StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Chris Potter goes Underground

This week, let's check in on saxophonist Chris Potter, who's bringing his electric band Underground to St. Louis next week to Wednesday, March 2 through Saturday, March 5 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Potter, who just turned 40 last month, played St. Louis most recently in January 2009 with bassist Dave Holland's quintet at the Sheldon Concert Hall. (You can read StLJN's review of that gig here.) He also led his acoustic group for a week at the Bistro a few years back, but this will be the first St. Louis appearance of the plugged-in Underground, which usually includes keyboardist Craig Taborn (who also cover the bass parts on his Rhodes electric piano), guitarist Adam Rogers, and drummer Nate Smith.

Today's first clip was recorded in July 2009 in Stuttgart, and shows Potter and Underground performing "The Wheel." Down below, there's a version of Bob Dylan's song "It Ain't Me Babe," featuring Potter on bass clarinet, recorded in 2008 at the the Dakota in Minneapolis, followed by another unlabeled excerpt from the Dakota gig below that.

Finally, for a bit of contrast, today's fourth video shows Potter in a much more traditional setting, playing his version of the classic tenor sax showcase "Body and Soul" a couple of years ago on the PBS program Legends of Jazz.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's the latest wrap-up of assorted links and short local news items of interest:

* Post-Dispatch business reporter Tim Bryant writes today that the Music Center of Kirkwood (once known as Mel Bay Music) will relocate later this year from downtown Kirkwood to a former paint store on Watson Rd. in Crestwood. The new store, to be renamed City Music and Education Center, will be triple the size of the current Kirkwood location - and, interestingly, less than a mile from one of two Guitar Center stores in the St. Louis area.

* St. Louis magazine's Stefene Russell has an article from the mag's March issue now online about Jazz St. Louis' 15th anniversary and upcoming benefit gala.

* Back at the Post, Terry Perkins reviewed last Saturday's concert by Chris Botti with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. For a contrasting view, read this blog entry about the trumpeter's St. Louis show from blogger Amy Zopfi, a blogger from Las Vegas who's planning on following Botti across the country for an entire year's worth of concerts.

* The remodeling of Mangia Italiano is done, and the South Grand restaurant and bar reopened this week, with saxophonist Dave Stone's trio set to resume their long-running Friday night gig this evening.

* The St. Louis-based traditional jazz and swing band Cornet Chop Suey (pictured) is on the road this weekend, heading west to Seaside, OR, where they'll be one of 11 bands performing for the 28th annual Oregon Dixieland Jubilee. The festival starts today and continues through Sunday.

* Jay Landesman, former owner of the Crystal Palace nightclub in St. Louis' famed Gaslight Square entertainment district, died this week in London at age 91. You can read the Post-Dispatch obituary by Deb Peterson here, and a piece about Landesman from the Riverfront Times' Aimee Levitt here.

(Edited 2/28/11 to add the blogger's name to the item about Chris Botti.)

East St. Louis HS jazz band named one of 15 finalists in Essentially Ellington competition

The jazz band from East St. Louis High School (pictured) is one of 15 ensembles from across the United States to be accepted as finalists for Jazz at Lincoln Center's 2011 Essentially Ellington jazz band competition. (Link goes to .pdf file.)

The ESL HS band is directed by Delano Redmond, and was selected from among 110 bands that entered this year's competition. The 15 finalists will go to New York City May 12 through May 14 to compete and participate in workshops, jam sessions, and more, with members of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra serving as clinicians.

The three top-placing bands will perform at Avery Fisher Hall with Wynton Marsalis, JALC's artistic director, as guest soloist, followed by a performance by the 15-piece JaLCO and an awards ceremony honoring outstanding soloists, sections and the top three bands. This is the 16th year for the Essentially Ellington program, which also includes regional festivals, teaching resources, a summer academy for band directors Academy, monthly newsletters, and more.

Jazz this week: Dirty Dozen Brass Band & Jon Cleary, St. Louis Jazz Orchestra, the Bosman Twins, and more

This week's jazz and creative music menu in St. Louis features all sorts of sounds, from big band to cabaret to New Orleans roots music to several different flavors of modern jazz. Let's go right to the highlights...

On Thursday evening, the St. Louis Jazz Orchestra, directed by bassist Jim Widner, performs at the Touhill Performing Arts Center; and pianist Ptah Williams and guitarist William Lenihan team up to do a free duo concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

On Friday, the multi-instrumentalist Bosman Twins return to Jazz at the Bistro for the first night of a two-night stand; singer and pianist Carol Schmidt will do the first of her two cabaret shows this weekend at the Kranzberg Arts Center for the Presenters Dolan; and Ptah Williams will lead his group at Robbie's House of Jazz.

