St. Louis Jazz Notes: December 2010

Friday, December 31, 2010

StLJN 2010 year in review

On this final day of 2010, let's take a look back at some of the most newsworthy, noteworthy, popular and/or interesting items posted here on St. Louis Jazz Notes over the past 12 months:

January 2010

February 2010

March 2010

April 2010

May 2010

June 2010

July 2010

August 2010

September 2010

October 2010

November 2010

December 2010

Thanks to all of you who have read and/or contributed information, links, comments, and more to this site during this past year. Here's hoping that your New Year will filled with peace, prosperity, and lots of great music.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Bonerama to perform Wednesday,
January 19 at The Gramophone

The brass-driven New Orleans funk group Bonerama (pictured), which features a front line of four trombone players, is returning to St. Louis to play on Wednesday, January 19 at The Gramophone.

Bonerama was formed in 1998 by trombonists Mark Mullins and Craig Klein, who both have spent considerable time as part of singer/pianist Harry Connick's Jr's big band. Their repertoire includes original material penned by the band members, as well as an eclectic menu of covers ranging from Jimi Hendrix's "Manic Depression" to a 'bone-a-fied version of the soft-rock staple "You've Got A Friend."

Tickets for Bonerama at The Gramophone are $17 in advance, $20 at the door for age 21 and over; $25 for ages 18 to 21; and are on sale now.

Christian Pincock, Moyindau to play
in January at LNAC

The Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center has announced two shows in January that may be of interest to fans of jazz and improvised music:

Trombonist and electronic musician Christian Pincock will play LNAC on Friday, January 14. Pincock performs improvised and composed music using a valve trombone and a computer-based instrument he created using MAX/MSP software. "Using a keyboard controller and a system of sensors attached to his trombone he is able to control sampled sounds and integrate them expressively and musically," says Pincock's website. "His work is both dynamic and subtle, drawing from diverse styles such as improvised experimental music, contemporary classical, avant-garde jazz, noise, and electronica."

Then on Sunday, January 16, Moyindau (pictured) will take the LNAC stage. The group, which includes Alex Kreger (piano), Kevin Bene (saxophones), Susanna Mendlow (cello) and Ryan Ptasnik (drums), "explores the territory between jazz and contemporary classical music, improvised and notated forms....The ensemble also draws from ethnic folk traditions of cultures across the world, an influence perhaps best explained by the group’s beginning as the backup band for vocal settings of Kazakh poetry."

Both shows start at 8:00 p.m., with tickets available for $5 at the door.

(Edited 1/8/11 to correct the day of the Moyindau show, and to use the preferred form of their name.)

Rounding up the "Best Jazz of 2010" lists

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Jazz this week: New Year's Eve in St. Louis

As noted in this space last week, most touring jazz performers are off the road this time of year, and many of St. Louis' not-for-profit venues that present jazz are on hiatus until the new year as well.

Most notably, Jazz at the Bistro, the city's most prominent spot for live jazz, will be dark again this weekend as the First Night celebration takes place in the surrounding Grand Center district.

So, given all that, what options are available for someone who'd like to hear some jazz this New Year's Eve in St. Louis?

Well, once place to look would be the aforementioned First Night. Billed as a family-friendly, alcohol-free event, First Night offers a variety of entertainment both outdoors on the streets of Grand Center and indoors at various venues around the district for a single price. This year's indoor performance spaces include the Sheldon Concert Hall and Ballroom, Kranzberg Arts Center, the Grandel Theatre, Third Baptist Church, SLU's Busch Student Center, St. Francis Xavier College Church, and the Scottish Rite Auditorium. (Powell Hall is not included, as the Symphony has its own New Year's Eve concert scheduled.)

Performers at this year's First Night who are of potential interest to jazz fans include trad jazz and swing band Cornet Chop Suey; singers Jeanne Trevor (pictured) and Wendy Gordon; the contemporary quartet Nu Element; saxophonist James Warfield's trio; cabaret performers Rosemary Watts and Joe Dryer; Elsie Parker and the Poor People of Paris; stride/ragtime pianist Stephanie Trick; the Friends of Scott Joplin; and singer Kim Massie. For a complete schedule of who's playing where and when, see the First Night website.

