StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Fall 2011 jazz preview, part one

For today's video showcase, we've got clips featuring some of the touring jazz bands and musicians who will be visiting St. Louis this fall. While I probably will be writing and/or posting more videos later about many of these acts, this is a chance for you, dear reader, to get a quick overview of some of the season's highlights.

Up top, you can see a video of multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee and his band Survival Unit, which also includes Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello and Michael Zerang on drums, performing in October 2010 at the Vortex jazz club in London. They'll be in St. Louis on Saturday, September 17 to perform at the Kranzberg Arts Center under the auspices of New Music Circle.

Down below, you'll find a video of vocal group Take 6, singing a medley of some of their best-known songs at the Avo Session festival in Basel, Switzerland. Take 6 will be making their St. Louis club debut with two performances nightly starting Wednesday, September 21 and continuing through Saturday, September 24 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Below that, there's a clip of pianist David Torkanowsky playing Herbie Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island" at the House of Blues in New Orleans. Torkanowsky will be heading upriver to St. Louis for a duo concert with Peter Martin on Friday, September 23 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Next, it's a video of Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, shot earlier this month from the audience at a festival in San Javier, Spain. Wynton and the JaLCO will return to St. Louis on Friday, September 30 to perform at the Sheldon.

Clip number five features Garage A Trois, who will be in St. Louis the same night, Friday, September 30, for a gig at 2720 Cherokee. This performance of "Fragile" was recorded in the studios of St. Louis' own KDHX (88.1 FM) during their last visit here in September, 2010.

Wrapping part one of our fall 2011 jazz preview is some vintage footage of guitarist and singer George Benson, who will be back here in the Gateway City to play on Sunday, October 2 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center in a concert presented by Jazz St. Louis.

While Benson no doubt will perform many of his familiar hits in his concert here, this particular clip offers something different with a bit of St. Louis twist, as it features him playing an uptempo version of Miles Davis' "So What" with a band that includes St. Louis native Clark Terry on trumpet. Recorded in 1988 at a jazz festival in Pori, Finland, the group also included saxophone legend James Moody, who gets the first solo, and drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts, who skillfully negotiates the song's many changes in time feel.

Look for part two of the Fall 2011 Jazz Preview next week...