So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The Goldenrod Showboat, which for years served as the site of jazz, ragtime and other musical performances on the St. Louis riverfront, finally could be headed for the scrapyard, according to this article from the Post-Dispatch's Mark Schlinkmann.

A not-for-profit group called the Historic Riverboat Preservation Association has launched an IndieGoGo campaign trying to raise the $30,000 needed to rescue the boat (pictured, in a photo from steamboats.org) from a docking facility in Kampsville IL, where it's been since 2001.

* Speaking of IndieGoGo campaigns, trumpeter Terence Blanchard has begun one to finance a recording of Champion, his opera that debuted last summer at Opera Theatre St. Louis.

* Last Saturday's performance of Tim Schall's cabaret show 1961 was reviewed by Andrea Braun for the Vital Voice. Schall will present an encore of the show as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival on Saturday, March 22.

* Photos of Miles Davis taken by Aram “Al” Avakian, brother of former Columbia Records producer George Avakian, are among the shots accompanying a New York Times article by Al Avakian's daughter Alexandra Avakian.

* Jazz St. Louis has posted on their Facebook page an album of photos from last week's shows by bassist Christian McBride's trio.

* And speaking of photo albums, the Sheldon Concert Hall has posted to their Facebook page some photos from the most recent concert there by pianist Peter Martin.

* Drummer Andre "Dre" Boyd, still in London with the touring company of Cirque du Soleil, has turned up in yet another endorsement video, this one from music software maker PreSonus.

* The Missouri Arts Council this week published an article on their website called "Snapshots of the Missouri Arts Blogosphere," and included not only St. Louis Jazz Notes but also StLJN's sibling music video blog Heliocentric Worlds. Thanks to Barbara MacRobie of MAC for the mentions, and if you'd like to see the article, visit https://www.missouriartscouncil.org/ and click on the headline/link in the middle of the page.

* This Saturday night on Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis, Calvin Wilson's "Somethin' Else," will present a program of Charlie Parker music previously scheduled for February 1 but delayed due to “technical difficulties.” You can hear music from the Parker songbook performed by trumpeter Roy Hargrove, Junk Genius, saxophonist Anthony Braxton, and others at 8:00 p.m. Saturday via 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.

Jazz this week: Marissa Mulder, Jazz St. Louis benefit gala, Hamiet Bluiett & George Sams, Roger Ingram, and more

It's Mardi Gras weekend in St. Louis, and though the "official" Mardi Gras events in recent years have tended to feature rock cover bands and DJs rather than jazz and blues, there will be plenty of jazz and creative music around town this week, if you know where to look.

For the Funky Butt Brass Band, St. Louis' best known exponents of the New Orleans brass band sound, the next few days are the equivalent of the week before Christmas for Santa Claus' various helpers and stand-ins. The FBBB will kick off the weekend this evening at Blues City Deli's King Cake Party, then team up with NOLA R&B/zydeco tribute band Gumbohead for gigs on Saturday at the Old Rock House and Tuesday at the Broadway Oyster Bar.
 
Elsewhere around town tonight, singer Marissa Mulder (pictured) makes her St. Louis debut as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival, performing her show "The Songs of Tom Waits" at the Gaslight Theater.  Mulder will do the show twice more, on Friday and Saturday, while the Gaslight Cabaret Festival continues weekends through April 26. .

Also tonight, singer Denise Thimes performs at the Ethical Society of St. Louis; pianist Ptah Williams' trio will play a free concert featuring the music of Chick Corea for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; and the Tavern of Fine Arts will present their monthly "Experimental Arts Open Improv Night" with live improvised music from keyboardist Jim Hegarty, flute player Fred Tompkins, and others.

Tomorrow night, Jazz St. Louis will hold their annual benefit gala at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Clayton, featuring the legendary funk saxophonist Maceo Parker as the headline entertainment, plus dinner, drinks, a silent auction, and more. As of this writing, there still are some tickets available, starting at $400 per person; call 314-289-4034 for details.

Also on Friday, pianist Pete Ruthenberg will play "The Music of Herbie Hancock" at the Kranzberg Arts Center; trombonists Doug Bert and Rodney Lancaster join forces for a gig at Robbie's House of Jazz; singer/pianist Jesse Gannon and his band Truth return to The Engine Room; and Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

On Saturday afternoon, trumpeter George Sams will re-start his Nu-Art Series by playing a duo concert with baritone sax great Hamiet Bluiett at a new location, the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site downtown.

Then on Saturday evening, Roger Ingram, known as lead trumpeter for Harry Connick Jr.'s big band and as as jazz educator much in demand, will be the featured guest performer at this year's Mineral Area College Jazz Festival down in Park Hills.

Also on Saturday evening and a bit closer to home, pianist Dave Venn and saxophonist Willie Akins will team up for a one-night-only performance at Jazz at the Bistro; the Coleman-Hughes Project with singer Adrienne Felton will play at Troy's Jazz Gallery; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will return to The Wine Press, and pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True with saxophonist Larry Johnson will take the stage at Robbie's House of Jazz.

On Sunday, the St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show will hold their first event of the year - January's show was canceled due to bad weather - at the usual location, the American Czech Hall at 4690 Lansdowne in south St. Louis.

Also on Sunday, trumpeter Russell Gunn will be back home, performing on a bill with singer Dionne Ferris of Arrested Development at the Casino Queen's Club Sevens.While the first show is sold out, a second show at 8:30 p.m. has been added.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday guitarist Tom Byrne is at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups; and on Tuesday, the St. Louis Community College at Meramec Jazz Combos will present a free performance at Meramec Theatre on campus.

For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, 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.)

(Updated after posting with info on the Russell Gunn show.) 

Trebor Tichenor 1940 - 2014

Trebor Tichenor, the St. Louis native who became internationally known as a ragtime pianist and historian, has died. He was 74. An obituary in Tuesday's Post-Dispatch says he died Saturday at Laclede Groves in Webster Groves after having suffered a stroke in December.

