Music Education Monday: B-3 for beginners, part 2

This week for Music Education Monday, it's part two of "B-3 for Beginners," a collection of links related to the Hammond B-3 organ and its imitators and/or clones.

Part one, which you can see here, covered some basic tutorials and introductions to the drawbars and bass techniques. This second installment will delve a bit deeper into some more specific topics.

* For starters, check out some additional tips on drawbar settings and favorite registrations from Eddie Landsberg and Mike Finnegan, and the settings used famously on Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale."

* Though not as well-known as Landsberg, Finnegan, or Procol Harum's Matthew Fisher, organist David Kempton has some interesting Hammond-related material on his website, including an essay on "How to Play Jazz on the Hammond (and why!)" as well as "Secret Registrations of the Jazz Masters" and more.

* Berklee College of Music faculty member Dave Limina has a number of free lessons available online via the BerkleeShares.com website, including "Hammond Funk Techniques in Four Keys," (PDF); "Hammond trills, Sputter Tone, etc" (PDF) and "Hammond Leslie Speed Switching" (PDF).

* The formatting is old-school WWW, but the "in-depth discussion of bass techniques compiled from the Hammond mailing list by Scott Hawthorn" found at "Jazz Organ Bass Tips" is definitely worth reading.

* For reference material, there's the "Original Hammond Leslie FAQ", part of the Hammond Wiki. Hammond Suzuki also makes their 149-page "Owner's Playing Guide" for current models available online in PDF format.

* And for some Hammond history, you can read a biography of inventor Laurens "Larry" Hammond and a couple of brief histories of jazz organ from TheatreOrgans.com and the Academic Film Archive, and listen to some key tracks from influential jazz organists in a two-hour special on the history of jazz organ produced for syndication to public radio.

(In a third installment of "B-3 for Beginners," date TBD, we'll look at some Hammond-related instructional videos available on YouTube. )

Music Education Monday is a weekly feature that spotlights music education resources and information available for free online. If you have suggestions for a website, video, or other educational materials that might be of interest to StLJN readers, please share the link via an email to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com.

Edited after posting to fix a typo.

Miles on Monday: An open letter from Mingus to Miles, and more

This week in Miles Davis news:

* An ensemble led by pianist Bill Charlap revisited the arrangements from Davis' landmark album Birth Of The Cool for a concert on November 14 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, and DownBeat magazine has a review.

* Speaking of DownBeat, it was 60 years ago today that bassist and composer Charles Mingus (pictured, with Davis) took to the pages of that same magazine to pen "An Open Letter to Miles Davis."

Apparently prompted by concern about Davis' then-imminent return to the jazz scene after kicking his addiction to heroin, Mingus wrote:

"How is Miles going to act when he gets back and gets going again? Will it be like a gig in Brooklyn not too long ago with Max, Monk, and me when he kept telling Monk to “lay out” because his chords were all wrong? Or even at a more recent record date when he cursed, laid out, argued, and threatened Monk and asked Bob Weinstock why he hired such a nonmusician and would Monk lay out on his trumpet solos?"

The bassist did strike a more conciliatory note toward the end of his letter, writing, "Truly, Miles, I love you and want you to know you’re needed here, but you’re too important a person in jazz to be less than extra careful about what you say about other musicians who are also trying to create."

Given that Mingus was famously irascible to the point of physical violence with his own collaborators and sidemen - he once punched trombonist Jimmy Knepper, causing him to lose a tooth and suffer lasting damage to his embouchure - there's more than a little irony in him admonishing Miles about mistreating other musicians. Yet the mere fact that he would write such a thing, and that DownBeat would print it, suggests how important Davis was to jazz, even after having been out of action for an extended period.

* This week also marks 57 years since the release of Davis' album Milestones, which was issued originally on December 1, 1958, as Columbia CL 1193. Collecting material from sessions held in February and March of that year, the album featured Davis with a band including John Coltrane on tenor sax, Cannonball Adderly on alto sax, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and "Philly" Joe Jones on drums.

The tracks included "Dr. Jekyll," "Sid's Ahead," "Two Bass Hit," "Miles," "Billy Boy," and, interestingly, given the strained relationship between Miles and Monk mentioned in the Mingus letter, a version of Monk's "Straight, No Chaser," which you can hear via the YouTube embed below.

Sunday Session: November 29, 2015

Mary Halvorson

For your Sunday reading, some interesting music-related items that have turned up recently in StlJN's inbox:

* The Langston Hughes Project, Barbican, review: Ice-T reinvents himself (The Telegraph UK)
* Why rap should share a stage with poetry and jazz (TheConversation.com)
* The Inside Story of David Bowie's Stunning New Album, 'Blackstar' (Rolling Stone)
* What do you get the collector who has everything? How about Ringo Starr’s ‘White Album’ No.0000001? (Dangerous Minds)
* Guitar Trailblazer Mary Halvorson Turns Jazz on Its Head (Rolling Stone)
* Maceo Parker: 98% Funky Stuff (SFJazz.org)
* INTERVIEW: David Amram (CD Box Set David Amram’s Classic American Film Scores 1956-2016 and UK appearances Nov 29 to Dec 3) (LondonJazzNews.com)
* How a Kid Running an Obscure Music Forum Became the Target Of the UK's Biggest Ever Piracy Case (Vice.com)
* What I Learned About The Record Industry By Carsharing With A Millenial (MusicThinkTank.com)
* Watch as Allen Toussaint gets the jazz funeral treatment he richly deserved (AV Club)
* Jazz Guitar Great Bucky Pizzarelli Recovering From Stroke (Jazz Times)
* Moran, Threadgill Lead Tribute to Cecil Taylor in Harlem (DownBeat)
* Interstellar Overdrive: A Heavy Music Fan’s Guide to Forgotten Synth Icons (Vice.com)
* How Kickstarter Helped a 60s Legend Preserve a Piece of Rock History (Vanity Fair)
* Manfred Eicher: the man who made ECM on working with Keith Jarrett, Steve Reich and Arvo Part (Irish Times)
* Train Songs, Freedom, The Blues and Country Music (UDiscoverMusic.com)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Six from Roseanna Vitro

This week, the StLJN video spotlight shines on singer Roseanna Vitro, who will be visiting St. Louis to perform next Saturday, December 5 at the Ozark Theatre. She'll be accompanied by a band of St. Louis musicians including pianist Kim Portnoy, bassist Ric Vice, tenor saxophonist Jeff Anderson, drummer Clancy Newell, and trumpeter Danny Campbell.

