Jazz this week: Ramsey Lewis, Jane Monheit, Tony Conrad, "The Music of Bluiett," Bonerama, Cornet Chop Suey, and more

From traditional jazz to contemporary grooves to experimental minimalism, this week's menu of jazz and creative music in St. Louis has offerings for a wide variety of tastes. Let's go to the highlights:

Tonight, pianist Ramsey Lewis (pictured) brings his Electric Band for the first time to Jazz at the Bistro, where he'll be performing through Saturday. As chronicled in this video retrospective from a couple of weeks ago, Lewis has been a significant figure on the international jazz scene for nearly 50 years now, and the Electric Band seems set up specifically to present many of his most popular tunes in a crowd-pleasing format. At last word, there still were some tickets available, but advance reservations definitely are suggested for this one.

Also tonight, the Meramec Jazz Lab Band, with Valerie Tichacek on vocals, continues its ongoing series of monthly performances at Black Cat Theatre in Maplewood.

Tomorrow evening, the New Orleans based Bonerama will perform at the Old Rock House. This will be the third St. Louis appearance this year for the trombone-centric ensemble, following shows at The Gramophone in January and the Sheldon Concert Hall's ballroom in June.

Also on Thursday, singer Jane Monheit, who was here last December to play Jazz at the Bistro, visits the Hettenhausen Center for the Arts at McKendree College in Lebanon, IL for a holiday themed concert.

On Friday, singer Danita Mumphard will perform at the Halls Ferry Inn Jazz Cafe, and pianist Tim Garcia leads a trio with bassist Willem von Hombracht and drummer Clancy Newell at the Cigar Inn in Belleville. That same evening, Jazz on Broadway in Alton has an early show with traditional jazz from the Dixie Dudes, and Robbie's House of Jazz will present blues singer Barbara Carr.

Saturday afternoon, the Nu-Art Series presents "The Music of Bluiett" at Metropolitan Gallery, featuring saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett directing performances of his compositions by several different ensembles from the East St. Louis High School music department.

Then on Saturday evening, musician, composer and multi-media artist Tony Conrad will perform at White Flag Projects under the auspices of New Music Circle. For more about Conrad, including extensive video footage and links to several in-depth interviews, check out this post from last Saturday.

Also Saturday evening, saxophonist Rod Tate returns to Halls Ferry Inn Jazz Cafe, and Robbie's will present the group Cammie & Carnivale, featuring singer Cammie Middleton-Helmsing and guitarist Wayne Kimler.

Sunday afternoon, Cornet Chop Suey plays traditional jazz and swing in a matinee concert presented by the St. Louis Jazz Club at the Doubletree Hotel at Westport. On Sunday evening, BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups has a double bill featuring jazz, funk & R&B from Good 4 The Soul in the early evening slot and Latin jazz from Clave Sol later on.

Monday night, the Webster University Jazz Singers perform their semester-end concert at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus, and guitarist Tom Byrne's Pat Metheny inspired band Have You Heard? plays at BB's.

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.)

Nu-Art Series announces concerts featuring "The Music of Bluiett," Freddie Washington

The Nu-Art Series has announced two concerts in December:

* Saxophonist and composer Hamiet Bluiett (pictured) will direct a performance of his music by the East St. Louis Senior High School music department, including the woodwind ensemble, percussion ensemble, jazz orchestra and combo, at 3:00 p.m. this Saturday, December 3.

* Saxophonist Freddie Washington will perform with his band at 3:00 p.m. Saturday, December 10. Washington, a mainstay on the local club scene from the 1960s through the 1980s, recently moved back to St. Louis and has begun performing publicly again.

Both concerts will take place at the Metropolitan Gallery, 2936 Locust Street downtown. Doors open at 2:00 p.m., and general admission is $10.00.

WSIE to hold fundraising weekend Friday, December 2 through Sunday, December 4

WSIE (88.7 FM), the only radio station in the St. Louis area to devote significant airtime to jazz music, will be holding an on-air fundraiser beginning at 4:00 p.m. this Friday, December 2 and continuing until 4:00 p.m. on Sunday.

Premiums for financial supporters of the station will include underwriting announcements, CDs from local indie jazz label MAXJAZZ, and the chance to appear on-air as a newsreader or, for $300, as host of a two-hour jazz show. The station hopes to raise a total $50,000 for continuing operations.

Here's hoping St. Louis area jazz fans will show some support for WSIE, which, due in part to cutbacks in money from the state of Illinois, has operated on a very modest budget in recent years. If the station can develop its own regular fund-raising successfully, as other local public media outlets such as KDHX (88.1 FM), KWMU (90.7 FM) and KETC (Channel 9) have done, it could go a long way toward ensuring that WSIE continues to program jazz for the foreseeable future.

Galactic returning to the Pageant on Wednesday, March 14

The New Orleans funk/jazz/hip-hop band Galactic (pictured) is returning to St. Louis to perform at 8:00 p.m., Wednesday, March 14 at The Pageant. Los Angeles funk band Orgone will open the show.

The gig will be almost a year to the day since Galactic's last appearance here at the same venue, and as with last year's show, they're bringing along some guests - specifically, vocalist Corey Glover of the rock band Living Color and trombonist Corey Henry of the Rebirth Brass Band, who also guested on their last show here.

This time, they'll be touring behind a new album, Carnivale Electricos, which the press release says explores "the connections between the Mardi Gras in their native New Orleans and the mighty megacarnivals of Brazil" and is set for release on February 21 by the Anti- label.

