Jazz this week: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Evan Parker & Peter Evans, Ronnie Burrage's RoBu Big Band, and more

This week's schedule of jazz and creative music in St. Louis is jam-packed, with three notable big band performances, two shows benefiting an ailing elder statesman of the local jazz scene, an evening of free-form music from two intriguing improvisors, and much, much more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, September 30
The eclectic acoustic ensemble The 442s perform for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro, and pianist Greg Mills plays free improv and contemporary compositions at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

Thursday, October 1
Guitarist Tom Byrne will lead a quartet in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, serving up "original compositions, some Pat Metheny tunes, some Jobim" and more.

Elsewhere on Thursday night, there are a couple of opportunities for some short-distance road-tripping for those so inclined. In DeSoto, MO, the fourth annual Mel Bay Jazz Festival begins with a show from guitarist Larry Bay and Sugar Moon at the Fountain City Grille on Main St.

The festival continues for two more nights with music from singer Joe Mancuso, guitarists Eric Slaughter and Dave Black, singer Lena Seikaly, and pianist Chris Grasso on Friday at the Fountain City Grille and on Saturday at The Arlington Inn event space, also on Main St.

At the same time across the river in Lebanon, IL, the Count Basie Orchestra will be performing for the first of two nights at McKendree College's Hettenhausen Center for the Arts. Friday's show is sold out, but some tickets apparently still remain available for Thursday's concert.

Friday, October 2
New Music Circle opens their 2015-16 season with  an evening of free improvisation from saxophonist Evan Parker and trumpeter Peter Evans (pictured, center left) at Joe’s Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave.

For more about Parker and Evans, see this video post from last Saturday. (While they're here, both men also will take part in a free workshop and Q&A session on Saturday morning at Foam on South Jefferson.)

Also on Friday, the Italian pianist Roberto Magris will be in town to lead a quartet in a performance at Ozark Theatre; the New Orleans Suspects return to St. Louis to play at Broadway Oyster Bar; and Feyza Eren offers a "Tribute to Billie Holiday" at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

And as if all that weren't enough for one evening, Jazz St. Louis education director Phil Dunlap will bring his quintet to Jazz at the Bistro for the first of two nights showcasing material from his forthcoming album. Along with the leader on piano, Dunlap's group features trumpeter Danny Campbell, saxophonist Ben Reece, bassist Nathan Pence, and drummer Montez Coleman.

Saturday, October 3
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, led by famed famed trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, return to serve as the featured performers at the "Friends of the Sheldon Benefit Gala" at Sheldon Concert Hall. (For availability of concert-only tickets, check with the Sheldon's box office.)

Marsalis and JaLCO (pictured, top left) have just released Live in Cuba, a two-disc set recorded earlier this year, and the first album on Jazz at Lincoln Center's new in-house imprint Blue Engine Records.

Also on Saturday, drummer/multi-instrumentalist and U City native Ronnie Burrage will be back home from his current residence in Pennsylvania to reactivate his RoBu Big Band (pictured, lower left) for the first of two performances at Voce, 212 S. Tucker.

The group will include Burrage and fellow St. Louis expat, guitarist Kelvyn Bell, plus saxophonists Jeff Anderson, Stanley Coleman, Chad Evans, and Jerome "JDubz" Williams; trumpeter Khamali Cuffie-Moore; bassist Darrell Mixon; pianist Ptah Williams; percussionist Henry Claude; and vocalist Charisse Swan.

The RoBu Big Band also will play a matinee on Sunday afternoon, and both gigs will be recorded on video for what promo material for the shows describes as "a larger film documentary initiative to explore the rich cultural history of St. Louis and to tell the stories of numerous artists that have come from the region." You can read more about that at the GoFundMe page that Burrage has set up for the film project.

Sunday, October 4
Tom Byrne and friends will present a "Tribute/Benefit Event for Willie Akins" at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups, raising funds for the veteran St. Louis saxophonist who's now ailing from heart disease and unable to work.

Along with Byrne on guitar, the list of prospective performers includes drummers Montez Coleman and Kyle Honeycutt, bassists Bob DeBoo, Ben Wheeler, and Willem von Hombracht; trumpeters Danny Campbell and Randy Holmes, saxophonist Paul DeMarinis, guitarist Eric Slaughter, singer Erika Johnson, and, crossing over from Ronnie Burrage's matinee gig, Jeffrey Anderson, plus sit-ins and/or special guests TBA.

Also on Sunday, the Dave Dickey Big Band returns for their monthly show at Jazz at the Bistro, with the Ft. Zumwalt North HS Jazz Band performing during intermission.

Monday, October 5
Dizzy Atmosphere plays Gypsy jazz and swing at The Shaved Duck.

Tuesday, October 6
In another fund-raiser for the saxophonist, singers Wendy Gordon, Jeanne Trevor and friends will offer "Music for Willie Akins"at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

In addition to Gordon and Trevor, the announced list of performers includes singers Marty Abdullah, Elaine Donahoe, Marsha Evans, Chuck Flowers, Linda Kennedy, Joe Mancuso, Diane Vaughn, and Ron Wilkinson, along with keyboardists Arthur Toney and Pauline Stark, bassists Jimmy Hinds and Willem Von Hombracht, saxophonist Kendrick Smith, trumpeter Adrian Bowers, guitarist Eric Slaughter, and drummer Alfred Barnes.

Also on Tuesday, the Spiritual Revolution Ensemble plays free jazz at Tavern of Fine Arts; and the First Tuesday Composers Club will have their monthly meeting at The Dark Room.

For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, 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.)

