StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Improvisations from Gino Robair

This week, let's take a look at some video clips featuring percussionist, composer, conceptualist and record label operator Gino Robair, who's coming to St. Louis to perform under the auspices of New Music Circle next Saturday, March 7 on the main stage of the Mildred E. Bastian Center for the Performing Arts at St. Louis Community College-Forest Park.

Based in San Francisco, Robair has been a force on the international free improv scene since the 1980s, both for his own playing and composing and for his entrepreneurial work as head of Rastascan, a record label he formed to document his own music as well as that of other free improvising musicians.

For his St. Louis gig, Robair will be performing "I, Norton," which is described both as an "improv opera" and "an opera in real time" based on the eccentric story of Joshua Norton, a San Franciscan who in 1859 declared himself "Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico."

The piece uses a combination of conventional notation, a graphic score, and conducted and free improvisation, and the St. Louis performance will feature 20-piece ensemble of musicians, most recruited locally by NMC. There is a short video excerpt online from a performance last October of "I, Norton," which for some reason I can't seem to successfully embed here, but you can watch it by following this link.

Right here on this page, we've got some videos that showcase Robair's improvisational percussion skills in a couple of different contexts. The first clip features an improvised duet by Robair and tuba player Carl Ludwig Hubsch, while the next two document part of a performance by Robair and saxophonist John Butcher last November at the Vortex Jazz Club in London.

Last but not least is a quick taste of Robair playing solo (along with a brief bit of conversation) that's excerpted from Noisy People, a feature-length documentary about San Francisco area improvisational musicians.

Missouri Botanical Garden announces 2009 Whitaker Music Festival lineup

The Missouri Botanical Garden has announced the 2009 lineup of free concerts for the annual Whitaker Music Festival, which this year will take place on ten consecutive Wednesdays starting June 3 and ending August 5.

As is customary, the 2009 schedule includes a number of artists of interest to jazz enthusiasts, but unlike some past years, those shows are spread throughout the schedule instead of all taking place during June.

Pianist Peter Martin (pictured), a St. Louis native known internationally for his work with singer Dianne Reeves, trumpeter Chris Botti and others, will open the 2009 series on Wednesday, June 3. On June 10, the St. Louis Stompers will perform traditional New Orleans style jazz, followed on June 17 by clarinetist Scott Alberici, whose skills range from swing to bop to modern jazz. Then on June 24, guitarist Todd Mosby and his group will present their fusion of jazz, rock, classical and Indian styles.

Next up, it's the string-band swing and Gypsy jazz of Dizzy Atmosphere on July 1, then jazz/R&B keyboardist Tony Simmons on July 8, and the 1960s-flavored folk-rock of Rogers, Nienhaus and Crawford on July 15.

Jazz/Latin/world music band Farshid Etniko will take the stage on July 22, followed by pop crooner Ralph Butler on July 29, and singer/pianist Anita Rosamond, making up a 2008 date that was rained out, wrapping up the series on August 5.

The concerts are held outdoors on the lawn of the Garden's Cohen Amphitheater, just west of the Climatron, and concertgoers are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets. Admission to the Garden is free after 5:00 p.m. on concert nights, with music beginning at 7:30 p.m. Free parking is available on site and at lots two blocks west at the corner of Shaw and Vandeventer. For more information, visit the Garden's Web site or call the recorded hotline at 314-577-9400. In the event of inclement weather, tune in to WSIE (88.7 FM) for updates.

(Edited 3/1/09 to fix a typo.)

Jazz this week: Bruce Barth Quintet, Sometime Then and Again, and more

After a couple of very busy weeks, it looks like there's a bit of a post-Mardi Gras lull with regard to jazz and creative music in St. Louis, at least in terms of the number of shows this weekend.

Still, in addition to the various ongoing weekly gigs by local musicians (which you can find listed on the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar), there are a few other noteworthy events happening over the next few days, starting with three nights of performances by the Bruce Barth Quintet.

Barth (pictured) and his group, which also features the well-regarded trumpeter Terell Stafford, have been in town since Monday for an educational residency under the auspices of Jazz St. Louis. Tonight, they'll play at The Gramophone as part of a Young Friends of Jazz St. Louis benefit for JSL's educational programs, an event that also will include an opening set from the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars student ensemble. Then on Friday and Saturday, Barth and band will be at Jazz at the Bistro, where they'll play the customary two shows each night. For more on this versatile pianist and some video samples of his playing, see this post from last Saturday.

Also this evening, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University will present a free concert by Sometime Then and Again, a quartet featuring a couple of well-known local musicians, guitarist William Lenihan and saxophonist Dave Stone. Though Lenihan and Stone are both known quantities, this particular configuration seems to be a comparatively recent development, and Wash U. hasn't provided a lot of information about what sort of music they'll be playing. Given Stone and Lenihan's respective ranges of experience, it could be anything from completely composed music to totally free improv, but, considering the known level of talent there, the gig seems worth checking out regardless.

On Friday, you can catch some Latin jazz at Brandt's courtesy of Clave De Sol, featuring Farshid Etniko on guitar plus the pianist Phil Gomez, an interesting and accomplished player I've always liked for his ability to consistently do the unexpected. And on Sunday night, the crowd-pleasing soul/jazz/funk band Good 4 the Soul plays the early shift at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups.

UPDATE, 2:30 p.m. 2/26/09 - Two more events worth mentioning, gleaned from late night/early morning emails: My esteemed colleague Terry Perkins dropped a note to say that trumpeter and East St. Louis expat Russell Gunn will be in the backup band for pop/R&B singer Ne-Yo's concert at the Fox Theatre on Sunday. I don't know how much solo space there is for Gunn in the show - probably not that much, I'd suspect - but he's doing the entire tour with Ne-Yo and presumably making some nice money in the process.

Also, the SIU-Edwardsville jazz program will present its annual concert Tuesday night at The Sheldon, featuring the University's big band and vocal jazz ensembles as well as appearances from faculty members and alumni including Rick Haydon, Reggie Thomas, Jason Swagler, Miles Vandiver, Andy Tichenor, Brett and Kim Stamps, Bennett Wood and Zeb Briskovich. The program will include two compositions from Brett Stamps, "Cajun Cookin’" and "Let’s Samba," as well as Thomas' arrangements for the vocal jazz ensemble on "Revelation" (done in the style of Take 6), Lambert, Hendricks and Ross' "Centerpiece" and "Smilin’ Faces."

Of course, as mentioned above, these are just a few select highlights of the weekend's musical offerings. For more jazz-related events this weekend and beyond, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar. As usually happens at the beginning of a month, there will be a series of updates to the Calendar over the next several days as band and club information trickles and/or straggles in, so stay tuned.

