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.)
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