On Saturday, New Orleans' Dirty Dozen Brass Band will be back in town, with singer/pianist Jon Cleary opening, for a performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall. For a preview, you can see the DDBB in several performance videos included in this post from last Saturday.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday bassist Stanley Clarke and pianist Hiromi will be back in town for one more night at the Bistro, making up the sets canceled earlier this month due to travel delays caused by the inclement weather. Also on Monday, the SIUE student jazz combos directed by Rick Haydon and Reggie Thomas and the SIUE Guitar Ensemble will perform in the theater at Dunham Hall on the SIUE campus; and pianist Dave Becherer's trio plays 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.)

Tony Bennett to perform Saturday, May 7 at the Fox Theatre

Singer Tony Bennett (pictured) is returning to St. Louis this spring to perform on Saturday, May 7 at the Fox Theatre. Bennett's last appearance here was in May, 2009 at the same venue.

Tickets for Bennett's May 7 show at the Fox will priced from $55 to $85, and go on sale at 10:00 a.m. next Monday, February 28 via Metrotix and the Fox box office.

Warren Wolf, Peter Martin to play Sunday, May 22 at the Sheldon

Pianist Peter Martin has announced that he'll continue his series at the Sheldon Concert Hall by joining forces with vibraphonist Warren Wolf (pictured) for a performance at the Sheldon at 7:00 p.m., Sunday, May 22.

Wolf, who's originally from Baltimore, has worked with Martin previously in bassist Christian McBride's group Inside Straight. He's considered a rising star in jazz, and one of the top vibes players to emerge in recent years. The Sheldon concert will be a quartet performance, with bassist Rueben Rogers and drummer Gregory Hutchinson joining Wolf and Martin to complete the ensemble.

Tickets for the concert are priced at $25 for the balcony, $30 for the orchestra floor, and $50 for special VIP seating, and are on sale now via Metrotix.

Recently on Heliocentric Worlds

It's at approximately this point every two weeks or so that we slip in another wholly gratuitous plug for StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds, which each day presents an online music video for your entertainment and edification.

The genres covered include jazz, blues, soul, funk, classic rock, prog rock and experimental, and recent posts have included clips featuring McCoy Tyner, Steve Coleman, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, the Jazz Crusaders, Janis Joplin, Ry Cooder, Earl Hines & Jaki Byard, Santana, Fred Wesley & Maceo Parker, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Carla Bley, Sonny Boy Williamson, John McLaughlin & 4th Dimension, Louis Armstrong, Kool & The Gang, James Cotton, Lou Rawls, the Bar-Kays, Dexter Gordon and Tito Puente.

See them all, plus hundreds more videos from the archives, by visiting http://heliocentricworlds.blogspot.com/.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Gettin' dirty with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band

This week, we shine our video spotlight on New Orleans' Dirty Dozen Brass Band, who will be back in St. Louis to perform next Saturday, February 26 on a double bill with singer/pianist Jon Cleary at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The DDBB have played here numerous times in recent years, with their last visit coming in November 2009 at the Broadway Oyster Bar.

The four clips featured today are all of fairly recent vintage, starting up above with a version of "John The Revelator" recorded in 2008 at a festival in Burghausen, Germany. Down below is another clip from the same gig, the DDBB staple "Dirty Old Man," in which baritone saxophonist Roger Lewis gets to rap about spankin' somebody.

Below that, we've got the Dirty Dozen's take on a couple of New Orleans classics, an undated-but-looks-to-be-fairly-recent version of "Junko Partner," and "When The Saints Go Marching In," from a 2010 show at the Wolftrap performing arts center in Virginia that roused the audience to get up on their feet and second-line around the perimeter. For more DDBB performances on video, check out this post that ran here before their last appearance in St. Louis.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

* Trumpeter Ray Vega, in town this week to play at Jazz at the Bistro, appeared yesterday on KPLR's afternoon news broadcast. You can see the video here; Vega continues at the Bistro through Saturday.

* Writing for the Post-Dispatch, Terry Perkins interviewed trumpeter Chris Botti (pictured) about his sold-out concert with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra on Saturday.

* Perkins also has a piece online at the St. Louis Beacon previewing Saturday's performance by Quincy Troupe, Kelvyn Bell and Hamiet Bluiett for the Nu-Art Series at the Metropolitan Gallery.

