Jazz at Holmes show tonight cancelled

Just got a message from the Jazz at Holmes email list that tonight's concert at Washington University featuring guitarist William Lenihan has been cancelled. No reason was given, but I'm guessing it has something to do with the weather, since freezing rain has been coming down all over the St. Louis area since last night and is turning to sleet right at this moment.

Weather permitting, Jazz at Holmes will wrap up its fall series next Thursday night with a concert by the Phil Dunlap Trio. The series will then return in January after Washington University's semester break. .

Webster Records to host in-store performances by Thimes, Haydon and Byrne

Webster Records has released their schedule of free in-store jazz performances for December. The store's special holiday concert series resumes at 1:00 p.m. this Saturday, December 2, with a set from singer Denise Thimes, accompanied by keyboard player Tony Simmons. Future performances will feature guitarist Rick Haydon on Sunday, December 10 and guitarist Tom Byrne (pictured) on Sunday, December 17.

UPDATE - 3:30 p.m., 11/30/06 - StLJN has just received word that Denise Thimes will be unavilable to appear as scheduled this Saturday; instead, singer Anita Rosamond will perform.

(Photo of Tom Byrne swiped, with thanks, from Dennis Owsley.)

Jazz this week: Dave Weckl Band, smooth jazz holiday sounds, and more

This week's jazz offerings include the return to St. Louis of a hometown hero and two smooth jazz shows with a holiday theme.

The hometown hero in question is drummer Dave Weckl (pictured at left), who performs with his band at Jazz at the Bistro Wednesday through Saturday. With fellow Gateway City natives Tom Kennedy on bass and keyboard player Jay Oliver joining Weckl and saxophonist/keyboardist Gary Meek in the current version of the group, it's a St. Louis-centric lineup and for more about what they'll be up to, see this recent StLJN post for a link to an interview where Weckl talks about his homecoming. Also, at the bottom of this post, you'll find some extra Weckl video goodness, specifically a ten-minute video clip in which Weckl and fellow drummers Steve Gadd and Vinnie Colaiuta show off their chops at a Buddy Rich tribute concert.

As for the holiday themed smooth jazz, it gets started tonight at The Pageant with "A Peter White Christmas" featuring the guitarist (pictured at right) along with trumpeter Rick Braun and saxophonist Mindy Abair and continues at the same venue on Sunday with "A Soulful Christmas," featuring multi-instrumentalist Brian Culbertson, singer/guitarists Bobby Caldwell and Ray Parker Jr. and saxophonist Warren Hill. (Note that since these two concerts are being marketed together as DJ "Rick Sanborn's Smooth Holiday Party," there's a package price for those who buy tickets for both shows.)

Other noteworthy shows this week include a comparatively rare outing by guitarist William Lenihan, who's doing a free concert Thursday night at Washington University's Holmes Lounge as part of the Jazz at Holmes series. Also on Thursday, singer Denise Thimes is appearing in a special benefit concert at the Sheldon; trumpeter Dan Smith and his band with vocalist Debby Lennon will appear at Cookie's Jazz and More, and Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum will be at Brandt's.

On Friday, guitarist Todd Mosby is performing at Crossings Taverne and Grille, the Latin-world-jazz of Farshid Etniko will be heard at Erato Wine Bar, and the big band sound of the Original Knights of Swing will resonate throughout the generous expanse of the Casa Loma Ballroom. Saturday's picks include Jeanne Trevor's "sings Billie, Ella and Judy" show at Finale Music and Dining, and singer Danita Mumphard and Trio Tres Bien at Gene Lynn's.

As always, you'll find a more complete listing of this week's jazz events by visiting the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar.

(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. No attachments, please.)

Wheeler on the mend

Following up on a story from last week, singer Mae Wheeler been released from the hospital following surgery, according to an email from Jay Brandt, proprietor of the club that serves as Wheeler's musical home base. "Mae’s home, feeling well, but I haven’t yet heard what her treatment plan will be," writes Brandt. "She’s adamant that she wants all the dates she currently has booked! I’ve encouraged her to rest, but she’ll hear none of that!"

A benefit concert to help raise money for Wheeler will be held at Brandt's in December; we'll have more details for you when they become available. For now, Brandt says that get-well cards and letters can be sent to Wheeler in care of Brandt's Cafe, 6525 Delmar Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63130, and he'll see that she gets them.

