Jazz at the Bistro, Peter Martin, "Jazz Unlimited" among Riverfront Times' "Best of St. Louis" for 2010

Jazz at the Bistro is named "Best Jazz Club" and pianist Peter Martin is cited as "Best Jazz Artist" in the Riverfront Times' 2010 "Best of St. Louis" edition, which came out today.

In addition, KWMU's "Jazz Unlimited," hosted by Dennis Owsley, was named "Best Jazz Radio Program"; BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups gets the nod as "Best Blues Club"; singer/guitarist/teenage phenom Marquise Knox is 2010's "Best Blues Artist"; and Devil At The Confluence, Kevin Belford's history of pre-World War II blues music in St. Louis, is "Best Book By A Local Author." You can read about all the 2010 "Best of St. Louis" winners here.

Jazz this week: Glenn Miller Orchestra, Stanton Moore Trio, Funky Butt Brass Band, Eric Mandat, and more

This week's schedule of jazz, creative music and related genres in St. Louis offers a grab bag of different styles, from traditional jazz, big band swing, and smooth jazz to cabaret, New Orleans-style brass band music, and jam-band funk. Let's go straight to the highlights...

Cabaret producers The Presenters Dolan return to action this weekend at the Kranzberg Arts Center, with pianist Joe Dreyer and singer Rosemary Watts doing their show "Everything Old Is New Again" on Thursday and Friday, and Barbara Parker Helmer singing about "Me and Miss Peggy Lee" for Saturday evening and Sunday matinee performances.

Elsewhere in the Grand Center neighborhood, the Funky Butt Brass Band (pictured) will perform on Friday and Saturday to Jazz at the Bistro. Word is that they'll be premiering some new material at these gigs, but details are scarce beyond that. To see and hear video samples of some past FBBB performances, check out this post.

Meanwhile, over in Webster Groves, Robbie's House of Jazz will present guitarist Eric Slaughter's trio on Friday, and singer, pianist and saxophonist Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum on Saturday.

On Saturday afternoon, clarinet player Eric Mandat, an expert in extended techniques who specializes on contemporary repertoire, will present a free recital and master class at Saxquest. For more about Mandat and other upcoming master classes at Saxquest, see this post.

Also on Saturday, the Glenn Miller Orchestra will do matinee and evening performances of their familiar Swing Era classics at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, and the Stanton Moore Trio brings their instrumental funk to 2720 Cherokee. For some video of Moore and the trio in action, see this post.

Sunday is a busy day too, as the St. Louis Jazz Club presents pianist Pat Joyce in a concert of traditional jazz and swing at the Doubletree Hotel and Conference Center in Chesterfield; saxophonists Michael Anthony Fitzgerald and Readus Miller, keyboardist Jeremiah Allen and singer Anita Jackson team up for a "Jazz Cabaret on Broadway" at the Starlight Room; and the SIUE Friends of Music will host a Mississippi River cruise raising money for music scholarships for students in the SIUE jazz program.

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 clicking the "Like" icon 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.)

Nicole Johänntgen to play free concert tonight at Graham Chapel

This just in, via a late-night email from the Jazz at Holmes listserv: Saxophonist Nicole Johänntgen (pictured) will perform a free concert at 8:00 p.m. tonight, Tuesday, September 28 at Graham Chapel on the Washington University campus.

The German-born, Zurich-based Johänntgen is scheduled to play for the Jazz at Holmes series at Wash U next Thursday, October 7; tonight's show is being billed as a "preview concert" that will feature her performing original music backed by a quintet of guitar, piano, bass, drums and percussion. For more on Nicole Johänntgen, check out her MySpace and YouTube pages. Both the Graham Chapel concert and Jazz at Holmes show are free and open to the public.

St. Louis musicians join forces for two upcoming concerts

Catching up with our email inbox, StLJN recently received word of two upcoming shows featuring collaborative efforts from St. Louis musicians:

* Saxophonists Michael Anthony Fitzgerald and Readus Miller (pictured), keyboardist Jeremiah Allen and singer Anita Jackson will join forces for a concert at 7:00 p.m. this coming Sunday, October 3 at the Starlight Room, inside Lights On Broadway at 8350 N. Broadway.

The idea of putting several featured performers together in a package show seems to work well for many touring artists mining the same smooth jazz/R&B territory as these four St. Louisans, and hearing about this show makes one wonder why more local musicians haven't tried the same idea. Tickets for the Fitzgerald/Miller/Allen/Jackson "Jazz Cabaret on Broadway" are available online and at the Fox Theatre box office and all Metrotix locations, or for more information call 314-616-9418.

* Meanwhile, singer and philanthropist Mae Wheeler, ably abetted by longtime production manager AJ Dickerson, will present "Unforgettable Legends" at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 31 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Appropriately for Halloween, the show will feature St. Louis performers paying tribute to musical legends including Louis Armstrong, Elvis Presley, Mongo Santamaria, Michael Jackson, Lena Horne, and many more, with a talent roster including Oliver Johnson, Kim Massie, Steve Davis, Wendy Gordon, Carmen Emborski and plenty of others. Proceeds will benefit Wheeler's scholarship fund for C-average students, and tickets are on sale now via Metrotix.

Recently on Heliocentric Worlds

It's time once again for a shameless plug for StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds, which features a different music video each day from genres including jazz, blues, soul, funk, classic rock, prog rock and experimental.