* Back at the Post, pop music critic Kevin Johnson reviewed last week's concert by Al Jarreau at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

* As mentioned here last November, Jazz St. Louis is a winner of one of the 2011 Arts Awards from the Missouri Arts Council. JSL was honored in the category of "Arts Organization," along with this year's other recipients, in a ceremony this week at the state Capitol in Jefferson City. The awards recognize "individuals and organizations that have made profound and lasting contributions to the cultural and artistic climate of the state."

* Lastly, we direct your attention to this editorial published this week by the Post-Dispatch about radio station WSIE and jazz radio in St. Louis. P-D editorial writer Eddie Roth, a jazz fan himself, interviewed yr. humble StLJN editor in conjunction with the piece, and I'm quoted briefly therein. More on this subject in a future post...

Jazz this week: Ray Vega, Chris Botti, "SoundArt" with Troupe, Bell & Bluiett, Craig Pomranz, Todd Clouser, and more

This week's noteworthy jazz and creative music performances in St. Louis include visits from two traveling trumpeters, and two shows featuring St. Louis expats coming home. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, trumpet player Ray Vega (pictured) brings his Latin jazz-meets-hard bop quintet to town to open a four-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro, continuing through Saturday. For more about Vega and some video clips of him in action, see this post from last week.

On Thursday evening, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University will present a free concert from the St. Louis Jazz X-Tet, with saxophonist David Stone and vibraphonist Peter Schlamb. The concert is co-sponsored by campus radio station KWUR as part of KWUR Week.

On Friday, actor, singer and St. Louis native Craig Pomranz returns home from NYC to open a two-night stand of his cabaret show at the Kranzberg Arts Center under the auspices of the Presenters Dolan. Directed by Ron Cohen with musical direction from Stephen Bocchino, the performance includes a range of material, from Mel Brooks and Ronny Graham to Rodgers and Hart and Cole Porter. For more about Pomranz, see this feature article written by Alisha Alexander for the Vital Voice.

Also on Friday, singer Crystal Haywood, profiled last week here by the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson, will do a Billie Holiday tribute at Robbie's House of Jazz. .

On Saturday afternoon, poet Quincy Troupe and guitarist Kelvyn Bell, who both grew up in the St. Louis area, will be back home to perform with special guest saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett in a show called "SoundArt," presented by the Nu-Art Series at the Metropolitan Gallery. The St. Louis American's Chris King interviewed Troupe about the gig for a story published in last week's paper, and it's still available online here.

Saturday also is the date for the annual Southwestern Illinois College Jazz Festival, which starts at 9:00 a.m. and continues into the evening at the Main Complex Theatre on SWIC's Belleville campus, 2500 Carlyle Ave. in Belleville. In the morning, jazz bands from area schools will perform and get critiqued. After lunch, saxophonist and noted jazz educator Ron Cart of Northwestern Illinois University will present a master class, followed by more student performances and critiques. Then at 7:00 p.m., Carter will perform a concert with the SWIC Jazz Band and a combo featuring Reggie Thomas (piano), Anthony Wiggins (trumpet), Nick Jost (bass) and Marty Morrison (drums). All events are free and open to the public.

On Saturday night, trumpeter Chris Botti returns to St. Louis to make his debut with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra at Powell Symphony Hall. The show was heavily promoted, with tickets offered as a pledge premium, by local PBS affiliate KETC, and that, plus Botti's baseline popularity, equals a show that sold out a good while ago. However, the Symphony may have some standing room tickets for sale; call 314-534-1700 for information.

That same night, guitarist Brian Vaccaro's trio, with keyboard player Nick Schlueter and drummer Kyle Hunnicutt, will play at Robbie's.

On Sunday evening, bassist Darrell Mixon's trio will play at Second Baptist Church in Richmond Heights for the St. Louis Jazz and Blues Vespers series; and pianist Kim Portnoy and his trio, with clarinetist Scott Alberici as special guest, will perform in a concert at Eliot Chapel in Kirkwood.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Tuesday night guitarist Todd Clouser and his band A Love Electric will make a tour stop at the downtown bar/restaurant Lola. For a bit more about Clouser, who comes from Minneapolis by way of Mexico, see this post.

And 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.)

(Edited 2/16/11 to add info about the SWIC Jazz Festival and fix the date for Chris Botti.)

Peter Martin to play benefit for Kids' Place on Saturday, March 12 at 560 Music Center

On the heels of a solo concert at the Sheldon and a peripatetic series of gigs with singer Dianne Reeves that included an all-star performance at the White House, pianist Peter Martin (pictured) will play a benefit event for Kids Place, Inc at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, March 12 at the 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity Ave.