Elsewhere around town on NYE, guitarist Eric Slaughter's trio will perform at Robbie's House of Jazz, and the Funky Butt Brass Band will be part of a multi-act bill with Hip Grease, the Dogtown All-Stars, and three DJs at 2720 Cherokee.

Also, keyboardist Mo Egeston's All-Stars will play downtown at Lola; The Sands will feature Gaslight Square veterans Banjos and Brass; and Iron Barley will present Sins of the Pioneers, who blend New Orleans jazz and Western swing with rock and various other strains of American roots music.

(For more on other New Year's Eve entertainment around St. Louis, see the Riverfront Times' coverage here, and the Post-Dispatch's here. )

Here at StLJN HQ, yr. humble editor continues to work on year-end posts and various housekeeping-type matters, as well as updating the site calendar as new info comes in for next month and beyond. While things may seem a bit slow right now, updates will be ongoing.

So, for more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, we encourage you to 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.)

Saturday, December 25, 2010

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase:
Christmas with the Funky Butt Brass Band

Today, in keeping with the season, we feature four clips of St. Louis' Funky Butt Brass Band having fun with some holiday-themed material.

First up is a video recorded earlier this month at the Blues City Deli, featuring a medley that incorporates "Jingle Bells," "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer," "The Little Drummer Boy," "Here Comes Santa Claus" and "When St. Nick Comes Marching In," a Santa-fied version of "When The Saints Go Marching In."

Down below, we have three clips from the FBBB's "Holiday Brasstravaganza," which took place last Saturday night at Off Broadway: "Christmas in New Orleans," "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas, Don't Be Late)" and "Santa Baby," featuring a guest vocal from Kristin Gregory. Happy holidays!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's this week's wrap-up of assorted links and short local news items of interest:

* Jazz St. Louis's Bob Bennett this week updated his previously published list of favorite holiday jazz albums.

* Meanwhile, several of the local high school student musicians involved in JSL' educational programs have made their respective all-state jazz bands in Missouri and Illinois

* The South County Times' Don Corrigan wrote about the "John Lennon Remembered" concert put on earlier this month by jazz faculty and students at Webster University.

* The Riverfront Times' Annie Zaleski blogs about how new legislation authorizing the creation of hundreds of low power radio stations across the country may affect St. Louis, in particular Washington University's campus station KWUR (90.3 FM).

* Lastly, for all you vinyl aficionados, old and new, out there in the St. Louis area, Euclid Records now is selling turntables from Crosley and Ion in their Webster Groves shop.

Jazz this week: Happy holidays
from St. Louis Jazz Notes

With the Christmas holidays falling on Friday and Saturday this year, the live music choices in St. Louis are understandably somewhat limited this weekend, but there nevertheless are a few things to highlight.

Tonight, saxophonist Bhob Rainey returns to St. Louis to headline a night of improvised music at the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center. Also tonight, the annual Noel-a-thon, a charity fundraiser which features short sets from a variety of St. Louis blues, rock, folk and jazz musicians, takes place at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

BB's also will have Good 4 The Soul on Sunday in the early evening, and bassist David Certain's CertainBeat WorldBop on Monday.

Beyond that, here's what else we can tell you after checking the schedules around town: Jazz at the Bistro, Robbie's House of Jazz, and The Gramophone are all closed this weekend, as are most concert venues such as the Sheldon, the Kranzberg Arts Center, the TouPAC, and all the halls associated with local colleges and universities. Other restaurants and bars in the area that feature live music may be open for limited hours, but given that the websites of many smaller spots are updated only sporadically, the only way to know for sure is to call ahead.

Here at StLJN, posting likely will be light over the weekend, though the Saturday Video Showcase is pre-scheduled and so will appear at the usual time.

Next week, we'll have lots of year-end material, including a look at the musical options around town for New Year's Eve; a recap of 2010's most significant local jazz-related stories; our annual roundup of lists of the best jazz of the past year, and, as the saying goes, much more.

Until then, here's hoping that you and yours have a happy and peaceful holiday weekend!

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.)

Monday, December 20, 2010

Bhob Rainey to play Thursday, December 23 at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center

This just in: Saxophonist Bhob Rainey (pictured) will return to St. Louis for a performance at 8:30 p.m. this Thursday, December 23 at the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center. According to Rainey's website, this will be the eighth year in a row that the Boston-based improvisor has done a pre-Christmas show at LNAC.

