Washington University to honor Pat Martino at free symposium this Thursday, December 2

The Jazz at Holmes series and the Washington University Department of Music will present guitarist Pat Martino (pictured) in a public symposium honoring his work from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. this Thursday, December 2, at Graham Chapel on the Wash U campus.

Martino will be in St. Louis to perform Wednesday, December 1 through Saturday, December 4 at Jazz at the Bistro. He will be joined at Thursday's symposium by music professors William Lenihan of Wash U and Steve Schenkel of Webster University, who are both working jazz guitarists, and Patrick Burke, director of undergraduate studies and professor of musicology for Wash U.

The symposium is free and open to the public, with no tickets or advance reservations required. For more about Pat Martino, see this post.

Tatsuya Nakatani returning to Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center on Friday, December 3

This just in: Improvising percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani (pictured) will be back in St. Louis to perform at the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center next Friday, December 3. Nakatani will perform solo, and also will improvise with some St. Louis musicians yet to be announced.

Nakatani played the LNAC most recently back in January 2009, and has been on the road steadily this fall, touring Europe in September and October and continuing throughout the U.S. until the end of the year.

St. Louis' epicycle, led by LNAC's Mark Sarich, will open the concert. Showtime for Tatsuya Makatani at the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center is 8:00 p.m., and admission is $5 at the door.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A Romero Lubambo sampler

As noted in this space last week, a number of fine jazz guitarists have visited St. Louis this fall, and the mini-trend will continue next week with Pat Martino returning to Jazz at the Bistro for a four night stand. In addition, the Brazilian guitarist Romero Lubambo is coming to town next Saturday, December 4 to perform at the Sheldon with Peter Martin as part of the pianist's eponymous concert series.

Lubambo, born in 1955 in Rio de Janeiro, studied guitar at the Villa-Lobos Music School. He moved to the United States in 1985, and his credits include work with singers and musicians such as Astrud Gilberto, Dianne Reeves, Michael Brecker, Al Jarreau, Kathleen Battle, Herbie Mann, Ivan Lins, Flora Purim and Airto, Paquito D’Rivera, Harry Belafonte, Grover Washington, Jr., Luciana Souza, Dave Douglas, and Trio da Paz, who have recorded for the St. Louis-based MAXJAZZ label.

Today, we've got four video clips that show off Lubambo's considerable skills in several different musical contexts. First up is a solo rendition of "Song for Kaya," taken from Lubambo's Bossa Nova Guitar DVD, that serves as a very nice example of his playing in the familiar Brazilian style.

Down below, Lubambo teams up with pianist Cesar Camargo Mariano to perform "Curumim," and shows off some very tight, rhythmically accurate playing that contrasts nicely with the looser, laid-back feel of the first clip. The third video shows the guitarist backing singer Dianne Reeves in a duo version of "You Taught My Heart To Sing." Unfortunately, while the audio is quite good, the video, shot by an audience member with a handheld camera, shakes badly. However, the performance still is well worth hearing for how Lubambo creates a sparse yet compelling backdrop for Reeves' voice.

The fourth clip, recorded in 2007 in São Paulo, shows Lubambo jamming on the song "Equinox" with fellow guitarist Mike Stern (who coincidentally was here in St. Louis just last week). It's noteworthy in part for the chance to hear the contrast in their styles, and in part because it's a comparatively rare example of Lubambo playing electric guitar on a tune with a blues chord progression.







(Edited 11/30/10 to clean up some typos.)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's the latest wrap-up of links and short local news items of interest:

* Feast magazine's "Dinner and a Show" feature this week spotlights Jeremy Davenport's gig this weekend at Jazz at the Bistro.

* The Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson previews Steve Ross' cabaret show this weekend at the Kranzberg Arts Center and next week's performances by Barb Jungr at the same venue.

* Guitarist Steve Schenkel (pictured) has organized a tribute to the music of John Lennon to be presented on Tuesday, December 7 at Webster University's Community Music School. The concert will feature Webster U jazz faculty and music students performing songs from throughout Lennon's career, and you can read all about it this article from the Webster U Journal.

* Steve Pick (of KDHX, Euclid Records and too many publications to name) has reviewed Steven Pond’s book Head Hunters: The Making of Jazz's First Platinum Album for Blurt Online.

* Speaking of KDHX, the community radio station last week featured a live performance by drummer Brian Sullivan's trio, with Daryl Mixon on bass and Lew Winer III on saxophones. You can hear their set archived online here.

* Jazz St. Louis has snagged a $20,000 grant for 2011 from the National Endowment for the Arts. The money will be used to "support the Jazz St. Louis Artist Residency Program in local elementary, middle, and high schools, and the after-school music education program."

* The Goldenrod Showboat, once the site of many traditional jazz and ragtime performances on the St. Louis riverfront, has gotten a one-month reprieve from the scrapheap, thanks to a local businessman who's trying to raise funds to renovate and reopen the venerable vessel. The P-D's Deb Peterson has more here.

(Edited 11/29/10 to correct the day of the John Lennon tribute concert.)

Jazz this week: Jeremy Davenport, Steve Ross, and more

Thanksgiving isn't usually a big weekend for jazz concerts here in St. Louis, but there are a couple of noteworthy headliners visiting town over the next few days, as well as the customary assortment of local gigs for your listening enjoyment.

