StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Straight ahead with John Scofield

As observed here a few weeks ago, it's been a pretty good fall in St. Louis for fans of jazz guitar, with George Benson, Stanley Jordan and Ralph Towner all playing here during the month of October. Next up, and in our video spotlight today, is guitarist John Scofield, who will return to St. Louis next week with a quartet to play Wednesday, November 2 through Saturday, November 5 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Scofield has played here a number of times in the last 15 years with different configurations of musicians, most often emphasizing the funky, groove-oriented music for which he is best known. This time, however, he's bringing a mostly acoustic quartet that offers a more straight-ahead, swinging approach, playing standards as well as Scofield's original compositions.

For his recent quartet shows, Scofield's frequent collaborator Bill Stewart has been a constant on drums, with either Ben Street or Scott Colley on bass, and Mulgrew Miller or Michael Eckroth, who will be in St. Louis with Scofield next week, playing piano.

The first clip up above was recorded in April 2010 in Paris, and features Scofield, Stewart, Street and Eckroth playing Charlie Parker's "Steeplechase." Down below, it's Scofield, Stewart, Colley and Miller, recorded in July of this year in San Sebastian, Spain, playing Scofield's "Simply Put."

Below that, there are two clips recorded in September 2011 at a show in Buenos Aires with the Scofield/Stewart/Steet/Eckroth lineup, featuring the Scofield original "Still Warm" and "The Night has a Thousand Eyes." The final clip is from this year's Jazz in Marciac festival in France, and features Miller and Colley with Scofield and Stewart on an angular 6/8 blues.

For more about Scofield's recent activities and his new CD release, the ballad-oriented A Moment's Peace, check out this review of the CD by Jazz Times' Philip Booth; this interview the guitarist recently did with Jambands.com's Randy Ray; and this just-published interview conducted by Jason Shadrick for the November issue of Premier Guitar magazine.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Radio host and jazz historian Dennis Owsley's latest blog post for St. Louis magazine looks at the career of little-known local jazz pioneer Jesse Johnson.

* Guitarist John Scofield (pictured), who's playing with his quartet next week at Jazz at the Bistro, was just interviewed by the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson.

* Trumpeter Clark Terry continues to recover in an Arkansas hospital; the good news in this week's blog entry from his wife Gwen is that Terry is being moved to the rehab unit, which is the next necessary step before he'd be able to go home.

* Speaking of St. Louis trumpet greats, the website The Revivalist celebrates its first anniversary with an interview with Erin Davis and Vincent Wilburn, the son and nephew, respectively, of Miles Davis, talking about the newly issued CD/DVD set Miles Davis Second Great Quintet Live in Europe 1967.

* Saxophonist and St. Louis native Eric Person has just one month to go in his effort to fund his next recording project via Kickstarter. The proposed project, Thoughts On God, is a jazz chamber suite for an 11-piece ensemble. You can find out more about it and pledge your support here. As of today, Person has 68 backers who have pledged $2,656 toward the goal of $20,580.

* The Riverfront Times' Joseph Hess reports on electronic musician Eric Hall's upcoming November 12 performance at Laumeier Sculpture Park, and the announcement that Hall will do a year-long residency at the park in 2012.

* St. Louis' own Funky Butt Brass Band is mentioned, and FBBB guitarist Tim Halpin quoted, in an article by Zachary Young in New Orleans' Offbeat magazine about non-NOLA brass bands.

Jazz this week: Ralph Towner, STO Jazz Orchestra, Sherman Irby, Clayton Brothers Quintet, Rebirth Brass Band, and more

Along with Halloween and the conclusion of baseball's World Series, there's a whole lot of jazz and creative music happening in St. Louis over the next few days. So, without further ado, let's go straight to the highlights:

On Thursday, Ralph Towner, known for his work with the Paul Winter Consort and Oregon as well as his own recordings, will perform a free solo guitar concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

Also on Thursday, Robbie's House of Jazz will present the STO Jazz Orchestra, a student big band from the Czech Republic that's currently touring the USA; and jazz radio host and historian Dennis Owsley begins his workshop on "Miles Davis: Jazzman" at the Ethical Society.

On Friday, after spending the week working with student musicians from the area and giving school performances for Jazz St. Louis, alto saxophonist Sherman Irby wraps up his stay fronting his quartet for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro. For more about Irby, a modern exponenet of the alto tradition of Charlie Parker, Sonny Stitt and Cannonball Adderley, plus some videos of him in action, see this post from last Saturday.

That same evening and just around the corner, New Music Circle will present a concert of the music of James Mobberley and Paul Rudy at the Kranzberg Arts Center. Both composers are affiliated with the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and their work will be performed by Rudy (various instruments, voice and electronics), Keith Benjamin (trumpet), John Leisenring (trombone) and Carter Enyeart (cello).

Also on Friday, saxophonist Jim Stevens will be at Jazz on Broadway in Alton; guitarist Dave Black will lead a trio with bassist Willem von Hombracht and drummer Kevin Gianino at the Cigar Inn in Belleville; and saxophonist Willie Akins and his band will play at Robbie's.

