Friday, June 20, 2014

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Best wishes and healing thoughts to trumpeter Adam Hucke, who's back home and recovering today after being hit in the arm by a stray bullet early this morning at the Broadway Oyster Bar.

According to a report on KMOV, two cars were involved in a gun battle on Broadway near Gratiot around 2:00 a.m. when Hucke, who was working with blues guitarist and singer Mike Aguirre, was hit.

No other details about the incident are available, but Hucke, best known as a member of the Funky Butt Brass Band, was treated and released by a local hospital and expects to be OK.

* Miles Davis' Take Off: The Complete Blue Note Albums, the recent reissue of the trumpeter's early 1950s sessions for the label (pictured), was reviewed by AllAboutJazz.com's Marc Davis.

* Meanwhile, in the latest news from Miles Ahead, actor Don Cheadle's forthcoming film about Davis, it seems that actress Zoe Saldana has dropped out of the project, but shooting still is scheduled to begin next month in Cincinnati.

* The Miles Davis Jazz Festival has posted on Facebook an album of photos from this year's fest.

* HEC-TV has posted online Don Wolff's video tribute to the late Mat Domber, founder of the jazz indie label Arbors Records.

* In related news, the audio version of Wolff's "I Love Jazz" program now can be heard on TuneIn.com.

* Bassist Jim Widner's big band camp for high school students was the subject of a feature story in the UMSL Current.

* The downtown bar and restaurant Lola, which occasionally presented jazz along with R&B, neo-soul and hop-hop, is closing. The story from the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson cites increased competition from other venues, as well as differences among the partners.

* The Big Little Band has posted on Facebook an album of photos from their performance last week at The Abbey in Belleville.

* Jazz radio update: On this Saturday's episode of Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis' “Somethin’ Else”, host Calvin Wilson will spotlight the music of Duke Ellington's collaborator Billy Strayhorn as interpreted by musicians including saxophonists Joe Henderson and Branford Marsalis and pianist Matthew Shipp.

After that on "The Jazz Collective," host Jason Church will be spinning tunes by Brian Culbertson, Omar Hakim, Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra, Nathan East, The New Mastersounds, Chuck Mangione, Acoustic Alchemy, Wes Montgomery, Gato Barbieri, Jimmy Smith, Dave Panico, Jim Manley, and more.

Wilson's program airs at 8:00 p.m. Saturdays, followed by Church at 9:00 p.m., on 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.

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