Kids' Place, Inc operates a free after-school education and enrichment program for at-risk elementary school students in Martin's hometown of University City.

A $50 ticket to the event includes the concert and dessert; a $100 ticket also comes with an invitation to a pre-concert reception with Martin and the organization's board. Tickets can be purchased by mail before March 7 by sending a check and the number of tickets you want to buy to Kids' Place, Inc. 6901 Washington Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63130.

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey performing Thursday, March 31 at Cicero's

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey (pictured) is coming to St. Louis to perform on Thursday, March 31 at Cicero's.

Founded in 1994 in Tulsa, the jazz/funk/jam band has changed personnel and evolved its sound considerably over the years. They started as an eight-piece group, pared down to a trio in 1999, and most recently became a quartet in 2008. The current lineup include founding member Brian Haas on keyboards, with Josh Raymer on drums, Chris Combs on lap steel guitar, and Jeff Harshbarger on bass.

All those changes have been amply documented on 19 recordings, including two in 2010: The Sensation of Seeing Light, a 7" vinyl single released for Record Store Day in April, and Stay Gold, which came out in June on both CD and double 12" vinyl. Last year also saw the premiere of "Ludwig," JFJO's reinterpretations of Beethoven's 3rd and 6th Symphonies, with a 50 piece orchestra at the OK Mozart Festival. They've just completed sessions for another recording tentatively titled Race Riot Suite, inspired by historic events in Tulsa, that features guest performances from saxophonists Jeff Coffin, Peter Apfelbaum and Mark Southerland and trumpeter Steven Bernstein.

The St. Louis trio Juanita Place and Nashville singer/songwriter Lauren Lucas will open. Show time is 8:00 p.m., and tickets are $7 at the door.

(Edited after posting. Updated 3/2/11 with a new photo of the band.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Four from Ray Vega

This week, we've got some video clips featuring trumpet player Ray Vega, who will be in St. Louis next week to play Wednesday, February 16 through Saturday, February 19 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Vega grew up in the South Bronx, and has an extensive resume as a gigging musician in NYC playing both salsa and jazz. He's worked with top Latin performers including Tito Puente, Ray Barretto, Mongo Santamaria, Mario Bauza and many others, as well with more jazz-oriented big bands including Lionel Hampton, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Chico O’Farrill's Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, and the Lincoln Center Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra.

He made his solo debut in 1996 with a self-titled album for the Concord label, and since has released four more CDs as a leader. Vega's most recent recording is East-West Trumpet Summit, a collaboration with Seattle trumpeter Thomas Marriott that came out last summer on Origin Records. He also recently has worked with the composer Osvaldo Golijov, performing first and solo trumpet in his critically acclaimed orchestral piece "La Pasion Segun San Marco".

In addition to performing and recording, Vega is a senior lecturer at the University of Vermont, where he coaches jazz combos and teaches trumpet and jazz history. His band for the gig at the Bistro will feature pianist Zaccai Curtis, bassist Andy Eulau, percussionist Chembo Corniel and drummer Diego Lopez.

Today's first clip is from 2008, and shows Vega in a performance at the Black Note Jazz Club in Adelaide, South Australia. Down below are two performances from the Bern Jazz Festival, each split into two parts due to YouTube's restrictions. Last but not least, we see Vega with some of his university students, playing at a club in Burlington, VT. Check them out for a taste of Vega's Latin-jazz-meets-hard-bop style.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's the latest wrap-up of assorted links and short local news items of interest:

* The St. Louis American's Chris King has written an article previewing next Saturday's performance featuring poet Quincy Troupe, guitarist Kelvyn Bell (pictured) and (now added to the bill) saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett, to be presented by the Nu-Art Series at the Metropolitan Gallery downtown. Get the story online here.

* If by chance you're heading down to Columbia, MO for Sunday's concert by pianist Ellis Marsalis, know that the pre-show discussion featuring Marsalis and Washington University's Gerald Early has a new time, date and location. The talk, with Q&A session to follow, has been moved to 2:00 p.m. Sunday in the Piccadilly Room of the Holiday Inn Select. It's free, but space still is limited, so make advance reservations by calling 573-449-3001. Marsalis will perform in the hotel's ballroom that evening at 8:00 p.m.; for tickets, contact the We Always Swing jazz concert series.

* Lisette Dennis of the Regional Arts Commission sends word that the music department of Howard University will be holding scholarship auditions for St. Louis area high school seniors starting at 1:00 p.m. Thursday, March 3 in the band room at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, 3125 S. Kingshighway. Additional auditions will be held as needed on Friday, March 4 and Saturday, March 5. For more information, or to schedule an audition, email Cherri at cherri_t2002 @ yahoo.com.

