StLJN Saturday at the Movies: Defunkt plays "Make Them Dance,"Bill Evans does "My Foolish Heart"

I'm running across so many interesting jazz-related video clips online these days that it seems a shame not to share more of them. So, while I'm trying to think of other ways to use some of that material, at the very least StLJN can expand the regular Saturday video post into a "double feature," starting today.

On top is a clip of Defunkt, the brainchild of St. Louis-born trombonist Joseph Bowie, brother of famed trumpeter Lester Bowie. This was recorded live at the NYC club Hurrah in 1981, when the band's mix of JBs-like funk, free jazz and existential/nihilist lyrics was generating buzz among the post-punk, "No Wave" set. (You can also see in the clip a third Bowie brother, saxophonist and arranger Byron.) Joseph Bowie still has a version of Defunkt that gigs occasionally, but he lives in Europe these days and seems to do most of his performing over there.

Down below, there's something much more laid back, lyrical and mainstream - a clip of the late pianist Bill Evans playing "My Foolish Heart." No big story here, other than that I like Evans, found the video online and thought others might enjoy it, too