Most notably, trumpeter, singer and University City native Jeremy Davenport (pictured) will continue what's become a Thanksgiving weekend tradition over the last few years, returning home from his current base in New Orleans to play Friday and Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. For more about Davenport and some video clips of him in action, see this post.

Also, just around the corner from the Bistro, singer and pianist Steve Ross will be previewing his new cabaret show "Rhythm and Romance" on Friday and Saturday at the Kranzberg Arts Center. Ross will take the show to NYC's famed Algonquin Hotel in January, but was cajoled by our town's Presenters Dolan into giving St. Louis audiences a sneak peek.

Elsewhere around town, Robbie's House of Jazz will feature singer Kim Massie on Wednesday evening, and then will be closed for the rest of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend; and The Sands will present Banjos and Brass on Friday night, trumpeter Joe Bozzi and his band on Saturday afternoon, and pianist Bob Row's trio on Sunday.

Other regular gigs that should be happening around town this weekend include include saxophonist Dave Stone's at Mangia Italiano on Friday; Willie Akins' matinee at Spruill's on Saturday; Jim Manley for Sunday brunch at Jimmy's On The Park; and the Voodoo Blues Band's Sunday afternoon jam at Hammerstone's. Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday, CertainBeat WorldBop returns to BB's Jazz Blues and Soups, and on Tuesday, Robbie's will feature their weekly jazz jam.

StLJN will be on a holiday posting schedule for the next couple of days, but for more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. You also can keep up with all the latest news by following St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes or clicking the "Like" icon on the StLJN Facebook page.

(If you have calendar items, band schedule information, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)

Notes from the Net: Phil Perry's new collaboration; Mtume vs. Crouch; plus news, reviews, interviews, and more

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

* In this week's Miles Davis-related news, Davis' former percussionist James Mtume and journalist and critic Stanley Crouch recently debated the merits of the trumpeter's electric music of the 1970s, and their discussion was captured on video and posted online. Most opinions I've seen so far say Mtume schooled Crouch, but you can make up your own mind after watching the video clips here.

Meanwhile, Davis' iconic image remains as marketable as ever, with another recent example being Canada's jazz.fm using a limited edition print of a photo of Davis for a pledge premium.

* East St. Louis native Phil Perry (pictured) is the vocalist and co-writer on "Forever United," the first single released from Chicago flute player Nicole Mitchell's upcoming CD The Bi-Polar Music Project...Vol. 1: Licensed to Chill. Mitchell and Perry wrote the tune with Preston Glass, whose songs have been recorded by Aretha Franklin, Jermaine Stewart, Whitney Houston, Earth Wind and Fire, Kenny G, Lenny Williams and others. The single is showing on the Music Choice R&B/Soul channel and getting radio play in the U.K.

* In news of recent visitors to our town, the New Jersey public radio station WBGO's program The Checkout recently interviewed guitarist John McLaughlin, who was in St. Louis on Friday at the Sheldon Concert Hall as part of his current tour of North America. The guitarist also was interviewed by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette before a show in that city, and is the subject of Follow Your Heart, a recently published book by music journalist Walter Kolosky that offers a song-by-song analysis of McLaughlin's recorded work.

* Violinist Regina Carter played Jazz at the Bistro earlier this month, and then went to Minneapolis to perform at the Dakota, where Pamela Espelund of the Twin Cities jazz blog Bebopified caught the show and wrote a enthusiastic review.

* Pianist Vijay Iyer, who was here the weekend before last with Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet, last week selected five of Smith's recordings for a sort of "intro to..." post about the trumpeter on NPR's A Blog Supreme.

* Saxophonist Victor Goines, who played the Sheldon that same weekend, just did a performance & lecture for the Chicago Humanities Festival exploring the standard "Body & Soul"

* Glancing quickly at the "coming attractions" file, The Bad Plus, who will be here in January at the Bistro, just played the London Jazz Festival

* Lastly, a few items of general interest to jazz fans: The Concord Music Group is offering 25% off the entire order when you spend at least $40 on recordings from the group's contemporary artists such as John Pizzarelli, Esperanza Spalding, Christian Scott, Stanton Moore, Stanley Clarke and others. Use the promo code NEWJAZZ to get the special pricing. There's also a free sampler album available for download, with tracks by Spalding, Scott, Mindi Abair, Fourplay, Hiromi, Lee Ritenour and Gerald Albright.

* Want to follow your favorite jazz artist(s) on Twitter? Donna, the single-named proprietress of the blog Elements of Jazz, has put together a handy yet comprehensive list of Twitter addresses for jazz musicians, receord labels, presenters, journalists, organizations, and so on.

* And from the "Handy Things You Can Do On The Internet" file, have you ever wanted to save the audio from a YouTube video as an .MP3 file for later reference? Turns out there are a number of websites created specifically for this purpose, and yr. humble StLJN editor recently has used two of them - http://www.video2mp3.net/ and http://www.listentoyoutube.com/ - with quite satisfactory results. Both sites are free, and neither requires registration. They do serve some pop-ups and interstitial ads, but if you don't mind clicking through that stuff, both seem to handle the conversion quickly and easily.

Review: John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension at the Sheldon Concert Hall

Guitarist John McLaughlin and his band 4th Dimension were in St. Louis last night to perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall, and yr. humble StLJN editor was there to review the proceedings for the Riverfront Times' music blog A to Z. You can read my account of the concert online here.

