Jazz this week: Joe Lovano & Us Five, Cornet Chop Suey, Jeff Anderson & Chad Evans, Sarah Jane & the Blue Notes, and more

Though it's the last day of Jazz Appreciation Month and some local not-for-profit presenters already have wound down their seasons, there's still some interesting jazz and creative music to be heard in St. Louis this week, including the long-awaited return of one of the top tenor saxophonists working today.

That would be Joe Lovano, who will be back in St. Louis for the first time since the year 2000 with his band Us Five for a four-night stand opening this evening at Jazz at the Bistro.

While Lovano may not have quite the level of name recognition accorded elder statesmen like Sonny Rollins and Wayne Shorter or heavily touted younger saxophonists like Ravi Coltrane, Branford Marsalis and Josh Redman, he's a powerful and inventive player on tenor and soprano saxes and a resourceful composer and bandleader who definitely deserves to be considered part of the saxophone elite.

You can check out some examples of Lovano in action and see Us Five's distinctive two-drummer lineup in this video post from last week. Lovano also talked with the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson for a preview story about this week's gigs, which you can read here.

Tomorrow night, guitarist Dave Black and singer Feyza Eren will play at Nathalie's, and Miss Jubilee will bring an eight-piece ensemble to the Central West End house concert venue Joe's Cafe.

On Friday, Lindy Hop St. Louis presents their monthly "West End Stomp" swing dance at the Mahler Ballroom with music from the Sidney Street Shakers, while Second Generation Swing will be laying it down for the dancers at Casa Loma Ballroom.

Elsewhere on Friday, Terry Thompson & Swing Alive will play a Kentucky Derby-themed show at Robbie's House of Jazz; saxophonist Kendrick Smith leads a trio at Cigar Inn; singer Wendy Gordon and pianist Arthur Toney return to DeLeo's Cafe & Deli; and Jazz St. Louis' Phil Dunlap will be at the piano, along with  trumpeter Danny Campbell, for the first of two nights at the Cheshire Inn's Fox and Hounds Tavern.

On Saturday, there are a couple more Derby-themed events with live jazz, as the Sidney Street Shakers will headline a three-band bill at The Royale, and Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes play at Thurman Grill.

Also on Saturday, the Coleman Hughes Project with singer Adrienne Felton will perform at Troy's Jazz Gallery; and pianist Curt Landes, multi-instrumentalist Alan Ox and guitarist Vince Martin will team up for a show at Robbie's House of Jazz.

On Sunday, the St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show will hold their second event of the year at the  American Czech Hall, 4690 Lansdowne at Kingshighway in south St. Louis; and guitarist Dave Black starts a weekly Sunday brunch gig at Corvid's Cafe, also on the south side.

Also on Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club will present the traditional jazz and swing of Cornet Chop Suey at Concord Farmers Club, and the Friends of Scott Joplin will hold their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site.

Then on Sunday night, multi-instrumentalists Jeff Anderson and Chad Evans will join forces to stage a "Sax Attack" at the Bistro at Grand Center, assisted by drummer Montez Coleman, bassist Bob DeBoo, keyboardist Matt Villinger and trumpeter Danny Campbell.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday guitarist Tom Byrne will play at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Then on Tuesday, singer Tony Viviano will be the featured entertainment at "Martinis with a P.A.L.L.," a fundraiser being put on by Professionals Against Leukemia & Lymphoma at Brio Tuscan Grille to benefit the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.

Also on Tuesday, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will endeavor to put the heat into "hot jazz" with a performance of their "Risque & Torch Song Revue" as part of the Notes from Home series at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

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.)

Happy International Jazz Day!

In addition to being the final day of Jazz Appreciation Month 2014, Wednesday, April 30 is the third annual International Jazz Day, a worldwide celebration of jazz presented by UNESCO and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. Once again this year, the celebration will include a "global concert" featuring an lineup of top jazz talent, broadcast live from this year's host city, Osaka, Japan.

The concert at the famed outdoor Osaka Castle Park will feature performances by Toshiko Akiyoshi, John Beasley, Kris Bowers, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Terri Lyne Carrington, Theo Croker, Sheila E., Pete Escovedo, Roberta Gambarini, Kenny Garrett, James Genus, Roy Hargrove, Lalah Hathaway, Terumasa Hino, Earl Klugh, Marcus Miller, T.S. Monk, Gregory Porter, Claudio Roditi, John Scofield, Wayne Shorter, Esperanza Spalding, Lew Tabackin, Steve Turre, and others.

The concert begins at 5:00 a.m. St. Louis time, and you can watch the live stream in the embedded video window down below. (For readers elsewhere, that time translates to 7:00 p.m. in the host city of Osaka, 11:00 a.m. in London, 6:00 a.m. in NYC, and 3:00 a.m. in Los Angeles.)

UPDATE - 11:00 a.m. 4/30/14: Apologies to anyone who's tried to watch the IJD concert via the YouTube embed on this page and got a message saying "This video is private." Following the conclusion of the live show from Osaka, there was supposed to be a streaming-on-demand version of the concert available, but it apparently has not come online yet. Not sure what's going on there, but until it gets sorted out, the video embed has been pulled.

UPDATE - 2:45 p.m., 4/30/14:: The technical issues appear to be resolved, and the concert now is available for viewing "on demand":



(Concert footage begins at 30:45 into the video.)

Recently on Heliocentric Worlds

StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds this month has featured a wide variety of music videos, drawn from genres including jazz, blues, soul, funk, classic rock, prog rock, experimental, and more.

Recent posts have included performances - some rare and/or obscure - by Coleman Hawkins and Harry "Sweets" Edison, MC5, Chico Hamilton and Euphoria, Carla Bley Big Band, Elvin Jones Jazz Machine, the Young Rascals, Ray Bryant, Cecil Taylor, If, Sons of Champlin, Supersax, Tony Bennett, Sun Ra Arkestra, Little Feat, Freddie Hubbard, Gil Evans Orchestra, Max Roach, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Gato Barbieri, Buddy Miles, Traffic, Tito Puente, James Cotton, Don Cherry and Nu, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, Archie Shepp's Attica Blues Big Band, Mose Allison, Art Blakey/Tony Williams Group, and Duke Ellington.