Local jazz venues making news

This weekend's cleanup operations also yielded three recent stories about St. Louis jazz venues (or possible venues, anyway) that somehow have remained unblogged here until now:

First, in the current Riverfront Times, music editor Annie Zaleski's column has some information about Soulard Preservation Hall being re-opened as a venue for live music, including jazz. The building at 1921 S. Ninth St. was actually used fairly often for music and even some theater in the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s. (I personally played a number of rock and blues shows there; did publicity for The New Theatre's production of a Sam Shepard play that was staged there; and saw a number of concerts, too, including a sadly under-attended gig by Boston's Either/Orchestra.) It was fun while it lasted, and the place definitely had a lot of character (along with some serious leaks in the downstairs bathrooms), but problems with promoters, parking (or lack thereof) and the condition of the building itself eventually led to its demise as a concert hall. Now the building is under new ownership, with plans for extensive renovation and refurbishment of what could be a very nice space for live music. You can read all about it here.

Second, the Post-Dispatch's Metro-East section recently had a piece about what the new owners of Belleville's Main Street Jazz and Blues are doing with the place, including upgrading the interior of the club and scouting for bands who want regular gigs there. Get all the details here.

And last but not least, a recent Suburban Journals story detailed the work currently underway to turn a former barber supply factory and warehouse in the city's Fox Park neighborhood into an arts, entertainment and office complex that may eventually include a jazz club. Check it out here.

(Edited 11/29/06 to fix a typo.)

Site news: Some housekeeping, and a way to get StLJN via email

Spent a bit of time over the weekend doing some calendar updates - with more to come as the new month begins later this week - and also did some cleanup on the sidebar, deleting a couple of dead links, adding some new links to several sections, and also adding a bunch more of those "chicklet" buttons that allow you, dear reader, to add StLJN's site feed to various RSS newsreaders with one click.

However, I realize that while RSS readers are growing in popularity, not everyone uses one. And so, in addition to more E-Z syndication options, there's now also a brand-new feature than enables you to receive StLJN by email. Just submit your email address, and on days when there's new content on the site you'll receive a single message with that day's post, or posts, as the case may be.

This is a free service, provided by a third-party company called FeedBlitz, that seems to be in fairly wide use across the Web. Assuming it works as promised, I thought it seemed worth a try as another way to make the site's content as accessible as possible. And while I'll be getting those emails myself, for quality control purposes, I'd also be interested in any thoughts or feedback from readers who choose to give the service a try. As always, you can send your comments on this, or any other aspect of StLJN, via email to stljazznotes (AT) yahoo (DOT) com.

StLJN Saturday at the Movies:Three views of "Impressions"

Today's videos serve as a demonstration of what different musicians can do with the same piece of material. In this case, the song is "Impressions," a jazz standard made famous by saxophonist John Coltrane. The tune shares a chord progression with "So What," a 32-bar structure consisting of 16 bars of Dm7, 8 bars of Ebm7 and 8 more bars of Dm7. It's a simple harmonic structure compared to the complex tunes of the bebop era, but it serves as an effective springboard for the modal, scale-based style of improvisation popularized by Miles Davis on Kind of Blue and taken to another level by Coltrane during his career as a solo artist. It's also malleable enough to lend itself to a variety of interpretations, as these clips show.

The first video features Coltrane performing the tune with his classic quartet of McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass and Elvin Jones on drums, plus Eric Dolphy on alto sax. I'm not sure about the exact date of this video, but given that Dolphy was with Coltrane for only a relatively short time, it has to have been recorded in either 1961 or 1962.

The second clip, recorded in Belgium in 1965, shows guitarist Wes Montgomery performing his version of "Impressions," backed by Harold Mabern on piano, Arthur Harper on bass and Jimmy Lovelace on drums. And for a completely different take on "Impressions," check out the third video, which features avant-garde composer, conceptualist and saxophonist Anthony Braxton performing the tune in 1981 at the Woodstock Jazz Festival.

Jazz this week: Jeremy Davenport and more

Thanksgiving week isn't exactly a busy time for most musicians on the touring circuit, but St. Louis jazz fans do have one last chance this week to catch trumpeter and singer Jeremy Davenport before he resumes his former gig as the house attraction at the Ritz-Carlton in New Orleans next month. Davenport will be playing Jazz at the Bistro on Friday and Saturday nights, with two sets per night at the usual times.

And while some local musicians have reduced their schedules this week, many will be out over the weekend working as usual. You can find out who's where by consulting the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, but you also might want to call ahead before departing for your venue of choice, as both bar and band schedules may be subject to the whims of fate and/or the holiday weekend.

Barring a major breaking news story, new postings here are likely to be light for the next couple of days, but this week's installment of "StLJN Saturday at the Movies" will be up as usual, along with whatever other new stuff accumulates between now and then. In the meantime, here's hoping that you and yours have a happy Thanksgiving.

(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. No attachments, please.)

