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Saturday, December 19, 2015

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase:
Winter/spring 2016 jazz preview, part 1

This week, it's the first part of StLJN's video preview of jazz and creative music performers who will be visiting St. Louis during the winter and spring months of 2016.

First up are The Bad Plus, who will be returning to our town to perform Wednesday, January 6 through Wednesday, January 9 at Jazz at the Bistro. Given that this will be the tenth consecutive year that the provocative piano trio has played the Bistro in the month of January, many local jazz fans will already be familiar with them, but if you'd like to catch up with StLJN's coverage of their past appearances here, including posts compiling various performance videos from the last ten years, just click on the tag at the bottom of this post that says "The Bad Plus."

As for what they've been up to since their last St. Louis gig, The Bad Plus spent much of 2015 on two projects that augmented their lineup with additional musicians. One of those was a series of live performances of all the music from Ornette Coleman's 1971 album Science Fiction, aided by saxophonists Tim Berne and Sam Newsome and trumpeter Ron Miles. The other project was a critically acclaimed album and string of gigs with saxophonist Josh Redman, a string that, alas, won't extend to their dates here.

As you may have noticed if you're a regular reader of this weekly feature, the default practice is to try to include the most recent footage available of the performers in question. Unfortunately for purposes of this particular preview, there's no good-quality video available online that was 1) shot during the past year and 2) features just The Bad Plus; the best yr humble editor could find was a handful of audience-shot clips from the Seoul Jazz Festival with adequate audio that were rendered headache-inducing by terribly shaky camera work. So, even though Redman won't be here in St. Louis, the first clip at the top of this post shows one of those Bad Plus gigs with him - specifically, a full set recorded in May of this year at the Detroit Jazz Festival.

Next to arrive here in January will be an ad hoc ensemble billed as the Jazz at Lincoln Center Group, featuring four musicians who have varying degrees of affiliation with that NYC institution, but who all are heavily involved in jazz education. Their performances on Thursday, January 14 and Friday, January 15 at the Bistro will cap a week of working with students in Jazz St. Louis' various education programs and in selected local school districts.

The group features the homecoming of saxophonist and University City native Todd Williams, a contemporary of trumpeter Jeremy Davenport and pianist Peter Martin who's spent much of the last 15+ years under the wing of Wynton Marsalis, working as a member of both the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Marsalis' own septet.

Williams has moved on from JaLC to a teaching job at Indiana Wesleyan University, and according to his website, he's also now working on a doctorate from Indiana University, so perhaps it should be no surprise that recent footage of him performing seems to scarce online. In fact, aside from some older clips of the JaLC Orchestra and Marsalis' small band, most of which feature Williams only briefly, the best video of him seems to be a clip he recorded not long ago for JaLC's education program, in which he talks about blues inflections for the saxophone and plays "St. Louis Blues," and that's what you'll find right after the jump.

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Group at the Bistro also will include another former member of the JaLC Orchestra, trumpeter Terell Stafford. Stafford also should be quite familiar to local jazz fans, thanks to his recordings for the St. Louis based MAXJAZZ label and a number of headlining appearances here over the past decade, most recently as part of the band assembled to play the Bistro this past September to commemorate Jazz St. Louis' 20th anniversary.

Stafford, who's now teaching at Temple University and directing the Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia, can be seen in the third clip playing his song "Favor" during a performance recorded in September at the Network for New Music in Philly.

Rounding out the group will be the veteran tuba player Bob Stewart, who's not a member of any regular Jazz at Lincoln Center ensemble but serves as an "educational consultant" to the organization; and drummer Jeff Hamilton, who lives all the way across the country in Los Angeles and whose affiliation with JaLC seems limited to appearing in some educational videos and leading his trio in the occasional gig at JaLC's club venue, Dizzy's.

You can see Hamilton expertly driving that trio in the fourth video clip, which features four songs recorded in May of this year at Dizzy's, and catch can see Stewart in the fifth video, in which he plays a duet with trombonist Ray Anderson on Arthur Blythe's "Lenox Avenue Breakdown," recorded in 2012 at NYC's Cornelia St. Cafe.

After that, vibraphonist Warren Wolf will be in town to lead his group in a series of shows from Wednesday, January 20 through Saturday, January 23 at the Bistro. Wolf, who played the club last season as a co-leader with trumpeter Sean Jones and saxophonist Tia Fuller, can be seen in the sixth clip performing "Things Were Done Yesterday" in May of this year at a northern California venue called Silo's Napa.

The same week Wolf is in town, steel guitarist Susan Alcorn and percussionist Frank Rosaly also will be in St. Louis to play a concert for New Music Circle on Friday, January 22 at Joe's Cafe. You can see Alcorn in the seventh video, performing solo and with bassist Michael Formanek and saxophonist Derrick Michaels in July 2015 at Normal's Books and Records in Baltimore. The eighth (and final) video features an excerpt from a Rosaly solo set in August 2013 at the Milwaukee Noise Fest.

