Friday, April 12, 2019

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold was among the featured performers at "A Great Night in Harlem," held recently at the Apollo Theater to honor singers Harry Belafonte and Tony Bennett and to raise funds for the Jazz Foundation of America. DownBeat's article about the evening includes a quote from Harrold, who, along with fellow trumpeter Wallace Roney, performed "Grazing In The Grass" as a tribute to the late Hugh Masekela.

* Harrold also has been tapped as a member of New Masters, “a rotating ensemble of today’s leading, up-and-coming and established jazz musicians” assembled by Sony Music Masterworks to record jazz interpretations of contemporary hits "originally performed by the likes of Cardi B, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and SZA."

The group, which also includes pianist Sullivan Fortner, drummer Eric Harland, guitarist Gilad Hekselman, bassist Burniss Earl Travis, saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins and percussionist Bashiri Johnson, will release their debut album ReWORKS Volume 1 on Friday, July 12.

* "Why Jazz Still Matters" is the title of an article in the spring 2019 issue of Daedalus magazine co-authored by Washington University professor Gerald Early with Ingrid Monson, professor of African American Music at Harvard University.

* Seven musicians who worked with Miles Davis during the trumpeter's electric period, including bassist Michael Henderson, saxophonists Dave Liebman and Gary Bartz, and drummer Lenny White, talked about their experiences at a Jazz Congress conference panel this past January in NYC, which now has been transcribed for an article in Jazz Times.

* In more Davis news, the trumpeter's landmark album Birth of the Cool will be re-released in a deluxe 70th anniversary edition (pictured) on Friday, May 17. The vinyl and digital set will include the complete studio and live recordings made in 1949-50 by Davis' nine-piece ensemble.

* Lastly, in a story published on April 1 by the Alton-area weekly Riverbender, Davis' ghost is credited with saving the lives of three area residents in separate incidents.

* Trumpeter Clark Terry's mentoring of young musicians, particularly pianist Justin Kauflin, is the subject of a recent article in Vail Daily.

* In an article in the Edwardsville Intelligencer, vibraphonist Lee Roth credits the sounds of radio station WSIE with helping him recover from recent brain surgery.

* Jazz St. Louis, The Dark Room and Broadway Oyster Bar are among the spots mentioned in a Post-Dispatch feature about local venues offering "dinner and a show."

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