It's a veritable video college of musical knowledge, and if you'd been watching over the past couple of weeks, you would have seen clips featuring Taj Mahal, David Sancious, Sonny Rollins, Edgar Winter, Steve Coleman, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Bill Evans, Ginger Baker's Air Force, Curtis Mayfield, Deep Purple, Charles Gayle Trio, Lowell Fulson, George Adams/Don Pullen Quartet, Charles McPherson, King Crimson, Return to Forever, Don Ellis, the Sun Ra Arkestra and John Lee Hooker.

Fortunately, all these music videos can still be seen, along with hundreds more lovingly curated clips from the incomparable archives, simply by going to http://heliocentricworlds.blogspot.com/. Better yet, add the site to your feed reader or home page for a daily dose of music video goodness!

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: The Stanton Moore Trio's "Groove Alchemy"

The subjects of our video scrutiny this week are the Stanton Moore Trio, who will be in St. Louis next Saturday, October 2 to play at 2720 Cherokee. Underpinned by Moore's hopped-up New Orleans-style grooves, the trio seems to draw considerable inspiration from NOLA's funk standard-bearers The Meters as well as from the 20th century tradition of jazz organ trios generally.

You can definitely hear those influences at work in the first video up above, a performance of "Pie-Eyed Manc" from Moore's most recent album Groove Alchemy, taped in May of this year at The Independent in San Francisco. Down below, you can see Moore, guitarist Will Bernard and organist Robert Walter performing "Pot Licker" and "Neeps and Tattles," two more songs from the Groove Alchemy CD, live in the studio at KEXP radio in Seattle.

For this tour, Moore, Bernard and Walter are being joined by singer/guitarist Anders Osborne, whose most recent CD American Patchwork was produced by Moore. In the fourth video window, you can see and hear them at the same San Francisco show performing Osborne's tune "Echoes of My Sins," which has more of a rock/Americana sound to it.

Dave Brubeck cancels St. Louis concert

This just in: Pianist Dave Brubeck (pictured) has canceled his St. Louis performance that had been scheduled for Sunday, October 17 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Here's the text of the news release StLJN received from the Sheldon:

"Due to health reasons, Dave Brubeck has been advised by his doctors to avoid travelling and performing at this time, and therefore must cancel his appearance at The Sheldon on October 17.

Ticket buyers may request a refund for the face value of their tickets at the point of purchase. Tickets purchased via phone or internet will be automatically refunded. If purchased in person at a MetroTix outlet or in person at the Fox Theatre Box Office, please return tickets to the point of purchase.

For more information, contact The Sheldon at 314-533-9900 during normal business hours, Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m."

Brubeck, who will turn 90 on December 6, was in St. Louis most recently in 2008 to perform at the Sheldon.

UPDATE - 5:30 p.m., 9/24/10: Shortly after this item was posted, another Brubeck-related news release arrived at StLJN HQ from the We Always Swing series in Columbia. Unsurprisingly, Brubeck has canceled his October 16 appearance there, too, as well as the rest of his fall tour dates. Here's hoping the venerable pianist is feeling better soon...

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's the latest wrap-up of links and short local news items of interest that you may have missed:

* Just in time for his 70th birthday, baritone sax great Hamiet Bluiett was interviewed last week on NPR's "All Things Considered".

* Meanwhile, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Jazz St. Louis, JSL is selling commemorative posters and t-shirts featuring this season's lineup of performers. You can see the merchandise here.

* The Webster University Journal has a story on last Saturday's tenth annual Old Webster Jazz and Blues Festival here.

* The Sheldon Art Galleries will have their fall openings next Friday, October 1, including a new exhibit in the History of Jazz Gallery called "Lourdes Delgado: Jazz in New York - A Community of Visions." The exhibit, which runs through January 15, features the Spanish-born photographer's documentation of the lives of current jazz musicians, including St. Louis native David Sanborn, via a large-format camera.

* The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra announced that they'll premiere a new work by saxophonist Wayne Shorter (pictured) at their annual fund-raising gala next Saturday, October 2 at Powell Symphony Hall. The "New Work For Soprano and Orchestra" was written especially for the SLSO and singer Renée Fleming, who is the featured artist at the event. Shorter and conductor David Robertson worked together previously when Robertson was Music Director of the Orchestre National de Lyon, and again here in St. Louis when Shorter played at the Touhill Performing Arts Center in 2005 with members of the Symphony.

Jazz this week: Kenny Barron & Mulgrew Miller, Jonathan Butler, Phil Perry, and more

This week's schedule of jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes several shows featuring keyboard players, starting tonight when pianists Kenny Barron and Mulgrew Miller (pictured) begin a four-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro.

Both men are considered to be among the top piano players in mainstream jazz , and being able to hear them together, working out on a pair of nine-foot Steinway grands, is a rare opportunity. For more about Miller and Barron, and some videos of both performing, see this post.

Also tonight, singer Erin Bode and her band perform downtown at the recently re-opened Copia Urban Winery, which hasn't featured much live music yet but would certainly be a welcome addition to the mix in the area.

Thursday night is a bit sparse this week, as the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University is beginning an unexplained, mid-semester two-week hiatus. The series will return on October 7 with a concert by saxophonist Nicole Johänntgen.