(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.)

Denise Thimes to perform benefit concert for NCADA on Tuesday, June 23

Singer Denise Thimes (pictured) will headline a benefit concert for the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse-St. Louis Area at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 23 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Proceeds from the concert will go to NCADA’s substance abuse prevention programs for youth. Thimes also performed for NCADA's 2008 benefit, and, according to development director Janet Popelka, recently became a board member for the not-for-profit organization as well.

Tickets will be priced at $25 for the concert only, or $50 for patron tickets, which include preferred seating and a gourmet dessert reception with Thimes. ($25 of the price of each patron ticket also qualifies as a tax-deductible contribution.) Student tickets will be available at the door for $5 with proof of student status. Tickets will go on sale after March 1, and can be purchased online via NCADA's Web site or by calling them at 314-962-3456.

Rick Haydon, Reggie & Mardra Thomas release Eastern Central Pacific

Guitarist Rick Haydon, keyboardist Reggie Thomas and singer Mardra Thomas have collaborated on a new CD released by the St. Louis-based Victoria Records label.

Titled Eastern Central Pacific, the disc features jazz standards performed by Haydon and the Thomases with help from drummer Harold Jones, a jazz veteran who has played with stars including Count Basie, Eddie Harris and Tony Bennett, and bassist Jeff Campbell, a member of the Rochester (NY) Philharmonic Orchestra and a faculty member at Eastman School of Music. Campbell also is the program director at the Birch Creek Music Performance Center in Wisconsin, and that's where the group, dubbed Standard Time for purposes of the CD, came together while the various members were teaching summer sessions there.

Eastern Central Pacific can be purchased via the Victoria Records site, and also may be available at select local retailers such as Webster Records, which seems to carry many Victoria releases. You can read more about Haydon and the making of Eastern Central Pacific in this article written by Vicky Bennington for the Alton Telegraph.

Notes from the Net: A Miles Davis tribute in Scotland, David Sanborn on DVD, and more

Here's this week's compilation of news and links related to jazz in St. Louis, including musicians from the Gateway City, recent visitors, and coming attractions, plus assorted other items of interest:

* For this week's supply of mandatory Miles Davis-related linkage, we note that Scottish trumpeter Colin Steele will salute Davis with a Kind of Blue tribute concert on March 2 at the Lot Jazz Centre in Edinburgh. Also, for some Miles-related anecdotes, check out part three of AllAboutJazz.com's extended bio of the late pianist/percussionist Victor Feldman, who performed and recorded with Davis in the early 1960s.

* As mentioned here last week, alto saxophonist and St. Louis native David Sanborn has a new DVD, Live at Montreux 1984. Most of the tracks feature Sanborn with Larry Willis (keyboards), Hiram Bullock (guitar), Tom Barney (bass) and Buddy Williams (drums), but there's also bonus footage from Sanborn's 1981 show at Montreux, for which he was backed by an all-star group including Marcus Miller (bass), Mike Mainieri (vibraphone), Neil Larsen (keyboards), Robben Ford (guitar), Ricky Lawson (drums) and Lenny Castro (percussion).

Now, a Sanborn rep has alerted StLJN to the availability of some preview clips of the DVD on YouTube, and you can see one of them, a 1984 version of Sanborn's tune "Hideaway," in the embedded video window at the bottom of this post.

* The always busy alto saxophonist, composer, music presenter and record label owner John Zorn, who once attended out town's Webster University, has scored a new experimental theater piece for NYC avant garde director Richard Foreman. You can read the New York Times review here, the Village Voice review here, and an interview with Foreman here.

* Opening the "coming attractions" file, trumpeter Terence Blanchard (pictured), who will appear at Jazz at the Bistro in May, was the headliner for the opening night of this year's Portland Jazz Festival. Here's an interesting account from the local paper of Blanchard's show and the "Jazz Conversation" that preceded it, and another view from Rifftides' Doug Ramsey. Blanchard also recently did a live performance that was broadcast by NPR from NYC's Village Vanguard; you can hear the show archived online here.

* Turning to recent visitors: For All I Care, the new CD from The Bad Plus (who were in St. Louis at the Bistro last month, just before the disc was released) gets another review here from, of all places, the campus newspaper at MIT. And for more Bad Plus, see this video interview from Innerviewworld.com, via AAJ.com.

* According to the New York Times, singer and pianist Ann Hampton Callaway, a favorite with St. Louis listeners who has performed here numerous times in recent years, showed off a new, more assertive musical persona in a recent gig at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in Lincoln Center. Read the review here.

* Finally, though Terence Blanchard may have gotten the Portland jazz fest off to a good start, other developments in the Pacific Northwest city were less promising - specifically, the event's promoters were forced to cancel a scheduled concert by Cassandra Wilson and Jason Moran after only 400 tickets were sold for a 3000-seat hall. Noting that "as the first major jazz festival of 2009, it may be the canary in the coalmine regarding effects of the economic downturn," Howard Mandel has more on the Portland fest's trials and tribulations here.



(Edited 3/1/09 to correctly attribute a link to Howard Mandel's blog Jazz Beyond Jazz.)

Preservation Hall Jazz Band concert reviewed in Post-Dispatch

New Orleans' Preservation Hall Jazz Band was in St. Louis on Friday night for a Mardi-Gras-themed concert at Powell Symphony Hall, and today's Post-Dispatch has a review of the show written by classical music critic Sarah Bryan Miller, which you can read online here.

Mae Wheeler tribute previewed in Playbill

The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra tonight is paying tribute to veteran vocalist Mae "Lady Jazz" Wheeler as part of their Black History Month programming, and St. Louis American editor Chris King has written a freelance piece for Playbill magazine previewing the tribute. You can read it online here.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Bruce Barth

Today our spotlight shines on pianist Bruce Barth, who's in town next week to do an educational residency for Jazz St. Louis, culminating in gigs on Friday, February 27 and Saturday, January 28 at Jazz at the Bistro.

During the residency, Barth and his group will give school performances and work directly with young musicians in JSL's JazzU program and the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars student ensemble. Barth's band and the All-Stars also will be featured in a Young Friends of Jazz St. Louis benefit for JSL's educational programs that will be held Thursday, February 26 at The Gramophone.

Many St. Louis listeners already are familiar with Barth from his recording work as both leader and sideman for the locally based MAXJAZZ label and his previous performances at the Bistro, and today's video clips show off the pianist's versatility in dealing with three different musical settings.

In the first video, Barth is performing in a trio, backed by bassist Doug Weiss and St. Louis' own Montez Coleman on drums. The song is "Wilsonian Alto," and it was recorded in November, 2004 at the Cafe del Teatre in Lleida, Spain during the Lleida Jazz Festival.