Notes from the Net: Super-Sized Thanksgiving Week Holiday Edition

It's been way too long since our last installment of "Notes from the Net," and while I regret the long interval between postings, at least it means there's plenty of linky goodness to be had going into the holiday weekend, starting with a number of Miles Davis-related items.

As partial penance for the delay, allow me to start off with a special video: a full-length performance featuring Miles' classic 1960s quintet with pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone and Tony Williams on drums. The clip in question was filmed in 1967 in Berlin, and catches the band at a point of transition, doing versions of forward-looking, then-new compositions "Agitation," "Footprints," and "Gingerbread Boy" as well as the old standbys "Stella by Starlight" and "Walkin".

As for this installment of Miles news, Sony has issued yet another compilation CD, Cool and Collected, reviewed here, and Davis recently was inducted as a member of Hollywood's RockWalk. Meanwhile, some are still pondering if Kind of Blue is indeed the greatest jazz album of all time, and the New York Times reported over the weekend that there are now two competing Miles-related movie projects in the pre-production stage - a biopic authorized by the Davis estate, possibly starring Don Cheadle as the trumpeter, and another project using a script that Davis' biographer Quincy Troupe has written based on his book Miles and Me.

While 2006 marks the 80th anniversary of Davis' birth, it's also the 100th anniversary year of the birth of another iconic St. Louisan, Josephine Baker, and the celebration is continuing in various places through the end of the year. The exhbit about Baker that made its debut here in St. Louis at the Sheldon Art Galleries has just been installed at the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery; the Baker tribute concert featuring singer Rene Marie and Imani Winds continues to tour; and the National Film Theatre in London just sponsored a retrospective of Baker's movies.

Moving on to some other well-known St. Louisans in jazz, the World Saxophone Quartet's new CD Political Blues is reviewed here, and WSQ co-founder/alto saxophonist Oliver Lake was recently profiled here...Saxophonist Eric Person's recent date in Denver got some coverage from the Rocky Mountain News, while East St. Louis' Terreon Gully has been drumming on tour with vibist Stefon Harris... Multi-reedman Marty Ehrlich and trumpeter Baikida Carroll were among the participants in a recent retrospective of the music of Julius Hemphill (pictured at left), presented as part of the Composer's Portraits series at the Miller Theater in NYC. You can read the review from the Times here, and another perspective from NYC composer/blogger Darcy James Argue, including a number of photos, here...John Zorn, another saxophonist with a St. Louis connection (he attended Webster University in the 1970s) was the subject of another concert in the same series, reviewed here, and, as usual, has been busy with a variety of activities, including performing with his acoustic Masada ensemble; touring in California; doing an NYC performance of his improvisational game "Cobra"; and issuing new recordings.

Two performers signed to hometown label MAXJAZZ are in the news, too. Singer Cassandre McKinley is getting some good press for her new Marvin Gaye tribute CD and supporting tour, while pianist Eric Reed is curating a series of concerts at the Jazz Museum in Harlem, with one show set to feature ESL native Russell Gunn...And another former East St. Louisan, music educator Ronald Carter, was recently profiled by the campus paper at Northern Illinois University, where he currently teaches and leads the jazz ensemble.

Turning to musicians who either have visited St. Louis recently or will soon, father-and-son guitarists Bucky and John Pizzarelli were tapped to open this fall's "Highlights In Jazz" concert series in NYC, and were guests on the NPR interview show "Fresh Air."...The burgeoning Concord Records group has signed singers Kurt Elling and Jane Monheit...Fans of trumpeter Dave Douglas, who will perform here in March at Jazz at the Bistro with the SF Jazz Collective, may enjoy reading this interview, as well as this review of a recent live performance in Belgium, and perhaps even downloading some of the shows from Douglas' upcoming six-night stand in NYC, which will be made available online by the trumpeter's company Greenleaf Music the day after each performance...Bassist Dave Holland (pictured at right) is also scheduled to visit the Bistro this Spring. Read an interview with him here, a review of his new CD here, and listen to the BBC's live stream of Holland's 60th birthday concert from London this Friday, November 24, here...The Brubeck Brothers Quartet, coming to the Sheldon in March, have a new CD just out...And you can read a review of the new John Scofield/Medeski, Martin and Wood CD here. Their collaborative tour stops at Mississippi Nights on December 6.

Lastly, if you've ever spent time hanging around musicians, you may get a few chuckles out of "The Elements of Jazz," a somewhat tongue-in-cheek look at the personality types that gravitate toward various instruments. While it undoubtedly contains some stereotypes, based on my experiences, there's quite a bit of truth there, too.

(Edited after posting to fix typos and add links.)