UPDATE, 11:50 p.m., 11/22/10: The concert also was reviewed by Calvin Wilson for the Post-Dispatch and Chris Gibson for the website Broadway World. Read Wilson's review online here, and Gibson's piece here.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Four from Pat Martino

With Russell Malone playing at Jazz at the Bistro last month and both Mike Stern and John McLaughlin in town this week, St. Louis audiences have had opportunities to hear some outstanding guitarists this fall. There's one more yet to come before winter officially arrives, as Pat Martino will be back here from Wednesday, December 1 through Saturday, December 4 to perform at the Bistro.

Martino's most recent appearance in St. Louis was in February of last year at the Bistro, and we covered his inspiring back story in a Video Showcase post then. Today, let's just look and listen to some clips of him as he does his thing.

The first video shows off something a bit different for Martino, as he's playing with a quintet, rather than his usual trio. The song is called "Boundary," and the rest of the band includes Delmar Brown on keyboards, Kenwood Dennard on drums, James Genus on bass and Eric Alexander on tenor sax.

Below that, you can see a clip from earlier this year of Martino playing with his current trio, featuring organist Tony Monaco and drummer Jason Brown, at the Zagreb Jazz Festival. The visuals on this-audience-shot video aren't great, but the audio is a more-than-adequate representation of the band's sound. The third clip was shot in June 2010 in Philadelphia at a benefit for Jazz Bridge, a charity that assists jazz musicians in that area, and features Martino talking briefly about his musical influences, and then playing "Lean Years."

The last video is one that's been making the rounds on the Internet since the dawn of YouTube, but since it's quite a nice clip and has never been featured here, it seems worth sharing. It features Martino performing the 1960s soul/pop hit "Sunny" in 2002 at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy with fellow guitarist John Scofield and his then-regular accompanists, organist Joey DeFrancesco and drummer Byron Landham. Martino goes first, then Sco and Joey get their licks in, and a good time apparently is had by all.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's the latest wrap-up of links and short local news items of interest that you may have missed:

* This Sunday, November 21 at 9:00 p.m., KDHX's Al Becker (pictured) will broadcast the final edition of his jazz vocal program "Voices In The Night." Becker spent a total of 18 years doing the program, plus three years on the KDHX board, two years as VP of radio, and 4 and half years on the station's program committee. KDHX's site doesn't say what will fill that time slot next, but it very well could be that Becker's departure will leave Josh Weinstein's All Soul, No Borders, which airs at 10:30 p.m. Sundays, as the only jazz-oriented program on the community radio station.

* Singer Erin Bode has announced two holiday themed performances next month - one on Saturday, December 5 at the Third Baptist Church in Grand Center, and another featuring a guest appearance from Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra violinist and concertmaster David Halen on Friday, December 10 at the Foundry Art Centre in St. Charles.

* The Chesterfield restaurant formerly known as Seasons St. Louis (and before that, Peppertini's) is reopening under new management as Seasons American Cuisine. The space had featured occasional live jazz in its two previous incarnations before closing earlier this year, but there's no indication yet if live music will be part of the mix this time around.

* Guitarist Todd Mosby recently revamped his website to include a blog, and lays out some interesting thoughts about creating music for specific environments in a couple of recent posts here and here.

Photo of Al Becker from KDHX.org.

Recently on Heliocentric Worlds

Has it really been nearly a month since our last shameless plug for StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds? The calendar says so, and in that time, the site has included the usual variety of music videos of jazz, blues, soul, funk, classic rock, prog rock and experimental musicians.

Recent posts have featured performance clips from Jimmy McGriff, Soft Machine, Andrew Hill, Roswell Rudd & Lafayette Harris, Betty Carter & Dave Holland, Teddy Wilson, Tom Waits, Little Milton, Clark Terry and the Quincy Jones Big Band, Blood Sweat and Tears, Joe Pass, Marvin Gaye, Herbie Mann, Al Green, Pat Martino, Frank Zappa and the Mothers, Joe Cocker, Wayne Shorter Quartet, Steve Miller Band, Charles Lloyd Quartet, Charlie Haden's Quartet West, Taj Mahal, Raymond Scott Quintette, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Funkadelic, and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra.

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

Jazz this week: John McLaughlin & 4th Dimension, Mike Stern, Charles "Bobo" Shaw, and more

This week's jazz and creative music events in St. Louis include visits from two stellar guitarists known for their electrified explorations; two appearances by the too-rarely-seen drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw; and lots more. Let's go to the highlights:

Tonight through Saturday, guitarist Mike Stern is back at Jazz at the Bistro, accompanied by St. Louisans Dave Weckl on drums and Tom Kennedy on bass, plus tenor saxophonist Bob Malach. Though he's demonstrated considerable versatility over the course of his 30-year career, Stern is at his best when rocking a jazz-fusion sound, and with local heroes Weckl and Kennedy on board, demand for tickets should be brisk. For more on Stern, check out this video showcase post from last Saturday, as well as StLJN's past coverage. (While he's here in St. Louis, Stern also will do a free, public master class on Friday afternoon at Graham Chapel on the Washington University campus. )

On Thursday, drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw, Josh Weinstein and Zimbabwe Nkenya will do a free performance at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts in Grand Center as part of the gallery's "sound wave" series. Playing off the current exhibition "stylus," a project by artist Ann Hamilton, the musicians will be "situated in different galleries in the Pulitzer and will form a kind of "call and response" with each other, responding to each other's music and the exhibition."