It's a veritable college of musical knowledge, with all these videos plus thousands more carefully curated clips available for your viewing and listening pleasure just by visiting http://heliocentricworlds.blogspot.com/.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Joe Lovano and Us Five

This week, let's take a look at some videos of saxophonist Joe Lovano and Us Five, who will be performing Wednesday, April 30 through Saturday, May 3 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Born and raised in Cleveland and educated at Berklee, the 61-year-old Lovano first gained professional experience performing with organists "Brother" Jack McDuff and Dr. Lonnie Smith. He then went on to play with the big bands of Woody Herman and Mel Lewis, and then worked with guitarist John Scofield and drummer Paul Motian, two musical relationships that would continue well beyond Lovano's first album as a leader in 1985.

Since lauching his solo career, Lovano has led bands ranging from a quartet to a nonet, and also has been part of some high-profile collaborations, notably the Saxophone Summit group with Dave Liebman, the late Michael Brecker, and, after Brecker's untimely death in 2007, Ravi Coltrane.

Us Five was formed in 2009, with the group's most obvious distinction being the presence of two trap drummers, Otis Brown and Francisco Mela, whose contrasting approaches yield plenty of rhythmic density while still generally avoiding clutter. Pianist James Weidman also has been part of all three Us Five albums, while bassist Esperanza Spalding, who played on the group's first two recordings, these days has mostly ceded the chair to Peter Slavov as her own career has taken off.

Today's first video shows the current US Five lineup in 2011 playing "Barbados," from their album Bird Songs, live in the Studios of Seattle NPR affiliate KPLU.

After the jump, there are two songs recorded in July, 2009 during the band's gig for the Heinecken Jazzaldia at Plaza de la Trinidad in San Sebastian, Spain. First up is "Folk Art," which is split into two parts, followed by "Us Five," both from their first, self-titled album, and both with Spalding on bass.

Next up are two songs, "Viva Caruso" and "Spiritual," recorded in 2011 at Jazzwoche Burghausen in Germany, again with the current lineup of musicians.

Last but not least, check out an interview Lovano did with video reporter Lee Pace in which the saxophonist talks about Us Five and Bird Songs.

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Sheldon Concert Hall announces 2014-15 season schedule

The Sheldon Concert Hall today announced the schedules for their various 2014-15 subscription series and special concerts, and as usual, there's some programming that will be of interest to StLJN readers.

With regard to the Sheldon's main jazz series, as tipped here on StLJN back in December 2013, it will get underway this fall with concerts featuring pianist Chick Corea (Saturday, October 11) and guitarists Bucky Pizzarelli, Frank Vignola and Vinny Raniolo (Saturday, November 15).

Also on tap for the jazz series is the Dizzy Gillespie Afro-Cuban Experience (Saturday, March 21, 2015), which is led by the late, legendary trumpeter's former bassist John Lee. The current iteration of the group also includes Mario "Machito Jr." Grillo, son of the famed percussionist, as well as trumpeter Freddie Hendrix, who's played in the Gillespie memorial big band and worked with former St. Louisan Oliver Lake, among others; plus saxophonist Sharel Cassity, guitarist Yotam Silberstein, and drummer Robby Ameen.

Perhaps the most intriguing jazz series offering is the final one, as the much-talked-about singer Cécile McLorin Salvant (pictured) will make her St. Louis debut at the Sheldon on Saturday, May 2, 2015.

Winner of the 2010 Thelonious Monk International Vocals Competition, the 24-year-old Salvant was raised in Miami but went to Paris to study music. After winning the Monk competition, her career gained momentum in the States thanks to her work with pianist Jacky Terrasson and with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and took off in earnest with the release last year of her American debut album WomanChild.

As for the rest of the Sheldon's 2014-15 schedule, pianist Peter Martin will continue his eponymous series with concerts on Friday, November 21 and Friday, February 27, with the specifics of both programs TBA.

Also returning will be the new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound*, whose first performance of their third St. Louis season will be as part of "250 Years of St. Louis Music: American Music at its Best!" a special event on Friday, October 17 that also will include jazz, blues, ragtime and more from Denise Thimes, Peter Martin, Kim Massie, Billy Peek, and other St. Louis favorites.

On their own, AWS will perform in concert on Saturday, December 11 - tentatively scheduled to be the North American premiere of Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy's extended work The Hunger - and on Friday, January 23 and Thursday, May 28, 2015.

The Coffee Concerts series will include performances from Cornet Chop Suey (Tuesday, October 7 and Wednesday, October 8) and Swing Set (Tuesday, April 21 and Wednesday, April 22, 2015), and the St. Louis Stompers will play a non-subscription Coffee Concert on Tuesday, February 10, 2015. Miss Jubilee also will put in an appearance, playing an 11 a.m. Saturday matinee on March 7, 2015.

Lastly, a couple of the "special concerts" may be of interest as well. South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela will perform with singer Vusi Mahlasela in a program called "20 Years of Freedom" on Saturday, October 4, and though the evening ostensibly will focus on "South Africa’s Freedom Songs," I'll bet you a nickel that Masekela finds a way to work in a bit of "Grazin' In The Grass" before the night is over.

Also, fans of big band, Latin jazz and/or Brazilian music may want to check out SpokFrevo Orquestra on Sunday, November 2. Led by Brazilian saxophonist Inaldo Cavalcante de Albuquerque, aka Spok, the 18-piece big band mixes jazz with frevo, a carnival rhythm and musical genre popular in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco.

Subscription tickets for the jazz series are $150 orchestra, $135 balcony. Subscriptions also are available for the Coffee Concerts and Peter Martin series. New subscriptions will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Monday, May 12 and continue through the first concert in each series.

Single tickets for the jazz series range from $35 to $50, and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Saturday,August 9 via MetroTix. You can find all the details on subscriptions, single ticket prices, and all the various series at the Sheldon on their website. 