Weckl Q&A now online

Famed drummer and native St. Louisan Dave Weckl, who will be back in his hometown next week to play Jazz at the Bistro, did a brief interview previewing the gig with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson, and you can read it online here.

Events will offer marketing help, advice to area musicians

St. Louis area musicians who are seeking to market themselves more effectively may want to check two upcoming events aimed at providing our town's music makers with more promotional tools.

The first is tonight, Monday, November 20, when author and music marketing expert Bob Baker will give a workshop called "The New Rules of Internet Music Marketing." from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar (across from the Pageant). Baker will cover "MySpace, YouTube, blogs, podcasts, and all the new technologies that are available to independent musicians" and will "talk at length about the new "abundance economy" we live in and how you can tap into it to promote your music better." The event is being presented by the St. Louis Volunteer Attorneys and Accountants for the Arts, and admission is $15 at the door. You can read more about it here.

The second event will kick off two new ventures from Dave Beardsley of STLBlues.net. Beardsley has started a new, interactive online gig calendar for local bands - it's open to other styles in addition to blues, in case you were wondering - and is also starting a new site, STLShowcase, to help St. Louis musicians book festivals and out-of-town gigs. He'll spill the beans on both programs at 5 p.m, Saturday, December 9 at BBs Jazz Blues and Soups, 700 S. Broadway. There's no charge to attend, and no preregistration is required, but you must come to the side door of BB's, as the event takes place prior to the club's normal 6 p.m. opening.

(Full disclosure: I wrote some freelance stuff for Bob Baker in the 1990s when he ran the local music monthly Spotlight, and we've remained friends. But please, don't hold that against him. )

(Edited 11-27-06 to fix a typo.)

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: The Dave Weckl Band does "The Chicken" and Brian Culbertson's "Let's Get Started"

Once again this week, our featured video clips are spotlighting some musicians who will be performing soon in St. Louis. The first clip is of native St. Louisan and now all-world drum hero Dave Weckl and his band performing the Pee Wee Ellis funk standard "The Chicken." The tune, which in this version features a bass solo by St. Louis' own Tom Kennedy, was first cut by James Brown's band during Ellis' time as JB's saxophonist, and was recorded later in a memorable big band arrangement by Jaco Pastorius. Weckl and his band will be at Jazz at the Bistro from Wednesday, November 29 through Saturday, December 2.

The second clip features smooth jazz multi-instrumentalist Brian Culbertson performing "Let's Get Started," and, according to the accompanying notes, was recorded live during a smooth jazz cruise near NYC. Culbertson will be part of the "A Soulful Christmas" package show that's booked to play The Pageant on Sunday, December 3 as part of Rick Sanborn's "Smooth Holiday Party".

Mae Wheeler hospitalized

Jay Brandt of Brandt's Cafe and Red Carpet Lounge has emailed with the news that singer Mae "Lady Jazz" Wheeler was hospitalized earlier this week to be treated for cancer. Wheeler has been a fixture on the St. Louis music scene since the Gaslight Square era, and has continued to work regularly well into her sixth decade in the business, so I know that that there are many music lovers all over St. Louis and beyond who will join me in wishing her all the best.

Brandt's has served as Wheeler's home base in recent years, and Jay Brandt says a benefit show to help raise money for Wheeler is planned at the club for the near future. StLJN will have more details on that as soon as they're available.

In the meantime, good thoughts and, if you're so inclined, prayers to the deity (or deities) of your choice would seem to be appropriate, and if you'd also like to send a "get well" card to Ms. Wheeler, the mailing address is:

Mae Wheeler
Christian Hospital Northwest
Room 604
1225 Graham Rd.
Florissant, MO 63031

Jazz this week: Lou Donaldson's 80th birthday celebration, and more

After a couple of busy weeks featuring a number of well-known musicians passing through town , there's just one touring jazz headliner in St. Louis this week, as alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson returns to Jazz at the Bistro for two sets a night through Saturday.

Donaldson (pictured at left) turned 80 on November 1, and his gig at the Bistro is billed as a "birthday celebration." I'm not sure exactly what that entails, but with any luck, cake will be involved. And even without the added incentive of buttercream frosting and/or devil's food, Donaldson is certainly worth hearing - he's both an old-school bebopper, capable of running the changes like Bird, and a progenitor of the soul-jazz genre, as demonstrated on his many recordings for Blue Note and other labels, including hits like "Alligator Boogaloo" and "Blues Walk."

