Via 52nd City: The percussion-heavy jazz and world music group Sworn to the Drum will perform live from 10:30 p.m. to midnight this Sunday, November 30 on "All Soul, No Borders," the KDHX (88.1 FM) radio program hosted by Josh Weinstein. From Weinstein's email:
"The group bills themselves as a "musical salute to the drum." They play improvisational jazz with a variety of world drumming infused. The group is led by Baba Mike Nelson. He plays trumpet, flügelhorn, conch shells, and assorted percussion including the bata drum. Sunday's line-up will include Aaron Parker on alto sax and flute, Mondel on congas, Ariel on Bass, plus the poetry of K. Curtis Lyle and vocal/rhythmic accompaniment by David A. N. Jackson."
(For those who can't listen to the over-the-air broadcast, note that KDHX streams its signal on its Web site, and also archives most programs for online listening for at least a couple of weeks after the original broadcast. )
Weinstein also says the group "are promoting an upcoming concert at The Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar next Sunday, December 7 from 7-9 PM." StLJN will have more details on that if & when we can get 'em...
This week's video spotlight shines on singer Nnenna Freelon, who's coming to St. Louis to perform Wednesday, December 3 through Saturday, December 6 at Jazz at the Bistro.
Now 54 years old, Freelon didn't begin singing professionally until she was in her late thirties, but since then she's more than made up for lost time, performing and recording with many well-known jazz artists including the Count Basie Orchestra, Ray Charles, Ellis Marsalis, Al Jarreau, Anita Baker, Aretha Franklin, Dianne Reeves, Diana Krall, Ramsey Lewis, George Benson, Clark Terry, Herbie Hancock and Terence Blanchard. She has been nominated for five Grammy awards and has recorded a wide variety of material, including standards, contemporary covers, originals and tributes to Stevie Wonder and Billie Holiday.
Today's clips show Freelon in three different musical situations. First up is "Get Out Of Town," recorded at the Panama Jazz Festival with a small combo. The second clip shows Freelon with Germany's WDR Big Band performing "I Cried For You," and last but not least is a performance from the 2001 Grammy Awards broadcast, in which Freelon teams up with vocal group Take 6 for a version of "Straighten Up And Fly Right" that earned a standing ovation from the audience of veteran music industry pros.
The Thanksgiving holiday means a somewhat reduced level of activity on local concert stages (and a holiday posting schedule here at StLJN) but there are still some noteworthy jazz and creative music events happening in St. Louis this weekend:
Let's start with trumpeter, singer and St. Louis native Jeremy Davenport (pictured), who returns home from New Orleans to perform at Jazz at the Bistro on Friday and Saturday, plus a matinee on Sunday to benefit PAN CAN, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. For much more on Davenport, see thhis post.
Also on Friday, pianist Peter Henderson is performing John Cage's "Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano" in a free concert at the Grigg Gallery of the St. Louis Art Museum.
The on Saturday, Trio Tres Bien with singer Danita Mumphard are at Cookie's Jazz and More in Webster Groves, and Clave de Sol, featuring pianist Phil Gomez, plays Latin jazz at Brandt's in University City.
On Sunday afternoon, singer Denise Thimes will perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall in what as being billed as a "women only" benefit for the Mildred Thimes Foundation, which supports pancreatic cancer research and awareness. Thimes will sing during the first half of the show, with the second half given over to spoken word performer Sharon McGhee, who will do a piece called "The Pocketbook Monologues."
Then on Sunday night, guitarist Peter White brings the 2009 edition of his Christmas show to The Pageant. White has been doing a holiday show for several years now using different smooth jazz musicians as co-headliners, and this year's featured guest stars are trumpeter Rick Braun and saxophonist Mindi Abair.
You can find more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond 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.)
StLJN has been getting a number of hits lately combining the search terms "Christmas" and "jazz," and so for the benefit of those visitors looking for more information on holiday jazz concerts in St. Louis, here's a quick overview of some noteworthy upcoming events:
Thursday, December 4: Guitarist Steve Schenkel and singer Ashley Mason perform music from their new Christmas CD A Midnight Clear with pianist Carolbeth True and bassist Ric Vice in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.
Thursday, December 4: Singer Jeanne Trevor and pianist Dave Venn headline a performance of jazz and holiday music at the Black Cat Theatre.
Sunday, December 7: Singer/pianist Harry Connick, Jr and his big band perform a holiday-themed concert at the Fox Theatre.
Friday, December 12: Trumpet player and singer Dawn Weber of Mo & Dawn does a holiday themed concert at the Black Cat Theatre.
Saturday, December 13: Singer/pianist Anita Rosamond performs her third annual Christmas show "Celebrate The Season" at the Black Cat Theatre.
Monday, December 15: Steve Schenkel and Ashley Mason with guitarist Dan Rubright and bassist Ric Vice at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium.
Other St. Louis musicians with Christmas CDs still in print include Anita Rosamond, whose release This Is Christmas came out in 2006, and saxophonist Rod Tate, who put out an album called Jazzy Melodies of Christmas last year. You can see Tate performing his version of "The Little Drummer Boy," taken from a show last December at the Vaughn Cultural Center, in the embedded video window below.
Do you know of any local jazz shows or CDs with a holiday theme that we've missed? Do you have a favorite holiday jazz CD (or CDs) of all time? Please use the comments to share your thoughts.
(Updated 11/28/08 to add the shows at Black Cat Theatre.)
The Sheldon Concert Hall has announced that single tickets for the February 8 concert at the hall by Dr. John and the Neville Brothers will go on sale at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, January 10.
The event is a benefit for the Friends of the Sheldon educational programs, and patron tickets are already on sale for $150 and $250, which includes preferred seating, valet parking, a post-concert reception, and a tax deduction. To purchase patron tickets, call 314-533-9900.
Single tickets will be priced from $55 to $75 and will be available at all MetroTix outlets, through metrotix.com or by calling 314-534-1111.