* As mentioned here several times before, yr. humble StLJN editor is employed by a local public relations firm to, among other things, assist Alarm Will Sound with publicity in St. Louis and Columbia, MO. However, given the scope of StLJN's coverage, I'd be mentioning them even if I wasn't working for them. Now that you know this information, I trust that you, the reader, are capable of making your own judgments about any AWS-related hype and/or potential conflicts of interest.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Yesterday, the New York Times' City Room blog ran a short feature on saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett, who's recovering from two strokes in the last two months, but nevertheless is planning to perform this Saturday.

Bluiett is living in NYC again after spending several years back home in southern Illinois, but according to the NYT article, continues to have financial as well as health difficulties and is getting help from the Jazz Foundation of America.

* The news is considerably better for fellow saxophonist, St. Louis expat, and World Saxophone Quartet co-founder Oliver Lake, who this week was named one of 20 winners of a 2014 Doris Duke Artist Award. The prize is worth a minimum of $225,000 over a three to five year period, with possible additional funding of another $50,000 if certain conditions are met.

* Enjoy The View, saxophonist David Sanborn's new album with Joey DeFrancesco, Bobby Hutcherson, and Billy Hart (pictured above with Sanborn), is now available for pre-order from iTunes, with immediate digital delivery of the preview track "Delia."

Meanwhile, Sanborn is wasting no time getting to work on his next recording, this week launching a PledgeMusic campaign to finance the costs. The album will reunite him with bassist Marcus Miller in the studio for the first time in nearly 15 years.

In addition to the usual premiums like downloads of the album, signed CDs, and VIP concert tickets, Sanborn is offering plenty of high-end options, too, including private concerts (which, for locations in the USA, start at $25K plus expenses) and the chance to have him play a solo on your recording ($7,500 when done from Sanborn's home studio).

* Trumpeter Clark Terry was the subject of a feature story in the New York Observer.

* Pianist and former St. Louisan Tom McDermott's collaboration with producer, songwriter and musician Van Dyke Parks was featured on New Orleans community radio station WWNO's "American Routes" program.

* Saxophonist Eric Person will take part in a tribute to the late drummer Chico Hamilton next Tuesday, April 29 at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in NYC. Person worked with Hamilton for eight years and made several albums with him.

* The Route 66 Jazz Orchestra has posted on Facebook an album of photos from their recent performance at the Kirkwood Station Brewing Company.

* Speaking of photo albums on Facebook, The Gramophone has posted one with shots from Davina and the Vagabonds' performance there last weekend.

* Singer Joe Mancuso is profiled in the new issue of Uptown magazine.

* The late St. Louis pianist and ragtime historian Trebor Tichenor is the subject of a tribute on the website West Coast Ragtime (incorporating StLJN's item on Tichenor's passing, with our permission according to Creative Commons licensing.)

* Jazz radio update: This Saturday's episode of Calvin Wilson's program "Somethin' Else" on Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis will put the bass in the place with performances from Ron Carter, Gary Peacock, Esperanza Spalding, and more.

Then on "The Jazz Collective," Jason Church is offering tunes from Richard Smith, Les Sabler, Jeff Lorber Fusion, Stan Sargeant, John Klemmer, Fourplay, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Richard Elliot, and Tommy Halloran's Guerrilla Swing.

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

The Sheldon, Metrotix offering online presale of tickets for Kurt Elling concert

The Sheldon Concert Hall and Metrotix are offering a special one-day-only online pre-sale of tickets for the performance by Kurt Elling on Friday, June 6 at the Sheldon.

Elling (pictured), acclaimed as one of the top male singers in jazz today, definitely has a strong St. Louis fan base, thanks to several previous performances at Jazz at the Bistro, but will be making his Sheldon debut with this show. The concert is the centerpiece of a benefit for the Sheldon Art Galleries, and patron tickets have been on sale for several weeks, so the supply of seats will be limited.

Single tickets for the Kurt Elling concert at The Sheldon go on sale to the general public at 10:00 a.m. this Saturday, April 26, but online buyers can purchase tickets a day early, starting at 10:00 a.m. Friday, April 25 by going to the Metrotix site and using promo code KURT14.

(Edited after posting to fix a garbled sentence.)

Jazz this week: Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, Chicago Underground Duo, Tommy Halloran's Guerrilla Swing, and more

As the final weekend of Jazz Appreciation Month comes into view, there's still plenty to celebrate, with a variety of jazz and creative music performances happening in and around St. Louis over the next few days. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, the 2014 Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival gets underway with a quartet performance led by pianist and ex-St. Louisan Reggie Thomas and his Michigan State University colleague, bassist Rodney Whitaker, at Jazz at the Bistro. Drummer Montez Coleman and saxophonist Willie Akins will round out the group.

Also tonight, the St. Louis Low Brass Collective presents a free showcase at the Sheldon Concert Hall; and the Tavern of Fine Arts will present their monthly "Experimental Arts Open Improv Night" with live improvised music.

Tomorrow, the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival shifts to the Touhill Performing Arts Center, where Cuban-born trumpeter Arturo Sandoval will headline Friday's show, with the UMSL jazz band, directed by Jim Widner, as opening act. For more about this GSLJF, read this interview  that Widner did with Terry Perkins for St. Louis Public Radio.

Also tomorrow night, the Chicago Underground Duo (pictured), featuring Rob Mazurek (cornet, electronics) and Chad Taylor (drums, percussion), plays at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center; singer-guitarist Tommy Halloran and his band Guerrilla Swing make their debut in the first of two evenings at Jazz at the Bistro; and the Gaslight Cabaret Festival concludes with the first of two performances this weekend by St. Louis' own Lara Teeter at the Gaslight Theater.

And if all that's not enough, elsewhere around town on Friday Samba Bom will perform a free concert at Ferguson Citywalk; singer Joe Mancuso leads a quartet at Nathalie's; trumpeter Randy Holmes' sextet pays tribute to the music of Duke Ellington at Robbie's House of Jazz; and Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to CJ Muggs in Webster Groves.

On Saturday, record collectors will want to make time to stop by "The Gigantic St. Louis DJ Album Sale for Charity" being held in midtown at 3137 Locust St. (east of Compton, one block west of The Fountain on Locust). The sale will feature more than 10,000 LPs, CDs and items of music memorabilia donated by local radio personalities past and present; for more details, see this post from last week.  

Also on Saturday afternoon, mouthpiece guru Mike Lomax will give a free workshop and presentation at Saxquest; and Miss Jubilee plays a matinee at Blues City Deli.