Down below, you can see and hear Barth playing a solo medley of "Afternoon in Lleida" - perhaps a reference to the gig excerpted above? - and the Beatles' "Blackbird."

Finally, though there don't seem to be any clips of Barth's own quintet available online, in the last window you can see him playing with the five-piece band of trumpeter Terell Stafford, a close musical associate who will be part of Barth's group for their St. Louis gig. The tune, "Berda's Bounce," was recorded during a concert in February 2008 in Minneapolis.





(Edited 2/25/09 correct the dates of Barth's St. Louis gigs.)

Recently on Heliocentric Worlds

The online music videos keep a-comin' over at StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds, where each day there's a new clip posted, drawn from genres including jazz, blues, soul, funk, classic rock, prog rock and experimental .

Recent posts have included videos featuring Eddie Harris, Erroll Garner, the Butterfield Blues Band, Billy Cobham, Mandrill, Frank Zappa, Herbie Hancock, Carla Bley, James Brown, Sarah Vaughan, Junior Wells, David Sanborn and Friends, The Band, Rahsaan Roland Kirk with McCoy Tyner, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White, Soft Machine, Johnnie Johnson, Sonny Sharrock, and Bill Evans.

You can see them all, plus hundreds more from the archives, by visiting http://heliocentricworlds.blogspot.com.

Jazz this week: Blue Note 7, Pat Martino, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and more

There's lots going on in St. Louis this week with regard to jazz and creative music, and yr. humble editor's time is somewhat short today due to other pressing business, so let's go right to the highlights:

Tonight, guitarist Pat Martino (pictured) and his trio, featuring organist Tony Monaco, open a four-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro, with two sets a night through Saturday. For more about Martino, including some video clips, see this post from a couple of weeks ago.

On Thursday night, Washington University's Jazz at Holmes series resumes with a free concert from the Todd Mosby Group.

Then on Friday, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band will bring their traditional New Orleans sound to Powell Symphony Hall for a Mardi Gras-themed concert. (For more about St. Louis' local Mardi Gras events over the next few days, go here or here.) Also on Friday is the opening reception for the Sheldon Art Galleries' "Visions of Sound" exhibit of musical instruments, which was covered earlier by StLJN here.

On Saturday, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra will honor singer Mae "Lady Jazz" Wheeler during a special concert at Powell Hall celebrating Black History Month. Singers Denise Thimes, Zella Jackson Price and Skeet Rogers will pay tribute to Wheeler, with Brian Owens serving as MC. The program also will feature the SLSO's In Unison Chorus, directed by Robert Ray, and will include orchestral works from Still and Beethoven as well as James Weldon Johnson's "Lift Every Voice And Sing."

That same evening, just down the street at the Kranzberg Arts Center, keyboardist and electronic musician James Hegarty will debut his new ensemble Off-Topic, which also includes saxophonist Dave Stone, percussionist Henry Claude and bassist Willem von Hombrecht. From the program description sent out by New Music Circle, it sounds like they'll be working at the intersection of free improv, jazz and contemporary classical. If you like that style of music, this gig seems quite promising.

Also on Saturday: The Southwestern Illinois College Jazz Festival in Belleville, which will feature a day of performances by student bands from schools in Metro East, and culminating in an free evening concert spotlighting the fest's guest artist, bassist Rodney Whitaker, with Reggie Thomas on piano, Marty Morrison on drums and Rick Haydon on guitar. Whitaker also will present a clinic/master class at 1:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

Then on Sunday night, the Blue Note 7 perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall. For more about this all-star ensemble and their tour commemorating the 70th anniversary of Blue Note records, plus videos of performances by the individual members of the group, see this post from last Saturday. (UPDATE: 12:00 p.m., 2/22/09 - The Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson previewed the Blue Note 7 concert in an interesting story for Sunday's paper that includes quotes from the band's pianist, Bill Charlap, and producer Michal Cuscuna. For some reason, the article isn't being promoted on the front page of the Post's Web site STLtoday, but you can read it online here.)

Also on Sunday, Bud Shultz and the You Can't Beat Experience Jazz Band will present their monthly performance of traditional jazz in a matinee session at VFW Hall in Alton.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday morning singer Mardra Thomas and pianist Reggie Thomas will do a "Coffee Concert" at the Sheldon. (The program repeats at the same time on Tuesday.) Then on Monday night, the Webster University Big Band performs at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus.

As always, these are just a few of the performances going on around town over the next few days; for more 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.)

(Updated 2/19/09 to add info on two more events on Saturday.)

Jazz St. Louis CD Listening Club meeting set for Tuesday, March 10

The next meeting of the Jazz St. Louis CD Listening Club will take place at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 10, at Borders, 1519 S. Brentwood Blvd. in Brentwood.

The March meeting will feature Shawn Weil, violinist for the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, discussing the CD Charlie Parker with Strings (pictured) with Jazz St. Louis executive director Gene Dobbs Bradford, who will serve as moderator.

The event is free and open to the public, but because space is limited, Jazz St. Louis requests that those who would like to attend reserve a spot in advance by calling JSL's Kedra Tolson at 314-289-4034.

Black Rep announces Sunday concert series

The St. Louis Black Repertory Company has announced a new Sunday night concert series to be presented at the Grandel Theater, and several of the acts involved may be of interest to local jazz enthusiasts.

The series' jazz-related offerings include singer Brian Owens and the Cole Sessions Trio, who will kick off the series at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 1; singer Anita Jackson, who will perform on Sunday, March 29; and the jazz/Latin/world music band Farshid Etniko, who will take the stage on Sunday, April 5.

Other performances in the Black Rep's Sunday concert series will include the Genesis Arts Ministry on Sunday, March 8; the Voices of Praise Choir on Sunday, March 15; and a Father's Day benefit concert, with musicians TBA, on Sunday, June 21. The Black Rep also will present a free open house featuring preview performances from some of the Sunday series acts at 6:00 p.m. this Sunday, February 22 at the Grandel.

Tickets for the concerts are $20 each, and are available through Metrotix.

Clark Terry hospitalized again, but now on the mend

From the February Jazz Corner newsletter comes this news about jazz trumpet legend and St. Louis native Clark Terry:

"Right after the inauguration, Clark Terry went into the hospital to save one of his playing fingers since it had become seriously infected. Everyone felt the best thing was to have Clark remain in the hospital, and he will be there for at least 2 more weeks.

He has sent this message to you: "To all my family, friends and well wishers, I'm happy to report to you that The Old Man Upstairs has been good to me, and I'm on the road to recovery here in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.I had an infection in my finger bone tip, and according to the doctors' report today, after reviewing the latest tests, it seems to be on the mend. In a few weeks, I should be back on the "mound." They're taking good care of me here, thanks to all my doctors and nurses, and the hospital food here is good!"