Tickets for Galactic at The Pageant will be $25 for general admission, with a $2 surcharge for minors, and go on sale at 5:00 p.m., Friday, December 9 via the Pageant box office and Ticketmaster.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Tony Conrad

This week, let's look at some video clips of musician, composer and multimedia artist Tony Conrad, who will be in St. Louis for a performance sponsored by New Music Circle next Saturday, December 3 at White Flag Projects.

Conrad, 71, originally is from New Hampshire and has a background in math and computer programming. He has been making music and art since the 1960s. His film The Flicker (1966) is considered an important early example of the structural film movement, and his work around that same time as a co-founder of the Theater of Eternal Music helped pave the way for the minimalist composers of the 1970s and 80s.

He currently teaches at the State University of New York at Buffalo's Center for Media Studies, and in recent years has developed a repertoire of solo performances for specially tuned, amplified violin. Today, we've got several examples of those performance for your audio-visual delectation, starting up top with a complete hour-long concert recorded in January 2011 at the University of Chicago's Renaissance Society.

Down below, you can see three excerpts from a 2006 performance by Conrad at the Emporium in Knoxville, TN. Below that, there's a clip in which Conrad comes out from behind the curtain, so to speak, at a performance in May of this year in London. Finally, for a glimpse of Conrad's offstage persona and working methods, we wrap up with an excerpt from the work-in-progress documentary Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present that shows Conrad preparing to take his mobile recording setup on location in NYC.

For more about Tony Conrad, check out this 2011 interview from Frieze magazine, this 2005 interview from Bomb magazine, and this 1996 interview from EST magazine.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Trumpeter and singer Jeremy Davenport, who's back home from New Orleans to play tonight and tomorrow night at Jazz at the Bistro, was interviewed by the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson.

* St. Louis-based Mel Bay Publications has just released a book of sheet music by pianist Vijay Iyer (pictured). The publisher's website also is offering a "Black Friday" special, today only, of 50% off all items (excluding accessories and instruments). To get the discount, use promo code MBBF50.

* Following up on recent stories on KSDK and in the Riverfront Times about deteriorating conditions at Miles Davis's childhood home in East St. Louis, the Post's Marlon A. Walker has more on the sorry state of the Davis home and similar problems with vandalism and theft at the former home of legendary dancer and choreographer Katherine Dunham.

* Jazz St. Louis has posted on their Facebook page an album of photos of Kurt Elling's master class last week at Kirkwood High School.

* "Party pic" photos from last Saturday's benefit at the Sheldon have been posted by both Ladue News and St. Louis magazine. Unfortunately, none of the shots are from the concert featuring the Peter Martin-led New Orleans Modern Jazz Masters, but the Funky Butt Brass Band, who entertained at the reception, do make several appearances.

* The November 2011 episode of HEC-TV's I Love Jazz now is available online. Perhaps appropriately for a day when many are enjoying some leftovers from their Thanksgiving dinner, the episode features performances from Freddy Cole, the Bosman Twins and Tony Desare & Bucky Pizzarelli that previously were un-aired due to time constraints, as well as part one of an interview with bassist Stanley Clarke and a holiday song from Jane Monheit.

Jazz this week: Jeremy Davenport, SLSO plays Ellington's "Nutcracker," and more

If you're looking to follow your Turkey Day dinner with some jazz and creative music this weekend in St. Louis, here's what's on the menu:

On Friday and Saturday, Jeremy Davenport returns to Jazz at the Bistro for his annual Thanksgiving week homecoming shows. The trumpeter, vocalist and University City native continues to serve as the house act for the Davenport Lounge in New Orleans' Ritz-Carlton Hotel, but he'll be back home this weekend, accompanied by fellow U Citians Peter Martin on piano and Chris Thomas on bass plus two musicians from his New Orleans band, drummer Troy Davis and saxophonist Aaron Fletcher.

You can see some video footage of Davenport performing in this post from a couple of years ago, and for more about what he's been up to to lately, check this interview that Terry Perkins did with the trumpeter that was published yesterday by the St. Louis Beacon.

Also on Friday, saxophonist Rod Tate performs at the Halls Ferry Inn Jazz Cafe; drummer Paul Shaw leads a trio with pianist Ptah Williams at the Cigar Inn in Belleville; and the Funky Butt Brass Band plays at the Broadway Oyster Bar.

And although it's not a jazz show, some readers of this site also may be interested in Friday's fifth annual edition of the Soulard Blues Band's St. Louis Blues & Soul Revue at the Sheldon Concert Hall's upstairs ballroom. For more about that, see this piece I wrote for the RFT Music blog and published earlier today.

On Saturday night, saxophonist Freddie Washington, back in town after a hiatus, leads a quartet at Robbie's House of Jazz; and saxophonist Michael Fitzgerald performs at Jazz on Broadway in Alton.

On Sunday afternoon, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra will present a holiday themed "family concert" at Powell Symphony Hall that will include a performance of Duke Ellington's "Nutcracker Suite".

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.)

Seeking funds for his next project via Kickstarter, Eric Person joins growing crowd of creative types

Saxophonist Eric Person is down to the last week of his Kickstarter campaign to fund his proposed next album Thoughts on God-Project of Hope.

The 48-year-old St. Louis native, who has performed with jazz luminaries including McCoy Tyner, Dave Holland, Chico Hamilton, and the World Saxophone Quartet, so far has attracted 110 backers who have pledged $10,597 toward his $20,580 Kickstarter goal. That figure represents the amount Person will need to produce the CD, including recording studio time, mixing, mastering, and manufacturing, as well as rehearsal and recording fees for a dozen musicians.

He first conceived the project way back in 1987, and decided to try to make it a reality now after seeing other jazz musicians successfully fund recording projects through Kickstarter, a website that calls itself "the world's largest funding platform for creative projects."