Update - 11:00 a.m. 4/25/14: Saxquest has posted on Facebook that the Mike Lomax mouthpiece workshop has been postponed due to illness.   

Then Saturday evening, the 2013 Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival concludes with a concert by the Count Basie Orchestra, now directed by trumpeter Scotty Barnhart and featuring Reggie Thomas on piano, at the Touhill. For more about the Basie band and some video samples of performances of their classic repertoire, see this post from last Saturday.

And that's not the only big band show in town on Saturday, as that same evening bassist/trombonist Wayne Coniglio will lead a 35-piece orchestra with guest soloists including Cecil Cope and Elsie Parker in "The Swing of Hearts," a romance-themed program at Florissant Civic Center Theatre.

Also on Saturday night, violinist David McNair and his Gypsy jazz group Tzgane return to Robbie's House of Jazz; and the Ann Dueren Trio performs at Il Bel Lago.

On Sunday, the Dave Dickey Big Band plays their monthly gig at Kirkwood Station Brewing Company, with saxophonist Chip McNeill as guest soloist and the Genesis Jazz Project performing at intermission.

Also on Sunday, guitarists Steve Schenkel, John McClellan, Dave Black and Tom Byrne - aka the guitar faculty of Webster University - team up to perform at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus; and saxophonist Tim Cunningham and singer Jeffery Hardin join forces for a concert at the Forest Park golf course clubhouse.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective return to  BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups; and on Tuesday, pianist David Parker and drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw will perform as a duo at 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.)

StLJN turns nine

Nine years ago today, the first post went up on St. Louis Jazz Notes. Nearly 3,500 posts later, StLJN remains one of the longest continuously operating outposts of the jazz blogosphere and one of the longest running music blogs in St. Louis, as well as the city's most regularly updated source devoted to news about jazz.

Thanks once again to all the readers, commenters, musicians, music students and educators, presenters, club owners, publicists, tipsters, media people, record label employees, and others who have taken an interest in the site over the years. Your time and continued attention are much appreciated.

As usual, if you have any anniversary wishes, congratulations, questions, suggestions, or complaints, the comments are open.

James Hegarty releases new solo piano album Drop Plunk

Pianist James Hegarty has released a new solo piano album, representing his first foray into solo playing since his 2008 release Antithesis Reflex. The new album Drop Plunk was recorded by Hegarty in his home studio in a week last month, and now is available as a free digital download via CD Baby

Described as "spontaneous explorations of the vast potential of piano sounds - including realtime prepared piano and electronics," the album (pictured) features solo performances on a Yamaha G3 piano that are "sometimes captured by a Korg Kaoss Pad and looped in the background." In addition, rather than setting up prepared piano sounds in advance, Hegarty's "preparations are made and changed, altered, and replaced throughout the course of the performance." 

You can hear previews from Drop Plunk and download the entire album or individual tracks for free here.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: The basics of Basie

With the Count Basie Orchestra set to close out the 2014 Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival with a concert on Saturday, April 26 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, our mission here today is a simple one: To share performances of a half-dozen of the most famous and enduring arrangements from the Basie band's repertoire.

Although the band's appearance here will mark 30 years to the day since Basie himself passed away, a series of musicians steeped in the Count's particular musical ethos has continued to direct them in steady touring and the occasional recording, keeping these songs alive for new generations of jazz fans.

Most recently, trumpeter Scott Barnhart, who's played with the Basie band for more than 20 years, took over the leadership last year, and the current pianist is none other than former St. Louisan Reggie Thomas, who now lives and teaches in Michigan. (While Thomas is back in St. Louis next week, he'll also perform on Thursday night at Jazz at the Bistro, co-leading a small group with bassist Rodney Whitaker to kick off the GSLJF.)

You can read a brief history of the Basie orchestra on their website, linked above, but for a more in-depth look at the man and the band, Rutgers University's digital exhibit "One More Once: A Centennial Celebration of the Life and Music of Count Basie." is a fine place to start.

As for our survey of some of Basie's best, the first video clip up above is from a 1943 feature film called Reveille with Beverly, and depicts Basie and the band performing "One O'Clock Jump," a propulsive exercise in blues riffing that served as their theme song in the early years. Although obviously pre-recorded and staged for purposes of the film, it's still a reasonable approximation of what they must have looked and sounded like back then.

Though the blues was central to the first edition of the Basie band, after World War II a "New Testament" version of the group emerged, powered by a more diverse selection of charts from arrangers such as Neal Hefti and Frank Foster, who also played tenor sax in the group and would serve as director for several years after Basie's death.

Hefti's "Li'l Darlin'," shown in the second video in a version recorded in 1960 in Milan, demonstrated that the Basie band could play a delicate ballad as well as swing the blues, and it remains one of the single most beloved pieces in their songbook. The trumpet solo is by Sonny Cohn.

Below that are two selections from a program that Basie recorded in 1965 for the BBC. "Jumpin' at the Woodside" is perhaps Basie's most famous uptempo flag-waver, and in this version, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis gets off a blistering tenor sax solo that almost brings down the house.

After that, it's "April in Paris," with a signature arrangement devised by organist Wild Bill Davis that features a fake ending - or sometimes, multiple fake endings - followed by the Count cuing the band to hit it "one more time," which you can see at the 2:37 mark in this particular clip.

The last two videos are from a show in 1981 at NYC's Carnegie Hall. Frank Foster's "Shiny Stockings" is another perennial favorite dating back to the 1950s version of the band, and is heard here at a somewhat brisker tempo than on the original studio version.

The final number, "Every Day I Have The Blues," takes the Basie orchestra back to its roots, backing singer Joe Williams in what many jazz fans consider to be the definitive version of this blues standard (which, incidentally, was written and originally recorded by St. Louis pianist Pinetop Sparks).

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* There's a new entry on Clark Terry's blog, in which the legendary trumpeter and St. Louis native - who at 93 is physically frail but remains indomitable in spirit - details his recent efforts to "keep on keepin' on."

Said blog post also alerted us to a nice feature story about Terry published earlier this year in Allegro, the magazine of Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians.