Originally from Arkansas, Vitro began her career in the 1970s while living in Houston, working with the veteran tenor saxophonist Arnett Cobb. She moved to NYC in 1978, performing with the big band of vibraphonist Lionel Hampton and with pianists Kenny Werner and Fred Hersch, and launching her career on a national/international level.

Since releasing her first album as a leader in 1984, Vitro has made a dozen more, including her most recent recordings featuring the songs of Randy Newman, which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2012, and the pianist and arranger Clare Fischer.

Today's clips offer a sampling of recent performances by Vitro. Up top, you can see her reunited once again with Kenny Werner in May of this year, doing the Bob Dorough song "Devil May Care" at the Estoril Jazz Festival in Estoril, Portugal.

After the jump, you can see another clip from that same performance in which Vitro and Werner offer a version of the standard "Willow Weep For Me." She interprets another well-known standard in the next video, a performance of "Someone to Watch Over Me" recorded in July at the Kitano Jazz Club in NYC.

That's followed by two songs from Vitro's Randy Newman project, "Losing You" and "Mama Told Me Not To Come," seen here in recordings made in June 2011 at Dizzy's at Lincoln Center in NYC with a band featuring pianist Mark Soskin, violinist Sara Caswell, bassist Dean Johnson, and drummer Tim Horner.

Last but not least, you can see a short biographical profile, Roseanna Vitro - A Life in Music, in which she talks about her early career, musical influences, and more.

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:

* Multi-instrumentalist Dwayne Bosman of the Bosman Twins (pictured) is one of ten recipients of a Regional Arts Commission Artist Fellowship for 2015.

Each of the ten selected artists receives $20,000, which is intended to "allow for the advancement of the individual artist’s creative journey to include time and space to study, reflect, experiment, explore and create."

* The late Don Wolff was remembered and memorialized by local media outlets including St. Louis Public Radio, St. Louis magazine, KMOV-TV, and HEC-TV.

* Euclid Records was featured in a recent "In Your Neighborhood" segment on KTVI/Fox 2 News.

* Just in time for his annual Thanksgiving weekend gig at Jazz at the Bistro, here's a a fairly lengthy new interview with trumpeter and singer Jeremy Davenport, via HollywoodSoapbox.com.

* Jazz St. Louis education director Phil Dunlap was featured by the Post-Dispatch in an "#STLStreetStyle" video.

* Bassist Stanley Clarke's concert last Saturday at the Touhill Performing Arts Center was reviewed by Terry Perkins for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

* Singer/songwriter Susan Werner's show last weekend for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival was reviewed by Chuck Lavazzi of KDHX.

* Groove Jazz, a new streaming jazz radio station based in St. Louis, is now online and available to hear for free at www.theroots.fm and via free apps available in the iTunes and Google Play stores.

Described in a news release as "primarily a Contemporary Jazz station, featuring artists like Boney James, Paul Hardcastle, Cindy Bradley, George Benson and David Benoit," the station's playlist also will feature "Straight-Ahead Jazz, World Music, Fusion, Funk and other styles." Weekday hosts are Jason Church, Kristi Carson, Eddie Becton, and Darrel Eason, while the weekend voices include Kris Kelly, Bill Poole, Robin Boyce and C.J. Ellis.

Jazz this week: Jeremy Davenport, Perihelion Quartet, John King, and more

While the biggest-name jazz musician visiting St. Louis this week actually is an expat playing his annual homecoming gig, there nevertheless is a tasty selection of jazz shows from local performers available for your pre- and post-Turkey Day consumption. Let's go to the highlights...


Wednesday, November 25
The Perihelion Quartet, featuring pianist Greg Mills and friends, will offer free jazz and improvisation at the Tavern of Fine Arts, while over in Grand Center, the regular Wednesday gigs are in effect, with bassist Bob Deboo leading an early evening jam session at the Kranzberg Arts Center, followed later by trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's trio at The Dark Room.

Friday, November 27
The aforementioned expat - trumpeter, singer and U City native Jeremy Davenport (pictured, top left) - will be back from his adopted home in New Orleans for the first of two nights of what's become an annual Thanksgiving weekend gig at Jazz at the Bistro. Given Davenport's popularity, tickets for the early shows may be hard to come by, but even for the late sets, advance reservations would seem to be a must. 

Elsewhere on Friday, saxophonist Jim Stevens and band will play an early show at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups; saxophonist Jay Hutson and Da Wolvez will perform at Evangeline's; and singer Joe Mancuso brings a quartet to Nathalie's.

Saturday November 28
Saxophonist Stan Coleman and bassist Darrell Mixon will co-lead a quartet for an early show at Tavern of Fine Arts; the Midwest Jazz-tette plays West Coast jazz at Evangeline's; and guitarist Eric Slaughter and bassist Glen Smith will play duets at Thurman Grill.

