Claudia Acuna
As usual, we start this edition of Notes from the Net with some items about the most famous St. Louis jazz musician of them all, Miles Davis. The 80th anniversary of Davis' birth inspired the San Francisco Chronicle's Jesse Hamlin to pen a thoughtful overview of the trumpeter's career, while the recently reissued box set of Miles' 1950s work on Prestige continues to generate positive reviews. Fifteen years after his passing, Miles even had an impact on the recent Montreal International Jazz Festival - this time, through his paintings...Saxophonist Chris Cheek, an up-and-coming player who's an alumni of Webster University's jazz program, has a new CD, Blues Cruise, reviewed here and here, and also now has his very own profile at All About Jazz.com....The ever-prolific John Zorn, another saxophonist and former Webster student, is staying busy, too. Here's a review of a recent performance by the acoustic version of Zorn's Masada group. Both the acoustic and electric versions of the Masada band will perform in September as part of the New York Jewish Music & Heritage Festival.
Meanwhile, trumpeter and former St. Louisan Baikida Carroll will be gigging in Philadelphia at the end of July with the group Faux Faux, also featuring Tim Berne (alto sax), Tom Rainey (drums) and Michael Formanek (bass)...The World Saxophone Quartet, featuring Brooklyn, IL's Hamiet Bluiett, performed in Jerusalem in May with yet another permutation of their lineup, without co-founder and former St. Louisan Oliver Lake, who nevertheless will, we've been told, be part of the group's St. Louis gig this fall...Marty Ehrlich, another versatile reed player originally from St. Louis, just did a concert with his sextet at NYC's Museum of Modern Art...Vocalist Lynne Fiddmont, a St. Louis native who's had some high-profile gigs as a background singer for a number of pop and R&B artists, has released her jazz-influenced debut CD Flow and is doing a release party to benefit a charity fighting breast cancer...The 100th anniversary of the birth of Josephine Baker continues to inspire news stories, including an article about the chateau in France where Baker once lived, and some reminiscing from Baker's nephew about the iconic singer, dancer and actress. The Sheldon Art Gallery's Baker exhibit runs through the end of August...Speaking of the relatives of famous St. Louisans, alto saxophonist and composer Oliver Nelson's son Oliver Nelson Jr, a jazz flute player, lives in Indianapolis, where his performance at a recent festival prompted a feature story in the Indianpolis Star...The St. Louis-based label MAXJAZZ's recent CDs from pianist Eric Reed and singer Nancy King are reviewed here and here.
Comings and goings: Guitarist Peter White, just in town this past Friday to perform with Guitars and Saxes at the Pageant, has a new CD reviewed here, while the latest recording from bassist Wayman Tisdale, who will play the same venue this Friday with the Rendezvous All-Stars, is reviewed here...The eclectic quintet Imani Winds performed a Josephine Baker tribute program with singer Rene Marie at the Edison Theater in St. Louis this past spring. More recently, they played the Central Park Bandshell in NYC, as recounted by this review from the New York Times...Pianist Taylor Eigsti, who visited St. Louis in June to perform at Jazz at the Bistro, is profiled by the San Jose Mercury News here...And clarinetist Don Byron, another of this past season's bookings at the Bistro, is collaborating with NYC's Bang On A Can All-Stars. You can download a free track from their CD in MP3 format here...Roy Hargrove, the versatile trumpet player who's played St. Louis several times over the last couple of years with his own groups and with Herbie Hancock's Headhunters 2005, has two new CDs, both reviewed here.
Turning from recent visitors to coming attractions, we've got several items related to artists who will be performing as part of Jazz at the Bistro's upcoming 2006-07 season. For starters, check out this interview with singer Claudia Acuna by Leroy "The Jazzcat" Downs, and this article about guitarist John Scofield's plans to reunite with jazz/funk/jam trio Medeski, Martin and Wood for another collaborative recording. Then, marvel at the seemingly ageless guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, who seems to stay busier than many musicians half his age, including festival gigs in State College, PA and Hopewell, NJ. (On a related note, Pizzarelli's son John, another St. Louis favorite and a seven-string guitar-playing chip off the ol' block, will take his big band to Woodstock, NY next weekend for a show at the Bethel Woods Center For the Arts Jazz Festival...Violinist Regina Carter will close next season at the Bistro; her new CD is reviewed here...And The Bad Plus, who will perform at the Bistro in January, are just one of a number of groups discussed in this article recounting memories of NYC's landmark club, the Village Vanguard.
Organist Joey DeFrancesco is no stranger to the Bistro, either, but when he comes to St. Louis again this fall, he'll be playing at the Sheldon with mallet percussionist Bobby Hutcherson. In addition, Hutcherson is scheduled to return to St. Louis again in March to play the Bistro with the SF Jazz Collective. So to whet your appetite for these two shows, take a look at this review of Organic Vibes, DeFrancesco's new CD with Hutcherson, and this review of Hutcherson's performance at the Winnipeg Jazz Festival...Pianist and singer Jamie Cullum will also return to St. Louis this fall to play the Pageant. For some Cullum scoop, scope out this interview from the Nashville Tenesseean, and this feature story from the UK's Independent newspaper, which suggests that Cullum is actually becoming a bigger star here in the States than in his native England.
And finally, some hopeful news on a story we've been tracking for a while now. The great saxophonist Michael Brecker, diagnosed last year with a rare blood disease, returned to the stage for the first time since his bone marrow transplant, sitting in with Herbie Hancock at the pianist's recent show in NYC. You can read the accounts from the NY Times and the Village Voice here and here.
(Edited 7/30/06 to fix a typo and add a link.)
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