On Friday, singer and guitarist Jonathan Butler will perform at 560 Music Center, with saxophonist Tim Cunningham opening the show. For more about Butler, see this post from Saturday.

Also on Friday, Robbie's House of Jazz has keyboard player Marvin F. Cockrell and his band Focus, whicle on Saturday, the club will feature keyboardist Brock Walker's quartet in a tribute to Sarah Vaughan.

On Sunday, Good 4 The Soul has an early evening show at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday pianist Kim Portnoy and his Big Band will play a concert at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium, and BB's has the return of bassist David Certain's CertainBeat WorldBop.

On Tuesday, singer Phil Perry, who got his start here in St. Louis as a member of the yesteryear vocal group the Montclairs, will be back in his hometown to perform a free outdoor concert at the Missouri History Museum as part of the Museum's Twilight Tuesdays series

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 clicking the "Like" icon 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.)

Stanton Moore Trio to play Saturday, October 2 at 2720 Cherokee

Drummer Stanton Moore, who was just in St. Louis with Garage A Trois last week to play at the Old Rock House, will return with his own eponymous trio to perform on Saturday, October 2 at 2720 Cherokee.

The New Orleans-based Moore (pictured) divides his time among Garage A Trois, the funk band Galactic, and the trio, which usually includes guitarist Will Bernard and organ player Robert Walter. For this show and the rest of their fall dates, they'll will be joined by guitarist and singer Anders Osborne, whose presence suggests a bluesier musical direction, and for whom Moore recently produced a CD, American Patchwork, on the Alligator label.

Showtime is 8:00 p.m.. Tickets for the Stanton Moore Trio at 2720 Cherokee are $15, with a $3 surcharge for minors, and are on sale now from show promoters Loyal Family.

Saxquest to present free master classes with Eric Mandat, Dick Oatts, Jeff Coffin and Victor Goines

The St. Louis woodwind sales and repair shop Saxquest will host a free recital and master class featuring clarinetist Eric Mandat at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, October 2.

Mandat (pictured) will perform solo works with piano for about an hour, then give a master class for an hour. Consider a leading composer and performer of contemporary clarinet music, Mandat is known for his use of extended techniques, such as multiphonics and microtones. His composing is focused on solo and chamber works for clarinet, using extended techniques within a framework influenced by jazz and traditional music of non-Western cultures. You can hear samples of Mandat's music on his MySpace page.

Mandat's performance and master class is the first of four such events Saxquest has scheduled for the fall. Also on the calendar:

* Dick Oatts, a veteran jazz saxophonist, session musician and alumnus of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band, at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, October 9.

* Jeff Coffin, featured saxophonist with Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, the Dave Matthews Band and his own group, the Mu'Tet, at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday October 27.

* Victor Goines, saxophonist and clarinetist with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and director of jazz studies at Northwestern University, at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, November 13.

All events are free and open to the public, and will be held at the Saxquest shop, 2114 Cherokee St. on the south side. For more information, call Saxquest at 314-664-1234 or visit their website.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Jonathan Butler

This week, our video spotlight is on singer and guitarist Jonathan Butler, who's coming to St. Louis next Friday, September 24 for a concert at the 560 Music Center in University City. The concert, which is part of the festivities surrounding the annual Gateway Classic college football game next weekend, will feature St. Louis saxophonist Tim Cunningham as opening act.

A native of South Africa, Butler makes music with a sound that could be termed smooth jazz, R&B or adult pop, depending on your perspective, along with lyrics that often come from a spiritual or religious perspective. He first gained recognition outside his home country during the 1980s while living in the UK, and has continued to cultivate a diverse following in the US, Europe and South Africa. His most recent CD is So Strong, which came out earlier this year.

The first video up top shows Butler covering Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry." In the window down below, Butler plays his own "Dancing On The Shore" (after giving his drummer and bass player a chance to jam a bit) and below that, he duets with his daughter Jodie on a version of the Roberta Flack/Donny Hathaway hit "Where Is The Love?" The fourth video is a short promotional film/mini-documentary on a trip Butler recently took back to South Africa.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's the latest wrap-up of links and short local news items of interest that you may have missed:

* Pianist Kenny Barron (pictured) just did a short interview with Calvin Wilson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, previewing his duo gig with Mulgrew Miller next week at Jazz at the Bistro. Read the article online here.

* In a column just posted at the Jazz Times website, veteran critic and jazz journalist Nat Hentoff gives a rave review to St. Louis author and artist Kevin Belford's recent book Devil at the Confluence: The Pre-War Blues Music of St. Louis Missouri. You can check out Hentoff's column here.

* Linda Purl's performance last week to open Cabaret St. Louis' fall season at the Kranzberg Arts Center was reviewed by Chuck Lavazzi for his Stage Left blog here.

* KSDK newsman Art Holliday talked with the Post's Kevin Johnson about his documentary film on St. Louis blues/rock piano great Johnnie Johnson, and you can see the article online here. Johnson's former St. Louis bandmates will back NYC pianist Dona Oxford for a set paying tribute to Johnson at tomorrow's Old Webster Jazz and Blues Festival. Then on Sunday, Oxford and the Johnson band will join Jimmy Vivino, Mike Merritt and James Wormworth III of Conan O'Brien's band for a benefit concert at the Sheldon to raise money for Holliday's film.

* P-D business writer Lisa Brown interviewed Joe Schwab of Euclid Records about the St. Louis-based store's newly opened New Orleans location and changes in the music retail business.