As pianist for the St. Louis Ragtimers, Tichenor (pictured) was a regular performer on St. Louis stages and at ragtime and traditional jazz festivals across the country for five decades. He accumulated what was said to be one of the world's largest collections of ragtime, totaling more than 10,000 piano rolls and pieces of sheet music.

Tichenor also wrote a noted book, Rags and Ragtime, on the history of ragtime; composed a series of original rags that were published in three folios; and for many years hosted radio programs and taught college classes about the music he loved. To paraphrase the title of an article former Post-Dispatch music critic James Wierzbicki wrote about Tichenor for Ragtimer magazine in 1978, he "lived, breathed and collected ragtime music."

The Post-Dispatch obit, linked above, has a good overview of Tichenor's life and career, and there are more details at Tichenor's Wikipedia page. Tichenor discussed his youth, early influences, and St. Louis' ragtime history in a November 2010 article for St. Louis magazine. Also, St. Louis Ragtimers fan Bob Whiteside has compiled some vintage photos and audio of the group at a tribute website.

Survivors include a daughter, Virginia Tichenor, also a ragtime pianist, of Oakland, CA; a son, Andy Tichenor, a trumpeter living in Edwardsville; a brother, Bruce Tichenor of Concord, CA; and two granddaughters. His wife Ethel Taft Tichenor died in 1986.

Visitation will be from 3:00 to 8:00 p.m. Thursday at Kutis Affton Chapel, 10151 Gravois Road. The funeral will be at 11:00 a.m. Friday at same location, with burial at Sunset Cemetery.

In the first embedded video window below, you can see and hear Trebor Tichenor playing "Maple Leaf Rag," one of the most famous compositions by one of his favorite musicians, Scott Joplin. The second clip shows the St. Louis Ragtimers performing "Red Rose Rag" for the Saint Louis Jazz Club in July, 2011. In addition to Tichenor, the band includes Al Stricker (banjo & vocal), Don Franz (tuba), Bill Mason (cornet), Eric Sager (clarinet), and Joe Thompson (trombone).

The third video window features a recording of Tichenor playing "Boomtown Echoes" from his LP of the same name, accompanied by a slide show of photos of the pianist, his family, friends and fellow musicians, which according to the accompanying notes were taken by George C. Willick at Tichenor's home between 1979 and 1981.

Update, 9:00 a.m., 3/14/14: KWMU's "CityScape" program last week aired an hour-long tribute to Tichenor, which can be heard online here.

Recently on Heliocentric Worlds

As we occasionally like to mention in this space, StLJN has a sibling site called Heliocentric Worlds devoted to showcasing online music videos from a variety of genres, including jazz, blues, soul, funk, classic rock, prog rock, experimental, and more.

Recent posts have featured live performance videos from musicians including Dr. Lonnie Smith, Pharoah Sanders, Average White Band, Matthew Shipp, Seun Kuti and Egypt 80, Deep Purple, Kenny Burrell, Sun Ra Arkestra, John Scofield Organic Trio, Dr. John, Gil Evans Orchestra, Kenny Barron Quintet, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Johnny Winter, Manu DiBango and the Soul Makossa Gang, Ray Anderson-Marty Ehrlich Quartet, Terence Blanchard, Bruford, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Deodato, Clark Terry's Big Bad Band, Nat "King" Cole, Allman Brothers Band, Art Blakey/Tony Williams Group, Brian Auger, Stan Getz, Randy Newman, Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Zappa, Tower of Power, and Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley & Pee Wee Ellis.

If you somehow have missed out up to this point, not to worry, because they're all still there waiting there for you, along with thousands more carefully curated clips from the incomparable archives. Just point your browser to http://heliocentricworlds.blogspot.com/, then click, listen and enjoy! 

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: The funky cosmos of Galactic

This week, we've selected for your viewing and listening enjoyment some recent videos of Galactic, who will be back in St. Louis to perform on Thursday, March 6 at The Pageant.

Comprised of Stanton Moore (drums), Jeff Raines (guitar), Robert Mercurio (bass), Rich Vogel (keyboards), and Ben Ellman (saxophone), the New Orleans-based funk/jazz/hip-hop band has been making an annual St. Louis appearance in close proximity to Mardi Gras for a number of years now, often bringing at least a couple of guest stars with them.

This time, they'll have along singer Maggie Koerner, a recent transplant to New Orleans from her native Shreveport, as their special guest, with the Mike Dillon Band as opening act. (Given Galactic's proclivity for jamming with others featured on the same bill, it seems a safe bet that they'll all end up on stage together at some point, too.)

In the first clip, you can see them performing "Go Go" at the 2013 Gathering of the Vibes Music Festival, held last July in Bridgeport, CT. Down below, there's a multi-song performance recorded last year during their visit to the studios of KEXP in Seattle.

Below that, you can see a full set from Galactic's show last August at the Telluride Jazz Festival in Colorado, including some vocals from their former lead singer Theryl DeClouet, who left the band in 2004 but recently has been making some appearances with them.

That's followed by the first half of their show from the 2013 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, which includes guest performances from Mike Dillon on percussion as well as Cory Henry (trombone), Corey Glover (vocals), Jazz Henry (trumpet), and David Shaw (vocals).

The final two embeds are parts one and two of a complete show from last April at the Vogue in Indianapolis, also with Shaw as guest vocalist.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Saxophonist David Sanborn is performing through Sunday at the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco with an all-star band including vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, organist Joey DeFrancesco, and drummer Billy Hart.

Of particular interest for those of us who can't make it to the West Coast: "We just completed an album together that was produced by Don Was," wrote Sanborn on his Facebook page. "The album will be released on Blue Note Records later this year."

* The IndieGoGo campaign to crowd-fund the debut recording by drummer Marcus Baylor's Baylor Project ends at midnight tonight.

