StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Facets of Frisell

Today, let's examine a few of the many musical facets of guitarist Bill Frisell, who's coming to St. Louis to perform Thursday, May 12 at the Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St.

Usually categorized as a jazz guitarist, Frisell nevertheless has worked in a wide variety of styles while collaborating with musicians from many different backgrounds. In addition to releasing an album as a bandleader each year during his 30-year career, Frisell also has performed or recorded with an extensive roster of jazz, rock and pop artists including Paul Motian, John Zorn, Wayne Horvitz, Elvis Costello, Bono, T-Bone Burnett, Paul Simon, McCoy Tyner, Ornette Coleman, Brian Eno and Ry Cooder.

His St. Louis show will feature the guitarist with two of his most frequent accompanists, bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Kenny Wollesen, along with another longtime associate, trumpeter Ron Miles.

You can hear all four of them, along with saxophonist Greg Tardy, in the first video up above, a version of Lee Konitz' "Sub-Conscious Lee" recorded in 2006 in Salzau, Germany. Though Frisell's eclecticism occasionally may obscure the fact that he's a darned good guitarist in traditional jazz styles, his ability to spin out bop-style lines over a swinging beat is in full evidence here.

Down below, Frisell offers a take on the Philly soul sound with a version of the Delfonics' "La La Means I Love You" recorded with Scherr and Wollesen in 2007 in Rochester NY. Though it starts off with a straightforward groove and statement of the melody, by the end it becomes almost an abstract meditation on the notes of the song's chorus, thanks to Frisell's use of what seems to be a looping delay pedal.

Below that, there's a version of Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall," recorded in 2002 in Italy by Frisell, Scherr, Wollesen, violinist Jenny Scheinman and percussionist Sidiki Camara. Finally, you can hear Frisell and the aforementioned Elvis Costello doing a spare duet version of "If I Only Had a Brain" - yes, the Yip Harburg/Harold Arlen song from The Wizard of Oz - taken from a 2009 episode of Costello's TV program Spectacle.

David Sanborn, George Duke and Marcus Miller to play Sunday, August 7 at the Touhill

This just in: Saxophonist and former St. Louisan David Sanborn (pictured) will team up this summer with keyboardist George Duke and bassist Marcus Miller for 22 tour dates, including a concert on Sunday, August 7 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

The group will be billed as DMS (incorporating the first letter of the three principle members' last names) and also will include drummer Louis Cato and keyboardist Federico Gonzalez Pena.

The tour is sponsored by St. Louis-based Jazz Cruises LLC, and just was announced today, so there are no ticketing details yet. Once that information is made public, we'll have it for you right here.

Jazz this week: Bill Charlap Trio, Tony DeSare & Bucky Pizzarelli, and more

It's been a week of waterlogged weather here in St. Louis, but the soggy circumstances can't put a damper on all the jazz and creative music coming up in town over the next few days. Let's go the highlights...

Tonight, the fine pianist Bill Charlap and his trio open a four-night run continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. While Charlap has played in St. Louis before, this is the first time his trio has performed at the Bistro. You can find out more about Charlap and see some video clips by checking out this post from last Saturday.

Also tonight, the Meramec Jazz Lab Band, directed by Bob Boedges and now featuring singer Valerie Tichacek, will perform a concert at the Black Cat Theatre.

On Thursday, singers Alice Kinsella and Deborah Sharn will perform a cabaret show at the Kranzberg Arts Center under the auspices of the Presenters Dolan, with another performance on Friday night.

Also on Friday, Latin jazz group Ritmo Caliente performs at Robbie's House of Jazz, and keyboardist Nick Schlueter's trio with bassist Jessica Sacks and drummer Josh Costello will play the Cigar Inn in Belleville.

On Saturday, pianist/singer Tony DeSare and guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli will team up for a performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall on Saturday. Given that DeSare is influenced greatly by the swing, bop and Great American Songbook classics that have been Pizzarelli's bread and butter throughout his long career, this seems like a pretty good pairing. What's more, The Sheldon is offering a discount on tickets to the concert; see this post for details.

Also Saturday, saxophonist and instrument designer Peter Ponzol will present a free sax clinic at Saxquest; singer Mae Wheeler performs at Seasons American Cuisine in Chesterfield; saxophonist Stan Coleman's University Youth Jazz Big Band will be at Robbie's, and electronic musician and former St. Louisan Tom Hamilton will do a concert for New Music Circle at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

On Sunday, it's time once again for the monthly jam session at Bossanova Restuarant and Lounge in Alton featuring saxophonist Jason Swagler and guitarist Eric Slaughter's trio. Also on Sunday, those who still enjoy their recorded jazz in physical media formats may want to check out the St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show at the American Czech Center on the south side.

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 correct the dates of the Presenters Dolan shows.)

Peter Ponzol to present free saxophone clinic this Saturday, April 30 at Saxquest

Saxophonist and instrument designer Peter Ponzol is coming to St. Louis to present a free sax clinic at 2:00 p.m. this Saturday, April 30 at Saxquest.

Though Ponzol (pictured) is an accomplished musician who's participated in more than 100 recordings and performed all over the world, he's perhaps better known for his work as a consultant and designer of saxophones and related products for companies such as Buffet Crampon and Keilwerth.

The "saxophone guru" also has designed and marketed high-end, state- of-the-art mouthpieces and custom necks under his own name, and recently teamed with Antigua Winds to develop the new Pro One series of professional saxophones. Ponzol's clinic at Saxquest is free and open to the public, with no advance reservations needed.