Also on Saturday, bassist John King (pictured, lower left) brings another edition of his guest-star-laden, autobiographical show "My Life In Music" to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups; and singer Ralph Butler and keyboardist Gigi Darr will play a concert at the Jacoby Arts Center in Alton.

Sunday November 29
If you still have relatives or friends visiting from out of town and want to take them to Sunday brunch, you can get some live jazz along with your meal courtesy of singer/guitarist Tommy Halloran's Guerilla Swing at Jazz at the Bistro, Elsie Parker and the Poor People of Paris at Nathalie's, Miss Jubilee at Evangeline's, or trumpeter Jim Manley with keyboardist Mark Friedricks at Jimmy's Cafe on the Park.

Monday, November 30
The Webster University Jazz Collective, featuring members of Webster's jazz faculty, will play a concert at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus; and saxophonist "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective will be back for their monthly gig at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Tuesday December 1 
Harmonica master Sandy Weltman will lead a master class and workshop at City Music, and the First Tuesday Composer's Club will convene their monthly event showcasing new compositions 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: Guitar lessons from John McLaughlin, and more

As a sideman to Miles Davis and Tony Williams, founder of the bands Mahavishnu Orchestra and Shakti, and a prolific solo artist and collaborator, John McLaughlin is one of the most admired guitarists of the past 50 years.

Drawing on jazz, rock, classical, Indian music, and more, McLaughlin, now 73 years old, helped pioneer the jazz/fusion sound of the 1970s, influencing several generations of guitarists in the process. He continues to tour with his current band, the 4th Dimension, and release new recordings, the most recent of which, Black Light, came out in September on the Abstract Logix label. .

Today for Music Education Monday, you can see a series of short video lessons from McLaughlin (pictured), in which he discusses various techniques and modal and harmonic concepts for the guitar. The lessons, which add up to a little more than 90 minutes total, can be seen in sequence in the first video embed below.

As a bonus, that's followed by another video in which McLaughlin does a "Rig Rundown" for the editors of Premier Guitar magazine, discussing his touring setup (circa 2011), including guitar, MIDI gear, effects, and even his picks.

For some further analysis of McLaughlin's playing, guitarists may also want to check out this article on his alternate picking techniques, this breakdown of five licks in his characteristic style, and a Q&A he did with the readers of MusicRadar.com.

You can see both videos after the jump...

Miles on Monday: Miles Smiles going into Grammy Hall of Fame, and more

This week in Miles Davis news:

* Davis' 1967 album Miles Smiles is one of 26 recordings that will be enshrined in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2016. You can hear the album (pictured) in its entirety via the embedded YouTube window below.

* Guitarist Pete Cosey, the late Chicago native who was in Davis' band from 1973 to 1975 and played on memorable recordings including On The Corner, Agharta, and Dark Magus, is the subject of a "Forgotten Heroes" feature in Premier Guitar magazine.

* New still photos of Don Cheadle and Ewan McGregor on the set of Cheadle's film Miles Ahead have surfaced online. The movie will be released in selected theaters in April 2016.

Sunday Session: November 22, 2015

Quincy Jones

From the farthest reaches of the Internet, via RSS, email, social media, and more, here's this week's grab-bag of links to various music-related items of potential interest:

* How Teens Consume Media: Music Still Trumps Social [CHART] (Hypebot.com)
* Live Nation to increase venue security after Paris attacks (FactMag.com)
* House music: The performers who are now staging gigs in living-rooms (The Independent UK)
* The Sounds of Memphis (ProHoopsHistory.net)
* Why is there no room for jazz in Dublin? (Irish Times)
* Report: Monk Institute Jazz Vocals Competition Finals 2015 (Jazz Times)
* Review: Quincy Jones loves jazz and jazz loves Quincy Jones at Monk Institute gala (Los Angeles Times)
* Apple’s iTunes Is Alienating Its Most Music-Obsessed Users (Wired)
* Seeing Through “A Love Supreme” to Find John Coltrane (The New Yorker)
* 'We tell Spotify no, YouTube does it anyway': The music industry's love-hate relationship with YouTube (CNet.com)
* Three Views of Jaco: Weather Report: The Legendary Live Tapes 1978-1981 / JACO: The Film & Original Soundtrack (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Bix Beiderbecke fans target a 2017 opening for museum (Quad City Times)
* What Sam Phillips Heard (Oxford American)
* Punk Legend Cheetah Chrome Fights Facebook For His Name (LA Weekly)
* Photo Gallery: Johnny O'Neal in Paris (Jazz Times)
* Review: Celebrating Cecil Taylor, a Pianist of Endless Influence (New York Times)
* Bowie hires jazz artists for new album (BBC)
* Ice-T swaps rap for poetry and jazz (BBC)
* This Is the Only Photo of Charlie Parker Playing His Sax in His Hometown (Atlas Obscura)
* From Bastard Assignment to Kammer Klang: the UK’s new music scene (The Guardian UK)
* We Found Some Of The Weirdest Releases On Discogs (ElectronicBeats.net)

Don Wolff 1935 - 2015

Don Wolff, longtime local broadcaster, jazz advocate, and attorney, has died. He was 80 years old and had been undergoing treatment for both leukemia and cancer for several years.

Instantly identifiable thanks to his signature on-air introduction, "I'm Don Wolff, and I love jazz," Wolff (pictured) was best known for his radio broadcasts, which began in 1987 on KXOK and continued in various forms on WSIE, KMOX and KFUO until 2010.

After KFUO was sold, he kept his radio program going on the internet, and also served as the host of HEC-TV's I Love Jazz since its inception. In addition, Wolff was known nationally as an expert on jazz in film; hosted jazz cruises; and served as MC for many live jazz events and festivals, both in St. Louis and nationally on the traditional jazz festival circuit.