* Drummer Dave Weckl (pictured) is the featured guest on the latest episode of the online video program DrumsmackTV.

* Drummer Andre "Dre" Boyd, currently playing in London with one of the touring companies of Cirque du Soleil, explains and demonstrates his kit in a video for UK music retailer Soundattak.

* Someone at New Music Circle unearthed and linked to an audio recording of a 2012 gig in Los Angeles by Joshua Abrams' Natural Information Society. Abrams and NIS will play here in St. Louis tomorrow night in a concert presented by NMC at Joe's Cafe.

* The Touhill Performing Arts Center is ranked as #10 on BestCollegeReviews' list of "The 25 Most Amazing College Campus Theaters."

* According to a story this week in the Post-Dispatch, the local building that once housed the Castle Ballroom (and hosted performances by Miles Davis, Count Basie and many other jazz greats) has suffered serious damage from weather and neglect, and may have to be demolished soon.

* And speaking of weather damage to local music venues, last night's high winds tore the sign and part of the facade right off the Kranzberg Arts Center on Grand Blvd, as documented by a witness in this YouTube video. Fortunately, there are no reports of injuries or damages inside, and performances at the venue this weekend should be able to go ahead as scheduled.

* Jazz radio update: This Saturday night on Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis' "Somethin' Else," host Calvin Wilson will spin tracks featuring legendary bandleader and composer Duke Ellington in his role as small-group pianist with saxophonists Johnny Hodges and Coleman Hawkins and others.

Then on "The Jazz Collective," host Jason Church will play music from Ahmad Jamal, Nathan East, Paolo Rustichelli, Bob James and David Sanborn, U-Nam, Herbie Hancock, Chuck Mangione, Joe Sample, Herb Alpert, Funky Butt Brass Band, Michael and Robert Silverman, Al Hammerman, Miss Jubilee, and more

Wilson's program can be heard at 8:00 p.m. Saturdays, followed by Church at 9:00 p.m., via 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.

Nu-Art Series returning with three concerts this spring

After more than a year of dormancy following the closing of its primary venue, the Metropolitan Gallery, the Nu-Art Series will return to presenting music starting next month with a series of concerts at the Scott Joplin House Historic Site, 2658 Delmar.

As frequently was the case in the series' past, the first set of performances in 2014 will present musicians wth a connection to the Black Artists Group and St. Louis' avant-jazz scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s. However, the series' organizer, trumpeter George Sams, is taking a slightly different approach this time around, participating directly as a performer in all three concerts as well as producing them.

On Saturday, March 1, Sams will team with baritone saxophonist and clarinetist Hamiet Bluiett (pictured) for a duo performance. Then on Saturday, March 15, drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw and pianist David Parker will be featured along with Sams.

The spring series wraps up on Saturday, April 12 with another duo concert featuring multi-instrumentalist J.D. Parran and Sams.

All concerts start at 3:00 p.m., and admission is $10 at the door. For more information, call 314-340-5790.

Jazz this week: Christian McBride Trio, Gaslight Cabaret Festival, Joshua Abrams' Natural Information Society, and more

Has the dreadful winter of 2014 finally released its icy grip on the St. Louis area? We can only hope so, because there's a lot of interesting jazz and creative music to hear around town over the next few days. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, bassist Christian McBride begins a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro, this time with the latest iteration of his trio, featuring drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr. and the up-and-coming pianist Christian Sands.

Their first album together, Out Here, was released last August as McBride's fifth recording for Mack Avenue Records. With a sound firmly "in the tradition," it's gotten generally positive reviews, as has their live show, which the New York Times' Ben Ratliff called "constant sleek fun, organized and coordinated."

Elsewhere around town tonight, the Route 66 Jazz Orchestra returns to Kirkwood Station Brewing Company, and Cabaret Project St. Louis will present their monthly open mic night at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

Tomorrow night, actor/singer Ken Page, a St. Louis native who starred in the original companies of Ain't Misbehavin', Cats, and other Broadway hits, opens the Gaslight Cabaret Festival with the first of two performances of his show "Old, New, Borrowed & Blue" at the Gaslight Theater. The festival continues through April 26, and you can hear more about that and Page's show during this interview he did last week with KWMU's "Cityscape" program.

Also on Thursday night, the Rainbow Band, a quartet with guitarists William Lenihan and Vincent Varvel, bassist Eric Stiller, and drummer Steve Davis, will play a free concert for Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

On Friday, vibraphonist Peter Schlamb leads a trio at Robbie's House of Jazz; keyboardist Matt Villinger brings his group to The Engine Room; Second Generation Swing plays for dancers at Casa Loma Ballroom; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will perform at CJ Muggs in Webster Groves; and pianist Peter Schankman will present a trio concert at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

On Saturday, New Music Circle will present multi-instrumentalist Joshua Abrams’ Natural Information Society at Joe’s Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave. in the Central West End. As a bassist, Abrams is a mainstay of Chicago's improvised music scene, but the Natural Information Society is something a bit different, as it's built around his work on the guimbri, a three-string acoustic bass from west Africa.

The band's lineup for this concert will include drummers Frank Rosaly and Mikel Avery, Emmett Kelly on electric guitar, Ben Boye on autoharp and Lisa Alvarado on harmonium. For more about Abrams and some video footage of the band in action, check out this post from last Saturday. Abrams also was interviewed for a preview story by St. Louis magazine's Stef Russell, and the show even is the subject of a full-page cartoon in this month's issue of Eleven magazine.