Under the Kickstarter model, "a project must reach its funding goal before time runs out or no money changes hands....Creators aren’t expected to develop their project without necessary funds, and it allows anyone to test concepts without risk." Each creator determines what funders will receive, and depending on the project and amount pledged, the backer's rewards may range from an autographed copy of the finished product to a public credit in the liner notes to more elaborate customized thanks, like a private live performance.

Person, who previously has recorded eight CDs as a leader, has not only written the music but also already has a cast of players in mind, including himself and Craig Bailey on alto saxophones; Patience Higgins and Sylvester Scott on tenor saxophones; James Zollar and Duane Eubanks on trumpets; and Curtis Hasselbring on trombone, with a rhythm section including Brian Carrott (vibraphone), Adam Klipple (keyboards), Corcoran Holt (bass) and Shinnosuke Takahashi (drums). You can see and hear Person speak about Thoughts on God-Project of Hope in the video in the embedded window below.

Although Person is using Kickstarter as a vehicle for a personal pet project of long standing, he's just one of a number of well-known musicians, artists, technologists and other creative individuals turning to the site as a way to raise money for all sorts of endeavors.

For example, pianist Matthew Shipp, who performed in St. Louis in October, is working with multimedia artist and filmmaker Barbara Januszkiewicz on funding an independent film called The Composer through Kickstarter. Saxophonist Azar Lawrence, who's played with major artists such as McCoy Tyner, Freddie Hubbard and Miles Davis, is seeking funding for a live CD of his original music to be recorded at the Jazz Standard in NYC. And the producers of Mingus on Mingus, a documentary on the legendary bassist and composer Charles Mingus to be directed by his grandson Kevin Ellington Mingus, also currently are trying to raise money via Kickstarter.

It'll be interesting to see what role Kickstarter and other novel funding ideas can play going forward in the creation and dissemination of new music. In the meantime, it provides a way for even those of modest means to support projects of interest without much risk. Here's hoping Person makes his goal, and perhaps StLJN's always-perspicacious readers will show a little hometown love to help him get there...

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Ramsey Lewis, then and now

Today, let's look at some performance videos from throughout the long career of pianist Ramsey Lewis, who will be in St. Louis with his Electric Band to perform Wednesday, November 30 through Saturday, December 3 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Lewis, 76, is a Chicago native who first gained wide attention in the 1960s with a series of hit singles that included the gospel-inflected "Wade In The Water" and bluesy versions of then-current pop tunes such as Dobie Gray's "The In Crowd" and the McCoys' "Hang On Sloopy." You can see a live TV performance of "Sloopy," recorded back in 1967, in the first embedded video window up above.

Down below, there are a couple of clips from Lewis' performance in 1980 at the Montreal Jazz Festival. The first starts off with a hard-driving "In Crowd," then segues into a piano solo that demonstrates Lewis' affinity for the blues. Next, guitarist Henry Johnson, a longtime collaborator who still performs with Lewis, kicks off an abbreviated version of "Sun Goddess," the funk tune that was a hit for Lewis and Earth, Wind and Fire in 1974.

The second clip from that concert shows Lewis and band playing Chick Corea's "500 Miles High," one of a number of songs by well-known jazz musicians that Lewis has adapted for his own purposes.

For the fourth clip, we fast-forward to 1987 and a performance of "711" on The Arsenio Hall Show. The video on this one, seemingly taken from an old VHS tape, is pretty rough, but the audio quality is fine, and the tune offers a nice taste of the commercial funk sound Lewis offered on several recordings around this time.

Clip number five brings us into the 21st century for a solo performance of "Dear Lord," taken from Legends of Jazz, the public television series hosted by Lewis in 2006.

The final clips show off the 2011 edition of Lewis' band, presumably the same group that will be playing with him at the Bistro. The sixth clip is a full-length version of "Sun Goddess," recorded in Paris in August, and the seventh and final video takes us back to the the pianist's roots with contemporary version of "The In Crowd" from a concert in Glasgow, Scotland last January.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Singer Tony Bennett's concert Wednesday night at the Fox Theatre was reviewed for the Post-Dispatch by Terry Perkins. And if you're curious about Bennett's new CD Duets II, check out this review of the disc from Jazz Times' Christopher Loudon.

* Meanwhile, Kurt Elling, who's in town through Saturday performing at Jazz at the Bistro, went on the afternoon newscast Thursday at local Fox affiliate KTVI to perform a duet of "The Waking" with bassist Clarke Moore. See the video here.

* The RFT Music Blog has video of electronic musician Eric Hall's performance last weekend At Laumeier Sculpture Park.

* Speaking of electronic musicians, Keith Fullerton Whitman has posted online an 11-minute audio excerpt of his performance here last weekend for New Music Circle at White Flag Projects.

* And speaking of the RFT Music Blog, a recent post by Jaime Lees entitled "100 St. Louis Bands, 100 Drink Pairings: A Comprehensive Guide" includes drink recipes (auto-generated from search results by the website Drinkfy.org) for several St. Louis jazz musicians, including Hamiet Bluiett ("1 bottle Red Wine. Serve on rocks. Stir vigorously. Garnish with maraschino cherry.") and Peter Martin ("10 oz. Vodka, 10 oz. Grenadine, 6 oz. Monster Energy Drink. Combine in highball glass and serve. Stir quickly. Garnish with glowstick.") Martin (pictured) plays tomorrow night at the Sheldon Concert Hall with the New Orleans Modern Jazz Masters.

Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra to play Duke Ellington's "Nutcracker Suite" for family concert on Sunday, November 27

The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, working in partnership with Jazz St. Louis, will perform Duke Ellington's "Nutcracker Suite" as part of a "family concert" at 3:00 p.m. Sunday, November 27 at Powell Symphony Hall. The suite, which is Ellington's jazz interpretation of "The Nutcracker" by Tchaikovsky, originally was recorded for Columbia Records and released in 1960.

The concert will be conducted by Ware Stare, SLSO's resident conductor and director of the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra (SLSYO), and also will include George Gershwin's "An American in Paris" and Leonard Bernstein's "On the Town." Tickets are priced from $7 to $16 and are on sale now at the Powell Hall box office, by phone at 314-534-1700, or via the SLSO's website.

You can see excerpts from a studio performance of the "Nutcracker Suite" by the Duke Ellington Orchestra and a brief promotional interview with Ellington about the project in the embedded video window below.

Jazz this week: Tony Bennett, Kurt Elling, Peter Martin & Wendell Brunious, "Drum Line II" and more

Along with an assortment of jazz and creative music instrumentalists, this week brings two outstanding male vocalists to St. Louis - one representing the tradition of jazz-influenced popular singing, the other offering what amounts to a survey of the current state of the art in contemporary jazz vocals.

The representative of tradition is, of course, the great Tony Bennett, who returns to our city tonight to perform at the Fox Theatre. Bennett is currently enjoying another popular success with his recently released album Duets II, which finds him mixing it up with a gaggle of pop, rock, R&B and country singers ranging from Willie Nelson to Lady Gaga. To get an idea of how this plays out in concert, check out this review of Bennett's November 4 show in Philadelphia by AllAboutJazz.com's Lewis J. Whittington.

The contemporary singer, then, would be Kurt Elling (pictured), who's just a little more than half Bennett's age but for the last 15 years has helped define the state of contemporary male jazz singing. While Bennett is on stage at the Fox tonight, Elling will be opening a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. This will be Elling's first appearance in St. Louis since the release earlier this year of his most recent recording, The Gate. For more about him, the album, and some video clips of songs from it, see this post from last Saturday.

On Thursday, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University wraps up their fall slate of free concerts with "Bass 3 - Basses with Drums," described in this week's promotional email from JAH as "an avant-garde take on the standard jazz trio. As with last week, the performers in the group have yet to be announced, so come for a surprise in this atypical jazz setting." UPDATE - 11/16/11, 10:50 a.m.: Bassist Willem von Hombracht has posted on his Facebook page that he'll be playing this gig along with fellow bassist Bob DeBoo and Eric Stiller.

Also on Thursday evening, saxophonist Jim Stevens' group plays an early show at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups; and Webster Groves High School's award-winning jazz combos will give a public performance at Highway 61 Roadhouse in Webster.

On Friday, guitarist Brian Vaccaro will celebrate the release of his new CD Going Through the Motions with a concert at Eliot Chapel in Kirkwood. Guitarist Teddy Presberg's band will share the bill. Also on Friday, guitarist Dave Black's trio plays at the Cigar Inn.

On Saturday afternoon, the Nu-Art Series presents "Drum Line II," a collaboration among jazz and creative music percussionists including Jerome "Scrooge" Harris, Charles "Bobo" Shaw, Gary Sykes, and others, at Metropolitan Gallery downtown.

Then that evening, the Sheldon Art Galleries will stage a benefit at the adjoining Sheldon Concert Hall with music from a group billed as the New Orleans Modern Jazz Masters, which features native New Orleanians Wendell Brunious on trumpet and Jason Marsalis on drums, along with St. Louisans Peter Martin on piano and Chris Thomas on bass, both of whom who have spent time living in NOLA.

Also on Saturday evening, pianist Ptah Williams will lead a trio with bassist Bob Deboo and drummer Demarius Hicks at Robbie's House of Jazz.

On Sunday, singer Denise Thimes will do a free concert for the St. Louis Jazz and Blues Vespers series at Second Baptist Church, 9030 Clayton Rd. in Richmond Heights

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Webster University Big Band performs at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus, and drummer Joe Pastor's trio plays at BB's.

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.)

"Follow That Star: A Jazz Nativity" to be performed December 10 & 11 at Pilgrim United Church of Christ

The national jazz ministry The Oîkos Ensemble will be joined by St. Louis singer Denise Thimes and other local musicians for performances of "Follow That Star: A Jazz Nativity" at 7:00 p.m. Saturday, December 10 and 3:00 p.m. Sunday December 11 at Pilgrim United Church of Christ, 826 Union Blvd. in St. Louis.

The Oikos Ensemble, led by the saxophonist Rev. Clifford Aerie and pianist Christopher Bakriges (pictured, from left), will present "the Midwestern launch of the East Coast tradition of Jazz Nativity—a unique way to tell the age-old Christmas story through the decidedly modern American voice of jazz." TV broadcaster Gina Kurre, formerly with KTVI and KDNL, will host and narrate the program, which is sponsored by the Missouri Mid-South Conference United Church of Christ.

Both concerts are free and open to the public. A freewill offering will be collected to support two ministries: Every Child’s Home, formerly known as the Evangelical Children’s Home, and efforts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There also will be collection points for shelf-stable canned and boxed food items for the food pantry at Pilgrim UCC. Parking will be available on the east side of Union Avenue, where police will have marked off space especially for the event.

Nu-Art Series to present "Drum Line II" this Saturday, November 19 at Metropolitan Gallery

Veteran jazz and creative music percussionists Jerome "Scrooge" Harris, Charles "Bobo" Shaw and Gary Sykes once again will join forces for "Drum Line II" a performance to be presented by the Nu-Art Series from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. this Saturday, November 19 at Metropolitan Gallery, 2936 Locust St downtown.