"Working with extended techniques, multiphonics and standing resonant frequencies, Rainey 'plays the room' more literally than any performer you will ever see," says the news release from LNAC. Billed as "a special holiday show of experimental music," the evening also will feature sets from St. Louis composer/performer Jack Callahan and epicycle, the project headed by LNAC's Mark Sarich. Admission is $5 at the door.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase:
The further adventures of Hamiet Bluiett

With the holidays coming up, the jazz concert schedule here in St. Louis is relatively devoid of touring attractions for the next couple of weeks. So let's take the opportunity to catch up with some of the recent activities of one of our favorite musicians with local roots, the great baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett.

Bluiett was born and raised in southern Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, and after decades of living in New York, re-established residency in the metro east a few years ago. Though he's been a more frequent presence on the local scene since then, he still spends a good bit of time in NYC, and also continues to tour, both as a solo artist and with the World Saxophone Quartet.

Today, we'll take a look at just a couple of the projects Bluiett was involved in during the past year. The first clip was recorded in August at the Eddie Lang Jazz Festival at Pignatelli Castle in Monteroduni, Italy, and features some trio music from Bluiett, bassist Curtis Lundy and drummer Lee Pearson. In the second clip, they're joined by the Telepathic Improvisational Orchestra, a group of student musicians taking part in the festival's educational program, for a big band arrangement directed by Bluiett and featuring a skronky bari solo that starts about three minutes in.

Below that, there's a four-part documentary on the meeting earlier this year between the World Saxophone Quartet (co-founded by Bluiett, former St. Louisans Oliver Lake and the late Julius Hemphill, and David Murray) and the all-percussion ensemble M'Boom, which was started in 1970 by the late, legendary drummer Max Roach and recently revived by surviving members Warren Smith, Ray Mantilla and Joe Chambers.

The two groups first came together in 1981 for a concert at the the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC. They reunited in January 2010 for a series of dates at Birdland in NYC and a European tour, and in the clips below, you'll see interviews with members of both groups as well as some performance footage from those dates. Here's hoping that a full-length performance film will be forthcoming at some point...

Friday, December 17, 2010

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's this week's wrap-up of assorted links and short local news items of interest:

* Should have linked to it on Wednesday, but singer Jane Monheit was interviewed for an article by the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson published earlier this week. Monheit continues at Jazz at the Bistro through tomorrow night.

* DJ and historian Dennis Owsley muses about holiday themed jazz for his December post on St. Louis magazine's arts blog Look/Listen.

* And speaking of holiday jazz, Don Wolff just posted word that he's showcasing a sleigh-full of seasonal songs in the current edition of his Internet radio program "I Love Jazz."

* Singer Erin Bode's most recent CD Photograph was reviewed for AllAboutJazz.com by Dan Bilawsky.

* Supporters of the current effort to purchase and restore the Goldenrod Showboat have produced a short video on the history of the boat, which spent 53 years on the St. Louis riverfront and served as the site of many traditional jazz and ragtime performances. You can see the video in the embedded window below.

* The St. Louis-based blues label Broke & Hungry Records will celebrate its fifth anniversary early next year with the release of a two-CD collection called Mistakes Were Made: Five Years of Raw Blues, Damaged Livers & Questionable Business Decisions. The 30-song compilation will feature 15 tracks drawn from the label's catalog, plus 15 previously unreleased cuts from rural Mississippi performers such as Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, Wesley Jefferson, Pat Thomas, Terry "Big T" Williams, Bill Abel, The Mississippi Marvel and Terry "Harmonica" Bean.

(Edited after posting.)

Thursday, December 16, 2010

RFT's "2010: The Year In Music" now online

The Riverfront Times music section year-end wrap-up for 2010 is now online. While most of the coverage is devoted to rock, pop and hip-hop, yr. humble StLJN editor did get a chance to weigh in with a contribution, which begins at the bottom of the page here, and continues here.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Jazz this week: Jane Monheit, Kenny G, and more

As the winter break begins for local universities and we head toward the holidays, the amount of jazz and creative music activity here in St. Louis tends to drop rather precipitously for a couple of weeks and then pick up again in the new year.

That said, there are several noteworthy events happening this week, starting with singer Jane Monheit (pictured), who this evening will open a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. Monheit's got a considerable fan base here in St. Louis, and word is that the early shows are already sold out. So if you're interested in going, advance reservations would seem to be a must.