Pollstar: The Bad Plus to kick off 2012 at Jazz at the Bistro

It looks like a 21st century tradition in the making will continue for another year, as the online tour information service Pollstar has just posted a listing showing The Bad Plus (pictured) performing Wednesday, January 4, 2012 through Saturday, January 7, 2012 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Presuming it happens, this would be the sixth year running that TBP will play the first full weekend of the New Year at the Bistro. (You can read my review of their appearance there this past January right here.)

As always with Pollstar listings, this should be considered unconfirmed until officially announced by the venue. However, given that the band and Jazz St. Louis both have expressed publicly an interest in keeping the string intact for the foreseeable future, I'd say this particular gig is as close to a certainty as is possible under the circumstances. We'll know for sure when Jazz St. Louis announces its season schedule, which, if past years are a reliable guide, should be happening fairly soon.

(Edited 4/27/11 to fix a typo.)

StLJN turns six

Six years ago today, the first post went up on St. Louis Jazz Notes. After that brief introduction, the first week also featured a short preview of the upcoming week's live jazz; a review of the St. Louis Jazz Orchestra, Mulgrew Miller and assorted other guest stars performing for the second annual Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival; and a shameless plug for a "critic's pick" I wrote for the RFT about a Commander Cody gig at Blueberry Hill.

Nearly 2,600 posts later, StLJN remains one of the more long-lived outposts of the "jazz blogosphere," such as it is, and I'm glad to have made it this far.

Thanks once again to all the readers, commenters, musicians, music students and educators, presenters, club owners, publicists, tipsters, media people, record label employees and others who have taken an interest in the site over the years. I appreciate your time and attention, and hope never to take it for granted.

If you have any anniversary wishes, congratulations, questions, suggestions, or complaints, the comments are, as usual, open.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Four views of Bill Charlap

This week, let's get better acquainted with pianist Bill Charlap, who will be in St. Louis to perform next Wednesday, April 27 through Saturday, April 30 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Charlap played St. Louis twice in 2009, in February at the Sheldon Concert Hall as part of the Blue Note 7, and then in December backing his mother, singer Sandy Stewart, in a cabaret show at the Kranzberg Arts Center. This time, Charlap is bringing his trio with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington (no relation), which has been together for 13 years. (As a side note, after his gigs in St. Louis, Charlap will head down to Columbia, MO next Sunday to join his wife, pianist Renee Rosnes, in a duo piano performance for the We Always Swing series.)

In addition to work with his own group, Stewart, and the Blue Note 7, Charlap's credits include gigs and recordings with Gerry Mulligan, Benny Carter, Phil Woods, Tony Bennett, the New York Trio with bassist Jay Leonhart and drummer Bill Stewart, and many others.

You can see Charlap's trio in the first embedded video up above, performing Cole Porter's "In The Still Of The Night" at NYC's Village Vanguard. Down below, you can see a profile of Charlap from the public TV New Jersey Network's program State of the Arts. In the third slot, there's a short feature story on Charlap's collaborative CD with Stewart, and below that, you can hear singer Tony Bennett praise Charlap's skills before they perform "The Way You Look Tonight" together on Elvis Costello's TV program Spectacle.

For more about Bill Charlap, check out this short interview with him, done by Calvin Wilson for the weekend Post-Dispatch; and this feature story about Charlap and Renee Rosnes from the Newark Star-Ledger; and this interview tracking his career development from JazzReview.com.

Sheldon Concert Hall announces 2011-12 season

The Sheldon Concert Hall on Friday released the schedules for their various 2011-12 season series. For jazz fans in St. Louis, the biggest news might be the confirmation of two dates that previously had leaked out through Pollstar.

More specifically, as we told you here last month, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis will return to the Sheldon on Friday, September 30 in a benefit performance for the Sheldon's educational programs.

Also, as noted here earlier this week, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones will play the Sheldon on Thursday, March 29. This will be the new/old lineup of the Flecktones, with original member Howard Levy on keyboards and harmonica returning to replace saxophonist Jeff Coffin, who's now playing with (and presumably cashing some very large checks from) the Dave Matthews Band.

Both the Marsalis/JaLCO performance and the Flecktones show are designated as "special concerts," which means that tickets are not sold as part of any of the series packages.

As for the Sheldon's 2011-12 jazz series, it will include the Clayton Brothers Quintet (Saturday, October 29), pianist Chucho Valdés (pictured) and the Afro-Cuban Messengers (Saturday, February 11), the Detroit-based, all-female group Straight Ahead (Saturday, March 24), and singer Sara Gazarek (Saturday, May 5).

So what's the takeaway on this lineup? Well, Gazarek is one of the best young female jazz singers around, and Valdés' skills as a pianist and composer certainly are impressive, though deployed in a rather conventional Latin-jazz format (for which, to be fair, Valdes helped draft the blueprints). Those two shows seem worthy of eager anticipation; the Clayton Brothers and Straight Ahead, maybe not so much.

For one thing, both groups already have played St. Louis within the past 18 months, so it's not like those who have an interest have been deprived of the chance to hear them. More to the point, while both undeniably offer skilled musicianship, neither group is particularly innovative, buzzworthy or even musically distinctive. Given the universe of possibilities out there, it's hard to get too excited about a four-show series in which half the concerts are devoted to such middling, recycled fare.