Music Education Monday: Paquito D'Rivera on composing and playing clarinet, and more

Born in 1948 in Cuba, Paquito D'Rivera first became well-known in the USA in the early 1980s as the fiery alto saxophonist for the high-energy band Irakere.

Over the ensuing decades, he's revealed other aspects of his musical personality, too - such as his clarinet playing, which has been consistently good enough to earn D'Rivera (pictured) a place in the critical conversation about the most capable contemporary jazz clarinetists.

For today's Music Education Monday, here's a video of a master class with D'Rivera, recorded in 2012 at an event sponsored by the reed manufacturer Van Doren, in which he discusses clarinet playing and composing. You can see the video in the embedded window at the bottom of this post.

* Also of interest to music students: Jazz Times and ArtistWorks are offering readers a chance to win a year's worth of free online music lessons from one of ArtistWorks' teachers. The company's roster of instructors includes guitarists Chuck Loeb, Martin Taylor, and Andreas Oberg, bassist John Patitucci, saxophonist Eric Marienthal, and pianist George Whitty. You can enter the drawing for the free lessons here.

Music for Lifelong Achievement instrument drive continues through October 25

Do you have an old, unused, or extra musical instrument taking up space in the basement, garage or spare room? Music for Lifelong Achievement can get it out of your way and put it into the hands of a deserving local student.

MFLA's annual instrument drive begins today (Monday, September 28) and continues through Sunday, October 25. They're a not-for-profit organization based at the Sheldon Concert Hall that collects used and new musical instruments and donates them to school and community music programs serving disadvantaged young people.

Since its inception, MFLA has provided more than 500 instruments to music students all over the St. Louis area.

There are two ways to help: by giving a musical instrument, or giving cash. St. Louis-area Starbucks stores once again will serve as drop-off locations for used and new musical instruments during the drive. The donated instruments then will be repaired and distributed to students who otherwise would not be able to afford an instrument. Donors get a letter documenting the value of the instrument for tax deduction purposes.

If you don’t have an instrument to donate, MFLA gladly accepts cash contributions, which are used to help pay for necessary repairs of donated instruments and provide accessories such as strings, reeds, and sheet music. These donations also are tax deductible. For more information or to make a donation, call The Sheldon at 314-533-9900 or visit www.supportmfla.org.

Miles on Monday: "Understanding Miles Davis, in 9 Parts," and more

This week in Miles Davis news:

* New York magazine's pop culture website Vulture attempts to prepare readers for the forthcoming release of Don Cheadle's Miles Ahead film with "Understanding Miles Davis, in 9 Parts."

* An article at Gramophone.com suggests that readers "Let Miles Davis Help You Build Your Jazz Collection."

* A post on the Rock Art Editions blog compares the Miles Davis statue recently unveiled in Alton, IL, to existing statues of the trumpeter in Nice, France and Kielce, Poland.

* There's more coverage of the unveiling of the statue in Alton in this feature story from the St. Louis American's Kenya Vaughn.

* Lastly, today marks 24 years since Miles Davis died, passing away as a result of pneumonia, respiratory failure, and a stroke at St. John's Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica, CA, where he had been a patient for several weeks. He was 65; his music lives on.

Sunday Session: September 27, 2015

Mary Lou Williams

For your Sunday reading, here are some interesting music-related items that have hit StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Way Down Yonder in New Orleans (Oxford American)
* Coltrane “A Love Supreme Complete Masters” to Be Released - Impulse!/Verve to issue 2- and 3-CD editions (Jazz Times)
* A Hidden Hero of Jazz (The New Yorker)
* Play It Again (for the First Time) (The New Yorker)
* Is Stevie Wonder Cheating a Dead Man? (Daily Beast)
* To the barricades! Why rhythm is the heartbeat of revolution (The Guardian UK)
* Bar-Kays trumpeter Ben Cauley dies (Memphis Commercial Appeal)
* Panoramical will change the way you conceive of sound (Boing Boing)
* From the Club to the Cathedral: Revisiting Duke Ellington’s Controversial ‘Sacred Concert’ (KQED)
* Why looking at music from a tech and business perspective makes no sense (FactMag.com)
* Kamasi Washington On World Cafe (NPR)
* The EDM Ennio Morricone - How Junkie XL went from making junior varsity electronica to blowing cinematic minds with his scores for ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ and ‘Black Mass’ (Grantland)
* London, Meader, Pramuk & Ross Showcase Vocalese at Historic Birdland Summit (DownBeat)
* Jaco Pastorius Documentary Set to Premiere Nov. 27 (Jazz Times)
* Inside Bob Dylan's Massive New Sixties Bootleg Series Trove (Rolling Stone)
* What Critics Want (21cm.org)
* Music Coverage Endangered as Writers From USA Today, Times-Picayune, New York Daily News Exit (Billboard)
* 9 Behind-the-Scenes Stories From Darlene Love, the Greatest Backup Singer Ever (Vulture.com)
* Gigantic wooden megaphones amplify the sounds of the forest in Estonia (Inhabitat.com)
* Snarky Puppy: the latest supergroup ripping up the genre rulebook (Irish Times)
* The Secret Jewish History of Joni Mitchell (Forward.com)
* Soul Set Free: The Lost Legacy Of David Ruffin (Trunkworthy.com)
* Louie Pérez and Los Lobos: Still howlin' after all these years (KPCC)
* First Fusion: Jazz-Rock Before Bitches Brew (WFIU)
* Music Heals: MedRhythms Uses Music To Treat Traumatic Brain Injury (Forbes)
* A Brief History of Scratching (FactMag.com)
* The Coltrane Home in Dix Hills (The Paris Review)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Evan Parker and Peter Evans

Today, let's spend a few minutes with saxophonist Evan Parker and trumpeter Peter Evans, who will give a duo performance to kick off New Music Circle's 2015-16 season next Friday, October 2 at Joe's Cafe. (Both men also will take part in a free workshop/Q&A at 11 a.m. the next day (Saturday, October 3) at Foam.)