Tomorrow night, saxophonist Kenny G brings his holiday show at the Family Arena in St. Charles. While the popular performer certainly has plenty of detractors, he's got his share of fans, too. (In fact, the stats show info on Mr. G's St. Louis performance has been one of the most-searched-for items here on StLJN over the last month.) If you're one of those fans, it appears that as of this writing, some tickets remain on sale.

Elsewhere around town, the Funky Butt Brass Band will present their second annual "Holiday Brasstravaganza" on Saturday at the south side rock club Off Broadway, and Robbie's House of Jazz has blues from singer/guitarist and teenage phenom Marquise Knox on Friday and Latin jazz from pianist Phil Gomez and Clave Sol on Saturday. On Sunday afternoon, Robbie's will host a jazz brunch and CD release event for trumpeter Randy Holmes.

That same afternoon and just around the corner, Webster Records will present free in-store performances from singer/pianist Anita Rosamond, guitarist Steve Schenkel and vocalist Kiersten Rose, and trumpeter Jim Manley. All the musicians will donate a portion of sales of their CDs that day to Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital, and Webster Records will kick a donation based on CD sales as well.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Sessions Big Band returns to BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups for their final performance of the year.

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.)

(Edited after posting.)

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Recently on Heliocentric Worlds

As 2010 is winding down, we've got time for one more shameless plug for StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds, where each day brings a new online music video for your delectation and/or musical edification.

Drawing on genres including jazz, blues, soul, funk, classic rock, prog rock, and experimental, recent posts have spotlighted clips featuring the Temptations, Betty Carter, Teddy Wilson & Earl Hines, Klaus Doldinger & Passport, Muddy Waters, Carla Bley, Blood Sweat and Tears, Joe Pass, Marvin Gaye, Greg Osby, Jackie Wilson, Pat Martino, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Dexter Gordon, the Neville Brothers, David "Fathead" Newman, Charlie Haden's Quartet West, and Pharoah Sanders.

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

Saturday, December 11, 2010

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase:
Happy Birthday, Clark Terry!

This week, we pay tribute and wish a very happy birthday to the great trumpeter and St. Louis native Clark Terry, who's set to turn 90 this coming Tuesday, December 14.

With a career in music that spans seven decades, Terry's accomplishments defy easy summary in a short blog post like this one. For the more on his life, please check out Terry's own website linked above and the bios here, here and here. Also, there's a bio here that includes a playlist of ten short video excerpts from an interview with Terry in which he talks about various aspects of his life.

For today's celebration, we've got some clips of Terry performing songs associated with his distinguished former colleague Duke Ellington. Terry spent most of the 1950s as part of Ellington's band, and has continued to incorporate the Duke's music into his own performances to this day.

Up top is part of a 1981 concert by Terry's Big Bad Band, the large ensemble that the trumpeter led during the 1970s and early 1980s, featuring a brisk rendition of "Take The A Train" with the leader soloing prominently,

Down below, you'll find quartet performances of "Mood Indigo" and "Satin Doll" recorded in April, 1985 at Club Montmartre in Copenhagen, Denmark. Terry is accompanied on these two numbers by Duke Jordan (piano), Jimmy Woode (bass), and Svend E. Norregaard (drums). Below that, Terry duets with bassist Red Mitchell on "Sophisticated Lady" in a clip from 1987.

As a bonus, the fifth video embed shows an short interview Terry did last year with St. Louis broadcaster Don Wolff while in town for a concert at Harris-Stowe State University in 2009.

Friday, December 10, 2010

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's this week's wrap-up of assorted links and short local news items of interest:

* Saxophonist and St. Louis native Eric Person (pictured) and his band Meta-Four are wrapping up a ten-day tour of Belgium today, and you can see a webcast of his final performance there at 2:00 p.m. St. Louis time this afternoon, Friday, December 10. (That's 3:00 p.m. EST here in the USA, or 9:00 p.m. in Belgium.) The webcast will be available via UStream here.

* Speaking of webcasts, if you missed the performance last week at the Sheldon Concert Hall by Peter Martin, Romero Lubambo, Erin Bode and Chris Thomas, or just want to revisit favorite moments from the show, there's archived video of it online now, courtesy of St. Louisan Rod Milam's website The Global Loop. You can see a clip of the song "Agua De Beber" here, and the entire webcast of the concert here. Also, while you're watching and listening, you can follow along with the setlist, which Martin has posted on his website here.

