Jazz this week: Waverly Seven, Laetitia Sonami, Corey Christiansen, and more

Although the the jazz calendar this weekend isn't exactly packed, there are definitely a few shows happening that are worthy of attention, starting with Waverly Seven (pictured), who are performing at Jazz at the Bistro through Saturday.

The NYC-based septet, which features two keyboard players, bass and drums in its rhythm section behind a front line of saxophonist/clarinetist Anat Cohen, her brother Avishai Cohen on trumpet and Joel Frahm on tenor sax. They're a relatively new band that made their public debut earlier this year and, since the members are all bandleaders and/or in-demand side players in their own right, has played only a half-dozen gigs so far. As a result, they don't have much of a track record yet as a group, but given the considerable talents of the individual members, they seem worth checking out. Part of each set will be a quartet performance fronted by Anat Cohen, hopefully providing an opportunity to spotlight her very fine clarinet work.

Also making a debut this weekend is a new St. Louis jazz trio featuring pianist James Hegarty, drummer Tom Zirkle and bassist Luis-Michael Zayas. They'll perform a program of original compositions in a free concert on Friday night at the Mildred E. Bastian Performing Arts Center at St. Louis Community College-Forest Park.

On Sunday afternoon, guitarist Corey Christiansen returns to the St. Louis area to perform a concert in the Donald D. Shook Fine Arts Building of at St. Charles Community College. Before moving back to his home state of Utah earlier this year, Christiansen lived in St. Louis for several years while working for Mel Bay Publications. He's a very solid player in the mainstream jazz guitar style, and definitely worth a listen if you enjoy that genre.

On Sunday night, New Music Circle presents mixed-media performance artist Laetitia Sonami in a concert at SLCC-Forest Park. Born in France and now a resident of Oakland, California, Sonami is a composer, dancer, and sound installation artist who uses technology in combination with text, dance, and “found sounds" to create works the Los Angeles Times has called "visceral and engaging.” One of the pieces she will perform is called “The Appearance of Silence (The Invention of Perspective),” and it incorporates her instrument “the lady’s glove,” a sensor-studded controller made of black lycra that is worn on the hand to allow movements to control sounds, mechanical devices, and lights in real time.

For more, please consult the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, with the caveat that since the new month arrives over weekend, schedule updates from clubs and bands likely will be ongoing for the next several days.

(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. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)

Notes from the Net: More reviews of Miles Davis' On The Corner box set, a thankful Clark Terry, and more

Once again, it's been a while since our last compilation of St. Louis jazz-related news and assorted musical items of interest from all over the Internet. So, let's not waste any time...

* First, here's another extended analysis of Miles Davis' Complete On The Corner Sessions box set, plus more reviews here, here and here.

* And via eMusic, here's a review/essay by Kevin Whitehead about Miles' early 1960s quintet and the recently issued recording Live at Monterey Jazz Festival 1963 .

* In other Miles-related news, Toronto trumpeter Nick "Brownman" Ali recently produced a five-week series of Miles Davis tribute concerts exploring music from different periods of Miles' career.

* Another St. Louis trumpet great, the venerable Clark Terry (pictured), recently performed with the Jim Cullum Jazz Band on public radio's "Riverwalk" program as part of a Thanksgiving special.

* Ssxophonist and St. Louis native Greg Osby got some local press in Nashville as a result of his recent residency at Middle Tennessee State University.

* Pianist and composer Linda Presgrave, another St. Louisan turned New Yorker, was back in the Gateway City earlier this month to play at Cookie's Jazz and More, and she's now giving NYC audiences a preview of the same material, which she'll perform on an upcoming tour through Italy.

* Former Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra "creative conductor" Marin Alsop continues to make news as the new musical director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, with a feature in the New York Times and one in Baltimore's City Paper.

* Turning to coming attractions, the Bad Plus, who will be in St. Louis at Jazz at the Bistro during the first week of January2008, are pretty newsworthy themselves, with an interview and performance on NPR affiliate WBGO in Boston; from be.jazz, a review of a gig last month in Belgium; and, from Blogcritics, a review of the latest CD from side project Happy Apple.

* Saxophonist Javon Jackson recently played at NYC's Iridium with a band co-led by pianist Benny Green. Jackson is set to return to the Bistro in January with what's being billed as the "Superband," originally set to feature drummer Jimmy Cobb and pianist George Cables. However, it looks like Jackson, Cobb et al will have to find a replacement for Cables, who's just had double transplant surgery, getting a new liver and kidney. The good news is that the surgery went well and Cables is expected to recover; the bad news is that he'll be laid up for at least six months, whcih means no trip to St. Louis.

* Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, who will be in St. Louis in February to perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall, recently did a "Best of the Big Bands" repertory concert at NYC's Rose Theater, and soon will be performing Duke Ellington's "Nutcracker" at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. They'll offer more Ellingtonia on their Winter 2008 tour, spotlighting some of Duke's love songs.

* Trumpeter Chris Botti is also due in St. Louis early in 2008, with two performances scheduled in January at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. Botti recently did an interview with About.com hyping his new CD Italia, and also was the subject of a recent feature story in the Boston Herald.

* Pianist Michael Wolff, who's playing the Sheldon in February, recently did an interview with AllAboutJazz.com

* Pianist Cyrus Chestnut recently cut a CD of songs associated with Elvis Presley - reveiwed here by Bagatellen - and is doing a show based on the CD at Iridium. Chestnut returns to Jazz at the Bistro on March 7 and 8.

* Catching up with some recent visitors, we find that pianist Mulgrew Miller, who's played the Bistro several times and has recorded for the St. Louis based label MAXJAZZ, recently played Dizzy's Club Coca Cola in NYC and got a very nice review from the New York Sun.

* Bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding, just here last month as an artist-in-residence for Jazz St. Louis, has signed a new record deal with the Heads Up label.

