Jazz this week: Sean Jones Quartet, Delfeayo Marsalis & the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, Nutria, a new weekly jam session, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features some top talent on trumpet and trombone, the local debut of an up-and-coming band from New Orleans, a new weekly jam session, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, February 28
Trumpeter Sean Jones returns with his quartet for the first of four nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

Jones (pictured, top left)  has been a frequent visitor to St. Louis in recent years, turning up on the Bistro's schedule almost annually, and he even recorded his most recent album for Mack Avenue Records live at the venue a couple of years ago.

In addition to his popularity as a performer, Jones over the years also has participated in a number of educational activities for Jazz St. Louis, so advance reservations are suggested in anticipation of a good turnout from former students as well as fans.

Also on Wednesday, guitarist Brian Vaccaro's trio performs at Evangeline's; the Washington University Jazz Band plays a free concert at the 560 Music Center's Pillsbury Theater; and the "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" will feature the Jazz Troubadours at The Stage at KDHX, the weekly jam session led by bassist Bob DeBoo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor 's band at The Dark Room.

Thursday, March 1
Pianist Kara Baldus-Mehrmann will lead her trio in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; saxophonist Arthur White brings his trio to The Dark Room; and singer Cherilyn Evans and CEEJazzSoul will perform in Chase Park Plaza's Chase Club.

Friday, March 2
Guitarist Dave Black's latest project, a trio called In Touch, performs at the house concert venue The Judson House in Grand Center, and pianist and singer Jesse Gannon and his band return to The Dark Room.

Saturday, March 3
Trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra will play at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Delfeayo, the second-youngest of the four musical Marsalis brothers, assembled the UJO a decade ago to showcase the musical traditions of New Orleans, but it wasn't until last year that the group released its first album, the pointedly titled Make America Great Again. You can find out more about Marsalis (pictured, bottom left) and the UJO and see them on video performing some of the music from that album and more in this post from last Saturday.

Also on Saturday, there's another New Orleans act in town for the night, as the group Nutria makes their St. Louis debut at Evangeline's.

Drummer Shawn Myers, bassist Trey Boudreaux and tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Byron Asher play original modern jazz compositions, exploring "traditional music of the African diaspora & Eastern Europe as well as the avant-garde," and they're playing ten Midwestern cities in March in support of their just-released new album Call To The Air.

Elsewhere around town, there's an eclectic bill of experimental and electronic music featuring Kyle Landstra, Oxherding, JoAnn McNeil and the Vernacular String Trio at the Cherokee Street art gallery Flood Plain.

Sunday, March 4
The St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show will present their spring event at the American Czech Educational Center; singer Anita Jackson performs for brunch at The Dark Room; and the Friends of Scott Joplin present their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's Rosebud Cafe.

Monday, March 5
Jim Manley plays for diners at Momo's Greek Restaurant.

Tuesday, March 6
Drummer Montez Coleman and guitarist Eric Slaughter are teaming up to host "The Tuesday Night Hit," a new weekly jam session 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.)

Sunday Session: February 25, 2018

Dave Burrell

Here's the roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* Jazz Icon Sonny Rollins on the Difference Between Knowing and Believing (RealClearLife.com)
* “Fascination and fear”: Rhythm and Reaction shows how Edwardian Britain responded to jazz (New Statesman)
* At Gala, SFJAZZ Connects with Preservation Hall (DownBeat)
* The Brian Eno Discography: Stream 29 Hours of Recordings by the Master of Ambient Music (OpenCulture.com)
* A Hall of Fame hitmaker finds happiness and harmony in Bellingham (Seattle Times)
* UK's first live music census warns of threats to small venues (Music Week)
* People find comfort listening to the same songs over and over, study finds (MedicalExpress.com)
* Didier Lockwood, French Jazz Violinist, Dies Suddenly at 62 (Billboard)
* Morton Subotnick Revivifies Silver Apples of The Moon for Its 50th Anniversary (San Francisco Classical Voice)
* How ‘Strange Fruit’ Killed Billie Holiday (Progressive.org)
* John McLaughlin on the Mystery of Creativity, Inspiration, & Music (AllAboutJazz.com)
* 'I didn't give a damn if it didn't sell': how Isaac Hayes helped create psychedelic soul (The Guardian)
* The 50 Best Jazz Guitarists Of All Time (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* The 2018 Vision Festival Will Honor Pianist Dave Burrell, and Feature Prime Younger Talent (WBGO)
* In Pursuit of a Streaming Jazz Utopia with Qwest TV, the New Service From Quincy Jones (WBGO)
* The Sound of Being (Opera News)
* Musical Revolutionary Ornette Coleman Unleashed Free Jazz in 1950s L.A. (LA Weekly)
* In Memoriam: Drummer Ndugu Chancler (DownBeat)
* Gibson Guitar Update: 150 days to save the brand (FarOutMagazine.co.uk)
* NOJO: A Second Chance to Swing (Jazz Times)
* How two GMU professors teamed up to create high-tech music (Washington Post)
* Charley Pride’s music taught listeners that country music was black music, too (Timeline.com)
* Tyshawn Sorey and Terrance Hayes Make a Poignant Statement with 'Cycles of My Being' (WBGO)
* When Sonny Rollins Rose in the West (Village Voice)
* The Last Word: George Clinton on Alien Encounters, Trump's Lack of Funk (Rolling Stone)
* The great big Spotify scam: Did a Bulgarian playlister swindle their way to a fortune on streaming service? (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Q&A with John Surman: Shared Experience (DownBeat)
* From Radiohead to the Oscar-Nominated ‘Phantom Thread’: Jonny Greenwood on His Musical Process (Variety)
* The Kid Who Recorded The First Punk Rock Record (And Invented Surf Guitar) (PleaseKillMe.com)
* Christian Scott: Building Bridges Across Cultures (NPR)
* The Prowess of Nina Simone’s Early Records (The Atlantic)
* Is the greatest hits album dying? (GetIntoThis.co.uk)
* An introduction to Don Cherry in 10 records (The VinylFactory.com)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra

This week, let's take a look at some videos featuring trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, who will be in St. Louis to perform next Saturday, March 3 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Born in New Orleans into one of that city's most famous musical families, Delfeayo Marsalis is the son of pianist Ellis Marsalis, younger brother of trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and saxophonist Branford Marsalis, and older brother to percussionist Jason Marsalis. Now 52 years old, he's a graduate of Berklee College of Music, earned an MA in jazz performance from the University of Louisville in 2004, and, with his father and brothers, received the NEA Jazz Masters Award in 2011.

If he's not quite as well known to the casual jazz listener as his older brothers, it may be in part because Delfeayo has done a lot of his work behind the scenes as a producer, overseeing recordings for his dad and his brothers Wynton and Branford; musicians from their orbit including pianists Marcus Roberts and Kenny Kirkland and drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts; and many others, including Terence Blanchard, Ruth Brown, Irvin Mayfield, Donald Harrison, Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Harry Connick Jr., Mingus Dynasty, the late Elvin Jones (who also employed Marsalis in his band for several years), and more.

He's also the founder of the New Orleans-based Uptown Music Theatre, which over the past 18 years has trained hundreds of young people while staging original musicals based on a mission of "community unity."

Marsalis formed the Uptown Jazz Orchestra in 2008 to help introduce New Orleans students to the city's musical traditions, with a membership drawn from the substantial local contingent of working jazz players, often including baritone saxophonist Roger Lewis of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. In recent years, they've become a touring attraction as well, and in 2016 released their first album, Make America Great Again. In addition to the UJO's album, Marsalis has recorded six albums as a bandleader, the most recent being Kalamazoo, which came out in 2017.

You can get a feel for Marsalis and the UJO's sound in the first video up above, which shows an extended excerpt from their performance at the 2013 New Orleans French Quarter Festival.

After the jump, you can see them performing the title song from their debut album Make America Great Again, complete with sardonic commentary from Marsalis, as recorded on February 15, 2017 at Dizzy's Club in NYC.

Next, there are three songs recorded earlier this month by an audience member at the Frank Mantooth Jazz Festival at New Trier Township High School in Winnetka, IL, starting with "Put Your Right Foot Forward" from their debut album, followed by “Vine Street Rumble” and a version of Charles Mingus' “Moanin’.”

Last but not least, there's a promotional clip for the UJO from 2013, with some musical excerpts and Marsalis speaking about the band's purpose and approach to music.

For more about Delfeayo Marsalis, listen to this interview from December 2017, in which he talks about the state of jazz, his latest solo album and more; and read this review and interview from 2016, which covers the release of the UJO's debut album.

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

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Multi-instrumentalist Lamar Harris' theatrical production "Superheroes of Blackness" is the subject of preview stories by the Riverfront Times' Christian Schaeffer and the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson. The show plays tonight and tomorrow night at .ZACK in Grand Center.

* Singer Denise Thimes' upcoming gig at Dizzy's Club in New York City's Jazz at Lincoln Center is previewed in a story by the St. Louis American's Kenya Vaughn. Thimes (pictured) will perform at Dizzy's on Tuesday, March 6 and Wednesday, March 7.

* Fans of Dave Weckl, take note - Modern Drummer magazine now is offering a digital "artist pack" of content about the famed percussionist and St. Charles native, which "includes more than 120 pages on Dave Weckl, including cover-story interviews, transcriptions, classic advertisements, and more exclusive content from the Modern Drummer archives."

* Keyboardist and Metro East native David Garfield is ready to release “Outside the Box,” described as a "multi-part, genre-crossing project spanning various types of jazz, R&B, pop, country and rock."

The series will begin with the release on Friday, March 23 of Jazz Outside the Box, a straight-ahead jazz album featuring performances by Randy Brecker, Michael McDonald, The Doors’ drummer John Densmore, Tom Scott, bassist Jason Scheff of the band Chicago, Will Lee, Eric Marienthal, Steve Ferrone, Vinnie Colaiuta, John Clayton, Brian Auger, and more, along with full horn and string sections.

A second album in the series, a "smooth/contemporary" set called Jamming Outside the Box, is scheduled to come out this summer, with additional releases to follow.

* Saxophonist, clarinetist and St. Louis native Dan Block, now based in NYC, has released a new album, Block Party: A St. Louis Connection, featuring a couple of other former St. Louisans - his brother, guitarist and keyboardist Rob Block, and bassist Neal Caine - in the band. The album, which came out last month on Miles High Records, is Dan Block's third release for the label, and is the first recording that he and his brother have ever done together.

Jazz this week: Benny Green Trio, "Superheroes of Blackness," Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, and more

This week's calendar of jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes a visit from a stellar straight-ahead jazz pianist, some adventurous electronic sounds, shows mixing music with poetry and video animations, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, February 21
Pianist Benny Green (pictured, top left) returns with his trio for the first of four nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

Notably influenced by Bud Powell and especially Oscar Peterson, Green (like Cyrus Chestnut, who played the Bistro earlier this year) is something of a traditionalist in terms of his stylistic antecedents.