Next week's post will pick up at the end of January 2016 for part two of StLJN's winter/spring 2016 jazz preview. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

StLJN 2013 year in review

As we come to the end of 2013, here's a look back at some of the most newsworthy, noteworthy, popular and/or interesting items posted here on St. Louis Jazz Notes over the past 12 months:

January 2013

February 2013

March 2013

April 2013

May 2013

June 2013

July 2013

August 2013

September 2013

October 2013

November 2013

December 2013

Edited after posting to fix some formatting problems.

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Jazz this week: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Evan Parker & Peter Evans,
Ronnie Burrage's RoBu Big Band, and more

This week's schedule of jazz and creative music in St. Louis is jam-packed, with three notable big band performances, two shows benefiting an ailing elder statesman of the local jazz scene, an evening of free-form music from two intriguing improvisors, and much, much more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, September 30
The eclectic acoustic ensemble The 442s perform for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro, and pianist Greg Mills plays free improv and contemporary compositions at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

Thursday, October 1
Guitarist Tom Byrne will lead a quartet in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, serving up "original compositions, some Pat Metheny tunes, some Jobim" and more.

Elsewhere on Thursday night, there are a couple of opportunities for some short-distance road-tripping for those so inclined. In DeSoto, MO, the fourth annual Mel Bay Jazz Festival begins with a show from guitarist Larry Bay and Sugar Moon at the Fountain City Grille on Main St.

The festival continues for two more nights with music from singer Joe Mancuso, guitarists Eric Slaughter and Dave Black, singer Lena Seikaly, and pianist Chris Grasso on Friday at the Fountain City Grille and on Saturday at The Arlington Inn event space, also on Main St.

At the same time across the river in Lebanon, IL, the Count Basie Orchestra will be performing for the first of two nights at McKendree College's Hettenhausen Center for the Arts. Friday's show is sold out, but some tickets apparently still remain available for Thursday's concert.

Friday, October 2
New Music Circle opens their 2015-16 season with an evening of free improvisation from saxophonist Evan Parker and trumpeter Peter Evans (pictured, center left) at Joe’s Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave.

For more about Parker and Evans, see this video post from last Saturday. (While they're here, both men also will take part in a free workshop and Q&A session on Saturday morning at Foam on South Jefferson.)

Also on Friday, the Italian pianist Roberto Magris will be in town to lead a quartet in a performance at Ozark Theatre; the New Orleans Suspects return to St. Louis to play at Broadway Oyster Bar; and Feyza Eren offers a "Tribute to Billie Holiday" at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

And as if all that weren't enough for one evening, Jazz St. Louis education director Phil Dunlap will bring his quintet to Jazz at the Bistro for the first of two nights showcasing material from his forthcoming album. Along with the leader on piano, Dunlap's group features trumpeter Danny Campbell, saxophonist Ben Reece, bassist Nathan Pence, and drummer Montez Coleman.

Saturday, October 3
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, led by famed famed trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, return to serve as the featured performers at the "Friends of the Sheldon Benefit Gala" at Sheldon Concert Hall. (For availability of concert-only tickets, check with the Sheldon's box office.)

Marsalis and JaLCO (pictured, top left) have just released Live in Cuba, a two-disc set recorded earlier this year, and the first album on Jazz at Lincoln Center's new in-house imprint Blue Engine Records.

Also on Saturday, drummer/multi-instrumentalist and U City native Ronnie Burrage will be back home from his current residence in Pennsylvania to reactivate his RoBu Big Band (pictured, lower left) for the first of two performances at Voce, 212 S. Tucker.

The group will include Burrage and fellow St. Louis expat, guitarist Kelvyn Bell, plus saxophonists Jeff Anderson, Stanley Coleman, Chad Evans, and Jerome "JDubz" Williams; trumpeter Khamali Cuffie-Moore; bassist Darrell Mixon; pianist Ptah Williams; percussionist Henry Claude; and vocalist Charisse Swan.

The RoBu Big Band also will play a matinee on Sunday afternoon, and both gigs will be recorded on video for what promo material for the shows describes as "a larger film documentary initiative to explore the rich cultural history of St. Louis and to tell the stories of numerous artists that have come from the region." You can read more about that at the GoFundMe page that Burrage has set up for the film project.

Sunday, October 4
Tom Byrne and friends will present a "Tribute/Benefit Event for Willie Akins" at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups, raising funds for the veteran St. Louis saxophonist who's now ailing from heart disease and unable to work.

Along with Byrne on guitar, the list of prospective performers includes drummers Montez Coleman and Kyle Honeycutt, bassists Bob DeBoo, Ben Wheeler, and Willem von Hombracht; trumpeters Danny Campbell and Randy Holmes, saxophonist Paul DeMarinis, guitarist Eric Slaughter, singer Erika Johnson, and, crossing over from Ronnie Burrage's matinee gig, Jeffrey Anderson, plus sit-ins and/or special guests TBA.