That same evening, pianist Ptah Williams leads his trio in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, this time drawing on his repertoire of modern jazz and fusion material.

Also on Thursday, the Presenters Dolan kick off a weekend of cabaret performances at the the Kranzberg Arts Center, with Robert Brieg reprising his show "Feels Like Home." Singer and actor Elise Labarge then takes the Kranzberg stage on Friday and Saturday with her show "Kurt Weill in Berlin, Paris and New York."

Friday's big event, however, would seem to be the concert by guitarist John McLaughlin and 4th Dimension at the Sheldon Concert Hall. It's been nearly a decade since McLaughlin last played St. Louis, in an all-acoustic "tribute to Shakti" at the Sheldon, and much longer since local audiences have had a chance to watch the former leader of the seminal fusion band Mahavishnu Orchestra show off his electric chops. To see some videos of McLaughlin and his current cohorts in action, check out this post from a couple of Saturdays ago. Yr. humble StLJN editor also penned a Critic's Pick on the show for the Riverfront Times, which can be read online here.

On Saturday, the Nu-Art Series presents "The Drum Line" with Charles "Bobo" Shaw, Jerome "Scrooge" Harris and Gary Sykes at the Metropolitan Gallery, 2936 Locust St downtown. As noted in the intro to this post, Shaw, who first gained wide attention as a member of St. Louis' Black Artists Group and co-leader of the Human Arts Ensemble, doesn't perform locally all that often these days, so any chance to hear him is something of a rarity. Add in Sykes and Harris - two top local drummers who, though highly skilled, aren't as well known outside of St. Louis - and it promises to be an afternoon of powerful percussive prowess.

Elsewhere around town, Robbie's House of Jazz is offering a "blues weekend," with Big George Brock and the New Houserockers on Friday and singer Barbara Carr on Saturday; and on Sunday, singer Anita Jackson and keyboardist and singer Jeremiah Allen will perform an early evening show at the Ambassador Events Center's Klub Klymaxx.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Sessions Big Band returns to BB's Jazz Blues and Soups, while the student musicians in the Webster University Big Band will perform a free concert in Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster U campus. On Tuesday, the Genesis Jazz Project will play a free concert at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

For more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. You also can keep up with all the latest news by following St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes or clicking the "Like" icon on the StLJN Facebook page.

(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.)

John Pizzarelli to play benefit gala for the Sheldon on Saturday, April 9

Guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli (pictured) and the Swing Seven will headline the Sheldon Concert Hall's 2011 benefit gala at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 9 at the Sheldon.

Pizzarelli, a frequent visitor to St. Louis who has performed in recent years at the Sheldon, the TouPAC, and Jazz at the Bistro, will feature music from his most recent CD Rockin’ in Rhythm, a tribute to Duke Ellington that includes interpretations of songs such as “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” “I’m Beginning to See the Light,” “Satin Doll” and “In My Solitude.”

Patron tickets for the event are on sale now. Prices start at $500 and include pre-concert cocktails and hors d’oeuvres; a post-concert supper and dancing; preferred concert seating; complimentary valet parking; and a tax deduction. To order, call the Sheldon at 314-533-9900.

Single tickets for the concert portion of the evening will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, February 26 via Metrotix and the Sheldon, and will priced at $40 for orchestra seats, $35 for the balcony.

Mike Stern to present free master class this Friday, November 19 at Graham Chapel

This just in from the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University: Guitarist Mike Stern (pictured) will give a free master class at 4:00 p.m. this Friday, November 19 at Graham Chapel on the Wash U. campus.

The event is sponsored by Jazz at Holmes and the Wash U. Department of Music, and it is free and open to the general public, with no ticket or advance registration needed.

Stern will perform Wednesday through Saturday of this week at Jazz at the Bistro, and was featured here on StLJN in this past Saturday's Video Showcase. The Post-Dispatch this weekend also had a story by Calvin Wilson previewing this week's gigs by Stern and fellow guitarist John McLaughlin, who's playing Friday at the Sheldon. You can read that article online here.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Mike Stern

If you're a fan of jazz/fusion guitar, next week should be a good time to be in St. Louis. In addition to the concert by John McLaughlin and 4th Dimension on Friday at the Sheldon, which was previewed last week in this space, guitarist Mike Stern will be playing Wednesday, November 17 through Saturday, November 20 a couple of blocks away at Jazz at the Bistro.

Stern has been a relatively frequent visitor to St. Louis in recent years, playing at the Bistro with his own band a couple of years ago and again with the Yellowjackets last season. There's another local connection as well, since Stern frequently works with drummer Dave Weckl and bassist Tom Kennedy. Both St. Louis natives will be on hand for Stern's gig next week, with saxophonist Bob Malach rounding out the group.

Today's first clip features Stern, Weckl, Kennedy and saxophonist Bob Franceschini, who played here with Stern in 2008, performing Stern's tune "Tumble Home" last year at the Alatri In Blues festival in Italy.

Down below, you can see Stern, Weckl and Kennedy playing an extended version of "Yesterdays" at the Triumph of Jazz Festival in Moscow in June 2010. The performance is in two parts, features solos from all three musicians, and serves as a representative example of the way Stern and Co. typically stretch out in concert. (The audio level on this performance is a bit lower than usual, so you may need to adjust playback volume accordingly.)

