StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Hamiet Bluiett with Trifactor, plus Rasul Siddik and the Now! Artet

This week, let's take a look at some clips featuring a couple of the musicians who will be taking part in the upcoming "BAG and Beyond" events to be held September 12 - 14 at the Metropolitan Gallery in St. Louis.

The first video features the well-known baritone saxophonist (and resident of Brooklyn, IL) Hamiet Bluiett performing with violinist Billy Bang and percussionist Kahil El'Zabar under the collective moniker Trifactor. The clip was recorded in November 2005 at Mad Art Gallery in St. Louis.

Down below is an extended excerpt from a performance by trumpeter Rasul Siddik, another St. Louis area native who now lives in Paris. The clip shows Siddik playing a concert at the Berkeley (CA) Public Library with his group the Now! Artet, featuring cellist, bassist and Alton, Illinois native Kash Killion, percussionist "Eyarb" Bob Breye, and Ghasem Batamuntu on "saxxsetra."

Jazz this week: The end of summer and the Big Muddy blues

As we head into what is effectively the final weekend of summer 2008, things are still in the relatively slow, dog-days mode with regard to live jazz in St. Louis. All of our town's various not-for-profit presenters are basically on hiatus until after Labor Day, and club activity is kind of sparse this weekend, too.

Still, there are a few performances worth nothing, so let's get to it. Tonight, Brandt's has singer Kim Massie, the Dave Stone Trio plays their regular weekly gig at Mangia Italiano, and the Original Knights of Swing big band holds forth at the Casa Loma Ballroom. On Saturday, guitarist Todd Mosby (pictured) brings his group to Brandt's, and saxophonist Willie Akins does his regular late-afternoon performance at Spruill's. Looking beyond the weekend, on Tuesday Brandt's will feature Trio Tres Bien, and saxophonist Bennett Wood returns to The Gramophone.

However, the biggest musical news of the weekend in St. Louis probably is the Big Muddy Blues Festival, which runs from 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday on Laclede's Landing. The free event features 30 different bands on three stages, with headliners including Bettye LaVette, Coco Montoya, Sonny Rhodes and Michael Burks. Though it's a blues festival, the lineup does include a few local musicians who cross over into jazz, such as singers Kim Massie and Anita Rosamond, who will open the main stage on Saturday afternoon. For more on the Big Muddy, check out the preview story I wrote for this week's Riverfront Times, available online here.

There's a lot of updating to do to the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar over the next few days, so if new posts are somewhat sparse around here for a bit, that - along with the holiday weekend - likely will be the cause. In the meantime, you can continue to see listings for more St. Louis jazz-related events this weekend and beyond by visiting said 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.

Oliver Lake featured in St. Louis American

By way of previewing the upcoming "BAG and Beyond" events next month, this week's St. Louis American has an article by K. Curtis Lyle about saxophonist Oliver Lake, who will be one of the featured performers at the reunion and celebration of St. Louis' original Black Artists Group. You can read Lyle's piece online here.

Mosby concert raises more than $5,000 for Nature Conservancy

The final tallies are in, and the results show that the benefit concert staged by St. Louis guitarist and composer Todd Mosby last month at Lucas School House raised more than $5,000 for the Nature Conservancy.

You can read more about the event, the organization, and Mosby's efforts in this recap on the Nature Conservancy Web site. Mosby's next performance, with the quartet version of his group, is this Saturday, August 30 at Brandt's.

Red Holloway concert at Kiener Plaza canceled

The free concert previously announced by St. Louis City Jazz that would have featured saxophonist Red Holloway performing this Friday, August 29 at Kiener Plaza has been canceled.

Although as of this writing the show is still listed on the group's Web site, callers to the contact number (314-757-0555) listed on the site are being told that the show is off. When I called, the man who answered what apparently is someone's personal mobile phone said that St. Louis City Jazz hoped to reschedule the event "after the first of the year" in 2009.

Saxophonists Catalano, Richardson to play as part of The Gramophone's Tuesday night jazz series

Jazz St. Louis' director of education Phil Dunlap emails with news of two upcoming performances in the Tuesday night series that JSL is co-sponsoring at The Gramophone.

The first is a show by Chicago-based saxophonist Frank Catalano, who will play at The Gramophone on Tuesday, September 30 for an event hosted by the Young Friends of Jazz St. Louis. Catalano, who has performed with many well-known musicians including Louie Bellson, Charles Earland, Tony Bennett, Tito Puente, David Sanborn, Betty Carter, John Medeski and DJ Logic, also will do a clinic for Saxquest while he's in St. Louis, said Dunlap.

Then on Tuesday, October 7, it's a double bill featuring the Bennett Wood Quartet followed by saxophonist Logan Richardson (pictured). A Kansas City native now living in New York City, Richardson has released one CD, Cerebral Flow, on the Fresh Sound New Talent label, and has performed and recorded with Joe Chambers, Stefon Harris, Greg Tardy, Nashiet Waits, and many others. According to his bio, he's also been something of a protege of St. Louis native Greg Osby, studying sax with Osby and leading a group that performed in a jazz concert series curated by Osby.