Parker is a 71-year-old Englishman who began his career in the 1960s, at first briefly emulating the cool stylings of Paul Desmond and Lee Konitz, then totally revamping his sound to reflect the influence of John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Pharoah Sanders, and other practitioners of "the new thing." He has collaborated with many well-known British and European improvising musicians, including saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, drummers Tony Oxley and John Stevens, guitarist Derek Bailey, and pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, as well with Americans such as bassist William Parker, pianist Cecil Taylor, and saxophonist Anthony Braxton, and many more.

Evans, who's in his mid-30s, graduated from Oberlin Consevatory of Music and has been based in NYC since 2003. He leads his own quartet and also is a member of bands including Mostly Other People Do the Killing, Carnival Skin, and Pulverize the Sound. As a soloist, Evans has worked in various other contexts with free-improvising musicians such as Mary Halvorson, Perry Robinson, Fred Frith, Ned Rothenberg, Okkyung Lee, Chris Speed, Weasel Walter, and numerous others.

While Parker and Evans have a long-standing musical relationship - Parker's label even released a solo recording from Evans back in 2006 - there doesn't seem to be any video of them online playing as a duo. So instead, today we've got clips of a couple of performances featuring both men in a group setting, and a couple of solo performances from each.

In the first clip up above, you can see Parker, Evans, and baritone saxophonist Charles Evans in an excerpt from a show last September at the Stone in NYC. After the jump, there's another clip from a couple of nights later at the Stone, featuring Parker, Evans, keyboardist Craig Taborn, and electronic musician Sam Pluta, performing as the collective Rocket Science.

Below that, there are two clips from 2012 featuring Evans playing solo, at the Center for Advanced Musical Studies at Chosen Vale in Hampshire, and at the Invisible Dog Gallery in Brooklyn, NYC.

After that, you can see two solo performances from Parker. The first was recorded in April, 2001 at the First Existentialist Congregation in Atlanta, GA, while the second is from 2012 at the Unlimited 26 music festival in Wels, Austria.

Last but not least, there's a brief interview that Parker did in 2014 with Subradar, a website that covers improvisation and experimental music.

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Singer Tony Bennett's performance last Saturday night at Lindenwood University was reviewed for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch by Dan Durchholz.

* This week's "Jazz St. Louis at 20" festivities at Jazz at the Bistro were previewed in articles in the Post-Dispatch and in Ladue News. Jazz St. Louis also has posted to Facebook some photos from Wednesday night's show featuring Christian McBride, Cyrus Chestnut, Gregory Hutchinson, Russell Malone, Terell Stafford, and Tim Warfield.

* Speaking of pictures, there's a photo set from last Saturday's Old Webster Jazz and Blues Festival now online at the KDHX website.

* Singer-guitarist John Pizzarelli talked about his just-released album of Paul McCartney songs with KMOX radio's Charlie Brennan.

* A brief article in St. Louis magazine previews the upcoming season from New Music Circle.

* Music from the STL Free Jazz Collective (pictured) is included in the latest edition of Taran's Free Jazz Hour podcast.

* The Midwest Jazz-tette has produced and uploaded to YouTube a new promotional video/electronic press kit.

* Saxophonist Oliver Lake will be back in action next week with Trio 3 for three dates at the Blue Note in NYC. Lake, bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille will be joined by a different guest pianist every night, with The Bad Plus' Ethan Iverson playing on Tuesday, Vijay Iyer on Wednesday, and Jason Moran on Thursday.

* A new exhibit at the Luminary Center for the Arts that includes posters, poetry chapbooks, and other materials from the Black Artists Group is the subject of a story on St. Louis Public Radio. Titled "The Marvelous is Free," the exhibit displays the BAG artifacts with "other art from The Black Arts Movement, Gay Rights Movement and the fight for Latino rights during the late 1960s and early ’70s," and will continue through November 6.

Jazz this week: "Jazz St. Louis at 20," "3 Nights in September," Bonerama, and more

This week's calendar of jazz and creative music in and around St. Louis includes an anniversary celebration for the city's most prolific jazz presenter, plus a gathering of our town's free improvisors, the return of a favorite New Orleans band, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, September 23
The "3 Nights in September" festival of improvised music continues at Tavern of Fine Arts, with sets from Ghost Ice, Mister Ben, and Dave Stone with Henry Claude, Glenn "Papa" Wright, and Joe Hess. The event wraps up on Thursday with music from the Experimental Arts Ensemble STL, Vernacular String Trio (pictured, top left), STL Free Jazz Collective, and George Sams and Charles "Bobo" Shaw.

Also on Wednesday, Jazz St. Louis presents the first of four nights of "Jazz St. Louis at 20," an anniversary celebration featuring an all-star band comprised of musicians who have played Jazz at the Bistro multiple times over the last 20 years.

Since the group has been put together just for this occasion, there's no video footage available of all of them together, but you can see individual clips of bassist Christian McBride, pianist Cyrus Chestnut, drummer Gregory Hutchinson, guitarist Russell Malone, trumpeter Terell Stafford (pictured, center left) and saxophonist Tim Warfield in part 1 of StLJN's fall jazz preview.