Meanwhile, the Sheldon's "Coffee Concerts" series will offer return appearances from pianist Carolbeth True and singer Christi John Bye (Tuesday, October 11 & Wednesday, October 12), the St. Louis Rivermen (Tuesday, April 3 and Wednesday, April 4), and trumpeter Bob Ceccarini and pianist Pat Joyce (Tuesday, May 8 and Wednesday, May 9), as well as a non-subscription show celebrating the 50th anniversary of the St. Louis Ragtimers (Tuesday, March 6 and Wednesday, March 7).

Rounding out the jazz offerings for the year, the Saturday matinee series will include a concert from Cornet Chop Suey on April 21. The Sheldon's news release also mentioned that pianist Peter Martin will continue his eponymous series next year, but offered no further details.

Patron tickets for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performance are on sale now for $150 and $125. Single tickets will be priced at $65 and $55 and will go on sale August 13. However, subscribers can request single tickets with their subscription order.

Subscription tickets for the "Jazz at The Sheldon" series are priced at $150 and $135; the Coffee Concerts series is $65 and $55; and Saturday matinee tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for children. Current subscribers are being offered the opportunity to renew now, and new subscriptions will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Monday, May 16 and continue through the first concert in each series. For more information or to order tickets, call the Sheldon at 314-533-9900 or visit their website.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Last Saturday's concert by bassist Ron Carter's Golden Striker trio at the Touhill Performing Arts Center was reviewed here by Calvin Wilson for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. In conjunction with his performance for the Greater St. Louis jazz Festival, Carter also was interviewed by Don Wolff for his "I Love Jazz" program and by radio station WSIE (MP3 file).

* WSIE also got an interview with singer Vanessa Rubin before her performance at SIUE on Monday.

* Post-Dispatch gossip columnist Deb Peterson did a Q&A session last week with saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett.

* Singer Erin Bode will be the musical guest on A Prairie Home Companion when the public radio program broadcasts live from the Fox Theatre on Saturday, April 30. The program airs from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Saturdays on local NPR affiliate KMWU (90.7 FM)

Tony Bennett's concert at the Fox Theatre postponed until November

The concert by singer Tony Bennett (pictured) originally scheduled for Saturday, May 7 at the Fox Theatre has been postponed until Wednesday, November 16. The postponement is due to ongoing recording sessions for Bennett's next album.

Tickets for the original date will be honored for the November 16 concert.

Jazz this week: The Jazz Collective, Eric Person, The Sound Clinic, and more

This weekend's schedule of jazz and creative music in St. Louis isn't as jam-packed as the last two, but there still are a number of noteworthy performances happening over the next few days. Let's go the highlights...

As it happens, the best-known musicians in town this week are performing under the somewhat generic-sounding name The Jazz Collective on Friday and Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro.

The all-star band includes drummer Jimmy Cobb, pianist Cedar Walton and bassist Buster Williams, three veteran sidemen who have worked with some of the most important jazz musicians of the past 50 years, and saxophonist Javon Jackson, who, though a generation younger than his bandmates, has some impressive credits of his own, including a partnership with keyboardist Les McCann and time in Cobb's Miles Davis tribute, the So What band. Given that Williams also was part of So What, don't be surprised if the group does some songs associated with Davis, along with original material and perhaps some favorites from the hard-bop repertoire.

You can read more about Jimmy Cobb and see videos of all four Jazz Collective members here. Also, Jazz St. Louis is running a two-for-one special on tickets, and you can get the details on that offer here.

Also on Friday, the Funky Butt Brass Band plays an early set at Brandt's; and guitarist Dave Black's trio performs at the Cigar Inn in Belleville.

Update - 5:20 p.m., 4/21/11: The Funky Butt Brass Band has just posted a message to their Facebook page saying that the Brandt's gig has been canceled by the venue.

On Saturday afternoon, The Sound Clinic will play the music of Ornette Coleman for the Nu-Art Series at Metropolitan Gallery. The group is co-led by trumpeter and Nu-Art Series director George Sams and Bay Area saxophonist Lewis Jordan, with Chicago's Yosef Ben Israel and St. Louisan Charles "Bobo" Shaw on drums.

On Saturday night, saxophonist and St. Louis native Eric Person returns home to front a trio with bassist Willem von Hombracht and drummer Demarius Hicks at Robbie's House of Jazz. Person's most recent CD The Grand Illusion was released in the fall of 2010, and his last performance here in St. Louis was back in 2009 at the Ambassador Events Center.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday drummer Joe Pastor's trio is at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups, and on Tuesday, the Genesis Jazz Project big band performs in a free concert at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

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.)

The Sheldon offering discounted tickets for Tony DeSare & Bucky Pizzarelli

The Sheldon Concert Hall and Metrotix are offering a special discount price on tickets to the performance by singer/pianist Tony DeSare (pictured) and guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli at the Sheldon on Saturday, April 30.

The advertised ticket price is $45 for orchestra seats, $40 for the balcony, but online buyers can purchase tickets for just $25 each with the promotional code. To get the discounted price, go to www.metrotix.com/promotions, select "The Sheldon" from among the venues listed, and enter promo code DESARE11.

Ivory Perry Park to present free summer concert series

Once again this summer, Union Avenue Christian Church and the city of St. Louis will present a series of free concerts at Ivory Perry Park, 800 Belt (at Cabanne) in west St. Louis.

While past series have offered jazz headliners including Hamiet Bluiett and Denise Thimes, this year's musical menu is less jazz-centric. The reggae group TrenchTown Rock will open the 2001 series with a performance at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 26, followed by pop/R&B singer Charles Glenn on Sunday, July 24.

Keyboard player Tony Simmons (pictured) will conclude the series with a performance on Sunday, August 28. All three concerts are free and open to the public.

