado Miles recently triumphed over The Karate Kid.
* Turning to news of other St. Louis natives, saxophonist David Sanborn is releasing another CD of music influenced by Ray Charles. Only Everything features a stripped down band with Sanborn, Joey DeFrancesco on Hammond B-3 organ and Steve Gadd on drums, plus guest vocals from Joss Stone and James Taylor.
* The World Saxophone Quartet, featuring saxophonists Oliver Lake and Hamiet Bluiett, will team up with percussion ensemble M'boom for a series of performances next week at NYC's Birdland, followed by a world tour. (No indication of any possible St. Louis dates, though.)
* In a new blog post headlined "Freedom of Choice," saxophonist Greg Osby talks about response to his somewhat controversial previous post on dress and presentation among jazz musicians, and clarifies some long-ago opinions about Eric Dolphy.
* There's a new reissue of multi-instrumentalist and composer Anthony Braxton's recording Creative Orchestra Koln 1978, which featured former St. Louisans Marty Ehrlich and J. D. Parran in the woodwind section. Read a review of the CD by Troy Collins of AllAboutJazz.com here.
* Turning to news of recent visitors, singer Sandy Stewart and her son, pianist Bill Charlap are doing their cabaret show at the Algonquin Hotel's Oak Room in NYC. Here's a review by the New York Times' Stephen Holden. Stewart and Charlap were here in St. Louis last month for four performances at the Kranzberg Arts Center.
* Bassist Christian McBride, here last month to perform at Jazz at the Bistro, did an interview with Jazz.com about an important influence, bassist Ray Brown, here, and selected some of his favorite Brown tracks here.
* Opening the "coming attractions" file, bassist John Patitucci's new trio with violinist Mark O'Connor and guitarist Julian Lage performed for the first time this past weekend at the Blue Note in NYC. The bassist also recently did an extended interview with Jazz.com. Patitucci will be in St. Louis in April to play the Bistro.
* Pianist Vijay Iyer, who will be in St. Louis January 20 - 23 to perform at the Bistro, is the subject of "Into The Mainstream," an interview and extended analysis of his new CD Historicity written for AllAboutJazz.com by Simon Jay Harper. Also, here's Iyer himself writing about the record for the Wall Street Journal, and yet another review of the CD, this time from the Free Jazz blog.
* Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will releasePortrait in Seven Shades, the JaLCO’s first CD of original music in nearly four years, in stores and online on February 2, followed by a tour of the US that will bring them to the Sheldon Concert Hall later that month. The band will perform selections from the suite "Portrait in Seven Shades," which was composed by reedman Ted Nash, as well as tunes by Count Basie, Mary Lou Williams and others. Alas, Marsalis also showed his limitations as an advocate for improvised music when he told the UK newspaper the Guardian that he wanted to give a present to the jazz fan in Spain who complained to the police that the music at a recent gig wasn't 'jazz'.
* The jazz world is abuzz about guitarist Pat Metheny's new CD Orchestrion, and his subsequent tour, which will come to St. Louis' Touhill Performing Arts Center on May 8. Here's a story from the Guardian about the CD, and, via Plastic Sax, a Flickr photostream showing Metheny's Orchestrion gear. The guitarist is also selling limited edition prints of photos of the Orchestrion rig with pre-orders for the CD, and you can see the Rube Goldbergian contraption in action in the embedded video window below.
This week, let's check out some videos featuring Douglas Ewart, a multi-instrumentalist and instrument builder who will be in St. Louis on Saturday, January 30 to perform in a duo concert with bassist Zimbabwe Nkenya at the Kranzberg Arts Center.
Born in Jamaica in 1956, Ewart moved to Chicago as a teenager and became involved with the city's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. He would eventually go on to serve as president of the AACM, and has worked and/or recorded with musicians including former St. Louisan J. D. Parran, Muhal Richard Abrams, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Anthony Braxton, Alvin Curran, Anthony Davis, Robert Dick, Von Freeman, Joseph Jarman, Amina Claudine Myers, Roscoe Mitchell, James Newton, Rufus Reid, Wadada Leo Smith, Cecil Taylor, Richard Teitelbaum, Henry Threadgill, Hamid Drake, Don Byron, Malachi Favors Maghostut, and George Lewis. Ewart has lived since 1990 in Minneapolis, while continuing to perform and teach all over the world.
The first clip is from last year at Vision Festival 14 in NYC, and features an ensemble including Ewart, Parran, and Jarman along with drummer Thurman Barker, pianist Donald Smith and poet Amiri Baraka. Down below, there's an excerpt from a performance at the Velvet Lounge in Chicago by Ewart's ensemble Inventions, and below that, part of a 2006 duo performance in Minnesota by Ewart and fellow reedman Denis Colin.
Music-sharing blog The Heat Warps has re-posted free downloads of two performances by Miles Davis' "Lost Quintet," the late-1960s configuration that bridged the span between his classic mid-1960s acoustic ensemble and his later electric groups of the 1970s. 