Elsewhere around town, the jazz-inflected hip-hop group Sidewalk Chalk will perform at the Old Rock House, heading a bill that also includes Lamar Harris in his "DJ Nune" identity. To kick off their two-month tour of more than 50 cities, last week the group released a video of their cover of Kendrick Lamar‘s “Alright.”

Thursday, September 24
Pianist Ptah Williams leads a quartet in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; singer Joe Mancuso and bassist Willem von Hombracht will be in duo mode at Thurman Grill; and pianist Brad Ellebrecht and singer Diane Vaughn will perform at Evangeline's.

Friday, September 25
Orquesta Son Montuno will bring the salsa for a free outdoor concert as part of the Greater St. Louis Hispanic Festival at Soulard Market Park; guitarist Eric Slaughter and bassist Glen Smith will play duets at Thurman Grill; and the Matt McCallie Orchestra will make their debut at Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, September 26
Singer Feyza Eren will lead a quartet in a concert at the Jacoby Arts Center in Alton; multi-instrumentalist Joe Bozzi and band return to Evangeline's; trumpeter Randy Holmes and his quartet will perform in a benefit for local food pantries at the Ozark Theatre; and guitarist Larry Brown Jr. will be back home to celebrate the release of his latest album, The Music And The Moment, at 2720 Cherokee.

Sunday, 
September 27
The sound of multiple trombones will be thundering on South Broadway as New Orleans'
Bonerama (pictured, lower left) returns to the Broadway Oyster Bar, while just up the street, blues/rock guitarist Billy Barnett and friends will present a "Tribute to Danny Gatton" at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Also on Sunday, the Jazz Edge Orchestra and singer Marsha Evans return to Kirkwood Station Brewing Company; and guitarist Vincent Varvel plays at Nathalie's.

Monday, September 28
Saxophonist and Webster University faculty member Paul DeMarinis and his ensemble will perform a program of original compositions and more at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus.

Tuesday, September 29
The Route 66 Jazz Orchestra presents a "Tribute to Frank Sinatra" as part of the Sheldon Concert Hall's "Notes From Home" series.

For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, 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.)

East Coast, West Coast ragtime pianists to meet in concert on Saturday, October 24

Ragtime pianists from the East Coast and West Coast will meet in the Midwest when the Friends of Scott Joplin present Frank LiVolsi and John Reed-Torres (pictured) in a concert at 7:00 p.m. Saturday, October 24 in the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's New Rosebud Cafe.

LiVolsi, who's from Rhode Island, travels the country several times a year to play in ragtime and early jazz festivals, while Reed-Torres, a Californian, has performed extensively around the Los Angeles area, and also has visited Missouri before in 2012 and 2013 to play at the Blind Boone Festival in Columbia.

Tickets for the "East Coast Meets West Coast" concert will be $20 at the door.

Miles on Monday: NYFF trailer includes Miles Ahead footage, and more

This week in Miles Davis news:

* A trailer released last week for the New York Film Festival includes some very brief footage from Miles Ahead, the film about Davis directed by and starring Don Cheadle that will close the festival on October 11. In addition to the frames of Cheadle as Davis (pictured), the trailer includes clips from many of the festival's 26 main lineup features.

* Following up on the recent unveiling of the Miles Davis statue in Alton, IL,  St. Louis writer Terry Perkins has penned an article for Down Beat about the ceremony, and the Miles Davis Memorial Project has posted on their Facebook page links to two more photo sets of the festivities.

* In an article for Financial Times, the dean of a business school in France described "how he finds inspiration in Miles Davis."

Music Education Monday: Master classes with Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Marsalis is known not only as a trumpet player, composer, and bandleader, but also as a strong advocate for jazz education.

As the artistic head of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Marsalis (pictured) has overseen the development of a number of educational programs for the institution, but he also gets involved personally in teaching when the opportunity arises.

And so, for today's installment of Music Education Monday, here's a chance to check out videos of a couple of master classes with Marsalis.

The first was recorded in 2013 for HBO Family's series YoungArts Masterclass, and follows Marsalis through the process of coaching three young musicians as they prepare for a performance at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

The second video was recorded earlier this year at the Center of Arts of Morelos in Morelos, Mexico, and while the translation of Marsalis' remarks and the students' questions does slow the pace of the presentation a bit, it also allows more time to ponder the significance of the trumpeter's comments, which can be a good thing, right?

You can see both videos after the jump...

Sunday Session: September 20, 2015

Dave Douglas

For your Sunday reading, here are some interesting music-related items that have hit StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Sun Ra Plays a Music Therapy Gig at a Mental Hospital; Inspires Patient to Talk for the First Time in Years (OpenCulture.com)
* Breathing While Saxophone Playing Should Be An Olympic Sport (Atlas Obscura)
* Concert programmes cheat the public (The Independent UK)
* Important Win for Fair Use in ‘Dancing Baby’ Lawsuit - Appeals Court Affirms That Copyright Owners Must Consider Fair Use in Online Takedowns (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
* Dave Douglas’ Tireless Pursuit of Variety & Change (DownBeat)
* The 26 best jazz films (The Telegraph UK)
* Physicists Achieve Perfect Acoustic Absorption (Vice.com)
* Zappa and Jazz: Did it Really Smell Funny, Frank? (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Hit Charade - Meet the bald Norwegians and other unknowns who actually create the songs that top the charts. (The Atlantic)
* The LA Philharmonic Is Trying to Perfectly Recreate Concerts in Virtual Reality (Vice.com)
* Whitney Houston, Billie Holiday and the hologram craze – but is it worth a tour? (The Guardian UK)
* Flipping the playola debate for streaming music playlists (MusicAlly.com)
* Photo Gallery: The Royal Bopsters and Very Special Guests at Birdland - Annie Ross, Jon Hendricks, Sheila Jordan, Bob Dorough & Andy Bey share a stage (Jazz Times)
* Gary Burton: On ECM & Playing With Pat Metheny (AllAboutJazz.com)
* theartsdesk at The Chicago Jazz Festival - Enthusiastic audiences celebrate a programme spanning be-bop to free extremity (TheArtsDesk.com)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: "3 Nights in September"