If you want to send cards, flowers, etc:

Jefferson Regional Medical Center
1600 West 40th Avenue
Pine Bluff, Arkansas 71603
Attn: Clark Terry
Room 3171"

Notes from the Net: Gary Bartz on Miles Davis; more on Kind of Blue's 50th anniversary; plus news, reviews, and more.

It's time for this week's compilation of news and links related to jazz in St. Louis, including musicians from the Gateway City, recent visitors and coming attractions - plus assorted other items of interest:

* Here's another review of the deluxe 50th Anniversary edition of Miles Davis' landmark album Kind of Blue, from AllAboutJazz.com's Jeff Stockton, and, from Blogcritics, a review of the two-CD "Legacy" edition of KoB, which includes two discs of music but omits the 12" box and the fancy book.

* Ben Ratliff of the New York Times reviews a Jazz at Lincoln Center concert paying tribute to KoB and John Coltrane's Giant Steps, another jazz milestone that's also 50 years old in 2009: "The albums don’t need respectful glosses, performances that harden them into the status of luxury goods; they need challenging and taking apart. And Thursday night’s concert at Rose Theater, built around the albums (and repeated on Friday), did that rather elegantly."

* On another Davis-related note, the Jazz Video Guy (a.k.a. Bret Primack) recently posted an interview with Gary Bartz in which the veteran saxophonist talks about his time as a member of Miles' ground-breaking electric ensemble. You can see it in the embedded video window at the bottom of this post.

* Pianist and St. Louisan-turned-New Yorker Linda Presgrave (pictured) has a new CD, Inspiration, which features interpretations of songs from female jazz composers. Read a review here.

* St. Louis native, singer, dancer and actress Josephine Baker figures prominently in "The Jazz Century," a major exhibition opening next month in Paris that examines the influence of jazz on artists ranging from Baker to the Dutch modernist painter Piet Mondriaan.

* Saxophonist, composer and one-time Webster University student John Zorn is heading west in March for a run of shows at Yoshi's in San Francisco.

* The Bad Plus, who opened 2009 here at Jazz at the Bistro, recently were featured on the National Public Radio program "Jazz Set with Dee Dee Bridgewater." Also, from the Jazz and Blues Reviews blog, here's another review of their new CD For All I Care.

* With the St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival officially "on hiatus" for 2009, yr. humble editor's thoughts occasionally are wandering to the notion of how a resurrected St. Louis fest might be improved. Perhaps we could learn something from the Detroit jazz festival, a free event held every year over Labor Day weekend that will celebrate its 30th anniversary by commissioning a major new work about the city and its jazz legacy from its 2009 artist-in-residence, bassist and composer John Clayton. The Detroit fest is also making an effort to hire more local musicians and to involve other arts groups in town, two things I've repeatedly encouraged St. Louis' festival organizers to do. Read all about it here.

* Despite the efforts of Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) to bar any funding for the arts from the economic stimulus bill currently before the U.S. Congress, we learn via Alex Ross' The Rest is Noise that the final version of the legislation will indeed include $50 million in additional money to preserve jobs and programs at arts institutions that may be hurt by the economic downturn. As composer, bandleader and blogger Darcy James Argue notes here, score one for the good guys.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on the Blue Note 7

We've super-sized this week's video post to bring you a preview of the Blue Note 7, who will be in St. Louis next Sunday, February 22 to perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall under the combined auspices of Jazz St. Louis and the Sheldon.

Because the band is an all-star group assembled specifically for a tribute album and 50-city tour commemorating the 70th anniversary of Blue Note Records, there's no video available online of them all playing together. However, someone did make a short clip to promote the album and tour, and you can see that in the embedded video window up above.

Down below, we've got videos of the various Blue Note 7 members in action, with the exception of tenor saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, who previously was the subject of a video post here when he brought his quartet to Jazz at the Bistro last year. You can check out that post for some samples of Coltrane's playing; below, you'll find the other members of the Blue Note 7 in this order:

* Trumpeter Nicholas Payton playing Milt Jackson's bebop standard "Bags' Groove."
* Guitarist Peter Bernstein playing a tune called "Bobblehead" at the NYC club Smoke.
* Alto saxophonist Steve Wilson doing a version of "But Not For Me," apparently with some substitute chord changes, during a show at the Artists' Quarter in St. Paul, MN.
* Pianist Bill Charlap and bassist Peter Washington playing "In The Still Of The Night" in a clip recorded at the Village Vanguard. (That's Kenny Washington, no relation to Peter, on drums.)
* Drummer Lewis Nash, as part of saxophonist Joe Lovano's quartet with bassist George Mraz and the legendary pianist Hank Jones, playing Lovano's "Bird's Eye View" at the Jazz Baltica festival.

The band's repertoire for the tour includes new arrangements of music associated with a number of jazz greats who recorded for Blue Note over the years, including Art Blakey, Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock, Horace Silver, Joe Henderson and others. The Blue Note 7 have been on the road since the first week of January, so they should definitely have their arrangements together and be firing on all cylinders when they get to St. Louis next week.

Jazz this week: Al Jarreau, Marc Copland Trio with Gary Peacock and Bill Stewart, Mardra and Reggie Thomas, Tom Wopat, and more

It's another busy week for jazz in St. Louis, so let's go right to the highlights:

Tonight, Jazz St. Louis presents Reggie Thomas and OGD in a free concert celebrating Blue Note records at the Third Baptist Church, 620 N. Grand. In case you didn't know, "OGD" stands for organ, guitar and drums, and it's always a treat to hear Thomas play the B-3, especially given the relative dearth of jazz organ shows in town these days. Also, the Blue Note theme should provide an opportunity to draw from the catalogs of jazz organ greats including Jimmy Smith, Larry Young and Lonnie Smith, all of whom made memorable and influential recordings for the label.

Elsewhere this evening, singer and actor Tom Wopat begins a four-night run at the Kranzberg Arts Center under the auspices of Cabaret St. Louis. While Wopat still may be best remembered for his role as one of TV's Dukes of Hazzard, in recent years he's gotten lots of props for his work on stage in musicals, straight plays and cabaret. For one example, see this New York Times review of Wopat's cabaret show.

On Thursday, pianist Mark Copland, who's in town for a concert on Friday, will give a master class and a lecture at Washington University. The master class begins at 11:30 a.m. in Tietjens Rehearsal Hall, 6500 Forsyth, while the lecture will be at 4:00 p.m. in Room 102 of the music classroom building right next door. Both events are free and open to the public.