Pollstar: Bela Fleck & The Flecktones to play the Sheldon next March

The online touring information service Pollstar has just added a listing showing a performance by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones on Thursday, March 29, 2012 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Fleck played the Sheldon in April 2009 with his Africa Project, and he and the Flecktones last performed together in St. Louis in February 2007 at The Pageant.

As will all Pollstar listings, this should be not be considered confirmed until officially announced by the venue. The Sheldon is expected to announce its 2010-11 season schedule soon, and when that announcement is made, we'll have details for you right here.

Jazz St. Louis offering 2-for-1 special on tickets for the Jazz Collective

Jazz St. Louis is offering a 2-for-1 special on tickets to see the Jazz Collective this Friday, April 22 and Saturday, April 23 at Jazz at the Bistro.

The all-star group features pianist Cedar Walton, saxophonist Javon Jackson, bassist Buster Williams (pictured) and drummer Jimmy Cobb, the subject of our most recent StLJN Saturday Video Showcase.

The advertised ticket price is $35 each, but with the discount, buyers get two tickets for $35. The discount is available for both the 8:30 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. sets. Ticket buyers will get the best seats available at time of purchase. To take advantage of the offer, call Jazz St. Louis at 314-289-4030 and use the coupon code FC422.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Jimmy Cobb

This week, we train our video spotlight on the veteran drummer Jimmy Cobb, who will be in St. Louis next week to perform on Friday and Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. He'll be playing with saxophonist Javon Jackson, pianist Cedar Walton and bassist Buster Williams in a group billed as the Jazz Collective.

Cobb, who turned 82 in January, has been the subject of renewed public attention the past couple of years as the only surviving participant of the band that recorded Miles Davis' historic album Kind of Blue. For the 50th anniversary of the album's release in 2009, Cobb assembled the So What Band, which included Jackson and Williams as well as trumpeter Wallace Roney, alto saxophonist Vincent Herring and pianist Larry Willis, to perform Davis' music.

However, playing with Davis is far from Cobb's only claim to fame. The Washington DC native has performed with many other jazz greats in his 60+ year career, notably John Coltrane, Wes Montgomery, Cannonball Adderly, Wynton Kelly, Stan Getz, and Joe Henderson, plus dozens more. Though Cobb rarely plays anything particularly loud, fast or flashy, he's always been greatly appreciated by fellow musicians and fans alike for for his steady time-keeping, swinging feel and encyclopedic knowledge.

Today's first clip features the So What band in 2009 at the Bridgestone Music Festival in Sao Paulo, Brazil, performing the first part of "All Blues"; you'll find part two down below. Below that, you can see Cobb, Walton and bassist David Williams doing "Body and Soul" with a brisk Latin feel, recorded in 2005 at the JazzAldia Festival in Spain.

After that, there are two very short videos of Cobb demonstrating his concise and decidedly unfussy style of soloing; an interview with Cobb, which seems to have been recorded last year and runs about 15 minutes long; and a short clip of Cobb and fellow drummer Butch Miles hanging out a drum shop in NYC and talking music.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Bassist Ron Carter, in town to play the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival tomorrow night at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, was interviewed by the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson.

* Tomorrow also is Record Store Day, a celebration of independent record stores across the nation, and here in St. Louis, several participating local music retailers will feature live music, in-store DJs, special limited-edition releases and more. The P-D's Kevin Johnson has an extensive rundown on the day's activities here.

Also note that as part of the festivities, yr. humble StLJN editor will be the guest DJ from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Saturday at Vintage Vinyl in University City, spinning jazz, blues and who knows what else. If you're in the neighborhood, stop by and check it out...

* Dennis Owsley's latest blog post for St. Louis magazine is up, and it's a love letter to Jazz at the Bistro.

* Reader M Wallgren writes with the news that's there's now a Facebook page devoted to St. Louis drummer Elijah "Lige" Shaw. Shaw was a mainstay in the popular local traditional jazz band of tuba player Singleton Palmer; helped desegregate the local musicians union; and backed many touring jazz musicians during their visits to St. Louis.

* Lastly, condolences to the family and friends of Dorothy Gleason, who died last Friday at age 80. With her late husband Roy, Gleason owned and ran Webster Records for more than 40 years. Visitation will be at Gerber Funeral Home in Webster Groves from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. this Saturday, April 16, with a memorial service to follow at 4:00 p.m.

Jeremy Davenport to perform on May 14 at benefit for Operation Food Search

Trumpeter, singer and University City native Jeremy Davenport is coming home from New Orleans next month to perform at a benefit for Operation Food Search.

The gala event, which commemorates the organization's 30th anniversary, will take place at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, May 14 at the headquarters of the investment firm Edward Jones, 12555 Manchester Rd. in Des Peres.

In addition to music from Davenport, the evening will include cocktails, dinner and dessert, a silent auction, and entertainment from Circus Harmony. Tickets are $150 each for open seating and $200 for reserved seating, with table sponsorships starting at $2,000.

All proceeds benefit Operation Food Search, which works with 250 community agencies in the St. Louis area to distribute more than 2 million pounds of food and household items and help feed 130,000 people each month. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit their website or call 314-726-5355, ext 23.

The Sheldon, Metrotix offering presale of tickets for Steve Tyrell

The Sheldon Concert Hall and Metrotix are offering giving online buyers a one-day head start in purchasing single tickets to hear singer Steve Tyrell, who will perform Sunday, May 15 at the hall in a benefit for the Sheldon's educational programs.