Like Peterson, he can muster showy technique when the mood strikes, but Green also swings hard - a tendency that no doubt was encouraged during his time playing in the trio of one of Peterson's favorite bassists, the legendary Ray Brown. 

Elsewhere around town, the Ambassadors of Swing perform for the monthly "Shake and Shout Wednesday" event at Tin Roof St. Louis.

Thursday, February 22
The Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents a free concert featuring poet Eileen G'Sell giving a spoken word performance with improvisational music from keyboardist Jay Oliver, guitarist/bassist William Lenihan, and drummer Steve Davis.

Also on Thursday, the monthly Bruxism expermental music series will present Chris Smentowski,  Vernacular Pulse Quintet, and Nebulosa at the Schlafly Tap Room; drummer Stephen Haake's trio plays at The Pat Connolly Tavern; and saxophonist Ben Reece’s Unity Quartet returns to The Dark Room

Friday, February 23
Multi-instrumentalist Lamar Harris presents "Superheroes of Blackness" for the first of two nights at .ZACK in Grand Center. The multi-media production is described as "a live computer-animated journey of epic proportions," with visuals by illustrator David Gordon and an eight-piece live band led by Harris.

Also on Friday, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to Evangeline's; Second Generation Swing plays for dancers at Casa Loma Ballroom; and The People’s Key perform at The Dark Room.

Saturday, 
February 24
Multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe will perform in a concert presented by New Music Circle at Urb Arts in the Old North neighborhood. 

Lowe (pictured, bottom left) combines his voice with modular synthesizers and, in many performances including this one, video or film projections to create soundscapes that can range from ethereal to industrial. For more about him, plus some video samples of previous live performances, check out this post from last Saturday.

Also on Saturday, the Gaslight Squares perform in concert at Focal Point; pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True with saxophonist Larry Johnson play at the KindaBlue Club; and the Funky Butt Brass Band are back at the Broadway Oyster Bar.

Sunday, February 25
Drummer Montez Coleman and friends will play for brunch at The Dark Room, while Miss Jubilee returns to Evangeline's.

Also on Sunday afternoon, the touring show "In the Mood," a nostalgic look at the big band era featuring a 13-piece band and six singer/dancers, returns to the Touhill Performing Arts Center; and the Folk School at KDHX hosts their monthly "Traditional Jazz Jam".

Monday, February 26
Dizzy Atmosphere plays swing and Gypsy jazz at The Shaved Duck, and guitarist Dave Black will lead a quartet in a concert featuring his original music at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster University campus.

Tuesday, February 27
Trumpeter Jim Manley returns to Evangeline's.

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.)

Sunday Session: February 18, 2018

Snarky Puppy

Here's the roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* Olympic Figure Skaters Perform to Ed Sheeran, 'Wonderwall' & More Pop Songs After Rule Change (Billboard)
* Q&A with Adam Nussbaum: The Drum Thing (DownBeat)
* Portraits In Black: Jazz Tributes To African-American Heroes (WFIU)
* Laurie Anderson Details How Hurricane Sandy & Loss Influenced Her New Album & Book (Billboard)
* Why is the price of vinyl albums at a record high? (Toronto Star)
* Systemic Discrimination: the Burden of Sameness in American Orchestras (ICareIfYouListen.com)
* Honor Society: The Importance of Tributes in Jazz (Jazz Times)
* Gibson ‘running out of time — rapidly’ (Nashville Post)
* The Life and Times of the Late, Great CD (DigitalTrends.com)
* When Quincy Jones Covered The Beatles (And Other Insights From a Shrewd Jazz Career) (WBGO)
* Second Line Blues: A Brief History of New Orleans Brass Bands (Reverb.com)
* Exalting Blackness Amid White Noise: Afro-Latino Artists Speak on Navigating the World & Music Industry (Billboard)
* Why Madison Square Garden Thinks It Has Designed the Venue Of the Future (Billboard)
* Scott LaFaro, how one man redefined the piano trio (Jazz in Europe)
* Iyer Excels in Disparate Settings at Four-Day SFJAZZ Run (DownBeat)
* Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: Why Rock Stars Are Suddenly Retiring (Rolling Stone)
* This DC Taxi Driver Was a Superstar in Ethiopia (Vice.com)
* The 50 Greatest Rock and Roll Movies of All Time (ConsequenceOfSound.net)
* Music Snobs Could Save the Music Industry, But They Won't (TrackRecord.net)
* A Primer on Weird Vinyl Design (Magenta.as)
* 99% of All Music Streaming Comes from Just 10% of Available Songs (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Stream the “Complete” John Coltrane Playlist: A 94-Hour Journey Through 700+ Transformative Tracks (OpenCulture.com)
* Snarky Puppy’s GroundUP Fest Grows in its Second Year (DownBeat)
* Music streaming is booming… So what happens next? (MusicAlly.com)
* Meet the Eccentric Master of Jazz Melody (Ozy.com)
* Who Was Andrea Davis? Revealing Minnie Riperton’s Secret History (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Gilles Peterson: 'The boundary between club culture and jazz is finally breaking' (The Guardian)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe's modular sounds

This week, let's take a look at some videos featuring multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, who will be in St. Louis next week to perform in a concert presented by New Music Circle on Saturday, February 24 at Urb Arts.