The Sheldon also has announced that the 2009 Sheldon Gala will feature actress and singer Bebe Neuwirth’s cabaret-style show “Stories with Piano” at 7:30 p.m. March 28 at the Sheldon. Tickets for the gala start at $500 and includes pre-concert cocktails, a post-concert dinner, preferred seating, and valet parking, and a tax deduction. To order tickets, call the Sheldon at 314-533-9900. Single tickets will be priced at $45 and $55 and will go on sale at 10 a.m. Februcary 21 via MetroTix.
It was just a couple of days ago that we noted in this space that trumpeter, vocalist and St. Louis native-turned-New Orleans resident Jeremy Davenport seems under-recorded by current music business standards, and now, word comes that he has signed a new deal with Basin Street Records. From the news release:
"Mark Samuels, president and founder of the award-winning New Orleans’ based record label, Basin Street Records, is pleased to announce the label has signed an exclusive recording agreement with trumpeter/vocalist/composer Jeremy Davenport. The first recording of this two record deal is scheduled to begin next month with a proposed spring 2009 release date.
Working together is a vision realized for both Samuels (pictured at left) and Davenport. They first met 20 years ago casually at lunch while Jeremy was still in high school and staying with Wynton Marsalis. Samuels states: “Jeremy was the first artist I tried to sign when I entered the music industry several years later and I’m truly excited he is now a part of our recording family.” Davenport echoes: “I was introduced to Mark by Wynton when I was just a kid. I've waited years to make a record with him. I'm thrilled!”
Samuels started Basin Street Records in 1997. The label released four recordings in 2008, by artists Irvin Mayfield, Dr. Michael White, Henry Butler and Theresa Andersson. The Basin Street roster also includes Kermit Ruffins, Jon Cleary, Jason Marsalis, Los Hombres Calientes, and the Headhunters. Davenport returns to St. Louis this week to perform Friday and Saturday evening as well as a Sunday matinee at Jazz at the Bistro.
While many St. Louisans are still recovering from Thanksgiving dinner or doing some Christsmas shopping, singer Erin Bode and her group will be living la vita di visita this week as they once again wing their way overseas to tour Italy.
This time, Bode and band will do nine shows in nine different venues between November 28 and December 7, covering both Sicily and the mainland. Bode's tour schedule doesn't yet list any St. Louis dates for December, but her new Christmas-themed CD A Cold December Night is now available for purchase there.
Jazz St. Louis has announced that the second concert in their new Whitaker Community Concerts series will feature the Reggie Thomas Group with trumpeter Anthony Wiggins performing at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, December 11 at the Black Cat Theatre in Maplewood. The concert will showcase the music of Louis Armstrong, and it's free and open to the public.
This week's Saturday video post is dedicated to St. Louis native, trumpeter and singer Jeremy Davenport, who's coming home Thanksgiving weekend to play Friday, November 28 and Saturday, November 29 at Jazz at the Bistro. (Davenport also will play a special matinee at the Bistro on Sunday, November 30 as a benefit for PAN CAN, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network).
Davenport is known mostly as a straight-ahead, swinging player, influenced heavily by the New Orleans tradition, but also by the laid-back vocals of Chet Baker and of Harry Connick Jr., with whom Davenport has worked. Born in St. Louis into a musical family - his father Roger spent more than 40 years as a trombonist with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra - Davenport started playing music as a kid and attended University City High School, alma mater of several other noted jazz players such as bassist Neal Caine and pianist Peter Martin.
He earned a scholarship to the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with, among others, Wynton Marsalis. Enamored with the New Orleans sound and encouraged by opportunities for work and the presence of other St. Louis transplants, Davenport moved south in the early 1990s, studying at the University of New Orleans with Wynton's dad, pianist Ellis Marsalis.
From there, Davenport landed a job with Connick Jr's big band, doing four world tours with that group. Davenport later snagged a house gig at the Ritz Carlton in New Orleans, but that was rudely interrupted when Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding so damaged the hotel that it had to close for more than a year. Davenport came home to St. Louis, where he spent 2006 and the first part of 2007 leading the house band at the now-closed Busch's Grove.
When the Ritz Carlton New Orleans reopened last year, Davenport got his old gig back - lucky for him, given the high-profile failure of Busch's Grove - and he continues to play in the hotel's French Quarter Bar three nights a week. He's also appeared as a musical guest on chef Emeril Lagasse's TV show, and has managed to return to St. Louis to perform at Jazz at the Bistro on Thanksgiving weekend for the last several years.
Given that he's a musician who works steadily and has a fan base, Davenport does seem a bit under-recorded. His discography includes several CDs as a sideman with the Connick band from the early 1990s, and two releases as a leader on the Telarc label, a self-titled debut in 1996 and a follow-up titled Maybe In A Dream in 1998.
Since then, Davenport's only publicly available recording has been a live album recorded in St. Louis in 2003 at the Bistro that was featured on National Public Radio's "Jazzset" program and eventually released on AAM Recordings in 2005. One can only speculate as to why Davenport hasn't recorded more; if nothing else, a "Live at the Ritz Carlton" CD would seem to be a natural, just for the potential sales off the bandstand as souvenirs of his live show. Overall, given his trumpet chops, vocal skills, and marketable image, he would seem to have just the sort of crossover potential that would appeal to many record companies, even in these hard-pressed times.
Alas, online video footage of Davenport is fairly scarce, too, but there were a couple of clips that merit a look. Up top is a video of Davenport performing a spirited version of the New Orleans classic "When The Saints Go Marching In." The picture quality is poor, as it looks to have been shot with a camcorder using only available light in the Ritz Carlton bar, but the sound quality actually is quite nice, considering the circumstances, and you can hear Davenport well.
Down below, you'll find a profile of Davenport that was done a couple of years ago by reporter/producer Anne-Marie Berger for Living St. Louis, the newsmagazine show that airs on local PBS affiliate KETC.
STLtoday, the Web site of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, has revamped what was once the site's classical music blog into a "fine arts" blog called Culture Club that also will include news of visual arts, theater, dance and jazz. The latter two subjects will be covered by the Post's Calvin Wilson, who's written frequently about jazz for the paper.