Also on Saturday, the Gaslight Cabaret Festival continues with St. Louis' own Tim Schall performing his show "1961" at the Gaslight Theater; singer Feyza Eren and pianist Scott Sheperd will duet at The Wine Press; saxophonist Mike Fitzgerald returns to Jazz On Broadway; and the Funky Butt Brass Band headlines an evening of funk at The Gramophone

On Sunday, the Coleman-Hughes Project will play smooth jazz, R&B, and more at Nathalie's; and the Dave Dickey Big Band will be back for their monthly gig at Kirkwood Station Brewing Company.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday faculty members from Webster University will join together as the Webster Jazz Collective for a concert at  Winifred Moore Auditorium on the main campus in Webster Groves; and saxophonist "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective will return to BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

Then on Tuesday, guitarist Dave Black will be featured in a "Notes From Home" show at the Sheldon Concert Hall, aided and abetted by violinist Asako Kuboki, saxophonist Paul DeMarinis, singer Joe Mancuso, bassist Willem von Hombracht, and drummer Steve Davis.

For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, 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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Joshua Abrams' Natural Information Society

This week, let's get better acquainted with Joshua Abrams, the Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist whose group Natural Information Society will perform in a concert presented by New Music Circle at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 22 at Joe's Cafe, the gallery and "house concert" venue at 6014 Kingsbury Ave in the Central West End.

As a bassist, Abrams has worked with many musicians well-known in Chicago's jazz and improv communities, including the David Boykin Expanse, Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble, Jeb Bishop, Hamid Drake, and dozens more. He's released six albums as a leader - including two using the alias Reminder - and has contributed to dozens more as a sideman.

Abrams' ensembles over the years have included the "back porch minimalist" band Town and Country; the trio Sticks and Stones, with Mantana Roberts and Chad Taylor; and a trio with guitarist Jeff Parker and drummer John Herndon of Tortoise.

Then there's Natural Information Society, which was was formed to spotlight Abrams' work on the the guimbri, "a three-stringed animal hide bass traditionally used by the Gnawa of north africa in healing ceremonies." Usually configured as a trio or quartet, the group's sound might be described as a sort of psychedelic tribal music, incorporating contemporary electronics and drones along with folk instruments and free improv.

You can start to get the idea by viewing the first video up above, recorded at a gig in October 2013 and featuring Abrams, harmonium player Lisa Alvarado, trumpeter Artur Majewski, and drummer Kuba Suchar.

Down below, you can see two more excerpts from Natural Information Society performances in 2012 and in 2010 at Chicago's Lincoln Hall, followed by a short video of Abrams playing a guimbri solo on a Chicago rooftop.

In the fifth clip, you can see Abrams teamed with the prolific percussionist Michael Zerang in an excerpt from a 2012 concert at a venue called Comfort Station in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood.

Lastly, today's final video, which shows Abrams with saxophonist Avreeayl Ra and drummer Dave Rempis at a gig in Chicago last May, offers an "contrast and compare" opportunity to hear a bit of his playing on a conventional acoustic bass.

For more about Joshua Abrams and Natural Information Society, check out this brief interview with Phawker.com; and this review of his 2012 album Represencing.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard's Champion, which premiered last summer at Opera Theatre St. Louis, has been named a finalist in the "World Premiere" category of the 2014 Opera Awards. Blanchard is back in St. Louis this weekend to perform on Saturday night at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

* Jazz St. Louis' Gene Dobbs Bradford and Bob Bennett described their favorite releases from the late Richard McDonnell's MAXJAZZ label for an article by the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson.

* Bassist Christian McBride's trio shows next week at Jazz at the Bistro are previewed in a Post-Dispatch article by Terry Perkins.

* The "Newport Jazz Festival: Now 60" tour, which features an all-star band including St. Louis' Peter Martin on piano, kicked off this past week with dates in Atlanta and Boston. The tour will play a total of 17 cities, ending here in St. Louis on Sunday, March 30 at The Sheldon. The band (pictured, from left) is comprised of singer Karrin Allyson, drummer Clarence Penn, bassist Larry Grenadier, clarinetist/saxophonist and musical director Anat Cohen, guitarist Mark Whitfield, trumpeter Randy Brecker, and Martin.

* St. Louis record stores Vintage Vinyl, Euclid Records and Record Exchange all got shout-outs in a recent post from the blog Vinyl Record Collector.

* Greg Osby, in conjunction with St. Louis retailer Saxquest, has put online a series of videos in which he demonstrates his new signature alto sax by P. Mauriat.

* Singer Tony Viviano makes an appearance at the end of a promotional video released this week by StL 250, the organization coordinating this year's celebration of St. Louis' 250th birthday.

* NPR this week had a story about how one difficult night for Miles Davis and his mid-1960s quintet resulted in two classic albums.

* In more Davis-related news, the legendary trumpeter is one a number of entertainment and sports figures whose portraits are featured in "American Cool," a new exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC.

* Meanwhile, Miles Davis Online's Jeff Hyatt takes another look at the official Davis website, and still finds room for improvement.

* Online retailer Sheet Music Plus is offering a 20% discount on all Mel Bay products through next Tuesday, February 18. (When you use the link provided, StLJN gets a small commission on the sale.)

* Jazz radio update:  On this Saturday's episode of Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis' "Somethin' Else," host Calvin Wilson spotlights contemporary jazz musicians based in New York City, including trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, violinist Jenny Scheinman and the trio Dawn of Midi.

Right after that, Jason Church's "The Jazz Collective," will feature a musical menu including tracks by Down To The Bone, Average White Band, Brian Bromberg, Cindy Bradley, Jeremy Davenport, Miles Davis, Al Caldwell, Tracy Heaston, Robert Silverman, and Dawn Weber.

Wilson's program can be heard at 8:00 p.m. Saturdays, followed by Church at 9:00 p.m., via 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.      

(Edited after posting.)

Jazz this week: Terence Blanchard, Erin Bode, Valentine's Day jazz around town, and more

With a slight warmup in the weather coinciding with  Valentine's Day, it should be a good weekend in St. Louis to get out and celebrate your love of live jazz and creative music. Let's see what's happening around town over the next few days...