This is the second annual "Drum Line" performance at the Metropolitan Gallery, with this year's edition also featuring percussionists Johnnie Johnson (who, as far as we know, is no relation to the late blues/rock pianist) and Eddie Brown.

Harris, Shaw and Sykes are all St. Louis natives who gained early experience in local African-American drum & bugle corps, which since their founding in the 1930s also have included well-known musicians such as Clark Terry, Philip Wilson and Oliver Lake. Tickets for "Drum Line II" are $10 for general admission; doors open at 2:00 p.m..

Craig Pomranz to perform “Love and the Clock” on Saturday, December 17 at Kranzberg Arts Center

Singer and St. Louis native Craig Pomranz (pictured) will return to his hometown for performances of his new cabaret show "Love and the Clock" at 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 17 at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N. Grand.

Called "one of New York's most critically-acclaimed saloon singers" by New York magazine, Pomranz will be accompanied by music director Stephen Bocchino. His new show, which most recently played to sell-out crowds in Los Angeles, deals with "the tick tock of love and how the clock rules the heart" and includes songs from writers ranging from Stephen Sondheim to Cindy Lauper.

Tickets for Craig Pomranz' "Love and the Clock" are $25 each, and are available in advance by phone at 314-965-2526 or online at www.brownpapertickets.com.

StLJN Audio Archive: Charles "Bobo" Shaw & Lester Bowie - Bugle Boy Bop

For this installment of the StLJN Audio Archive, we tune into Bugle Boy Bop, an album of duos recorded by drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw and trumpeter Lester Bowie issued on the Muse label in 1983.

The original LP (pictured) was recorded live at saxophonist Sam Rivers' NYC loft venue Studio Rivbea on February 5, 1977, with famed producer Michael Cuscuna overseeing the eventual release. Although Bugle Boy Bop never has been reissued on CD, you can still hear it via a free download from the music-sharing blog Nothing Is V2.0, which had this to say about the session:

"This is a trumpet & drum duet that will please fans of AEC & Human Arts Ensemble. If you are someone who loved Don Cherry & Eddie Blackwell's album Mu, you'll probably like this one.

The title track gets things off to a high-energy start. The second track ("Go Bo") is where Shaw cuts loose & Bowie lays low (at least somewhat). A barnburner. "Cootie's Caravan Fan" slows things down, but just barely, with a pulsating rhythm giving the tune a very trance-like feel. The title "Latin Recovery" is fairly self-explanatory, with Shaw going bossa nova as Bowie freaks out on the trumpet. The flipside starts with what amounts to a free improv ballad "The Girth of the Cool" - slow-tempo late night feel to it, but by mid-song builds in intensity and eventually the duo picks up the pace and the ferocity. "Chop'n Rock" is characterized by a choppy, rockish beat through much of the tune, seemingly nodding to an old AEC tune, "Rock Out". "Finito, Benito" ends the album on an entropic note. Be aware, the mp3s on this one are a bit dodgy, and the last tune seems to cut off in the middle. As the saying goes, better dodgy mp3s than no music at all.

I don't know if there ever will be a proper digital reissue of this album. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. In the meantime, these mp3 files help to document just a bit of what was going on during the late 1970s NY jazz loft scene."

To download a free copy of Charles "Bobo" Shaw and Lester Bowie's Bugle Boy Bop, go here, scroll down to the bottom of the post, and look for the link that says "Download Bugle Boy Bop," which will take you to a Rapidshare page. Look for the green button marked "Download," click it, and follow the instructions from there.

The StLJN Audio Archive links only to recordings that are out-of-print or that never have been commercially available. The purpose of the Audio Archive is encourage discussion, appreciation and knowledge of St. Louis jazz artists, and we encourage you to support them (or their estates) by purchasing authorized recordings and merchandise or, whenever possible, attending live performances.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Through The Gate with Kurt Elling

When singer Kurt Elling last visited St. Louis in December 2009 to perform at Jazz at the Bistro, he was touring in support of his then-recent CD Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane & Hartman. Elling will be back again next week to play the Bistro from Wednesday, November 16 through Saturday, November 19, and this time he'll no doubt include material from The Gate, his most recent album released earlier this year.

Produced by Don Was, who's overseen recordings for Bonnie Raitt, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and others but is not known specifically as a jazz producer, The Gate includes interpretations of songs associated with Stevie Wonder, the Beatles, Joe Jackson, Earth Wind and Fire, and other rock and pop muscians.

One of those songs, Jackson's "Steppin' Out," is today's first video clip up above. The performance is from a show earlier this year at the club Anthology in San Diego, with a band including Elling's longtime collaborator and pianist Laurence Hobgood, plus Harish Raghavan on bass and Ulysses Owens on drums.

Elling's trio is joined by guitarist John McLean in the second clip for a version of the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood." Below that, there's an early version of another track that wound up on The Gate, a re-imagining of bassist Marc Johnson's "Samurai Hee-Haw" renamed "Samurai Cowboy" by Elling and recorded in 2009 at Pizza Express in London.

Below that, you'll see Elling singing Stevie Wonder's "Golden Lady," taken from a 2009 performance in Paris with Hobgood, Raghavan, drummer Otis Brown III and saxophonist Ernie Watts.

That's followed by an interview with Elling, conducted this past summer for the Chicago arts magazine show Fear No ART, and an excerpt from a vocal master class that Elling presented earlier this year at the North Sea Jazz Festival.