This is the first week for the new combined effort, and so far the only jazz-related posts are previews of this Saturday's Paula West concert and pianist Jacky Terasson's upcoming stint at Jazz at the Bistro, but I'm sure Wilson will be coming up with lots more in the future. Check out Culture Club here.
"Cultural Festivals, the not-for-profit organization that produces one-of-a-kind events such as the Saint Louis Art Fair, the Big Read, and the Saint Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival, announced that the Jazz Festival will take a one year hiatus in 2009.
Cultural Festivals has produced the Saint Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival in Clayton’s Shaw Park since 2001. The one-day event featuring top local and national performers in jazz, blues, roots, rhythm & blues, is the only event sponsored by Cultural Festivals that does not offer free general admission. Ticket prices have ranged from $20 per person to $75 per person for access to the VIP hospitality tent and preferred parking.
“The Jazz Festival has been enjoyed by many people and the Board of Director’s decision to take a hiatus was a tough one to make. Cultural Festivals is currently in midst of conducting a search for a new executive director and is reviewing the organization’s structure. Unfortunately, we do not expect the new executive director to be hired and the organizational review to be completed in time to plan and book performers for a 2009 event,” said Laura Miller, who has been acting executive director since last June.
Miller added that the decision take a year hiatus with the Jazz Festival does not impact plans for the 16th annual Saint Louis Art Fair scheduled for September 11, 12 & 13, 2009 or the 4th annual Big Read festival scheduled for October 10, 2009.
The Sheldon Concert Hall and Jazz St. Louis, two original presenting partners of the Saint Louis Jazz & Heritage Festival, have had preliminary discussions to consider ways to collaborate on a jazz event in the summer of 2009. Whether Cultural Festivals will play a role in this event has yet to be determined."
This unfortunate news will take some time to fully digest, but it's worth noting what the release doesn't say - that the jazz festival was reduced from two days to one a couple of years back, in part due to reductions in funding from key sponsors; that attendance hasn't grown much over the event's lifetime; and, with bad weather a contributing factor, the crowds even have fallen off a bit the last two years from the peak four or five years ago.
It also occurs to yr. humble editor that "on hiatus" seems to be the current term of art used by the broadcast TV networks when they cancel a show forever, but, for whatever reason, don't want to just come out and say they're canceling it. Here's hoping that's not the case with the Jazz and Heritage Festival. However, assuming the event does come back after the hiatus, I'd also hope that the organizers will use the time off to make some changes for the better.
What sorts of changes should be made? Well, that's a subject that's been extensively discussed here at StLJN in the past - just plug the words "St. Louis" and "jazz festival" into the search engine at the top of the page, and you can see some of that discussion - and, given today's development, probably will be the subject of a future post.
The gist, though, is that I think the festival needs programming that is more musically substantive, diverse and distinctive. The event also could do more to explicitly celebrate St. Louis' rich musical heritage, and to involve more constituencies from within the community, thus becoming a real city-wide festival instead of just a nice day of music in the park.
I'll also be trying to find out more about the potential summer 2009 event mentioned in the news release, as that's certainly of significant interest. But in the meantime, what do you think? Please use the comments to add your thoughts on the jazz fest going on hiatus, and on what ought to be done in the future.
There's lots going on this week with jazz and creative music in St. Louis, so let's get right to the highlights, starting with three touring performers who are playing in the Gateway City over the next few days.
Tonight, Latin-jazz percussionist Poncho Sanchez begins a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. You can see a couple of videos featuring Sanchez and his band in this post from last Saturday, and Jazz St. Louis also has a podcast interview with Sanchez here.
Also on Saturday, New Music Circle and St. Louis Community College-Forest Park will present pioneering electronic musician and composer Morton Subotnick (pictured) in concert at the college's Mildred E. Bastian Performing Arts Center. Subotnick will perform "Until Spring Revisited," a remaking of an electronic music/video composition originally created for solo synthesizer in 1975.
In addition to these three headliners, there are a number of other noteworthy shows this week. On Thursday, the mysterious FO(U)R PEACE BAND does a free show for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. I call them "mysterious" because I haven't been able to find out anything about them on the 'Net, nor have Wash U or the Jazz at Holmes series released anything about who they are or what sort of music they play. Still, given the series' deserved reputation for presenting good stuff, the show seemed worth a mention here, but caveat lector.
Also on Thursday, world music fans may want to check out the UMSL University Percussion Ensemble and Afro-Cuban Ensemble and their special guest Adam Rugo, who will perform percussion music from Africa, Cuba, Japan and the United States in a free concert at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.
Moving on to Saturday, the Kemper Museum presents a free concert by guitarist Teddy Presberg and his band the Red Note Revivalists as part of the series of live performances accompanying the museum's current "Birth of the Cool" exhibit.
On Sunday, the Nu Art Series presents the Tayammum Falah Art Orchestra in concert at the Metropolitan Gallery, 2936 Locust St. The group features the leader on drums and percussion, plus bassist Raymond Eldridge, pianist Christopher Evans, and an intriguing front line of veterans Floyd LeFlore on trumpet and Willie Akins on saxophones.
Looking beyond the weekend, the first part of next week offers a couple of shows of particular interest to big band fans. On Monday, the Sessions Big Band continues its ongoing series of gigs at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups, and on Tuesday, the Genesis Jazz Project does one of its semi-annual free concerts at the TouPAC.
You can find more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond 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.)
It's been a busy couple of weeks here at StLJN, with a lot of breaking news and relatively high traffic (as well as some nagging computer issues that still aren't totally resolved). While there's a momentary lull in the action, I wanted to take the opportunity to convey a couple of bits of site-related news.
First, you may have noticed that the bottom of each StLJN post now features a button labeled "Bookmark." This button launches a little pop-up window with an app called AddThis, which simplifies the process of recommending/posting a story to Digg, Facebook, MySpace and other social media sites. So, if you're a social media user, please feel free to go town and link to and/or recommend StLJN stories to your heart's content.