In tribute to the still very active octogenarian, we offer a couple of video clips along with this post. The first is a short live performance excerpt from from a show last month in Amsterdam featuring Donaldson and his working band, including Dr. Lonnie Smith on organ. The video quality isn't great, but I thought it worth including if for no other reason than it's such a recent sample of Donaldson's work. The second clip from a 1993 live performance in Japan, and features Donaldson as part of a sort of all-star soul-jazz ensemble including Bernard Purdie, Chuck Rainey and David T. Walker, performing Marvin Gaye's soul classic "What's Going On."

Other noteworthy sounds this week: Thursday's picks include the Curt Landes Trio at Crossings Taverne and Grille; Valerie Tichacek and Friends at Cookie's Jazz and More; and "Peanuts" Whalum at Brandt's. On Friday, New Music Circle is sponsoring "Grand Eloquence," a multimedia performance piece incorporating paintings done by the late Bill Kohn and the music of NMC's Rich O'Donnell that will take place at the Bruno David Gallery, 3721 Washington in midtown.

On Saturday, trumpeter Jim Manley brings the extroverted sound of Wild, Cool & Swingin' to Cookie's, and on Sunday, Webster Records is presenting another free in-store matinee performance, this one featuring clarinetist Scott Alberici, who will play for about an hour beginning at 1 p.m. (According to a recent email, the store will be doing live in-store concerts every Sunday through the holidays. However, no schedule of performers was included, so I guess they'll be releasing that information on a week-by-week basis.)

Beyond the weekend, on Monday the Webster University student Big Band and Mini Big Band will perform at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus. And on Tuesday, guitarist Todd Mosby brings his trio to the Sheldon for a "Notes from Home" concert featuring music from his upcoming CD. Many of Mosby's recent compositions involve a fusion of jazz and Indian influences, performed on the imratgitar, an new instrument invented by Imrat Usted Khan that combines aspects of an acoustic guitar and a sitar.

As always, you can see a more extensive list of the week's jazz related events by consulting the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar.

(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. No attachments, please.)

BB's expansion underway

The popular downtown club BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups has begun a renovation and expansion project that will double the room's seating capacity by opening up the second floor of the building at 700 S. Broadway. You can read all about the planned changes in the article I wrote for this week's Riverfront Times, available online here.

(Edited 11/29/06 to fix a typo.)

Spruill's liquor license in trouble?

A story in today's Post-Dispatch about violence at Plush, a dance club in Union Station, also makes reference to Spruill's, the nightspot west of downtown where saxophonist Willie Akins performs a weekly Saturday matinee/early evening gig. The article, found online here at STLtoday, says "a hearing is scheduled later this week regarding the license of Spruill's nightclub on North Jefferson Avenue, which also has been linked to recent violence."

More details followed:

"At Spruill's, a police officer working as a security guard Sept. 24 wounded a man who had just shot another man on the club's parking lot. Then on Oct. 11, two St. Louis police officers working security there wounded four men outside the club after seeing them standing over another man and shooting him...

At Spruill's, we've arrested guys who were intoxicated and had guns, and there have been several shootings around there."

Pete Lobdell, supervisor for the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control, in Jefferson City, will be at the Wainwright Building downtown on Friday to conduct a hearing regarding Spruill's license. Lobdell's St. Louis office investigators have called Spruill's "a disorderly house," he said.

"They want a severe suspension if not a revocation," Lobdell said. "It's a big problem. "I've read where St. Louis has been named a very unsafe city, and I have to protect the public safety of St. Louis."

Obviously, this is disturbing news for jazz fans and city residents alike. But it's worth noting that neither of the incidents cited in the article happened on a Saturday, when jazz is featured at the club. Also, I'm not at all sure that a state liquor control bureaucrat from Jefferson City is the best person to rely upon to make decisions about the safety of St. Louis citizens and the fate of St. Louis businesses, especially if he relies on dubious crime studies and media hype for information about our city.

In any event, here's hoping that Spruill's owners, the police and the liquor control officials can get this sorted out and find a way to keep Spruill's safe for all so that Akins can continue to perform in his accustomed venue.

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: Two from Billie and Basie, plus two from Weather Report

As occasionally happens, this Saturday's videos have nothing in particular to do with St. Louis, but are just some clips that I thought StLJN readers might enjoy. Some of the YouTube videos I've been bookmarking for future reference seem to be disappearing before I get a chance to post them here, so there's also something of a newfound sense of urgency to use any good stuff I've run across in a timely way.

Given that what reader reponse there's been to these video postings has been favorable, I may just end up using this trend of deleted videos as an excuse to start posting clips on another day besides Saturday. I'm thinking of Wednesday, just to spread things out a bit during the week, but nothing is set in stone. In the meantime, I'd also be interested in hearing more reader feedback. Do you like the video posts? Hate them? Don't care one way or the other? Please use the comments to voice your opinion.