* Saxophonist Dave Stone's trio will play and burlesque performer Lola Von Ella will dance to accompany Missouri Poet Laureate David Clewell in a reading of his poem "Jack Ruby's America" next Thursday, September 23 at The Foxhole at Atomic Cowboy, 4140 Manchester Ave.

* To help stir up interest in events associated with next month's American Arts Experience - St. Louis, the Sheldon Concert Hall and HEC-TV will present "State of the Arts Live and Uncut - American Arts Experience" from 7:30 to 10:00 p.m., Thursday, September 30 at the Sheldon. The multi-media event will feature performances from vibraphonist Jonathan Whiting with bassist Darrell Mixon; singer Brian Owens; pianists Peter Henderson and Stephanie Trick, and several others. Tickets to see the show in person are $10, or you can tune in to HEC-TV (Charter Channel 989 and 118-26 or AT&T U-Verse Channel 99) or watch a live stream at www.hectv.org.

Notes from the Net: Bitches Brew turns 40; new CDs from Vijay Iyer and The Bad Plus; 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:

* We start, as usual, with some Miles Davis news, much of it related in some way to this year's 40th anniversary re-release of Bitches Brew. The website LAist has a look at a panel discussion on the 40th anniversary of Bitches Brew at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, featuring saxophonist Bennie Maupin, who played on the sessions; actor Don Cheadle, who's set to portray the trumpeter in the proposed film biography; Davis's nephew Vince Wilburn, Jr. and his son, Erin Davis; and others.

On a similar note, the New York Times' Ben Ratliff devoted a good part of recent podcast to Miles and the recording of Bitches Brew. In somewhat-related news, here's a beer enthusiast's review of the new Bitches Brew ale, the brewers of which claim Miles as inspiration. Lastly, Miles Davis Online recently asked readers to pick their favorites from a gallery of Davis' album covers.

* Following up on some recent visitors to St. Louis, guitarist Pat Metheny's Orchestrion Tour, which played here in May at the Touhill, is set to resume in October for 19 more shows, mostly in the northeast US.

* Meanwhile, bassist Christian McBride and his band Inside Straight, including St. Louis' own Peter Martin on piano, recently were featured on NPR's Jazz Set. McBride and Martin did a duo concert last Saturday at the Sheldon Concert Hall, and the bassist will be back here in March for a Ray Brown tribute at Jazz at the Bistro.

* Speaking of Martin, he and fellow MAXJAZZ recording artists Russell Malone and Romero Lubambo will perform this weekend with vocalist Dianne Reeves at the 53rd annual Monterey Jazz Festival. Malone will be at the Bistro next month to celebrate his upcoming release on the St. Louis-based MAXJAZZ, while Lubambo will play with Martin at the Sheldon in December.
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* In other news of coming attractions, singer and guitarist Jonathan Butler recently was featured on CNN. Butler will be in St. Louis next Friday for a concert at the 560 Music Center.

* Singer Jane Monheit just did an interview with Jazz Times discussing the Great American Songbook and her favorite contemporary composers. Monheit comes back to St. Louis in December for four nights at the Bistro.

* Also on the road right now are pianists Mulgrew Miller and Kenny Barron, seen here together at the Detroit Jazz Festival; singer/guitarist John Pizzarelli, who just did a Duke Ellington-themed show at Scullers in Boston; and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, who were just in Indiana at Goshen College. Miller and Barron are here next week at the Bistro; Pizzarelli will return to St. Louis in April to play the Sheldon, and the PHJB will perform with the Del McCoury Band in October at the Family Arena in St. Charles.

* Pianist Vijay Iyer's new solo CD was featured on NPR's "Piano Jazz," reviewed in DownBeat and on the blog Music and More, and served as impetus for a feature about Iyer in the Wall Street Journal. Iyer will be in St. Louis with the Golden Quartet in November for a New Music Circle-sponsored concert at the 560 Music Center.

* Speaking of new records, The Bad Plus' latest album Never Stop is out this week, and already has been featured on NPR and on the website Spinner, and reviewed by Music and More. They'll be back in St. Louis in January to kick off the new year at Jazz at the Bistro.

* In other recording news, the band Yellowjackets have signed a deal with Mack Avenue Records. The 'Jackets, with drummer Will Kennedy back in the fold after the departure last year of St. Louis native Marcus Baylor, will return to St. Louis in April to play at the Bistro.

* Also, Rebirth Brass Band (pictured) have signed with Basin Street Records, also home to trumpeter, singer and St. Louis native Jeremy Davenport and many other jazz artists. The label "worked with Rebirth from the sidelines" in 2005 on Throwback, an album that reunited the band with founding member and now labelmate Kermit Ruffins. Rebirth are expected to release their first album on Basin Street in February 2011. They'll be in St. Louis on Thursday October 7 to perform at The Gramophone.

* Finally, those with an interest in unusual musical instruments and/or extended instrumental techniques may enjoy this recent New York Times piece about "Robert Dick's Glissando Headjoint and Other Inventions"

Jazz this week: Michael Franks, Old Webster Jazz and Blues Festival, and more

This week's calendar of jazz and creative music in St. Louis is considerably less crowded than last week's, but there are still several notable events happening around the metro area. Let's go to the highlights:

The best-known touring performer in town this week is singer/songwriter Michael Franks, who will play on Thursday at the Ameristar Casino St. Charles' Bottleneck Blues Bar. For more about Franks and some video clips of him performing, see this post.