* Tomorrow is the annual Record Store Day, and St. Louis music purveyors including Euclid Records, Apop Records, and Vintage Vinyl will celebrating variously with live music, in-store guest DJs, food and drink, special limited edition releases, and more. You can get a good overview of the goings-on around town via this article by the Riverfront Times' Mike Appelstein.

Also, as mentioned (or, depending upon your point of view, threatened) in this space last week, once again this year I'll be a guest DJ at Vintage Vinyl, spinning jazz, blues, funk, soul and who-know-what-else inside the store for an hour starting at 4:00 p.m.. Don't say you haven't been warned.

* Modern dance company MADCO's premiere production of "Liquid Roads," which incorporated live jazz and blues from a band led by trumpeter Brian Casserly, was reviewed by Chris Gibson of Broadway World and by UMSL's student paper The Current.

* One of singer Storm Large's sold-out performances last weekend for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival was reviewed by Chuck Lavazzi of KDHX.

* The Route 66 Jazz Orchestra has posted on Facebook an album of photos from their most recent performance at First Unity Church of St. Louis.

* Also on Facebook, the Sidney Street Shakers have posted an album of photos from their performance at Schlafly's Repeal of Prohibition Festival 2014.

* Want to win free tickets to see Harry Connick Jr. on Saturday, May 3 at the Peabody Opera House? The Post-Dispatch's GO! section is doing a giveaway on Facebook; see their page for details.

* Trumpeter Steve Lilley of the St. Louis Stompers is going this weekend to Fox Lake, WI to pay tribute to legendary trumpeter Bunny Berigan as part of the annual Bunny Berigan Jazz Jubilee.

* As predicted, the controversial bill granting a Los Angeles company exclusive rights to produce music festivals in downtown St. Louis on Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends was passed this week by the St. Louis board of aldermen. Get the details in stories from from Nick Pistor of the Post and Kris Wernowsky of the RFT.

* The Jazz Journalists Association has announced the winners of its 2014 award in the musician and recording categories, and although several have performed in St. Louis during the past year, the only award tied to a local musician is the Historical Record of the Year, which went to Miles Davis' Miles Davis Quintet Live in Europe 1969 on Columbia Legacy (pictured). You can see the complete list of JJA award winners here.

* The Goldenrod Showboat, which for decades hosted jazz, ragtime and theater performances on the St. Louis riverfront, has gotten one more reprieve from the scrapyard, as the not-for-profit group trying to save the boat has reached an agreement to regain ownership from the Illinois River dock owners who bought it at auction last year. Paul Schankman of Fox 2 News also covered the story here.

* Jazz radio update: This Saturday on Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis, Calvin Wilson's program "Somethin' Else" will feature the songs of Jerome Kern, as interpreted by musicians including Keith Jarrett, Jackie McLean and Bill Frisell.

After that on "The Jazz Collective," host Jason Church promises spins of Cindy Bradley, Vincent Ingala, Bob Baldwin,Freddie Hubbard, Larry Carlton, Candy Dulfer, B.D. Lenz, as well as St. Louis' own Grant Green, Tommy Halloran, Elliott Ranney, Jim Stevens, and Dawn Weber, plus more.

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

Elsewhere on the HD dial, longtime local radio veteran Rick Sanborn has joined the on-air staff at Hip 96.3 HD-3. Sanborn has been heard on several different St. Louis broadcast outlets including yesteryear smooth jazz station WSSM, and for several years also lent his name to a summer series of smooth jazz concerts at the Pageant. Fans can hear him on the new gig from noon to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

St. Louis DJs selling 10,000 items to benefit local charity on Saturday, April 26

If this Saturday's Record Store Day festivities prove insufficient to slake your thirst for vinyl and other music collectables, here's something else to anticipate:  St. Louis radio DJs past and present have donated an estimated 10,000 records, CDs and items of music-related memorabilia to be sold for the benefit of a local charity in a one-day "pop-up sale" on Saturday, April 26.

"The Gigantic St. Louis DJ Album Sale for Charity" will be open to the public from 10:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on April 26 at 3137 Locust St. (east of Compton, one block west of The Fountain on Locust). Avid collectors who'd like first crack at the goodies on offer can pay a $10 fee for early access at 9:30 a.m.

“Many of my old radio friends talked about selling off their album collections for years, so making it a group effort with current on-air personalities to raise money for the hungry here in St. Louis was enthusiastically received by all,” said the event's organizer Ron Stevens in a news release. Stevens, who was on KSHE during the station's early days as "Real Rock Radio," now is associated with the website OnStl.com, which is presenting the event.

All proceeds will benefit the not-for-profit organization Caritas Connections, which "collects donated items and distributes them to worthy organizations in the St. Louis metropolitan area, who use them to clothe, feed and assist the needy in our community."

To date, DJs known for their time on-air at stations including KSHE, WIL, KDHX and KTRS have donated items, with more being added daily until the date of the sale. You can find out about new donations on the event's Facebook page.

Said to be one the most collectable items at the sale: a test pressing of the Eagles album Hotel California signed by the band (pictured). But the news release also promises "rare albums valued from $100-200" as well as "one-of-a-kind KSHE promotional items from the ‘70s, many never before made available to the public." To help fatten the take a bit - it is for charity, after all - some of the choicer collectables, such as the Eagles album, will be offered by silent auction or raffle.

A number of DJs familiar to longtime local radio listeners also will be on hand to work the event, including Stevens, Joy Grdnic, Mark Klose, Joe "Mama" Mason, John Ulett, Ted Habeck, Drew Johnson, Jim Singer, Rik Anthony, Chuck Lavazzi, and Tim Rakel, along with "several other local personalities and musicians." Sales of pizza by the slice and bottled water, donated by (respectively) Imo's and Dierberg's, also will benefit Caritas Connection.

Peter Martin to perform Saturday, May 17 at benefit for New City School

Pianist Peter Martin has played some big venues while working with the likes of Dianne Reeves, Chris Botti, and the "Newport Jazz Festival: Now 60" tour. And when he's home in St. Louis, Martin can be heard most frequently at the Sheldon Concert Hall, which seats slightly more than 700.