* Saxophonist Josh Redman, who's played St. Louis with his trio and mosre recently with the SF JAZZ Collective, is now working in a trio format and has a new CD, Back East, featuring some of the last recorded performances from his dad, the late tenor saxophonist Dewey Redman.

* Finally, by way of link-dumping a few items of more general interest, my fellow Zappaphiles will be glad be to know that the Frank Zappa family is issuing a DVD of live performances from last year's Zappa Plays Zappa tour as well as a set of live recordings from the Grand Wazoo, Zappa's 1970s big band project.

* Veteran jazz journalist Howard Mandel recently had a nice post on his new blog recently on the influence and enduring importance of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).

* And, in a technological development that could cast many song titles and/or lyrical metaphors in a completely new light, Japanese engineers have come up with a way to build roads that play music as you drive over them. Maybe they can devise one to play Wes Montgomery's "Road Song," or Willie Nelson's "On The Road Again," or (fill in the road-related song title of your choice.)

Gaslight Square documentary available free via Google video

And speaking of free stuff available online, Gaslight Square: The Legend Lives On, a 2005 documentary about the famed St. Louis entertainment district of the late 1950s and early 1960s, can now be viewed for free via Google video.

There's been a short video teaser of the film available on YouTube for a couple of years, but now you can see the entire 2 hour and 12 minute movie, which was directed by St. Louisan Bruce Marren, either by activating the embedded video window below, or by visiting the Google video page here.

"BioSonar" audio now online

Eric Hall has posted on the Echolocation Recordings MySpace page some audio from the "BioSonar" event held at Mad Art Gallery on Sunday, November 18.

So, if you missed the event, or just want to relive a bit of the experience, you can go here for streams or downloads of full performances from Epicycle; Jeremy Brantlinger, Ajay Khanna, and Aaron Smith; and Eric Hall and Sharon Hall, as well as excerpts from the performances by Learn, Artist; Andrew Hefner and Jeremy Kannapell; and Joseph Potthoff.

Hall also says a 3-CD set compiling all the performances from "BioSonar" is in the works, but there are no details yet on a release date.

Jazz St. Louis seeks focus group participants

Jazz St. Louis is looking for a few local people willing to talk about their experiences with and impressions of Jazz at the Bistro. From an email sent out today by JSL marketing director Adam Roach:

I need 12 volunteers to participate in a focus group. All participants will get 2 free tickets to Jazz at the Bistro. Refreshments will be offered.

Details:

What: Jazz at the Bistro Focus Group (all participants will receive vouchers for 2 free tickets to a Jazz at the Bistro performance)

When: Sunday, December 2nd (from 2:00 - 3:30 p.m.) - please arrive 15-20 minutes early

Where: Simon Hall on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis (directions will be provided)

Why: To learn more about your opinions of and experiences with Jazz at the Bistro

How to Participate: E-mail Arik Frankel at afrankel@wustl.edu by Thursday, November 29th (please include your full name and telephone number)

Guitarist Matthew Von Doren performing free concert on Tuesday

Guitarist Matthew Von Doren, a relatively recent addition to the St. Louis scene, will perform a free concert and clinic at 7:30 p.m. this Tuesday, November 27 in Knight Auditorium at Webster Groves High School, 100 Selma Ave.

Von Doran, who moved to Webster Groves from California earlier this year, will play electric and acoustic guitars, as well as eleven string fretless guitar, accompanied by Bob Deboo on bass and Miles Vandiver on drums.

Euclid Records celebrates 25 years

Euclid Records is celebrating 25 years in business, and the weekend Post-Dispatch had a feature story about the store's history and ongoing success selling used and collectable vinyl by mail and via the Web. Read the article online here.

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: The Kennedy Brothers

This week, let's take a look at videos featuring pianist Ray Kennedy and bass player Tom Kennedy. Brothers who grew up in the St. Louis suburb of Maplewood, both Kennedys have worked as sidemen with well-known jazz musicians. Ray served for a number of years as the piano player in guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli's group, while Tom has played both electric and acoustic bass with Steps Ahead, Bill Connors, Dave Weckl, Al DiMeola and many others.

The Kennedy Brothers will be performing together next month in St. Louis, headlining their very own gig from December 12 through December 15 at Jazz at the Bistro. Although they've recorded and played together many times, video footage of them seems to be scarce online. The one clip I found of the two of them together is above; it shows them performing "I Want To Be Happy" with violinist Aaron Weinstein, and was recorded in June 2007 during a tribute to Stephane Grappelli at Lincoln Center in New York.

The second clip features Tom Kennedy in a 2005 performance with the Dave Weckl Band. This performance is from Keitelejazz festival in Keitele, Äänekoski, Finland, and also features Steve Weingart on keyboards and Gary Meek on saxophone. In addition to the December dates at the Bistro with his brother Ray, Tom Kennedy will perform there again in March with Weckl and guitarist Mike Stern.

Jazz this week: Jeremy Davenport, Sinatra Songbook, Genesis Jazz Project, St. Louis Blues and Soul Revue, and more

It's Thanksgiving week, and though that means a temporary slowdown in terms of touring musicians visiting St. Louis, it also presents an opportunity to be grateful for the many fine jazz musicians our town has produced over the years.

One of those musicians, trumpeter and vocalist Jeremy Davenport (pictured), is returning home to St. Louis from New Orleans to perform at Jazz at the Bistro on Friday and Saturday. Davenport grew up in University City, but moved to the Crescent City in the 1990s to establish his music career there. After the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and the subsquent flooding of the city, Davenport came back to St. Louis temporarily, spending most of 2006 here performing as the house act at Busch's Grove. When the Ritz Carlton hotel in New Orleans reopened in January of this year, Davenport moved back to resume his house gig there.