Also on Sunday, the Dave Dickey Big Band returns for their monthly show at Jazz at the Bistro, with the Ft. Zumwalt North HS Jazz Band performing during intermission.

Monday, October 5
Dizzy Atmosphere plays Gypsy jazz and swing at The Shaved Duck.

Tuesday, October 6
In another fund-raiser for the saxophonist, singers Wendy Gordon, Jeanne Trevor and friends will offer "Music for Willie Akins"at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

In addition to Gordon and Trevor, the announced list of performers includes singers Marty Abdullah, Elaine Donahoe, Marsha Evans, Chuck Flowers, Linda Kennedy, Joe Mancuso, Diane Vaughn, and Ron Wilkinson, along with keyboardists Arthur Toney and Pauline Stark, bassists Jimmy Hinds and Willem Von Hombracht, saxophonist Kendrick Smith, trumpeter Adrian Bowers, guitarist Eric Slaughter, and drummer Alfred Barnes.

Also on Tuesday, the Spiritual Revolution Ensemble plays free jazz at Tavern of Fine Arts; and the First Tuesday Composers Club will have their monthly meeting 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.)

Saturday, October 10, 2020

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase:
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, part 3

This week, let's take one more trip into the video vault of NYC's Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. While the two previous posts here featuring JaLCO have emphasized their capabilities as a repertory ensemble, this week's selection of videos is more of a grab bag, with three shows offering interpretations of familiar material and and three spotlighting original works by the orchestra's members.

To get things started, the first video up above, "Lush Life: Celebrating Billy Strayhorn," was recorded in June 2016 and surveys the sometimes-underappreciated career of the composer and arranger who served as Duke Ellington's right-hand man and rehearsal pianist, and also wrote many significant pieces of music for the Ellington band, including the signature song, "Take The A Train."

After the jump, you can see "Jazz in the Key of Life," a program from January 2016 in which the orchestra presents arrangements of popular music from the 1960s to today, including songs by Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, The Beatles, Elton John, and more.

That's followed by, as the old saying goes, something completely different in the form of "Nursery Song Swing," which features JaLCO's original arrangements of various folk, traditional, and contemporary songs for children as recorded in March, 2018.

Next, it's "The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Songbook," a sampler of various original compositions and arrangements from Marsalis and other members of the orchestra, recorded in October 2017.

The fifth video, titled "Spiritual Sounds & The Jazz Age," features extended works from two longtime JaLCO members, saxophonist/clarinetist Victor Goines and trombonist Chris Crenshaw. Both Goines' "Untamed Elegance" and Crenshaw’s "God’s Trombones" were recorded as part of the same program in January of this year.

The final video, which documents Marsalis' original suite "The Abyssinian Mass," was recorded in November 2019 and featuring the Chorale Le Chateau along with the orchestra.

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

Jazz this week: Wynton Marsalis & the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, George Benson, Garage A Trois, and more

With nice weather forecast for St. Louis for the next few days and a diverse menu of music that includes both fine local players and big-name touring acts, it should be a good weekend to get out and hear some live jazz. Let's go to the highlights:

Tonight, singer Erin Bode and her group will do a free outdoor concert at Kirkwood Plaza Station in downtown Kirkwood.

Also tonight, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents a free concert from a group billed as "St. Louis Swing." Though announcements from the JAH series typically list the musicians who are playing, the description for this week doesn't mention anyone specifically: "Featuring a 7-piece band consisting of clarinet, trumpet, trombone, banjo, piano, bass, and drums, this performance will run the gamut of swing music from Count Basie and Lester Young to Benny Goodman." I really have no idea why they're being so darned cryptic about the lineup of players, but if you enjoy that era of jazz, it's a free show, so why not check it out, right?

On Friday, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra return to St. Louis to perform once again at the Sheldon Concert Hall as part of a benefit for the Sheldon's educational programs. At last word, this show was very close to a sell-out, but if you really want to go, it may be worth it to call the Sheldon directly to see if there have been any last-minute cancellations or returns.

Also on Friday, the funk/fusion/rock/jam band Garage A Trois will be back in town for a show at 2720 Cherokee. For more about them, plus a sampling of their performances on video, see this post that ran here on StLJN before their last St. Louis gig in August 2010.

And if that's not enough, there's still more fusion on Friday, thanks to the debut of the new local group Rare Departure, who that evening will open a two-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. The band features Rick Haydon (guitar), Miles Vandiver (drums), Zeb Briskovich (bass), Jason Swagler (alto sax) and Adaron "Pops" Jackson (keyboards) playing electrified fusion jazz in the style of Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Yellowjackets, and Return to Forever.

In addition to all of the above on Friday, bassist Bob DeBoo will lead a quartet with Ptah Williams on piano and Willie Akins on tenor sax at Robbie's House of Jazz; and guitarist Tom Byrne will bring his trio with bassist Chris Watrous and drummer Ron Carr to the Cigar Inn in Belleville.