On Saturday, the Clayton Brothers Quintet (pictured) comes to town for a performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Headed by John Clayton on bass and Jeff Clayton on saxophone, the group also includes the fine trumpeter Terell Stafford, John's son Gerald Clayton on piano, and drummer Obed Calvaire. As demonstrated on their Grammy nominated album Brother to Brother, the Claytons offer a swinging, straight-ahead sound with occasional tinges of hard bop and Latin jazz.

Also on Saturday, the Alton Landing Jazz Quartet plays at Jazz on Broadway; saxophonist Rod Tate is at the Halls Ferry Inn Jazz Cafe; and Robbie's has two separate shows: a late afternoon set featuring Dave Black and saxophonist Christopher Braig, followed by an evening performance from a sextet of young musicians led by saxophonist Matt Leininger.

On Sunday, New Orleans' Rebirth Brass Band returns to town for a late afternoon show at The Gramophone, with St. Louis' own Funky Butt Brass Band opening (and perhaps even joining forces at some point with the headliners).

Looking beyond the weekend, on Tuesday keyboardist Brock Walker performs at the Sheldon to promote the release of his new CD 25th & State.

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.)

Brock Walker, Brian Vaccaro schedule CD release events

Although music increasingly is being sold in digital formats, the CD hasn't quite disappeared just yet, as demonstrated by two St. Louis musicians with upcoming events promoting new independent releases on disc:

* Keyboardist Brock Walker (pictured, top left) will celebrate the release of his CD 25th & State with a performance at 7:30 p.m. next Tuesday, November 1 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The East St. Louis native probably is best known around town as the keyboardist for singer Kim Massie, but he's also appeared with national acts including Lou Rawls, the Clark Sisters, Roger Troutman and the Zapp Band, and Ron Banks and the Dramatics.

25th & State features all original material, and helping Walker interpret it in concert will be a band including saxophonist Jason Swagler, guitarist Eric Slaughter, keyboardist Cornelius Davis, bassist Douglas “D.J.” Collier, and drummer Gerald Warren.

Tickets for Brock Walker's 25th & State CD release event are $20 for VIP seating, which includes an autographed copy of the CD, and $10 for general admission, and will be available at the door.

* A couple of weeks later, guitarist Brian Vaccaro (pictured, bottom left) will celebrate the release of his new trio CD Going Through the Motions with a concert at 8:00 p.m. Friday, November 18 at Eliot Chapel, 100 S. Taylor in Kirkwood.

Vaccaro earned a bachelor's degree in music from Webster University and a master's from SIU Edwardsville, and has taught music at Southwestern Illinois College, St. Louis Community College and St. Charles Community College. He also oversees the music education department for Fazio's Frets and Friends, and performs with his trio and the rock/pop cover band Adonis Blue.

The concert is a split bill with guitarist Teddy Preberg, with each group playing one set. Tickets are priced at $10 in advance at the church office, $12 at the door. Vaccaro will be selling Going Through The Motions that night for a special discounted price of $10, and it's also available on disc and in digital format from CD Baby.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: In the tradition with Sherman Irby

This week, we present some video clips of alto saxophonist Sherman Irby, who will be in St. Louis next week to do an educational residency for Jazz St. Louis and perform on Friday, October 28 and Saturday, October 29 at Jazz at the Bistro.

A native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the 43-year-old Irby first gained wide attention in the 1990s with two solo albums on Blue Note and a three-year stint in the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra directed by Wynton Marsalis. During that time, he also recorded and toured with Marcus Roberts and was part of Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead program. Since then, Irby's other notable associations include the late drummer Elvin Jones, trumpeter Roy Hargrove, and Papo Vazquez’s Pirates Troubadours. In recent years, Irby has concentrated mostly on leading his own bands, working in jazz education as regional director for JazzMasters Workshop, and running his own record label, Black Warrior, though he also recently rejoined JaLCO after the departure of saxophonist Wessell Anderson.

As a player, Irby comes out of the bop tradition of Charlie Parker, Sonny Stitt and Cannonball Adderley, and excels particularly at the hard-bop idiom popularized by the latter. The first video up above, a performance of "Ah Ite' recorded at Cecil's Jazz Club in West Orange, NJ provides a fine example of Irby's skills; it starts with a two-minute duet between drummer Alvester Garnett and Irby, during which the saxophonist offers a constant flow of ideas, nimbly executed. The group, which Irby calls Organomics, also includes guitarist Bruce Edwards and organist Fred McFarlane.

You can see and hear more of them in the next two videos, playing Freddie Hubbard's composition "Straight Life" and offering a nice rendition of the ballad "You Don't Know Me" that takes on a bit of a gospel feel toward the end. Below that, there's an except from an Organomics live performance in 2009 at the Somerville Jazz Festival in New Jersey.

The fifth and final clip dates from Irby's tenure with Roy Hargrove, and looks to have been recorded sometime in the late 1990s. It features Hargrove's Latin jazz band Crisol playing the Kenny Dorham composition "Una Mas." After trombonist Frank Lacy and Hargrove do their bits, Irby solos, then trades licks with tenor man David Sanchez, making the most of a brief turn in the spotlight.