Tonight, pianist Kara Baldus will play solo in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; and songwriter Al Hammerman will joined by singers Alan Ox, Kim Fuller and Arvell Keithley plus other special guests for "I Got A Song - The Words and Music of Al Hammerman," a benefit for the charity Kids Rock Cancer at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Tomorrow night, singer Erin Bode returns to Jazz at the Bistro for the first of two evenings. The Valentine's Day weekend shows, established by Mardra and Reggie Thomas and then taken over by Bode after the Thomases moved to Michigan, usually have been strong sellers at the Bistro, so advance reservations are a must. Update - 2:30 p.m. 2/13/14: Jazz St. Louis is reporting via social media that the only tickets remaining are standing room for the 9:30 p.m. shows.

Also on Friday, Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center continues their Quiet Concert Series with a performance of Mark Sarich’s new work “Book of Songs” plus more new music from Greg Farough.

Elsewhere around town, Miss Jubilee will be swinging it at the Schlafly Bottleworks; trumpeter and singer Dawn Weber will play two shows at Nathalie's in the Central West End; singer Feyza Eren brings a quartet Tavern of Fine Arts; Herman Semidey plays Latin jazz at Robbie's House of Jazz; and the St. Louis Big Band plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

On Saturday,  trumpeter Terence Blanchard returns to the Sheldon Concert Hall, filling in for pianist Chuco Valdes, who had to cancel his tour due to a knee injury.  You can see some videos of recent performances and interviews featuring Blanchard here, and the trumpeter also was interviewed by Terry Perkins of St. Louis Public Radio for an article you can find online here.

Also on Saturday, singer Danita Mumphard performs at Jazz On Broadway; singer Tony Viviano will headline a Valentine's dinner/dance at Four Seasons Winery in Chesterfield; singer Ann Dueren's trio returns to Il Bel Lago;  trumpeter Keith Moyer leads a trio at Thurman Grill;  and way out west, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to John G's Tap Room in Washington, MO.

On Sunday night, The People's Key will take the stage at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups. And looking beyond the weekend, on Monday singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black will be at BB's, while guitarist John Farrar's Park Avenue Jazz trio continues their weekly Monday night gig at Evangeline's Bistro and Music House.

For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, 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.)

Kimberly Thompson to drum with house band for NBC's Late Night With Seth Meyers

Former St. Louisan Kimberly Thompson has been chosen to fill the drum chair in the house band for NBC's Late Night With Seth Meyers.

Known as The 8G Band (after the studio where the show will be taped), the group will perform on the program Monday through Friday starting on Monday, February 24, when Meyers, former head writer and cast member of Saturday Night Live, takes over NBC's late-night slot from Jimmy Fallon.

Thompson is perhaps best known as the former drummer in the all-female backing band for pop singer Beyonce. Since leaving that gig a couple of years ago, Thompson has been working on songwriting and production, teaching, and doing jazz gigs with guitarist Mike Stern and others.

The 8G Band will be led and "curated" by Fred Armisen, formerly of SNL and currently working on the IFC comedy series Portlandia. Though he's known more as a comic actor, Armisen also is an experienced drummer and guitarist who, before turning to comedy, played drums in the punk band Trenchmouth and worked as a backing musician for the Blue Man Group.

After joining SNL, Armisen also contributed to NYC rock band Les Savy Fav’s 2007 album Let’s Stay Friends and performed live in 2011 with singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom. He created numerous musical spoofs and parodies for SNL, including the character Ian Rubbish, a send-up of Sex Pistols singer Johnny Rotten, and is expected to do more as part of the Meyers version of Late Night.

Shown here with Meyers (fourth from left), the members of the 8G Band will be (from left) guitarist Seth Jabour, also a member of Les Savy Fav; Thompson; keyboardist Eli Janney, from the band Girls Against Boys; Armisen; and bassist Syd Butler of Les Savy Fav.

Late Night With Seth Meyers will air at 12:35 a.m. Eastern, 11:30 p.m. Central on NBC affiliates across the country.

Richard McDonnell 1946 - 2014

Richard "Rich" McDonnell, the former investment banker who founded and ran the independent St. Louis-based label MAXJAZZ, has died. He was 68.

Several reports from friends on Facebook say that McDonnell had a stroke on Friday night while watching Houston Person and the Bill Charlap trio at Jazz at the Bistro, where he was a subscriber and a board member of the parent organization Jazz St. Louis. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died on Saturday.

McDonnell (pictured) grew up in Kirkwood and graduated from Washington University. He started MAXJAZZ in 1998 while still working for AG Edwards, then took early retirement from the investment firm in 2002 to run the label full time.

MAXJAZZ began by recording St. Louis musicians including the Kennedy Brothers, pianist Dave Venn, Mardra and Reggie Thomas, and Brilliant Corners, featuring Paul DeMarinis and Dave Black, but McDonnell soon began signing artists from all over the country, starting with singers Laverne Butler and Carla Cook.

In a 1999 interview with the Riverfront Times' Rene Spencer Saller, he talked about why he got into the record business:

"It was a combination of the music side of me and the business side of me," McDonnell responds, adding that he studied saxophone for many years. "I missed the opportunity to be out playing jazz. Although I've been a listener most of my life, that wasn't totally satisfactory. I wanted to do something that was more active. There was also my feeling, with increasing age, maybe, that we ought to go out of the scene doing something worthwhile. I felt that I could make some contribution to the arts, and that's the way this business is run. It's run efficiently as a business, but in the end, if it's not profitable, it's still my way of contributing to the arts."

In the years since, the label has become known internationally among jazz fans for swinging, mainstream recordings from musicians including Terell Stafford, Mulgrew Miller, Russell Malone and many others. Now with a catalog of more than 75 albums, MAXJAZZ last year inked a distribution agreement with industry giant Naxos.