This week, let's take a look at some of the musicians who will be involved in "3 Nights in September," a mid-week festival of improvised and experimental music organized by cellist Tracy Andreotti that will take place this coming Tuesday, September 22; Wednesday, September 23; and Thursday, September 24 at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

Tuesday's program is scheduled to include performances from Brain Transplant, NNN Cook, Michael Williams, and the Hess/Cunningham Duo, while Wednesday's concert will feature Ghost Ice & Mister Ben; Dave Stone with Henry Claude, Glenn "Papa" Wright & Joe Hess; and the Perhelion Ensemble.

The final performance on Thursday will include sets from the Experimental Arts Ensemble STL; Andreotti's own Vernacular String Trio; the STL Free Jazz Collective; and the duo of trumpeter George Sams and drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw.

Attempting to "preview" shows of improvised music is always fraught with uncertainty, because by definition, every performance is different. But even so, and even though some of the today's featured clips are a bit rough, quality wise, perusing them should give you at least some idea of what to expect next week.

The first clip up above features the Hess/Cunningham Duo, captured in August of this year at the Acid Kat Fest in St. Louis.

After the jump, you can see videos of NNN Cook, also from this year's Acid Kat Fest; Brain Transplant, recorded in October 2014 during the last in-store performance at the now-shuttered Apop Records; and Ghost Ice, from a show in January of this year at the Schlafly Tap Room.

Then, it's saxophonist Dave Stone's trio, recorded in 2010 at Stone's regular Friday night performance at Mangia Italiano (which tends to be as much of a "tunes" gig as free improv); and a promotional trailer produced by the STL Free Jazz Collective.

Finally, there's a recording of Sams and Shaw performing at a tribute to the late trumpeter Floyd LeFlore last October at the Tavern of Fine Arts, with some help from saxophonists Jerome 'Jay Dubz' Williams and Lawrence 'Rahtu' Johnson and pianist David Parker.

Admission to "Three Nights in September" is $5 per night, payable in cash only, at the door. See the event's Facebook page for the latest details.

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Tomorrow's Old Webster Jazz and Blues Festival was previewed by KTRS' "McGraw Millhaven Show."

* Singer, actress, comedian and Belleville native Lea DeLaria was interviewed by the Belleville News Democrat. DeLaria will be back home to speak at 6:30 p.m. next Tuesday, September 22 at Lindenwood Auditorium on Lindenwood University's Belleville campus. Her latest album House of David, released this summer, offers jazz interpretations of the music of David Bowie.

* Rev. Cliff Aerie, saxophonist and leader of the Oikos Ensemble, and Tim Osiek, the group's trumpeter, have co-authored Worship In A New Key - Jazz Hymnbook, Vol 1, a new book of jazz arrangements of well-known hymns. A second volume, covering Christmas music, is forthcoming.

* Regional Arts Commission is now accepting applications for the current round of their Artists Support Grants, and they're presenting a free workshop on how to apply for one at 5:30 p.m. next Monday, September 21 at the RAC offices, 6128 Delmar Blvd. The deadline to apply is Thursday, October 22.

* A video just posted to YouTube documents saxophonist Oliver Lake's recent performance with the Vijay Iyer Trio at the Jazz Poetry 2015 festival in Pittsburgh. Lake (pictured, with Iyer) also celebrated his 73rd birthday this past Monday, September 14.

* The late singer, songwriter, keyboardist and former St. Louisan Donny Hathaway's battle with mental illness is the subject of Twisted Melodies, a one-man show that just ended a run at the Athenaeum Theatre in Chicago.

Jazz this week: Tony Bennett, Old Webster Jazz & Blues Festival, Two Times True, Montez Coleman, "3 Nights in September," and more

As St. Louis prepares to mark the turn of seasons into autumn, the jazz and creative music presenting season is starting to roll, with offerings this week ranging from the return of one of the foremost interpreters of the "Great American Songbook" to a three-day gathering of local improvisors and experimentalists. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, September 16
Pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True with guest saxophonist Larry Johnson (pictured, top left) return to Jazz at the Bistro for the first night of a two-night engagement; Cabaret Project St. Louis presents their monthly "Open Mic Night" at the Tavern of Fine Arts; and Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes duo will play at The Feasting Fox.

Thursday, September 17
Trumpeter Danny Campbell and band will perform in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; and guitarist Dave Black and friends, featuring singer Feyza Eren, will return to Nathalie’s.

Also on Thursday, New Music Circle will anticipate the beginning of their 57th season with a "welcome/fundraiser" event at the Tick Tock Tavern, 3459 Magnolia Ave. The event is free to attend, and will feature "drinks, live DJs (Josh Weinstein and Jeremy Kannapell), and raffle prizes such as vinyl LPs, CDs, and tickets to NMC concerts." Bar proceeds from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. will go into NMC's coffers to help fund their concert season and associated programs.

Friday, September 18
Drummer Montez Coleman will lead a quintet for a one-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro that originally was billed as a date to be co-led by saxophonist Willie Akins.