Thursday evening, local jazz historian and radio host Dennis Owsley begins his class on St. Louis jazz history at the Ethical Society. The three-week course is based on Owsley's book "City of Gabriels," which chronicles the history of jazz in St. Louis from 1895 to the mid-1970s. For more about Owsley and the course, check out this Jazz St. Louis podcast interview with Owsley.

There's lots going on Friday, starting with singer Al Jarreau (pictured) at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. Given that it's the night before Valentine's Day, I'd expect Jarreau to emphasize the R&B love songs in his repertoire, but one would hope he'll sing some jazz-oriented material as well.

Also on Friday, Marc Copland's all-star trio, featuring bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Bill Stewart, will perform at the 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity Avenue in University City. Copland is an accomplished player with a lyrical style that's been compared to Bill Evans, and Stewart and Peacock are both world-class musicians, too, so this should be an outstanding show.

That same evening, in what has become something of a Valentine's week tradition, the husband-and-wife team of pianist Reggie Thomas and singer Mardra Thomas will begin a two-night stand demonstrating both musical and marital harmony at Jazz at the Bistro.

On Sunday, the St. Louis Jazz and Blues Vespers series presents saxophonist Willie Akins will lead his band in a free concert starting at 6:00 p.m. at the Second Baptist Church, 9030 Clayton Rd. (at McKnight)

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday Willie Akins and fellow saxophonist Paul DeMarinis will head up a tribute to the late tenor sax giant Dexter Gordon at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium.

As always, these are just a few of the performances going on around town; for more 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.)

(Edited 2/14/09 to restore a graf, accidentally deleted during editing, about Willie Akins' concert on Sunday.)

Freedonia Music releases Exiles KalimbaMania CD

Multi-instrumentalist and Freedonia Music proprietor Jay Zelenka emails with word of the St. Louis-based label's first release of 2009: KalimbaMania, a CD reissue of a 1989 session by Exiles, Zelenka's long-running duo with keyboardist Greg Mills.

KalimbaMania was issued originally on LP by Esfoma Music; this new version is digitally remastered from the original studio tapes and includes 21 minutes of additional recording from the same time period. In all, the session features 10 duet improvisations, with both Zelenka and Mills on kalimbas and electronics, and Mills playing piano and organ as well. Electronic pitch transform programs from a Yamaha SPX-90 are used to alter the sounds in several pieces.

Restoring the material from the 20-year-old studio masters was "a challenge," said Zelenka. "We had to start by "baking the tapes" to re-adhere the magnetic coating to the acetate before repairing and re-mastering the audio." You can hear audio samples of a number of KalimbaMania tracks and/or purchase the CD via the Freedonia Music Web site.

Neville Brothers, Dr. John reviewed in Post-Dispatch

Last night's benefit performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall featuring the Neville Brothers and Dr. John was reviewed by Terry Perkins for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. You can read Perkins' review online here.

Tickets now on sale for Jazz St. Louis benefit gala

Tickets are now on sale for Jazz St. Louis' annual benefit gala, which will be held on Sunday, April 5 at the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark.

The event gets underway at 5:30 p.m. and will feature a concert from Italian-born, Berklee-educated singer Chiara Civello (pictured), as well as cocktails, dinner, a live auction and a performance from the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars student ensemble. Proceeds from the event benefit the youth education and outreach programs of Jazz St. Louis.

Tickets are $250 and $500 per person, or $2500 and $5000 for tables of ten. (The higher priced tickets include recognition in the event program and admission to an after-party with Civello.) For more information, or to purchase tickets or a table, contact Jazz St. Louis director of development Melissa Jones by calling 314-289-4037 or via email at melissa@jazzstl.org.

Marc Copland to give master class on Thursday, February 12

In addition to performing in concert at the 560 Music Center this coming Friday, February 13, jazz pianist Marc Copland also will give a master class while he's in St. Louis. The master class, which is free and open to the public, begins at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 12 in Tietjens Rehearsal Hall, 6500 Forsyth on the Washington University campus.

If you're coming from off campus to attend, you should be aware that there's not much visitor parking at Tietjens, a handful of spaces at most. However, there are quite a few metered spaces available for visitors across the street and just to the east, near the Mallinckrodt Student Center. It's a short walk from there to Tietjens Hall.

Notes from the Net: Analyzing Miles Davis' "So What" solo, Clark Terry on Riverwalk Jazz, David Sanborn on DVD, CD reviews, and more

Here's this week's compilation of St. Louis-related short news bits and other items of potential interest from the jazz world...

* Let's start, as is our custom, with two Miles Davis-related items, neither one brand new, but both interesting - specifically, a transcription and analysis of Miles' famous solo on "So What" by guitarist Steve Khan, and an essay offering an overview of Davis' electric music of the 1960s and 70s, with some short audio clips.

* Another famous trumpeter from St. Louis, Clark Terry (pictured), will be appearing on the episode of the weekly public radio program Riverwalk Jazz that begins airing across the nation on February 26. The program can be heard locally at noon Saturdays on WSIE (88.7 FM).

* Saxophonist David Sanborn has a new DVD, Live at Montreux 1984, about to be released. The disc features live versions of material from Sanborn's Straight To The Heart album, plus other songs from his career up until that point, as played by Sanborn and a band featuring Larry Willis (keyboards), Hiram Bullock (guitar), Tom Barney (bass) and Buddy Williams (drums), plus special guest Rickie Lee Jones on vocals.

* This Thursday, February 12 at the Berklee College of Music Performance Center in Boston, two more St. Louis natives, Grammy Award-winning journalist Bob Blumenthal and saxophonist Greg Osby will team up for a night of interviews and musical performance dubbed "Saying Sounds: The Bob Blumenthal Show."

* Turning to the "coming attractions" file, you can prepare for pianist Marc Copland's concert on Friday at the 560 Music Center by reading reviews of two recent CDs, Another Place and Night Whispers, written by Francis Lo Kee for AllAboutJazz.com

* The Blue Note 70th Anniversary Tour comes to the Sheldon Concert Hall on Sunday, February 22, and this week, the New York Times' Nate Chinen wrote about the label's anniversary and its future in a piece titled "At 70, Blue Note asks 'Now What?'"

* If you'd like to check out the new Boney James CD Send One Your Love, you can hear an audio stream for free via this "online listening party." James will perform at The Pageant on Wednesday, March 25.

* Organist Dr. Lonnie Smith also has a new CD, entitled Rise Up and reviewed here for AAJ.com by John Barron. Smith will be in St. Louis March 18-21 to perform with guitarist Russell Malone and drummer Herlin Riley at Jazz at the Bistro.