Now those who'd like to hear Martin (pictured) in a slightly more intimate setting will have the chance when he plays a benefit for New City School on Saturday, May 17 in the Founder's Hall of the school, 5209 Waterman Blvd in the Central West End.

"Jazz It Up - An Evening With Peter Martin" begins at 6:30 p.m. with a reception featuring wine, beer, and dessert, followed by a concert at 8:00 p.m.. Gene Dobbs Bradford of Jazz St. Louis also will be on hand to offer "commentary and insights throughout the program."

The event is open to the public, but only 250 tickets will be sold. Tickets are $40 per person, and can be purchased online now at http://tinyurl.com/ncspetermartin.

Having recently completed nearly two months touring with the all-star Newport celebration, Martin this week on Twitter wrote that he hopes to do more with his own group in the near future, and posted the video below, which features him leading a quartet in his original song "Cuba...New Orleans." (The clip was recorded at the Lotos Jazz Festival in Poland, and also features East St. Louis' own Terreon Gully on drums, along with bassist James Genus and guitarist Peter Sprague.)

Jazz this week: Poncho Sanchez, Catherine Russell, The Cunninghams, and more

As Jazz Appreciation Month 2014 continues past the halfway point, the live performance calendar this week in St. Louis includes several touring performers visiting our town, the return of a veteran of Gaslight Square, and the usual variety of activity from local musicians. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, percussionist Poncho Sanchez and his band (pictured) open a four-night engagement continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. One of the standard-bearers for mainstream Latin jazz, Sanchez' group over the years has consistently offered satisfying grooves topped with engaging solos, and the current edition is no exception. You can check out some relatively recent Sanchez performances on video in this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

Also tonight, the Route 66 Jazz Orchestra returns to Kirkwood Station Brewing Company; Cabaret Project St. Louis presents their monthly "open stage" event at the Tavern of Fine Arts; and Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center presents a double-bill featuring free improvisation by Joe Hess, Nick Horn, Alex Cunningham and Dave Stone, plus some more structured jazz sounds from the newish band Boysiac, with Mason Baran, Matt Villinger, Joe Hibbs, and Nathan Pence.

Tomorrow night, Miss Jubilee will being doing double duty, with a happy hour performance at Magpie's in St. Charles and a late night session downtown at Thaxton Speakeasy; and guitarist Dave Black and Friends, including singer Joe Mancuso, will be at Nathalie’s.

On Friday, the Twin Cities jump blues and swing band Davina and the Vagabonds will be back in town for a show at The Gramophone, with singer/guitarist Tommy Halloran's Guerilla Swing as opening act. That same evening, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will perform at the Highway 61 Roadhouse; singer Feyza Eren will lead a quartet in concert at the Kranzberg Arts Center; and guitarist Tom Byrne's trio plays at Cigar Inn.

On Saturday evening, singer and multi-instrumentalist Don Cunningham and his wife, singer-pianist Alicia Cunningham - better known as The Cunninghams - will be visiting from their home in Las Vegas to perform at 560 Music Center, accompanied by a local rhythm section including pianist Carolbeth True, Jeff Anderson on bass, and Gary Sykes on drums. You can read more about Don Cunningham's days performing in Gaslight Square, his first meeting with Alicia, the couple's subsequent popularity as a touring act in Asia, and more in this short feature about them that I wrote a few years back for the Riverfront Times.

If the Cunninghams' close harmony and occasional forays into exotica aren't your bag, you might want to check out singer Catherine Russell, who will be making her St. Louis debut as a headliner on Saturday at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Russell is sometimes referred to as "the daughter of jazz royalty," and you can find out more about that and see some video samples of her performing in this post from last Saturday. And if that piques your interest, you also should know that The Sheldon and Metrotix now are offering a discount on tickets to the concert.

Elsewhere around town on Saturday, saxophonist Jason Swagler, guitarist Eric Slaughter, bassist Nick Jost, and drummer Marty Morrison will take the stage at Robbie's House of Jazz; singer Tony Viviano returns to Talayna's of Chesterfield; and the Funky Butt Brass Band will play at the Old Rock House.

On Sunday, saxophonist Jim Stevens and band will perform in a matinee by the Mississippi at The Loading Dock in Grafton; and pianist Dave Venn will be holding forth at Pomme Café & Wine Bar.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the student jazz singers from Webster University will cap their semester with a performance at Winifred Moore Auditorium on campus.

Then on Tuesday, this spring's series of "Twilight Tuesday" concerts at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park gets underway with saxophonist Michael Fitzgerald offering "A Tribute to Miles Davis and David Sanborn"; and the SIUE Concert Jazz Band & Alumni, directed by Brett Stamps, will be back for another evening at Jazz at the Bistro.

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.)

The Sheldon, Metrotix offering discount on tickets for Catherine Russell concert

The Sheldon Concert Hall and Metrotix are offering a discount on tickets for singer Catherine Russell's performance this Saturday, April 19 at the Sheldon.

Russell (pictured) will be making her St. Louis debut as a headliner. You can read more about her and check out some videos of her performing in this post from last Saturday.

Tickets for Saturday's concert originally priced at $40 and $35 now are available for just $25 by using the promotional code RUSSELL14. This discount code can be used for orders placed online at metrotix.com, by phone orders at 314-534-1111, or in person at the Fox Theatre box office, 527 N. Grand Blvd.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: In the tradition with Catherine Russell

Today, let's get acquainted with singer Catherine Russell, who will be making her St. Louis debut as a headliner next Saturday, April 19 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Russell is from New York, born in 1956 to Luis Russell, a pianist, composer and longtime bandleader for Louis Armstrong, and Carline Ray, a bassist and vocalist who performed with Mary Lou Williams and the International Sweethearts of Rhythm.

While she's been active in the music business for many years, Russell's career as a solo artist took a while to blossom. Before releasing her debut album Cat in 2002, she earned a living as an in-demand backup singer on tours and recordings with major artists including Steely Dan, Levon Helm, David Bowie, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Simon, Jackson Browne, Michael Feinstein, Carrie Smith, and Rosanne Cash.