Both performances begin at 9:00 p.m. at The Gramophone, and, as is customary for the Tuesday night series, both are free, with no admission charge.

Jason Moran to perform October 5 at Missouri History Museum

Confirming the news that showed up a few weeks ago on Pollstar, the Missouri History Museum has announced officially that they'll present a concert by jazz pianist Jason Moran (pictured) at 7:00 p.m., Sunday, October 5 in the MacDermott Grand Hall of the Museum's building in Forest Park.

St. Louis pianist, singer and saxophonist Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum will be the opening act, accompanied by Jeff Anderson on bass and Marty Morrison on drums. Moran will play a solo piano set of about 70 minutes, and also will meet and greet audience members at a post-concert reception. Considered one of the top young pianists in jazz, the 33-year-old Moran leads his own group, The Bandwagon, and has toured and recorded with jazz notables such as Greg Osby, Cassandra Wilson, Joe Lovano, Don Byron, Steve Coleman, Lee Konitz, Von Freeman, Christian McBride and Ravi Coltrane.

The concert is part of the Missouri History Museum's "Urban Stories: Reflections of History" series, which "explores how artists - including an actor, a spoken word artist, a musician and an author - explore modern issues facing 21st-century urban dwellers."

Tickets for the Jason Moran concert are $7 for members of the History Museum and $10 for the general public. Advance tickets may be purchased online at museumtix.com and at the History Museum's site, or by phone by calling 314-361-9017.

Recently on Heliocentric Worlds

Every couple of weeks, we like to put in a plug in this space for StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds, which each day presents a different online music video drawn from genres including jazz, blues, soul, funk, classic rock, prog rock and experimental.

In recent days, featured artists have included Howlin' Wolf, Graham Central Station, Duke Ellington, Jon Hendricks, Tower of Power, King Crimson, Isaac Hayes, Freddie King, Medeski Martin & Wood, World Saxophone Quartet, Frank Zappa, Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers, Cecil Taylor, Bootsy Collins, Ella Fitzgerald, Average White Band, Malo, and Miles Davis.

You can still see all these videos, plus hundreds more from the site's archives, by visiting http://heliocentricworlds.blogspot.com/ - or better yet, visit now, and then add Heliocentric Worlds to your RSS or feed reader, and enjoy a different out-of-the-ordinary music video, lovingly selected for your listening and viewing pleasure, each and every day.

Oliver Lake, Hamiet Bluiett to perform on Sunday, September 14 as part of "BAG and Beyond" at Metropolitan Gallery

Via St. Louis American editor Chris King's personal blog Confluence City, there's news of a weekend of events next month celebrating the musical and artistic legacy of St. Louis' original Black Artists Group.

"BAG and Beyond," a production of the Nu-Art Series, will take place Friday, September 12 through Sunday, September 14 at the Metropolitan Gallery, 2946 Locust St. in downtown St. Louis. The weekend kicks off Friday evening with an opening reception for an art exhibit featuring the work of BAG co-founder Oliver Jackson. (See K. Curtis Lyle's article in last week's American for more on Jackson.) A VIP reception, which costs $20 per person, will begin at 5:00 p.m., with the doors opening to the general public at 6:00 p.m.

At 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 13, "BAG and Beyond" continues with a concert featuring trumpeter Rasul Siddik with pianist Katy Roberts, saxophonist Freddie Washington, trumpeter Marlon Bonds, poets Eugene Redmond and K. Curtis Lyle, and more. And at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 14, the weekend wraps up with a concert featuring saxophonist Oliver Lake (pictured), who will perform with percussionist Tayammum Falah and poet Shirley LeFlore on a bill that also includes Lake's fellow BAG and World Saxophone Quartet co-founder, baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett, plus poet and author Quincy Troupe and others.

Tickets for the Saturday and Sunday concerts are $20 per person for each show, and will be available at the door. If you attend the reception on Friday evening, you can purchase a combined ticket for both the Saturday and Sunday concerts for $35. For more information about "BAG and Beyond," call 314-535-6500.

Foundry Arts Centre getting more funding from city of St. Charles

The Foundry Arts Centre, which last year served as the venue for Jazz St. Louis' St. Charles concert series, is getting some financial help from the city of St. Charles. According to an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Charles is giving the Centre $30,000 to help with operating expenses, helping to offset a fund-raising shortfall that officials say stems mostly from a dropoff in corporate donations.

The city, which helped finance the redevelopment of the facility into artists' studios and exhibition and performance space, also will spend $10,000 to study how to improve the Centre's operations. Read the whole article here.

(Edited 8/25/08 to fix a formatting problem.)