This is first time in St. Louis since then, and in addition to the shows on Friday and Saturday, Davenport also is doing a Sunday matinee performance as a benefit for PanCAN, a not-for-profit organization that raises money and awareness for the fight against pancreatic cancer.

Besides Davenport, there's plenty of other noteworthy homegrown talent on St. Louis stages this weekend. On Friday, the Sinatra Songbook, featuring vocalist Tom Heitman fronting the Steve Schankman Orchestra, plays at Finale Music and Dining, and Wild Cool & Swingin' returns to Cookie's Jazz and More.

On Saturday, flute player and vocalist Margaret Bianchetta brings her group into Brandt's, and Trio Tres Bien, ably abetted by Danita Mumphard on vocals, will perform at Cookie's. Looking ahead to the Monday after the holiday weekend, the Genesis Jazz Project big band will do a free concert that evening at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

I'd also like to call your attention to one more event this weekend that isn't jazz, but should provide a good time for fans of roots music. On Friday night, the Soulard Blues Band and some special guests will be presenting a show they're calling the St. Louis Blues and Soul Revue upstairs at the Sheldon.

It's styled as an old-school R&B review featuring vocalists Marty Abdullah, Renee Smith, Stacy Johnson and Margaret Bianchetta. All four singers will be backed by the SBB, augmented for the occasion by keyboardist Matt Murdick and a three-piece horn section, and they'll be doing a non-stop playlist of soul and blues classics, including some special material they've worked up just for this gig. (Disclaimer: I know most of the folks involved with this show, and have worked quuite a bit with Renee Smith and SBB guitarist Tom Maloney.)

These are just a few highlights of the holiday weekend, but you can see a more extensive list of jazz-related events in the St. Louis area 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. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)

Get a 10% discount from Concord Music Group

Also from the latest Down Beat: Just in time for the holiday gift shopping season, Concord Music Group, which has a vast catalog of jazz recordings both old and new, has put all their CDs on sale and are offering an additional 10% discount on purchases made from their redesigned Web site between now and December 31. To get the 10% discount, enter the promo code DOWNBEAT when you order.

StLJN gets no commission on any purchases made via this offer; I'm just passing the information along for those who might be interested. Of course, if you'd like to buy a CD or two from the St. Louis Jazz Notes Emporium for holiday gifting purposes, that would be nice, too, as a small portion of those sales does help support this site.

The Emporium is powered by Amazon.com, so in addition to the featured recordings and books by and about St. Louis-related jazz artists, you can pretty get anything Amazon stocks by using the search function from within the Emporium site or by using the Amazon search box on the StLJN main page.

Recently on Heliocentric Worlds

It's been a while since the last plug for StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds. So, it's consider this another shameless missive urging you to visit and check it out.

There's a new music video posted every day from genres including jazz, blues, soul funk, classic rock, prog rock and experimental. In recent days, HW has showcased clips featuring Isaac Hayes, Junior Walker, the Last Poets with Pharoah Sanders, Derek Bailey and Min Tanaka, the Neville Brothers, McCoy Tyner and Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, B.B. King, Weather Report, Memphis Slim, Sun Ra and Don Cherry, Santana, Soft Machine, Miles Davis, Ray Charles, Dizzy Gillespie Big Band, Captain Beefheart, the Temptations, Jan Garbarek with Keith Jarrett, Marvin Gaye, Karl Denson and the Ginger Baker Trio.

Enjoy all these videos and many more by going to http://heliocentricworlds.blogspot.com/

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: Wild Cool & Swingin'

This week, we're featuring a couple of video clips starring Wild, Cool & Swingin', the brassy jazz, swing and pop band led by trumpeter Jim Manley. Recorded at Cookie's Jazz and More, the first video shows WC&S doing the Bobby Troup standard "Route 66," while the second clip, also taped at Cookie's, shows the band getting into a bit of a Latin groove with "Sway."

Down Beat 2007 readers poll includes St. Louis connections

The December 2007 issue of Down Beat has been sent to subscribers, and results from the magazine's annual readers' poll show several musicians with St. Louis connections.

Clark Terry placed fourth in the balloting for trumpet players, while Hamiet Bluiett shows up at number five in the poll's list of baritone saxophonists. Greg Osby grabbed tenth place in the alto sax category, Marty Ehrlich finished tenth among clarinetists, and the St. Louis based independent MAXJAZZ came in ninth among record labels.

In addition, saxophonist and composer Oliver Nelson tied for tenth place in the Hall of Fame category, and Miles Davis: The Legendary Prestige Sessions finished second in the voting for Historical Album/Box Set.

Alas, DB still does not post the complete poll results online, but the December issue should be available soon at better bookstores and newsstands everywhere.

Mad Art Gallery to host "BioSonar" this Sunday, November 18

Echolocation Recordings, a new venture from musicians Eric Hall and Jeremy Brantlinger, has organized an event called "BioSonar" that will take place from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. this Sunday, November 18, at Mad Art Gallery.

Billed as both a festival and an "indoor picnic," the event will feature music and sound art from a variety of performers, including Hall and Brantlinger's group Peanuts, Ghost Ice, Mike Pitts, Y Toros, Andrew Hefner, Raglani, Ajay Khanna and Chris Smentkowski, Mark Sarich, Worm Hands, Dave Stone, Joseph Potthoff, Tony Renner, James Weber Jr., Catholic Guilt, and more to be announced.

As for the picnic, it's potluck; the event description encourages audience members to "bring a blanket or pillow to lay out on the floor as you enjoy the various approaches to non-traditional musics, food provided by the organizers and audience, video/film projections, books from local writers and publishers, and a mini-shop set up by Cherokee St.'s Apop Records (offering a hand picked selection of music to compliment the event). The cover will be $7, or totally free if you bring any dish that can serve 10 or more people."