Born in 1975, Lowe grew up in Kansas City and began playing bass and singing in post-punk and rock bands as a teenager. After joining the "math rock" band 90 Day Men and moving to Chicago to be closer to their base of operations, in the mid-2000s Lowe began giving solo performances of just his voice and modular synthesizer, sometimes using the pseudonym Lichens.

Now based in Brooklyn, Lowe subsequently has worked with a wide range of artists and musicians, including Ben Russell, Ben Rivers, Rose Lazar, Hisham Akira Bharoocha, Tarek Atoui, Ben Vida, Mark Borthwick, Lucky Dragons, Alan Licht, Michael Zerang, Doug Aitken, Patrick Smith, Monica Baptista, Lee Ranaldo, White/Light, Kevin Martin, Chris Johanson, Tyondai Braxton, David Scott Stone, Genesis P-Orridge, Rose Kallal, and more.

In addition to his solo performances, he still plays with the experimental metal band Om, and in recent years also has begun collaborating with filmmakers and videographers, adding a visual element to his live performances.

Here in St. Louis, he'll be playing unaccompanied, and you can see and hear an example of one of Lowe's solo sets in the first video up above, which was recorded in July 2017 at the Berkeley Arts Museum in Berkeley, CA.

After the jump, you can see another full performance by Lowe, recorded November 4, 2016 at the Renaissance Society in Chicago in conjunction with an exhibition of work by artist Ben Rivers.

Next is a piece called "We Echo Now His Love," recorded in April 2016 at the Sonambient Barn, an eighteenth-century stone barn in Barto, Pennsylvania that house metal sculptures/instruments devised by artist Harry Bertoia.

That's followed by another full set, from 2014 at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, and then by an interview video from the 2017 Brighton Modular Meet in England, in which Lowe discusses his creative process and use of modular synths.

The next-to-last video is sort of a lecture and demonstration of his gear by Lowe, recorded in 2016 at Superbooth, a modular synth exposition held in Berlin, Germany. The final clip is a recording of a discussion on "universal musics" led by Lowe at "Machines in Music," an event held in October 2015 in NYC.

For more about Robery Aiki Aubrey Lowe, read his 2014 interview with The Quietus and this interview published in December 2017 on the website of the Museum of Art and Design.

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

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Multi-instrumentalist Lamar Harris (pictured) and pianist Kim Portnoy are among this year's group of 10 winners of $20,000 artist fellowships from the Regional Arts Commission.

* Metro Theater Company's production of Bud, Not Buddy, which features a score by trumpeter Terence Blanchard performed live on stage by a 13-piece band, was reviewed by BroadwayWorld.com's Steve Callahan.

In addition, local NBC affiliate KSDK's Show Me St. Louis last week ran a feature about the show, and Jazz St. Louis also has released a short promotional video about the production. "Bud, Not Buddy" continues through Sunday, February 25 at the Grandel Theater.

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold's return home last week to play at Jazz at the Bistro was the subject of a column from the St. Louis American's Delores Shante.

* In an interview with the campus newspaper, flute player Oliver Nelson Jr. talked about the concert tonight at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ paying tribute to his father, St. Louis native, saxophonist and composer Oliver Nelson. The university will close its annual jazz festival with a performance of Nelson's works, including his suite "The Kennedy Dream."

* Former St. Louisan Katie McGrath has won the 2018 Bistro Award for "Best New York Debut" for her cabaret show, "Significant Others." The awards were established in 1985 to recognize excellence among cabaret, jazz and comedy artists in NYC. 

* Saxophonist and former St. Louisan Oliver Lake is part of an all-star lineup of performers taking part in "Timeless Portraits and Dreams: A Festival/Symposium in Honor of Geri Allen" this weekend at Harvard University. The event will include two concerts and two days of panel discussions featuring musicians and artists who worked with Allen, including Lake, Esperanza Spalding, Terri Lyne Carrington, Vijay Iyer, Jason Moran, Craig Taborn, Don Byron, Carmen Lundy, Kenny Davis, Tia Fuller, and Yosvany Terry.

Jazz this week: Alicia Olatuja, jazz for Valentine's Day, and more

For the second consecutive week, the calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features performances by a local expat making a triumphant return home after earning national acclaim.

For more about that and the other jazz shows happening around town, let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, February 14
Singer Alicia Olatuja (pictured) performs for the first of four nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

Known by her maiden name Alicia Miles while growing up in St. Louis, Olatuja has seen her career take off since she gained national attention in 2013 as a featured soloist at President Barack Obama's second inauguration.  With one solo album under her belt and another set for release later this year, she's not a household name yet, but her star definitely seems on the rise.

Olatuja was a featured guest last year during harmonica player Gregoire Maret's week at the Bistro, and she'll be back in a few weeks with drummer Ulysses Owens Jr's "Songs of Freedom" project, but this will be her debut performance as a headliner at the venue, so expect a good turnout from the hometown crowd. For more about Alicia Olatuja, plus some video samples of past live performances, see this post from last Saturday.

Elsewhere on Wednesday, singer Erin Bode will be doing two shows at Cyrano's; the Joe Bozzi Band plays at Evangeline's; and there are a number of other gigs happening specifically for Valentine's Day - see the St. Louis Jazz Notes calendar for the complete listings.

Thursday, February 15
Singer Tony Viviano will perform in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; Cabaret Project St. Louis presents their monthly "Broadway Open Mic" at the Curtain Call Lounge; and bassist/singer Tonina Saputo's quartet is back at The Dark Room.