The Gramophone's Tuesday night jazz series featured in Riverfront Times

The Tuesday night jazz series that The Gramophone is presenting in partnership with Jazz St. Louis is the subject of a short feature story I wrote for this week's Riverfront Times. You can read the article online here.

(Edited 8/25/08 to fix a formatting problem.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A John Zorn sampler

Saxophonist, composer and musical provocateur John Zorn's connection to St. Louis was relatively short-lived, as he spent a little over a year here in the 1970s attending Webster University (then known as Webster College). Some of Zorn's musical and presentational proclivities were becoming evident even then; one local musician I know recalls playing with him at a local coffeehouse in a free-jazz jam session that Zorn directed with a series of visual cues and gestures. That same musician recalled Zorn sporting some unusual facial hair for a while - specifically, a half-mustache on one side of his face, with a half-goatee on the opposite side, the net effect being a division of the lower half of the face into a sort of quadrant arrangement.

Make of that what you will, and it's hard to say exactly what Zorn may have taken away from his time in St. Louis, though it wasn't long after living here that he moved to New York, arriving as NYC's loft jazz scene of the 1970s was winding down and the downtown new music scene that would become prominent in the 1980s was getting started. Since then Zorn has become an almost absurdly prolific composer, improviser, and record company proprietor, releasing dozens of CDs on his Tzadik label and traveling the world to perform in a seemingly endless stream of varied musical projects.

Today, via the magic of YouTube, we'll take a look at a small sample of Zorn's diverse body of work. The first clip was recorded in November 1994 at Jazzfestival Hamburg (Germany) and features the acoustic version of Zorn's Masada ensemble with Zorn, Dave Douglas on trumpet, Greg Cohen on bass and Kenny Wollesen on drums performing the composition is "Sheloshim."

The second clip is from a gig in February 2008 at St. Ann's Warehouse in NYC. It shows a performance of "Makahaa (Reprise)" from the album The Gift, delivered by a group including Zorn, Trevor Dunn (bass), Marc Ribot (guitar), Jamie Soft (organ), Cyro Baptista (percussion), Joey Baron (drums) and Wollesen. The footage is shaky in spots, but the sound is listenable and so, as one of the more recent visual documents of Zorn's work available online, it seemed worth including.

Down below are a couple of clips related to one of Zorn's signature pieces, the performance/musical game "Cobra." The first video was recorded in January 2008 at the Barbi Club in Tel Aviv, Israel during a festival devoted to Zorn's music, and shows him playing "Cobra" with a a group including Baron, Wollesen, Ribot, Dunn, Baptista, Ikue Mori, Jean Claude Jones and others. The second clip is from a documentary called On the Edge: Improvisation in music, and focuses on Zorn prompting a game of "Cobra," providing a bit of additional insight into how the piece works in practice.

Jazz this week: Notes from the dog days

It's still the dog days of August in St. Louis, and thus still one of the slower times of the year for jazz in our town, but if you're in the mood to hear some music over the next few days, here are a few possibilities you may want to consider:

On Friday, popular singer Erin Bode and her band return to The Gramophone, while Gaslight Square veterans Trio Tres Bien (pictured) with singer Danita Mumphard are at Cookie's Jazz and More, and the Second Generation Swing Band plays for dancers at Casa Loma Ballroom. On Saturday, tenor saxophonist Willie Akins performs his weekly early evening gig at Spruill's, and on Sunday, the New St. Louis Jazz Xtet do their regular thing at Riddle's.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Sessions Big Band is back at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups. On Tuesday, you can check out singer Jeanne Trevor at Brandt's, or head to The Gramophone for their free Tuesday night jazz series, which this week features a new band called Utter Chaos.

Utter Chaos are not, as the name might suggest, some sort of free-improv group, but rather are, according to The Gramophone's promotional email, "dedicated to recreating the unique sounds of the Gerry Mulligan/Bob Brookmeyer piano-less quartets of the mid 1950s. Baritone saxophonist Andy Ament is joined by Cody Henry on trombone, Chris Turnbaugh on bass and Jerry Mazzuca on drums. All members of the quartet are graduates of the SIUE jazz department."

To get your dose of free improv this week, you'll have to amble on down Wednesday to Apop Records, 2831 Cherokee St, , for the electric free jazz band Squid Choir Orkestra's concert in the store's Camp Concentration performance space. You can hear some samples of the SCO over on bandleader Jay Zelenka's Freedonia Music site.

For more St. Louis jazz-related events this weekend and beyond, 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.

KMOX Jazz and Wine Festival 2008 set for Saturday, September 27

St. Louis singers Jeanne Trevor (pictured), Kim Massie and Anita Rosamond will be among the featured entertainers for the third annual KMOX Jazz and Wine Festival to be held from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Saturday, September 27 at Faust Park, 15185 Olive St. Rd. in Chesterfield. The event also will offer the opportunity to sample and purchase wine from eight Missouri wineries, as well as a food court featuring cuisine from local restaurants such as Villa Farotto, Dierdorf & Hart’s, French Quarter Café, Michael J’s Deli, and Ed’s Foods.

Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door and can be purchased over the phone by calling 314-444-1862 or in person at the Chesterfield Chamber of Commerce, 101 Chesterfield Business Parkway, 63005; or the offices of West Newsmagazine, 355 Ozark Trail, Suite 1, 63011. For more information, check out this page at the KMOX (1120 AM) Web site.

Brandt's schedules Whalum birthday bash, plus gigs for saxophonist Bruce Menefield

Jay Brandt, founder and now impresario emeritus of Brandt's Cafe and Red Carpet Lounge, emails with word of a couple of jazz-related special events at the club next month:

On Sunday, September 7, Brandt's will host a 80th birthday celebration for veteran St. Louis jazz pianist, singer and saxophonist Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum (pictured) "complete with cake, balloons and, of course...jazz!!" The event will take place from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., with a $10 donation requested for the Peanuts Whalum Scholarship Fund for aspiring St. Louis musicians.

Whalum's nephew, the well-known smooth jazz saxophonist Kirk Whalum, will be on hand, as well as "many musicians that Peanuts has played with over his 50 years of playing in St. Louis," writes Brandt, noting that "at 80, "Peanuts" is still keeping up an active touring program: he'll be at Cincinnati's Blue Wisp Jazz Club on Sept 19 & 20, in LA with nephew Kirk Whalum on Sept 26 and on the Smooth Jazz Cruise hosted by Wayman Tisdale from January 18 - 25 with Rufus, Chaka Khan and over 20 other jazz greats."

In other news, Brandt's will present Bruce Menefield, a jazz saxophonist based in Cincinnati, for a two-night stand in September. Menefield will perform on Friday, September 26 with St. Louis' own Jeff Anderson on bass and James Jackson on drums, and on Saturday, September 27 with guitarist Dave Black and Jackson on drums. A mainstay on the Cincinnati jazz scene as a player, concert producer and promoter, Menefield has recorded a self-released CD, My Steps, and has performed with many well-known jazz musicians including Billy Harper, Clark Terry, Bennie Maupin, Ronnie Laws and John Blake.

Ross Gentile profiled in Alton Telegraph

Jazz radio personality Ross Gentile, who hosts the daily program Standards in Jazz on WSIE (88.7 FM ), is the latest St. Louis/Metro East-area jazz figure to be the subject of a profile in the Alton Telegraph. You can read the article online here.

More on Jean Kittrell's retirement

Following up on last week's post about the retirement of veteran St. Louis jazz singer and pianist Jean Kittrell, you may recall a reference in that post to a press release sent out by the Sheldon Concert Hall announcing that pianist Pat Joyce would be replacing Kittrell on a show there due to "health concerns." At the time, I expressed the wish that those concerns would be quickly resolved so that Kittrell might enjoy her well-deserved retirement after more than 50 years of entertaining jazz fans in St. Louis and across the U.S.

Sadly, it looks as if those health problems may be quite serious, based on this article about Kittrell's retirement written by columnist Bob Fallstrom for the Decatur Herald & Review. In recounting his decades-long acquaintance with Kittrell, Fallstrom writes that she has been "hurting with leg problems, back problems and, lately, colon cancer" and recently had surgery.

In light of this news, we can only hope that the surgery was successful, and suggest that all of Kittrell's fans keep a good thought and/or offer a few prayers to your deity (or deities) of choice on her behalf. The article ends on a note of optimism, however, with Kittrell noting that her band the St. Louis Rivermen will fulfill all bookings under the leadership of tuba player David "Red" Lehr and adding, "I'm not upset about what's happened...The band is in good hands. I always intended to die on stage. We'll see. I hope to attend the Central Illinois Jazz Festival this winter."

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on David Sanborn

A couple of weeks ago, we promised you some David Sanborn performance videos, and here they are - a quartet of clips showcasing several sides of the versatile alto saxophonist and St. Louis native. (Yes, technically, Sanborn was born in Tampa, FL, but since he spent all of his formative years here, we proudly claim him for the Gateway City.)

First up is "Chicago Song," a Hubert Laws composition that Sanborn very effectively has made his own. The studio version has a very 1980s synth-funk vibe to it; this live rendition open up that groove just a bit while still retaining the song's insanely catchy hooks.

Next up is a clip from the TV show Night Music (aka Sunday Night), in which Sanborn, who also hosted the program, teams up with Dizzy Gillespie for a version of the bebop standard "Tin Tin Deo," demonstrating that, yes, he can play bop quite nicely, thank you very much.

(Sanborn got to play with all sorts of famous folk on Night Music, a show uniquely suited to his multi-genre capabilities and one which still hasn't been issued on DVD. Most of the YouTube clips that circulate online seem to be from old VHS cassettes taped off the original broadcasts of the show. Please, won't someone put out a box set of Night Music DVDs?)