Also on Thursday, the Jazz at Holmes series of free concerts at Washington University continues with pianist Reggie Thomas doing a performance devoted to the music of Thelonious Monk.

On Friday night, singer Mardra Thomas once again steps into the role of Billie Holiday for a dinner-and-concert event at Harris Stowe State University, and guitarist Matthew Von Doran and his trio will play at Broadway Bean Coffee on the south side.

UPDATE - 12:00 p.m., 9/17/10: Von Doren's performance at Broadway Bean has been canceled, due to an illness in a band member's family. Von Doren says the date will be rescheduled for next month.

On Saturday, the Old Webster Jazz and Blues Festival celebrates its tenth anniversary with a lineup featuring homegrown talent, including a group drawn from the Webster University jazz faculty, who will perform a program of lesser-known Duke Ellington songs; the Webster Groves High School jazz band; and the Robert Edwards Ensemble, the resident band at Robbie's House of Jazz, which is located adjacent to the festival site. Keyboardist Curt Landes, guitarist Teddy Presberg, and the Funky Butt Brass Band round out the festival's jazz offerings.

Yr. humble editor remains somewhat less sanguine about the event's blues menu. But rather than rehash the whole mishegas here once more, let's just say that singer/guitarist Marquise Knox and the New Orleans R&B/funk/zydeco cover band Gumbohead are reliably entertaining performers, and the rest depends on your perspective. Given its resources and circumstances, the Old Webster fest probably shouldn't be held to the same standard as a big-budget, name-brand festival, but if you think of it as a free, neighborhood event with a hipper-than-usual musical lineup, it's a different story.

Speaking of Robbie's House of Jazz, the club has singer Jeanne Trevor set to appear on Friday night; a jazz brunch with Sound Unlimited at mid-day on Saturday; and keyboardist Tony Simmons performing on Saturday night.

(And in case you were wondering, Jazz at the Bistro is dark this weekend, as this was the week when the Jazz Crusaders had been scheduled to play at the Touhill Performing Arts Center under the auspices of Jazz St. Louis. That concert was postponed due to health problems affecting Jazz Crusaders saxophonist Wilton Felder, and no other act was booked at the TouPAC or the Bistro to fill the otherwise-open weekend. The Bistro's fall schedule resumes next Wednesday with a four-night stand from pianists Kenny Barron and Mulgrew Miller.)

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday night saxophonist Paul DeMarinis leads his band in a concert at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium, and the Sessions Big Band performs downtown at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

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 clicking the "Like" icon 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.)

(Updated 9/15/10 to add Friday's events.)

Zappa Plays Zappa returning to The Pageant on Wednesday, December 8

Zappa Plays Zappa, the Frank Zappa repertory band led by the late guitarist and composer's son Dweezil (pictured), is returning to St. Louis to perform on Wednesday, December 8 at The Pageant.

ZPZ previously played at The Pageant in 2006 (reviewed by StLJN here) and again in 2008. This time around, they'll perform Frank Zappa's 1974 album Apostrophe in "its unmitigated entirety." ZPZ have released two albums of their own, a self-titled CD/DVD in 2008 and a live album, Return of the Son Of..., earlier this year.

Tickets for Zappa Plays Zappa at The Pageant are $25.50 for general admission to the main floor (all ages) and $35 and $55 for reserved seating in the balcony (21+ only). There also will be a $2 surcharge for minors at the door. The tix go on sale at 5:00 p.m. this Friday, September 17 via Ticketmaster and The Pageant box office.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Kenny Barron and Mulgrew Miller

This week, we're featuring video clips of pianists Mulgrew Miller and Kenny Barron , who are coming to St. Louis for a series of duo performances starting Wednesday, September 22 and continuing through Saturday, September 25 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Both men are considered among the top pianists in mainstream jazz, and both got their big break from a jazz legend. Miller, 55, first came to wide public attention in the mid-1980s while working with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. He's gone on to perform with many other well-known jazz musicians, including legends such as Betty Carter, Freddie Hubbard, Tony Williams and Ron Carter, as well as younger musicians including Terell Stafford, Nicholas Payton, Wallace Roney and Cassandra Wilson. Miller also has recorded a number of albums as a leader, with his most recent releases handled by the St. Louis based MAXJAZZ label.

Barron, who's 67, first became known in the 1960s as a member of Dizzy Gillespie's group. He's also worked with Hubbard and Ron Carter, as well as with Stanley Turrentine, Milt Jackson, Buddy Rich, Yusef Lateef, Stan Getz, and many others. Barron was a founder of the group Sphere, dedicated to the music of Thelonious Monk, and earlier this year, the National Endowment for the Arts named him a Jazz Master, the highest honor a jazz musician can receive from the US government.

The Barron/Miller duo is a relatively new combination, put together for gigs this summer and fall, so, sadly, there seems to be no video footage available online of the two men performing together. But we do have four performances - two for each man - that should serve to whet your appetite.

Up top, you can see and hear Miller's trio with bassist Ira Coleman and drummer Mark Johnson perform the standard "I Hear a Rhapsody," while down below, Miller does a solo turn on what I'm fairly sure is "Night And Day."