Jazz this week: Kurt Elling, Frankie Randall, Nnenna Freelon, Erin Bode, and more

The spotlight in St. Louis this week is on vocalists, with several very different singers presenting their talents and hoping to capture the time and attention of local jazz fans.

Perhaps the best known is Kurt Elling, who returns with his trio to Jazz at the Bistro for a four-night stand Wednesday through Saturday. One of the most talked-about male jazz singers on the scene today, Elling tends to inspire strong, love-him-or-hate-him reactions. I was a bit a of a skeptic before hearing him perform last year, first on the TV program Legends of Jazz and then at the Bistro, but came away from those expereinces with a new respect for Elling's skills and artistry. You can read my reconsideration and review of Elling here and here. Elling will also be doing a free master class at 2 p.m. Friday afternoon at Webster University's Community Music School building, located at 8282 Big Bend.

Also in St. Louis this week is Frank Sinatra's pal and protege Frankie Randall, who will be singing and playing piano at The Cabaret at Savor on Wednesday and Thursday night. Randall's show incorporates some of the songs Sinatra made famous, and is said to evoke a 1960s Rat Pack sort of vibe that's quite a contrast from Elling's more introspective presentation.

On Sunday, singer Nnenna Freelon (pictured) performs at the Sheldon Concert Hall to benefit Community Women Against Hardship. A mother of three, Freelon spent her young adulthood raising her kids and thus got a comparatively late start on a music career. However, since bursting on to the scene in the early 1990s, she's more than made up for lost time, performing around the world as a headliner and with the Count Basie Orchestra and many others, and earning five Grammy nominations in the jazz vocal category.

Other shows of note this week: Saxophonist Dave Stone will do a free concert at Washington University on Thursday night as part of the Jazz at Holmes series, while chanteuse Erin Bode and her band will perform at Finale Music and Dining on Friday and Saturday. Also on Saturday, pianist Ptah Williams returns with his trio to Cookie's Jazz and More.

To see a more extensive list of jazz-related events in the St. Louis area, please visit 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. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)

Bob Dorough to perform at the Bistro on Sunday, December 9

Fans of Diana Krall know Bob Dorough (pictured) as the composer of "Devil May Care," which over the years has become a concert staple for Krall, showing off her skills as both a vocalist and piano player.

Miles Davis fans may know that Dorough is one of the very few musicians to get a vocal performance onto a Miles record. (Dorough actually shows up on two of Miles' LPs, writing "Blue Xmas" at Davis' request for the trumpeter's Christmas album, then recording another track, "Nothing Like You," that was issued later on the Sorcerer album.)

Meanwhile, those of the right age to have grown up watch up Saturday morning cartoons in the 1970s and 1980s may not know Dorough's name, but millions of them know his songs for ABC's "Schoolhouse Rock" by heart.

Now Dorough, a singer, songwriter and pianist whose long and colorful career has also included stints backing taboo-busting standup comic Lenny Bruce, working in the nightclub act of boxing champ Sugar Ray Robinson, and co-producing 1960s pop group Spanky and Our Gang, is coming to St. Louis to perform at the Bistro on Sunday, December 9.

Dorough will do sets at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., backed by a trio including guitarist Steve Berger, Jeff Anderson on bass and Jerome "Scrooge" Harris on drums. Note that while this show is taking place in the Jazz at the Bistro space, it's not a Jazz St. Louis production; instead, it's the work of Jorge Martinez, who's been part of the St. Louis scene as a club owner, promoter and artist since the Gaslight Square era.

Ticket price and purchasing information should be forthcoming from the promoters any minute now, and when said info arrives, I'll update this post. In the meantime, for a bit more on Dorough, an Arkansas native who turns 84 three days after his St. Louis gig, check out this interview he did with Mike Zwerin in 1999, or this Village Voice review from Gary Giddins. Better yet, read Dorough's own account of how he came to St. Louis in 1960 to star in a play called "A Walk on the Wild Side," or dig the live version of "Conjuction Junction" in the embedded video window below.

UPDATE - 5:50 p.m., 11/14/07: Tickets for Dorough will be $30 each, and can be purchased in advance with credit card or check by calling 314-968-1898. Any seats that remain on show day will be sold at the door on a first-come, first-served basis.

Lobbying "Live on the Levee"

In addition to the items mentioned int he previous post, this past weekend's Post also contained an announcement about the 2008 dates for the free Live on the Levee concert series held downtown on the riverfront.

Sponsoring organization Celebrate St. Louis will present a concert on the Arch grounds on July 4 as part of Fair St. Louis, followed another concert under the Live on the Levee banner on July 5 and more shows on the weekends of July 11-12, July 18-19, July 25-26, and Aug. 1-2.

As regular readers may recall, the Live on The Levee concert series has been the cause of some consternation and/or chagrin here at StLJN. Those who want the back story in full form can check out these previous posts, but the nutshell version of my argument is that while attendance has been good, Live on the Levee has failed to capitalize on the positive artistic precedents set in 2004 by its immediate predecessor Riversplash. Moreover, while the quality of the acts booked for Live on the Levee has been adequate-to-good, the series' organizers have ignored the city's most historically important and influential musical styles - jazz, blues and, in recent history, hip-hop - and, by extension, have snubbed the fans of those styles and, arguably, St. Louis' large African-American population.

I bring all this up again because, according to their Web site, the Celebrate St. Louis organization is solicting input from the community as to what bands we'd like to see booked for this year's Live on the Levee concert series.

So, dear reader, if you'd like to see some jazz and blues incorporated into Live on the Levee, or if you have specific artists in mind, take a couple of minutes to send them an email at info@celebratestlouis.org. As usual, yr. humble editor suggests that such missives will be best received if they are concise and civil.