And now, on to the videos. If there's a theme this week, maybe it's "two-for-one," as both of these clips include two songs each. Or maybe the theme really should be "people who died too young," for both also feature jazz legends who made a unfortunately early departure from this plane of existence.

The first clip is from 1952, and features Billie Holiday singing and the Count Basie Band playing "Now Baby or Never" and "God Bless The Child". The second clip dates from 1978, and features the seminal fusion band Weather Report - at that point at the height of their popularity, and anchored by the sensational (in the literal sense of the word) bass playing of Jaco Pastorius - performing "Black Market" and "Scarlet Woman". It's a shame that two individuals as talented as Holiday and Pastorius were also so troubled, but the world is definitely a better place for the artistry they shared.

Jazz this week: Eldar, Donald Harrison, Original Superstars of Jazz Fusion, and more

There's a good variety of jazz events in St. Louis this week, with three very different shows featuring touring headliners and, as always, a diverse selection of local music as well.

For starters, the much-heralded young pianist Eldar stops in town to do a one-nighter at Jazz at the Bistro, performing two sets at the usual times on Thursday night. To read a bit more about him and see a couple of videos featuring his prodigious chops, check out this post from a couple of weeks ago.

While Eldar was a late addition to the Bistro's schedule this month, alto saxophonist Donald Harrison's visit to the same venue on Friday and Saturday is officially part of the 2006-07 "Discovery Series," dedicated to talent deserving wider recognition. A New Orleans native and son of a Mardi Gras Indian chief, Harrison was part of the post-Wynton Marsalis wave of Crescent City "young lions" who broke in during the 1980s. Early in his career, Harrison's time as a member of Art Blakey's band helped him get noticed, and he later co-led a group with trumpeter Terence Blanchard for a number of years. On his own, Harrison has stayed primarily within the mainstream jazz idiom, but incorporates a variety of musical influences, including R&B, Latin, hip-hop and avant garde, into his own recordings. You can hear some excerpts from an NPR interview Harrison did with Dr. Billy Taylor, along with some short musical samples, here,

Also on Saturday, a package show dubbed "Original Superstars of Jazz Fusion" (pictured) comes to The Pageant. It's an rather eclectic collection of musicians, most of whom recorded for Blue Note at some point in the 1970s and early 1980s, including vibraphonist Roy Ayers, singers Jean Carne and Jon Lucien, saxophonist Ronnie Laws, keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith, flute player Bobbi Humphrey and trombonist (and founding member of the Jazz Crusaders) Wayne Henderson. Calling them "superstars" might be a bit of a stretch - wouldn't the real superstars of jazz fusion be the first-wave people like Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, John McLaughlin, etc, who have gone on to have major careers? - but there's certainly enough talent, as well as sufficient hit records and/or recognizable material in the catalogs of the various participants, to make for an enjoyable listening experience.

Elsewhere in town: On Thursday, singer Jeanne Trevor will perform her tribute to Billie Holiday at Finale Music and Dining, while pianist Carolbeth True and saxophonist Paul DeMarinis will appear in a free concert at Washington University as part of the Jazz at Holmes series. Then on Friday, smooth jazz saxophonist Tim Cunningham takes the stage at Finale. Saturday night finds guitarist Todd Mosby performing at Crossings Taverne and Grille, while singer Ron Wilkinson brings his band to Cookie's Jazz and More.

On Sunday afternoon (as mentioned in the previous post), singer Anita Rosamond will do a free in-store performance at Webster Records, and Monday is the night when the Webster University student jazz combos will present their fall semester concert at the Winifred Moore Auditorium on campus. Also, don't forget that noted jazz historian, author, and critic Dan Morgenstern is coming to town on Tuesday for a couple of speaking engagements.

All in all, that seems like a fairly substantial amount of jazz activity for one week, but if you're hungry for more, you can of course find additional gig listings by consulting the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar.

(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. No attachments, please.)

Webster Records to host in-store performance by Anita Rosamondthis Sunday, November 12

The Old Webster business district in Webster Groves will be holding a holiday "open house" promotion this weekend, and as part of the event, Webster Records will sponsor an in-store performance by singer Anita Rosamond (pictured) from 1:30 p.m. to 3::30 p.m. on Sunday, November 12.

Rosamond's set will include some of the songs from her holiday CD This is Christmas, which will go on sale for the first time that day. Terry Perkins (who serves as Rosamond's manager in addition to his various journalistic and philanthropic activities about town) assembled an impressive band for the CD, including Tom Kennedy (bass), Miles Vandiver (drums), Reggie Thomas (piano/organ), Peter Martin (piano), Jim Manley (trumpet), Jim Owens (trombone), Larry Johnson (saxophone), Lew Winer III (saxophone), Brian Owens (vocals), Rich McDonough (guitar) and, last but certainly not least, percussionist/vocalist R. Scott Bryan.

