StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A Dave Black sampler

This week, let's take a look at some videos featuring guitarist Dave Black, who was just voted "Best Jazz Artist" in St. Louis by readers of the Riverfront Times in balloting for the weekly paper's 2011 Music Awards. Black, who's originally from Indiana, has been living, teaching and performing here since the early 1980s, playing solo and duo gigs, leading his own bands, and serving as a sideman and accompanist for other musicians and singers working in a wide variety of styles.

These five clips offer a sample of some of Black's various musical projects, starting up above with the trio billed as the Dave Black Group performing an original tune called "Night Traveler" this past January in the studios of radio station KDHX (88.1 FM). That's Kevin Gianino on drums and Marc Torlina on bass.

Down below, you can see another of Black's ensembles, the Itti Bitti Swing Orchestra, performing "Swing '39" this past January at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Along with Black and Gianino, the musicians are bassist Willem von Hombracht, violinist Justin Branum and Paul DeMarinis on clarinet.

The third clip is from the same concert at the Sheldon, and shows the ensemble Bridge performing Black's composition "Lost But Not Alone." Bridge features Black, Asako Kuboki on violin, Ranya Iqbal on cello and David DeRiso on bass, with Gianino adding drums here.

The fourth video shows Black and another frequent collaborator, singer and flute player Margaret Bianchetta, in a duo version of the Duke Ellington standard "Do Nothing 'Til You Hear from Me," while the final clip show Black playing a solo version of his composition "Arrival."