Sunday Session: February 14, 2021

Chick Corea

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest:

* Show's over for British roadies as Brexit blocks European music tours (MSN.com)
* Trane '63: A Classic, A Challenge, A Change (WFIU)
* Mary Wilson, longest-reigning original Supreme, dies at 76 (Associated Press)
* Music wars on Valentine’s Day: when your partner hates your record collection (London Jazz News)
* The Idea of the Blues: It’s Time for Chicago to Capitalize on the Heritage that Changed the Course of Music (NewCity.com)
* Ivo Perelman’s Massive Oeuvre (DownBeat)
* Harvey Brooks: View From The Bottom (Blues.gr)
* Sonny Rollins: “Musicians can live a charmed life” (Uncut.co.uk)
* International Anthem's Celebratory Approach Is Breaking Boundaries (ClashMusic.com)
* New Orleans avant-jazz saxophonist Kidd Jordan improvises his way to $50K fellowship (NOLA.com)
* Composer Anthony Davis Imagines His Freedom (San Francisco Classical Voice)
* The Hidden Legacy Of The Pointer Sisters, Genre-Busting Pioneers Of Message Music (NPR)
* Ancient shell horn can still play a tune after 18,000 years (Associated Press)
* Terri Lyne Carrington is the definition of Black Girl Magic (Associated Press)
* Trumpeter Rob Mazurek May Have Made Marfa’s Great Cosmic Jazz Album (Texas Monthly)
* Arbors Records Puts Art First (DownBeat)
* Black Women Who Shaped Rock & Roll (Rolling Stone)
* Chick Corea, Jazz Fusion Pioneer, Has Died Of Cancer At 79 (NPR)
* Impulse! Records Marks a 60th Anniversary, and a Creative Legacy, with Music Old and New (WBGO)
* Chronology: McCoy Tyner, Sideman (Jazz Times)
* Gretchen Parlato In Bloom (DownBeat)
* Todd Rundgren Reacts to Latest Rock Hall Nomination: 'I Don't Care About It' (Billboard)
* Nubiyan Twist: Real Life Stories (Jazz Times)
* Brexit is destroying music. Why has the government let this happen? (The Guardian)
* Brilliant, broke and wilfully annoying: the sad legacy of Frank Zappa (Sydney Morning Herald)
* Milford Graves: jazz drummer dies aged 79 (The Guardian)
* The Checkout: Steve Gadd Remembers When Chick Corea Gave Him a Lesson On the Drums (WBGO)
* Milford Graves, Pioneering Jazz Drummer and Polymath, Dies at 79 (Pitchfork.com)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: "Open Air" streaming shows from The Grandel

Continuing with our ongoing look at streaming performances from various St. Louis musicians and venues during the pandemic, this week let's check out some videos from The Dark Room's "Open Air" series, which since last year has been playing to both in-person and streaming audiences from a heated tent outside the Grandel Theatre.

Although the exceptionally cold weather forced the postponement of shows scheduled for this weekend, the "Open Air" series has been running on Friday and Saturday nights and for Sunday brunch, featuring local musicians from a number of different genres including jazz, blues,, Americana, folk, and more.

This week's post compiles a half-dozen shows from the series so far, starting up above with keyboardist Mo Egeston and his All-Stars in a performance recorded on August 22 of last year.

After the jump, you can see a set from singer and bassist Janet Evra (with a guest appearance by pianist Ptah Williams) that was recorded on September 4.

Williams also appears in the third video, which features him, bassist Darrell Mixon and drummer Gary Sikes backing singer Debby Lennon in a show on October 16.

Next up is singer Denise Thimes, recorded on October 24, followed by singer and guitarist Tommy Halloran and his band Guerrilla Swing in a show from November 13.

The final video spotlights singer Robert Nelson and was recorded on January 9.

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

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Singer Chuck Flowers (pictured) was interviewed on the webcast "Jazz in the AM."

* Saxophonist David Sanborn has released a clip from his most recent "Online Sessions" video, a version of "Georgia On My Mind" recorded with organist Joey DeFrancesco and drummer Billy Kilson.

* In a new video for Rhythm magazine, drummer Dave Weckl reveals the details of his home studio setup for playing and teaching online.

* Also on the Weckl beat, he and fellow drummer Rob Silverman were the guests on last week's Modern Drummer podcast, discussing their most recent recordings and the drumming contest being sponsored by the magazine and their label Autumn Hill Records.