(Along similar but less trendy lines, it should be noted that you still can share any StLJN post with a friend or friends via email by clicking on the little envelope icon at the bottom of the post.)
The second comparatively recent development is that StLJN headlines now are appearing on the Jazz St. Louis site, and posts also are now available through the "News" section of AllAboutJazz.com. Both JSL and AAJ asked nicely if it was OK to use StLJN's site feed, and I was happy to have the opportunity to reach more people and get StLJN's content more widely distributed. (And in case you're wondering, there's no money changing hands; the idea is simply that they get some additional content - in AAJ's case, really just a small series of drops in a already very large bucket - and, hopefully, StLJN gets some more readers.)
Of course, you can use that same RSS feed to put StLJN into your newsreader or onto a home page at Google, Yahoo, MSN or elsewhere. The sidebar contains links to the basic feed in RSS and XML versions, as well as a series of buttons that simplify the process of adding StLJN to several popular newsreaders and home page providers. Or if you'd like to get StLJN in e-mail form, you can do that, too; see the same section of the sidebar to sign up for that service, which is provided free of charge by Feedblitz.
Last but not least, please remember that your comments, e-mails, link suggestions, news items, band and venue schedule information, and any other relevant correspondence are always welcome. Comments are enabled on every StLJN post, or you can send an e-mail to stljazznotes AT yahoo DOT com. (Don't forget to close up the spaces and replace the spam-fooling, all-caps words with their symbolic equivalents.)
Looking for more groovy online music videos like those featured here every Saturday? Check out StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds, which presents a different music video every day from genres including jazz, blues, soul, funk, classic rock, prog rock and experimental.
Recent clips have featured a typically varied lineup of artists, including Freddie King, Medeski Martin and Wood, the ICP Orchestra, Anthony Braxton, Bootsy Collins, James Brown, Ella Fitzgerald, Chico Hamilton, Grover Washington Jr., The Band, Little Milton, Fats Waller and Ada Brown, War, Sex Mob and DJ Olive, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Thelonious Monk, and Warren Zevon.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch classical music critic Sarah Bryan Miller attended three of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra's Guitar Festival performances this past week, and wrote a review of the three programs for Sunday's paper. You can find it online here.
Today's video clips feature master Latin/jazz percussionist Poncho Sanchez, who will be in St. Louis next week to perform Wednesday, November 19 through Saturday, November 22 at Jazz at the Bistro. Sanchez' band is considered one of the top Latin/jazz groups working today, and the majority of their gigs are at concerts and festivals. They rarely play clubs, which is why Jazz St. Louis director of operations Bob Bennett tells me that the organization feels they've scored quite a coup by enticing Sanchez to the Gateway City for a four-night stand.
These two clips will provide a brief introduction to Sanchez's energetic, extroverted approach to music. Up top, you can see him and his band working out on "El Conguero," which translates (as if you couldn't guess) as "the conga player." Down below, they're playing a tune called "Baila Mi Gente," which Babelfish tells me means "my people dance." I'm not quite sure about the Spanish syntax there - it could be "dance, my people" - but the music comes through loud and clear.
Jazz St. Louis has the latest in their ongoing series of podcasts online now.
The fifth in the series, the new podcast features an interview with percussionist and bandleader Poncho Sanchez (pictured), who will be in St. Louis next week to perform Wednesday, November 19 through Saturday, November 22 at Jazz at the Bistro.
There's a feature story about the event here; an extended interview with Branca by the RFT's Roy Kasten here; and a two-part account by guitarist and RFT scribe Ryan Wasoba of what it was like to prepare and play the Branca piece, found here and here.
St. Louis' National Public Radio affiliate KWMU (90.7 FM) will move from the campus of the University of Missouri - St. Louis to the Grand Center arts and entertainment district in midtown, according to a story in yesterday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The radio station is known to St. Louis jazz fans as the home of Dennis Owsley's weekly program Jazz Unlimited, which is broadcast from 9:00 p.m. to midnight on Sundays. The story says UMSL will build a three-level, 27,000 square foot facility next to the KETC building on Olive at a cost of around $7 million that will contain the new offices and studios for KWMU as well as space for other university programs. Read the whole thing here.
The Sheldon Concert Hall is offering a special online presale for tickets to the Bela Fleck/Africa Project show scheduled for Wednesday, April 1, 2009. Tickets are priced at $45 and $55, and the online presale begins at 10:00 a.m., Thursday November 13. To order, visit www.metrotix.com/promotions and use the promotional code BELA08.
The Sheldon also is offering a $10 discount on online orders for tickets to see singer Paula West, who will perform at the hall on Saturday, November 22. To get the discount, go to www.metrotix.com/promotions and use the promotional code PAULA10. (You can see some video of West performing in this post from last Saturday.)
There have been some technical difficulties here today at StLJN HQ, and so we must offer a slightly less-expansive-than-usual guide to the notable jazz and creative music performances in St. Louis over the next few days:
On Thursday, saxophonist Dave Liebman (pictured) will be on the Washington University campus teach and perform, with a a master class at 3:00 p.m., followed by a lecture at 4:00 p.m.. Both the master class and lecture take place at the music department classroom building at 6500 Forsyth.. That night, Liebman, who's played with Miles Davis, Elvin Jones and many other jazz giants, and his quartet will perform a free concert at 8:00 p.m. in Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall, for the Jazz at Holmes series.
Also on Thursday, the Guitar Festival continues with a concert at The Pageant featuring John Patitucci, Mackey, and an ensemble of 100 electric guitarists and bassists performing Glenn Branca's "Hallucination City". The program also includes works by Frank Zappa, Edgard Varese and Jimi Hendrix, and there's more info at the links above.
On Friday and Saturday, guitarist Shaun Robinson of the group Good 4 The Soul leads his own band at Jazz at the Bistro. Much like Good 4 the Soul, Robinson's project is described as incorporating R&B, funk and other genres into the jazz idiom, but beyond that I can't tell you much about what to expect, other than some good musicianship.
On Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis International Film Festival and New Music Circle present a screening of the 1911 Italian silent film L'Inferno with live musical score performed by S.A.N.E. (Semi-Acoustic Noise Ensemble) at the St. Louis Art Museum Auditorium. Sunday is also the day the Festival screens documentary films about banjo player Bela Fleck and guitarist Pat Martino; for more about these ad other music-related movies in the Fest, see this post.
With a little luck, regular posting shouldn't shouldn't be affected for too long. In the meantime, you can find more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond 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.)
Tickets for Bennett's concert will be priced from $55 to $85, and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m., Friday, November 21 via MetroTix and the Fox box office.
The show is being presented by local PBS affiliate KETC (Channel 9), and according to a commenter on this post at Post-Dispatch music critic Kevin Johnson's blog The Blender, tickets for the Bennett concert will be available as premiums for an upcoming pledge drive beginning at 8:00 p.m. this Thursday, November 13, when the station is scheduled to rebroadcast the program "Tony Bennett Duets: The Making of An American Classic."
You read it here first, way back in June, and now it can be confirmed: New Orleans singer/pianist Dr. John and the Crescent City's "first family of funk" the Neville Brothers (pictured) will be returning to St. Louis to perform at The Sheldon on Sunday, February 8, 2009.
As speculated in that post in June, the event will indeed be a Friends of the Sheldon fundraiser for the organization's educational programs. However, note that the actual, confirmed date is four days earlier than what had been posted to Pollstar and cited here. Chris Peimann, director of publicity and marketing for The Sheldon, says details on ticket availability and prices will be released in a couple of weeks.
"Don't miss Erin Bode on KMOV's "Great Day St. Louis" tomorrow morning, November 12, 2008 at 10:00 A.M. Bode will discuss her new Christmas album prior to her CD release party at the Bistro that evening."
"Great Day St. Louis" is a relatively new local morning magazine show hosted by Carol Daniel (who many St. Louisans know from her work on KMOX radio) and Stephanie Simmons. It airs at 10:00 a.m., Monday through Friday on local CBS affiliate KMOV (Channel 4), and looks to have a format similar to KSDK's long-running "Show Me St. Louis," with interviews, light features about local entertainment and attractions, segments on cooking and health, and so on.
The show's Web site offers clips of at least some of each day's segments, so you may be able to catch Bode's appearance online as well.
The 17th annual St. Louis International Film Festival, which begins this Thursday, November 13 and continues through Sunday, November 23, will feature St. Louis premieres of a number of recent music-related movies as well as an historic silent film with live musical accompaniment.
The fest's busiest day for cinema related to jazz and creative music looks to be next Sunday, November 16. At 3:00 p.m. that day at the St. Louis Art Museum Auditorium, the festival will screen The Inferno, a silent Italian film from 1911, with live musical accompaniment by Semi-Acoustic Noise Ensemble (S.A.N.E). It's the first full-length Italian film ever made, and is loosely based on Dante’s epic; this version was restored in 2004.
This event is co-sponsored with New Music Circle and represents the 22nd installment of the organization's Circle/Cinema series of films with live music. Longtime NMC board member and analog synth wizard/guitarist/bassist Mike Murphy is one of the principals in S.A.N.E., along with multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter tory z. starbuck (who, like e.e. cummings, prefers the lower case); starbuck's muse/cohort Venus Slick on synths; plus a couple of musicians I don't know, J. Bruce McLaughlin and Tony Engelhardt. Murphy, starbuck et al have done this sort of thing a number of times before, and I'd expect them to cook up something interesting for this outing, too.
(Full disclosure: While working as administrator for New Music Circle in the 1990s, I co-conceived the Circle/Cinema series, handled production chores for the first several installments, and also played keyboards in a couple of them. I've also worked with Murphy on several projects.)
At 7:00 p.m. that evening, the festival will show Throw Down Your Heart at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium. The movie documents banjo player Bela Fleck's trip through Africa to explore the roots of his instrument and record an album. As mentioned in this previous post, Fleck will be bringing some of the musicians featured in the film to St. Louis in April for a concert at The Sheldon.
Then at 9:30 p.m. at the Tivoli in University City, it's Martino Unstrung, in which "neuropsychologist and author Paul Broks travels America in search of the soul of legendary jazz guitarist Pat Martino, who was brutally silenced by memory-stripping brain surgery to remove a tumor. Through the remarkable story of Martino’s difficult ascent from the depths of amnesia to the peak of artistry, Broks explores the nature of memory, self, creativity and the brain systems underlying personal identity, making some ground-breaking discoveries on the way."
To find out more about Martino Unstrung, you can check out the trailer in the embedded video window below, and a recent package of related stories from AllAboutJazz.com, including interviews with Martino, Broks and director Ian Knox, and a review of the DVD. As noted here, Martino will be in St. Louis February 18-21 to perform at Jazz at the Bistro.
In chronological order, the festival's other music-related films include:
12:00 p.m., Saturday, November 15 at the Tivoli Song Sung Blue, which tells "the inspiring and ultimately tragic love story of Lightning & Thunder, Mike and Claire Sardina, a Milwaukee husband-and-wife singing duo who pay tribute to the music of Neil Diamond."
4:30 p.m., Sunday, November 16 at the Tivoli Number One With A Bullet, which "explores the interrelationships between guns,poverty, drugs, hip-hop culture and cultural violence" via interviews with "record-company insiders, gun-shop owners, drug dealers, doctors, urban-community members and rap stars."
4:30 p.m., Tuesday, November 18 at Plaza Frontenac Opera Jawa, an "all-dancing, all-singing gamelan musical epic" based on the Hindu epic “The Ramayana.” (This film will be shown again at 9:15 p.m. Wednesday, November 19 at Plaza Frontenac.)
5:00 p.m., Tuesday, November 18 at the Tivoli How it is with Phooie, "an intensely personal portrait" of Phil “Phooie” Steinberg, a 35-year veteran of the music industry who was forced to close his longtime record store, the Disc Connection, due to radical changes in the music business.