While there's no telling how much, if at all, such public input will weigh in the organizers' decision-making process, it certainly can't hurt to voice support for the idea that a concert series celebrating St. Louis ought to incorporate some of the music most closely associated with our town.

Arts presenters plan for Highway 40 closing

The coming shutdown of large parts of Highway 40 for renovations and expansion is going to force changes in the driving habits of a lot of St. Louisans, including those who use the road to get to the various arts and cultural institutions located in Forest Park, Grand Center and elsewhere along the city's central corridor.

The Post-Dispatch had an article this weekend looking at how some local arts presenters will be dealing with potential traffic headaches and with patrons who might shy away because of travel concerns. (For you non-St. Louisans: "Highway 40" is what locals call the stretch of Interstate 64 that runs east/west from Illinois through downtown St. Louis and on out to the western suburbs. It's an important commuting route, and the work that starts in January 2008 is going to take more than two years to complete.)

The article is online here, and it's worth a look for jazz fans, as jazz venues such as the Sheldon Concert Hall (mentioned briefly in the article), Washington University and Jazz at the Bistro are located near enough to Highway 40 to see potential effects from the shutdown. The Post also offers a list of "travel tips" as a sidebar, mostly common-sense stuff like "plan ahead" and "allow extra time."

Finally, there's Project Get Around, described as "a regional initiative designed to help visitors find their way to hundreds of restaurants, shops, museums and entertainment districts." The group's Web site is scheduled to go live this week and will feature coupons for various attractions and arts organizations.

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: Piano players, past and present

As the headline implies, this week's videos showcase a couple of piano players with roots in St. Louis.

First up is a clip featuring the late, great John Hicks, seen here performing the Kenny Barron composition "Sunshower," which served as the title track of his final CD. This video was shot in October 2001 at the Lenox Lounge in NYC, and the group features Hicks' spouse Elise Wood on flute, fellow St. Louisan Ronnie Burrage on drums, bassist Curtis Lundy and tenor saxophonist Craig Handy. Whatever the musical context, it's always a pleasure to spend a few minutes with Hicks, and he's still fondly remembered and dearly missed by his many fans and friends.

The second clip shows University City native Peter Martin performing the Gershwin standard "A Foggy Day" with singer Dianne Reeves, bassist Reuben Rogers, drummer Greg Hutchinson and the Philharmonie Berlin. The clip is undated, but would seem to be recent.

Though the orchestral arrangement here is, as you'd expect, more structured than what's heard in Hicks' quintet clip above, Martin delivers a nicely understated intro behind Reeves, plus some succinct comping and commentary throughout. After serving as Reeves' music director for a number of years, recently Martin has been gigging with trumpeter Chris Botti.

BackStoppers benefit CD now on sale

A new CD featuring a number of St. Louis jazz artists is now on sale, with proceeds benefitting the BackStoppers. From the press release:

"A who’s who of St. Louis musical artists has come together on CD to benefit the BackStoppers, the non-profit organization that provides needed support and financial assistance to the spouses and children of all local and county police officers, firefighters, publicly-funded paramedics and EMTs and volunteer fire protection units, who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

Someone to Watch Over Me: The BackStoppers Project, features recordings by Anita Rosamond, Denise Thimes, Ralph Butler, Jeanne Trevor, Peanuts Whalum, Mardra and Reggie Thomas, Jim Manley, the Tom Kennedy Trio and Mark Christopher. All the musicians generously donated the use of their recordings, and graphic design and engineering of the recording were donated as well. Financial support from corporate sponsors Commercial Bank and Henges Interiors covered CD duplication and song licensing costs, enabling more proceeds from CD sales to go to the BackStoppers.

The CD will be available at all area Borders stores, Webster Records, Euclid Records and at www.backstoppers.org the week of November 12. The CD will also be on sale at the Guns and Hoses BackStoppers benefit on Wednesday, November 21 at ScottTrade Center.

BACKSTOPPERS CD SONGLIST
1. "Every Kind of People" Anita Rosamond
2. "Beyond the Sea" Mardra and ReggieThomas
3. "Megan's Morning" Mark Christopher
4. "What a Difference a Day Makes" Jeanne Trevor
5. "Beautiful Friendship" Peanuts Whalum
6. "I Love You" Tom Kennedy Trio
7. "Alfie" Denise Thimes
8. "Someone You Love Is Gone" Ralph Butler
9. "Only In A Dream" Jim Manley
10. "Someone To Watch Over Me" Anita Rosamond"

Bluiett, Weinstein to receive "Kick Ass Awards" from 52nd City

Baritone saxophonist Hamiett Bluiett, a co-founder of both the Black Artists Group and the World Saxophone Quartet, and Josh Weinstein, host of KDHX's eclectic jazz and improvised music program "All Soul No Borders" will be among the recipients of the fourth annual "Kick Ass Awards" sponsored by local literary magazine/arts cooperative 52nd City.

The awards ceremony/celebration is free and open to the public, and will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Monday, November 26 at Duff’s, 392 N Euclid Ave in the Central West End.

The Kick Ass Awards are presented to "St. Louisans, collaborators and organizations, (who are) dedicated to quietly improving the civic life of this City and region." The publishers of 52nd City Magazine and a small committee of volunteers selected the nominees for 2007.

Other 2007 recipients who may be familiar to local jazz fans include artist Bill Christman, who runs the performance space Joe's Cafe, and Bernie Hayes, known as a radio personality, journalist, author, teacher, master of ceremonies and "all around great guy." You can see the complete list of 2007 winners here, and the press release for the event here (.pdf file).

Mel Bay to be subject of Living St. Louis segment on November 19

Speaking of press coverage of local record labels, Jerry Miller of Mel Bay dropped a note to say that company will be featured in a segment of the local news magazine show Living St. Louis on KETC (Channel 9) at 7 p.m., Monday, November 19.