Instead, the evening has been re-purposed as a tribute to Akins, whose recently worsening health issues have left him unable to perform. With the veteran saxophonist unavailable, Coleman (pictured, center left) has enlisted two up-and-coming alumni of Jazz St. Louis' all-star student ensemble, trumpeter Brady Lewis and saxophonist Carlos Brown Jr, with guitarist Eric Slaughter and bassist Bob DeBoo completing the ensemble. 

Also on Friday, the Air Force Band of Mid-America's "Shades of Blue" jazz combo will perform in concert at Alton's Jacoby Arts Center; the 4.5 Smooth Groove Band will play smooth jazz, R&B and fusion at the Ozark Theatre; and the Ambassadors of Swing play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, September 19
Beginning at mid-day and continuing until well past dark, the annual Old Webster Jazz and Blues Festival will feature two stages of music in the area around the intersection of Lockwood and Gore Avenues in Webster Groves' Old Webster Business District.

Performers at the free event will include saxophonist Eric Marienthal, guesting with St. Louis' Bach to the Future; the Webster University faculty jazz ensemble; Miss Jubilee; blues guitarist and singer Marquise Knox, and more. For more about the OWJBF, check out this interview that festival music director Terry Perkins did with St. Louis magazine.

Then on Saturday evening, legendary singer Tony Bennett (pictured, center right) will make his first appearance in the St. Louis area since 2011, performing at the J. Scheidegger Center For The Arts on the Lindenwood University campus in St. Charles.

If you don't have tickets already, though, you may be out of luck, as the Scheidegger Center's website currently shows the concert as a sellout. You can find out about potential returns, cancellations, and/or any other last-minute availabilities by calling the box office at (636) 949-4433.

Also on Saturday evening, the Jim Manley/Randy Bahr All-Star Group will return to Nathalie's.

Monday, September 21
The Webster University jazz faculty ensemble will pay tribute to one of the key jazz record labels of the 1960s and '70s with "On Impulse - A Celebration of Impulse Records" at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus.

The ensemble, featuring Keith Moyer (trumpet), Paul DeMarinis (flute, alto and tenor saxophones), Steve Schenkel (guitar), Kim Portnoy (piano), Willem von Hombracht (bass), Kevin Gianino (drums), and Debby Lennon (vocals), will perform St. Louis native Oliver Nelson's "Stolen Moments" from Nelson's classic Impulse album Blues and the Abstract Truth, plus eight more selections recorded for Impulse by John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Keith Jarrett and others.

Also on Monday, "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective return to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Tuesday, September 22
It's the first of "3 Nights in September," a mid-week festival of improvised and experimental music organized by cellist Tracy Andreotti at the Tavern of Fine Arts. Tuesday's program will include performances from Brain Transplant, NNN Cook, Michael Williams, and the Hess/Cunningham Duo (pictured, bottom left).

The festival then continues on Wednesday and Thursday with two more completely different lineups of bands and musicians; see the event's Facebook page for the latest details.

For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, 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.)

Miles on Monday: Alton's Miles Davis memorial statue unveiled, and more

After more than three years of planning and fundraising, a statue honoring Miles Davis was unveiled this past Saturday, September 12 on Third Street in downtown Alton, IL.

Created by sculptor Preston Jackson, who was one of several speakers at the unveiling, the statue served as the centerpiece of a celebration that began with a dedication ceremony attended by hundreds, followed by an evening of live jazz played in various bars and restaurants in the surrounding area.

The unveiling also attracted media coverage including previews of the event from St. Louis Public Radio and Riverbender.com, as well as  accounts of the actual ceremony from the Associated Press (seen here on the website of local Fox affiliate KTVI), KPLR, the Alton Telegraph, Riverbender.com, and Advantage News. Riverbender.com also produced a short video about the ceremony, which you can see at the end of this post.

The Miles Davis Memorial Project has posted much of this content to their Facebook page, along with other items like some photos taken and collected by committee member Ken Whiteside (who also took the pic that adorns this post) and some impressions from writer Gene Baldwin.

Meanwhile, in other Miles Davis-related news from this past week:

* While the statue honoring Davis was going up in Alton, another public artwork paying tribute to the trumpeter - an outdoor mural in Washington DC - was getting painted over.

* Last week was the 30th anniversary of the release of Davis' album You're Under Arrest.

* The New Yorker's Richard Brody mused about how missing one of Davis' concerts 40 years ago changed his life in "Rosh Hashanah with Miles Davis."

You can see the Riverbender.com video of the unveiling ceremony after the jump...

Music Education Monday: A master class with trombonist Bill Watrous

This week for Music Education Monday, it's a master class from trombonist Bill Watrous.

Beginning his career in the early 1960s, Watrous has played and recorded with musicians such as Maynard Ferguson, Woody Herman, Kai Winding, and Quincy Jones, as well as leading his own big band, originally known as the Manhattan Wildlife Refuge, and later renamed Refuge West when Watrous relocated to Los Angeles.

Acclaimed among fellow trombonists for his range, tone, and fluid technique, Watrous (pictured) also is a veteran of many studio sessions for TV and film, and is on the faculty of the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music.

The video embedded below features his presentation on "Jazz Style and Phrasing" for the 2015 Jazz Education Network conference last January in San Diego.