Though she's held on to some of those gigs - even getting a feature spot in the show on recent tours of the Dukes of September (Steely Dan's Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald, and Boz Scaggs) -  her solo career has grown to occupy more and more of her time. Since her debut, Russell has released four more albums,  the most recent of which, Bring It Back, came out in February on the Jazz Village label, and in 2012 won a Grammy Award for her appearance as a featured artist on the soundtrack album for the HBO series Boardwalk Empire.

Given her family connections to jazz history, it seems appropriate that Russell has found a niche as a solo artist by interpreting songs from the 1930s, 40s and 50s for a contemporary audience, and today we've got a few samples of her vocal stylings for you to enjoy.

In the video up at the top of this post, recorded in 2009 in the Netherlands with pianist Mark Shane, you can hear Russell perform "Back O' Town Blues," written by her father and Louis Armstrong.

The next four clips all were recorded in March 2012 at the The Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and feature Russell performing with a band that includes guitarist and musical director Matt Munisteri, along with Mark Shane (piano), Lee Hudson (bass), Mark McLean (drums), Jon-Erik Kelso (trumpet), John Allred (trombone), Dan Block (sax, clarinet), Andy Farber (saxes), Dave Brown (trumpet), and Scott Robinson (saxes). The first number is "Everybody Loves My Baby," followed by "Romance In The Dark," "Ev'ntide," and "No More."

In the sixth and final clip, Russell talks about her latest album, Bring It Back. For more about Catherine Russell, check out this interview from earlier this year on the Tavis Smiley Show; and these recent features from the Boston Globe and World Music Central.

(See the rest of today's videos after the jump...)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Next Saturday, April 19 is the annual National Record Store Day, and as always, St. Louis' local music retailers will be celebrating in style. For the fourth consecutive year, yr. humble StLJN editor will be spinning tunes at Vintage Vinyl for an hour, starting at 4:00 p.m.. See the poster for the event (pictured) for the store's complete schedule of DJs and live bands.

* Want some free tickets to hear guitarist Charlie Hunter and drummer Scott Amendola this Sunday at the Old Rock House? The show's promoters are giving away three pairs in an online promotion; RSVP to the show's Facebook event for a chance to win.

* Modern dance company MADCO's production "Liquid Roads," which debuts this weekend at the Touhill and features trumpeter Brian Casserly leading an onstage band playing jazz and blues, was previewed by Calvin Wilson of the Post-Dispatch and Chris Gibson of Broadway World. 

* Trumpeter Carl Fischer, in town tonight to back singer/pianist Billy Joel at the Scottrade Center, was profiled by St. Louis magazine's Kim Aubuchon.

* Here's another review of Reeds Ramble, saxophonist and Webster U alum Chris Cheek's new disc with fellow saxophonist Seamus Blake, written for AllAboutJazz.com by Bruce Lindsay.

* Check out two recent interviews with trumpeter Russell Gunn, from the websites Capital Bop and iRockJazz.

* KWMU/St. Louis Public Radio is looking for St. Louisans who have memories of or stories about our town's yesteryear entertainment district Gaslight Square.

* KDHX's new headquarters in Grand Center was the subject of a feature story by Ruth Ezell on KETC's Living St. Louis.

* A brief reminder that Music for Lifelong Achievement is conducting a musical instrument drive this month to collect instruments for deserving but disadvantaged local music students. You can drop off a used or new musical instrument (or cash donation) at any performance this month at the Sheldon Concert Hall, or bring it to the hall during normal business hours from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

* As Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis marks a full year on the air, the Post-Dispatch's Sarah Bryan Miller assesses the station's progress.

* Jazz radio update: And speaking of Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis, Calvin Wilson will celebrate the 50th installment of his program "Somethin' Else" this Saturday with encore spins of favorite tracks from Robert Glasper, Diana Krall, Joshua Redman, and more.

Right after than on "The Jazz Collective," host Jason Church will have music from Down To The Bone, Pieces of a Dream, Nathan East, John Coltrane, Excursion, Jack Furlong, Jim Manley, The Silverman Brothers, Common Time and Joe Mancuso.

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

Jazz this week: The Wee Trio, Take 6, J.D. Parran & George Sams, Scott Kirby, Charlie Hunter & Scott Amendola, and more

With spring appearing finally to have sprung here in St. Louis, it should be a fine weekend to get out and hear some live jazz and creative music, and fortunately, our local stages will be filled with intriguing possibilities. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, Good 4 The Soul plays their monthly gig at  BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups; Washington University's jazz studies students will perform a free concert to wrap up this semester's Jazz at Holmes series; the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center has a four-band bill topped by the Brazilian "punk rock with a bit of jazzy influence" band Lisabi; and the Gaslight Cabaret Festival continues with actress/singer Taylor Pietz performing her show "If I Only Had a Brain" at the Gaslight Theater.

Tomorrow night, The Wee Trio, featuring St. Louis native Dan Loomis on bass, returns to Jazz at the Bistro for the first of two nights officially celebrating the live album the group recorded there last year. For more about that, check this interview with Loomis from earlier this year on AllAboutJazz.com, and for some video samples of the Wee Trio in action, see this post from before their visit here last January.

Elsewhere around town, if you were hoping to see singer Storm Large's performance this weekend for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival but don't yet have tickets, you're out of luck, as both nights are sold out. Meanwhile, some spots may remain for the performance by vocal group Take 6 at Washington University Black Alumni Council's 30th anniversary dinner and concert in the Khorassan Ballroom of the Chase Park Plaza Hotel; click the "30th anniversary" link above for details.

There also should be some tickets remaining for MADCO's presentation of "Liquid Roads" at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. The modern dance company's latest and largest-ever production will be accompanied by a four-piece live band led by trumpeter Brian Casserly of Cornet Chop Suey, performing original songs and a variety of jazz, blues and gospel favorites. You can see a brief video about the show here, and read a preview story written by Terry Perkins for St. Louis Public Radio here.

And if all that's not enough for one night, there's also singer Joe Mancuso leading a trio at EdgeWild Restaurant & Winery; the St. Louis Big Band at the Casa Loma Ballroom; pianist Carolbeth True and  Two Times True at Robbie's House of Jazz; and the Charlie B Jazz'd Trio at Thurman Grill.