Single tickets go on sale to the general public at 10:00 a.m. this Saturday, April 16, but online buyers can purchase tickets starting at 10:00 a.m. Friday, April 15. To access the offer, go to www.metrotix.com and use the promo code TYRELL11.

Jazz this week: Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, Yellowjackets, Preservation Hall Jazz Band with Del McCoury Band, Vanessa Rubin, and more

It's another busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with a number of touring musicians and groups performing here over the next several days in styles ranging from traditional New Orleans jazz to big band to fusion to free improv. Let's go to the highlights:

Tonight, the electric jazz/fusion group Yellowjackets returns to St. Louis to open a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. The 'Jackets have been regular visitors to St. Louis, though this will be their first time here since former drummer Will Kennedy returned to the fold last year to replace St. Louis native Marcus Baylor, who spent ten years with them. Given their substantial local fan base, they should draw a good-sized crowd even with everything else going on this week, so advance reservations definitely are recommended.

Also tonight, the highly anticipated tour featuring the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and bluegrass star Del McCoury's band comes to the Family Arena. (The show originally was scheduled for last fall, then postponed until this week.) If you're curious as to what this combination of roots music talent sounds like, the collaborative CD American Legacies featuring both groups has just been released this week, and you can listen to it stream online for free here. Local music freelancer Dan Duchholz also wrote a nice preview story about the show for the Post-Dispatch, and you can read that online here.

Rounding out tonight's musical offerings is percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani, who will organize and perform with a "Gong Orchestra" comprised of local improvising musicians at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center. Nakatani also will teach a free master class on improvisation and extended percussion techniques at 4:00 p.m. this afternoon at LNAC.

Tomorrow night, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University wraps up its spring 2011 series with the music of the Crusaders performed by a group billed as Scratch (which is the title of one of the Crusaders 1970s recordings.) Oddly, JaH has released no information about the specific lineup of players, other than the so-vague-as-to-be-useless description of "some of St. Louis' best musicians," so there's not much more to say about this show.

Update, 10:50 a.m., 4/14/11 - Just got a Facebook invite to the Scratch gig from one of the musicians involved, and it looks like the band is made up mostly of musicians associated in some way with SIUE: Ben Reece (tenor sax), Cody Henry (trombone), Phil Ring (guitar), Adaron "Pops" Jackson (keyboards), Nick Jost (bass) and Miles Vandiver (drums).

Also on Thursday, Simon Shaheen will play at SIUE's Meridian Ballroom. Shaheen, a Palestinian-American oud and violin player and composer who mixes Arabic music with Western sounds and has performed with Bill Laswell, Henry Threadgill and the Klezmatics, is appearing as part of SIUE's Arts and Issues series.

On Friday, the public portion of the 2011 Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival begins with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra playing at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. Descended from the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, the VJO has been a Monday night fixture at NYC's Village Vanguard for more than 40 years, serving as a proving ground for several generations of players and arrangers. The UMSL Jazz Ensemble will open the festival's shows on both Friday and Saturday, and they'll by joined onstage by the legendary Clark Terry, who, though no longer able to play trumpet due to health issues, will pick up the mic to sing his famously mushmouthed blues "Mumbles."

Also on Friday, guitarist Brian Vaccaro's trio plays at Robbie's House of Jazz; and guitarist Eric Slaughter's trio will hold forth at the Cigar Inn in Belleville.

The GSLJF continues on Saturday as bassist Ron Carter (pictured) returns to St. Louis for the first time since the mid-1980s to perform at the TouPAC. One of the most recorded and most influential bassists of the past 50 years, Carter will play with his Golden Striker trio, featuring pianist Mulgrew Miller and guitarist Russell Malone. For more about them and the VJO, and some video samples of both groups, please see this post from last Saturday.

Also on Saturday, New Music Circle present the premiere of its Laptop Orchestra Project at the William A. Kerr Foundation, which is at 21 O'Fallon St on the riverfront, just north of Laclede's Landing. The event will feature musicians Jim Hegarty, Steven Thomas, Joseph Potthoff, James S. Hegarty and Thomas Zirkle using laptop computers to perform improvised works and original compositions, as well as pieces by the Princeton Laptop Orchestra, which originated the laptop ensemble concept.

On Sunday, saxophonist Paul DeMarinis will lead his group in an early evening performance at Second Baptist Church for the St. Louis Jazz and Blues Vespers series, and the Northern Illinois University Jazz Ensemble, directed by saxophonist Ronald Carter, will perform at Robbie's.

Robbie's web site this week also added a note that trumpeter Randy Brecker will appear a guest artist with the NIU band, but StLJN has been unable to verify that information as of this writing.

Update - 8:30 p.m., 4/13/11: The itinerary on Brecker's website shows Sunday, April 17 as the final day of a five-performance tour with the NIU Jazz Ensemble, but identifies the venue as the Sheldon Concert Hall. The Sheldon's website makes no mention of the show, so it would appear that Robbie's somehow wound up as a substitute venue, and Brecker will indeed be there.

Update - 10:50 p.m., 4/13/11: Just heard from Dorothy Edwards, the co-owner/general manager of Robbie's, who confirmed that Randy Brecker will be in the house on Sunday night. Spread the word...

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday singer Vanessa Rubin will be at SIUE for two free events sponsored by the university's Singer's Society. She'll lead a master class for vocalists at 3:00 p.m., then perform in concert that night with the SIUE Vocal Jazz Ensemble. Both events are open to the public, and will take place at Dunham Hall on the SIUE campus.