Down below, you'll find Sanborn's version of the ballad "Smile," which he first recorded several years ago and played during his set at the 2006 St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival, dedicating it to his mom, who was in the audience.

Last but not least, the final clip showcases Sanborn once again getting funky with a live version of "Slam" recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Sanborn's new CD, Here and Gone, is just out on the revived Decca label, and he'll be in St. Louis on Friday, September 26 to perform at The Pageant.





(Editor's note: "StLJN Saturday Video Showcase" is, as you've probably figured out by now, the new name for the weekly post formerly known as "StLJN Saturday at the Movies." The old name was fine when we first began the weekly video posts a couple of years ago with a series of old cartoons with jazz soundtracks, but given that the content these days consists of short music videos, not full-length films, the new name is a bit more accurate.)

(Edited 8/19/08 to fix a typo.)

Brett Stamps featured in Alton Telegraph

Trombonist and jazz educator Brett Stamps is the subject of a feature story this week in the Alton Telegraph. The article focuses on Stamps' work as professor of jazz studies for Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville and on Bad to the Bone, his new CD with fellow trombonist Jim Owens. Read the whole thing here.

Jazz this week: Ptah Williams, Erin Bode, the St. Louis Cabaret Conference, and more

It's mid-August - usually one of the slowest times of the year for live jazz in St. Louis - and yr. humble editor has impending deadlines for paying work, plus a wicked head cold. However, there are still some events this week to tell you about, and so that's what we're going to do, albeit in a perhaps less-verbose-than-usual of way.

Let's start with a couple of multi-day events happening this weekend. The St. Louis Cabaret Conference, a four-day event founded and run by St. Louis singer Tim Schall, takes place Thursday through Sunday, and will feature four nights of public performances at the Bistro at Grand Center as well as educational and networking events for the singers attending the conference.

The public performances will include an Alumni Showcase at 8:30 p.m. tonight; a feature performance by Schall at 8:30 p.m. on Friday; a double bill of singers Lina Koutrakos and Jason Graae at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday; and a Participant Showcase at 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are available at the door and, for Friday and Saturday's shows, via Metrotix.

Also happening this weekend is the Greater St. Louis Art Association's semi-annual "Cool Art Hot Jazz" event, which takes place Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday at Queeny Park, 550 Weidman Road. The fair is designed to show off the work of dozens of artists working in clay, fiber, glass, jewelry, oil, photography, wood and other media. The GSLAA's announcement also says there will be live music, but I couldn't find a schedule or a list of musical performers anywhere on their Web site or, well, anywhere at all online, nor did anyone from the organization respond to my phone calls or emails attempting to elicit more information.

Wish I could tell you more, but if you're interested in who's performing and when at this event, give the GSLAA a call at 314-889-0433 and perhaps you'll have better luck than I did getting details on the apparently top-secret music schedule.

Other performances of note this week include a free concert tonight by pianist Ptah Williams, who's playing a show for the Jazz at Holmes series outdoors at Washington University's Brookings Quadrangle. Tonight also brings a rare gig by singer Erin Bode (pictured) and her band at a real old-school St. Louis restaurant, the Tenderloin Room at the Chase-Park Plaza, as well as a performance by Farshid Etniko at Brandt's.

On Friday, singer Kim Massie is at Cookie's, and the Ambassadors of Swing will do their big-band thing at the Casa Loma Ballroom. On Saturday, Mo & Dawn bring their acid-jazz/funk/remix show to Brandt's.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Sessions Big Band is at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups, and on Tuesday, Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum performs at Brandt's while bassist Zimbabwe Nkenya leads his young proteges from BAG's recent series of music workshops in a free show at The Gramophone.

For more St. Louis jazz-related events this weekend and beyond, 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.

Single tickets for Jazz at the Bistro's 2008-09 shows go on sale Friday, August 15

Single tickets for the 2008-2009 season at Jazz at the Bistro will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. this Friday, August 15. For more information on the Bistro's 2008-09 lineup, check out this post.

Tickets can be purchased online via the Metrotix Web site, by phone at 314-534-1111, or in person at all Metrotix outlets and at the Jazz St. Louis/Jazz at the Bistro offices at 3547 Olive, Suite 260.

Jazz St. Louis still is offering season subscriptions for the Bistro, too. Benefits for subscribers including valet parking, meet-and-greets with selected artists, and a discount of up to 20 percent off regular single ticket prices. If you're interested in a subscription package, you can contact Bob Bennett at bob@jazzstl.org or call (314) 289-4032.

Kemper Museum announces fall concert series

As mentioned here back in June, this fall the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum is presenting an exhibition entitled Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury, accompanied by a series of free jazz concerts.