Friday, February 16
Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom, saxophonist Tim Cunningham is doing a special Valentine's-themed dinner-and-show at Troy's Jazz Gallery (advance reservations suggested), and saxophonist Kendrick Smith returns to Thurman's in Shaw.

Saturday, February 17
The Gaslight Squares will play an early afternoon show at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's Rosebud Cafe as part of a new Saturday matinee concert series presented by the Friends of Scott Joplin.

At the dinner hour, check out pianist Ptah Williams playing at The Dark Room, and later in the evening, saxophonist Dave Stone trio's continues their weekly residency at Thurman's in Shaw.

Sunday, February 18
Guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran will play for brunch at The Dark Room, while Miss Jubilee serenades the brunch crowd as Evangeline's.

Monday, February 19
Faculty members comprising the Webster University Jazz Collective will play 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.)

Sunday Session: February 11, 2018

Cécile McLorin Salvant

Here's the roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* Cécile McLorin Salvant: The Ghost Writer (Jazz Times)
* In Memoriam: Hugh Masekela (DownBeat)
* Sirius XM Radio Has 32.7 Million Subscribers — Less Than Half That of Spotify (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Here’s the Entire Facebook Contract for Music Publishers & Songwriters (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* LISTEN: Dennis Edwards recalls the angry studio session behind 'Papa Was a Rollin' Stone' (Detroit Free Press)
* California brewery must face lawsuit by son of jazz great Thelonious Monk (Reuters.com)
* Monk’s son wins right to sue over ‘Brother Thelonious’ ale (San Francisco Chronicle)
* Ndugu Chancler, Drummer On Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean," Dead At 65 (OkayPlayer.com)
* La Monte Young - The Well-Tuned Piano 81 X 25 6:17:50 - 11:18:59 PM NYC (Pitchfork.com)
* India sings the blues (The Hindu)
* How the Super Bowl halftime show gets set up in just six minutes (TheVerge.com)
* Photos: “A Musical Tribute to Dr. Muhal Richard Abrams” (Jazz Times)
* Frank Zappa Hologram to Play With Former Mothers on 'Bizarre World' Tour (Rolling Stone)
* Meditating On The Healing Power Of Alice Coltrane's 'Journey In Satchidananda' (NPR)
* Snarky Puppy Evokes 1960s at Carnegie Hall Concert (DownBeat)
* Geri Allen’s Spirit Fills Winter Jazzfest During All-Star Tribute (DownBeat)
* In Conversation: Quincy Jones (Vulture.com)
* Blue Note at Sea a Showcase for Abundant Talent (DownBeat)
* David Crosby: Crosby, Coltrane & Miles (Jazz Times)
* 'Body and Soul' doc explores links between jazz and Jews (Chicago Tribune)
* A Look Back at Hipgnosis, Pioneers of the Avant-Garde Record Cover (Vice.com)
* A Conversation With Ken Vandermark (WFIU)
* Johnny O’Neal: Pianist, Singer, Storyteller (Jazz Times)
* Q&A with Alfredo Rodríguez: Global References (DownBeat)
* Electronic pioneer Ryuichi Sakamoto: 'My great regret is not reconnecting with Bowie' (The Guardian)
* How Black Panther Composer Ludwig Göransson Found the Sound of Wakanda (Pitchfork.com)
* The Night Latin Jazz Was Born (OZY.com)
* Terry Gibbs: Tales of a True Bebopper (Jazz Times)
* Wesla Whitfield’s Long Musical Adventure Comes to an End (KQED)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Alicia Olatuja

Today, let's check out some videos featuring singer and St. Louis native Alicia Olatuja, who will be coming back home to perform starting next Wednesday, February 14 through Saturday, February 17 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Olatuja was known by her maiden name Alicia Miles while growing up here and then while attending the University of Missouri. After graduating from Mizzou's School of Music in 2005, she moved to New York City to earn her master's degree at the Manhattan School of Music, eventually meeting and marrying British/Nigerian bassist Michael Olatuja.

The two began working together as The Olatuja Project, releasing an album in 2011. Two years later, Alicia gained international attention for her performance as the featured soloist with the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir at President Barack Obama's second inauguration.

That led to interest in her as a solo artist, and in 2014 she released her first album, Timeless. Olatuja gained additional exposure that year on tour with pianist Billy Childs as part of his show “Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro,” and subsequently has performed with other well-known musicians including organist Dr. Lonnie Smith, bassist Christian McBride, and harmonica player Gregoire Maret, with whom she made her Bistro debut last year as a guest vocalist.

Now touring as a headliner with her own band, anchored by her husband as bassist and musical director, and having recently completed a Kickstarter campaign to fund a second album, Intuition-Songs from the Minds of Women, which is expected to be released in June, Olatuja seems well-positioned for even bigger things soon.

You can see her perform a full set of music in the first video up above, which was recorded in October 2014 in NYC, shortly after the release of Timeless.

After the jump, you can see three performances recorded in August 2015 at Dizzy's Club at Lincoln Center in NYC, starting with a cover of "Love Me Still," originally made famous by Chaka Khan, followed by two of Olatuja's own songs, "In The Dark" and "Truth In Blue."

Next up is a performance of "Serrado," written by the Brazilian singer/songwriter Djavan and recorded in 2014 as a duet with guitarist David Rosenthal.

The final video is an extended interview with Olatuja, just recorded on February 1 of this year before her performance for the Modlin Arts series in Richmond, VA.

For more about Alicia Olatuja, read the profile of her in last month's issue of Jazz Times, and this Q&A, also published in January.