Even as MAXJAZZ expanded, McDonnell continued to be an enthusiastic presence on the St. Louis scene,  regularly attending performances around town and befriending local musicians. (He also was an early supporter of St. Louis Jazz Notes, offering frequent encouragement as well as passing along news of the label's activities and thanks for coverage of their artists.)

Survivors include three sons: Boyd McDonnell, Carter McDonnell, and Clayton McDonnell, who worked with his dad running MAXJAZZ. StLJN will have more on this story, including information on funeral arrangements, as details become available.

Update - 10:12 a.m., 2/10/14: A "memorial gathering" for Rich McDonnell will be held from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. this Thursday, February 13 at Bopp Chapel, 10610 Manchester Rd. in Kirkwood. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that any donations be made in his name to Jazz St. Louis.

Update - 10:00 p.m., 2/11/13: More on Rich McDonnell:

"Remembering Richard McDonnell, MAXJAZZ Founder Dies At 68" by Terry Perkins, St. Louis Public Radio

"MAXJAZZ Label Owner Rich McDonnell Dies at 68" by Jeff Tamarkin, Jazz Times

"MAXJAZZ owner Richard McDonnell dies" by Kevin C. Johnson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
(Warning: autoplay video)

"RIP Richard McDonnell" and "A Visit to MAXJAZZ" by Ethan Iverson of The Bad Plus, writing on his blog Do The Math

(Edited after posting to fix a typo and update the info on survivors.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Terence Blanchard returns to The Sheldon

This week, let's check in on trumpeter Terence Blanchard, who's playing next Saturday, February 15 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

The New Orleans native was in and out of our town quite a bit last year, as Opera Theater St. Louis premiered his opera Champion as part of their 2013 season. In addition to working with OTSL's company to prepare the premiere, Blanchard also appeared at a number of community events to promote the opera, and played free concerts with his quintet at Missouri Botanical Garden and St. Louis Place Park. (For more about that and some biographical background of Blanchard, see this video showcase post from last year.)

He'll be back in St. Louis next week to perform as part of the Sheldon's jazz series, replacing pianist Chucho Valdes, who originally was scheduled to play the date but had to cancel due to a tour-ending knee injury he suffered a few weeks ago.

The concert will give local audiences another chance to hear some of the material from Blanchard's most recent album Magnetic, which was released last year at the end of May (just before the premiere of Champion) and wound up on many critics' "best of 2013" lists.

Since many Blanchard basics were covered in the previous post linked above, today's collection of clips will feature some more recent performances by his quintet, plus a couple of interviews recorded since his last performances here.

In the first clip up above, you can hear Blanchard and the quintet perform the title track from Magnetic at Blues Alley in Washington, DC.

Down below, there's a full concert of the group, recorded in September 2013 at The Mint in Los Angeles. (Note that since the clip apparently is unedited, there's a couple of minutes of an empty stage before Blanchard and company come up and start playing.)

Below that, there's an interview that Blanchard recorded last summer with the online jazz program The Pace Report; and lastly, another interview in three short segments in which he chats with fellow New Orleanian Arthel Neville, broadcaster and daughter of keyboardist Art Neville of the Neville Brothers and Meters fame.

So What: Local News, Notes and Links

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

* Multi-instrumentalist Sandy Weltman's work with the Municipal Commission on Arts and Letters for University City is the subject of a feature story by Terry Perkins for St. Louis Public Radio.

* KDHX is offering free public tours of the station's new headquarters at 3524 Washington, just east of Grand, starting this Saturday.

* Drummer, composer and St. Louis expat Ronnie Burrage is busy promoting Heal, the new release from his Band Burrage, with various live gigs including an appearance next Tuesday, February 11 at Penn State University's Music Is Life Festival. Burrage also has posted on YouTube a video excerpt from the band's recent performance at  the Blue Note in NYC, and created a new Reverb Nation page and Facebook store for those who wish to hear and/or purchase the new album.

* Elsewhere back east, several musicians with St. Louis roots with be appearing in NYC this month, starting with keyboardist Peter Martin and drummer Terreon Gully (pictured), who will be part of Dianne Reeves' ensemble for the singer's gigs on February 14 and 15 at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater.

A few days later, saxophonist Greg Osby joins trumpeter Tom Harrell, drummer Matt Wilson, saxophonist Melissa Aldana, bassist Ben Allison, and pianist Aaron Goldberg for "Reflections on Monk" from Wednesday, February 17 through Saturday February 22 at Birdland. And that same week, drummer Marcus Baylor's Baylor Project, featuring Jean Baylor on vocals, will perform on February 20 at Smoke.

* There's quite a bit of Miles Davis-related news this week, starting with the news that Miles Davis Properties LLC has reached a deal with Kobalt Music Group to administer Davis' entire catalog, effective immediately. The company will attempt to develop new ways to exploit Davis' music in movies, TV, advertising, and other media.

* “The Wisdom of Miles Davis” was the title of the first lecture given this past week by pianist and composer Herbie Hancock in his capacity as the 2014 Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University.  Hancock's talk, the first in a series of six lectures entitled "The Ethics of Jazz," used his memories of Davis as a springboard to a discussion of racism, ethics, and Buddhism.

* MilesDavis.com and Creative Allies are sponsoring a contest to design an official poster for the soon-to-be-released CD box set Miles At The Fillmore‬. The winner receives cash and prizes, and the winning design will be included in the sets sold via the two websites. Meanwhile, Chronicle: The Complete Prestige Recordings 1951-1956, another Davis box set first issued 20 years ago, is getting a deluxe limited edition reissue.

* And closer to home, the Miles Davis Memorial Project has put online a reservation form for their upcoming fundraising dinner on Saturday, March 22, at Lewis & Clark Community College. Tickets are $60 per person, $450 for a table of eight, and the deadline to RSVP is Sunday, March 9. For more information, call Pride, Incorporated at 618-467-2375 or email them at pride@prideincorporated.org.