* Musician and author Peter Buffett is coming to the St. Louis area next week to perform in a benefit for the Virtual Learning Center of Cooperating School Districts of Greater St. Louis, which helps to integrate technology into area classrooms. Buffett, the son of investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett, will present his "Concert & Conversation" at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, February 16 at the St. Charles Convention Center. The show is billed as the live companion to Buffett's New York Times best-selling book Life is What You Make It: Find Your Own Path to Fulfillment, and features live piano, vocals and cello along with video clips of his film and TV work. Tickets are $30 in advance, $35 at the door, $25 for college students with valid student ID, and can be purchased online here.

* When bassist Stanley Clarke was in town last week to perform with pianist Hiromi at Jazz at the Bistro, the staff at Jazz St. Louis got him in front of a video camera for a few minutes to talk about our city's jazz legacy. You can see the clip online here, and check out some photos of Clarke and Hiromi's performance on the JSL Facebook page here.

Bill Frisell to perform Thursday, May 12 at the Old Rock House

Guitarist Bill Frisell (pictured) is coming to St. Louis to perform on Thursday, May 12 at the Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St.

Though considered primarily a jazz guitarist, Frisell incorporates a variety of influences into his music, including country, folk and Americana; classical; noise; and free improv. He's worked with a diverse range of artists from jazz, rock and pop, including Paul Motian, John Zorn, Wayne Horvitz, Elvis Costello, Bono, T-Bone Burnett, Paul Simon, McCoy Tyner, Ornette Coleman, Brian Eno and Ry Cooder.

Frisell's St. Louis show is part of the ORH's "Listening Room Series," for which the club adds more tables and chairs and offers reserved seating to create a cabaret-type setting. It will feature the guitarist in a quartet with trumpeter Ron Miles, bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Kenny Wollesen.

Doors open at 7:00 p.m., with showtime at 8:30 p.m. Tickets will go on sale at 5:00 p.m. next Wednesday, February 16 via Metrotix. Prices are $35 for reserved seating, $26 for general admission, and the show is open only to ages 21 and over.

Jazz this week: Al Jarreau, Peter Martin, Davey Williams & LaDonna Smith, Mardra Thomas & Reggie Thomas, and more

It's a busy pre-Valentine's Day weekend for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, and with weather forecasters predicting at least a temporary respite from the deep freeze, it should be a good weekend to get out and about. Here are some of the notable shows coming up:

Tonight, pianist Peter Martin continues his eponymous concert series with a solo piano performance at the Sheldon. Martin hasn't done a lot of solo gigs here in St. Louis, but his CD/EP Set of Five from a couple of years ago showed that he's got the ideas, interpretative skills and technique needed to succeed in that format. Previous shows in the series have been well-attended, but as of close of business on Wednesday, there were still tickets available.

Also tonight, multi-instrumentalist Sandy Weltman will lead a quartet with pianist Kim Portnoy, bassist Ric Vice, and drummer Clancy Newell in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. This show will emphasize Weltman's harmonica playing, and he's a standout on the diatonic harp*, with skills that justify comparison to the likes of Toots Thielemans, Charlie McCoy and Howard Levy.

On Friday, singer Al Jarreau (pictured) performs in a concert presented by Jazz St. Louis at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. Given Jarreau's success crossing over to pop and R&B, expect a healthy selection of familiar hit tunes, but one would hope that this particular setting will provide opportunity for him to stretch out a bit, too. For a video sampling of some of Jarreau's concert staples, check out this post from last Saturday.

Also on Friday, two local, musical husband-and-wife couples will open shows with Valentine's Day themes in the Grand Center district. At Jazz at the Bistro, singer Mardra Thomas and her pianist/spouse Reggie Thomas will continue what has become a Valentine's weekend tradition in recent years, performing on Friday and Saturday, plus a special Monday night engagement. Meanwhile, just around the corner at the Kranzberg Arts Center, pianist Joe Dreyer and singer Rosemary Watts will present their cabaret show on Friday and Saturday under the auspices of the Presenters Dolan.

Robbie's House of Jazz will be getting in the mood for love this weekend, too, with a Motown-themed show from the Sean Holland Band on Friday and a Valentine's dinner-and-show package featuring music from singer Tony Viviano's group on Saturday.

Also on Saturday, guitarist Davey Williams and violist LaDonna Smith will perform in a concert presented by New Music Circle at Focal Point in Maplewood. Williams and Smith, who used to be a couple and have remained musical collaborators, are from Birmingham, AL. Both are longtime veterans of the international free improv scene, and they've performed in St. Louis for NMC a number of times, developing a bit of a local fan base in the process. I've heard them together and separately, and if you have any interest in at all in that type of music, Williams and Smith definitely are worth checking out.