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

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Pianists Peter Martin and Adam Maness have teamed up for a new podcast for aspiring musicians called "You'll Hear It," offering "a combo of actionable advice and occasional humor in just 10 minutes a day" via Martin's Open Studio Productions.

* Bassist Jim Widner, who heads the jazz studies program at the University of Missouri St. Louis and directs the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, has been named the Missouri Association for Jazz Education’s Outstanding Jazz Educator for 2018.  Widner, who previously won the award back in 1990, has announced that he plans to retire from UMSL next year.

* Metro Theater Company's production of "Bud, Not Buddy," the "concert play" with a score by trumpeter Terence Bradford, was spotlighted on the HEC-TV arts program Scope.

* Bassist Bob DeBoo and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor (pictured) promoted the weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" in a segment on KMOV's Great Day St. Louis.

* The bossa nova and jazz trio The Bonbon Plot was featured in a story in the Alton RiverBender.

* St. Louis native Josephine Baker's trip back to her hometown in 1953 after decades living overseas was the subject of an archival St. Louis Post-Dispatch article posted this week on STLToday.com.

* Singer and Webster University alumna Alyssa Hegwood was featured in Webster U's campus paper The Journal.

* 80-year-old saxophonist Lee Trapp, who frequently practices outdoors on the Lindenwood University campus ala Sonny Rollins on the Williamsburg Bridge, was profiled in Lindenwood's online student publication The LindenLink.

* Keyboardist Jim Hegarty has posted to Bandcamp as a "name your price" download another of his "Secret Sessions" recordings, featuring percussionist Henry Claude, pianist Greg Mills, cornetist George Sams, guitarist Steven Thomas, and flute player Fred Tompkins, plus Hegarty on Moog Voyager.

He's also posted to Bandcamp a live album called Sky Water Smokestack, recorded just last week at St. Louis Community College - Forest Park. The performance was improvised to non-narrative films of scenes of the Mississippi River by an ensemble including Hegarty on piano and synthesizer, cellist Tracy Andreotti, clarinetist Eric Paul Mandat, and mallet percussionist Thomas Zirkle.

* CarolBrass representative Jim Bohm will be in St. Louis from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. next Tuesday, February 13 at UMSL, showing off the company's line of Bb, C, and piccolo trumpets, flugelhorns, and cornets and offering demonstration models for brass players to try.

* The weekly jazz performances at Thurman's in Shaw are briefly mentioned in a Riverfront Times food blog post about the bar's new menu.  

Charlie Hunter Trio to perform Saturday, March 24 at Off Broadway

Guitarist Charlie Hunter is returning to St. Louis for a performance with his trio at 8:00 p.m. Saturday, March 24 at Off Broadway.

Hunter (pictured) is known for his distinctive technique on seven-string guitar that enables him to play melodies, chords, and bass lines simultaneously.

His most recent recording is 2016's Everybody Has a Plan Until They Get Punched in the Mouth, and he last performed in St. Louis in November 2015 with the group Omaha Diner at Jazz at the Bistro.

Hunter's trio tour this spring will feature Nashville-based jazz vocalist Dara Tucker and percussionist Damon Grant, who's worked with performers ranging from bluesman Joe Louis Walker to funk trombonist Fred Wesley to pop diva Madonna.

Tickets for the Charlie Hunter Trio at Off Broadway are $20 in advance, $25 at the door, and are on sale now via Off Broadway's website

Terence Blanchard writing new work to premiere at Opera Theatre of St. Louis

Trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard is writing a new work to be premiered in 2019 at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis.

In a post Wednesday night on Facebook, Blanchard (pictured) announced that he's composing the music for a new opera based on the book Fire Shut Up In My Bones, the 2014 memoir by New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow.

The libretto for the operatic version of Blow's story will be written by Kasi Lemmons, the St. Louis native, director and actress who's known for films such as Eve's Bayou, The Caveman's Valentine, and Talk to Me.

In a Tweet on Wednesday, Blow said that the opera Fire Shut Up In My Bones is scheduled to premiere on June 15, 2019 at OTSL, and that the lead roles will be played by baritone Davone Tines (as the protagonist) and soprano Julia Bullock.

Described as "a pioneering journalist's indelible coming-of-age tale," Blow's book won considerable critical acclaim when released four years ago, with The AV Club calling it "the memoir of the year." It traces his life story from a troubled childhood in Louisiana to his current status as an internationally respected journalist.

This will be Blanchard's second collaboration with Opera Theatre St. Louis, which in 2013 premiered his first opera Champion, based on the story of professional boxer Emile Griffith.

The New Orleans native, also known for his film scoring work, has been a frequent visitor to St. Louis over the last decade. He was just here this past Saturday to play a benefit for Metro Theater Company, which this month at the Grandel Theatre is staging Bud, Not Buddy, a "concert play" for children with a score by Blanchard that's performed live on stage by a 13-piece band. The trumpeter also will play here with his band the E-Collective in May at the Grandel.

Jazz this week: Keyon Harrold, a tribute to Michael Jackson, Mardi Gras, and more

This week's calendar of jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes the return of a favorite local son, a tribute to the late "King of Pop," various Mardi Gras festivities, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, February 7
Trumpeter Keyon Harrold returns home to perform for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro

Harrold (pictured, top left) currently is riding high thanks to the critical and commercial success of The Mugician, his second album as a leader, and the publicity last year surrounding the feature film Miles Ahead, which prominently featured the Ferguson native on its soundtrack.