In the third slot, Barron plays a discursive solo medley, incorporating bits of a number of tunes including Monk's "Well, You Needn't," to promote an appearance this past July at the Paris jazz club Duc des Lombards. Below that, there a clip from 2008 of Barron's trio performing "Ask Me Now" at a festival in Italy. Kiyoshi Kitagawa is on bass and Francisco Mela is the drummer.

For more about Miller check out this interview from the Detroit Free Press, done last month as Miller served as artist in residence for the Detroit Jazz Festival, and this review of a trio show in Chicago, also from last month. For more on Barron, see this interview, or listen to his performance on an episode of NPR's "Jazz Set" program.







(Edited 9/14/10 to fix typos.)

Jazz this week: Christian McBride & Peter Martin, Hamiet Bluiett, The Cunninghams, Garage A Trois, Ben Sidran, and more

The fall presenting season of jazz and creative music in St. Louis gets off to a fast start this week, with season openers from three different concert series; homecoming visits from some St. Louis natives; and two local musicians with international reputations playing on local stages. Let's go to the highlights:

Tonight, Cabaret St. Louis opens its season with actress and singer Linda Purl's show "Come Rain or Come Shine," which runs through Saturday at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

Then on Thursday, the jazz vocal duo The Cunninghams, featuring St. Louis native, multi-instrumentalist and Gaslight Square veteran Don Cunningham, make their way from their current home in Las Vegas back to the Gateway City for a concert at the Sheldon Concert Hall. For more about them and Don Cunningham's history in St. Louis, see this post.

Also on Thursday, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University begins its fall schedule with a free outdoor concert on Brookings Quadrangle featuring the St. Louis Nu-Jazz Quintet.

On Friday, guitarist Eric Slaughter and his trio begin a two-night stand to open the fall season at Jazz at the Bistro; and the jazz-influenced experimental rock band Ahleuchatistas plays at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center.

Also on Friday, Robbie's House of Jazz will kick off their first-anniversary weekend with guitarist Daryl Darden, a St. Louis native who's back from California for a visit. Then on Saturday, the club presents baritone sax giant Hamiet Bluiett (pictured), who played for their opening weekend a year ago, with keyboardist Reggie Thomas. Bluiett is unquestionably one of the all-time great baritone saxophonists in jazz history, and any opportunity to hear him play, especially in an intimate venue like Robbie's, is worth seizing. It's a bit problematic this weekend, though, because Bluiett isn't the only internationally known St. Louis musician gigging locally on Saturday.

That same evening, pianist Peter Martin will continue his eponymous series at the Sheldon Concert Hall via a duo performance with bassist Christian McBride. McBride is one of the most in-demand bassists on the music scene, and you can read more about him (and see and hear samples of his playing) here and here. To make this performance extra-special, Martin says they're planning on doing it without microphones - something possible only in an acoustically superior venue like the Sheldon, which was designed before mics and PA systems were even invented.

UPDATE, 10:00 a.m., 9/10/10: Martin talked to the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson for a short feature about his duo concert with McBride, and you can read it online here. Also, Metrotix is offering a last-minute "buy one, get one free" deal on tickets for the concert. To access the offer, go online here and use promo code PM2010.

Choosing between the two aforementioned shows is tough, but I suppose one could always catch Martin and McBride, then hustle out to Webster Groves for Bluiett's second set, and in any event, there are worse problems to have. And as if that weren't enough for one evening, Saturday is also the night singer Denise Thimes headlines a benefit for the United Way at the Foundry Art Centre in St. Charles.

On Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club holds its annual picnic at the Concord Farmer's Club, 10140 Concord School Rd, with traditional jazz, swing and ragtime music from the Big Little Big Band, the St. Louis Banjo Club, and Bud Schulz and the You Can't Beat Experience Jazz Band with Polly Waddell.

That evening, pianist and singer Ben Sidran comes to town to talk and play at Kol Am Temple, 1023 Chesterfield Parkway in Chesterfield, with a CD and book signing to follow and KWMU's Dennis Owsley as MC.

Then on Monday, guitarist Steve Schenkel and friends perform at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium, and on Tuesday, the jam/funk/fusion band Garage A Trois takes the stage at the Old Rock House. (You can see some videos of Garage A Trois here.)

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 clicking the "Like" icon 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.)

Bee vs. Moth to play Friday, October 8 at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center

Bee vs. Moth, an Austin-based "instrumental art rock combo" is coming to St. Louis to perform on Friday, October 8 at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center.

The date is part of a Midwest tour supporting their new album Acronyms. The self-described "wild and brassy quintet" with "one foot in the world of jazz and creative improvisation, and the other firmly planted on a distortion pedal" consists of Ivo Gruner (trumpet), Thomas van der Brook (baritone and tenor saxes), Aaryn Russell (guitar), Philip Moody (electric and upright basses) and Sarah Norris (drums and percussion). Bee vs. Moth's press materials also make reference to Tom Waits, Frank Zappa and New Orleans jazz, making for a potentially interesting blend of influences.

You can see Bee vs. Moth in the embedded window below, which contains the music video for "Ugly Is The New Black," a song from Acronyms. The tune begins with a placid sax/trumpet melody and ends up in a frantic, shred-style electric guitar solo, and thereby serves to illustrate the band's self-description rather neatly.

Showtime for Bee vs. Moth at the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center is 8:00 p.m., and tickets for the all-ages show are $5 at the door.