Now the Kemper Museum has announced the lineup for the concert series, which will begin on Saturday, September 27 with the BAG Trio, led by bassist Zimbabwe Nkenya (pictured). Guitarist William Lenihan and his Quartet will perform on Saturday, October 25, followed by singer/guitarist Teddy Presberg and the Red Note Revivalists on Saturday, November 22. The series concludess with trumpeter Randy Holmes' Trio on Saturday, December 27.

Each of the participating groups will present a program ostensibly inspired by a musician from the era of "cool jazz," with the BAG Trio drawing on the work of Miles Davis, Lenihan looking to Wes Montgomery, and Holmes basing his show on Chet Baker. However, the concept seems to break down a bit with Presberg's show, which supposedly will be inspired by "the Birth of the Cool era" rather than by a specific musician. (This sounds like a rather awkward attempt to shoehorn Presberg into the pre-existing concept. Will his guitar-bass-drums trio be offering compressed arrangements of the harmonically complex scores of, say, "Jeru" or "Darn That Dream"? I think not; a 15-minute funk vamp on the two chords of "So What" seems much more likely...)

All the concerts are free and open to the public, and will take place from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, located on the Washington University main campus near the northwest corner of the intersection of Forsyth and Skinker.

StLJN jazz site of the week: Night Lights

The StLJN jazz site of the week is Night Lights, the online companion to a radio program of the same name that airs Saturday evenings on WFIU (103.7 FM), a public radio station affiliated with Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.

The program's host David Brent Johnson uses the Night Lights Web site to provide access to archived audio and playlists for the previous week's program (posted each Monday morning); more important for our purposes, however, he also blogs entertainingly a couple of times a week about musicians and recordings, jazz-related news, and so on. Night Lights seems a good example of how radio and the Internet can complement each other, and is well worth a visit or a bookmark.

The StLJN jazz site of the week is, as the name implies, a weekly feature, created to call attention to Web sites that jazz enthusiasts may find useful, informative and/or entertaining. Do you have a favorite jazz- or creative music-related Web site or blog? If so, please feel free to make suggestions in the comments, or send an email with your recommendation to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com.

KDHX rearranges broadcast schedule

Community radio station KDHX (88.1 FM) has rearranged it broadcast schedule effective Monday, August 11.

While some familiar programs have ended, most of the station's mainstays seemed to have survived the shakeup. And while the new lineup seems to have a few more rock and pop music offerings, two KDHX programs of continuing interest to jazz fans now can be heard on Sunday nights, starting at 9:00 p.m. with "Voices in the Dark" hosted by Al Becker, who focuses on "the best of female jazz and blues vocalists of the twentieth century."

Becker's program has been a fixture on Sundays, and it now will be followed at 10:30 p.m. by "All Soul, No Borders," which is hosted by Joshua Weinstein and moves over from Thursdays. As Weinstein noted on his page on the KDHX site, "Tonight marks the end of "jazz" in St. Louis on a Thursday night. KDHX has presented Great Black Music for over a decade or longer during this time slot. 'All Soul, No Borders' first aired in September of 2000...ASNB will now be heard on Sunday night from 10:30-Midnight."

While I'm glad to see Weinstein's program continue, and the pairing with Becker's broadcast makes sense, it's also somewhat unfortunate that both now are airing directly opposite Dennis Owsley's Jazz Unlimited program on KWMU (90.7 FM). For the radio stations, it's all the more reason to offer online streams and/or archived programs, I suppose, but for listeners it's too bad that the two stations are now offering comparatively rare jazz programming in direct competition with one another.

Concert calendar changes

There have been a couple of changes over the last week to the local jazz concert calendar, one involving the retirement of a veteran St. Louis performer:

* Saxophonist Jeff Coffin's show at the Lucas School House, originally scheduled for August 21, is off. Looking at Coffin's Web site, it appears as if all of his dates with his band the Mu'Tet for 2008 have been canceled, and his St. Louis show is no longer listed on the Lucas School House Web site.

That's because Coffin is touring with the Dave Mathews Band through October 5, sitting in for DMB's LeRoi Moore, who was injured in an ATV accident back in June. It seems unlikely that the Mu'tet's St. Louis gig will be rescheduled for this year, since once Coffin is done with the DMB tour, he's got just four weeks until Bela Fleck and the Flecktones hit the road for the entire months of November and December. The closest that tour will get to St. Louis appears to be Springfield, MO, where the Flecktones will play at Missouri State University.

* Then there's this news from the Sheldon Concert Hall: "Due to health concerns, Jean Kittrell will not be able to perform on the October 27 and 28 Coffee Concerts at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The show will go on, however, with acclaimed pianist Pat Joyce, along with Red Lehr and the Old St. Louis Levee Band, on the same dates, October 27 at 28 at 10 a.m."

Wondering if Kittrell (pictured) was going to be OK, the next day I then saw this in an article from the Canton, IL Daily Ledger about the St. Louis Rivermen, another Kittrell-led ensemble, heading to Macomb, Illinois on Saturday, September 13 to headline the Seventh Annual Al Sears Jazz Festival: "Lehr, the last remaining original member of the band, took over when another original member, pianist and vocalist Jean Kittrell, retired at age 81."