For more about The Gate, check out this NPR interview with Elling and Don Was. You may also be interested to read StLJN's past coverage of the singer, including a critical reconsideration and review of his live show from 2006, and a previous Saturday Video Showcase post from 2009.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* While in St. Louis last week to play at Jazz at the Bistro, guitarist John Scofield was interviewed by KSDK's Art Holliday on the NBC affiliate's 4:00 p.m. newscast.

* Jazz St. Louis has posted photo albums with shots of pianist Ahmad Jamal in performance last Sunday at the TouPAC, and of the reception following the concert by Jamal and singer Dianne Reeves.

* Retro-swing string band Wack-A-Doo (pictured) was spotlighted this week in the Post-Dispatch's "Listen" music video feature, performing "By The Sea" at the Fox Theatre.

* Bassist and luthier David Certain sends word that bassist and St. Louis native Mark Peterson will be playing a CertainBass Model One on an upcoming recording with pianist Bob James. You can see Peterson and his instrument with singer Ben E. King's band here.

* In more celebrity recording news, keyboardist Michael Silverman of the Classical Jazz Quartet says that famed fusion guitarist Scott Henderson has agreed to record on CJQ's next album project, The Rebirth of Fusion. Henderson, known for his work with Tribal Tech and Chick Corea's Elektrik Band, will lay down his tracks in January.

* St. Louis Kids magazine is giving away four tickets to the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra's November 27 performance of the "The Nutcracker Meets Jazz," featuring music by George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein and Duke Ellington. The performance is presented in partnership with Jazz St. Louis, and specifically designed to introduce children to the symphony. To enter the drawing for the free tickets, go here.

* NPR's Kevin Whitehead last week reviewed the new, limited-edition CD reissue of saxophonist Julius Hemphill's landmark debut album Dogon A.D., with the NY Times Ben Ratliff weighing in on the disc here. The reissue is limited to 1,500 copies, and was done by the small International Phonograph label, which earned plaudits for its earlier re-issue of another long-out-of-print session, trumpeter Bill Dixon's Intents and Purposes. The reissue already is out of stock or back-ordered at some online retailers, but if you like, you still can download and hear a free .mp3 rip of the original recording via this StLJN Audio Archive post from back in August.

Jazz this week: Keith Fullerton Whitman, Scratch, Mark O'Connor, a tribute to women in jazz, and more

There's an eclectic selection of jazz and creative music coming up on St. Louis stages over the next few days, from classic bop to contemporary electronics. Let's go to the highlights:

Tonight, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents a free concert by an ad hoc ensemble dubbed "St. Louis Bebop," featuring trumpeter Randy Holmes, saxophonist Jason Swagler, pianist Ken Kehner, bassist Bob DeBoo and drummer Marty Morrison playing music associated with bop pioneers Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.

Also tonight, the Chicago-based saxophonist Mark O'Connor is in town, playing at Robbie's House of Jazz to promote his new CD release Suspended Reality. O'Connor will be joined by pianist Lara Driscoll, trumpeter Chris Davis, drummer Todd Howell and bassist Willem von Hombracht.

On Friday, the Crusaders tribute band Scratch performs for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro, featuring a lineup of St. Louis area players including trombonist and arranger Cody Henry, saxophonist Ben Reece and pianist Adaron "Pops" Jackson.

Also on Friday, saxophonist Jerry Greene and his group perform at Robbie's, and vibraphonist Dustin Sholtes leads a quartet at the Cigar Inn in Belleville.

On Saturday afternoon, there are a ouple of free educational opportunities for local musicians, as saxophonist Bob Reynolds gives a free master class at Saxquest, and electronic musician Keith Fullerton Whitman (pictured) will present a free workshop at the Luminary Center for the Arts.

Then on Saturday evening, Whitman will perform at White Flag Projects in a concert presented by New Music Circle. For more about Whitman and some performance videos of him in action, see this post from last Saturday.

Also on Saturday, Robbie's will present a concert paying tribute to "women in jazz," featuring three performers visiting from Indiana: pianist Monika Herzig, singer Janiece Jaffe and violinist Carolyn Dutton. Herzig, who teaches at the University of Indiana, was in St. Louis most recently for a couple of gigs last May; Jaffe and Dutton will making their local debuts.

On Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents the Funky Butt Brass Band at the SLJC's customary east side venue, Bel-Air Bowl in Belleville.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Sessions Big Band plays at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups, and student jazz combos from the music program at Webster University will perform at Webster's Community Music School.

Then on Tuesday, the SIUE Concert Jazz Band, under the direction of trombonist Brett Stamps, will play at Dunham Hall on the SIU-Edwardsville campus. The set list will include music from the Stan Kenton, Buddy Rich, Maynard Ferguson, Thad Jones-Mel Lewis, Clayton-Hamilton, Rob McConnell, and Tonight Show big bands, with featured performances from SIUE vocal jazz majors Zelina Bott-Goins and Nicole Jonas.

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.)

Bob Reynolds to present free master class this Saturday, November 12 at Saxquest

Saxophonist Bob Reynolds (pictured), known for his association with hit-making singer/songwriter John Mayer, will be in St. Louis to present a free master class at 2:00 p.m. this Saturday, November 12 at Saxquest, 2114 Cherokee St.

A graduate of Berklee College of Music, Reynolds also has performed or recorded with other well-known musicians such as Michael Buble, Nellie McKay, Richard Bona, Tom Harrell and Brian Blade. The Los Angeles resident played in the house band for NBC's Bonnie Hunt Show and has received four ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Awards. His 2006 CD Can't Wait for Perfect was voted "Best Debut" in the Village Voice's jazz poll that year.

Admission to the Bob Reynolds master class is free and open to the public. The setting will be informal and refreshments will be served.