Sunday Session: September 13, 2015

Rahsaan Roland Kirk

For your Sunday reading, here are some interesting music-related items that have hit StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Key Igor Stravinsky work found after 100 years (The Guardian UK)
* Bassist Gary Peacock Is At The Soloist's Service (NPR)
* Concert review: Saxophonist Phil Woods ends playing career on a high note (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
* Why Niche Is The Next Streaming Frontier (Music Industry Blog)
* Crossing The Bridge: The Return Of Sonny Rollins (WFIU)
* How Signing A Major Record Deal Nearly Destroyed My Music Career (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Review: The 2015 Chicago Jazz Festival - AACM's 50th anniversary dominates the 37th edition (Jazz Times)
* How Steely Dan Created ‘Deacon Blues’ (Wall Street Journal)
* Sounds like a hit: the numbers game behind Spotify cover songs (TheVerge.com)
* Shack Up: A Loop History - Nate Patrin traces the path of this influential break (Red Bull Music Academy)
* In praise of cheap box sets (The Spectator UK)
* Celebrating Rahsaan Roland Kirk (NPR)
* Long-Delayed Nina Simone Biopic Sets December Release (Rolling Stone)
* The Hi-Fi DIY of Colombia's Bass Lords (Vice.com)
* Frank Zappa’s Long-Awaited ‘Roxy’ Movie Coming: Watch the Trailer — Video (Guitar World)
* New Book Illuminates Playboy Magazine’s Impact on Jazz History (DownBeat)

Ronnie Burrage's RoBu Big Band to perform October 3 & 4 at Voce

Drummer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and U City native Ronnie Burrage will be back in St. Louis next month, reassembling his RoBu Big Band for performances on Saturday, October 3 and Sunday, October at Voce, 212 S. Tucker downtown.

Burrage, who now lives in Pennsylvania, performed here most recently in June of this year, fronting a quintet and the big band in a weekend of gigs at the same venue.

The RoBu Big Band (pictured) plays a mix of jazz standards and original compositions by Burrage. In addition to the leader , the group's announced lineup for the October shows includes another well-known St. Louis expat, guitarist Kelvyn Bell, plus saxophonists Willie Akins, Jeff Anderson, Stanley Coleman, Chad Evans, and Jerome "JDubz" Williams; trumpeter Khamali Cuffie-Moore; bassist Darrell Mixon; pianist Ptah Williams; percussionist Henry Claude; and vocalists Kendra Mahr and Charisse Swan.

Tickets are $25 and are on sale now via EventBrite.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Fall 2015 jazz preview, part 5

This week, it's the fifth and final installment of StLJN's fall 2015 jazz video preview, offering an advance look at jazz and creative music performers who will be visiting St. Louis between now and year-end.

Parts one, two, three and four covered September, October and the first part of November, so today's post begins with Omaha Diner, who will make their St. Louis debut with performances starting Wednesday, November 17 through Saturday, November 21 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Comprised of guitarist Charlie Hunter, saxophonist Skerik, drummer Bobby Previte, and trumpeter Eric Bloom (in for original member Steven Bernstein), Omaha Diner is premised on the idea of performing only original arrangements of songs that have made it to number one on the Billboard pop charts. And so, in the first clip up above you can see them playing "Thrift Shop," which was a hit for hip-hop duo Macklemore & Lewis.

After the jump, you can see a clip featuring singer Susan Werner, who will close out the fall edition of the Presenters Dolan's Gaslight Cabaret Festival with performances on Friday, November 20 and Saturday, November 21 at the Gaslight Theater. Werner, who's associated with folk and country as much as cabaret, can be seen here performing "(Why Is Your) Heaven So Small" a a gig in August 2014 in Nashville.

Next up is pianist Eliane Elias, who's playing Saturday, November 21 to kick off the 2015-16 jazz series at  The Sheldon. Elias is seen in the third clip performing "So Danço Samba" at the 2015 International Jazz Day Global Concert in Paris, with some help from trumpeter Claudio Roditi, percussionist Mino Cinélu, and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington.

The same evening as Elias' concert, the Stanley Clarke Band will be in town for a concert at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. The fourth clip features the bassist and his electric ensemble in a full set at this year's North Sea Jazz Festival.

After that, it's trumpeter Sean Jones, who returns to St. Louis to play Wednesday, December 2 through Saturday, December 5 at Jazz at the Bistro. Jones is seen here performing his deconstructed version of "How High The Moon" last month at the Litchfield Jazz Festival in Connecticut.

Also in town that same weekend will be the duo of pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and violinist Mark Feldman, who will perform in a concert presented by New Music Circle on Friday, December 4 at The Stage at KDHX. They're represented here by a video shot by an audience member in 2014 during their set at NYC's Winter Jazzfest.

Today's final clip features drummer Matt Wilson Christmas Tree-O, who will be spreading holiday cheer from Wednesday, December 16 through Saturday, December 19 at Jazz at the Bistro. The video shows them performing in 2011 for NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series.

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Saxophonist Eric Person has released a new CD, DuoScope, which features duet performances with drummer Shinnosuke Takahashi. The album (pictured) is available now via CD Baby.

* St. Louis Public Radio has added a jazz channel to their online and HD offerings. Jazz KWMU-2 is streaming syndicated programming produced by Jazz Works, which offers a mix of mainstream modern jazz, Latin jazz, vocals, and more. You can see some sample playlists from the JazzWorks service here.

* In this week's St. Louis American, staff writer Kenya Vaughn reviews the latest album from singer Cecile McLorin Salvant.

* Saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett will celebrate his 75th birthday next week with a concert on Sunday, September 20 at the Chicago Academy of Music.

* A video excerpt showing saxophonist Willie Akins playing the blues at his own benefit concert last Friday at the Kranzberg Arts Center has been posted to YouTube.