* The Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson this week reported that Atomic Cowboy, the long-running bar, restaurant and music venue in The Grove neighborhood, has closed permanently and put all its equipment and fixtures up for auction.

* Also from Kevin Johnson in the Post, a look at how cabaret venue Blue Strawberry has adapted to present different types of live music during the pandemic.

* An article at UDiscoverMusic.com takes a retrospective look at Miles Davis' classic 1950s album Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet.

* In more Miles Davis-related news, tattoo artist Kat Von D is being sued by a Los Angeles photographer who alleges that a tattooed image of Davis rendered by Von D for one of her customers infringes on his copyrighted photo of the trumpeter.

* And finally, a short feature in Far Out magazine recounts the story of the time in 1969 when Davis was asked by guitarist Jimi Hendrix to form a "supergroup" that also would have included drummer Tony Williams and Beatles bassist Paul McCartney.

Sunday Session: February 7, 2021

Femi Kuti

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest:

* The Autobiography of Phil Woods: April in Paris 1968 (Jazz Times)
* Spotify’s latest invention monitors your speech, determines your emotional state… and suggests music based on it (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* YouTube says music artists' income could fall if it must pay more for streams (The Guardian)
* Tony Bennett's Battle With Alzheimer's (AARP.org)
* Mississippi Delta: The root of the blues in photos (Nashville Tennessean)
* Playlist: Haitian Rhythms And The Music Of New Orleans (NPR)
* The Velvet Mafia: the gay men who helped shape music in the 60s (The Guardian)
* Different beat: how Fela Kuti’s son and grandson are modernising the dynasty (The Guardian)
* A Time For The Blues (DownBeat)
* The Greatest and Yacht-iest of the Doobie Brothers, According to Michael McDonald (Vulture.com)
* Got the blues? Listen to these 25 essential Mississippi Delta blues songs (Beauregard Daily News)
* Revisiting the Tender Sounds of Dusty Springfield (The New Yorker)
* Mozart did not consider himself a tortured genius (Christian Science Monitor)
* Ben Sidran: The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma (Nardis) (Jazz Times)
* Here’s Where You Can Donate to Help Struggling Music Industry Workers (Rolling Stone)
* How pianist Jason Moran is exploring art and Black influences to get through the pandemic (NBC News)
* The Last Remaining Juke Joints in America (SPIN)
* Planning for the Future of Van Gelder Studio (Jazz Times)
* Danny Ray, James Brown’s Longtime ‘Cape Man’ and Emcee, Dead at 85 (Rolling Stone)
* STEAL THIS PLAN (AntiGravityMagazine.com)
* Ma Rainey’s Blues Power (Tidal.com)
* Hermosa Beach’s Lighthouse Cafe plans to reopen in March under new ownership (Hermosa Beach Daily Breeze)
* Music Venue Owners And Artists Reflect On How The Pandemic Changed Their Industry (NPR)
* How Black Composers Shaped the Sound of American Classical Music (NPR)
* You might know the Bakersfield Sound, but how well do you know the Lakeview Sound? (KGET)
* Béla Fleck’s Journey To Find Truth In Origins Of The Banjo (WBUR)
* How the US Civil War Influenced Music (History.com)
* While Hollywood Had the Sunset Strip, East L.A. Had the ‘Latin Strip’ (LATaco.com)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: More streamed concerts from St. Louis musicians

When the pandemic began last year, many musicians, venues and presenters began to offer performances streaming online, from solo concerts in living rooms to full-blown productions. StLJN over the last year has had a number of Saturday video posts collecting live streams staged by local organizations such as Jazz St. Louis and New Music Circle, and so this week, we're looking at a variety of other performances streamed recently by musicians from St. Louis.

Today's first video up above is the first of three featuring St. Louisans in New York, as saxophonist Eric Person leads a performance of a new work, "Blue Skys in the Distance," a five-part suite "inspired by sights and observations during the COVID Lockdown." It was recorded in December 2020 at Cassandra Recording Studio in Beacon, NY, with a band that also included Neil Alexander (keyboards), Adam Armstrong (bass), and Darrell Green (drums).

After the jump, you can see saxophonist Greg Osby with pianist John Chin and bassist Lonnie Plaxico in a concert recorded for the Woodwind Fest 2020 in December 2020 at Sear Sound in New York City.

Next up, it's Keyon Harrold with fellow trumpeters Marquis Hill, Theo Croker, and Giveton Gelin, pianist Mike King, bassist Ben Williams, and drummer Kendrick Scott in a performance billed as "Signatures in Brass" that was recorded in December at Smalls jazz club in NYC.