Saxquest also has announced plans to present a master class by St. Louis native Greg Osby at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 17. Osby will be back home that week to perform at Jazz at the Bistro. Other workshops planned for 2012 will feature clarinetist Diana Haskell of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and jazz saxophonist and educator Chip McNeill.

Recently on Heliocentric Worlds

It's been a while since we've had yet another shameless plug for StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds, which each day offers a specially selected online music video for your entertainment and/or edification.

So, let's just briefly mention that, drawing on genres including jazz, blues, soul, funk, classic rock, prog rock and experimental, recent posts have featured musicians and bands including Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Lambert Hendricks and Ross, Memphis Slim, Erroll Garner, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Jim Hall, Charles Lloyd, Joe Henderson, Ella Fitzgerald, Chaka Khan, Modern Jazz Quartet, Al Green, Freddie King, Jackie McLean, Roy Hargrove, Jeff Beck, Isaac Hayes, Earl Hines, Phil Woods & David Sanborn, Big Joe Turner, Branford Marsalis Quartet, Dave Holland Quintet, Steely Dan, B.B. King, Tower of Power, Oscar Peterson and Bob James.

If you've missed these choice clips, fear not, for you still can see them all, plus hundreds more from the extensive archives, at
http://heliocentricworlds.blogspot.com/.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Shaping sound with Keith Fullerton Whitman

This week, let's examine some footage of electronic musician Keith Fullerton Whitman, who will be in St. Louis to perform at 7:30 p.m. next Saturday, November 12 at White Flag Projects, 4568 Manchester Ave, in a concert presented by New Music Circle. (Whitman also will lead an electronic music workshop at 1:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon at Luminary Center for the Arts, 4900 Reber Place.)

Whitman, 38, was born in Somerville, Massachusetts and attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. When he began recording in the mid-1990s, he released music and performed using a variety of aliases, such as Hrvatski, ASCIII and Anonymous, and then in 2001 began using his real name for most projects. Whitman also has been a member of bands including El-Ron, The Liver Sadness, Sheket/Trabant, The Finger Lakes and Gai/Jin.

Depending on the specific project, his music has been identified with different genres of electronic music, including intelligent dance music (IDM), drill and bass, and ambient. Much of the recent live material available via online videos would seem to fit into the latter category, with textures, patterns and sonic palettes changing and evolving via a gradual flow. Today's clips offer several examples of this, as realized live by Whitman with a MacBook laptop running MAX-MSP and/or Logic Pro software, various analog synth modules and circuit-bent gear, plus what looks to be some outboard signal processing and mixing.

The first clip up above and the one down below are from a Whitman performance in September 2010 at the High Zero Festival in Baltimore. Below that, you can see a half-hour excerpt from a concert earlier this year at the Issue Project Room in Brooklyn, NY. This clip was shot from behind the performer, and so there are some closeups of his hands, the computer screen, and so on, that help shed some additional light on a performance that isn't especially visual.

Below that, there are two clips that together offer about 16 minutes from Whitman's set at Hopscotch 2010 in Raleigh NC. The sixth and final clip is from his appearance in June here in St. Louis at Floating Laboratories' "Float Your Face" festival.

For more about Keith Fullerton Whitman, check out this interview he did in 2006 with Pitchfork, this interview for the website Tiny Mix Tapes, and this one for Adequacy.net.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The Fox Theatre is conducting a giveaway of two tickets to see Tony Bennett (pictured) in concert on November 16 at the Fox, plus a copy of his latest album, Duets II. Get your entry in before midnight Sunday, November 6 at the Fox website.

* The Classical Jazz Quartet's performance at a benefit this Sunday for Five Acres Animal Shelter is the subject of a feature story by Terry Perkins for the Jewish Light.

* The exhibit "Ralston Crawford and Jazz" at the Sheldon Art Galleries, is the subject of a short article by the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson.

* St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts (VLAA) will offer an educational workshop on "Public Speaking for Artists" from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. this coming Monday, November 7 at the VLAA offices, 6128 Delmar. The instructor is Tripp Frohlichstein of MediaMasters, Inc, and the cost for the workshop is $10 in advance or $15 at the door.

* Jazz St. Louis is looking for students to work as a "street team" on local college campuses and in the community. Duties include distributing flyers and facilitating "word-of-mouth opportunities and social networking for JSL events." Would-be street-teamers will need reliable transportation, a digital camera or camera phone, and knowledge of Facebook and/or Twitter.

Benefits include free admission to the Bistro for 9:30 sets, and the chance to take part in other volunteer opportunities. For details, see the Jazz St. Louis website, or to apply, send a resume and cover letter to Devin Rodino, Jazz St. Louis, 3547 Olive Street, Suite 260, St. Louis, MO 63104 or via email to devin @ jazzstl.org.

* There's some encouraging news in this week's blog entry from Gwen Terry, wife of Clark Terry. The hospitalized trumpeter once again is enjoying solid food, and had his spirits buoyed this past week by visitors including singer Dianne Reeves, who will perform here in Terry's hometown Sunday night at the TouPAC.

* Less encouraging, however, is the news that though local NBC affiliate KSDK ran a story in September on the run-down condition of Miles Davis' childhood home in East St. Louis that at least prompted a reply from the trumpeter's estate, the property has continuing to deteriorate since then, according to this item by Albert Samaha posted Tuesday on the RFT Music blog.