Though Wolff's interest in jazz dated back to his childhood in University City, his "day job" was as a lawyer. After graduating from the University of Missouri, attending law school at Mizzou and serving in the US Army as a defense lawyer, prosecutor, and assistant judge advocate, Wolff began his civilian career in the 1960s as an assistant prosecutor for St. Louis County and then went into private practice as a criminal defense and civil rights attorney.

He was an adjunct professor for St. Louis University School of Law, and received numerous awards for his legal work, including the St. Louis County Bar Association Distinguished Service Award and Big Brothers Big Sisters of America National Award. Wolff also was recognized by the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri and was listed in Best Lawyers in America. He combined his legal knowledge with the skills honed during his jazz broadcasts to serve as a commentator and analyst for local media, hosting radio shows on legal topics for KXOK and KMOX, and a TV series, Legally Speaking with Don Wolff, for HEC.

Wolff served as a board member for a number of not-for-profit organizations in St. Louis, including Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Laumeier Sculpture Park, United Hebrew Congregation, Cystic Fibrosis, Boys Town of Missouri, Legal Advocates for Abused Women, and Harris-Stowe State University. Harris Stowe also houses the Don and Heide Wolff Jazz Institute, a repository for thousands of recordings from Wolff's personal collection as well as his accumulated films, videos, photos, books, magazines, and ephemera.

He supported Backstoppers and taught at the St. Louis Police Academy, and also was known as an advocate for civil rights, providing legal assistance pro bono to Harris-Stowe, the Urban League, and various other local African-American institutions and activists.

Earlier this year, the Jazz Journalists Association named Wolff as one of 23 local "Jazz Heroes" from throughout the USA for his work promoting jazz, and in October, he was inducted into Harris-Stowe's St. Louis Jazz Hall of Fame. He also was a member of the University City High School Hall of Fame.

Wolff's tastes in music tended toward mainstream, swing, and the Great American Songbook, and his favorite musicians, as cited on the air and in interviews, included Duke Ellington, Clark Terry, Ben Webster, Johnny Hodges, Benny Goodman, and Count Basie. Yet he also was always on the lookout for young musicians playing in his preferred styles - for example, championing the career of stride pianist and St. Louis native Stephanie Trick when she was still just a teenager.

Wolff is survived by his wife Heide; sons Michael (Sarah) and Nelson (Susan), both of St. Louis; daughter Kristina (Patrick) Hourihane of Glenview, IL; and grandchildren Pierce, Jessica, Hugo, Harbor, Julia, Hobie, and Evalina.

The family requests that any donations in his memory be made to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri, the Urban League of Metropolitan St Louis, or the DLW Scholarship Fund at the University of Missouri School of Law.

Funeral arrangements are by Berger Memorial, with a visitation to be held at 2:00 p.m. and a "New Orleans jazz style" celebration scheduled for 3:00 p.m. this coming Monday, November 23 at United Hebrew Congregation, 13788 Conway Road, St. Louis, MO 63141.

Update - 11:30 p.m., 11/21/15: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch's obituary for Wolff is online here. 

Edited after posting to fix formatting issues, correct types, and add links.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Sylvie Courvoisier and Mark Feldman

This week, let's peruse some videos of pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and violinist Mark Feldman, who are coming to St. Louis to perform in a concert presented by New Music Circle on Friday, December 4 at The Stage at KDHX.

The UK newspaper The Guardian in 2013 called them "both fine-tuned virtuosi whose projects sound like edgy classical chamber-music as much as improv or jazz." Courvoisier is a Swiss native, trained as a classical pianist with an early interest in traditional jazz that eventually led her toward improvised music and contemporary compositions. Feldman is an American who began his professional career playing country music in Nashville, then transitioned into jazz and free improv with a move to NYC in the mid-1980s.

Married since 1998, the two played together for the first time in 1995 and have worked regularly as a duo and co-leading a quartet since 1997. Both also lead their own projects, and collaborate frequently with other musicians, including a notable ongoing relationship with saxophonist and composer John Zorn, and in the process have amassed substantial catalogs of recording credits. One forthcoming album, which features Courvoisier and Feldman with electronic musician Ikue Mori and saxophonist Evan Parker, will be released on Intakt Records sometime in 2016.

Today, though, we focus on their work as a duo, beginning up top with a clip of Courvoisier and Feldman playing "Azriel," a piece from Zorn's "Book Of Angels, Volume 3: Malphas," in 2010 in Paris.

After the jump, there's a series of five excerpts from a performance in July 2012 at the Théatre de l'Athénée in Paris, followed by a portion of their set at the 2007 Jazz à Luz festival in Luz-Saint-Sauveur, France

The final clip is a brief video excerpting a 2010 performance at NYC's Whitney Museum in which the duo performed two works by Christian Marclay, "Ephemera" and "Shuffle."

For more about Sylvie Courvoisier, check out the interview she did in 2014 with Australia's Radio National network.

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:

* A post at Marc Myers' JazzWax blog looks at how saxophonist and arranger Oliver Nelson wound up collaborating with Leo Gooden, owner of the Blue Note Club in East St. Louis, on the 1963 album Leo Sings With Strings.

* Jeff Schaefer (aka The Reapercussionist), the drum technician who hand-built the house kit now used at Jazz at the Bistro, was featured on KSDK's Show Me St. Louis.

* Speaking of KSDK, the station's longtime morning anchor and reporter Art Holliday was interviewed by Chris King of the St. Louis American about efforts to raise money for the music licensing needed to complete Holliday's long-awaited documentary film about the late pianist Johnnie Johnson.

