StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Winter/spring 2017 jazz preview, part 1

With just a couple of weeks left in 2016, it's time for StLJN's winter/spring 2017 jazz preview, presenting videos of various touring jazz and creative musicians who will be visiting our town over the next few months.

Today's first clip features The Bad Plus, who as they have for the past decade will be the first touring act of the year to perform at Jazz at the Bistro, taking the stage at the showcase club from Wednesday, January 4 through Saturday, January 7. In this clip, you can see them playing "Maps" from their most recent album It's Hard in a gig in October of this year at A-Trane in Berlin.

After the jump, you can see a video featuring Tortoise in March of this year performing "Shake Hands With Danger" from their most recent album The Catastrophist. They'll be back in St. Louis to perform on Thursday, January 12 at the Old Rock House.

Next is is a clip featuring clarinetist and saxophonist Anat Cohen, who will return with her quartet to play on Saturday, January 14 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Cohen is seen here performing the Fats Waller composition "Jitterbug Waltz" during a visit this past July to the studios of KNKX radio in Tacoma, WA.

Below that, you can see an interview with violinist Regina Carter, who's returning for a four-night engagement beginning Wednesday, January 18 and continuing though Saturday, January 21 at Jazz at the Bistro.

The 2014 interview recorded for the TV program American Black Journal features Carter talking about her career and growing up in Detroit and also playing a bit of the music from her album Southern Comfort. For more performance footage of Carter, check out this post that ran here on StLJN before her last St. Louis gig in May, 2015.

New Music Circle will kick off the second half of their season with a concert featuring violinist Iva Bittová and percussionist Hamid Drake on Saturday, January 21 at Joe's Cafe.

While there's not much footage of them online playing together (although both are prolific collaborators with a wide spectrum of improvising musicians), the next clip seen here offers a brief excerpt of Bittová and Drake's set at the 2015 Glatt & Verkehrt music festival in Austria

The final two videos feature pianist Alfredo Rodriguez and percussionist Pedrito Martinez , who will be playing as a duo from Wednesday, February 1 through Saturday, February 4 at the Bistro.

Since there doesn't seem to be any footage online of them performing in that configuration, instead here you can see them offering individual displays of virtuosity, as Martinez serves up an extended conga solo and Rodriguez plays his composition "Crossing the Border" in the living room of famed producer Quincy Jones, who helped launch the pianist's career back in 2009.

Look for part two of StLJN's winter/spring 2017 jazz preview next week in this space. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...