Mel Bay is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. The company started as a retail music store and has grown into one of the world's largest publishers of music instructional books, also spawning a label, Mel Bay Records, that specializes in recordings of jazz guitarists. KETC typically makes Living St. Louis segments available on the Web after they've aired, so if you can't catch the program on November 19, you'll eventually be able to see the Mel Bay story online here.

Local labels featured in RFT

From the Department of Shameless Self-Promotion: I've got a feature story in this week's Riverfront Times that takes a look at two St. Louisans who operate small independent record labels - specifically, Jay Zelenka, proprietor of the free improv and avant jazz label Freedonia Music, and Jeff Konkel of Broke & Hungry Records, which specializes in recording little-known Mississippi blues performers. You can read it online here. Go check it out, look at Mark Gilliland's nice pix of Jay and Jeff, and then come back here for a bit of the story behind the story.

Read it? OK, then: Given the usual constraints of the form, the available word count and so on, I'm 98% happy with how the story came it out. But I'd like to address that 2%, because there's one sentence in the published version that's bugging me, a sentence that conveys an inaccurate impression, something that wound up being phrased in a way that was not what the subject said, nor what I originally wrote.

That sentence, in a paragraph about the early musical efforts of Jay Zelenka, said:
"Already a talented percussionist, he later added saxophone and flute to his arsenal."

Here's where perhaps some insight can be gained into the sausage factory that we call "journalism." What happened during our interview was that Jay told me how he had started performing with the Human Arts Ensemble as a poet, and gradually started picking up various hand percussion instruments and playing them. Eventually, he stopped doing poetry and began performing strictly as an instrumentalist, learning saxophone and flute along the way.

This was related in a somewhat discursive conversation that didn't lend itself to a direct quote. So I paraphrased, writing in the original draft that Zelenka "put down his manuscripts to play percussion, later adding saxophone and flute to his arsenal."

Now, one might say that's not all that different from what eventually wound up running in the paper, and, in a sense, that's correct - the edit, likely done in an effort to make the story a bit more concise, is only three words shorter.

Unfortunately, the introduction of the adjective "talented," unused by either the interviewer or interviewee, also distorts the meaning of the passage a little bit more than the original paraphrase did. In our interview, Jay made it clear that learning different instruments was an exploratory process for him; saying that he "was already a talented percussionist" could be interpreted to mean that he was some sort of highly skilled and/or trained percussion player, which was definitely not the case.

None of this is meant to excoriate or reflect poorly upon RFT music editor Annie Z., who approved the idea for the story in the first place and had several helpful suggestions along the way, nor the RFT's copy desk, who realistically can't be expected to divine every little nuance any given writer may be intending on any given day. And, as I said, I'm actually pretty happy with how the piece turned out.

Unlike blogging, which for better or worse is very much a one-person kind of thing, newspaper journalism is a collaborative effort, and these sorts of small edits to compress things happen every day, at every newspaper, everywhere. So I bring this up for two reasons: to apologize publicly to Jay Zelenka for not conveying his back story quite as clearly as I would have liked, and to give you, dear reader, some small insight into how a story progresses from an interview through writing and several stages of editing before it finally shows up in your local fishwrap. As hard as we try to get things right - and we do try hard - there's always room for improvement.

Jazz this week: Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, Linda Presgrave, Wolfgang Seligo, Paul DeMarinis Group, and more

There's quite a variety of jazz and improvised music on tap in St. Louis this weekend, so let's go right to the highlights, presented in chronological order:

Thursday night offers at least three gigs of note, starting with Austrian pianist Wolfgang Seligo, who's doing a free concert at Washington University as part of the Jazz at Holmes series.

That same evening, pianist Carolbeth True and her son David True, a drummer, are performing at Finale Music and Dining to celebrate the release of their new collaborative CD, Two Times True. Haven't heard the record yet, but Carolbeth True is one of St. Louis' most reliable jazz pianists, and so I'd certainly expect something good from what must have been a labor of love for all concerned.

(As a parenthetical note, while there are plenty of familial collaborations in jazz, the mother-son variety seems relatively rare. I know Alice Coltrane and her son Ravi Coltrane worked together on occasion, but I'm hard pressed to think of any other examples; if you, dear reader, can think of any, please share your information in the comments.)

Thursday is also the night for big band fans to get their fix at the St. Louis Jazz Orchestra's monthly show at Jazz at the Bistro. Here's hoping the SLJO will continue to draw a crowd sufficient to warrant extending their run into 2008.

On Friday and Saturday, the Bistro will host saxophonist Paul DeMarinis' group, who reportedly will be doing a bunch of new music written by DeMarinis. The band includes Debby Lennon on vocals, Dave Black on guitar, Nick Schlueter on piano, bassist Ben Wheeler and Kyle Honeycutt on drums, and though I haven't heard this particular configuration yet, a trusted source tells me they're sounding very good.

Saturday night also brings a couple of touring acts to St. Louis. Singer Lavay Smith (pictured) and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers will perform traditional jazz and swing in a concert at the Sheldon, and pianist Linda Presgrave, a former St. Louisan now based in NYC, returns home for a quartet gig at Cookie's Jazz and More.

Also on Saturday evening, New Music Circle and the St. Louis International Film Festival are presenting a screening of the classic Japanese silent film Jujiro with a live improvised musical soundtrack at the St. Louis Art Mueseum Auditorium.

Then on Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents pianist Jean Kittrell and the St. Louis Rivermen in a concert of traditional jazz at the Moolah Shrine Center in Maryland Heights.

Those are just some of the highlights of a very busy weekend; to see more local jazz-related events, please visit 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. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)

Jason Moran postpones Bistro shows; Taylor Eigsti booked as replacement

Via email from Jazz St. Louis director of operations Bob Bennett, it's been announced that due to "circumstances beyond our control," the performances by pianist Jason Moran scheduled for January 30 through February 2 at Jazz at the Bistro have been postponed.