On Saturday, singers Jeanne Trevor and Wendy Gordon will be at Robbie's to perform "Billie Holiday & Nina Simone Meet," a cabaret show devised by Gordon. There's a package deal that includes dinner before the show; see the website or call Robbie's for details.

On Sunday, guitarist and singer George Benson (pictured) will be back in town for the first time in more than five years to perform at the Touhill Performing Arts Center under the auspices of Jazz St. Louis. As one of the most famous jazz musicians of the last 40 years, Benson likely needs no further introduction to readers of this site, but if you'd like to sample some of his guitar prowess on video, check out this post from last Saturday. Also, Benson recently spoke with Calvin Wilson of the Post-Dispatch for an article that's now online here.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday Benson's keyboard player David Garfield is staying in town to join forces with saxophonist Jim Stevens for an early set at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups; and on Tuesday, the St. Louis Jazz Orchestra, directed by bassist Jim Widner, will play at the Touhill.

For more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, 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.)

Saturday, September 26, 2020

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra celebrates the greats

As part of StLJN's continuing quest to bring you some sort of jazz-related content here each week (without being able to rely on this feature's primary raison d'etre of previewing upcoming shows in St. Louis), today let's take a look in the video vault of Jazz at Lincoln Center, the New York City-based presenter and producing organization headed by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.

The organization's Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, formed 32 years ago and still directed by Marsalis, takes on as one part of its artistic mission the role of a repertory group, performing new and classic arrangements of music by some of the most important innovators in jazz.

This post includes a half-dozen examples of the JaLCO's celebrations of jazz greats, starting up above with their tribute to the music of Miles Davis, recorded in November 2018 at the Rose Theater in the JaLC HQ in New York.

Along with Marsalis conducting and playing trumpet, the band at this juncture included longtime members such as saxophonists Sherman Irby, Ted Nash and Victor Goines, trumpeters Ryan Kisor, Kenny Rampton, and Marcus Printup, and trombonist Vincent Gardner, plus rising star Camille Thurman on tenor sax, with the lineup rounded out by more top NYC players.

Most of those same musicians also were part of the ensemble for the first video after the jump, which documents the orchestra's tribute to pianist and composer Thelonious Monk, as performed in October 2018 at the Rose Theater.

Next, you can see a recording of a program called "Celebrating Ella: The First Lady of Jazz," recorded in April 2017 and featuring guest vocalists Kenny Washington and Roberta Gambarini plus tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano.

Given Marsalis' known musical conservatism, things take a somewhat unexpected turn in the next video, as JaLCO ofers big band arrangements of the music of Ornette Coleman, recorded in May 2018.

The orchestra is back on more familiar ground in the fifth video, which documents their tribute to the music of Dizzy Gillespie in January 2017.

Last but not least, JaLCO takes on a different kind of challenge in the form of the odd meters of the music of pianist and composer Dave Brubeck, in a program recorded back in April 2014 at Rose Theater.

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

Jazz this week: Bill Watrous, Wynton Marsalis & Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, William Cepeda, "Jazz Heaven," and more

This week's menu of jazz and creative music in St. Louis features visits from two very different touring trombonists, plus a traveling extravaganza featuring Wynton Marsalis fronting a cast of 85 musicians and singers, and as usual, plenty of homegrown talent, too.

Let's go the highlights...

Tonight, trombonist Bill Watrous will be at Mineral Area College in Park Hills for a concert at the college's Fine Arts Theater, backed by the MAC Kicks Band. Watrous performed early in his career with the likes of Woody Herman, Roy Eldridge and Count Basie, later going on to be a featured guest soloist on recordings by Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Arturo Sandoval and many others. He was voted best trombonist seven times in the DownBeat reader's poll, and his Manhattan Wildlife Refuge big band was a touchstone of the 1970s, showing off Watrous' virtuoso technique in a way analogous to how Maynard Ferguson's band displayed its leader's skills as a high-note specialist.

And speaking of Maynard Ferguson, his friend and fellow trumpeter Jim Manley also is playing tonight, at Joyia Tapas in the Grove neighborhood; while further downtown, Miss Jubilee will play jump blues and swing at the Thaxton Speakeasy.

Tomorrow night, Jazz St. Louis presents the touring production of "Abyssinian: A Gospel Celebration" at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. The extended work by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis was created in 2008 for the 200th anniversary of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, and now is getting a touring production (pictured) featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the 70-voice Chorale de Chateau.

For much more about "Abyssinian," including interviews with Marsalis and choir director Damien Sneed and some video footage shot during the current tour, see this post from last Saturday.

Also on Friday night, trombonist William Cepeda, who combines Latin jazz with traditional music from his home territory of Puerto Rico, will be in town to play at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Cepeda's colorful show includes folk dancers as well as musicians, so you can bet they'll be using every square inch of the Sheldon's stage, and maybe a bit more besides.