* While they're in town to do a concert for New Music Circle on Friday, December 4, pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and violinist Mark Feldman also will take part in a free, public performance and Q&A session at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 3 at Jackson Pianos, 4354 Olive St.

* The Vernacular String Trio's Alex Cunningham has posted to SoundCloud some audio from the group's set for the "3 Nights in September" festival at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

* The KDHX website has photos of saxophonist Eric Marienthal and Bach to the Future from last Saturday's benefit concert for Dillon International adoption agency.

* Turning to news of St. Louis expats, saxophonist Eric Person has posted to YouTube a video of a full set from his recent gig at the Blue Note in NYC.

* Singer Lynne Fiddmont (pictured) was interviewed on the web video series The Black & White Sessions.

* Trombonist and singer Joe Bowie has posted online the official video for "Voodoo Basics," a track from the new Defunkt album Mastervolt, which is currently available in Europe and will be released worldwide early next year.

* The Chicago Jazz Orchestra with guest soloists Wycliffe Gordon and Houston Person will pay tribute to the late trumpeter Clark Terry in a concert on Friday, December 18 at the Feinberg Theater in Chicago.

* Music for Lifelong Achievement (MFLA) and the Sheldon Concert Hall say that MFLA's recently concluded annual drive collected more than 50 used musical instruments, which will be refurbished as needed and then donated to local school and community music programs.

St. Louis area Starbucks stores served as collection points for the instrument drive, but MFLA also continues to accept donations of instruments and money year-round at the Sheldon and online at http://www.supportmfla.org/donations.php

* Two other programs working with local music students have launched online fundraising efforts via Gladitood.com: The North County Big Band, a group of students from several local school districts that rehearses and performs at The Sheldon; and Jazz St. Louis' "Jazz Academy," a new jazz education and training program developed specifically for middle school students in the Normandy, Riverview Gardens, and East St. Louis school districts.

* The Broadway Oyster Bar announced via Instagram that they've been named "Restaurant of the Year" by the Missouri Restaurant Association.

Jazz this week: Omaha Diner, Eliane Elias, Stanley Clarke, Susan Werner, and more

It's shaping up to be another busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with a handful of visiting headliners in town at various venues, a couple of homecoming shows featuring former St. Louisans, and a full schedule of performances from local players as well. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, November 18
The quartet Omaha Diner (pictured, top left), featuring guitarist Charlie Hunter, saxophonist Skerik, drummer Bobby Previte, and trumpeter Eric Bloom, makes their St. Louis debut in the first of four nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

As an ensemble, they're both high concept - performing nothing but songs that have reached number one on the Billboard pop charts - and loose-limbed, taking considerable liberties with the material while still maintaining the sort of funky grooves associated with Hunter, who, in his customary fashion, simultaneously provides both bass lines and chords. To get a better idea of what this actually sounds like, you can see and hear Omaha Diner in action in this video post from last Saturday.

Thursday, November 19
Guitarist Vincent Varvel plays a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

Friday, November 20
Singer/songwriter Susan Werner closes out the fall series of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival with the first of two performances at the Gaslight Theater; Dreaming in Colour will play jazz-fusion at the Ozark Theatre; and the contemporary chamber ensemble Alarm Will Sound returns to the Sheldon Concert Hall with a program of music from St. Louis composers including pianist Peter Martin, Wash U music professor Christopher Stark, and multimedia artist and activist Damon Davis.

Also on Friday, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will be swinging at Backstreet Jazz & Blues in Westport; the Sentimental Journey Dance Band plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and the Funky Butt Brass Band will be back for their regular monthly gig at Broadway Oyster Bar.

Saturday, November 21
Pianist and singer Eliane Elias returns to St. Louis for the first time since 2010 for a performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

The Brazilian-born Elias (pictured, center left) first gained wide recognition outside her home country in the 1980s as a member of the fusion band Steps Ahead. She subsequently teamed up with her ex-husband, trumpet player Randy Brecker, for a number of albums mixing straight-ahead, contemporary and Brazilian jazz before going solo with a varied menu of projects that have ranged from a big-band album arranged by Bob Brookmeyer to a tribute to pianist Bill Evans.

Elias has spend a good portion of this year touring in support of her most recent album Made In Brazil, which came out last spring and marked the first time she had gone back to her home country to record since moving to the United States in 1981. You can read more about that in the interview Elias did in August with Keyboard magazine.

Also on Saturday night, bassist Stanley Clarke will be playing at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. Clarke, who was here last year at The Pageant, just wrapped up a two-week run at the Blue Note in NYC that included guest appearances from drummer Lenny White and pianists McCoy Tyner and George Cables.

He also has a new album out this month, a trio recording with violinist Jean-Luc Ponty and guitarist Biréli Lagrène called D-Stringz. For the show at the Touhill, though, Clarke (pictured, lower left) will perform with the current version of his electric band, which includes pianist Beka Gochiashvili, keyboardist Cameron Graves, and drummer Michael Mitchell.

Elsewhere on Saturday night, guitarist Tom Byrne and singer Erika Johnson take the stage at Thurman Grill; singer, actor and St. Louis native Craig Pomranz is back home from NYC to perform his cabaret show "Love Takes Time" at Cyrano's; and singer Danita Mumphard will be interpreting the music of Whitney Houston at the Ozark Theatre.

Sunday November 22
Trumpeter Ally Hany returns home from NYC to celebrate the release of her first album Journeys Ahead with a performance at Ferring Jazz Bistro, and Jay Hutson and Da Wolvez will play at Nathalie's.