For more about Sherman Irby, check out the podcast he just recorded with Jazz St. Louis director of education Phil Dunlap.

Also, the Sax on the Web forum has an interesting discussion of Irby's technique and equipment here; the website Afrocentric News has a brief interview/profile here; and you can hear Irby talking about his influences, practice routine and more in a series of short audio clips recorded for the Monterey Jazz Festival here.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Living St. Louis, which airs Monday evenings on local PBS affiliate KETC, this week included a segment on New Music Circle. The story by Ruth Ezell featured excerpts from a concert by the St. Louis Laptop Ensemble, and can be seen online here.

* Meanwhile, a recent blog entry on Clark Terry's website, written by the beloved trumpeter's wife, says he's still hospitalized but in good spirits and showing some improvement. Read more about how Terry's doing and how you can send well wishes to him here.

* The Post-Dispatch's Marlon Walker on Sunday reported on Lou "Fatha" Thimes' BBQ and Pork House, a restaurant opened this summer by relatives of singer Denise Thimes.

* Jazz on Broadway in Alton has made a couple of changes recently, reducing their cover charge to $5 for "most shows" and offering delivery menus from nearby restaurants "as we prepare to make other food options in the future." The club's website still is not up and running, but they're on Facebook, and you can subscribe to email updates by sending a request to jazzonbroadway @ gmail.com.

* Last but not least, the annual musical instrument drive by local not-for-profit Music for Lifelong Achievement (MFLA) began this week, and continues through November 20. For details on how to donate, see this post.

Dennis Owsley to present workshop on "Miles Davis: Jazzman"

Radio host, photographer and jazz historian Dennis Owsley will present "Miles Davis: Jazzman," an educational workshop in three weekly sessions, beginning at 7:00 p.m. next Thursday, October 27 at the Ethical Society, 9001 Clayton Rd.

The workshop "will examine the personality, influences, and career of one of the most restless, creative individuals ever to play music in the 20th century: Miles Davis." After the first meeting, two more sessions will take place on Thursday, November 3 and Thursday, November 10.

Owsley is the author of City of Gabriels: The History of Jazz in St. Louis, 1895-1973 and has broadcast a weekly jazz program for KWMU (90.7 FM) continuously since April 1983. His current program, "Jazz Unlimited,” airs from 9:00 p.m. to midnight on Sunday.

The cost for the workshop is $30 for Ethical Society members, $35 for non-members, with proceeds benefiting the Ethical Society. To register, call Kathy Kammien at (314) 991-0955, ext. 213 or contact her via email at kkammien @ ethicalstl.org.

New book by former St. Louisan examines relationship between jazz and photography

Former St. Louisan Benjamin Cawthra, who curated the 2001 exhibition "Miles: A Miles Davis Retrospective" for the Missouri History Museum, has just published a new book called Blue Notes in Black and White: Photography and Jazz via the University of Chicago Press.

Cawthra, now an associate professor of history and associate director of the Center for Oral and Public History at California State University, Fullerton, lived in St. Louis for 16 years and earned a Ph.D in history from Washington University.

Blue Notes in Black and White is touted as "the first of its kind: a fascinating account of the partnership between two of the twentieth century’s most innovative art forms." The book (pictured) covers significant jazz photographers such as Gjon Mili, William Gottlieb, Herman Leonard, Francis Wolff, Roy DeCarava, and William Claxton, as well as their jazz musician subjects, including Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis, who's shown on the cover. It endeavors to show "the connections between the photographers, art directors, editors, and record producers who crafted a look for jazz that would sell magazines and albums" as well as how musicians shaped their public images to further their own goals.

For more about Cawthra and Blue Notes in Black and White, see the University of Chicago Press website and/or the book's own Facebook page. (And if you order a copy through this Amazon link, a few pennies of commission will kick back to StLJN.)

Jazz this week: Jeff Lorber, Project/Object, Lowdown Brass Band, TKT Scholarship Benefit, and more

Beyond the usual challenges of performing, the jazz and creative musicians playing in St. Louis over the next week have a tough task: drawing a crowd of attentive listeners while the Cardinals are competing in the World Series. But while this admittedly is a baseball-crazy town, one would hope it's also big enough and diverse enough to provide for adequate turnouts at a number of noteworthy musical performances, too.

For example, tonight keyboardist Jeff Lorber (pictured) begins a four-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro. Lorber's most recent recording, 2010's Now Is The Time, offered an updated take on the free-blowing, funkified fusion sound that helped him first gain fame in the late 1970s, and his recent live shows seem to have followed suit.

Although this is Lorber's debut at the Bistro, two of the musicians in his group, saxophonist Eric Marienthal and bassist Jimmy Haslip, already are quite familiar with the club, having played there previously with Yellowjackets. For more on Lorber's return to fusion, and some video clips of him and his band in action, check out this post from last Saturday.

Also tonight, the Frank Zappa repertory ensemble Project/Object returns to St. Louis for a show at the Old Rock House, this time with Zappa alumni/singer-guitarists Ray White and Ike Willis, a St. Louis native, on board. Yr. humble StLJN editor had a chance to hear these guys a few years ago at Cicero's, and while their production isn't quite as elaborate as that of the officially sanctioned Zappa Plays Zappa, P/O are very good musicians who put on a spirited and entertaining performance.