Moran's appearance will be rescheduled for some time during the Bistro's 2008-09 season. In the meantime, pianist Taylor Eigsti (pictured) and his trio have been booked for a return appearance at the Bistro to fill the dates vacated by Moran. Tickets for Moran's sets can be used for the same dates and times to hear Eigsti, or purchasers can return them to the point of purchase for a full refund.

It's too bad St. Louis jazz fans won't get a chance to hear Moran this year, as he's an interesting and significant musician, but I'm pleased to hear that the Bistro is planning to rebook the dates. On the other hand, I can't get too excited about Eigsti's return; his chops are undeniable, but I find his music rather glib, more a series of admittedly impressive technical demonstrations than a coherent and/or soulful personal statement. Your mileage, of course, may vary. Did anyone catch one of Eigsti's performances at the Bistro last season and, if so, what did you think?

Hegarty, Zirkle and Zayas to launch trio with November 30 concert at SLCC-Forest Park

Electronic musician, pianist and composer James Hegarty sends word that he's launching a new jazz trio with a free concert at 7 p.m. on Friday, November 30 at the Mildred E. Bastian Performing Arts Center at St. Louis Community College - Forest Park.

Hegarty's co-conspirators in the as-yet-unnamed trio are bassist Luis-Michael Zayas, a Washington University music student who also performs with the Latin jazz ensemble Musica Slesa, and percussionist Tom Zirkle, also a member of Musica Slesa as well as the head of the music program at SLCC-Forest Park (where Hegarty taught before getting his current gig as director of the jazz program at Principia College). Hegarty describes the program as "a collection of original tunes that combine cool jazz harmonies with fusion and world music inspired rhythms in a post-bop style."

Film Festival to include screening of Japanese film Crossroads (Jujiro) with live improvised soundtrack

The St. Louis International Film Festival has grown into a major event, with dozens of screenings at several different venues, and a variety of programming including Q&A sessions with directors; evenings devoted to animation, short films and St. Louis films; and much more. This year's SLIFF, which runs from November 8 through November 18, also will include a screening of the Japanese silent classic Crossroads (Jujiro) with a live, improvised soundtrack courtesy of an ensemble of as-yet-unnamed musicians supplied by New Music Circle.

Crossroads will be shown at 7 p.m. this Saturday, November 10 at the Saint Louis Art Museum Auditorium. The 1928 film, directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa, is set in 18th-century Japan and tells the story of "a young ronin who, having killed a man in a duel over a geisha, turns to his protective older sister for help, thereby putting her in great peril. Madness, prostitution, rape, murder, blindness ensue, all captured with Kinugasa’s astonishing artistry. The expressionistic sets and costumes, moving camera, intense close-ups, and hallucinatory and subjective shots conspire to give Crossroads a haunting beauty of visual experimentation."

To open the program, NMC music director Rich O'Donnell will accompany seven silent short films made for the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts’ current “Water” exhibit, using "water-based instruments of his own devising."

Jazz St. Louis education programs featured on KMOV Web site

Via Jazz St. Louis marketing director Adam Roach's blog: JSL's educational programs were the subject of a recent article on KMOV's Web site. You can read it here.

At the risk of setting off some sort of endless-loop conflagration of crosslinks that could potentially break the Internet, or possibly even rupture the entire space-time continuum, it should be noted that said blog entry also linked to my recent story for the RFT about singer/bassist Esperanza Spalding and her work with JSL's education efforts during her recent visit to St. Louis. Not only that, but Adam also added a link to StLJN and some nice words about this site, for which I say, "Thanks!"

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: Miles Davis, electric and acoustic

Compiling all those Miles Davis-related links for the last post got me thinking that it's been a while since we've had any Miles Davis clips for the Saturday video feature. And so, up top is a performance in three parts from the 1973 Montreux Jazz Festival, featuring many of the same musicians who appear on Miles' On The Corner CD. Specifically, that would be Davis on trumpet and organ, Dave Liebman on saxophones and flute, Reggie Lucas and Pete Cosey on guitars, Michael Henderson on bass, Al Foster on drums and Mtume on percussion.

For those who want more, or who maybe don't dig Miles' electric period so much, at the bottom of this post there's a bonus clip of a 1967 performance of "Walkin'" recorded for German television. This is all acoustic, with the classic mid-Sixties quintet lineup of Miles, Wayne Shorter (tenor sax), Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (bass) and Tony Williams (drums).

Roy Ayers in St. Louis this Sunday, November 4 (plus some miscellaneous rumor control)

As regular readers know, I try to keep an eye on the visitor logs for this site to get a sense of what brings people here, and sometimes the search terms visitors are using can be my first clue that something's happening.

So, when I saw several searches for "Roy Ayers" and "St. Louis" pop up in the logs over the past couple of days, I did a little searching of my own. The vibraphonist's own site had no tour info at all, and the usually reliable Pollstar showed only dates in the Boston area this Friday and Saturday and a 10-day stint in London at the end of the year.

After a little more digging, I found out that Metrotix is indeed advertising an appearance by Ayers at 8 p.m. this Sunday, November 4 at a venue called Lights On Broadway, located at 8344 N. Broadway in the Baden neighborhood of north St. Louis.

I couldn't find a Web site for Lights On Broadway, but from some other stuff I've found on the Web, it appears to be some sort of conference center/private party facility. Tickets are $35 and $40, plus service charge, and though Metrotix is no longer selling them on the Web, their event page for the show says you can still purchase the ducats in person at Metrotix outlets or at the door.