Below that, we've got a couple of goodies of particular interest to guitarists. The fourth clip is a short interview with Stern in which he discusses his guitar rig, including his preference for using two amplifiers and his use of digital delay. Below that, there's a video compiled from a master class, in which Stern discusses the use of chord tones while soloing, and then demonstrates his point in a short performance.









(Edited after posting to correct the day of the John McLaughlin concert.)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's the latest wrap-up of links and short local news items of interest that you may have missed:

* The St. Louis based label MAXJAZZ once again is offering discounts on CDs purchased from their website for the holiday season. Between now and the end of the year, those who purchase a MAXJAZZ CD from their site at the full price of $16.99 can get up to four more releases at $12.99 each, with free shipping in the U.S.

* The Riverfront Times' Annie Zaleski looks at the music-related documentaries in this year's St. Louis International Film Festival in a blog post here. One film of particular interest to jazz fans is In My Mind, which "explores the parallels (and differences) between a 2009 concert by jazz pianist Jason Moran -- which paid tribute to the great Thelonious Monk -- and a gig that the late, great jazz legend performed exactly fifty years earlier." In My Mind screens at 1:15 p.m. next Saturday, November 20 at the Tivoli.

* Author/illustrator Kevin Belford's book on the history of St. Louis blues, Devil At The Confluence, got another nice review, this time from the blog In A Blue Mood.

* The Gaslight Square veterans in the group Banjos and Brass were featured in a recent story written by Chris Campbell for the Suburban Journals. The band plays on Fridays at The Sands in Shrewsbury.

* Mel Bay, the St. Louis-based publishers of music instructional books, CDs and DVDs, are holding a sweepstakes to give away a free Apple iPad with case and $250 worth of Mel Bay materials in the company's new eBook format. The contest closes on November 30; for details on how to enter, go here.

* Music retailer Webster Records (pictured) has announced that they've gone "back to the future" and are once again selling vinyl, with a selection of LPs and 45s in various genres including jazz, classical, rock and show tunes. The store also now is buying used vinyl from collectors, and will have a open house sale with refreshments and special pricing this Sunday, November 14 as part of the holiday season kickoff in the Old Webster business district.

Jazz this week: Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet, Victor Goines, Trio Tres Bien, and more

It's another busy weekend for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with a variety of styles, from traditional to experimental, on offer from both touring and local performers. Let's go to the highlights:

Cabaret St. Louis continues their fall season this week with singer Valerie Lemon, who will perform her show spotlighting the music of Marvin Hamlisch nightly through Saturday at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

On Thursday, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents a tribute to Kind of Blue by a band fronted by trumpeter Danny Campbell and saxophonists Jeff Anderson and Jason Swagler. (Presumably, they'll have a rhythm section there, too, but the announcement from the Jazz at Holmes email listserv didn't say who else would be involved.)

On Friday, Trio Tres Bien open a two-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro. Featuring pianist Jeter Thompson and his brothers Harold on bass and Howard on drums, the group's straight-ahead, swinging sound (with occasional touches of Latin and soul) has made them a popular and enduring attraction for local jazz fans.

Also on Friday, guitarist Matthew Von Doran is back at Broadway Bean Coffee on the south side for a free performance backed by bassist Bob Deboo and drummer Kyle Honeycutt; and singer Cherise Rise Laday takes the stage at Robbie's House of Jazz with a band including guitarist Chris Burchett, pianist Adaron "Pops" Jackson, bassist Jahmal Nichols and drummer Irvin Neal.

On Saturday night, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet performs at the 560 Music Center in a concert sponsored by New Music Circle. This is the St. Louis debut for the Golden Quartet, which also includes bassist John Lindberg, drummer Pheeroan akLaff and pianist Vijay Iyer, and the performance promises to be one of this fall's creative music highlights. You can read my Riverfront Times Critic's Pick on the concert here, and to see some video of Smith and the Golden Quartet in action, check out this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

UPDATE, 11:00 p.m. 11/11/10: Smith was interviewed by Terry Perkins for an informative article on the concert published today by the St. Louis Beacon.

UPDATE, 1:00 a.m. 11/12/10: Smith also talked with Calvin Wilson of the Post-Dispatch for a story that's just come online here.

That same evening, saxophonist Victor Goines will make it a "Sonny" evening at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Goines, who's known to many jazz fans for collaborating with Wynton Marsalis in both the trumpeter's small group and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, will play music associated with Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt.

The Sheldon and Metrotix are offering a two-for-one discount on tickets for the concert; for details on that, go here. Goines also is a noted jazz educator who currently directs the jazz studies program and Northwestern University, and while he's in town he also will present a free master class on Saturday morning at Saxquest.

Also on Saturday, the Tom Byrne Trio will be at Robbie's House of Jazz, featuring Byrne on guitar & guitar synth, Willem von Hombracht on bass and Philip Graves on drums.

Then on Sunday, Robbie's will celebrate a holiday event in the surrounding Old Webster business district with a jazz brunch/concert at 3:00 p.m. featuring singer Jeanne Trevor, pianist John Pyatt, and friends.

Also on Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club will present keyboardist Bob Row's group, featuring clarinetist Scott Alberici, at Doubletree Hotel & Conference Center in Chesterfield. Also, Tom Byrne is back in action Sunday night with his Pat Metheny tribute Have You Heard? at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday pianist Phil Gomez and Clave Sol will play Latin jazz at BB's, and on Tuesday morning, Elsie Parker & the Poor People of Paris will perform a Coffee Concert of their jazz-inflected, French cabaret-style music at the Sheldon. (As is customary with the Coffee Concerts series, they'll return to repeat the same program on Wednesday morning.)