Monday November 23
Dizzy Atmosphere plays Gypsy jazz and swing at The Shaved Duck, and trumpeter Keith Moyer and band will perform at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

Tuesday November 24
Genesis Jazz Project will play a benefit concert for the Circle of Concern Food Pantry at the Midwest Music Conservatory in Ballwin; and student jazz ensembles from Webster Groves High School will perform in a fundraiser for the school's music programs at Highway 61 Roadhouse.

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.)

Updated after posting to correct info on this week's Jazz at Holmes show. 

Miles on Monday: Miles Davis voted "greatest jazz artist of all time," and more

This week in Miles Davis news:

* Listeners of BBC Radio One and jazzfm.com have selected Miles Davis as "the greatest jazz artist of all time" from among a field of 50 jazz greats.

* Sony Classics announced on Twitter that Miles Ahead, actor/director Don Cheadle's film about Davis, will open in New York and Los Angeles on April 1, 2016.

* Meanwhile, based on his work on Miles Ahead, Variety magazine is touting Cheadle (pictured, on set and in costume as Davis) as one of "10 Directors to Watch in 2016." The ten directors will be profiled in a special issue of Variety in December and honored in person at the Palm Springs Film Festival.

* The proprietors of the Tumblr blog Milestones: A Miles Davis Archive have been uploading more live audio (and some video) of Davis to YouTube, mostly late 1960s and early '70s broadcasts from Europe. Given the rapidly growing selection, rather than link to any individual video, StLJN suggests that you just go check out their YouTube channel.

Ally Hany celebrating release of first CD Sunday, November 22 at Ferring Jazz Bistro

Trumpeter Ally Hany will celebrate the release of her first CD with a performance at 6:00 p.m. this Sunday, November 22 at Ferring Jazz Bistro.

Released by the indie label Armored Records, the album (pictured) is titled Journeys Ahead, and features six original compositions by Hany, performed with a backing band including saxophonists Devin Eddleman and Jon Mones, pianist Damian Garcia, bassist Jake Greenburg, and drummer Connor Kent.

At the Bistro show, her first local performance since moving last year to New York City, Hany will be joined by Jason Swagler (alto sax), Nathan Pence (bass), Adam Maness (piano), and Jharis Yokley (drums).

A native of Webster Groves, Hany played locally during her teen years with the Webster Groves High School jazz band, Jazz St. Louis All-Stars, Missouri All-State High School Jazz Band, and St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, as well as in Colorado with the Telluride Jazz Festival All Stars.

She then enrolled in the famed jazz studies program at the University of North Texas, where she performed, toured and recorded with the One O’Clock Lab Band and was featured on the their recording Lab 14, as well as on the Two O’Clock Lab Band's recordings Two’s Two and Kind of Two.

After graduating last year, Hany moved to NYC, where she's been teaching, gigging with the Seth Weaver Big Band and other local groups, and plans to begin graduate studies this fall at the Manhattan School of Music. While she's back home, Hany also will be taking part in the WGHS jazz program's annual fundraising concert on Tuesday, November 24 at Highway 61 Roadhouse.

Tickets for Ally Hany's CD release show are $16.50 and are on sale now via the Jazz St. Louis website and box office.

Victor Goines to perform benefit concert Sunday, December 6 at The Sheldon

Saxophonist and clarinetist Victor Goines is returning to St. Louis for a performance benefiting the North County Big Band at 7:00 p.m. Sunday, December 6 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Goines, a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra since 1993, also directs the jazz studies program at Northwestern University and is active as a solo artist, performing and recording with his own quartet as well as with Wynton Marsalis, Marcus Roberts, Diana Krall, Dianne Reeves, and more. He's played here in St. Louis several times over the past decade, both as a member of JaLCO and as a headliner at the Sheldon and Jazz at the Bistro.

For this performance, Goines (pictured) will accompanied by a rhythm section of St. Louis musicians including Adam Maness on piano, Jahmal Nichols on bass, and Montez Coleman on drums.

The North County Big Band, which will play an opening set before Goines, is made up of students from several St. Louis area high schools, including Riverview Gardens, Normandy, Hazelwood Central, Central Visual and Performing Arts, and University City. The group is led by saxophonist Harvey Lockhart, band director for Riverview Gardens HS, and has performed several times at the Sheldon and at community events since its inception earlier this year.

Tickets are $35 for general admission orchestra seats, $30 general admission balcony, and $15 for students, and are on sale now via MetroTix at 314-534-1111 and online.

Kelvyn Bell releases new album St. Louis Blu

Guitarist and St. Louis native Kelvyn Bell has released a new album, St. Louis Blu.

In contrast to the distinctively funky electric sound Bell deploys with his band Kelvynator and, before that, as an early member of Defunkt, this recording (pictured) features him on solo acoustic guitar.

Described as "a tribute to his Missouri hometown roots," the album's ten tracks are a mix of originals - some, like "East St. Louis Riots 1917" and "Free Funk for Ferguson" making explicitly topical references - and interpretations of more familiar jazz tunes such as Thelonious Monk's "Ruby, My Dear" and Benny Golson's "I Remember Clifford."

St. Louis Blu is on sale now via CD Baby, iTunes, and Amazon.com.

You can see and hear Bell performing "East St. Louis Riots 1917" in the embedded video window below.

Music Education Monday: Six-month index, May 2015 - November 2015

It's now been slightly more than a year since StLJN's "Music Education Monday" feature began, spotlighting free music education resources available online.

To help keep the information easily accessible to as many people as possible, here's an index of posts from the last six months. (You can see an index of the previous six months of posts here.)