* And speaking of reliving shows from last week, electronic musician Eric Hall has posted online the audio from his performance at last Saturday's New Music Circle Showcase at Steinberg Auditorium on the Wash U. campus.

* The Riverfront Times music blog A to Z has photos of Wednesday's Zappa Plays Zappa concert at The Pageant, shot by photographer Todd Owyoung and available for viewing here.

* Freelance music journalist Terry Perkins has an article in the St. Louis Beacon this week about Play It Forward, a new local not-for-profit organization that finds unused musical instruments and gets them into the hands of kids who need them. Get the whole story here.

* Want a job working in the business of jazz? Jazz St. Louis is seeking an Accounting and Administrative Manager and an Arts Management Intern. There's more information about the positions and how to apply here.

* The Sheldon Art Galleries have won a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support the upcoming exhibition "Ralston Crawford and Jazz." The exhibit and accompanying catalogue will feature images of New Orleans and its musicians made by Crawford, a painter and photographer who first visited NO in 1949 and returned many times until his death in 1978. It will be shown from September 30, 2011 to January 7, 2012 in the Sheldon ’s Gallery of Jazz History and Gallery of Photography.

* The Friends of The Sheldon will present their 3rd Annual Trivia Night on Friday, February 4. The event is a fundraiser for The Sheldon's educational programs. Tickets are $25 per person or $200 per table, and include refreshments, prizes, and so on. For reservations or information, contact Lauren Wilhite at 314-533-9900, ext. 17 or email her at lwilhite@thesheldon.org.

* Radio station KWMU (90.7 FM) announced Thursday that it has received an anonymous $50,000 donation to establish a St. Louis Public Radio Classical Music Endowment Fund in support of the station’s classical music broadcasts. The St. Louis Business Journal has the story here.

* The We Always Swing jazz series down the road in Columbia, MO is producing a fund-raising telethon from 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m this Saturday, December 11, featuring eight different mid-Missouri jazz groups. Performers will include The Beeson Bunch with trumpeter Allen Beeson, Lee World Drumming Ensemble, Lisa Rose Trio, MU Concert Jazz Quintet with Arthur White, Tom Andes-John Turner Duo, Norm Reubling Band, La Movida, and the John D’Agostino/Tony Lotven Group. The event can be seen in mid-Missouri on Mediacom Ch. 85, Charter Ch. 24 and CenturyLink Ch. 603, and simulcast on Mediacom Connections Ch. 22; and also will be streamed online at wealwaysswing.org/telethon and columbiaaccess.tv.

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Jazz this week: Zappa Plays Zappa, Good 4 The Soul, Sinatra Songbook, Montez Coleman, St. Louis Rivermen, and more

This week's post may be somewhat minimal, thanks to a bad head cold that's knocking yr. humble StLN editor for a loop, but the jazz and creative music offerings in St. Louis over the next few days are plentiful. Let's go to the highlights:

Tonight, Zappa Plays Zappa performs at The Pageant. This year's show features the band playing Frank Zappa's 1974 album Apostrophe(') in its entirety. I wrote a short preview of the concert for last week's Riverfront Times, which you can read online here. Also, you can read my review of ZPZ's first St. Louis show back in 2006 here. And to see some video of ZPZ playing various songs from Apostrophe(') earlier this year, see this post from last Saturday.

Tomorrow night, the University of Missouri-St. Louis big band, under the direction of Jim Widner, will play at Robbie's House of Jazz,

On Friday and Saturday, Good 4 the Soul (pictured) returns to Jazz at the Bistro with their crowd-pleasing mix of jazz, funk and more.

Also on Friday, the Steve Schankman Orchestra and singer Tom Heitman will reprise their "Sinatra Songbook" show at the Mirowitz Performing Arts Center at the JCC; singer Erin Bode performs at the Foundry Art Centre in St. Charles; and bassist Daryl Mixon's trio plays at Robbie's House of Jazz.

On Saturday afternoon, singer Carmen Emborski and pianist Heather Bosshardt, aka Les Filles des Jazz, and Emborski's quintet will be the featured entertainment at an event called "Jazz For Change" to be held at The Annex at Cafe Ventana, 3919 West Pine Blvd. Proceeds benefit the Christian Foundation for Education.