I've also noticed a number of searches recently for "Zappa Plays Zappa" and "St. Louis." While ZPZ was here in December 2006 to perform at The Pageant, according to the tour info page on their Web site, the closest they're getting to St. Louis in 2007 is Kansas City, where they'll play the Ameristar Casino next Saturday, November 10. Rest assured, Zappa fans, that if ZPZ should announce another St. Louis appearance at some point, the news will be given prominent play in this space.

Finally, this seems like as good a place as any to update a story about which many rumors have flown but little solid information has been made public - namely, the online request made back in August by singer Erin Bode, who asked fans to make contributions to a legal fund. That request, made by email with Bode's monthly gig schedule, and also on her erinbode.com home page, has now disappeared completely from her Web site. Similarly, a blog entry that had been on her MySpace page and made reference to said fundraising appeal also seems to be gone.

So what's going on? Has the singer resolved her potential legal difficulties (which my sources suggested were related to a desire to split with her record label MAXJAZZ)?

I don't know, but if anyone else reading this does, please email me at stljazznotes @ yahoo . com. (Don't forget to remove the extra spaces in the email address.) Also, if any StLJN readers gave money to Bode's legal fund and have received subsequent communications from Bode or another representative, please share your experiences with the rest of us, either publicly in the comments or, if you wish to remain anonymous, via email to the address indicated above.

Notes from the Net: Miles Davis, Oliver Lake, and others reviewed; Greg Osby in residence; Eric Person on the road; and more

It's been way too long since our last installment of this supposedly regular feature compiling news from around the Internet, and so there's quite a backlog of material related to current and former St. Louisans, starting with more reviews of Miles Davis' Complete On The Corner Sessions box set from the Village Voice, BBC and Guardian, plus an extended analysis from AllAboutJazz.com.

* Also via AllAboutJazz.com, here's another review of Miles Davis Live at the 1963 Monterey Jazz Festival.

* From Bagatellen, here's a review of saxophonist Oliver Lake's recently reissued trio session Zaki.

* And here's one more review of the Cinematic Orchestra's recent CD Ma Fleur, which features guest vocals from Fontella Bass.

* The Boston Globe had a feature story on saxophonist Marty Ehrlich and pianist Myra Melford. They're doing some live shows based on the material from their recent duo CD Spark.

* Saxophonist Greg Osby will be doing a residency at Middle Tenneessee University later this month.

* Multi-reed man J.D. Parran is part of panel discussion of the influence of non-Western musics on jazz, found in the latest edition of the fine online magazine Point of Departure.

* Still touring in support of his most recent CD, saxophonist Eric Person got some press from the Rocky Mountain News while in Denver to play at a club called Dazzle.

* And there's a new recording reuniting former St. Louis Symphony Orchestra music director and conductor Leonard Slatkin, now heading up the Detroit Symphony, and onetime SLSO composer-in-residence Joan Tower.

* Catching up with some items relating to recent visitors to St. Louis, here's a review of Tony Bennett's new CD, The Great American Songbook, Vol 1 by Blogcritics' Holly Hughes.

* Perpetually touring avant-garde pianist Thollem McDonas will be in Philadelphia to play a show as part of the Bowerbird series.

* Bassist Esperanza Spalding makes a cameo appearance on the new CD from fellow bassman Stanley Clarke.

* The jazz indie label Dreyfus Records has released A Life in Time, a Roy Haynes career retrospective box set containing 3 CDs and a DVD, briefly reviewed by the New York Times here. The review also covers several other recent releases, including the latest CD from trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, issued by the St. Louis based label MAXJAZZ. And speaking of reviews pf MAXJAZZ releases, AllAboutJazz.com has one of guitarist Russell Malone's latest, Live at the Jazz Standard, Vol. 2, here.

* Turning to the "coming attractions" file, the jazz-fusion band The Yellowjackets and guitarist Mike Stern are both scheduled to perform seperate gigs at Jazz at the Bistro in 2008, but first, it looks like they may be teaming up for a joint recording and tour.

* Trumpeter Chris Botti returns to St. Louis in January to play the Touhill Performing Arts Center; here's a recent interview with Botti, and a review of his new CD Italia, both from AllAboutJazz.com.

* Last but not least, from the "worth reading" file, here's an recent essay from the always provocative journalist Greg Tate entitled "Black Jazz in the Digital Age."

Jazz this week: Stefon Harris, Eastern Blok, poetry and music from BAG, a benefit for the Backstoppers, and more

Topping this week's list of jazz musicians performing in St. Louis is vibraphonist Stefon Harris (pictured), who's playing at Jazz at the Bistro through Saturday. Harris has worked as a sideman with well-known players such as Kenny Barron, Steve Turre and Charlie Hunter, and has released several critically acclaimed albums as a leader, distinguishing himself as one of the most important new voices on his instrument to emerge in recent years.

Elsewhere on the "touring artists" front, on Saturday the Chicago based-group Eastern Blok, featuring guitarist Goran Ivanovic, will bring their fusion of jazz, classical, folk and Balkan music to Pop's Blue Moon.

There also are some noteworthy shows involving St. Louis musicians this weekend. starting tonight, when guitarist Steve Schenkel does a free concert at Washington University as part of the Jazz at Holmes series.

On Friday, BAG presents a program of poetry and music featuring Alima Sadiq Afsal and Zimbabwe Nkenya at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's Rosebud Cafe. And on Sunday, Anita Rosamond, the Tom Kennedy Trio, Wild Cool & Swingin' and several other local jazz and pop artists will team up for a concert at The Pageant to benefit the Backstoppers. Read more in my RFT Critic's Pick on the show, found online here. Beyond the weekend, singer Denise Thimes has a concert scheduled Tuesday at the Sheldon as part of the venue's "Notes From Home" series.

For more, please consult the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar. (Please note that, as is usual around the first of the month, new listings are still being added as they come in from various venues and musicians.)

(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. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)