Jazz this week: John Scofield Quartet, Dianne Reeves, Ahmad Jamal, Jan Shapiro, Kung Fu, and more

It's shaping up to be another fairly busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, particularly for the good folks at Jazz St. Louis, who are presenting touring headliners at two different venues, but there's lots going on elsewhere, too. Let's go to the highlights:

Tonight, guitarist John Scofield opens a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. For this visit, Scofield is downplaying his usual tendencies toward funk, and bringing a quartet playing relatively straightforward swing and featuring pianist Michael Eckroth, bassist Ben Street, and drummer Greg Hutchinson, who was here most recently back in March to do a Ray Brown tribute at the Bistro with Christian McBride and Benny Green. Scofield's new CD A Moment's Peace is just out, so expect to hear some selections from that recording. For more about that project and some videos of Scofield and the quartet in action, check out this post from last Saturday.

On Thursday, singer and St. Louis native Jan Shapiro comes home from Boston, where she heads the vocal department at Berklee College of Music, to perform a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. Shapiro's accompanists will include guitarist William Lenihan and pianist Ptah Williams.

Also on Thursday, singer Billy Valentine will be in town to join Denise Thimes in her annual performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall to raise money for the Mildred Thimes Foundation for pancreatic cancer research. That same evening, the funk/jazz/rock/fusion band Kung Fu, which features musicians associated with Jazz is Dead, RAQ, The Breakfast, and Deep Banana Blackout, will play at 2720 Cherokee.

On Friday, percussionist Herman Semidey leads his Orquesta Nitro Son Montuno for a night of Latin jazz and dancing at Robbie's House of Jazz; traditional jazz group the Dixie Dudes play at Jazz on Broadway in Alton; and guitarist Mason Baran leads a quartet with bassist Ryan Chamberlain, drummer Jerry Mazzuca and saxophonist Austin Cebulske at the Cigar Inn in Belleville.

On Saturday morning, bass players and aspiring bassists may want to head down to the "Ultimate Bass Clinic" at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups, featuring instruction from electric bassists Alvin Clark, Philip Burton, John King, Vince Clark and Jahmal Nichols.

That afternoon, the Nu-Art Series presents the up-and-coming young alto saxophonist Kendrick Smith and his group at Metropolitan Gallery. Then on Saturday evening, singer Joe Mancuso performs at Robbie's, and saxophonist Rod Tate plays at the Halls Ferry Inn Jazz Cafe.

On Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show will present its fourth and final event of the year at the American Czech Center. Also on Sunday afternoon, the Classical Jazz Quartet performs in a benefit for Five Acres Animal Shelter at The Landings at Spirit Golf Club in Chesterfield.

Then on Sunday evening, Jazz St. Louis continues their "Legends of Jazz" series with a double bill at the Touhill Performing Arts Center featuring singer Dianne Reeves (pictured), whose band includes St. Louis' own Peter Martin on piano, and the veteran pianist Ahmad Jamal. Reeves and Jamal are scheduled to do separate sets, though one supposes a spontaneous collaboration cannot be completely ruled out. Either way, it's a chance to see two well-known headliners for one price.

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.)

Charitable events to feature jazz performers

If you're a St. Louis area jazz fan who likes the idea of combining your musical enthusiasms with a bit of personal philanthropy, you may be interested in one of these upcoming charitable events featuring live jazz from local performers:

* The Classical Jazz Quartet will provide the music for a benefit for Five Acres Animal Shelter to be held from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. this Sunday, November 6 at The Landings at Spirit Golf Club, 180 N. Eatherton Rd in Chesterfield.

Founded in 1973, Five Acres Animal Shelter is the only no-kill facility in the St. Charles area, and relies completely on private donations and grants. The organization also is breaking ground on a new building that will help them greatly increase the number of animals they serve.

In addition to the musical performance, the event will feature gourmet appetizers and a silent auction of items ranging from concert tickets and sports memorabilia to gift certificates and artwork. Tickets are $20 in advance at Five Acres Animal Shelter, D-Zine Hair & Art Studio, and Sherstoff Dental. Those interested in attending also can make reservations to attend with an RSVP on the event's Facebook page or by e-mailing lizron @ charter.net.

* Singer Denise Thimes will be the spotlighted performer when the St. Louis chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women present their annual jazz wine tasting honoring "Women in Media' from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Friday, November 18th, 2011 in the atrium of the Hotel Lumiere, 999 N. Second St. downtown.

This year’s honorees are Arika Parr and Selena Johnson of Clear Channel Radio, KTVI's Bonita Cornute, and Pat Washington, a reporter, radio host and former editor at the St. Louis American. The NCBW's mission is "to be an effective force in the greater St. Louis area to mobilize Black women around issues that affect our community, and to serve as positive role models in the personal development of women of color."

A $30 ticket includes wine tastes, appetizer and entertainment, while the $50 VIP ticket includes unlimited tastes, appetizers, entertainment and a "swag bag." Proceeds from the event benefit the programs of NCBW, and tickets can be purchased online at http://neosoulwin2011ncbwstl.eventbrite.com. For more information, call 314-494-3886.

Spruill's becomes Lavish, ending long run of Saturday jazz matinees

One of St. Louis' longest running weekly jazz gigs, the Saturday afternoon sessions by saxophonist Willie Akins at Spruill's, has come to a final ending with the closing of the club.

In a story published yesterday, the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson wrote that the space at 1101 Jefferson formerly occupied by Spruill's is being refitted as a new nightclub, Lavish, by the owners of several other trendy local nightspots.

Akins' Saturday afternoon shows were a staple at Spruill's for many years, often attracting touring musicians passing through town as well as student players hoping for a chance to sit in.

He continues to play around town despite recent health problems that led friends and colleagues to stage a fundraiser for his medical expenses over Labor Day weekend. In addition to leading his own group, Akins (pictured) can be heard performing with bassist Bob DeBoo and others.