Down Beat trumpet issue features St. Louis connections

The June 2007 issue of Down Beat focuses largely on jazz trumpeters, and as you might expect given St. Louis' record of producing notable brassmen, there are several local connections mentioned in the magazine:

* St. Louis native Keyon Harrold is one of the young trumpet players briefly profiled in an article titled "25 For The Future":

""As people get better and more defined at what they do, everybody knows everybody, and the world gets smaller," Keyon Harrold said. "I used to do gigs with Common and Wynton Marsalis would be there and sit in."

Now a Harlem resident, Harrold, 26, took telephone lessons from Marsalis in his teens when he was playing club gigs in his home town of St. Louis. At the New School he studied with Charles Tolliver, who gave him a feature on "Hit The Spot" on his big band record With Love.

Harrold pays the rent producing for and playing with the likes of 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg and Erykah Badu. On the jazz side he gigs with the likes of Tolliver and Billy Harper. "I played with Bobby Short and did a tour with Snoop Dogg the same week," Harrold said."

* Also included are excerpts from the magazine's first interviews with jazz trumpet legends, including a 1950 chat with Miles Davis.

* And finally, Jeremy Pelt, who has recorded for the St. Louis based label MAXJAZZ and performed earlier this year at Jazz at the Bistro, is pictured on the cover and is the subject of one of the month's main feature articles.

Alas, except for a few excerpts and archival stuff, DB's content is not available online, so if you want to read more you'll have to get the magazine, on sale now.