Elsewhere around town on Friday, singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black will duet at Chaser's Lounge in the Chase Park Plaza Hotel; singer/pianist Anita Rosamond and her band will be at Robbie's House of Jazz; singer Feyza Eren performs at the the Wine Press; and guitarist Tom Byrne will lead a trio at Thurman Grill.

On Saturday night, pianist Dave Venn will be featured in a one-nighter at Jazz at the Bistro; singer Tony Viviano performs at Talayna's in Chesterfield; and the Dixie Dudes will play traditional New Orleans style and swing at Jazz on Broadway. Also on Saturday, pianist Tim Garcia leads a quartet at Robbie's; and Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes perform at Venice Cafe.

On Sunday, singer Wendy Gordon will present the latest show in her "Jazz Heaven" series at the Ethical Society, featuring a dozen musicians and singers performing songs made famous by various legends of jazz and blues. Also on Sunday, singer/guitarist Elliott Ranney will support the release of his new CD Bellevue Shuffle with a performance at Kirkwood Station Brewing Company.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the SIUE Concert Jazz Band performs at Dunham Hall on the SIUE campus; and trumpeter Keith Moyer brings his quartet back to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Then on Tuesday, the Route 66 Jazz Orchestra will play a "Notes From Home" concert at the Sheldon, while keyboardist Jim Hegarty will lead a trio in some experimental sounds at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

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.)

Saturday, December 16, 2017

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase:
Winter/spring 2018 jazz preview, part 1

With 2017 winding down, it's time for StLJN's winter/spring preview, offering a look via video at the jazz and creative musicians who will be coming to perform in St. Louis in the first part of the new year.

Going, as usual, in chronological order, tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman will be the first well-known jazz visitor to St. Louis in 2018, checking in with his quartet for four nights of performances from Wednesday, January 3 through Saturday January 6 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Though his quartet's personnel may be different by the time he gets here, the first video up above, which documents Redman's set at the 2016 Jazz San Javier festival in Spain, should provide a taste of their repertoire and insight into how the saxophonist approaches the format.

After the jump, you can see four videos featuring the visiting musicians who will be part of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Group, which is set to play Friday, January 12 and Saturday, January 13 at the Bistro.

This isn't a regular working band, but rather an ad hoc ensemble featuring four musicians associated with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra who are coming here to do an educational residency for Jazz St. Louis. Since this gig is a one-off, there's no video of them all together to show, so instead, let's take a look at clips of the four of them featured with other ensembles.

Trombonist James Burton III can be seen in the first video after the jump, playing his composition "Going Somewhere" with the Black Art Jazz Collective at a gig in June of this year in Athens, Greece.

Next, it's an undated clip of trumpeter Tatum Greenblatt, playing Herbie Hancock's "Dolphin Dance” with the Verve Jazz Ensemble, followed by a full set of drummer Jerome Jennings leading his own group in a show in 2016 at Dizzy's at Lincoln Center.

After that, there's a clip of the fourth member of the group, bassist Ben Wolfe, leading his sextet at a gig in August of this year at Dizzy's.

That same weekend, New Music Circle will present a trio version of the International Contemporary Ensemble led by flute player Claire Chase, along with multi-instrumentalist Tyshawn Sorey and pianist Cory Smythe, performing on Saturday, January 13 at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation.

The program will feature five notated compositions - three by Sorey, and two by the late composer and experimental music pioneer Pauline Oliveros. One of those works will be Sorey's "Bertha's Lair," and in the penultimate clip, you can see Sorey and Chase presenting the piece's world premiere in 2016 at The Kitchen in NYC.

The final video provides another taste of Sorey's writing, and features him and Cory Smythe as part of Sorey's Double Trio in a performance of "The Inner Spectrum of Variables" at this past summer's Ojai Music Festival.

Look for part two of the winter/spring 2018 jazz preview next week in this space. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

New Jazz St. Louis HQ makes national news

Thanks to an Associated Press story that's getting picked up by media outlets across the country, this weekend's opening of Jazz St. Louis' newly renovated performance space and headquarters is making national news.

The AP story has been run by dozens of newspapers and websites over the past couple of days, even serving as the basis for a brief mention in the New York Times.

Here in St. Louis, the two evenings of performances featuring trumpeter Wynton Marsalis (pictured) and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra that will open the refurbished and expanded Jazz at the Bistro space already are sold out. So, for the benefit of those who don't have tickets, Jazz St. Louis has made arrangements to offer live video coverage of the shows on both Thursday and Friday.

On Thursday, you can watch the evening's events unfold via an online video stream that will run on the websites of both Jazz St. Louis and HEC-TV, as well as that of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Marsalis' and JaLCO's home venue in NYC. Coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. with interviews and a dedication ceremony, with music scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.

Friday's show will be streamed live to the giant outdoor video screens at the new Public Media Commons, located in Grand Center at 3655 Olive between the offices of St. Louis Public Radio and the Nine Network. A live performance by the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars student ensemble will open the evening at 7:00 p.m., followed by video of Marsalis and JaLCO from the Bistro at 7:30 p.m.. Admission is free, but to attend you must reserve a ticket, which can be done online here.