Moving closer to home, that's followed by pianist Peter Martin in a performance recorded in January at his studio here in St. Louis. It's one of a series of "Shelter in Place" solo concerts he's been doing weekly since last year.

The eclectic instrumental ensemble The 442s are next, in a performance recorded last October at The Sheldon.

The final video features the Red and Black Brass Band in a concert for KDHX's "Listen Live & Local" series that was recorded this past Tuesday, February 2.

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

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold this week kicked off Black History Month by putting together a "Black Lives Matter" playlist for Spotify.

* Also for Black History Month, SiriusXM will revive for a limited time only their Miles Davis Radio channel, with "music from over 100 of Davis’ albums and featuring alumni band members as hosts," including Marcus Miller, Lenny White, John Beasley, Joey DeFrancesco, and Davis' nephew Vince Wilburn Jr.

* Keyboardist Pete Ruthenburg talks about future plans for recordings and gigs in an interview with the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson.

* The Post-Dispatch this week also published a photo feature commemorating the return of Josephine Baker (pictured) on February 3, 1952 to perform in her hometown for the first time since becoming internationally famous.

* Autumn Hill Records, the all-digital label operated by brothers Mike and Rob Silverman, has teamed up with Modern Drummer magazine to present "The Modern Drummer Drumology Playalong Contest."

Contestants are invited to download and record a video of themselves playing along with a track from Rob Silverman's recent solo recording, which also features fellow drummers Simon Phillips and Dave Weckl. Prizes for the contest, which ends on Sunday, Feburary 28, include a Spinelli "Floating Snare" and Drumology prize packs.

* And speaking of contests, the National Saxophone Museum (located within St. Louis woodwind dealer Saxquest) is sponsoring "a $5000 prize purse contest to give all saxophone players a chance to have some fun, showcase their art, and perhaps “cash in” on their passion."

Prizes range from $500 to $2,500 for the three top winners, and there also will be prizes awarded for young artists, honorable mention, and "People's Choice." Registration for the contest continues through Friday, April 30.

* Writing in the Los Angeles Times, former St. Louisan Randall Roberts looks at "The tortured, touching love saga of Cicely Tyson and Miles Davis."

Recently on Heliocentric Worlds

It's the start of another month, and so it's time once again to check in on StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds, where each day there's posted a different online music video, drawing on genres incluing jazz, blues, soul, funk, classic rock, prog rock experimental and more.

The most-watched videos added to the site last month were:

Cecil Taylor - Live at the Knitting Factory
James Brown - Live in Paris
Miles Davis - Live in Oslo
Ozark Mountain Daredevils - Live on The Old Grey Whistle Test
Jean-Luc Ponty - "Mirage"

Other recent posts have featured performances on video by the Gene Harris Quartet, Al Jarreau, Andrew White Quartet, Chuck Berry, Junior Wells, Soft Machine, Mountain, Little Milton, Sarah Vaughan, The Rolling Stones, Beck, Bogert & Appice, Lou Reed, George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars, The Skatalites, Tito Puente, Idris Ackamoor and The Pyramids, Duke Ellington, Isley Brothers, Little Feat, T. Rex, Tyshawn Sorey Double Trio, The Band, Gary Burton Quartet, Deep Purple, and McCoy Tyner and the Latin All-Stars.

If you've missed out on all this until now, not to worry - you still can see all of these videos plus thousands more from the archives at https://heliocentricworlds.blogspot.com/.

Black Artists Group documentary to air Tuesday, February 2 on Nine Network

The documentary The Black Artists Group of St. Louis: Creation Equals Movement will be broadcast at 8:00 p.m. Central time this coming Tuesday, February 2 on Nine Network.

The film, which was written and directed by Bryan Dematteis, tells the story of the multi-disciplinary arts group that operated in St. Louis in the late 1960s and early 70s and helped launch the careers of musicians including Oliver Lake, Hamiet Bluiett, Charles "Bobo" Shaw, Baikida Carroll, Floyd LeFlore, and others.

It was first made available to local audiences in November 2020 as part of the St. Louis International Film Festival, but this will be the first, and so far only, scheduled airing on free TV. (Unlike many other Nine Network programs, it will not be available for later viewing on the station's app or website.)

Nine Network has produced a promotional trailer for the broadcast, which you can see in the embedded video window below.