9:30 p.m., Tuesday, November 18 at the Tivoli The Wrecking Crew, a documentary about the group of Los Angeles studio musicians who worked on recordings by producer Phil Spector and artists including the Beach Boys, the Mamas and the Papas, Frank Sinatra, the Monkees and countless others, performing on more No. 1 singles than the Beatles.
7:15 p.m., Wednesday November 19 at the Tivoli Agile, Mobile, Hostile: A Year With Andre Williams, which deals with the life and personal troubles of R&B singer/songwriter Andre Williams, who's written and recorded a number of hits but also has struggled with "addiction, poverty, homelessness and the legal system."
1:00 p.m., Saturday, November 22 at the Tivoli Summer Sun, Winter Moon, which was co-commissioned by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and documents the collaboration between composer Rob Kapilow and Darrell Robes Kipp, a Blackfeet Indian poet, on a symphony inspired by the Lewis and Clark expedition.
5:30 p.m., Saturday, November 22 at the Tivoli As Slow as Possible, the story of a man slowly going blind from a chronic disease who travels from Canada to Halberstadt, Germany to hear the first note change in a 639-year-long automated organ performance of the John Cage composition “As Slow As Possible.”
For a complete festival schedule, see the SLIFF Web site.
Friday, January 16 & Saturday, January 17: Lamar Harris Friday, January 30: Bennett Wood Quartet Saturday, January 31: Utter Chaos Friday, March 13 & Saturday, March 14: Funky Butt Brass Band Friday, March 27 & Saturday, March 28: Legacy Jazz Quintet Friday, April 24 & Saturday, April 25: Jazz St. Louis All-Stars Friday, May 8 & Saturday, May 9: Erin Bode Friday, May 22 & Saturday, May 23: Kim Massie
Three of these ensembles are making their debuts at the Bistro: alto saxophonist Bennett Wood and his quartet; Utter Chaos, which features a front line of trombone and baritone sax modeled on the Bob Brookmeyer/Gerry Mulligan group of the 1950s; and the Funky Butt Brass Band (pictured), a spin-off of the New Orleans-inspired funk/R&B/zydeco group Gumbohead that focuses specifically on the Crescent City's brass band style.
Wood and Utter Chaos have both played at The Gramophone as part of the the Tuesday night series Jazz St. Louis is co-sponsoring there. If they draw sufficient numbers of listeners at the Bistro, it would certainly help validate the notion of those Tuesday shows as another way for JSL to experiment with new talent and programming ideas.
As for the Funky Butt Brass Band, I haven't heard them yet, but I do know the band's tenor saxophonist Ben Reece by virtue of having played a few casual gigs with him. Ben's a good player, and seemed very enthused about the FBBB when I asked him about it a couple of months ago.
Overall, this strikes me as a good, representative mix of new talent and proven attractions (Harris, Bode and Massie), plus the second appearance at the club by the Legacy Jazz Quintet (which includes JSL director of education Phil Dunlap on piano) and the annual gig by the All-Stars, an ensemble of student musicians drawn from JSL's educational programs.
I'd still like to see Jazz St. Louis doing something at the Bistro with both traditional and avant garde/experimental jazz. Executive director Gene Dobbs Bradford and operations director Bob Bennett have indicated to me that they'd consider both if the shows could be made to work from a financial standpoint. So here's a thought: Book a weekend with a traditional jazz band on Friday and something avant garde, experimental and/or free improvisational on Saturday. (Or vice versa.) Booking one night per act instead of a two-night stand would concentrate the turnout, mitigating the financial risks somewhat, and perhaps it could be tied into the organization's educational programs as well.
If nothing else, such a weekend would give young musicians and students a chance to hear, compare and contrast two jazz styles that are currently under-represented at area venues, and who knows, perhaps it could be turned into a genuine teaching moment. There are certainly commonalities between early jazz and the avant garde, such as collective improvisation and the use of vocal-type sounds by brass instruments and extended techniques by reeds, that could be interesting and informative for young players and students (and jazz fans of all ages) to experience and explore.
Tickets for the additional 2009 performances go on sale Tuesday, December 9, 2008 through all Metrotix outlets and the Jazz St. Louis box office.
(Edited slightly after posting to fix a garbled sentence. Edited again to add links.)
Phillip Wilson, the drummer and St. Louis native who was an early member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, broke into the musical big time with the Butterfield Blues Band, and went on to play with many of the important free jazz musicians of the 1970s and 1980s, is remembered fondly in a recent post by Brian Olewnick at his blog Just Outside.
To interject a personal note, I've had an interest in Wilson and his music since my teens, when I played in a teenage garage/basement band with two of his nephews, who told many awe-tinged stories about their famous "Uncle Phillip" and his adventures in the music biz. Given the relative paucity of information about him on the 'Net, it's nice to see someone else remembering Wilson, who was murdered near NYC's Central Park in 1992, when he was just 50 years old.
There's also a page about Wilson at Discogs.org that offers a sampling of his discography, albeit with some notable omissions, including his work with Butterfield and with Full Moon, a sort of jazz/funk/pop spin-off of the Butterfield band that included keyboardist Neil Larson, guitarist Buzz Feiten and saxophonist Gene Dinwiddie. Despite those gaps, the page is worth a look if you'd like to know more about this great but under-remembered musician.
The Sunday edition of the Post-Dispatch has an article by classical music critic Sarah Bryan Miller previewing the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra's Guitar Festival, which will take place this week at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, The Pageant, and Powell Symphony Hall. The five concerts will include performances of music by Pat Metheny, Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix and Edgard Varese, as well as "Hallucination City," a Glenn Branca piece scored for 100 electric guitars, and orchestral fare including two American premieres of new symphonic works and Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring."
Guest performers will include guitarist Jason Vieaux, who will perform the Metheny pieces and other works at the Pulitzer; composer/guitarist Steven Mackey, whose composition "Beautiful Passing" will be performed by the SLSO at Powell Hall; and famed jazz bassist John Patitiucci (pictured), who, for some odd reason, isn't mentioned at all in Miller's article despite being probably the best known (to the non-classical-music-listening public, anyway) of the guest performers. You can read Miller's piece online here.