Heading then to Kittrell's own Web site, the home page bears the message, "Retired as uninhibited leader of three jazz bands as of July 21, 2008." And so, the Daily Ledger's report would seem to be accurate, and pianist and singer Jean Kittrell has retired after six decades of entertaining and edifying audiences in St. Louis and around the country.

Kittrell is notable not only for performing and preserving traditional jazz for several generations of appreciative listeners, but for enjoying longterm success as a bandleader, starting long before "feminism" became a familiar term and continuing for many years in an challenging and ever-changing industry. Here's hoping that whatever health difficulties Kittrell may be experiencing are brief, and that she'll be able to enjoy her retirement. Fortunately for the rest of us, her music can still be enjoyed on a number of recordings currently in print.

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: Dave Brubeck, then and now

Continuing with our occasional summer series previewing this fall's jazz concert attractions in St. Louis, this week the spotlight falls on legendary jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck, who will return to our city on Saturday, October 4 for a performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

The first video clip is from 1961, and shows the classic Dave Brubeck Quartet - Brubeck on piano, Paul Desmond on alto sax, drummer Joe Morello and bassist Gene Wright - performing Desmond's "Take Five," their signature tune and still one of the biggest-selling jazz records of all time.

The second video is from 2007, and shows Brubeck soloing on "Things Ain't What They Used To Be," a song closely associated with his musical idol Duke Ellington. Brubeck celebrate his 88th birthday in December of 2008, and still plays dozens of concerts a year. Single tickets for the Sheldon's 2008-09 concerts, including Brubeck's show, are now on sale.

Jazz this week: Dave Koz, Randy Holmes Sextet, Orange, Squid Choir Orkestra, and more

Here in these hot-and-humid dog days of August, the overall activity level of the St. Louis music scene may be down a bit, but there's still a good variety of jazz styles in the offing over the next few days.

This week's biggest show happens on Friday, when smooth jazz saxophonist and multimedia personality Dave Koz (pictured) performs at The Pageant. Koz may not be the most adventurous player around, but he's a capable melodist with good taste in sidemen and a showman's flair who has worked diligently to cultivate a loyal fan base, one that surely will be out in force on Friday.

Still, If Koz' mix of romanticism and polite funk isn't your cup of tea, you can also check out the Randy Holmes Sextet on Friday, as they'll be doing a free concert for Washington University's Jazz at Holmes summer series. There's no indication yet what's on the program, but Holmes' various ensembles typically range over fairly wide terrain encompassing bop, hard bop and 1960s modern jazz, and the musicianship is top notch. Afterwards, you can head over to the Delmar Loop and catch pianist, saxophonist and singer Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum performing standards and the Great American Songbook at Brandt's, or take in the Latin jazz sounds of Banda Caribe at Riddle's.

On Saturday, the explosive pianist Ptah Williams and his group will perform a free concert as part of the "Art & Soul Cafe" at Portfolio Gallery, 3514 Delmar (between Grand and Theresa). The free, family-friendly event runs from noon to 8:00 p.m. and also will feature African music, dance, hip-hop and poetry performances, plus vendors selling handcrafted art. You can see more details at www.betterfamilylife.org. Also on Saturday, multi-instrumentalist Sandy Weltman and Hot Club Caravan, his new band paying tribute to the "Gypsy jazz" style of Django Reinhardt, will play at Brandt's.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Sessions Big Band continues their long-running series of gigs at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups. On Tuesday, there are several worthy choices, starting with traditional jazz and swing band Cornet Chop Suey, who are doing a free concert at Faust Park in Chesterfield. Also on Tuesday, the Erin Bode Group's Adam Maness and Syd Rodway bring their band Orange, with drummer Miles Vandiver and vibist Peter Schramb, to the Sheldon Concert Hall; the David Wiatrolik Trio plays at The Gramophone; and singer and actor Roland "Bob" Harris, who mixes blues and jazz with a bit of comedy and some show business stories, performs at Brandt's.

On Wednesday, Jay Zelenka, the improvising saxophonist/flutist/percussionist and mastermind of the Freedonia Music label, brings his electric ensemble Squid Choir Orkestra to south side rock venue the Way Out Club, 2525 S. Jefferson. Zelenka and bandmates Dave Stone and Aaron Smith (saxophones and clarinets), Jeremy Melsha (electronics and trombone) and Ajay Khanna (laptop computer) play what they call "a unique blend of power electronics and free jazz," and if that description sounds like your cup o' tea, the SCO definitely are worth a listen.

Also on Wednesday, saxophonist and former St. Louisan Ed Doney will be back in town to play with Park Avenue Jazz at Hammerstone's. Doney, a graduate of the Webster University music program, now lives at Lake of The Ozarks, where he works with keyboardist Mike Vyrostek. During his years in St. Louis, Doney played with a number of familiar musicians and groups, including Jules Blattner, Ralph Butler, the Sessions Big Band, Carol Beth True and Hard Bop Heritage.