For more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. You also can keep up with all the latest news by following St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes or clicking the "Like" icon on the StLJN Facebook page.

(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.)

Nu-Art Series to present "The Drum Line" on Saturday, November 20

The Nu-Art Series will present "The Drum Line," a performance by St. Louis percussionists Jerome "Scrooge" Harris, Charles "Bobo" Shaw (pictured) and Gary Sykes, at 3:00 p.m. Saturday, November 20, at the Metropolitan Gallery, 2936 Locust St downtown.

All three percussionists are St. Louis natives who got their start within local drum & bugle corps. Specifically, Nu-Art's news release mentions two marching units, the Tom Powell Post and American Woodsman, affiliated with VFW Post #77, which served African-American veterans. Other well-known alumni include Clark Terry, Phillip Wilson and Oliver Lake.

Shaw is perhaps best known as a member of the Black Artists Group and co-leader of the Human Arts Ensemble, and has collaborated with many well-known improvising musicians around the world, while Harris and Sykes are both longtime mainstays of the local scene, playing with a wide range of local, regional and touring jazz artists.

Admission to "The Drum Line" is $10.00 at the door. For more information, call the gallery at 314-535-6500.

Notes from the Net: The Miles Davis Radio Project reissued; Sanborn plays through pain; plus news, reviews, interviews & more

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

* Let's start, as we usually do, with news of Miles Davis. Via Miles Davis Online comes word that Davis, who in the 1970s recorded an album called On The Corner, soon may have an actual NYC street corner named after him. Also: the Miles Davis Radio Project, an eight-part, 16-hour audio documentary about the trumpeter first recorded nearly 20 years ago, is now available for purchase as a series of digital downloads; Toronto trumpeter Brownman Ali just completed a five-week series of concerts paying tribute to Davis; and images of Davis and other members of the band that recorded Kind of Blue apparently are sufficiently cool to be featured on some new skateboards and sneakers.

* In news of other former St. Louisans, saxophonist and clarinetist Marty Ehrlich (pictured) has teamed with trombonist Ray Anderson to co-lead a quartet on a new CD called Hear You Say, out now on Challenge Records. Here's a review of the disc from AllAboutJazz.com's Bruce Lindsay, and another perspective from the UK Guardian's John Fordham.

* Singer, actor, comic and Belleville native Lea DeLaria also has a new CD, Be A Santa, out on the Warner Classics & Jazz label. AAJ's Bruce Lindsay reviewed DeLaria's disc, calling it "an album full of festive standards that swings like a sleigh bell on a Christmas tree and entertains in stylish fashion."

* Via Avant Music News: Saxophonist, composer and onetime Webster University student John Zorn will present a performance of his classical works later this month at Bard College in upstate New York.

* Another saxophonist and former St. Louisan, David Sanborn, played the Blue Note in NYC last month with his trio, and got a nice review from the Times' Nate Chinen. Sanborn's performance seems even more remarkable in retrospect, given the recent news that he's been performing for months now while suffering acute pain from a kidney stone.

* In other medical-related news, pianist Dave Brubeck, who had to cancel his October performance here at the Sheldon Concert Hall for health reasons, recently underwent surgery to have a pacemaker installed. There's good news, too, though - after the operation, Brubeck's doctors said he should be able to resume practicing and performing soon. Brubeck also is the subject of a new documentary film, directed by Clint Eastwood and set to premier next month on the BBC.

* Meanwhile, drummer Max Weinberg, who did make it here with his new Big Band to perform last month at the Argosy Alton Casino, recently talked to the website Popeater about his own recent heart surgery, his decision not to join Conan O'Brien's new show on TBS, and more.

* Pianist Kenny Barron, seen in St. Louis last month in duet with fellow pianist Mulgrew Miller at Jazz at the Bistro, talked with NPR's A Blog Supreme about his recent listening habits here.

* Also recently at the Bistro was guitarist Russell Malone, who did a four-night stand to celebrate the release of his latest CD Triple Play on the St. Louis-based MAXJAZZ label. Now, reviews of the disc are coming in, including favorable mentions from the New York Times, DownBeat and DustyGroove.com.

* Violinist Regina Carter, who was here last week at the Bistro, played the previous week at Regatta Bar in Boston; here's an article about the gig, from the Harvard Crimson.

* Turning to news of coming attractions, pianist Vijay Iyer, who will be in St. Louis this Saturday to perform with Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet at 560 Music Center, recently was a guest on NPR's "Fresh Air".

* Speaking of Wadada Leo Smith, he's got a new disc out, recorded as a duo with drummer Ed Blackwell, called The Blue Mountain’s Sun Drummer. Read a review here, courtesy of Burning Ambulance blogger Phil Freeman.

* Zappa Plays Zappa, set to play The Pageant on December 8, recently celebrated what would have been Frank Zappa's 70th birthday with a concert in London. In related news, keyboardist George Duke, who worked with FZ for several years in the 1970s, will join ZPZ onstage for the first time ever in an upcoming show in Los Angeles.

* Last but not least, Lisette Dennis of Regional Arts Commission kindly emailed with the news that the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City wants to hire a Grants Development Officer. Interested individuals can find out more about the position and how to apply here.