Update, 5:00 p.m., Thursday 10/3/14: Friday's show also will be streamed live online at the Jazz St. Louis, HEC-TV and Jazz at Lincoln Center websites.

Also, the Bistro shows won't be only the performances by Marsalis and the band while they're in town, as on Friday morning, they'll be at Normandy High School to perform in concert with the Normandy HS Jazz Band.

The concert begins at 10:30 a.m. in the school's Viking Hall, and is free and open to "anyone living within the boundaries of the Normandy School Collective." No tickets are required, but since seating and parking are limited, Jazz St. Louis is requesting that anyone who'd like to attend make a reservation by calling 314-289-4071.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase:
Three from Wynton Marsalis and
the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra

Our video spotlight shines this week on trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, who will be in St. Louis on Saturday, March 13 to perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The JaLCO functions as the house band for the jazz program at NYC's Lincoln Center, and as such, they're called upon to perform a wide variety of music, from classic big band arrangements drawn from the catalogs of Basie, Ellington and others to original compositions.

Today's clips span more than a dozen years of the JaLCO's history while also giving a glimpse into their musical range. The first clip is from a 2007 performance in Stuttgart, Germany and features Marsalis, clarinetist Victor Goines and others getting back to basics on a stripped-down number called "Across The Track Blues."

Down below are a couple of excerpts from a July 2009 concert at the Barbican in London that show off the band's ability to navigate skillfully through a more complex, hard-driving contemporary arrangement. In the third clip, which just recently appeared online, we go all the way back to 1997 for an selection from the PBS program Sessions at West 54th that shows the JaLCO backing singer Jon Hendricks on "Soul for Sale," a song that was part of Marsalis' Pulitzer Prize-winning suite about slavery, "Blood on The Fields."

For even more video of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, check out these previous posts.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Jazz this week: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Jamie Cullum, Marvin Horne, Ron Carter, Funky Butt Brass Band, and more

It's going to be a jam-packed weekend of jazz and creative music in St. Louis, so, without further preamble, let's go straight to the highlights:

Tonight, the Meramec Jazz Lab Band from St. Louis Community College-Meramec performs at the Black Cat Theatre in Maplewood. This evening also marks the beginning of the closing weekend for Vanessa Rubin in the Black Rep's production of Yesterdays: An Evening With Billie Holiday. The show runs through Sunday at the Grandel Theatre.

On Thursday, guitarist Matthew Von Doran returns to the Broadway Bean Coffeehouse, while Jazz St. Louis presents its first-ever "High School Invitational," featuring the East St. Louis Senior High School Jazz Band and the Webster Groves High School Jazz Band, at Jazz at the Bistro. (There's no Jazz at Holmes concert this week, as Washington University is on spring break.)

On Friday, the Funky Butt Brass Band returns to Jazz at the Bistro for the first of two nights, and saxophonist Ron Carter and the Northern Illinois University Jazztet begin a weekend stand at Robbie's House of Jazz.

On Saturday afternoon, guitarist Chris Burchett will do the music of Freddie Hubbard for the Nu-Art Series at the Metropolitan Gallery. (Burchett will be subbing for trumpeter Anthony Wiggins, who's recovering from a brain aneurysm; however, despite the previous announcement here, the show will not be a benefit for the Wiggins family.)

Saturday night presents several intriguing options, starting with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis (pictured) and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, who will be performing at the Sheldon Concert Hall for the Sheldon's annual benefit gala. To see some video of Wynton and the JaLCO in action, check out this post.

That same evening, New Music Circle will present composer John Tamm-Buckle's "Droning Maud Land" at the Kranzberg Arts Center, while the world premiere of a Meredith Monk work by the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, with the composer on hand, takes place just up the street at Powell Hall.

On Sunday, singer and pianist Jamie Cullum will play at the Roberts Orpheum Theatre. For more about Cullum and some performance videos, see this post from last Saturday. Also on Sunday, guitarist and St. Louis native Marvin Horne returns home for a gig with NYC drummer Greg Bandy and St. Louis bassist David Certain at BB's, Jazz Blues and Soups.

For more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, 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 by becoming a "fan" of 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.)

Wednesday, December 02, 2015

Jazz this week: Sean Jones, Sylvie Courvoisier & Mark Feldman, Roseanna Vitro, and more

Even as presenters prepare to go into full holiday mode, it's going to be a busy week for jazz and creative music in and around St. Louis, with visits from several major touring musicians in the next few days, plus special seasonal performances from a number of local favorites. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, December 2
Trumpeter Sean Jones returns to Jazz at the Bistro for the first evening of a four-night engagement in which he'll be recording tracks for a planned live album for his longtime label Mack Avenue Records. Jones (who was the subject of video showcase posts here previously in 2009 and 2011) performed here most recently last November at the Bistro, co-leading a band with saxophonist Tia Fuller and vibraphonist Warren Wolf.