Also on Monday, pianist Peter Martin and singer Erin Bode are performing at Roberts Orpheum Theater as part of benefit kicking off St. Louis Design Week 2011; and the Sessions Big Band returns to 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.)

(Edited after posting to add info about Clark Terry's appearance and to fix a couple of typos. Updated to include more details on Randy Brecker's appearance with the NIU Jazz Ensemble.)

Reptet to perform Sunday, May 15 at 2720 Cherokee

The six-member, Seattle-based band Reptet (pictured) will make its St. Louis debut on Sunday, May 15 with a performance at 2720 Cherokee. The group is touring in support of its latest CD At The Cabin, playing 15 shows in the east, midwest and mountain states in 17 days.

Described by ChicagoJazz.com as "Part mutant New Orleans brass band, part Sun Ra orchestra and part Skatellites," Reptet includes Samantha Boshnack (trumpets, vocals), Nelson Bell (trombone, tuba), Izaak Mills (tenor sax, bass clarinet, flute, vocals), Chris Credit (baritone sax, tenor sax, alto sax, clarinet), Tim Carey (double bass, bass guitar, banjo) and John Ewing (drums, percussion, vocals).

At The Cabin is their fifth release, and the fourth full-length CD of their original compositions, which incorporate "jazz, reggae, rock, ska, punk, modern classical, avant-garde, and eastern European folk music." Showtime for the Reptet at 2720 Cherokee is scheduled for 8:00 p.m., and tickets will be $7 at the door.

To get an idea of what Reptet sounds like, you can see and hear them performing the title song from their 2008 CD Chicken or Beef? in the embedded video window below.

Recently on Heliocentric Worlds

It's time once again for another shameless plug for StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds, a virtual grad-level course in the college of musical knowledge delivered one music video at a time.

Each day, there's a new clip posted, featuring the greatest players of jazz, blues, soul funk, classic rock, prog rock, experimental music and more. Recent posts have include videos of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Stanley Turrentine, The Fugs, Otis Spann, Borbetomagus, Louis Armstrong & Jack Teagarden, J Geils Band, Gene Harris, Duke Ellington Orchestra, Matthew Shipp, John Scofield & Medeski, Martin & Wood, B.B. King, Sonny Rollins, Aretha Franklin, Bill Bruford Band, World Saxophone Quartet, Dave Douglas & Brass Ecstasy, and more.

They're all still there waiting for you, along with nearly 1,500 more videos specially selected - as they used to say back in the day - to unwind your mind and rethread your head. Go to http://heliocentricworlds.blogspot.com/ and turn it up!

Tower of Power to play Saturday, May 14 at Lumiere Place

The jazz-influenced funk and soul band Tower of Power (pictured) is coming back to St. Louis for shows at 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 14 at the Lumiere Place casino's Lumiere Theatre.

TOP last performed in the St. Louis area in September 2006 at the Argosy Alton Casino. Since then, they've released several recordings, including 2008's East Bay Archives, Volume 1, a compilation of 18 TOP tunes from the 1970s; 2009's Great American Soulbook, a covers album with guest singers including Tom Jones, Sam Moore, Joss Stone and Huey Lewis; and a 40th anniversary retrospective DVD/CD box set recorded live and featuring various alumni and guest stars that came out earlier this year.

Tickets for Tower of Power at Lumiere Place are $35 to $50 and are on sale now via Ticketmaster and at the casino.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival 2011

This week, let's take a look at the headliners for next weekend's Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. The GSLJF begins Thursday with adjudicated performances by middle school and high school jazz ensembles from around the area, along with workshops and clinics for the student musicians.

Those activities continue during the day on Friday and Saturday, but the main attraction for most listeners will be the concerts featuring the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra on Friday night and bassist Ron Carter's Golden Striker trio on Saturday night. The UMSL Big Band - directed, as is the festival itself, by bassist Jim Widner - will open both shows.

That common element notwithstanding, the two nights certainly offer plenty of musical contrast, with the intimate, chamber jazz of Carter, guitarist Russell Malone and pianist Mulgrew Miller offset by the expansive big band sound of the VJO.

Carter (not to be confused with saxophonist and educator Ronald Carter) perhaps is still best known for his work in the 1960s with Miles Davis, but he's also one of the most-recorded and most influential jazz bassists of the past 50 years. Miller and Malone, both a generation younger than Carter, excel at the kind of straight-ahead, swinging jazz that is the trio's meat and potatoes. Both men also have a local connection, having recorded fine CDs as leaders for the St. Louis based MAXJAZZ label.

The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra is the present-day incarnation of the big band originally started in 1965 by trumpeter/arranger Thad Jones and drummer Mel Lewis. Though both founders now are deceased, the VJO continues to be a Monday night staple at NYC's Village Vanguard and a significant showcase for both players and arrangers.

Up above, you can see Carter, Malone and Miller in a video shot from the audience at their performance last month in Kassel, Germany. Down below, you'll find another clip from the same show. The videos are just one static shot, occasionally obscured by audience members walking in front of the camera, but the sound is good and the footage is the most recent available. For more on what to expect from the Golden Striker trio, check out this review of their London show last week from the London Jazz blog.

Next, we've got some clips of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra that also happen to have a connection to Missouri. The first is taken from the VJO's performance two years ago at the Missouri Theatre in Columbia, Missouri. They're playing the first part of trombonist, arranger, composer and Kansas City native Bob Brookmeyer's "Suite for Three," which was commissioned for the occasion.