"In recent months, there was a drive by some people to have the city name the amphitheater after the late jazz musician (Miles) Davis, who was born in Alton. Publicity about that idea spawned other people to suggest other names, from tying it in to the Mississippi River to various Alton office-holders of the past. Corporate representatives from a grocery store chain also inquired about buying rights, so the facility could carry its name."
The story also quotes Phil Roggio, Alton director of development and housing, as saying, "I don't care what they call it; I just want to get it built." Work is expected to be completed in December, the article said.
Even if the new facility ends up not being named after Davis, the story notes that he could end up being recognized at the site in another way, as the "steering committee for the annual Miles Davis Jazz Celebration also has talked to city officials about holding their event at the amphitheater next May."
St. Louis' Jazz at the Bistro and the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site are among the music venues cited in "Nine Great Jazz Joints," an article appearing in the current issue of Budget Travel magazine and online at CNN.com. The magazine asked six musicians to name some of their favorite spots to hear jazz, and St. Louis native and multi-reedman J.D. Parran nominated the Bistro and the Joplin house.
The article also offers the recommendations of baritone saxophonist Claire Daly for NYC, bassist Ben Jaffe for New Orleans, and Chicago trombonist Steve Swell, as well as violinist Jason Huo Kwang's take on Amsterdam, Netherlands and German pianist Ursel Schlict on Cologne, Germany. Read the whole thing here.
This week, we spotlight some videos from singer Paula West, who will be in St. Louis on Saturday, November 22 to perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Some local listeners have had the chance to hear West before, as she came to town earlier this year for a four-night engagement at the now-closed Cabaret at Savor. For those who haven't yet heard her, this review from Backstage magazine of a performance last month at the Oak Room in NYC's Algonquin Hotel conveys some idea of her approach to interpretative singing.
To hear for yourself, though, check out these two clips of West performing two very different songs, the Latin-jazz standard "Nature Boy" (above) and Bob Dylan's verbose rock classic "Like a Rolling Stone" (below) with her regular accompanists the George Mesterhazy Quartet at the Jazz Standard in NYC.
It should be a good weekend to go out and hear some live music in St. Louis, and fortunately, there's a nice variety of jazz and creative music happening at local venues.
The biggest name in town and the pick show of the week is alto saxophonist Miguel Zenon (pictured), who's performing at Jazz at the Bistro nightly through Saturday, You can read more about Zenon and see some video of his playing in this post from last week.
On Thursday, Austrian pianist Elizabeth Harnik and her trio will do a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. English-languange info on Harnik seems to be somewhat scarce on the Internet, so I can't tell you too much about her music, other than that in addition to performing jazz and improvisational music, she also has classical training, composes music for chamber ensembles and theater, and has even written an opera.
On Friday, improvisational guitarist/banjoist Paul Metzger and multimedia performer Tim Kaiser return to Open Lot. You can read more about the show and them here. Also on Friday, keyboardist, electronic musician and composer James Hegarty will present a concert titled "Antithesis Reflex" at the Three Sinks Gallery, 8715 Big Bend Blvd in Webster Groves.
According to the promotional email sent out by New Music Circle, Hegarty's performance includes two movements; the first, "Space Churn Red," combines improvised piano with interactive computer accompaniment. The piece was inspired by a kinetic sculpture of the same title by George Rickey at the Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University (which Hegarty recently visited), and incorporates computer-manipulated recordings of kinetic sculptures, spoken dialogues, synthesis and environments. The second movement, "Antithesis Reflex," is for unaccompanied piano and "explores abstract and flexible formal structures as applied to improvisation."
Also on Saturday, the Ambassadors of Swing perform with ballroom dancers Alex Borodko and Angi Heren in a show at the Lucas School House to benefit the Family Center. And on Sunday afternoon, guitarist Steve Schenkel and singer Ashley Mason give a free in-store performance at Webster Records. They'll be playing music from their new holiday CD A Midnight Clear, which you can learn more about by reading this post.
UPDATE - 2:30 p.m., 11/8/08: Sunday also brings a benefit show for Mae "Lady Jazz" Wheeler at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups. Wheeler has been battling cancer, and an impressive lineup of local blues singers will perform to raise money to help with the veteran vocalist's medical and living expenses. The show runs from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and scheduled performers include Kim Massie, Robbie Montgomery, Renee Smith, Uvee Hayes, Marsha Evans and Kari Liston of the Bottoms Up Blues Gang.
Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Sessions Big Band is at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups. On Tuesday, the Brookmeyer/Mulligan-inspired band Utter Chaos is at The Gramophone, and the Jazz St. Louis CD Listening Club will have its monthly meeting, spinning John Coltrane's Giant Steps with KSDK reporter/anchor Cordell Whitlock and JSL executive director Gene Dobbs Bradford at the Borders Store in Brentwood, 1519 S. Brentwood Blvd.
Last but not least, next Wednesday Erin Bode will begin a two-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro to promote the release of her new Christmas CD, while the "free jazz/power electronics" ensemble Squid Choir Orkestra will play the Way Out Club, 2525 S. Jefferson, as the opening act for experimental rock band Skarekrau Radio.
You can find the latest updates and more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond 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.)
Jazz St. Louis is looking for a young saxophonist who may be "St. Louis’ next rising star of jazz" to perform with saxophonists Greg Osby (pictured) and Willie Akins on April 10 and 11 at Jazz at the Bistro.
The concert is dubbed "St. Louis Shoes," after Osby's CD of the same name; the competition is open to all saxophonists in high school or college in the St. Louis area, including both Missouri and Illinois. Applicants will be asked to download and complete a written application and submit a good quality recording of three musical selections, including “St. Louis Blues” (W.C. Handy), “Shaw’ Nuff" (Brown, Fuller, Gillespie) and a ballad of the applicant's choosing.
The recordings of musicians accepted into the second round will be posted on Jazz St. Louis' Web site and evaluated by a panel of professional musicians from around the country. Five finalists will be invited to Jazz at the Bistro in February, 2009 to record with a professional rhythm section. Those recordings will be sent to Osby, who will make the final decision.