The series will continue with a new entry next week. In the meantime, here's your chance to catch up with any of the previous posts you may have missed:

* A master class with Michael Brecker, and more
* A master class with Ramsey Lewis
* A rhythm section workshop with Rufus Reid
* B-3 for beginners
* A master class with Tony Williams
* Pat Metheny and John Scofield on improvisation
* Paquito D'Rivera on composing and playing clarinet, and more
* Master classes with Wynton Marsalis
* A master class with trombonist Bill Watrous
* Saxophone workshops with Dave Liebman and Bill Evans
* Exploring world music
* New Orleans piano with Jon Cleary and Tom McDermott
* Drum clinics with Greg Hutchinson and Ralph Humphrey
* Master classes with saxophonist Ernie Watts
* Standard tunes every jazz musician should know
* A master class with Jason Moran and Vijay Iyer
* Songwriting with Jason Robert Brown
* Vocal tips from Kurt Elling and Frank Sinatra, and more
* The Purdie Shuffle
* Master classes with pianists Chick Corea and Kenny Werner
* Audio recording basics
* A drum lesson and conversation with Ginger Baker
* Electric bass lessons from Jaco Pastorius and Bob Babbitt
* Trumpet solos transcribed, plus master classes with Ingrid Jensen and Brian Lynch
* Summer jazz camps in St. Louis

Sunday Session: November 15, 2015

Allen Toussaint

Pour a cup of your favorite caffeinated beverage, butter your toast and/or put a schmear on your bagel, and take a bit of Sunday morning to read some of the music-related items that have hit StLJN's inbox recently:

* Kamasi Washington: After touring with Snoop Dogg, could he be jazz's next superstar? (The Independent UK)
* Centennial celebration gives Pittsburgh-bred composer Strayhorn his due (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
* Wynton Marsalis: trumpeting controversial ideas of classicism (The Guardian UK)
* Hidden treasures of a remote record shop (BBC)
* Stockholm Jazz Festival 2015 (AllAboutJazz.com)
* 10 Questions for Musician Maria Schneider (TheArtsDesk.com)
* Bob Dylan and the “Hot Hand” (The New Yorker)
* Inside the World’s Biggest Jazz Record Store (GearPatrol.com)
* The Art Of The 'Clean Version' (NPR)
* Derek Trucks on What He Learned From Allman Brothers (Rolling Stone)
* Influential songwriter, producer Allen Toussaint has died (WWLTV.com)
* Pianist Allen Toussaint dies at 77 (DownBeat)
* Allen Toussaint’s Proudest Moment Is The Avant-Garde Soul Opera Nobody Heard (Trunkworthy.com)
* These Millennials Are Shaking Up the Jazz World (Vanity Fair)
* Users of Music, from Tech Giants to Fans, Need More Incentive to Fix a Broken Market: Op-Ed (Billboard)
* Musicians Struggle To Buy Insurance In A City That Thrives On Music (NPR)
* Free Agent of Sound - An Interview with Rob Mazurek (PopMatters.com)
* An interview with Survival Unit III (The Free Jazz Collective)
* Rudresh Mahanthappa Named United States Artists Fellow (Jazz Times)
* Mostly Other People Do The Killing Rocks the Boat in Brooklyn (DownBeat)
* Millennials push 2015 vinyl sales to 26-year high in US (NME.com)
* America’s Last Great CD Dealer Doesn’t Care If You Think CDs Are Dead (FlavorWire.com)
* Prince: ‘I was right about the internet – tell me a musician who’s got rich off it’ (The Guardian UK)
* So What Is Post-Internet Music, Anyway? (Vice.com)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Omaha Diner offers menu of reimagined hits

"You've got to have a gimmick" may be a hoary old show-business cliche, but there's still some truth to the idea. Building an act around a distinctive, easily understood concept can help a performer stand out, and as "gimmicks" go, the band Omaha Diner has a pretty good one.

The quartet - seven-string guitarist Charlie Hunter, single-named saxophonist Skerik, drummer Bobby Previte, and trumpeter Eric Bloom, in for original member Steven Bernstein - plays only songs that have hit number one on the Billboard pop charts, albeit in rearrangements that often bear only a passing resemblance to the originals.

St. Louis audiences will get their first chance to hear those remodeled hits in person next week when Omaha Diner plays next Wednesday, November 18 through Saturday, November 21 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Hunter certainly is no stranger to the Bistro, having played there several times in recent years. Skerik also has performed in St. Louis recently with The Dead Kenny Gs and Garage A Trois; and Bloom was here just a few weeks ago with the funk band Lettuce at the Pageant.

Next week's gigs, however, are the official St. Louis debut for Omaha Diner as a band, and so today we offer a video sampler of some of their decades-spanning songlist, starting up above with a cover of the Beatles' 1964 smash "I Feel Fine," recorded November 9, 2013 at the Aladdin Theater in Portland, OR.

After the jump, they're reaching back to 1972 with a version of the O'Jays' "Love Train," from a show in July, 2013 in Philadelphia.

Below that, there are re-imaginings of two hits from 1987: Terence Trent D'Arby's "Wishing Well," recorded on July 4 of this year at the High Sierra Music Festival in Quincy, CA; and "Sweet Child O' Mine," made famous originally by Guns N' Roses and captured in a performance in November 2014 at the studios of KPLU in Seattle.

The same session at KPLU also yielded the last two videos, as Omaha Diner offers their takes on "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)," a hit for Beyoncé in 2008, and "Thrift Shop," a hip-hop-turned-pop smash for Macklemore and Ryan Lewis in 2012.

For more about Omaha Diner, read this review of a 2013 show in NYC, and this feature published last year in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

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:

* Phil Dunlap of Jazz St. Louis will provide the music for "Birth of the Cool: Jazz and Midcentury Modern Design" next Friday, November 20 at the St. Louis Art Museum.

Part of the museum's "Cocktails and Conversation" series, the event aims to "explore the connections between jazz and midcentury modern design."