This is his first appearance in St. Louis since the album was released back in September, so advance reservations would seem to be a must. For more on Harrold and some video samples of recent performances, check out this post from last Saturday.

Also on Wednesday, bassist Glen Smith and guitarist Eric Slaughter are back at Evangeline's, and singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black will return to Taha'a Twisted Tiki.

Thursday, February 8
Kicking off the Mardi Grad parade weekend, the Funky Butt Brass Band will play for the annual "King Cake Party" at the Blues City Deli.

Also on Thursday, new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound returns for their first performance of the year at the Sheldon Concert Hall; drummer Steve Davis and his band, featuring vocalist Feyza Eren, will play a free concert for the  Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; trumpeter Keith Moyer's quintet will perform at The Dark Room; and friends, family and musical colleagues will be presenting a "Celebration of the Life & Music of Nathan Jatcko" at Off Broadway.

Friday, February 9
The People's Key (pictured, bottom left) with guest multi-instrumentalist Lamar Harris will reprise their "Jazz Memories of Michael Jackson" show for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

Also on Friday, singer Erin Bode teams up with The Wire Pilots for a concert at Focal Point, and singer Anita Jackson returns to The Dark Room.

Saturday, February 10
Although the "official" Mardi Gras events on parade day once again are relying on DJs and rock cover bands, Beale on Broadway will feature blues and jazz bands including a morning set from Miss Jubilee and a late-afternoon performance from the Funky Butt Brass Band.

Also on Saturday night, guitarists Paul Davis, Joe Park and Glenn Meyers will pay "Tribute to the Masters" at Evangeline's; and percussionist Herman Semidey and Orquesta Son Montuno will play salsa, Latin jazz and more at VooDoo St. Louis downtown.

Sunday, February 11
The St. Louis Jazz Club presents pianist Bob Row's "Mardi Gras Celebration" at the Ladue Elks Club.

Monday, February 12
Dizzy Atmosphere returns to The Shaved Duck, and pianist Kim Portnoy and band will perform at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium.

Tuesday, February 13
The Funky Butt Brass Band will wrap up Mardi Gras for 2018 with a Fat Tuesday gig at the Broadway Oyster Bar.

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.)

Sunday Session: February 4, 2018

Quincy Jones

Here's the roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* Jazz-Related Grammy Award Winners Announced (Jazz Times)
* Jazz and Blues Artists Make a Slippery Impression at the 2018 Grammy Awards (WBGO)
* We Asked a Top A&R Executive If Rock Is Really Dead (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Burkina Faso Music Honored at Grammys, but Artists Cry Foul (VOANews.com)
* Finding meaning in music again (The Globe and Mail)
* Junk Shop Classical On Stravinsky: Music Stories Told £1 LP By £1 LP (TheQuietus.com)
* Rhythm and Reaction: how jazz made Britain swing before rock ‘n’roll began (INews.co.uk)
* Quincy Jones Has a Story About That (GQ)
* Chuck Berry-Fats Domino tribute at the Grammys misses the boat (Los Angeles Times)
* Blood, Sweat & Tears’ Groundbreaking Debut @50 (BestClassicBands.com)
* Mingus’ “Tijuana Moods” Reborn (Jazz Times)
* After the Grammys, it may be time's up for the music industry (Los Angeles Times)
* How to Be a Responsible Music Fan in the Age of Streaming (Pitchfork.com)
* Jason Moran: Modernistic, Historical and More (Jazz Times)
* A Q&A with jazz heiress Catherine Russell (Arkansas Times)
* DC-Area Record Label Cuneiform Has Gone on Hiatus, and It May Not Come Back (Washingtonian)
* Keeping the Art of Silent Film Music Alive (AtlasObscura.com)
* Piano Madness: Kris Davis and Craig Taborn in Freewheeling Dialogue (Village Voice)
* David Byrne on Trump, Cultural Appropriation and Why He Won't Reunite Talking Heads (Rolling Stone)
* A Tribute to James Jamerson and His Lost Funk Machine (Reverb.com)
* Link Wray, Inventor of the Power Chord, Snubbed Again (PleaseKillMe.com)
* Drummer Mike Reed Reflects on the Racist Encounter That Sparked 'Flesh & Bone' (WBGO)
* Spotify (Finally) Adds Songwriter and Producer Credits (Variety)
* Wherein three national corporations control nearly all of San Francisco's live music (DNALounge.com)
* Best Buy will cease selling CDs later this year (ConsequenceOfSound.net)
* Temptations' Dennis Edwards dies at 74: 'Helped define Detroit soul (Detroit Free Press)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Keyon Harrold comes home

This week, let's take a look at some videos featuring trumpeter Keyon Harrold, who will be coming back home to perform next Wednesday, February 7 and Thursday, February 8 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Harrold, who grew up in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, has been in the spotlight recently thanks to the release in September of The Mugician, his second album as a leader. Featuring guest appearances from guitarist and singer Gary Clark Jr., rapper Big K.R.I.T., R&B vocalist Bilal, keyboardist Robert Glasper, multi-instrumentalist Georgia Anne Muldrow, and more, the album has been well-received by fans and critics, with reviews calling it a “vibrant and wide-reaching set of tunes” (AllMusic.com) and praising it for “redefining the textures and sounds of traditional jazz” (Salon.com).

His gigs next week at the Bistro will be Harrold's first appearances here since the release of The Mugician, so the hometown crowd can expect material from the album to be featured prominently in his sets. For a bit more of a preview of what his live shows are like, check out today's collection of videos, starting up above with a full set of Harrold's recorded in June 2016 at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City.