Tomorrow night, saxophonists Mike Karpowicz and Paul DeMarinis will play a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

On Friday, Robbie's House of Jazz has singer Nicole Jonas fronting a trio with bassist Christopher Meschede, keyboardist Ryan Coleman and drummer Micah Walker, and the Sentimental Journey Dance Band will play big band swing at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

On Saturday, Chicago's Lowdown Brass Band will be back in town to perform at Robbie's, offering their own twist on the New Orleans brass band tradition. Also on Saturday, guitarist Todd Mosby and Farshid Etniko will be among the performers at a concert at Maryville University benefiting the Mitrata-Nepal Foundation for Children; and singer Danita Mumphard will be at Jazz on Broadway in Alton. For more about that, check out this article about Mumphard by Jill Moon published in Monday's Alton Telegraph.

On Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents Terry Thompson's Swing Alive in a matinee concert at the Sheraton Westport.

Also on Sunday, singer Lynne Fiddmont and her brother, saxophonist Keith Fiddmont, are back home in St. Louis for a late-afternoon performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall benefiting the Royal Vagabonds Foundation Scholarship Fund.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday Webster University's music department will present its annual concert to benefit the University's TKT Scholarship Fund. The fund is named for former Webster music students Terry Jackson, Kirk Cappello and Tony Saputo, who in 1991 were killed in a plane crash along with other members of singer Reba McEntiree's road band.

The benefit concert will be held on campus at the Loretto-Hilton Center (where the Rep and Opera Theatre present their shows) and performers will include current Webster faculty; alumni including pianist Ptah Williams and guitarist Tom Byrne; and guest vocalists Ralph Butler, Denise Thimes and Debby Lennon.

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 10/19/11 to add the Todd Mosby and Lynne Fiddmont gigs.)

Rebirth Brass Band returning to The Gramophone on Sunday, October 30

New Orleans' Rebirth Brass Band (pictured) is coming back to town to play at 5:00 p.m. Sunday, October 30 at The Gramophone, sharing a bill with St. Louis' own Funky Butt Brass Band.

The RBB's last visit to the Gateway City was in July of this year for a concert at Bandwagon Hall in South County and performances with the Compton Heights Concert Band, and they also performed at The Gramophone in October 2010.

Tickets for Rebirth Brass Band and the Funky Butt Brass Band at The Gramophone are $15 in advance and are on sale now, or $20 at the door.

Billy Valentine to join Denise Thimes for benefit concert on Thursday, November 3 at the Sheldon

Singer Denise Thimes will present her seventh annual concert benefiting the Mildred Thimes Foundation for pancreatic cancer research at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 3 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Thimes' special guest for evening will be singer Billy Valentine (pictured), who's perhaps best known for singing the theme and providing funky vocal effects for the soundtrack of the ABC-TV series Boston Legal. Valentine also was a member of the original touring company of the musical The Wiz; sang lead vocals for the fictional titular group of the Robert Townsend film The Five Heartbeats; and has written songs for Ray Charles, Simply Red, the Neville Brothers, and others.

Tickets are $40 for VIP orchestra, which includes pre- and post-concert receptions; $35 for orchestra seating; or $30 for the balcony; and are on sale now via Metrotix.

StLJN Audio Archive: Clark Terry & Bob Brookmeyer - The Power of Positive Swinging

For this week's Audio Archive post, we once again visit the extensive catalog of trumpeter and St. Louis native Clark Terry for The Power of Positive Swinging, a 1965 album that teams him with Kansas City native Bob Brookmeyer.

Originally was issued on the Mainstream label and preserved online via the music sharing blog Musica des Delas Antipodas, the session features Terry on trumpet and flugelhorn and
Brookmeyer on valve trombone, backed by a rhythm section of Roger Kellaway (piano), Bill Crow (bass) and Dave Bailey (drums). (The album also was issued on CD in 1993, but that edition has gone out of print.)


The track listing is:
01: Dancing on the Grave (Brookmeyer) 2:31
02: Battle Hymn of the Republic (arr. Brookmeyer, Terry) 3:29
03: The King (Basie) 5:41
04: Ode to a Flugelhorn (Terry) 5:36
05: Gal in Calico (Robin, Schwartz) 6:02
06: Green Stamps (Brookmeyer) 5:07
07: Hawg Jawz (Terry) 2:23
08: Simple Waltz (Terry) 5:17
09: Just an Old Manuscript (Redman, Razaf) 7:31

To download a copy of The Power of Positive Swinging, go here and scroll down to the first comment, where you'll find a Rapidshare link. Copy, paste and click that link, and then follow the instructions on the Rapidshare page. The file downloads in .rar format; for more about .rar files and how to unpack them, go here.