On the other hand, if you prefer traditional jazz, there's something for you on Sunday afternoon, as the St. Louis Jazz Club presents Cornet Chop Suey serving up a mix of New Orleans and swing styles at the Doubletree Hotel in Chesterfield.

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.)

* Edited to delete a reference to chromatic harp, after Ric Vice emailed to nicely remind me that Weltman plays diatonic almost exclusively - which makes his very precise half-note bends all the more impressive.

Auditions for Jazz St. Louis All-Stars, JazzU scheduled for June

Student musicians, music teachers and band directors in the St. Louis area, take note: Jazz St. Louis has announced that auditions for the 2011-2012 JazzU and Jazz St. Louis All-Star programs will take place on Monday, June 13 and Monday, June 20, with a third date to be added if necessary.

The application deadline for both programs is Friday, May 13, and you'll find details and downloadable applications at the links above. For more information, contact Jazz St. Louis director of education Phil Dunlap by phone at 314-289-4033 or by email at phil @ jazzstl.org.

Todd Clouser to play at Lola on Tuesday, February 22

Jazz-rock guitarist Todd Clouser (pictured) is coming to St. Louis to perform at 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, February 22 at Lola, 500 N 14th St downtown.

Clouser, who's from Minneapolis but now is based in Baja, Mexico, is touring with his band in support of their new CD A Love Electric, just released by the indie label Ropeadope Records.

Described as "a blend of 70's rock, Curtis Mayfield funk, and modern jazz," A Love Electric features a guest appearance from NYC slide trumpeter Steven Bernstein, who leads the bands Sex Mob and Millennial Territory Orchestra and with whom Clouser has toured in Mexico for the past two years. The CD features eleven original compositions plus covers of Harry Nilsson’s “One” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”

Clouser's touring group, a collective also named A Love Electric, includes trumpeter Adam Meckler, bassist Chris Bates, and drummer Greg Schutte.

The show listing at Lola's website (Warning: autoplay music with no apparent way to mute it) doesn't indicate if there's a cover or admission charge; we're seeking further details, and will update this post as circumstances warrant.

UPDATE - 11:45 p.m., 2/13/11: The cover charge for Todd Clouser at Lola will be $5 at the door.

MAXJAZZ to release Terell Stafford's This Side of Strayhorn on Tuesday, April 5

The independent St. Louis based record label MAXJAZZ has announced that they'll release trumpeter Terell Stafford's new recording This Side of Strayhorn (pictured) on Tuesday, April 5.

The CD offers Stafford's interpretations of the music of Billy Strayhorn, the famed composer of jazz standards including "Take The A Train" and "Lush Life" who served for years as Duke Ellington's arranger, auxiliary pianist, and virtual alter ego.

It features Stafford's working quintet, with saxophonist Tim Warfield, pianist and arranger Bruce Barth, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Dana Hall, and was produced by the Grammy-winning bassist and composer John Clayton.

Stafford will celebrate the release of This Side of Strayhorn with a week of shows in March at NYC's Village Vanguard, while MAXJAZZ promises sound samples and pre-order info soon.

Jazz St. Louis polling fans on next year's Bistro bookings

Once again this year, Jazz St. Louis is polling local jazz fans to find out who they'd like to see perform at Jazz at the Bistro.

The poll on the front page of the JSL site asks respondents to choose from a menu of musicians including Don Byron, Ravi Coltrane, Kevin Eubanks, Tia Fuller, Hilary Kole, Joe Lovano, Dafnis Prieto, Arturo Sandoval, Dr. Lonnie Smith and Tierney Sutton.

While there's no provision for write-in votes, JSL also has encouraged fans of the organization's Facebook page to comment and weigh in with their picks, which allows for more of an open-ended response, and presumably, they'll also factor in email, letters, phone calls and so on.

At this writing, Smith, Eubanks and Sandoval are the leading vote-getters, but the overall numbers are still relatively small, so more responses could easily move the vote in another direction. For what it's worth, yr. humble StLJN editor's picks would include Byron, Lovano, and Smith, with Prieto and Fuller not far behind.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: You can call him Al

With more than 35 years as a top recording artist and a number of radio hits to his credit, singer Al Jarreau likely needs no introduction to most readers of this site. Jarreau, who turns 71 next month, has performed in St. Louis many times, and he'll be back here next Friday, February 11 to play the Touhill Performing Arts Center under the auspices of Jazz St. Louis.