* By way of catching up with a couple of recent visitors to the Bistro, there are lots more reviews coming out of For All I Care, the new CD from The Bad Plus. The album features singer Wendy Lewis on several tracks, and includes versions of songs by Wilco, Roger Miller, Yes, Pink Floyd, and Heart as well as re-imaginings of classical pieces from Ligeti, Babbitt and Stravinsky. Here's an extended analysis from AAJ.com; a review from Boston Globe; a JD Considine review from Toronto Globe & Mail; and a review from AllMusic.com

* Also, saxophonist Benny Golson, who just turned 80, just did a sextet gig at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola in NYC, reviewed here by the New York Times. And here's a review of two recent Golson CDs, New Times, New 'Tet and The Best Of Benny Golson, written by George Kanzler for AAJ.com

* Finally, a few items that have no specific St. Louis connection, but were interesting for one reason or another, starting with An Indiosyncratic Introduction to Indian Music, a guest post at Destination: Out from saxophonist and composer Rudresh Mahanthappa. As usual, there are some nice MP3s accompanying the post, but you'd better hustle, since D:O only keeps tracks available online for a very limited time.

* Advice from Thelonious Monk, as transcribed by Steve Lacy.

* The always interesting online jazz magazine Point of Departure has a new issue online now.

* And this blog post detailing one musician's experiences running an improvised music club in Cork, Ireland makes some thought-provoking points about the difficulties of promoting free improv music, the nature of local improv scenes, and DIY gigging in general.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Three from Pat Martino

This week, we've got three music videos featuring guitarist Pat Martino, who will be in St. Louis from Wednesday, February 18 through Saturday, February 21 to perform at Jazz at the Bistro. A native of Philadelphia, Martino came up in the 1960s playing in the classic organ-trio style and established himself as one of the top young guitarists in jazz. At the turn of the 1970s, he branched out into fusion, making memorable recordings such as Starbright and Joyous Lake that impressed both fusion fans and traditionalists.

Then in 1980, Martino suffered a near-fatal brain aneurysm. Surgery saved his life, but wiped all his memories of how to play the guitar. Martino had to relearn to play music again from scratch, and his illness and subsequent return to excellence in a relatively short time were the subject of a 2007 documentary, Martino Unstrung, that was screened last fall at the St. Louis International Film Festival. Martino's present-day playing has hints of both the old school and the new school, as he uses tonal, harmonic and formal ideas from the fusion years as part of what is essentially a fairly traditional, straight-ahead concept of a guitar-focused jazz group.

In the first video, recorded in 2008, Martino is playing a swinging blues, name unknown to me, with the able assistance of organist Tony Monaco and drummer Harvey Mason. The other two clips are both from a performance in 2001 at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy, and feature Martino, Joey DeFrancesco on organ and Byron Landham on drums. The one just below shows them playing a Martino composition called "The Great Stream," and in the embed window at the bottom, they're doing a Cal Massey song, "These Are Soulful Days."

Jazz this week: Liz Callaway, the Sheldon's "Mardi Gras Mambo," Good 4 The Soul, Jeanne Trevor's "Love Notes," Dan Rubright, and more

It looks like this weekend will bring a break in the winter weather here in St. Louis, so it should be a good time to go out an here some live music. Here's a brief look at what's happening over the next few days:

The new not-for-profit presenter Cabaret St. Louis resumes its inaugural season this week with shows by Liz Callaway on Thursday and Friday upstairs at the Sheldon. Like many cabaret performers, Callaway's background is more in musical theater than in jazz - she's performed in a number of Broadway shows, including a long run in Cats - but she also seems to share a sense of humor, some serious vocal chops and an ability to swing with her sister, singer, pianist and songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway, who is well-known to St. Louis listeners from appearances at the Sheldon, Jazz at the Bistro and elsewhere. .

Also this evening, there's a free Jazz at Holmes concert at Washington University that was not mentioned in the news release referenced in the post here yesterday. (I only found out about via an email listserv.) The featured performers are 4 City Saxes, and I wish I could tell you more about them, but there's not much information available from Wash U, or anywhere else online. Google does tell me they performed as pre-show entertainers last summer at the Muny, and were part of UMSL's woodwind festival in December, but beyond that, your guess is as good as mine. .

On Friday and Saturday, Good 4 The Soul bring their mix of jazz, funk, soul, hip-hop and various other genres to Jazz at the Bistro, replacing trumpeter Terence Blanchard, who was originally supposed to play this week but had to postpone until May. Also on Friday, singer Jeanne Trevor teams up with pianist/singer Kevin Kurth for a Valentine's themed show called "Love Notes" at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N. Grand (at Olive, in the Big Brothers-Big Sisters building).

Sunday night brings the Sheldon Concert Hall's big "Mardi Gras Mambo" benefit gala, with music from the Neville Brothers and Dr. John and the Lower 911. Single tickets for this show have been sold out for several weeks now, but it's possible there still may be some of the $250 and $150 "patron" tickets left. For the latest information, call the Sheldon directly at 314-533-9900.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday guitarist Dan Rubright and Tangole are performing at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium. This particular project is new to me, but judging from the name, it seems to have something to do with tango and/or Latin music. Regardless of genre, Rubright is a fine player with wide-ranging musical ideas and tastes, so it's probably going to be worth hearing.

On Tuesday, it's the monthly meeting of the Jazz St. Louis CD Listening Club at Borders in Brentwood. Dr. Gerald Early of Washington University and Gene Dobbs Bradford of Jazz St. Louis. will discuss the "golden age" of the Blue Note label and the compilation CD The Best Blue Note Record in the World. Also on Tuesday, the quartet Utter Chaos plays a no-cover-charge show at The Gramophone.

Then on Wednesday, there's another free event presented by Jazz St. Louis, as keyboardist Reggie Thomas and his Hammond organ-jazz ensemble OGD will put on a concert dubbed "A Celebration of Blue Note Records" at Third Baptist Church, 620 N. Grand (just across Washington Ave from the Bistro).

As always, these are just a few of the highlights of what's going on around town, so for more jazz-related events in St. Louis 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.)

Rodney Whitaker to be guest artist for SWIC Jazz Festival on February 21

Bassist Rodney Whitaker (pictured) will be the guest artist and clinician at the 2009 Southwestern Illinois College Jazz Festival, to be held on Saturday, February 21 at SWIC's Belleville Campus Theatre, 2500 Carlyle Ave.

Whitaker, who currently performs with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and serves as chair of jazz studies at Michigan State University, will give a master class at 1:00 p.m., perform with the SWIC Jazz Band at 2:00 p.m., and present a concert at 7:30 p.m. with a small group including pianist Reggie Thomas, guitarist Rick Haydon and drummer Marty Morrison.