For more St. Louis jazz-related events this weekend and beyond, 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.

Online presale of Sheldon single tickets for 2008-09 begins Thursday, August 7

The Sheldon Concert Hall is offering a advance online presale of single tickets for their 2008-09 season. The special pre-sale begins at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, August 7, two days before the general public on-sale date of August 9. To purchase tickets during the presale, go to metrotix.com/promotions and enter the promotion code SHE08.

The Sheldon's jazz series for 2008-09 will include concerts by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Paula West, the Dave Holland Quintet, the John Jorgenson Quintet and Rachael Price. For more information, you can call The Sheldon at 314-533-9900 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Jazz at Lincoln Center seeks 10 quartets for international "Rhythm Road" tours

Jazz at Lincoln Center is seeking 10 quartets to promote American music in other countries through "The Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad", a partnership between JALC and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

According to the Rhythm Road Web site, the program "is designed to foster cultural exchange with audiences worldwide through performance and educational outreach. Selected ensembles tour to such regions as Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East for approximately one month. International activities include public concerts, master classes, lectures, demonstrations, workshops, jam sessions, media outreach, and collaborations with local musicians."

The tours operate under the official auspices of the U.S. government, and the Department of State funds international travel, hotels and meals and awards a modest tour honorarium to each musician. JALC organizes the tours and coordinates the auditions, which are judged by professional musicians. Selected quartets also will perform free public concerts at JALC’s Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola and in Washington D.C. and may be recorded and broadcast non-commercially.

JALC is looking for four-member ensembles that perform jazz, urban/hip hop, or American roots music (including blues, bluegrass, Cajun, gospel, zydeco, and country), and there are various other criteria that bands also must meet. Though JALC is based in New York City, the program apparently is open to musicians from all over the USA. For application and audition information, see the musicians' page on the Rhythm Road Web site. The application deadline is September 15, 2008.

StLJN jazz site of the week: Jazz and Blues Music Reviews

The StLJN jazz site of the week is Jazz and Blues Music Reviews, described by proprietor Tim Niland as "a completely subjective blog of music reviews covering mostly jazz and blues but branching out into other genres as well."

True to to his word, Niland covers a variety of music, including new releases, reissues and older catalog albums. He's prolific, too, posting several times a week. While, as with any individual writer, critic, blogger, etc, one may disagree with Niland's opinions on a a given record or artist, his straightforward, concise style is always eminently readable. You'll find Jazz and Blues Music Reviews at http://jazzandblues.blogspot.com/

The StLJN jazz site of the week is, as the name implies, a weekly feature, created to call attention to Web sites that jazz enthusiasts may find useful, informative and/or entertaining. Having already featured many (but by no means all) of my personal favorites over the last several months, I'm looking for more worthy sites to include in the future. Do you have a favorite jazz- or creative music-related Web site or blog that's yet to be mentioned? If so, please feel free to make suggestions in the comments, or send an email with your recommendation to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com.

Recently on Heliocentric Worlds

In the course of my regular jazz-blogging duties, I run across lots of online music videos that are worth watching but don't necessarily fit the StLJN format. And so was born StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds, where every day there's a different music video from genres including jazz, blues, soul, funk, classic rock, prog rock, experimental and more.

In recent weeks, Heliocentric Worlds has featured artists such as Charles Lloyd, B.B. King, Woody Shaw, Thelonious Monk, David Sanborn, Maceo Parker, Traffic, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Stevie Wonder, Billy Cobham and George Duke, Aretha Franklin, Howlin' Wolf, Graham Central Station, Duke Ellington Orchestra, The Crusader with Randy Crawford, Tower of Power, King Crimson, Gato Barbieri, Freddie King, Medeski Martin and Wood, World Saxophone Quartet and Frank Zappa.

You can see all these clips, plus hundreds more, by visiting Heliocentric Worlds at http://heliocentricworlds.blogspot.com. Better yet, add it to your RSS reader or list of feeds for a daily dose of online music video goodness.

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: Dave Koz' "Silver Lining," plus Red Holloway plays "Nica's Dream"

This week's videos offer previews of two saxophonists with very different styles who both will be performing in St. Louis this month. The clip up top spotlights Dave Koz, who will play The Pageant next Friday, August 8 to close out DJ and impresario Rick Sanborn's 2008 "Smooth Summer Party" series. Koz is seen here doing the tune "Silver Lining" at a festival in Maui, Hawaii.

The second video shows Red Holloway, who is scheduled to perform a free concert on Friday, August 29 at Kiener Plaza under the auspices of the new presenting organization St. Louis City Jazz. This clip of Holloway playing the Horace Silver composition "Nica's Dream" was recorded at a concert in Tokyo, Japan.