To mark the occasion, today we've got videos of four songs that have been concert staples of Jarreau's, with performances spanning the singer's four decades in the spotlight. First up is a performance of Dave Brubeck's "Take Five," taken from a 1976 broadcast for German TV. It features Jarreau's touring band of the time, with Tom Canning on keyboards, Jerome Rimson on bass, and Nigel Wilkinson on drums, and though the overall contour of the performance is very similar to the recorded version, it's still fun to see and hear Jarreau let it hang out in front of a live audience.

Down below is a 1983 version of Chick Corea's "Spain", with a band including Dan Sawyer on guitar, Patches Stewart on trumpet and flugelhorn, and Weather Report's Alex Acuna on drums. The audio on this one isn't quite as good, but overall it's a very nice performance of what has become another signature arrangement for Jarreau.

Below that, there's a version of "Roof Garden" from the 1994 Warsaw Summer Jazz Days. The band here includes Steve Gadd on drums and the often underrated Neil Larsen on keyboards, but this performance is mostly about Jarreau having some fun doing a vocal impression of a funk guitarist.

We close things out with Jarreau's version of the standard "Since I Fell For You" from the 2008 North Sea Jazz Festival, done as a duet with singer Debbie Davis. This performance gets a bit loose in spots, but it also has some nice examples of Jarreau's still-elastic vocal timbre.

Stanley Clarke, Hiromi reschedule postponed sets for Monday, February 28

Although bassist Stanley Clarke and pianist Hiromi did manage to make it to St. Louis to perform this weekend at Jazz at the Bistro, they weren't able to play as scheduled on Wednesday after the inclement weather caused their original flight to be canceled.

Jazz St. Louis today announced that those Wednesday sets have been rescheduled for Monday, February 28. Tickets for the Wednesday performances will be valid for the same set on the new date, or can be returned to their original point of purchase for a refund. Tickets that were exchanged for another show in the run will not be valid for the new dates.

If you have questions, you can call the Jazz St. Louis box office at 314-289-4030.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's the latest wrap-up of assorted links and short local news items of interest:

* Terry Perkins has a story in the St. Louis Beacon previewing saxophonist Willie Akins' reunion this weekend with the musicians who helped him record his CD Alima.

* Broadcaster Don Wolff has added another distribution outlet for the weekly audio edition of his program "I Love Jazz," which now also is available on Loudcaster Radio.

* The Ladue News has put online some party pics from last week's event co-sponsored by the Young Friends groups of Jazz St. Louis and the St. Louis Science Center.

* As part of her "day job" as Airman First Class for the U.S. Air Force, singer Carmen Emborski currently is deployed to the Middle East with the Air Force musical ensemble Starlifter, and is blogging about her experiences here. Here's hoping that Emborski and all our men and women in uniform can be brought home safely and as soon as possible...

Jazz this week: Stanley Clarke and Hiromi, Sister Swing, "O That Jazz," Hard Bop Heritage, and more

While the worst of this week's winter storm seems to have missed the immediate St. Louis area, it has caused travel problems throughout the region, with many businesses closing and a number of events canceled, postponed or rescheduled.

Most notably for local jazz fans, bassist Stanley Clarke and keyboardist Hiromi were scheduled to begin a series of duo shows tonight at Jazz at the Bistro, but the inclement weather prevented them from flying in on schedule. That forced them to cancel a performance scheduled last night in Columbia, MO as well as tonight's sets at the Bistro.

The latest word from Jazz St. Louis is that Clarke and Hiromi still are coming to St. Louis, and their performances on Thursday, Friday and Saturday will go on as scheduled. However, at this writing, all shows except for the 10:15 set on Thursday are sold out. There may be some tickets available on the resale market, or, if you're feeling lucky, I suppose you could go down to the Bistro, wait, and see if anyone cancels their reservations, but frankly, that seems like a long shot, so caveat emptor.

For more about Clarke and Hiromi, see this video showcase post from last Saturday; this interview the bassist did with the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson, published earlier this week; and this piece by Chris King from last week's St. Louis American

(Jazz St. Louis has said they'll try to reschedule Wednesday's shows; Clarke and Hiromi already have reset their gig in Columbia for Sunday, February 27, so perhaps they'll be able to get here right after that. More details on that as they become available...)

Elsewhere around town, the majority of this weekend's events involve local musicians, most of whom ought to be able to get back to work as the roads are cleared and the area finishes digging out. The exception would be the California-based vocal trio Sister Swing, who are scheduled to perform Sunday at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey; one would hope things will be back to normal at the airport well before then.

