Saturday, September 14, 2013

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase:
Fall 2013 jazz preview, part 3



Today's, it's part three of StLJN's preview of jazz and creative music concerts coming to St. Louis this fall. Previously in this space, part one and part two covered shows that are happening through the first week of October, which is where today's installment picks up.

Our first clip features the new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound*, who will kick off their second St. Louis season on Wednesday, October 9 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.  They'll be performing a program called "Permanent Collection," which covers 150 years of music written for their instrumentation, the sinfonietta (a small orchestra that has one of every instrument found in a full-sized symphony). The concert will include AWS' version of Aphex Twin's "Cock/Ver 10," first recorded for their 2005 album Acoustica and seen here in a rather rough-quality video shot from the audience in 2009 at NYC's Le Poisson Rouge.

That same week, saxophonist Lou Donaldson will return to St. Louis for a four-night engagement beginning Wednesday, October 9 and continuing through Saturday, October 12 at Jazz at the Bistro. Donaldson, who turns 87 (!) in November, plays blues, bop and ballads in the old-school manner, and by all accounts continues to be an very engaging performer, age notwithstanding. He's seen here with his frequent collaborator, organist Dr. Lonnie Smith - who, alas, will not be on the upcoming St. Louis dates - performing one of his signature songs, "Alligator Boogaloo."

The following week, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will return to St. Louis, this time to perform Marsalis' extended work "Abyssinian" with Chorale Le Chateau in a concert presented by Jazz St. Louis on Friday, October 18 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. Written to celebrate the 200th anniversary of NYC's Abyssinian Baptist Church, the work was premiered in 2008. Today's second video contains some short excerpts from that premiere performance with Dr. Rev. Calvin Butts III and the Abyssinian Church Choir at Rose Hall in NYC.

Also on Friday, October 18, trombonist William Cepeda will perform at the Sheldon. Originally from Puerto Rico, Cepeda is known for mixing jazz and urban Latin sounds with folk elements from Puerto Rican music, and today's fourth video clip shows off some of that in an excerpt from his performance at this year's Heineken Jazz Festival in San Juan.

The following week, New Orleans saxophonist Donald Harrison will bring his "A Night In Treme" tour here to play Wednesday, October 23 through Saturday, October 26 at Jazz at the Bistro. After establishing himself as a skilled hard bop player with Art Blakey and on own recordings, Harrison in recent years has incorporated more direct references to traditional New Orleans music into his sound, which seems fitting for someone who's also the Big Chief of The Congo Square Nation. The fifth video clip shows Harrison and trombonist Glen David Andrews dueting on "When The Saints Go Marching In" and was recorded in 2011 at the studios of KPLU in Tacoma, WA.

The sixth video features bassist William Parker's In Order To Survive Quintet, who will perform here in a concert presented by New Music Circle on Friday, October 25 at Mad Art Gallery. Parker, drummer Hamid Drake, pianist Cooper-Moore, alto saxophonist Rob Brown and trumpeter Lewis Barnes are seen here in an excerpt from their set at the 2012 Vision Festival in NYC.

Wrapping up today's post is a video of pianist and singer Harry Connick Jr., who wil be back in St. Louis for the first time in several years to perform on Sunday, October 27 at the Fox Theatre. Connick is touring in support of his latest album, Every Man Should Know, and is seen here playing the title song on ABC's daytime talk show The View.

Look for the fourth and final part of StLJN Fall 2013 jazz preview next week.

(*Full disclosure: Yr. StLJN editor has worked with Alarm Will Sound for the past four years in conjunction with the Mizzou International Composers Festival in Columbia, where they are the resident ensemble, and I'm still working with the PR firm that assists them with publicity in the region. That said, I'd still be highlighting this show even if I were not associated with them.)











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