After the jump, there's an episode of "B Side," a web series from the Brooklyn-based BRIC TV, with Harrold as the featured guest in performance and interview segments.

Below that, there are audience-shot videos of live versions of two songs from The Mugician - "Stay This Way" with Big K.R.I.T. and Bilal, recorded in January 2017 at the Blue Note in NYC, and "Lullaby," recorded in June 2017 at the McKittrick Hotel in NYC, with Ben Williams (bass), Amaury Acosta (drums), James Francies (piano) and Nir Felder (guitar).

Next, there's a short video interview with Harrold recorded for "Open Space," a web series from Mass Appeal (which also runs the Legacy Records imprint that released The Mugician).

Last but not least, there are a couple of video excerpts from Harrold's last St. Louis gig, via the prolific local videographer James Ross, who was at the Bistro in April of last year to capture Harrold, pianist Lawrence Fields, drummer Kimberly Thompson, saxophonist Adam Larson and bassist Bob DeBoo playing "The Lookout" and "Green Chimney."

For more about Keyon Harrold, check out his interview on the October 2017 episode of Jazziz magazine's podcast, and his "20 questions" interview with AmericanBluesScene.com.

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

Tower of Power returning to perform Saturday, August 11 at River City Casino

Bay Area funk band Tower of Power will return to St. Louis this summer to perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, August 11 at River City Casino's Event Center.

Founded in 1968 in Oakland, CA, TOP (pictured) will celebrate their 50th anniversary this year. Their most recent recording is a box set from their 40th anniversary tour, which was released on CD/DVD in 2011 and on Blu-Ray in 2012. Their last performance in the St. Louis area was in February 2017, also at River City.

Tower of Power also made national news in January of last year when drummer David Garibaldi and substitute bassist Marc van Wageningen were seriously injured in a freak train accident before a gig at Yoshi's in Oakland. Fortunately, both men survived, the band continued to work with substitute drummer Herman Matthews, and Garibaldi was recovered and back playing with TOP again before the year was over.

Tickets for Tower of Power at River City Casino are priced from $40 to $50 and will go on sale starting at 10:00 a.m. today at the casino, by phone at 800-745-3000 and via Ticketmaster.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis is now accepting applications for 2018 Artist Support Grants.

The grants range in amount from $500 to $3000, and are available to individual artists of all disciplines for a variety of purposes, including equipment and materials, rental space, arts-related travel, conference fees, project completion, salaries, professional and artistic development, training, and other resources.

Applications are due by Thursday, March 15, and RAC will present the first of three free "how to apply" workshops this coming Monday, February 5 at their headquarters.

* Last Sunday's performance by trombonist Ryan Keberle and Catharsis at The Dark Room was reviewed for DownBeat magazine by Terry Perkins.

* Pianist Peter Martin talked with the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson about his benefit concert for Metro Theater Company this Saturday night and the troupe's upcoming production of the "concert play" Bud, Not Buddy.

* In a couple of related conversations, trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard talked about his original score for Bud, Not Buddy in interviews with St. Louis Public Radio's Alex Heuer and the St. Louis American's Kenya Vaughn.

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold's new album The Mugician was reviewed by AllAboutJazz.com's Thomas Earl. 

* KTVI - FOX2 News is looking for "bands of all genres" to perform live on their 9:00 a.m. weekday newscast. According to a post on Facebook from the station's Kim Hudson, they "need to see videos with clean lyrics and content appropriate for morning television. It always helps if you brag on yourself, too. So, let us know what concerts you have coming up and what big things you have done in the past. Send those videos and all that info to kim.hudson@tvstl.com."

* The 60th anniversary of the release of the movie Elevator to the Gallows, directed by Louis Malle and featuring a soundtrack by Miles Davis (pictured, with the film's star Jeanne Moreau), was noted in articles on LittleWhiteLies.com, DVDTalk.com, and Film School Rejects. 

* And speaking of Miles Davis, a post this week on OpenCulture.com highlights a Spotify playlist featuring 65 hours of Davis' music in chronological order of release.

* Jazz St. Louis is looking to hire an executive assistant to work with the executive director/CEO and the director of development. You can find details on the job and how to apply here.

* The Baylor Project, fronted by drummer and St. Louis native Marcus Baylor and his wife, singer Jean Baylor, were the subject of a brief feature by the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson published before last Sunday's Grammy Awards ceremony.

The Baylors, who were nominated for Grammys in two different categories, unfortunately did not take home any trophies on Sunday night, but they will be coming to St. Louis to make their local debut at Jazz at the Bistro from Wednesday, March 28 through Saturday, March 31.

The Baylors on Thursday also shared via email a compilation of photos and social media posts documenting their "Grammy Week" experiences.

* Last Saturday's performance by singer Barb Jungr and pianist/singer John McDaniel at the Kranzberg Arts Center was reviewed by KDHX's Chuck Lavazzi.

* Family and friends of Nathan Jatcko are setting up a scholarship in the late pianist's name at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

Donations may be made online at http://www.siue.edu/give or by mail to Kyle Moore, Director of Development, College of Arts & Sciences, SIUE Foundation, Box 5048, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL 62026. The memo line on a check should read "Nathan Jatcko." Anyone with questions about online giving can contact Moore via email at kymoore (at) siue.edu or by phone at 618-650‑5048.

A "celebration of the life and music of Nathan Jatcko" also is planned for next Friday, February 8 at Off Broadway.