* The band Soul Cafe won the fourth annual "Old Webster's Got Talent" contest last week, and will open the 2015 Old Webster Jazz & Blues Festival at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, September 19 on the Allen Avenue stage.

* Saxophonist, composer and onetime Webster University undergraduate John Zorn was the subject of a feature story in the Wall Street Journal.

* In what a cynic would say has the appearance of a classic holiday weekend newsdump, Grand Center announced last Friday evening that there will be no First Night celebration this year. There's no word yet as to whether venues in the district, which includes Jazz at the Bistro, the Sheldon, and the Kranzberg Arts Center, will be putting on any New Year's Eve programming of their own. Stay tuned...

Jazz this week: Monty Alexander, Antonio Figura, the Miles Davis statue unveiled, Dave Dickey Big Band, and more

While jazz fans from all over the world will be taking note of the long-awaited unveiling of the Miles Davis statue Saturday in Alton, IL, there also will be plenty of other interesting jazz and creative music events happening all around the St. Louis area. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, September 9
In his first St. Louis show in more than a decade, pianist Monty Alexander (pictured, top left) and his trio will perform for the first of two evenings at Jazz at the Bistro.

Alexander, who was born in Jamaica and came to the US as a child, began his jazz career in the mid-1960s, working as a sideman for musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Jackson, Benny Golson, Jimmy Griffin and Frank Morgan. He began leading his own bands in the 1970s, and past editions of his trios have included highly-regarded players such as John Clayton, Jeff Hamilton, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, Ed Thigpen and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen.

More recently, Alexander has become known for making music specifically connected to his Caribbean roots, recording several times with Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin and also issuing several albums of his own mixing jazz with reggae and other regional sounds.

Also on Wednesday, singer Eve Seltzer returns to Nathalie's.

Thursday, September 10
Italian pianist Antonio Figura returns to St. Louis to play a free concert kicking off this semester's Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

Friday, September 11
There's no jazz at the Bistro until Sunday this weekend, as Friday is the folk/bluegrass installment of Grand Center's "Music at the Intersection" series, and a Saturday show that was set to feature bassist Jahmal Nichols got scrubbed a while back due to Nichols' tour schedule with singer Gregory Porter.

However, this year's St. Louis Art Fair, which runs through Sunday, will have a dedicated jazz stage, with   Friday's offerings including sets from singer/pianists Jesse Gannon and Anita Rosamond plus a set from the Bosman Twins. Also at the Art Fair, the Funky Butt Brass Band will take an early evening turn over on the main stage.

Elsewhere on Friday, guitarist Dave Black and band will play a free outdoor concert at Ferguson CityWalk; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to Nathalie's; and the Original Knights of Swing play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, September 12
After more than a year of anticipation, the Miles Davis Memorial Project will unveil the statue of the legendary trumpeter created by sculptor Preston Jackson, which finally will be installed in its permanent location on Third St. in downtown Alton.

The unveiling ceremony will be preceded and followed by live music from trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's quartet on an outdoor stage near the statue, and several bars and restaurants nearby will feature live jazz on Saturday evening. Most notably, the veteran trumpeter Bobby Shew (pictured, center left) will be as a guest performer with drummer Montez Coleman's band at Elijah P's, with gigs featuring trumpeters Jim Manley and Dan Smith, guitarist Tom Byrne with singer Erika Johnson, and others happening at various other downtown spots.

Back on the west bank of the Mississippi, Miss Jubilee will be performing in a free outdoor concert at Lafayette Park, and the Art Fair's lineup for the day will include sets from the Jazz Edge Big Band, singer Denise Thimes, pianist Ptah Williams, Good 4 the Soul, and more.

Sunday,
September 13
If you're looking for something to do during the day, the early fall edition of the St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show will take place at the American Czech Hall, while the Art Fair will feature performances from singer Wendy Gordon, trumpeter Dawn Weber, and Animal Children on the jazz stage and singer Tony Viviano on the main stage.

That evening, the Dave Dickey Big Band (pictured, lower left) will resume their monthly residency at Jazz at the Bistro, with the University of Missouri's jazz band, directed by saxophonist Arthur White, as the intermission performers.

Monday, September 14
Guitarist Daryl Darden will be back home to headline a show at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups, and Dizzy Atmosphere plays at The Shaved Duck.

For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, 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.)

Music Education Monday: Saxophone workshops with Dave Liebman and Bill Evans

With the unveiling of the Miles Davis statue in Alton set for this Saturday, today's Music Education Monday offers an opportunity to hear from a couple of his former sidemen, the saxophonists Dave Liebman and Bill Evans (pictured, from left).

In addition to playing with Davis at the turn of the 1970s, Liebman also had a notable stint early in his career with drummer Elvin Jones' group. In the ensuing decade, he's performed all around the world and appeared on hundreds of recordings, including more than 100 as a leader or co-leader.

Liebman also has been involved with jazz education for most of his career, and in 1989 founded the International Association of Schools of Jazz, which seeks to bring together jazz educators from all over the globe. He can be seen in the first video embed after the jump, presenting a workshop in December 2014 at the Woodbrass music store in Paris, France.

Evans, who was once a student of Liebman's at William Paterson University in New Jersey, had his time with Davis came more than a decade later, as he was part of the trumpeter's series of "comeback" albums that began with The Man With The Horn.

After making his reputation with Davis, Evans has continued to work steadily as a sideman, a collaborator in groups such as Soulgrass and Elements, and as a band leader, putting out nearly 20 recordings in his own name. You can see Evans in the second video embed after the jump, giving a master class in 2012 at the Mariachi music store in Moscow, Russia.

You can see both videos after the jump...