The StLJN Audio Archive links only to recordings that are out-of-print or that never have been commercially available. The purpose of the Audio Archive is encourage discussion, appreciation and knowledge of St. Louis jazz artists, and we encourage you to support them (or their estates) by purchasing authorized recordings and merchandise or, whenever possible, attending live performances.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Jeff Lorber 's fusion, revisited

For today's video showcase, let's check out some clips of keyboardist Jeff Lorber, who will be in St. Louis to perform next Wednesday, October 19 through Saturday, October 22 at Jazz at the Bistro. Though Lorber has played St. Louis before - most recently in 2008 at The Pageant as part of that year's Guitars and Saxes tour - this will be his debut at the Bistro. His band for the week will include saxophonist Eric Marienthal and bassist Jimmy Haslip, both of whom played a significant role on Lorber's 2010 CD Now Is The Time, plus veteran jazz/funk/R&B drummer Rayford Griffin.

Now Is The Time marked a return to Lorber's roots in 1970s fusion, emphasizing musicianship and spontaneity, as on his early recordings, rather than the more pop sensibilities and production techniques found in some of his recent work. The CD included updated versions of several of Lorber's most popular older tunes, which also have been featured in many of his recent setlists.

We start out today with one of Lorber's best-known, or at least most-covered, compositions, "Tune 88," heard here in a version recorded in March 2011 at the Berks Jazz Festival in Pennsylvania with a band including Marienthal, Haslip and trumpeter Randy Brecker.

Down below, there's a version of "Ain't Nobody," another concert staple for Lorber, recorded in July at the Sioux Falls Jazz Fest in South Dakota. Although the performance is interrupted briefly for an interview with Lorber, it does get back to the music soon enough, and features him stretching out nicely on keyboard, even dropping some Tynereque left-hand bombs near the end of his solo.

Below that, there's a version of "Dr. Moy" recorded last year at Jazz Alley in Seattle, featuring Lorber with Marienthal, Haslip and Yellowjackets drummer Will Kennedy. The fourth clip is "Surreptitious" from Lorber's 2007 album He Had a Hat, played by Lorber, Marienthal, bassist Nate Phillips and drummer Michael White. The fifth and final video is a version of Lorber's "Rain Dance," recorded at Pizza Express Jazz Club with guitarist Jeff Golub, drummer Andy Newmark and bassist Paul Turner.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Pianist Matthew Shipp, in town with his trio to play tonight at 560 Music Center, was interviewed by Calvin Wilson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

* Trumpeter Clark Terry recently was hospitalized again for several days, but a note on his website reassures fans and friends that he's doing OK. In other Terry-related news, the trumpeter's new book Clark: The Autobiography of Clark Terry was reviewed here for Jazz Times by Jack Cooper.

* Jazz St. Louis has posted a photo album here of guitarist Stanley Jordan and his trio performing last week in St. Louis area schools.

* Saxophonist and St. Louis native Eric Person (pictured) is trying to fund a new recording project via Kickstarter.

* Guitarist Larry Brown Jr. and his new CD release were featured in the SIUE student newspaper The Alestle.

* Singer Erin Bode performed in, of all places, an elevator at the recently refurbished Cheshire Inn for a new Post-Dispatch feature offering original online music videos from local acts. See the clip here.

* St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts is sponsoring a workshop on "Money & More" at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, October 17 at the VLAA offices in the Regional Arts Commission building at 6128 Delmar. Topics will include a local micro-loan program, plans for The Railway Exchange building incubator spaces, and “fiscal sponsorship,” which allows artists to access funding opportunities usually restricted to tax-exempt organizations. For details or to sign up, check the VLAA website.

Jazz this week: Matthew Shipp, Trombone Shorty, Christian Howes, Jazz In Pink, Anita Jackson, and more

While many St. Louisans understandably will be preoccupied with cheering for the Cardinals in this week's National League baseball championship series (and possibly hoping for a return appearance from the infamous Rally Squirrel), there's plenty of good jazz and creative music happening around town over the next seven days, too. Let's go to the highlights:

Tonight, the Meramec Jazz Lab Band performs at the Black Cat Theatre in Maplewood, in what will be the first of four Wednesday night concerts there during this academic year.

On Thursday, violinist Christian Howes will be in town to play a free concert at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium, accompanied by guitarist Steve Schenkel, bassist Ric Vice and drummer John Lum. Also on Thursday, saxophonist Jeff Riley will bring his Big Band to Robbie's House of Jazz.

The "must see" show of the week happens on Friday, when pianist Matthew Shipp (pictured) and his trio will play at 560 Music Center under the auspices of New Music Circle. It's kind of hard to believe that a prominent musician like Shipp is just now making his St. Louis debut as a leader, but NMC deserves a round of applause just for bringing him to town. For much more about Shipp, plus video footage of him and the trio in action, see this post from last Saturday.

Also on Friday, singer Anita Jackson begin a two-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. Jackson, who's making her debut at the Bistro as a leader, has done musical theatre at the Black Rep and performed around town with drummer Jerome "Scrooge" Harris, keyboardist Jeremiah Allen and others. That same evening, trumpeter Jim Manley and Wild Cool and Swingin' will play at the JCCA's Mirowitz Theatre for the "Encore at the J" series; guitarist Tom Byrne's trio with singer Trish Turek will be at Robbie's; and drummer Paul Shaw will lead a trio with bassist Bob DeBoo and alto saxophonist Kristian Baarsvik at the Cigar Inn.