Recently on Heliocentric Worlds

Back at work after Labor Day with those "I'm stuck here again" blues? Escape to StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds, where each day, a new music video is posted for your entertainment and cultural edification. Indeed, O seekers of musical wisdom, what better way is there to learn of the giants of jazz, blues, funk, soul, classic rock, prog rock and experimental music than to gaze upon their fabled exploits with thine own eyes?

Recent posts have include video clips of Phil Woods, Joe Pass, George Duke, Tyrone Davis, Sonny Stitt, Johnny Griffin & Freddie Hubbard, Joe Cocker, Joni Mitchell, Oliver Nelson and the Berlin Dream Band, Ben Webster & Ronnie Scott, Southside Johnny, Taj Mahal, Brian Auger and the Trinity featuring Julie Driscoll, Sonny Rollins, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, the Zawinul Syndicate, Rebirth Brass Band, Cream, Count Basie, Roy Ayers with Bah Samba, Bobby "Blue" Bland, John Coltrane Quartet, Santana, Coleman Hawkins, George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars, Booker T and the MGs, and the Ornette Coleman Sextet.

They're all waiting for you, along with hundreds more carefully curated clips from the incomparable archives, at heliocentricworlds.blogspot.com/.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's the latest wrap-up of links and short local news items of interest that you may have missed:

* Community radio station KDHX will depart their longtime HQ on the south side to relocate to 3542 Washington in the Grand Center district. The building, which most recently served as home to the rock club Creepy Crawl, is just down the block from Jazz at the Bistro. Might physical proximity eventually lead to a collaboration between the two? Here's hoping...a "Live from the Bistro" special (or series!) could have potential for national/international distribution and listenership.

* St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for The Arts have scheduled a series of workshops this fall, including "Career Planning For Artists" on Monday, September 20; "The Art of Developing A Business Plan" on Monday, October 4; "Marketing and Professional Presentation" on Monday, October 25; and a "Website Clinic" on Monday, November 1. For times, program details, and registration info, check their website.

* A local man described as a "nostalgia buff" hopes to refurbish and revive the Goldenrod Showboat, once the site of many traditional jazz and ragtime performances on the St. Louis riverfront.

* The New Orleans branch of the St. Louis-based independent record store Euclid Records (pictured) opened for business last weekend. Here's coverage from Nola.com. the website of the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the Louisiana music magazine Offbeat.

* The Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson wonders if the recent flurry of music festival activity is enhancing St. Louis' image as a music town, and suggests that signs point to "yes." Which raises the question: While the relative success of new events like LouFest and Bluesweek certainly is good news, isn't it about time for someone to come up with a summer jazz event to replace the now-defunct St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival? I'm just sayin...

Jazz at Holmes announces fall 2010 concert schedule

The Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University has announced its schedule of free concerts for fall 2010.

The series begins this Thursday, September 9, with an outdoor performance in Brookings Quadrangle by the St. Louis Nu-Jazz Quintet, which includes trumpeter Randy Holmes, saxophonist Jason Swagler, guitarist Eric Slaughter, bassist Jeff Anderson, and drummer Miles Vandiver.

This fall's Jazz at Holmes series also will feature the St. Louis debut of the German-born, Zurich-based saxophonist Nicole Johänntgen (pictured), who will perform on Thursday, October 7. Based on the clips found on her MySpace and YouTube pages, Johänntgen seems to work mostly in a funk/fusion style. (Meanwhile, her promo pics suggest she's going for a slice of Candy Dulfer's audience. Not that there's anything wrong with that...)

Here's the complete Jazz at Holmes schedule for fall 2010:

Thursday, September 9: St. Louis Nu-Jazz Quintet

Thursday, September 16: Reggie Thomas plays the music of Thelonious Monk

Thursday, October 7: Nicole Johänntgen

Thursday, October 21: Ptah Williams, Bill Lenihan, Eric Stiller, and Miles Vandiver play the music of Herbie Hancock

Thursday, October 28: Steve Schenkel with Carolbeth True, Ric Vice, and Kevin Gianino

Thursday, November 4: Scott Alberici

Thursday, November 11: Danny Campbell, Jeff Anderson, and Jason Swagler play music from Miles Davis' Kind of Blue

Thursday, November 18: Ptah Williams Trio

Thursday, December 2: Willie Akins plays the music of John Coltrane

Jazz at Holmes concerts take place from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. most Thursdays while school is in session. Holmes Lounge is located in Ridgley Hall on the west side of Brookings Quadrangle, near the intersection of Brookings and Hoyt drives. The concerts are free and open to the public.

(Updated 9/7/10 to add a link, correct typos & fix a formatting problem.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: "Down In Brazil" with Michael Franks

This week, we've got some video clips of singer Michael Franks, who's coming to St. Louis on Thursday, September 16 to perform at the Ameristar Casino St. Charles' Bottleneck Blues Bar.

Known for his gentle crooning, lyrical wordplay, and fondness for Latin and Brazilian rhythms, Franks started as a folk singer before turning to jazz in the early 1970s. He made one self-titled record before beginning a 20-year association with the Warner Brothers label, where he had a series of pop crossover hits with songs including "Popsicle Toes," "The Lady Wants To Know," "Monkey See, Monkey Do" and "Your Secret's Safe With Me". Franks has recorded with with jazz musicians such as David Sanborn, Larry Carlton, and Joe Sample and Wilton Felder of The Crusaders, and his songs have been performed by The Manhattan Transfer, Patti Labelle, Carmen McRae, Diana Krall, Shirley Bassey, and many others. In recent years, Franks has made albums for Windham Hill, Rhino, and Koch, which issued his most recent CD Rendezvous in Rio back in 2006.

