Notes from the Net: Tributes to Miles, Burrage in residence, Metheny interviewed, Brubecks reviewed, and more

Let's start this compilation of news from all over with a video clip of Miles Davis performing at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. The freeform set is caught in its entirety on the DVD Miles Electric: A Different Kind of Blue, which is reviewed here. You can also read a little more about the circumstances of the performance here

Speaking of Miles, the tributes to the late trumpeter continue to come even as we reach the end of the 80th year since his birth. Saxophonist Bob Belden recently staged a tribute to Miles in NYC featuring a live performance of the entire Bitches Brew album, while East St. Louis native Russell Gunn has a new CD coming in January called Russell Gunn Plays Miles. The disc on the High Note label is billed as "a progressive tribute to music spanning a period from the mid-'50s to the mid-'80s by or associated with Miles Davis. Highlights include the songs "Tutu," "Bitches Brew," "Blue in Green," "Footprints," "Nardis," "All Blues" and "Eighty One"."

And speaking of natives of the St. Louis area, drummer Ronnie Burrage (pictured at left) recently spent a week as an artist-in-residence at Penn State University...Meanwhile, pianist Linda Presgrave, who now calls NYC home, writes that's she's back from a vacation trip to Japan, where she sat in for a few songs at a club in Akasuka caled the Jazz Bar and received an invitation to return for five nights in 2007. "If my stepdaughter Rebecca is still there (teaching English)-- we may do it!" writes Presgrave, who's also headed to Italy next year to perform. In the meantime, she can be heard on the new Christmas CD from Metropolitan Records. A Jazz Christmas: That Special Time of Year features Presgrave on piano alongside other artists from the label, including such notables as drummer Carl Allen, pianist Billy Childs, saxophonists Billy Harper and Vincent Herring, bassists Harvie S. and Buster Williams; and more...And speaking of tributes, here's a bit more about the recent Josephine Baker tribute in Kansas City, and a review of the recent opening of the Baker exhibit at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC

Turning to coming attractions, guitarist Pat Metheny, who will perform at the Sheldon in April, is interviewed here, while the new CD from the Brubeck Brothers (pictured at right) coming to the same venue in March, is reviewed here. (Scroll down to see the review)...And the SF Jazz Collective, coming to Jazz at the Bistro in March, released an official announcement of their Spring 2007 tour, and have also released a new CD with live material from last year's tour.

And rounding up some other miscellaneous items of interest, New York Times jazz writer Nate Chinen recently wrote an interesting piece examining how jazz blogs have prompted a reassessment of the music of the 1970s: "But over the last six months, a far-flung contingent of musicians and aficionados has made an effort to upend that prevailing notion, armed with stacks of vinyl, high-speed Internet and a shared conviction that things back then were really far from moribund. Along the way, they touched off the year's most animated public discourse on jazz, a democratic exchange that culminated last weekend in the debut of behearer.com, an interactive database devoted to the music's most conflicted period." More about behearer.com from the UK's Guardian here,.and on a related note, Bagatellen had an interesting piece on how grey market labels help to keep obscure jazz available....Looking for jazz radio stations that stream online? Check out this message board thread from All About Jazz.com in which AAJ readers stump for their favorites....Student musicians (and their teachers) are hereby reminded that the application deadline for the 30th Annual DownBeat Student Music Awards is December 30. Get the application form here.

And finally, if there's anyone out there who hasn't already had their fill of holiday-related music, check out this MP3 download of "O Holy Night," recorded by a brass band of displaced New Orleans musicians fronted by Troy Andrews, as featured on the NBC show Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. The segment served as a poignant reminder of how much there is left to be done in New Orleans more than a year after the disaster, and if you'd like to do something help the city's musicians and the other victims of Katrina and subsequent flooding, Doug Ramsey's Rifftides has some suggestions on where to donate.

(Edited after posting to fix some formatting probems.)