Down below that, you can see and hear the VJO playing "St. Louis Blues," at the 2008 Hague Jazz Festival. The performance is split into two parts, and the chart is a good demonstration of how much a talented arranger and big band can wring from a well-known standard. For more VJO on video, check out their YouTube channel, and then look here.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Veteran music scribe Dan Durchholz has written a preview story for the Post-Dispatch/STLtoday about next Wednesday's concert by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band (pictured) and Del McCoury Band at the Family Arena; read it online here.

* St. Louis musicians will stage a benefit performance to help raise money for relief efforts in Japan next Monday, April 11 at The Chapel, 6238 Alexander Drive. Performers will include members of the Saint Louis Symphony, Arianna String Quartet, Dave Black, Erin Bode, Farshid Etniko, Todd Mosby, Dawn Weber, and many others. There will be two sets, at 7:30 and 9:30. Tickets are $15, cash at the door only, and include two drinks. All performers are donating their services, and 100% of the proceeds from the ticket sales and a silent auction will go to Red Cross Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami Fund. For more information call 314-721-0943.

UPDATE, 3:00 p.m., 4/8/11 - Terry Perkins has more details on the Japan relief concert in an article for the St. Louis Beacon here.

* The Art & Air Festival is looking for performers for this year's event via the "2011 Art & Air Idol" contest. Selected contestants will compete on Wednesdays in May in preliminary rounds held at Llywellyn’s Pub in Webster Groves. The winner gets a chance to perform on the main stage at Art & Air 2011, which will be held June 3-5 on the grounds of Eden Theological Seminary in Webster. The contest is open to "acoustic-oriented musicians, solo to small group," and organizers tell StLJN they're looking specifically for some jazz performers. The deadline for entry is April 20; you can find out more and submit an application here.

* While back in his hometown last month to perform at the Kranzberg Arts Center, singer and St. Louis native Craig Pomranz was profiled by local PBS affiliate KETC's program Living St. Louis and reporter Ruth Ezell; check out the YouTube video of the segment here.

* The P-D reports that the historic Wildey Theatre in Edwardsville is set to reopen next week as venue for movie and live performances, and that pianist Jean Kittrell, apparently coming out of retirement for the occasion, will perform at the venue's open house next Tuesday, April 12.

* Radio station KWMU, home to Dennis Owsley's Sunday night program Jazz Unlimited, next week will break ground on their new headquarters and studios in Grand Center. The facility is expected to be ready in 2012.

Tatsuya Nakatani to convene Gong Orchestra on Wednesday, April 13 at LNAC

Percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani (pictured) is coming back to St. Louis to perform at 8:00 p.m. next Wednesday, April 13 at the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center.

Nakatani was here most recently in November 2010 at LNAC, playing solo and in small groups with local improvisers. This time, he'll team up with some St. Louis musicians (still being confirmed, according to LNAC's Tom Hill) to form what's being called a "Gong Orchestra." Exactly how many gongs this will entail is unclear as of this writing, but presumably, to paraphrase the playwright David Mamet, the operative concept is "lots and lots. "

Nakatani also will present a workshop on improvisation and extended percussion techniques at 4:30 p.m. that afternoon at LNAC. The workshop is free and open to the public; admission to the performance is $5 at the door.

Eric Person to play Saturday, April 23 at Robbie's House of Jazz

Saxophonist and St. Louis native Eric Person (pictured) is coming back home later this month to perform Saturday, April 23 at Robbie's House of Jazz.

Person, who now lives in Brooklyn and doesn't get back to St. Louis all that often, will be joined for the gig by bassist Willem von Hombracht and drummer Demarius Hicks.

His most recent CD The Grand Illusion was released in the fall of 2010, and his last performance here in St. Louis was back in 2009 at the Ambassador Events Center.

Show time for Eric Person's performance at Robbie's House of Jazz will be 8:30 p.m., and admission is $10 at the door.

Riverfront Times announces 2011 Music Award nominees

The Riverfront Times today announced the nominees for the 2011 RFT Music Awards. This year's contenders for "Best Jazz Artist" are guitarist Dave Black, saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett, pianist Peter Martin, singer Denise Thimes and pianist Reggie Thomas.

In addition, several jazz and creative musicians and groups also showed up as nominees in other categories. Multi-instrumentalist Lamar Harris is nominated in the "Best Soul/R&B (Solo Artist)" category, and both Good 4 the Soul and the Funky Butt Brass Band are nominated in "Best Jam/Funk Group." Also, electronic musicians Raglani and Eric Hall both earned nods in the "Best One-Person Project" category, and guitarist Teddy Presberg scored a nomination as "Best Solo Artist."

The 2011 nominees for "Best Blues Artist" include Big George Brock, Roland Johnson and the Voodoo Blues Band, the Ground Floor Band, Rough Grooves, and Rockin' Jake, who recently decamped back to his hometown of New Orleans.

Ballots will be available soon online and in upcoming print issues of the RFT, and nominees from all the various categories will perform during the annual RFT Music Showcase, which will be held Saturday, June 4 at various locations along Washington Ave. downtown.

Jazz this week: Brad Mehldau, Cyrus Chestnut with Jon Faddis, John Pizzarelli, Marlin Bonds, Diverse, New Tricks, and more

It's a very busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with several well-known touring musicians coming to town to perform over the next several days.

Perhaps the most highly anticipated performances are those of pianist Brad Mehldau, who brings his trio with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard to Jazz at the Bistro tonight and Thursday as part of a short spring tour. Mehldau currently is riding a wave of critical acclaim for his two most recent recordings; you can read more about it and see some video of the trio in action in this post from last Saturday. Also, you can read my Critic's Pick on Mehldau for the Riverfront Times here.