Our first clip today is a 1991 performance of "Down in Brazil," a song that seems to exemplify Franks' affinity for the music of that country. Next, we fast-forward to 2007, when Franks hooked up with saxophonist Eric Marienthal and guitarist Chuck Loeb to perform at the San Javier Jazz Festival in Spain. Both the second video, "Your Secret's Safe With Me," and today's third clip, "The Lady Wants To Know" are from that gig.

Finally, we catch up with Franks in Paris in July of this year for a performance of "Monkey See, Monkey Do" with a band including heavy hitters Mark Egan on bass and David Mann on saxophones, plus Charles Blenzig (keyboards), Willard Dyson (drums) and Veronica Nunn (vocals). (You can see some still photos from that Paris concert here.)

For more about Michael Franks, check out these interviews from JazzMonthly.com and SmoothViews.com.

Mardra Thomas to reprise Billie Holiday role on September 17 at Harris-Stowe

Singer Mardra Thomas once again will step into the role of Billie Holiday for "A Portrait of Lady Day," a dinner-and-concert event to be presented at 6:30 p.m. Friday, September 17 at Harris-Stowe State University's Emerson Theatre, 3026 Laclede.

Thomas (pictured) has portrayed Holiday a number of times on various St. Louis stages, most recently in June in another performance at Harris-Stowe. For the September 17 show, she will be backed by her husband, keyboardist Reggie Thomas, and a band including bassist Rodney Whitaker, drummer Marty Morrison and saxophonist Jason Swagler.

Tickets are $25 for dinner and the concert, or $15 for the concert only. For more information or reservations, call 314-340-5975 or 314-614-9880.

Jazz river cruise on October 3 to benefit SIU-E Friends of Music scholarships

The Friends of Music at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville are sponsoring a jazz cruise on the Mississippi on Sunday, October 3 to raise money for music scholarships at SIUE.

Cruisers will board on the riverboat in downtown St. Louis at 5:30 p.m., and cruise from 6:00 p.m. until 8:30, enjoying dinner and live music from SIUE jazz faculty members and students.

Tickets are $75 per person, or $30 for children 12 and under. The ticket price includes a $20 gift to the SIUE Friends of Music Scholarship Fund, which may be considered tax deductible. To reserve a spot, call the SIUE Music Department at 618-650-3900, before reservations close on Friday, September 17.

Jazz this week: Jeremy Davenport, a tribute to Dinah Washington, and more

Many of St. Louis' larger jazz presenters routinely avoid scheduling shows on holidays like Christmas, New year's and Independence Day, and since Labor Day is another weekend that falls into the same category, jazz activity in town will be relatively sparse over the next several days. Jazz at the Bistro and Robbie's House of Jazz are both closed for the holiday weekend, and other fall concert series won't get underway until later in the month.

As a result, the best-known jazz performer to play here in the next few days won't even get to St. Louis until after Labor Day. That would be trumpeter, singer and U. City native Jeremy Davenport (pictured) who's returning home from New Orleans to headline a free Twilight Tuesdays show next Tuesday outside the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park. Davenport remains a local favorite and, barring bad weather, should draw a good crowd, so get there early for the best seats.

However, while touring activity may be at a minimum, our town's local musicians are, as usual, working hard this Labor Day weekend. Tonight, singer Erin Bode plays the Tenderloin Room in the Chase Park Plaza hotel, and trumpeter Keith Moyer and his quartet perform an early-evening session at the downtown nightspot Lola.

On Friday, saxophonist Dave Stone will do his weekly gig at Mangia Italiano, and on Saturday afternoon, the Nu-Art Series presents Nikki Washington singing the music of Dinah Washington at the Metropolitan Gallery downtown helping to kick off the gallery's month-long exhibit of paintings by Cbabi Bayoc.

Also on Saturday afternoon, vibist and trumpeter Joe Bozzi leads his band Night Flight in a matinee at the Sands, while saxophonist Willie Akins plays his weekly show at Spruill's.

On Sunday, pianist Bob Row's group with clarinetist Scott Alberici does a matinee at the the Sands, and that evening, guitarist Teddy Presberg plays at Riddle's. And on Monday, bassist David Certain and his group CertainBeat WorldBop will take the stage at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

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 clicking the "Like" icon 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.)

Site news: Calendar update and more

Yr. humble editor has just completed a fairly major update to the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found in the left-hand column of the main StLJN site; under the "Calendar" tab on StLJN's Facebook page, and on its very own page here.

The updated calendar has dozens of new listings, including the 2010-11 season schedules for Jazz at the Bistro, the Sheldon Concert Hall, New Music Circle and several other local presenters, as well as an assortment of other jazz events announced over the last few weeks. Next up will be a few additions to the StLJN links section, and some minor pruning of dead links, which should happen in the next day or two.

Remember, if you're playing or presenting jazz or creative music in the St. Louis area, StLJN can help get the word out to thousands of enthusiastic listeners. There's no charge for being listed; all you have to do is send in your info. So, if you have calendar items, band schedule information, links, news tips, 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.)