That evening, drummer Montez Coleman is the nominal leader of a trio gig at Robbie's that also will feature ~~Peter Martin on piano and~~ Chris Thomas on bass. Though ~~all three~~ both are originally from St. Louis, they've ~~all~~ established themselves on the national scene as well, making this gig, with a cover of just $10, the likely "sleeper" show of the week.

UPDATE, 6:25 p.m., 12/8/10: Just got an email from Dan Martin of Peter Martin Music, who says that the pianist is NOT part of Saturday's gig at Robbie's; the erroneous info came from the club's website. The gig may indeed still be a worthy one, but Martin won't be there, so please consider our editorial expectation to be adjusted accordingly.

Also on Saturday, saxophonist Jason Swagler and guitarist Rick Haydon will duet at the Bossanova Restaurant & Lounge in Alton, IL.

On Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents the St. Louis Rivermen at the Doubletree Hotel & Conference Center in Chesterfield. That evening, guitarist Tom Byrne's trio plays at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Tuesday singer Brian Owens will appear in a "Notes From Home" performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall, and Robbie's House of Jazz will host their weekly Tuesday night jam session.

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: Still more Miles to cover; Brubeck on the mend; 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:

* Starting with some Miles Davis news, here's a recent article by PopMatters.com's Will Layman that asks, "How much Miles Davis is enough?" Well, for us, not just one item, that's for sure - so here's a review of the deluxe 40th anniversary collectors' edition of Bitches Brew, written for AllAboutJazz.com by Chris M. Slawecki. Meanwhile, yet another Davis-related book, Miles: The Companion Guide to the Autobiography, is currently scheduled for a February 2011 release date.

Also, via Miles Davis Online, there's news that hip-hop star/actor Q-Tip is working on a play about Davis (pictured) with author and filmmaker Nelson George. Also, there's another documentary film about Davis in the works, and the magazine The Revivalist just ran several stories on the Bitches Brew anniversary in their inaugural issue. The package includes interviews with saxophonist Bennie Maupin and drummer Lenny White, who played on the sessions for the album, and Davis' nephew Vince Wilburn, as well as a never-before-released live recording of “Directions.”

* Turning to news of other former St. Louisans, saxophonist Oliver Lake has just opened a show of his visual art in the galleries of radio station WBGO in Newark. The exhibit runs through January 28.

* Here's a review of guitarist Grant Green's CD Retrospective from Tim Niland of Music and More.

* In news of recent visitors, guitarist Russell Malone, who played Jazz at the Bistro in October and has a new CD on the St. Louis-based label MAXJAZZ, just did an interview on WBGO's The Checkout.

* And here's a review of drummer/keyboardist Gary Husband's latest, Dirty and Beautiful Volume 1, from AAJ.com's Ian Patterson. Husband was in St. Louis last month at The Sheldon with guitarist John McLaughlin's band 4th Dimension.

* The Rebirth Brass Band, who played at The Gramophone in October, have just released Rebirth Revisited, a collection of remixes by the band and various contributing producers. You can check out a sample track, "Do Whatcha Wanna (Jazzhouse SPD Remix)," by clicking on the embedded audio player below.

* Dave Brubeck is on the mend from the health difficulties that forced him to cancel his appearance here in October at the Sheldon. Here's a review of Brubeck's return to the stage at the Blue Note in NYC, courtesy of the Times' Nate Chinen, and a recent feature story on the venerable pianist and composer written by Marc Myers for the Wall Street Journal.

* Wrapping up with some items of more general interest, a recent story from the New York Times' Daniel J. Wakin chronicles the shrinking amount of work available to NYC freelance classical musicians, while another recent Times piece from A.G. Sulzberger looks at the ambivalent relationship that many working musicians have with holiday music.

* The first season of the HBO series Treme will be released on DVD in March. Pianist and former St. Louisan Tom McDermott is just one of many jazz and blues musicians who appeared earlier this year in the HBO series about New Orleans residents recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding of the city.

* Nominees for the 2001 Grammy Awards were announced last week, and though no St. Louis jazz musicians were nominated this year, a number of the jazz nominees have played here recently, as you can see if you check out the complete list here.

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Friday, December 31, 2010

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Saturday, December 25, 2010

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Monday, December 20, 2010

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