* St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts will sponsor another free workshop on "Navigating Health Care Reform" at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, February 19 at the Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar. Saint Louis University School of Law health-law students will explain the Affordable Care Act and provide strategies for selecting a plan and determining eligibility for tax credits and subsidies. This workshop is FREE and open to artists of all disciplines, and guests are welcome, but you must register in advance.

VLAA and Community Action Agency of St. Louis (CAASTL) also will offer in-person help with health insurance enrollment from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Thursday, February 20 at the RAC offices. Artists of all disciplines can sign up for free one-on-one sessions with  trained, certified application counselors. Appointments will be made on a first-come, first-served basis; to sign up, send an email to vlaa@stlrac.org.

* Jazz radio update: On this Saturday's episode of Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis' "Somethin' Else," host Calvin Wilson sets an anticipatory mood for Valentine’s Day with recordings from Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle (from Waits' soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola's One From The Heart), John Coltrane and singer Johnny Hartman, and Norah Jones.

Then on "The Jazz Collective," Jason Church will spin tracks from Four80East, Chris Standring, David Longoria, Donald Byrd, Sonny Rollins, Chuck Mangione, Lee Ritenour, the Brand New Heavies, Eumir Deodato, and Roy Ayers, as well as music from St. Louis' own Dawn Weber, Jesse Gannon, Jason Swagler, and Tommy Halloran.

Wilson's program can be heard at 8:00 p.m. Saturdays, followed by Church at 9:00 p.m., via 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.     

Marcus Roberts Trio to perform for "Evening of Hope" benefit on Thursday, May 8 at The Sheldon

Pianist Marcus Roberts and his trio (pictured) will be the featured performers for the 10th annual "Evening of Hope" event benefiting the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders to be held at 8:00 p.m., Thursday, May 8 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Roberts, who first gained wide recognition in the 1980s as a member of trumpeter Wynton Marsalis' group, will be accompanied by his longtime bandmates, bassist Rodney Jordan and drummer Jason Marsalis, who's Wynton's youngest brother.

These days, Roberts is known particularly for interpreting the work of pre-WWII jazz, stride and ragtime pianists with a modern sensibility, as demonstrated here in St. Louis most recently during a November 2012 concert for the Sheldon's jazz series. You can read more about Roberts and see some performance clips in this video showcase preview that was posted here on StLJN before that gig.

The Hope Center for Neurological Disorders, described as "a collaborative alliance between Washington University in St. Louis and Hope Happens, a St. Louis-based non-profit public charity," is involved in researching cures for a range of nervous system diseases, both chronic and acute, with the common feature of neurodegeneration or death of nerve cells.

Patron tickets for the "Evening of Hope" benefit, which include cocktails, dinner, orchestra seating for the concert, and a dessert reception with the artist, begin at $250 and are available only directly from Hope Happens. For more information, call 314-725-3888.

Any remaining orchestra level seats will be $45, with balcony seating priced at $35, and will go on sale as single tickets at 10:00 a.m. this Saturday, February 8 via Metrotix.

Jazz this week: Bill Charlap & Houston Person, Alarm Will Sound, Peter Martin, So Percussion, Willie Pickens, and more

This week's menu of jazz and creative music around St. Louis includes performances by three top pianists representing NYC, Chicago and St. Louis, plus local stops for two acclaimed touring new music ensembles, and much more. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, pianist Bill Charlap (pictured) and guest tenor saxophonist Houston Person open an four-night engagement continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro.

Both men have played at the Bistro separately before, but this will be their first time joining forces here in St. Louis. Though of different generations, Charlap, a 47-year-old New Yorker, and Person, who's 79 and originally from South Carolina, have compatible musical values centered firmly in the jazz mainstream.

Given that, they also should have an extensive repertoire to draw upon, so part of the fun of a gig like this is seeing what tunes they'll end up picking to perform. For more about Person, and some video samples of him performing a half-dozen well-known tunes, check out this video post from last Saturday.

Update - 12:15 p.m., 2/5/14: Jazz St. Louis has announced that Charlap will play solo on Wednesday night, as bad weather has prevented the rest of the band from flying to St. Louis.

Also tonight, members of The 442s, singer Brian Owens, and others from the St. Louis Symphony will present a free Black History Month concert, "Someday We'll Be Free - Celebrating The Music of Donny Hathaway," at Powell Symphony Hall.

Tomorrow night, drummer Maurice Carnes and his trio, featuring saxophonist Freddie Washington, will play a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. Also on Thursday, the 20-member chamber orchestra Alarm Will Sound* returns to the Sheldon Concert Hall with a program of music from their next album, including compositions by Edgard Varese, the Beatles, Conlon Nancarrow, Charles Wuorinen, and more. 

On Friday, St. Louis' own Peter Martin will be back at Sheldon for the first concert of the year in his ongoing eponymous series there. The pianist's theme this time is "Chamber Jazz," and Martin will showcase some of his new compositions via an ensemble including Bjorn Ranheim on cello and Shawn Weil on violin, plus bassist Chris Thomas and drummer Rob Woodie.

Also on Friday, the much-talked-about new music group So Percussion performs at the Touhill Performing Arts Center as part of their tour this month of University of Missouri campuses; saxophonist Jim Stevens will team with Good 4 the Soul to present "The Music of David Sanborn" at the Wildey Theatre;  Miss Jubilee performs at the Moonshine Blues Bar in St. Charles; the Knights of Swing play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and Lindy Hop St. Louis' monthly  "West End Stomp" dance at the Mahler Ballroom will feature music from The Sidemen. 

On Saturday afternoon,;Saxquest will present another in their series of free performances and workshops, featuring saxophonist Randy Hamm with pianist Kyle Aho, plus a set by the Missouri Saxophone Quartet. 

Then on Saturday evening, trumpeter Randy Holmes' quintet will offer a Black History Month-themed performance at Robbie's House of Jazz.