Whitaker is a native of Detroit who has been active in jazz education throughout his career. In addition to the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, his touring and recording credits include work with top trumpeters Terence Blanchard, Roy Hargrove and Wynton Marsalis, saxophonists Donald Harrison, Kenny Garrett and Carl Allen, keyboardist Bob James, and others.

The SWIC Jazz Festival begins at 8:30 a.m. and continues all day, with performances by student jazz ensembles from Belleville West High School, Althoff Catholic High School, O'Fallon High School and Central and West Junior High, as well as the SWIC Jazz Band. All events are free and open to the public.

Jazz at Holmes announces spring 2009 schedule

The Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University has announced the rest of its spring 2009 schedule of concerts.

Two Jazz at Holmes shows, featuring the Poor People of Paris and Randy Holmes and Hard Bop Heritage, have already taken place this semester. Also, according to the news release sent out today, the February 13 concert by pianist Marc Copland's trio, previously announced as a presentation of the Wash U. Department of Music, is now being co-sponsored by Jazz at Holmes as well.

The Copland concert, also featuring bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Bill Stewart, will be a departure from the usual Jazz at Holmes formula. It is being held on a Friday, it's off campus at the 560 Music Center in University City, and it is not a free show; tickets are $20 for the public, $15 for Wash. U faculty and staff, and $5 for students.

As for the rest of the schedule of free Thursday night performances announced today, other noteworthy shows for spring 2009 include appearances by the Wee Trio (pictured), an NYC-based group featuring former St. Louisan Dan Loomis on bass, and singer Jan Shapiro, another St. Louis expat who now teaches at Berklee College of Music. This spring's concerts also will feature a whole lot of Wash U. faculty member and Jazz at Holmes series coordinator William Lenihan, who will be wielding his guitar with various combinations of players on four of the gigs. Here's the schedule:

Thursday, February 19: Todd Mosby Group

Thursday, February 26: Sometime Then and Again - quartet with guitarist William Lenihan and saxophonist Dave Stone

Thursday, March 5: Pianist Kim Portnoy, drummer Roger Guth, and Lenihan

Thursday, March 19: Portnoy and Lenihan

Thursday, March 26: Guitarist Chris Burchett and his quartet

Thursday, April 2: Jan Shapiro with Lenihan

Thursday, April 9: Wee Trio

Thursday, April 16: vocalist Anita Rosamond

All of these concerts are free and open to the public, and begin at 8:00 p.m. in Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall on the Washington University campus.

Bob Brookmeyer, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra to play in Columbia on February 18

StLJN doesn't usually cover happenings in Columbia, MO, because 1) while that town's "We Always Swing" series apparently does an exemplary job of producing jazz events, many of the musicians who perform for that series seem to stop in St. Louis just before or after their Columbia gigs; and 2) it's 100 miles away, and there's quite a lot of music to cover right here in St. Louis.

However, there's something special coming up this month in Columbia that could very well be worth a road trip for St. Louis jazz fans. On Wednesday, February 18, composer, arranger and valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer (pictured), a native of Kansas City, will come to Columbia for a concert with NYC's Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, who will perform a newly commissioned and as-yet untitled work by Brookmeyer, who will double as guest conductor.

Brookmeyer has a long history as a player and arranger/composer with the VJO, which began life in 1965 as the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra and has performed every Monday for more than 40 years at NYC's famed Village Vanguard jazz club. Their Columbia concert, and the accompanying educational programming featuring jazz historian Dan Morgenstern, are funded through a special one-time $30,000 matching grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, which named Brookmeyer a Jazz Master in 2006. For more about the project, see this story written by Lindsay Howald of the Columbia Daily Tribune.

The Brookemeyer/VJO concert is presented by the “We Always Swing” jazz series, and begins at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, February 18 at the Missouri Theatre Center for the Arts, 203 S. Ninth St. Tickets are $23-32, with student discounts available. For ticket information, call the box office at 573-449-3001, send an e-mail to info@wealwaysswing.org, or visit wealwaysswing.org or www.ticketmaster.com.

Jazz Attack tickets now on sale

The Pollstar item cited here last month can now be considered officially confirmed, as tickets are now on sale for the Jazz Attack show scheduled for Thursday, April 9 at the Ameristar Casino St. Charles' Bottleneck Blues Bar.

Tickets for the show, which will feature trumpeter Rick Braun, saxophonist Richard Elliot and singer/guitarist Jonathan Butler, are priced at $45 and $50 and are available at the casino box office, online at Ameristar.com or Tickets.com or via phone by calling 1-877-444-2637.

Jazz and Blues Vespers series schedules concerts by Willie Akins, Ptah Williams, Steve Schenkel & Ashley Mason

St. Louis Jazz and Blues Vespers has scheduled the artists for the final three concerts in the current series, with saxophonist Willie Akins set to perform at 6:00 p.m., Sunday, February 15 at Second Baptist Church, 9030 Clayton Rd.

Pianist Ptah Williams will perform on Sunday, March 14, and guitarist Steve Schenkel and singer Ashley Mason will wrap up the series with a concert on Sunday, April 19. The St. Louis Jazz and Blues Vespers concerts are free and open to the public.

Site news: The Annals of Blogrolling, Vol. XVII

The StLJN blogroll's "Other Sites You May Enjoy" has some new additions, starting with Play It All Night Long, the newly minted site of veteran music journalist Dan Durchholz. Dan has written for a number of national music publications, freelances music stories for the Post and the St. Louis Beacon, and appears weekly on KMOX radio to discuss the local music scene with late-evening host Jon Grayson.

Also relatively new to the blogosphere and to our sidebar here is Neon Memes, written by Bryan Hollerbach. Like Dan, Bryan has written about music in St. Louis for a number of publications, and now, as part of his current gig as managing editor of St. Louis magazine, he's blogging about music, comics, life in St. Louis, and all sorts of other stuff as well.

Last but not least, there's Tony Renner, Artist. Yes, Tony's site for his radio show, The Scientific Method, is already blogrolled here, but obviously, the man just has too many facets to be contained by a single address on the Web. This blog, as the name implies, focuses on his visual art, and since he's been very active in spreading the word about STLJN, it only seems right to return the favor, so go look, OK?

Denise Thimes, Bosman Twins to receive Legend Awards

Via Post-Dispatch gossip maven Deb Peterson's weekend column: Singer Denise Thimes and the multi-woodwind playing brothers Dwayne and Dwight Bosman, a.k.a. the Bosman Twins, will be among the 2009 recipients of Legend Awards from the St. Louis Argus Foundation at a luncheon to be held Saturday, February 21 at the Sheraton St. Louis City Center Hotel.