I don't know which of these musicians, if any, will be at the Webster Records in-store, but I'd bet that at least a few of them will be on the bandstand for the official CD release party for This is Christmas, which will take place Wednesday, December 6 at Finale Music and Dining.

Carl Stone concert this Sunday has been cancelled

The concert by electronic musician Carl Stone, which had been scheduled for this Sunday, November 12 at Bill Christman Studios in the West End, has been cancelled. No reason was given for the cancellation by presenter New Music Circle, but the notice they sent out did say that the show "will be rescheduled for later this season, probably in February."

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: The Bad Plus in concert, plus a Mindy Abair interview

Once again this week, we're spotlighting musicians who will be appearing in St. Louis soon. The first clip shows The Bad Plus, who will be at Jazz at the Bistro for a four-night run in January, working out on their version of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" last month at a concert in Argentina. And then for something completely different, the second clip today is a brief video interview with saxophonist Mindy Abair, who will be at The Pageant at the end of this month as part of Peter White's smooth jazz holiday show.

Jazz critic Dan Morgenstern to speak in St. Louis on November 14

Jazz critic, author and historian Dan Morgenstern is coming to St. Louis on Tuesday, November 14 for a pair of speaking engagements. At 4:00 p.m. that day, Morgernstern will be on the Washington University campus to give a lecture entitled "The Great Jazz Schism?" in Room 102 of the Music Classroom Building. The presentation is open to the public and is sponsored by the Washington University Center for the Humanities and the Whitaker Foundation.

Then at 6 p.m., Morgernstern will join Jazz St. Louis executive director Gene Dobbs Bradford for what is being described as "a conversation on "The Future of Jazz in America.". It begins at 6:00 p.m. in the Dana Brown Rehearsal Hall, Centene Center for the Arts, 3547 Olive Street, Suite 410. (That's the old Medinah Temple building, just east of Grand, which has been remodeled and now provides office space for JSL and several other arts organizations.)

This event is also free and open to the public, but because space is limited and refreshments will be served, JSL is asking those interested in attending to RSVP by calling Sally Dunne at 289-4036 or emailing her at sally@jazzstl.org.

Morganstern is a jazz historian and archivist, author, editor and educator who has been active in the jazz field since 1958. He has served as editor of the periodicals Metronome, Jazz, and Down Beat; as co-editor of the Annual Review of Jazz Studies; and currently serves as Director of Rutgers University's Institute of Jazz Studies. He has won six Grammy Awards for Best Album Notes, and his most recent book, Living With Jazz: A Reader, was published in 2004. You can hear him talk with NPR's Terri Gross about that book here, and read another interview with Morganstern here.

"Peanuts" Whalum featured in Jazz Times article

Another St. Louis musician is getting some national publicity this month, as our town's Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum is featured in the November 2006 issue of Jazz Times magazine, currently available wherever fine periodicals are sold. (FYI, the cover features Ornette Coleman.)

Whalum appears in the mag as part of an article in which current smooth jazz stars discuss the jazz musician who has had the most influence on them. His nephew, saxophonist Kirk Whalum, chose to write about "Peanuts," and here's what he had to say:

"Kirk Whalum on Peanuts Whalum

Trying so hard to emulate my heroes such as Hank Crawford, Arnett Cobb, Stanley Turrentine, Grover Washington Jr. and, in particular, my uncle, Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum, has finally yielded the more enviable fruit of having developed my own sound. I owe a great debt to my uncle Peanuts. The warm, passionate, almost gospel sound that carne through his horn as he ripped through jazz standard after jazz standard is still very fresh in my mind from the first time I heard him when I was a 12-year-old saxophonist.

If I were a fairy-tale writer instead of a saxophonist, I would probably write my fairy tale about an incredible saxophonist, vocalist and pianist who, with all the poise, dignity and charm of a Sir Lancelot, would defy the shallowness of a 21st-century entertainment industry and make his national debut at the tender age of 77! He would spryly but cautiously (betraying the wisdom of his years) take the stage of the Pageant Theatre in his beloved St. Louis, alongside youngsters like Jonathan Butler, Wayman Tisdale and his very proud nephew and proceed to rip us apart like so many paper dolls! The audience would explode into hysteria, wondering, "What have done happened?" They would gawk at the 5-foot 4-inch giant of a sultry-voiced charmer and say, "Did I miss you on American Idol, Peanuts?"

