Friday, May 06, 2016

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The 20th anniversary edition of singer Denise Thimes' (pictured) Mother's Day show, which has moved this year to the Touhill Performing Arts Center, was previewed in feature stories by Kenya Vaughn of the St. Louis American and Kevin Johnson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and in an interview on St. Louis Public Radio. 

* Jazz St. Louis education director Phil Dunlap wrote about Don Cheadle's Miles Ahead and Born to Be Blue, the recently released feature film about trumpeter Chet Baker, in an essay for Washington University's Common Reader.

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold will pay tribute to Miles Davis with three nights of shows from Friday, May 13 through Sunday, May 15 at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in NYC's Jazz at Lincoln Center complex. The gigs, marking 90 years since Davis' birth, will feature an all-star cast including saxophonists and former Davis sidemen Gary Bartz and David Liebman; drummer Chris Dave and bassist Derrick Hodge, from Robert Glasper's band; St. Louis native Shedrick Mitchell on keyboards; and more.

* Harrold and his brother Emanuel Harrold, the drummer in singer Gregory Porter's band, also pulled off a near-simultaneous dual-sibling appearance on two national TV networks this week, as on Wednesday night Keyon performed with singer Maxwell on CBS' The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, while Emanuel was playing with Porter on PBS' The Tavis Smiley Show.

* A story published this week by St. Louis Public Radio says that radio station WSIE, doubly pressed for cash by a preexisting need for additional funding plus recent budget cuts to Illinois universities, will add blues music to its playlist in an attempt to broaden its appeal and become self-sustaining.

* Pianist Peter Martin's Open Studio Network today rolled out "Brazilian Jazz Guitar," a new premium online course taught by guitarist Romero Lubambo.

* The recently announced "arts incubator" at 3224 Locust in the Grand Center district is seeking tenants now in anticipation of its opening in January of next year.

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