Also on Thursday, the young Kansas City band Diverse, featuring trumpet player Hermon Mehari, returns to St. Louis to perform at Robbie's House of Jazz; and pianist Kara Baldus Vandiver plays the music of Bill Evans in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

On Friday, another fine pianist, Cyrus Chestnut (pictured), checks into the Bistro for a two-night engagement with his trio and their special guest, trumpeter Jon Faddis. Chestnut's vivid, gospel-influenced style has made him a local favorite, and he, Faddis and the band are in town all week doing an educational residency for Jazz St. Louis. They're performing at area schools and working with the student musicians in JSL's various educational programs, and Faddis also is doing a free master class this afternoon.

On Saturday afternoon, trumpeter and St. Louis native Marlin Bonds, who's also enjoyed success as a producer for various hip-hop performers, comes home to play the music of Herbie Hancock in a concert for the Nu-Art Series at the Metropolitan Gallery. See this post for more on Bonds and the Nu-Art Series' spring schedule.

Then on Saturday evening, singer-guitarist John Pizzarelli, another frequent visitor to St. Louis, returns with his band the Swing Seven to play the music of Duke Ellington for the Sheldon Concert Hall's annual benefit gala. Some single tickets may remain for the show; check Metrotix for the latest.

On Sunday, the Webster University jazz faculty will do a matinee performance for the St. Louis Jazz Club at the Doubletree Hotel at Westport Plaza; and New Tricks, a quartet co-led by saxophonist Mike Lee and trumpeter Ted Chubb, will play an early evening show at the Bistro at Grand Center, with the Webster Groves High School jazz combos as opening acts.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday pianist Dave Becherer's trio plays at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups. On Tuesday morning, Swing Deville will play the first of two Coffee Concerts this week at the Sheldon. (The performance will be repeated at the same time on Wednesday.) On Tuesday evening, bassist Bob Deboo and his quartet will play Brandt's, and Robbie's will host their weekly jazz 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.)

(Edited after posting to add a link to the RFT item on Brad Mehldau.)

Erin Bode, Peter Martin to play in benefit on Monday, April 18 at Roberts Orpheum

Singer Erin Bode (pictured) and pianist Peter Martin will help kick off St. Louis' Design Week 2011 with a performance at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, April 18 at the Roberts Orpheum Theater. The event will raise funds for pancreatic cancer research, and also will include a performance from members of Circus Flora and the Zoppe Family; a video presentation on "St. Louis Design Legends”; an auction of artist-made jewelry; and more.

Bode and Martin have worked together before several times, most recently at Martin's performance in December at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Bassist Chris Thomas, like Martin a native of University City, was part of that concert and also will join Bode and Martin at the Roberts Orpheum.

Tickets for the Design Week performance by Erin Bode and Peter Martin are $100 for VIP seats, $25 for general admission, and can be purchased online via Ticketmaster.

Steve Tyrell to perform Sunday, May 15 at the Sheldon

Singer Steve Tyrell is coming back to St. Louis to perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, May 15. The event is a benefit for the Sheldon's educational programs.

Tyrell last played St. Louis in April 2010, when he sold out the Sheldon. He's also performed here in recent years at Jazz at the Bistro and at the now-defunct Finale Music and Dining.

Patron tickets for the event are on sale now for $150 and $125, and include preferred seating, complimentary parking, pre-concert cocktail and hors d'oeuvres reception, and a tax deduction. To purchase patron tickets, call The Sheldon at 314-533-9900.

Single tickets will be $45 for orchestra seats, $40 for the balcony, and go on sale Saturday, April 16 via Metrotix and the Sheldon box office.

(Edited after posting.)

Jon Faddis to present free master class this Wednesday, April 6

Trumpeter Jon Faddis (pictured) will give a free master class at 1:00 p.m. this Wednesday, April 6 in the Rialto Ballroom of the Centene Center for Arts & Education, 3547 Olive St in the Grand Center district.

Faddis will be in town along with with pianist Cyrus Chestnut and his group to do an educational residency for Jazz St. Louis and perform next Friday and Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro.

The master class is open to middle school, high school and college students, with no advance reservations required. For more information, call Jazz St. Louis education director Phil Dunlap at 314-289-4030.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A Brad Mehldau sampler

With pianist Brad Mehldau bringing his trio back to Jazz at the Bistro
this Wednesday and Thursday, it seems an opportune time to offer some video footage of him, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard in action.

One of the more heavily hyped jazz players of his generation, the 40-year-old Mehldau currently is enjoying a new round of critical acclaim for his two most recent recordings, 2010's trio-plus-orchestra outing Highway Rider, and the just released solo piano set Live at Marciac. Though he's been involved in various musical projects since his last St. Louis appearance in 2008, Mehldau has continued to return to the trio format, and more specifically his longtime collaborators Grenadier and Ballard, on a regular basis.

Up above, you can hear them perform Thelonious Monk's "We See," pushing the tempo to give the piece a different feel from Monk's version. Down below, there's a clip of Radiohead's "Knives Out," which has become something of a staple of Mehldau's repertoire since the trio recorded it on the 2005 CD Day Is Done. Below that, they tackle the standard "All The Things You Are," with an extended solo intro by Mehldau, in a performance shown in two parts. Finally, you can get a taste of Mehldau's solo playing with a version of the Massive Attack song "Teardrop" recorded last year at the Jazz á Vienne festival.