Metrotix, Sheldon offer two-for-one discount on tickets to Victor Goines

The Sheldon Concert Hall and Metrotix are offering a two-for-one discount on tickets for the concert by saxophonist Victor Goines (pictured) this Saturday, November 14 at the Sheldon.

Billed as "The Two Sides of Sonny," the concert will feature Goines' tribute to the music of saxophonists Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt. Regular ticket prices are $40 and $35, but online purchasers who use the promo code can buy one ticket and get a second ticket free.

To access the offer, go here, enter promo code 2SONNY, and follow the instructions to complete the transaction.

While he's in St. Louis, Goines also will present a free master class at 11 a.m. Saturday at Saxquest. For more information on that, call Saxquest at 314-664-1234 or visit their website.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: John McLaughlin and 4th Dimension

Today, let's look at some video clips of guitarist John McLaughlin and his band 4th Dimension, who will be in St. Louis to perform on Friday, November 19 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Also including keyboardist/drummer Gary Husband, drummer Mark Mondésir, and bassist Étienne Mbappé, 4th Dimension came together in 2007, revisiting and updating the high-energy electric jazz/fusion style that McLaughlin made famous in the 1970s with the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Their St. Louis appearance is part of a fall tour that will see them do 22 shows in 21 different cities in a month.

The first video up above was recorded in 2008, and features a performance of McLaughlin's composition "Senor CS" recorded at the Vienna Jazz Festival. Down below, there's another clip from the same show, of the song "New Blues, Old Bruise." (Both feature bassist Dominique Di Piazza in place of Mbappé.)

Down below that are performances of "Light at the End of the World" and "The Fine Line" that were recorded in May, 2010 in Bucharest and feature the band's current lineup. These two videos were shot by an audience member using a handheld camera, so the video wobbles a bit in spots, but the audio quality is quite nice.

For more about John McLaughlin and 4th Dimension, check out this excerpt from a July 2010 Jazz Times article by Geoffrey Himes, and some reviews of the band's most recent CD, the soon-to-be-Grammy-nominated To The One, found here, here, here and here.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's the latest wrap-up of links and short local news items of interest that you may have missed:

* Riddle's Penultimate Wine Bar and Cafe (pictured), a mainstay in the U. City Loop area for 25 years, has closed "indefinitely," as reported variously this week by the Riverfront Times, Post-Dispatch and St. Louis magazine. Unfortunately, this means the loss of another local venue for jazz, as Riddle's had featured pianist Ptah Williams as a regular performer on Wednesdays, as well other local groups such as the St. Louis Jazz X-Tet, who recently had ended their long-running Sunday night gig there.

* On a slightly cheerier note, the city of St. Louis and the Grand Center district, home to music venues including Jazz at the Bistro, the Sheldon and the Kranzberg Arts Center, have ended the enforcement of on-street parking meters in the district after 7:00 p.m., reversing a decision made earlier this year to write tickets until 10:00 p.m..

* The fall edition of the St Louis Record Collector Show, which is held four times a year at the American Czech Hall, 4690 Lansdowne at Kingshighway, takes place from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. this Sunday, November 7. A variety of vendors will offer all sorts of media and memorabilia, including LPs, 78s, 45s, CDs, posters, pictures, DVDs, VHS tapes, magazines, ephemera and more.

* PNC Financial Services Group , which recently entered St. Louis by taking over the locations of National City banks, this week offered to donate a total of $1 million to midsize and large St. Louis arts groups over the next two years through its PNC Arts Alive program. Applications for the grants, which will be for $20,000 or more, begin immediately, with winners to be announced in June. Here's hoping that our town's qualifying jazz presenters, such as Jazz St. Louis and the Sheldon, will get a share of the cash.

(Photo of Riddle's from the Riverfront Times.)

Galactic returning to The Pageant on Thursday, March 17

The New Orleans funk/jazz/hip-hop band Galactic (pictured) is coming back to St. Louis to perform on Thursday, March 17 at The Pageant. Percussionist and singer Cyril Neville of the Neville Brothers and trombonist Corey Henry of the Rebirth Brass Band will be featured as special guests.

Galactic was in St. Louis most recently in February 2010, playing The Pageant on a double bill with saxophonist Karl Denson's Tiny Universe. Drummer Stanton Moore has made a couple more trips to St. Louis this fall, performing at the Old Rock House with Garage A Trois and with his own trio at 2320 Cherokee.

Tickets for the all-ages show are $20 for general admission, with a $2 surcharge at the door for minors, and go on sale at 5:00 p.m. today, Friday, November 5 via the Pageant box office and Ticketmaster.

Jazz St. Louis wins 2011 Missouri Arts Award

Jazz St. Louis will receive a 2011 Missouri Arts Award from the Missouri Arts Council.

The Missouri Arts Council is a state agency and division of the Department of Economic Development that provides over $8 million a year in grants to nonprofit organizations to stimulate the growth, development, and appreciation of the arts in Missouri.

The Missouri Arts Awards were established in 1983 to honor individuals and arts organizations that "have made profound and lasting contributions to the cultural and artistic climate of the state." Nominees are reviewed by a committee of Missourians from across the state who are knowledgeable in the arts. Jazz St. Louis' 2011 award will be presented on February 16, 2011 in a ceremony at the Capitol Rotunda in Jefferson City.