On Saturday, the Reunion Jazz Band - keyboardist Don Carson, bassist J. Michael Kearney and drummer Mike Scavotto - will join forces with the Bosman Twins for an early evening performance at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups; and pianist Carolbeth True's trio with singer Christi John Bye will perform at Robbie's.

On Sunday, the all-female group Jazz in Pink comes to town to perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall in a benefit for Community Women Against Hardship.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Tuesday multi-instrumentalist and singer Trombone Shorty, who some have touted as the dance-floor-friendly future of jazz in his hometown of New Orleans, will return with his band Orleans Avenue to play at the Old Rock House. For a sample of some of Shorty's recent work, check out his set from the Newport Jazz Festival in August, captured for posterity by NPR.

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 to fix typos.)

Jazz at Holmes to present free concert by Ralph Towner on Thursday, October 27

Washington University's Jazz at Holmes series today announced that they will present a free solo concert by guitarist Ralph Towner (pictured) at 8:00 p.m. Thursday, October 27 in Holmes Lounge in Ridgley Hall on the Wash U campus. The concert by Towner replaces the previously announced performance by guitarist Scott Jones.

Towner is known mainly as an acoustic guitarist, but also plays trumpet, synthesizer and percussion and is a conservatory trained pianist. He first gained wide public attention in the 1960s as a member of the pioneering "world music" group Paul Winter Consort. He went on to co-found the eclectic ensemble Oregon, an influential group that mixed, jazz, folk, Indian music, free improvisation and more. Towner also is known for his extensive catalog of recordings as a leader for the ECM label, which has released virtually all of his non-Oregon work since 1972.

In addition to his solo guitar concert on Thursday night, Towner will present a symposium on the music of the ECM label at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 26 at Graham Chapel on the Washington University campus. Both the symposium and the concert are free and open to the public.

Music for Lifelong Achievement (MFLA) seeking musical instruments, cash donations

Once again this fall, Music for Lifelong Achievement (MFLA) will be seeking donations of musical instruments for its annual drive, which will take place from Monday, October 17 through Sunday, November 20.

MFLA is a not-for-profit organization based at the Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis that donates used and new musical instruments to school and community music programs serving disadvantaged young people. MFLA also raises funds for instrument repair and musical accessories. Since its inception, MFLA has collected and re-distributed more than 500 instruments.

Donors can help in two ways: by giving a musical instrument, or through a cash donation. For the seventh consecutive year, St. Louis-area Starbucks stores (including St. Charles, O’Fallon and the Metro East) will serve as drop-off locations for used and new musical instruments. The donated instruments then will be repaired and distributed to students who otherwise would not be able to afford an instrument. Donors get a letter documenting the value of the instrument for tax deduction purposes, as well as a coupon for a free Starbucks beverage.

If you don’t have an instrument to donate, MFLA also gladly accepts cash donations, which are used to help pay for necessary repairs of donated instruments, as well as accessories such as strings, reeds and sheet music. These donations also are tax deductible. For more information or to make a donation, call The Sheldon at 314-533-9900 or visit www.supportmfla.org.

MAXJAZZ to release David Budway's A New Kiss on Tuesday, November 8

MAXJAZZ has set Tuesday, November 8 as the offical release date for A New Kiss, pianist David Budway's debut recording for the St. Louis-based independent label.

A veteran performer and educator who plays classical and rock as well as jazz, Budway has played and/or recorded with many well-known musicians over the course of his career, including Branford Marsalis, Michael Brecker, Stanley Turrentine, Hubert Laws, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Jimmy Heath, Jon Faddis, Louie Bellson, Mark Murphy, Marlena Shaw, Ravi Coltrane, Joe Pass, Randy Brecker, Wynton Marsalis and George Benson.

A New Kiss (pictured) features performances by Marsalis and Watts, as well as bassist Eric Revis, guitarist Ron Affif, saxophonist Marcus Strickland and accordionist/keyboardist Joe Barbato. Budway will preview the official release of the CD with a performance on Thursday, October 20 at the NYC club Smoke, accompanied by a band that will include Watts, Affif, bassist James Genus, saxophonist Don Aliquo and flute player Hubert Laws.

Recently on Heliocentric Worlds

StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds in recent weeks has had some especially choice clips for your entertainment and edification, including rare 1964 video of Aretha Franklin singing and playing piano on a straight-up blues, and an even-more-vintage live clip of vocalese pioneers Lambert Hendricks and Ross scatting their way through Sonny Rollins' "Airegin."

While those two performances are especially eye-opening, the site features a new music video every day, drawing on genres including jazz, blues, soul, funk, classic rock, prog rock and experimental. Other recent posts have featured Van Morrison, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Errol Garner, King Curtis and the Kingpins, Duke Ellington Orchestra, Jim Hall Quartet, Fred Wesley and the New JBs, Chaka Khan, Modern Jazz Quartet, Curtis Mayfield, Freddie King, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Roy Hargrove, Don Byron, Buddy Guy, Earl Hines, David Sanborn, Jimmy Rushing, Branford Marsalis, Dave Holland and Steely Dan.