He first came to St. Louis as lead trumpeter for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and since leaving that job in 2010, he's become chair of brass at Berklee College of Music and the artistic director of the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestras. Also, this past August Jones (pictured, top left) joined the SF Jazz Collective octet, succeeding Avishai Cohen. That means he'll be coming back to St. Louis and the Bistro in the spring for the Collective's annual tour, which next year will feature interpretations of the music of Michael Jackson.

Also tonight, saxophonist Daniel Bennett's trio will play a free concert at the St. Louis County Library's Daniel Boone Branch in Ellisville; and this year's procession of holiday-themed performances begins with the Gateway City Big Band playing their annual Christmas concert at Sky Music Lounge in Ballwin, while pianist Peter Martin joins St. Louis Symphony violinist David Halen and friends to "Celebrate the Holidays" at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Thursday, December 3
Singer Kim Fuller will sing songs associated with Billie Holiday in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, and guitarists Brian Vaccaro and Tim Fischer will play duets at the Pat Connolly Tavern in Dogtown.

Friday, December 4
New Music Circle presents pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and violinist Mark Feldman (pictured, center left) in concert at The Stage at KDHX.

Working the territory where contemporary composition meets free improvisation, Courvoisier and Feldman have earned a reputation as serious players in both contexts. You can find out more about them and see some video samples of their duo performances in this post from the Saturday before last.

Also on Friday, trumpeter Randy Holmes and his quintet anticipate and pay tribute to the December 14 birthday of the late trumpeter Clark Terry by performing his music at the Ozark Theatre; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will play swing and jump blues at Evangeline's; and the Original Knights of Swing perform for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Over in Illinois, Miss Jubilee will play at Edwardsville's Wildey Theatre, while the Midwest Jazz-tette brings their West Coast jazz sound to The Abbey in Belleville.

Saturday, December 5
Singer Roseanna Vitro (pictured, center left) will perform at the Ozark Theatre. Vitro is a savvy and swinging vocalist who was nominated for a Grammy Award for her 2012 album interpreting the music of Randy Newman.

For more about her, plus some video samples of some live performances, see this post from last Saturday.

Sunday, December 6
The University of Missouri St. Louis music department presents "UMSL's Jazz for the Holidays," a free concert featuring the UMSL Jazz Ensemble, directed by bassist Jim Widner, the Vocal Point ensemble and University Orchestra at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

Also on Sunday, the Dave Dickey Big Band turns their regular monthly gig at Jazz at the Bistro into a "Big Band Christmas" with a little help from guest vocalist Olivia Neal and an intermission set from the Pattonville HS Jazz Ensemble; and saxophonist and clarinetist Victor Goines will perform in a benefit for the North County Big Band at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Monday, December 7
Guitarist Tom Byrne and singer Erika Johnson perform at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Tuesday, December 8
The eclectic acoustic band The 442s will present their "Holiday Spectacular" with guest performers including pianist Peter Martin and singer Erin Bode at the 560 Music Center.

Also on Tuesday, the Saxquest Jazz Orchestra returns to the Tavern of Fine Arts; guitarist Vincent Varvel plays at Evangeline's; and pianist Pat Joyce will perform at The Wine Press.

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.)

Saturday, September 10, 2016

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase:
Fall 2016 jazz preview, part 3

Today, it's part three of StLJN's Fall 2016 jazz preview, featuring videos of the jazz and creative music performers who will be coming here to play in the next few months. (You can see part one here, and part two here.)

Continuing in chronological order from where last week's installment ended, today's first group of videos features saxophonist Sharel Cassity, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen and bassist Ben Wolfe. They'll be performing together on Friday, October 28 and Saturday, October 29 at Jazz at the Bistro after a week-long educational residency for Jazz St. Louis.

You can see Cassity in the first video up above, doing a full set with her quintet (trumpeter Freddie Hendrix, pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Yasushi Nakamura, and drummer E.J. Strickland) in 2015 at Dizzy's Club in NYC's Jazz at Lincoln Center.

After the jump, you can see Jensen and her quintet playing "Opening Part 1-2" and "Travel Fever" in 2015 at Berklee College of Music. The band includes Gary Versace on piano, Lage Lund on guitar, Matt Clohsey on bass, and Jon Wikan on drums.

Wolfe, who's played with Harry Connick, Jr., Diana Krall, and the Jazz at Linocln Center Orchestra and recorded as a leader for the St. Louis-based label MAXJAZZ, is featured in the next clip, which is an interview he did in 2014 with the online jazz program The Pace Report that also includes some brief musical excerpts.

The same night that Cassity, Jensen and Wolfe open at the Bistro, actress and singer Tovah Feldshuh will perform the Gaslight Cabaret Festival for the first of two nights at Gaslight Theater. Feldshuh will be presenting her show "Aging Is Optional," and you can see a promotional trailer for that show in today's fourth clip.