On Sunday afternoon, veteran Chicago pianist Willie Pickens will be in town to play with drummer Jerome "Scrooge" Harris and friends in a jazz brunch performance benefiting Community Women Against Hardship at the Bistro at Grand Center. Later that afternoon, guitarist Steve Schenkel's quartet will play a free concert for the "Inner Jazz" series at Kirkwood United Church of Christ.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday pianist Kim Portnoy and his group will perform original music in a concert at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium; and the Sessions Big Band will play downtown at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups

Then on Tuesday, the St. Louis Jazz Orchestra, under the direction of bassist Jim Widner, will be back at the Touhill for a program of music from "A Night at the Movies"; and guitarist Vincent Varvel will lead a trio at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, 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.)

* Disclaimer: As mentioned here before, for the last three years I've been compensated financially to assist Alarm Will Sound with promotional activities in St. Louis and Columbia. As also mentioned here before, I'd still recommend this concert to StLJN readers even if I weren't working with the band.  

(Edited after posting to correct the date of So Percussion.) 

Charlie Hunter & Scott Amendola to play Sunday, April 13 at Old Rock House

Guitarist Charlie Hunter and drummer Scott Amendola (pictured) are coming to St. Louis to perform a duo show at 8:30 p.m., Sunday, April 13 at the Old Rock House.

The two have been playing together since the 1990s, when they were two-thirds of Hunter's trio, and will be touring in support of their new album Pucker, which came out in November of last year.

It's their second release together, following up on 2012's Not Getting Behind Is The New Getting Ahead, but this time, they're featuring Amendola's compositions instead of Hunter's. The duo last appeared in St. Louis in July 2012 at Jazz at the Bistro; for more about that, check out this video showcase post about Hunter that ran here on StLJN before the gig.

Tickets for Charlie Hunter and Scott Amendola at the Old Rock House are $25 reserved, $17 general admission, and will go on sale at 5:00 p.m. this Thursday, February 6.

Jamie Cullum to perform Sunday, June 8 at The Pageant

Singer and pianist Jamie Cullum will return to St. Louis for the first time in four years to perform at 8:00 p.m. Sunday, June 8 at The Pageant.

Since last playing here, the diminutive Brit has begun hosting a weekly jazz program on BBC Radio2, curtailing his touring somewhat after he and wife Sophie Dahl, a popular model and TV presenter in the UK, had their second child.

His most recent album Momentum was released in May of last year, getting generally positive reviews both at home and here in the USA. After an initial tour last fall of Great Britain and Europe in support of the record, Cullum (pictured) is back at it this year, expanding to dates in Asia, the Middle East, and North America as well.

He previously made his St. Louis debut at The Pageant back in 2006; his most recent local appearance was at the Roberts Orpheum Theater downtown in March, 2010.

 

Tickets for Jamie Cullum at the Pageant are $45 and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. this Friday, February 7 via Ticketmaster. An online-only pre-sale (see the Pageant's Facebook page) will be held beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, February 6.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Standard time with Houston Person

Today, let's look at some video clips featuring the tenor sax stylings of Houston Person, who's coming to St. Louis next week to perform with pianist Bill Charlap's trio Wednesday, February 5 through Saturday, February 8 at Jazz at the Bistro.  

Person, who will turn 80 in November, grew up in Florence, South Carolina and studied at South Carolina State College before joining the Air Force. While stationed in Germany, he played in a service band with future pros including Don Ellis, Eddie Harris and Cedar Walton, and after his discharge, continued his studies at Hartt College of Music in Connecticut.

His first wide recognition came in the early 1960s as a result of work with organist Johnny "Hammond" Smith's band. Person then got his own contract with Smith's label, Prestige Records, and put out a series of albums that helped make his reputation as a successful bandleader in the soul-jazz genre. Later, he worked for many years touring and recording with vocalist Etta Jones, whom he met while both were with Smith.

Over the course of his career, Person has made more than 75 albums as a bandleader, and also has recorded with Bill Charlap, Charles Brown, Charles Earland, Lena Horne, Lou Rawls, Horace Silver, Dakota Staton, Billy Butler, Richard "Groove" Holmes, and others. Since Etta Jones died in 2001, Person has continued to lead his own groups, but also works frequently as a guest soloist and a single, allying himself with other bandleaders, local house bands, and festival rhythm sections as the occasion warrants.

Those kind of gigs tend to rely on a standard repertoire shared among the musicians, and though Person made his rep in the soul-jazz genre, over the years he's also shown his skill at playing swing, ballads, and selections from the "Great American Songbook," some examples of which are featured today.

First up is a version of "Fools Rush In," recorded in October 2011 at the Lockerbie Jazz Festival in Scotland along with baritone saxophonist Alan Barnes and the Paul Harrison Trio.

Down below, it's "Star Eyes," from the Norwich (CT) Jazz Party in May 2012, which also features Warren Vache (cornet), John Pearce (piano), Nicki Parrott (bass), and Bobby Worth (drums). 

The third clip, recorded in June of last year at the Blue Note in NYC, features Person accompanying singer Tony Middleton on "Time After Time" with pianist Joe Alterman, bassist James Cammack, and drummer Alex Raderman. Below that, Alterman, Cammack and drummer Justin Chesarek are backing up Person in the fourth video, a version of "It Could Happen To You" recorded in June 2011 at Iridium in NYC.

The fifth and sixth videos both feature Person as a guest soloist with guitarist Peter Hand's big band in a 2011 concert at Centenary Theatre, Hackettstown, NJ. Thematically related though several decades apart in origin, the versions of "Stormy Weather" and "Sunny" both feature solos from Person, Hand and pianist James Weidman.

For more about Houston Person, check out this interview he did for a Jazz St. Louis podcast back in 2009, and this video interview with "The Pace Report" from 2010.