Best of all, you still can see every one of them, plus more than 1,700 carefully curated clips from the astounding archives, simply by pointing your browser to http://www.heliocentricworlds.blogspot.com/.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A Matthew Shipp sampler

This week, let's check out some clips of pianist Matthew Shipp, who's coming to St. Louis to perform with his trio next Friday, October 14 at 560 Music Center in a concert presented by New Music Circle.

Shipp, who's 50 years old, grew up in Delaware, attended the New England Consevatory of Music and has been performing and recording prolifically for more than 20 years. He's considered by many musicians and critics to be one of the most talented and important pianists of his generation, with a fast-moving, percussive style of improvisation that often has drawn comparisons to Cecil Taylor. Shipp, however, downplays the similarities to Taylor. In a 2010 interview with David Adler for Jazz Times, Shipp cited influences including Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington, as well as "the group of pianists who come out of that Ellington branch: Elmo Hope, Hassan Ibn Ali of Philadelphia, Mal Waldron, Randy Weston." (The interview also famously sparked some controversy for critical comments Shipp made about other musicians, including Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter.)

In addition to his own recordings as a solo pianist and bandleader, Shipp was a member of saxophonist David S. Ware's critically acclaimed quartet for 16 years, and has collaborated frequently with that group's bassist William Parker. In recent years, he's also experimented with electronics, drawing on production ideas from hip-hop and dance music as well as jazz and contemporary concert music. Shipp's most recent recording with his trio, the double-CD set Art of the Improviser, came out earlier this year. His other 2011 recordings include a trio album with saxophonist Marshall Allen and multi-instrumentalist Joe Morris and duo albums with saxophonists Sabir Mateen and Darius Jones.

Here, though, we'll concentrate mostly on Shipp's trio, which currently includes bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Whit Dickey. In the first video window up above, you can see them playing an hour-long set at Jazzfestival Saalfelden in Austria in August 2011.

Down below, there are excepts from three more of the trio's performances this year, in April in Cold Spring, NY and in February in the Vortex jazz club in London and the CBSO Centre in Birmingham, England. The fifth and final video clip shows part of a Shipp solo performance at a festival in Budapest in September 2008.

For more about Shipp, check out this interview from Spinner.com, which follows up on some of the controversial comments in the Jazz Times piece linked above; this interview with Shipp and Darius Jones recorded earlier this year for The Jazz Session; this interview from the Vermont Review; and Shipp's 2009 appearance on NPR's "Piano Jazz."

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Sunday's Jazz St. Louis "Family Concert" with Metta Quintet at the Touhill Performing Arts Center was the subject of a short report from Art Holliday on local NBC affiliate KSDK's noon newscast.

* Meanwhile, guitarist Steve Schenkel (pictured) talked about his concert of the music of George Harrison next Monday at Webster University for this story by Christa Corrigan of the Webster-Kirkwood Times.

* The Post-Dispatch's Tim Bryant has an article about efforts to save the buildings formerly known as the Castle Ballroom and the Palladium, including some quotes from author, illustrator and blues historian Kevin Belford about the latter.

* Filmmaker and University City native Rod Milam is working on a documentary about the many musicians who have come from his hometown, and he's seeking funding to finish the movie via Kickstarter.

Jazz this week: Stanley Jordan, a "family concert" from Metta Quintet, and more

This week's menu of jazz and creative music in St. Louis features everything from big bands to a stellar jazz guitarist who's practically a band all by himself. Let's go to the highlights:

Tonight, guitarist Stanley Jordan (pictured) returns to St. Louis to begin a four-night engagement with his trio at Jazz at the Bistro. Jordan is known for his distinctive two-hand tapping technique that enables him to play lead and accompanying parts simultaneously on a standard guitar, and in recent years, he's also started playing guitar and piano at the same time. For more about that, plus two entire concerts' worth of video footage of Jordan, see this post from last Saturday.

Tomorrow night, saxophonist Freddie Washington will lead a quartet in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. Washington is a fine modern jazz player who draws on influences such as John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins, and on ballads you can also hear echoes of older guys like Lester Young and Ben Webster in his playing.

On Friday, singer Valerie Tichacek and her cohorts in Wack-A-Doo will bring their take on the pre-WWII swing sound to Robbie's House of Jazz, and guitarist Larry Brown Jr. will celebrate the release of his new CD with an early set at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups. (Brown and his band also will do an early set at BB's on Saturday night.) Also on Friday, pianist Nick Schlueter leads a trio with bassist Jessica Sacks and drummer Paul Shaw at the Cigar Inn in Belleville.

On Saturday, Robbie's will feature guitarist Eric Slaughter's trio with special guest Erika Johnson on vocals, performing in a fundraising event for St. Louis Business Resources.

On Sunday afternoon, Jazz St. Louis will present their first-ever "Family Concert," a performance by Metta Quintet at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. The show, which costs just $5, is billed as "a fun, interactive introduction to jazz that illuminates the art form’s cultural origins, concepts about improvisation and creative self-expression and explores the role and responsibility of each individual member of the jazz ensemble and how they all must work together to serve and achieve the collective goal of making great music."