Jazz this week: Regina Carter's Reverse Thread, Banu Gibson, Dave Pietro, Christopher McBride, and more

This week's jazz and creative music offerings in St. Louis would seem to have something of a nostalgic bent, with several shows recalling early New Orleans or Swing Era jazz, and one headliner who's reaching all the way back to the music's African roots. However, there also are some more modern sounds happening around town; you just have to know where to look. So, let's go to the highlights:

Tonight, violinist Regina Carter (pictured) opens a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro with her current project Reverse Thread, which draws inspiration from African folk music and features kora player Yacouba Sissoko. You can see some videos of Reverse Thread in action here, and read a brief interview with Carter, done last week by Calvin Wilson of the Post-Dispatch, here.

Thursday's quite busy, as the touring Swing Era musical In The Mood is in town for two shows at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, and saxophonist Dave Pietro, who's played with many modern-day big bands including Toshiko Akiyoshi, Woody Herman, Lionel Hampton, Maynard Ferguson, Maria Schneider, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, and Arturo O’Farrill, will perform with the Webster Groves HS combos at Highway 61 Roadhouse.

That same evening, clarinetist Scott Alberici plays a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, and the Sheldon Concert Hall hosts its annual "Artsounds" benefit, which this year is themed "Jazz in Black and White" and will feature a performance of new music from pianist Kim Portnoy.

On Friday, singer, pianist and percussionist Al Ox (aka Alan Oxenhandler) is putting on what's being billed as a "classic stage variety show" of "songs, schtick and soft-shoe" at 560 Music Center; and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Anderson will deploy his tenor sax at Robbie's House of Jazz, backed by guitarist Eric Slaughter, bassist Nick Jost and drummer Marty Morrison.

Also of note: The Sands, located just outside the city limits in Shrewsbury, recently has expanded its musical offerings to a third day of the week and now is presenting trad jazz, ragtime and other vintage sounds from Banjos and Brass every Friday. The group includes Bobby Grimm and Al Lehman on banjos, Pat Arana on trombone, and Steve Hoog on tuba.

On Saturday, Robbie's has the young Chicago-based saxophonist Christopher McBride, who has played the club once before with his group the McMoore Movement. This time, McBride will front a quartet with pianist Matt Villinger, plus the aforementioned Nick Jost and Marty Morrison.

Then on Sunday afternoon, singer Banu Gibson and her band, the New Orleans Hot Jazz, will perform a matinee at the Sheldon. Her show "Meet Me At The Corner of Broadway and Jazz" will pay tribute to "classic Broadway and jazz songs of the 1920s, '30s and '40s."

As the new week begins, the Webster University Student Jazz Combos 2 get their turn on Monday to perform a free concert at the university's Community Music School, 535 Garden Avenue; and the Next Generation Jazz Band plays at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

For more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. You also can keep up with all the latest news by following St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes or clicking the "Like" icon on the StLJN Facebook page.

(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.)

Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Ron Carter to headline 2011 Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival

The Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival has announced that the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra (pictured at left) and bassist Ron Carter will be the featured performers for the 2011 GSLJF, which will be held Thursday, April 14 through Saturday, April 16 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

The VJO will headline the concert on Friday, April 15 at the TouPAC, and Carter's trio with pianist Mulgrew Miller and guitarist Russell Malone will be featured on Saturday, April 16. The University of Missouri-St. Louis Big Band, headed by bassist and GSLJF artistic director Jim Widner, will serve as opening act for both concerts. As in years past, the Festival's first day on Thursday will be dedicated to adjudications of participating student bands.

The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra originally was formed in the mid-1960s by trumpeter Thad Jones and drummer Mel Lewis, and has maintained a Monday-night residency at the Village Vanguard for more than 40 years. Originally named after its co-founders, the band became the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra when Jones moved to Denmark in 1978. Since the death of Lewis in 1990, it's been known as the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, with saxophonist Dick Oatts serving as artistic director and pianist Jim McNeely as principal composer/arranger.

Carter (pictured at right), who's now 73, first came to fame as a member of Miles Davis' classic 1960s quintet. He has appeared on more than 2,500 albums, including many well-known dates for the Blue Note and CTI labels, making him one of the most-recorded bassists in jazz history. Carter has worked with a veritable "who's who" of jazz musicians of the last half-century, and also has occasionally ventured into other genres, doing everything from playing classical music on bass and cello to recording with performers such as Gil Scott-Heron and A Tribe Called Quest.

Tickets for the performances by the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and the Ron Carter Trio at the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival range in price from $10 to $35, and are on sale now via the Touhill Performing Arts Center's website and box office.

Steve Ross to preview new show "Rhythm and Romance" on November 26 & 27

Pianist and singer Steve Ross (pictured) will preview his new cabaret show "Rhythm and Romance" in St. Louis over Thanksgiving weekend before taking it NYC's famed Algonquin Room in January.

Ross will perform "Rhythm and Romance" at 8:00 p.m. Friday, November 26 and Saturday, November 27 at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N. Grand Blvd. The show would seem to be a nice "get" for producers The Presenters Dolan, as Ross is a critically acclaimed performer and proven draw once dubbed the "Crown Prince of New York cabaret" by the New York Times.

Tickets for Steve Ross' "Rhythm and Romance" are $35 each and are available for purchase now online at www.licketytix.com or by calling 314-725-4200, EXT 10.