Still, given the week's events, it can't hurt to check the local weather conditions, and to call ahead to your venue of choice before heading out in this frigid weather, OK?

Also on Thursday, the sextet Hard Bop Heritage, led by trumpeter Randy Holmes, plays a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; and the jazz bands from Webster Groves High School and Middle School will raise money for their band program with their "Cool Nights, Hot Jazz" concert at The Pageant.

On Friday, there's another benefit, as parents and friends of the school music programs in O'Fallon, IL will present "O That Jazz," a fundraising event for the district's student bands. The evening will feature dinner, dancing, and swing music from Wack-A-Doo, and takes place at The Fountains Hotel & Conference Center in Fairview Heights.

Also on Friday, saxophonist Willie Akins will be at Robbie's House of Jazz, accompanied by pianist Simon Rowe, bassist Willem vom Hombracht and drummer Montez Coleman, who back in the early 90s helped him record Alima, his only CD as a bandleader. Akins and the band also will do a free performance and workshop at 11:00 a.m. this Saturday at Saxquest.

On Saturday evening, pianist Heather Bosshardt will lead a trio at Robbie's in celebration of her debut CD release.

On Sunday, the Bossa Nova Restaurant and Lounge in Alton presents their monthly jam session hosted by a band including saxophonist Jason Swagler, guitarist Eric Slaughter, bassist Nick Jost and drummer Marty Morrison.

Looking beyond the weekend, the Sessions Big Band will play on Monday at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups, and on Tuesday, Robbie's will host their weekly open jam session.

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 after posting to add the WGHS event at the Pageant.)

Stanley Clarke, Hiromi postpone Wednesday night shows at Jazz at the Bistro

This just in, from Jazz St. Louis director of operations and artistic administration Bob Bennett:

"Due to flights being canceled coming into Lambert Airport on Wednesday, February 2, 2011, Stanley Clarke and Hiromi will not be able to begin their engagement at Jazz at the Bistro until Thursday, February 3, 2011.

We are working on rescheduling Wednesday's performances for a later date and will announce the new date as soon as possible.

Tickets for Wednesday night's shows may be returned to the point of purchase for a refund, or can be used for the new date once announced. All other dates of the engagement will proceed as scheduled."

Recently on Heliocentric Worlds

Trapped inside by icy weather? Relieve that cabin fever with a trip to StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds, where you can while away a few hours watching online videos featuring the greats of jazz, blues, soul, funk, classic rock, prog rock and experimental music.

Recent posts have spotlighted music videos featuring Tito Puente, Howling Wolf, David Liebman, Charlie Haden's Quartet West, Ray Charles, Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Herbie Hancock, Parliament/Funkadelic, Mel Lewis Orchestra, Cab Calloway, Eric Clapton, Ornette Coleman, Tom Waits, Jimmy McGriff, the original Jazz Crusaders, Tower of Power, The Temptations, Earl Hines, Santana, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and Phil Woods.

All of these carefully curated clips are still waiting for you, along with hundreds more from the incomparable archives. See them all at http://heliocentricworlds.blogspot.com/.

Glen David Andrews to perform Wednesday, March 9 at The Gramophone

New Orleans trombonist and vocalist Glen David Andrews (pictured) is coming to St. Louis to play on Wednesday, March 9 at The Gramophone.

Andrews, a protege of New Orleans legend Anthony “Tuba Fats” Lacen; cousin of Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews; and brother of Rebirth Brass Band's Derrick Tabb; is steeped in the city's traditional jazz and gospel sounds. He often performs old jazz standards and hymns along with his own compositions in a show that incorporates jazz, gospel, rock, blues and funk. Andrews appeared last year in the HBO television series Treme, and already has filmed two additional episodes for the upcoming season.

Jazz journalist Pamela Espelund, who writes the Minneapolis/St. Paul jazz blog Bebopified, was quite enthusiastic about Andrews' Twin Cities show at the Dakota last July, saying that "It may have been the most raucous night in the 25-year history of the Dakota, including both locations. It’s the only time I’ve felt the floor move."

Updated - 12:00 a.m., 2/2/11: Doors will open at 8:00 p.m., and showtime is 9:00 p.m.. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 day of show, $23 for ages 18-21, and can be purchased via The Gramophone's website. (Scroll down to find the listing for March 9.)

In the meantime, in the embedded video window below you can check out Andrews performing "Just A Closer Walk With Thee," from his 2009 CD Walking Through Heaven's Gate, which was recorded live in 2008 at Zion Hill Baptist Church in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans.



(Edited after posting to correct the date.)