Other 2009 Legend Award winners include opera singer Grace Bumbry, who will fly in from Austria to accept a special award and the key to the city from Mayor Francis Slay; Ron Himes of the Black Rep; Robert Ray of the St. Louis Symphony In Unison Chorus; poet Eugene Redmond; gospel music promoter Merdean Gales; gospel singer Zella Jackson Price; entertainment agent Eric Rhone; COCA; the St. Louis International Film Festival; the Sheldon Arts Foundation; and the University of Missouri-St. Louis. For more information about the awards luncheon, call 314-531-1323.

Notes from the 'Net: Inside the Kind of Blue sessions, a Julius Hemphill tribute, new CDs, interviews, reviews, and more

Proving that you can't keep a good recurring feature down, we once again bring you Notes from the Net, a compilation of short news bits related to musicians from St. Louis, musicians who will soon visit (or have recently visited) the Gateway City; and assorted other items of interest. The plan this time is to try to make NFTN a more-or-less regular Sunday feature, providing material suitable for perusal during either idle weekend hours or Monday morning's coffee break. And so, without further ado:

* We start this installment, as is the tradition, with a Miles Davis-related item, as the NPR show Morning Edition recently ran a story called "Between Takes: The Kind Of Blue Sessions" featuring excerpts from Ashley Khan's liner notes for the album's 50th anniversary reissue. Listen to the mix of in-studio dialog from the musicians, Khan's commentary, and musical examples here.

* In other news related - at least tangentially - to musicians from St. Louis, Rifftides' Doug Ramsay links to a report on the current post-Katrina state of New Orleans' Armstrong Park, adding the story of how trumpeter and St. Louis native Clark Terry inspired the movement that got New Orleans its Armstrong statue.

* On Thursday, February 26, Philadelphia's Ars Nova Workshop series will present a Composer Portrait concert at the city's World Cafe featuring the music of former St. Louisan Julius Hemphill (pictured) as performed by the Warriors of the Wonderful Sound, an 18-member big band led by multi-instrumentalist and St. Louis native Marty Ehrlich. Ehrlich also was part of last week's Oliver Lake big band gig at NYC's Jazz Gallery.

* Via the always useful Avant Music News (which is sporting a pleasing new look for the New Year), two John Zorn performances featuring the Masada Sextet and The Dreamers are coming to Henry Street Settlement in New York. Zorn also is the subject of a new book written by John Brackett and published by the Indiana University Press, reviewed by Popmatters here. (For those unaware of Zorn's St. Louis connection: he went to Webster University back in the 1970s.)

* Turning to news from the "coming attractions" file, in April bassist Victor Wooten is opening Wooten Woods, a new 150 acre site on the Duck River near Nashville, TN for the "bass/nature camp" he and his family have been running since the year 2000. Wooten will be in St. Louis to play The Pageant on Friday, March 13.

* No doubt hoping for a taste of some of that sweet, sweet cash that gets spent every year for Valentine's Day, Boney James is releasing a new CD, Send One Your Love, on February 3. The smooth jazz saxophonist formerly known as James Oppenheim will play The Pageant on Thursday, March 25.

* Al Jarreau will be in St. Louis to sing at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on Friday, February 13, but this past weekend, he, Kevin Mahogany and The Godfathers of Groove, the Cyrus Chestnut Trio, and St. Louis area native Bonnie Bramlett were among the performers at the seventeenth annual "All That Jazz" weekend held at The Grove Park Inn Resort and Spa in Asheville, NC.

* In news on a couple of musicians being considered for next season at Jazz at the Bistro, singer Alyssa Graham performed at the Tin Angel in Philly on January 30th, and West Coast jazz blogger and radio host Leroy The Jazzcat" Downs recently interviewed pianist Vijay Iyer, with the conversation now available in MP3 format here (or if that link doesn't work, search Downs' archives here).

* From the "recent visitors" file: Saxophonist Javon Jackson and keyboard player Les McCann, who played at Jazz at the Bistro last fall with their Swiss Movement Revisited band, now can be heard in a concert from Kennedy Center available for streaming via NPR's Jazz Set with DeeDee Bridgewater.

* Saxophonist and composer Benny Golson, another recent visitor to the Bistro, celebrated his 80th birthday this past week with a new album on Concord Jazz. For more Golson, check out this interview and excerpts from the CD via NPR's Weekend Edition; this post at WFIU's Night Lights blog, with an archive of the program's Golson tribute plus related info and links; and Doug Ramsey's appreciation of Golson, with videos.

* Saxophonist Dave Liebman, who played Washington University's Jazz at Holmes series in November, was interviewed before a recent performance in New Hampshire. Also, the New York Times reviewed a recent Liebman NYC performance at NYC's Birdland with a quintet that included Randy Brecker on trumpet, Billy Hart on drums and Marc Copland on piano. (Copland will be in St. Louis on Friday, February 13 to play a trio concert at the 560 Music Center.)

* The Bad Plus, who just did their annual gig at the Bistro a couple of weeks ago, have a new CD, For All I Care, coming out this week. Another Bistro perennial, singer/pianist Tony DeSare, also has a new CD called Radio Show, reviewed here

* Last but not least, following up on a previous post here about adding support for the arts to the stimulus bill currently being considered by Congrees, via New Music ReBlog: The Performing Arts Alliance is alerting everyone that Congress is still debating whether or not to include the National Endowment for the Arts in the stimulus bill, officially known as the American Reinvestment Recovery Act of 2009.

Under the House of Representatives plan, the NEA will receive a $50 million supplement to further the arts, but under the Senate’s plan, the NEA is not included. The Performing Arts Alliance has sent out mass emails encouraging everyone to write their Senator, and have even set up a way to do it electronically. "In a time when the world’s view of the United States is less than favorable, we need artists now more than ever to contribute to the world’s culture as a whole," says the PAA. "Submitting the electronic letter takes about five minutes to complete and is very user friendly, so please take action today and help further the good in American culture."

On the same subject, while noting in his monthly big band report that the Toledo Jazz Orchestra recently suspended all concert activities, AllAboutJazz.com's Jack Bowers makes the case for increased support of the arts :

"In times of economic stress, the arts (excepting perhaps the cinema) are among the first things to be sacrificed on the altar of belt-tightening. Those who rely on the arts to help maintain some semblance of sanity in otherwise troubled times know the opposite should be true, but their voices are weak and ineffectual in the face of fiscal disarray. And so there will be less music (of substance), less dance, less theatre (some Broadway shows already are closing the doors while others are barely alive and kicking). Unless people have discretionary money to spend on such pursuits, many are doomed to failure, especially as philanthropic grants are also drying up.

Let us hope the situation is temporary, and that the arts will someday soon regain their lost footing and flourish again. It is something to look forward to."

(Edited 2/11/09 to correct the venue for the Al Jarreau concert.)