My uncle Peanuts Whalum indeed did just that! He wowed me almost 36 years ago. And he indeed wowed that crowd recently in St. Louis-the city where he had been neatly tucked away in piano bars for over 50 years. He wowed Dave Koz and the folks at Rendezvous Entertainment-so much so that they signed him! He wowed the cruisers on both the Dave Koz & Friends cruise and the Jazz Cruise 2006!

So tell me, do fairy tales come true? Stop by myspace.com/peanutswhalum and consult some of Peanuts' new fans! In the words of Jonathan Butler, "This guy has a future in this business!""

Another St. Louis jazz giant is also featured in the same piece, as Spyro Gyra saxophonist Jay Beckenstein chose to write about the late saxophonist and composer Oliver Nelson. Unfortunately, Jazz Times only puts excerpts from their current issue on the Web, so if you want to read the whole thing you'll have to shell out for the print edition.

See the trailer for "Collective Improvisation: The Story of Jazz in St. Louis"

As mentioned in the previous post, this week is the debut of the television documentary "Collective Improvisation: The Story of Jazz in St. Louis" on local cable channel HEC-TV. Producer Christian Cudnik arranged for StLJN to receive a copy of the :30 promo trailer, which, if all has gone according to plan, should be YouTubed for your viewing pleasure in the embedded window just above.

If for some reason that doesn't work, or if the quality seems suspect, please feel free to blame my technical ineptitude, and then go download a copy of it as a 6.5 Mb .mov file here.

(Edited after posting to fix a formatting problem.)

Jazz this week: Stanley Jordan, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Cyrus Chestnut, Joey DeFrancesco & Bobby Hutcherson, and more

It's a busy week for touring jazz attractions in St. Louis, highlighted by appearances by two top jazz guitarists and a couple of powerful keyboard players.

Guitarist Stanley Jordan, famed for his distinctive two-handed tapping technique, gets things started when he returns to Finale Music and Dining for two sets tonight and Thursday night. Jordan dropped off the touring scene for a while to pursue studies in music therapy, but he's back in town for his second visit within a year and reportedly in good form.

Another stellar guitarist, Kurt Rosenwinkel (pictured), is making his St. Louis debut tonight, opening a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro, with two sets per night through Saturday. Rosenwinkel has been getting good buzz in the jazz press recently, and though I've only heard bits of a couple of his CDs, I'm looking forward to checking him out in person.

Next up, pianist Cyrus Chestnut follows Jordan into Finale for shows on Friday and Saturday night. Chestnut is well-known to St. Louis jazz fans from his several appearances at the Bistro, and has a repuatation for putting on entertaining and energetic performances.

On Saturday, organist Joey De Francesco and mallet percussionist Bobby Hutcherson will perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall. They're touring in support of a recent CD they recorded together, and, given that both are generally regarded as among the top players of their respective instruments, this show ought to be something special.

It's great to have so many fine musicians in town during a single week, and even better when the scheduling works out so that it is possible, in theory at least, to hear them all. However, a week this busy also can put a strain on the wallet, and so we would be remiss not to mention a couple of the more budget-friendly options out there this week, too.

Bassist Eric Stiller is appearing in a free concert Thursday night as part of the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. Stiller is a Berklee alumni from Southern California who's done road time with Maynard Ferguson and recorded and performed with Bill Watrous, Pete Christlieb, Bobby Shew and Roy McCurdy.

Also, New Music Circle continues their ongoing Circle/Cinema series Friday night at the St. Louis Art Museum Auditorium with a screening of The Unholy Three, a 1925 film directed by Tod Browning (of Freaks fame) and starring Lon Cheney. The movie will be accompanied by a live soundtrack performed by an improvising ensemble of multi-instrumentalists including Mike Murphy, Tom Sutter, Tory Starbuck and Venus Slick. Admission is $5 for the general public, or $3 if you're a member of NMC or SLAM.

And finally, this is the debut week for "Collective Improvisation: The Story of Jazz in Saint Louis," a new documentary film on St. Louis jazz history that will premiere at 8 p.m. Thursday on HEC-TV. The film features new interviews with a variety of local jazz musicians, radio personalities, historians and journalists as well as, I'm told, some nice archival footage. HEC is available on cable systems in the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County; check your channel guide for details. (Producer Christian Cudnick was kind enough to send along a copy of the :30 promo trailer for the film, and StLJN will have it posted for your persual later today.)

As for the rest of the local club scene, schedules for November are still coming in, and I'm posting the info to the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar as it arrives. So if you're looking for additional listening options before, after, in addition to, or instead of the above, you may want to check back again later in the week as well.

(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. No attachments, please.)