Friday, October 26, 2012

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Pianist and St. Louis native Tom McDermott, who now lives in New Orleans, turned up again in last Sunday's episode of the HBO series Treme, which is set in the Crescent City. McDermott and Connie Jones were shown performing the pianist's composition “Kermit’s Rag” at The Columns hotel. You can read a brief interview about the show that McDermott (pictured) did recently with NOLA.com here.

* Meanwhile, New Orleans native Wynton Marsalis was in St. Louis last week, leading the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in a performance of his composition "Swing Symphony" with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. While Marsalis and JaLCO were in town, they also spent some time teaching and playing with the East St. Louis High School Jazz Band. You can read more about that in Terry Perkins' article for the St. Louis Beacon, found here, and see some photos in an album posted on the SLSO's Facebook page.

* Jazz St. Louis will begin their first educational residency of the 2012-13 season next Monday, October 29 with a week-long return visit from well-known jazz educator Dr. Gene Aitken. A former winner of DownBeat Magazine’s Jazz Educator of the Year and a member of the International Jazz Educators Hall of Fame, Aitken will work with Jazz St. Louis’ JazzU ensembles, and conduct a series of lectures, workshops, and clinics at area schools including Ladue High School, Riverview Gardens High School, Seckman High School, Parkway South High School, Bishop DuBourg High School, and Webster Groves High School, the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and Webster University.

* And speaking of Jazz St. Louis, they've posted to their Facebook page an album of photos from last week's performances by yet another New Orleanian, trumpeter Christian Scott, at Jazz at the Bistro. Nextbop.com also just published an article on Scott's new quintet lineup here.

1 comment:

Bruce Oliver said...

I was checking continuously this blog and I’m impressed!