* Bassist Tom Kennedy was interviewed by the website For Bass Players Only.

* Drummer Marcus Baylor (pictured) and his wife, singer Jean Baylor, are featured in a new ad for Future Sonics Spectrum Series G10 in-ear monitors.

* Singer Storm Large's show last weekend for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival was reviewed by Chuck Lavazzi of KDHX.

* Producers of last weekend's Nevermore Jazz Ball have posted several videos from the festivities on their new YouTube channel.

* Speaking of the Nevermore Jazz Ball, KDHX has posted online a set of photos from the event's Cherokee Street Jazz Crawl.

* More photo sets of interest online recently include pix from:
Saxophonist Eric Person's recent gig at the Blue Note in NYC;
Drummer Dave Weckl's current clinic tour of Asia;
Pianist Ramsey Lewis last Saturday night at the Sheldon Concert Hall; and
The STL Free Jazz Collective's show on Tuesday at the Sheldon.

* Voting in Jazz Times magazine's annual Readers Poll ends Monday, November 23.

Daniel Bennett Group to play Wednesday, December 2 at St. Louis County Library

Saxophonist Daniel Bennett and his group are returning to St. Louis to play a concert at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, December 2 at the St. Louis County Library's Daniel Boone Branch, 300 Clarkson Rd. in Ellisville. The event is free and open to the public

Based in NYC, Bennett (pictured), guitarist Nat Janoff, and drummer Matthew Feick were here in May of this year for a performance at the main branch of the St. Louis Public Library downtown, and this date is another in support of Bennett's recently released album The Mystery at Clown Castle. It's his sixth recording as a leader, with a sound that the Boston Globe called "a mix of jazz, folk, and minimalism."

Bennett and band recently were named "Best New Jazz Group" in NYC's Hot House Jazz Guide, and he also is active in NYC's musical theater scene as a composer and performer.

Craig Pomranz to perform "Love Takes Time" Saturday, November 21 at Cyrano's

Singer, actor, author and St. Louis native Craig Pomranz is returning home this month to perform his cabaret show "Love Takes Time" at 7:00 p.m., Saturday, November 21 at Cyrano's, 603 E. Lockwood in Webster Groves.

Called "one of New York's most critically-acclaimed saloon singers" by New York magazine, Pomranz (pictured) won the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs (MAC) award for “Best Male Vocalist 2012” and was nominated for best male vocalist in that same year's BroadwayWorld.com Awards. His previous St. Louis performances in recent years include shows in 2011 and 2012 at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

Tickets for Craig Pomranz at Cyrano's are $20 each, plus a service charge for online purchases. For reservations, call 314-965-2526 or buy online at Brown Paper Tickets.

Jazz this week: Karrin Allyson, Olivia Block, Eric Marienthal, Tommy Halloran, and more

This week's schedule of jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes a typically varied assortment of sounds and styles, with a couple of notable touring performers in the middle of the week. So, without further delay, let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday November 11 
Singer Karrin Allyson (pictured, top left) returns to St. Louis for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro, touring in support of her recent release Many a New Day: Karrin Allyson sings Rodgers and Hammerstein.

The album has received generally positive reviews, and you'll find links to several of them, plus some videos of Allyson performing, in this post from last Saturday.

Also tonight, electronic musician and composer Olivia Block performs at Foam, with Circuit des Yeux opening the show; and singer Eve Seltzer returns to Nathalie's.

Thursday, November 12
The Gaslight Cabaret Festival fall series continues with an encore performance from the duo Sleepy Kitty at the Gaslight Theater.

Also on Thursday, the SIUE jazz faculty will feature saxophonist Jason Swagler in a concert entitled "Brazil and Beyond" at Dunham Hall on the SIUE campus; and Wack-A-Doo returns to the Tavern of Fine Arts.

Friday,
November 13
Guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran’s band Guerrilla Swing (pictured, center left) are regulars at Jazz at the Bistro, performing weekly for Sunday brunch, but they're also playing Friday and Saturday nights this week to promote the release of Halloran's new album State Streets.

Ticket buyers will get a free digital download of the album, which will be released on vinyl at a date TBA.

Elsewhere on Friday, singer Karen Oberlin explores the songs of Elvis Costello in the first of two performances of her show "His Aim Is True" at the Gaslight Theater; trumpeter Randy Holmes' quintet featuring pianist Carolbeth True will pay tribute to trumpet legend Clifford Brown at the Ozark Theatre; and Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, November 14
On Saturday afternoon, saxophonist Frank Catalano will be in from Chicago for a free performance and workshop at Saxquest

That evening, saxophonist Eric Marienthal teams up once again with St. Louis' Bach to the Future, this time in a benefit for the Dillon International adoption agency at the Mandarin House Banquet Hall in U City; and trumpeter Jim Manley performs at Thurman Grill.

Also on Saturday night, percussionist Herman Semidey and Orquesta Son Montuno will play salsa, Latin jazz, and more at Club Viva; and Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to the Venice Cafe.

Sunday, November 15
The St. Louis Jazz Club will present Cornet Chop Suey playing traditional jazz and swing in a matinee performance at the DoubleTree Hotel at Westport.

Also on Sunday, the Community Women Against Hardship's annual "Circle of Support Gala" will feature singer Kimmie Horne (pictured, lower left), a Detroit native and cousin of the legendary Lena Horne, at the Sheldon Concert Hall; and the St. Louis Big Band gets ready for an upcoming road trip with a show at CJ Muggs in Webster Groves.

Monday, November 16
Guitarist Dave Black plays for diners at The Shaved Duck, and Webster University's student jazz singers will show off their skills in a concert at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus.

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.)