Applications and materials for the first round will be due on Friday, January 2, 2009, with the final decision coming in March. For more details, see the Jazz St. Louis Web site, or you can get in touch with Jazz St. Louis' director of education Phil Dunlap by calling 314-289-4033 or sending an e-mail to phil@jazzstl.org.
Improvisational guitarist and banjoist Paul Metzger and multimedia performer Tim Kaiser are returning to St. Louis for another concert at the Open Lot arts collective and performance space at 9:00 p.m. this Friday, November 7.
Both Metzger and Kaiser are known for building their own musical instruments and/or modifying conventional instruments for their own purposes, and both appeared inSt. Louis on a double bill at the same venue back in March of this year. To see some video clips of Metzger and Kaiser in action, check out this previous StLJN post. Admission to this Friday's performance is $6 at the door. Open Lot is located at 1310 South 18th Street, 63104.
Local music retailer Vintage Vinyl is doing their part to encourage participation in the democratic process (and perhaps stimulate a little economic activity) by offering a 10% discount to any customer who can prove they voted this Tuesday.
According to the store's promotional email, all you have do to is come into either VV store "sportin' your "I Voted" sticker that ya get when you've wrapped up yer civic duty at the polling station. Just show yer sticker at the counter & yer good for 10% off!" Better hurry, though - the offer is good only on Tuesday, November 4 (Election Day) and Wednesday, November 5.
As promised, we've got a few more details on Erin Bode's new Christmas-themed CD A Cold December Night, as relayed from Ms. Bode via Jazz St. Louis' Bob Bennett to StLJN.
The CD (cover art at left) is an independent release by Bode and her bandmates, and not a part of any deal with the Native Language label, which put out Bode's CD The Little Garden earlier this year. All the music on A Cold December Night is performed by Bode, keyboardist/guitarist Adam Maness, bassist Syd Rodway and drummer Derek Phillips, except for some background vocals from Chris Hobson and, on one tune, harmony vocals from Patricia Bode. In addition to his usual duties on piano, electric piano and guitar, Maness adds recorder, glockenspiel, harmonica, accordian and melodica to various songs, and Bode plays soprano recorder on one track.
Original songs by Bode and Maness include "Skating," "Cold December Night" and "The Star's Song," Other tracks are "See Amid The Winter's Snow, "A Cradle in Bethlehem," "The Holly and the Ivy," "Holy Night, Peaceful Night," "The Coventry Carol," "From Heaven Above to Earth I Come," "Bethlehem Down" and "In The Bleak Midwinter."
Bode will promote the release of the A Cold December Night with performances on Wednesday, November 12 and Thursday November 13 at Jazz at the Bistro. In a slight change from the Bistro's usual procedure, set times for these two nights only will be at 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
The St. Louis-based label MAXJAZZ has released a new CD by singer/pianist Dena DeRose. Titled Live at the Jazz Standard, Volume 2, it features DeRose with her longtime accomplices Martin Wind on bass and Matt Wilson on drums, and was recorded at the NYC club at the same time as the critically acclaimed first volume, which came out in October 2007.
To see a short slideshow on DeRose with audio samples from Live at Jazz Standard, Volume 2, go here.
Political observers are expecting an extraordinarily large turnout for Tuesday's elections, and as a result, voters at some polling places may have long waits in line before they can cast their ballots. To help make the time spent in line a little more enjoyable, the St. Louis office of the Barack Obama campaign is looking for musicians who can volunteer some time on Tuesday to perform at polling places for those waiting to vote.
Ted Rose, who's coordinating the effort for the Obama campaign, explains in an email: "We're looking for people who can play between 6 and 8:00 pm, before and just after the polls close. The only rule is to entertain everyone and have a good time. The idea is to make waiting at the polls a party! We'll be assigning polling places on Sunday up until that evening. Interested people should contact me at entertainersforchange@yahoo.com."
This week, we take at look at some video clips featuring alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón, who's one of the fastest-rising young jazz stars to emerge this decade. Zenón will be in St. Louis next week to perform Wednesday, November 5 through Saturday, November 8 at Jazz at the Bistro, and to help those who haven't heard him get acquainted, today we've got excerpts from three performances that reveal different aspects of his musical personality.
Originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico, Zenón is a graduate of both Berklee College of Music and the Manhattan School of Music. His credits include performances and/or recordings with artists including David Sanchez, Charlie Haden, The Village Vanguard Orchestra, Bobby Hutcherson, Bob Moses, The Either Orchestra, Guillermo Klein, the Mingus Big Band, Jerry Gonzalez & The Fort Apache Band, Ray Barretto and Steve Coleman. St. Louis listeners also may remember Zenon from his appearance here in 2006 at the Bistro with the SF Jazz Collective, which he helped found.
Zenon has put out four recordings as a leader, with the most recent, Awake, released earlier this year. He has received many awards, this year including fellowships from both the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation (sometimes called the “Genius Grant”). That kind of recognition tends to raise expectations to daunting levels, but those who have heard Zenón can attest that he's definitely got the goods to be a significant force in creative music for many years to come.
The embedded video windows up top feature Zenón at the Nuyorican Cafe in NYC, offering a rather quirky deconstruction of the familiar Latin standard "Oye Como Va" with some help from Aldemar Valetin on bass, Tony Escapa on drums and Reynaldo de Jesus on congas. Those listeners who are expecting something akin to the famous versions by Tito Puente and/or Carlos Santana may be taken aback, but hearing a musician offer a fresh take on a well-known tune can provide useful insights into the way their mind works, and I think that's the case here.
Down below, Zenón displays a more romantic side and a lusher sound in a performance of a Latin ballad titled "Qué Te Pedí" recorded at Zinco Jazz Club in México City. The final embedded video showcases a Zenón solo on the tune "Birdlike," recorded in June 2006 at Smalls with Bruce Barth on piano, Doug Weiss on bass and Jason Marsalis on drums. Though the video is dark, it's worth checking out to hear Zenón show off some blazing bop chops.