Also on Friday, October 28, vocal groups Manhattan Transfer and Take 6 will bring their joint tour "The Summit" to the Touhill Performing Arts Center. The fifth clip is an excerpt from their concert at the 2016 Berks Jazz Festival, and shows the portion of the evening in which the groups perform excerpts of each others' best-known songs. It's an audience-shot clip, and so the quality is not great, but it does a good job of conveying what it's like to see all ten singers on stage simultaneously.

The next video features saxophonist Jimmy Greene, who will making his St. Louis debut as a leader performing with his quartet from Wednesday, November 2 through Saturday, November 5 at Jazz at the Bistro. Greene is seen here in the sixth video, which is an excerpt from his set at the 2015 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival in Maryland.

That same weekend, singer Karen Irwin will bring her Janis Joplin tribute to the Gaslight Cabaret Festival, performing on Friday, November 4 and Saturday, November 5 at the Gaslight Theater.You can check out Irwin's version of "Ball and Chain" in today's seventh video clip.

The Gaslight Cabaret Festival continues the next week with a one-nighter from pianist Judy Carmichael on Friday, November 11 at the Gaslight Theater. Carmichael, who plays mostly in the stride style associated with Fats Waller and James P. Johnson, is shown in the eighth video playing Waller's "Honeysuckle Rose" at a 2009 gig in Louisville, KY.

Also on Friday, November 11, New Music Circle will present Jen Shyu at the Kranzberg Arts Center. You can see Shyu, who composes, sings, and plays several instruments, in the ninth video, performing her "Song for Naldo" in 2014 in the studios of WNYC in New York City.

Today's last two videos feature pianist Chucho Valdés and saxophonist Joe Lovano, who are teaming up this fall to co-lead a quintet for a tour that includes a show on Saturday, November 12 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Since there doesn't seem to be any video online of the two of them together, in the final two clips you can see Valdés playing "Lorena’s Tango" in 2015 at the Jazz in Marciac festival in France, and a good portion of Lovano's set with his quartet at the 2015 Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in NYC.

Look for part four of StLJN's Fall 2016 jazz preview next week in this space. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase:
Winter/spring 2015 jazz preview

Today, it's the first part of StLJN's winter/spring 2015 jazz preview, in which we bring you music videos from jazz and creative music performers who will be visiting our city in the first part of next year.

First up are The Bad Plus, who will be back in St. Louis from Wednesday, January 7 through Saturday, January 10 to play at Jazz at the Bistro. The group has been visiting the Bistro early in January for nearly a decade now, and since their last trip here, they've put out a new recording of all original music, Inevitable Western. In the video up above, you can see them playing a song from that album, "Gold Prisms Incorporated," during a gig in September at the Blue Note in Milano, Italy.

After the jump, you'll see the Stooges Brass Band playing "Hot." They'll be in town on Thursday, January 15 at the Broadway Oyster Bar; the video was recorded in July of this year in New Orleans for the web series "Jam in the Van."

Below that you can see their fellow New Orleanians Bonerama, who will be here the very next night, Friday, January 16, also at the Broadway Oyster Bar. The clip is an audience-shot video of them performing "Hey, Hey, What Can I Do" last month at the Cutting Room in NYC.

That same weekend, the Bistro will feature a band being billed as the Jazz at Lincoln Center Group, an ad hoc assemblage made up of musicians doing week-long educational residencies for Jazz St. Louis that will culminate in public performances on Friday, January 16 and Saturday, January 17. The front line features two familiar faces, trumpeter Terell Stafford and saxophonist/clarinetist Victor Goines - both of whom have fronted their own bands here - along with trombonist Chris Crenshaw, with Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra drummer Alvin Atkinson quarterbacking the rhythm section with a bassist and pianist TBA.

In the fourth clip, you can see Stafford performing a very nice version of Billy Strayhorn's "Day Dream" at the 2013 International Trumpet Guild convention, backed by pianist Bruce Barth. Below that, there's a clip of Goines working out on his composition "Turning Points" during a 2011 gig with pianist Aaron Diehl, bassist Phillip Kuehn, and drummer Marion Felder. Crenshaw is represented by a clip compiling excerpts from a concert for a Smithsonian traveling exhibit that the trombonist played in March 2013 in his hometown of Thomson, GA; the rhythm section is Josef Patchen (keyboard), Travis Shaw (bass), and Edwin G. Hamilton (drums).

Today's final video features the Arturo O'Farrill Sextet, who will visit St. Louis Wednesday, January 21 through Saturday, January 24 to play at Jazz at the Bistro. O'Farrill, a pianist, composer/arranger and son of the famous bandleader Chico O'Farrill, was here a decade ago with his Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra to play the long-defunct St. Louis Jazz Festival in Clayton, but this will be his first visit here since. To get an idea of what to expect, check out the video of O'Farrill's octet recorded in September 2013 for an NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert.

Look for the second part of StLJN's winter/spring 2015 jazz preview in this space next week. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar

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