Also on Sunday afternoon, there's a jam session and performance at BB's to benefit bassist Raymond Eldridge, who has played with many local jazz artists over the years but recently has been ailing and in and out of the hospital. (Full disclosure: Yr. humble StLJN editor has played a few gigs with Eldridge, who's a good guy as well as a good bass player. Here's hoping for a healthy turnout at the benefit, and better health soon for Eldridge himself.)

On Monday, guitarist Steve Schenkel leads a group playing jazz interpretations of the music of former Beatle guitarist George Harrison in a concert at Webster University.

Also on Monday (and just a bit down the road in Webster Groves), the Genesis Jazz Project will be performing at Robbie's House of Jazz, while at almost the same time downtown, the Sessions Big Band will be at BB's.

On Tuesday morning, pianist Carolbeth True and singer Christi John Bye will perform in a "Coffee Concert" at the Sheldon, with the program repeating on Wednesday as well.

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.)

The Sheldon, Metrotix offering presale of tickets for concert by Marsalis & Calderazzo

The Sheldon Concert Hall and Metrotix are offering an online presale of tickets for the upcoming duo performance by saxophonist Branford Marsalis and pianist Joey Calderazzo (pictured) on Sunday, January 22 at the Sheldon.

Tickets are $45 for orchestra seats, $40 for the balcony and will go on sale to the general public at 10:00 this Saturday, October 8. However, online buyers can purchase tickets starting at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, October 7. To access the offer, go to Metrotix.com and when prompted, enter the promo code BRANFORD12.

Bonerama to perform on Thursday, December 1 at the Old Rock House

The trombone-centric New Orleans band Bonerama (pictured) is coming back to St. Louis to perform at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, December 1 at the Old Rock House.

Led by trombonists Mark Mullins and Craig Klein, who both have spent time in Harry Connick, Jr's band, Bonerama features a front line of four trombones and blends traditional New Orleans jazz and brass band sounds with rock, funk, free improv and more. They've played St. Louis twice already this year, in July at the Sheldon Concert Hall's upstairs ballroom and in January at The Gramophone.

Tickets for Bonerama at the Old Rock House are $20 each and will go on sale at 5:00 p.m. today, Wednesday, October 5, via Metrotix.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Last Friday's performance by Wynton Marsalis (pictured) and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra at the Sheldon Concert Hall was reviewed here by Calvin Wilson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

* Also, George Benson's concert on Sunday night at the Touhill was reviewed by Kevin Johnson of the P-D.

* Jazz St. Louis has added more photos of Take 6's recent performance at Ladue High School to a Facebook album here.

* Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center is seeking a grant from Monsanto to support their "Orchestrating Diversity" program, which provides music lessons and the chance to play in an ensemble for local kids who otherwise might not have the opportunity. The "Grow St. Louis" grants will be awarded to local organizations based in part on an online ballot. For more information or to cast your vote for LNAC, go here. (Voting continues until Sunday, October 16.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Stanley Jordan in concert, times two

It's shaping up to be a good week to be a jazz guitar fan in St. Louis. Tomorrow night, George Benson (who we covered in this space last week) will be in town to play at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, and then on Wednesday, Stanley Jordan comes to town for a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro.

Jordan perhaps still is best known for his distinctive two-handed tapping technique, which lets him play lead and accompanying parts simultaneously on a standard six-string guitar. While he sometimes still does solo shows, his usual working group these days is a trio, often including drummer Kenwood Dennard and bassist Charnett Moffett; that's the format he'll be playing in for his Bistro gig.

Jordan has been to St. Louis at least a couple of times in the not-too-distant past, appearing at venues including the now-defunct Mississippi Nights and Finale Music and Dining, but this coming week will be his debut at the Jazz at the Bistro. Also of note is the fact that he's developed another unusual instrumental technique in recent years, sitting at the piano and playing it with one hand while also wearing a guitar and tapping it with the other hand.

Opinions may differ about the musical usefulness of this particular ability - to these ears, it's not so much that he's really doing anything that startling or different on either instrument, it's just that he's doing two! things!! at!!! once!!!! - but at the very least it's certainly an impressive and difficult-to-duplicate feat of coordination.

You can form your own opinions on that, though, because today, we've got ample audio-visual evidence for your consideration, in the form of two complete concert sets by Jordan totaling nearly two-and-a-half hours of playing time.

Up above is a video of a 2007 performance in Paris, with an hour and forty-five minutes worth of music from Jordan, Moffett and drummer David Haynes. Jordan does a some solo stuff, there's some fairly straight-ahead trio playing, and he also does the simultaneous guitar/piano bit, so overall it seems like a fairly representative sampling of the group's sonic palette.

For still more Jordan, check out the the second embedded video down below, which features him playing a 40-minute solo guitar set, recorded in 2010 at the Jarasum Jazz Festival in Korea. This performance features lots of his signature two-hand-tapping technique, and though the camera work is a little shaky, the view of Jordan's hands is pretty good most of the time, as is the audio quality.