On Saturday, the sounds at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site will range from free improv to ragtime, as the venue hosts two concerts in one day. First up, multi-instrumentalist J.D. Parran returns home to team up with trumpeter George Sams for a matinee that serves as the spring finale for the Nu-Art Series, and then pianist Scott Kirby will take over for an early evening concert presented by the Friends of Scott Joplin.

Also on Saturday, Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center continues their "Quiet Concert Series" with more new compositions from Mark Sarich and Greg Farough, as Farough continues his focus on "pure waveforms which interact with the natural resonance of rooms to form and slowly transform complex sonic relationships," while Sarich will present a new work utilizing the Schumann Resonance and text of a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke.

Elsewhere on Saturday, pianist Pauline Stark, saxophonist Willie Akins and singer Cici Ranek will perform in the old "Just Jazz" space at the Omni Majestic Hotel; guitarist Dave Black and singer Feyza Eren will play at Pomme Café & Wine Bar; the Jim Widner Trio with Jim Manley and Randy Bahr holds forth at the Fox & Hounds Tavern at the Cheshire Inn; and singer Sarah Jane of the Blue Notes, pianist Tim Garcia and saxophonist Jerry Greene are at Robbie's House of Jazz.

On Sunday, Miss Jubilee begins what's projected to be a weekly jazz brunch at Evangeline's; and the "Inner Jazz" series at Kirkwood United Church of Christ continues with a free concert from guitarist Rick Haydon's quartet. StLJN also recently has learned that Freddie Washington is now leading a quartet in a weekly Sunday late afternoon session at Toast Time, 12781 New Halls Ferry Rd in Florissant, and no doubt the veteran saxophonist's many fans will welcome the opportunity to hear him regularly for as long as the gig continue. 

But the biggest names on Sunday arrive that evening, as guitarist Charlie Hunter and drummer Scott Amendola will be in town to perform a duo show at the Old Rock House. The two last fall released their second album together, Pucker, which focuses mostly on Amendola's compositions. But given Hunter's near-one-man-band capabilities and the inherent flexibility of the duo format, they certainly won't be limited to material from the recording. You can read a review of Pucker and hear a sample track here, and read an interview with Amendola from Modern Drummer magazine, in which he discusses his partnership with Hunter, here.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Sessions Big Band returns to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups. Then on Tuesday, Lindy Hop St. Louis's weekly swing dance at the Grandel Theatre will feature live music from Philadelphia's' Perseverance Jazz Band; and Common Time and Jesse Gannon & Truth will perform on a double-bill at Plush.

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.)


(Edited after posting to add the venue name for the "Quiet Concert" series.)

Jazz Edge Big Band's "Tribute to St. Louis Trumpeters" to feature Russell Gunn, Keyon Harrold and Danny Mixon

St. Louis' Jazz Edge Big Band will enlist expat trumpeters Russell Gunn and Keyon Harrold and veteran NYC pianist and organist Danny Mixon in a "Tribute to St. Louis Trumpeters" at 7:00 p.m., Friday, May 30 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

"Miles Davis, Clark Terry, George Hudson, Lester Bowie and W.C. Handy are among the revered horn legends who will be remembered," according to the news release.

While both Gunn and Harrold have developed successful solo careers and have performed in St. Louis numerous times since moving away, this show seems to be the first ever to team them up as headliners. Gunn, who grew up in East St. Louis, attended Lincoln HS and now lives in Atlanta, has been recording and playing recently with singer Dionne Farris, while Harrold, an alumni of McCluer HS in Florissant, has continued to work steadily as part of the band for Cirque du Soleil's "Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour" tribute show.

Local audiences may not be as familiar with Mixon, but he's an in-demand player in NYC and surroundings who's been on the scene long enough to have played with jazz luminaries including Betty Carter, Charles Mingus, Joe Williams, Lionel Hampton, and Frank Foster, as well as a long list of currently active performers.

The Jazz Edge Big Band (pictured) is directed by Thomas Moore, who co-founded the group with George Davis and Robert Edwards.

Tickets for the Jazz Edge Big Band's "Tributes to St. Louis Trumpeters" with Russell Gunn, Keyon Harrold and Danny Mixon are $28 each and can be purchased at the Touhill box office, by phone at 314-516-4949, or online at the Touhill website.

(Edited after posting.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Six from Poncho Sanchez

Today, let's check out some videos of percussionist Poncho Sanchez, who will be bringing his band to St. Louis to perform Wednesday, April 16 through Saturday, April 19 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Last seen here in 2012 at the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, Sanchez and his band could be considered the standard-bearers for small-group, mainstream Latin jazz. Though the personnel has changed over the years, the group's instrumentation - three percussionists, bass, keyboards, and a three- or four-member horn section - and their basic approach and sound have remained remarkably consistent.

Sanchez, who's now 63, was born the son of Mexican immigrants in Texas and raised in California. At first a guitarist and singer, he switched to the conga drums while in high school and got his big break in his early twenties with vibraphonist Cal Tjader, staying with Tjader's band for nearly seven years.

Before his death in 1982, Tjader urged his label Concord Records to sign Sanchez as a solo act. They did, simultaneously helping to launch his career as a bandleader, and Sanchez went on to release 19 albums for the label, including in 1999 the Grammy Award-winning Latin Soul. Since moving to the Universal label shortly after that, Sanchez has released a dozen more albums, the most recent being 2012's Live in Hollywood.

Given that Sanchez has performed here in St. Louis several times in the last few years, today's selection of clips concentrates on material that's just come online in the last 12 months, although at least a couple of the videos are from a while back.

First up, though, is a relatively recent selection, an audience-made video of Sanchez and band playing "El Conguero" last July at the Laguna Beach Festival of the Arts in California. While it takes a minute for the music to start, and the camera work is a bit uneven in spots, the audio is quite nice, and it's a good example of how Sanchez uses what amounts to a personal theme song ("Yo soy el conguero") to kick off and establish a tone for his set.

Down below, you can see Sanchez and band perform "Ven Pa Bailar" in March, 2012 at the Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival, and below that, there are a couple of undated clips recorded at B.B. King's in NYC. The first features the tune "Keeper of the Flame," while the second is a medley of songs associated with the famed Latin-jazz percussionist Willie Bobo.

The fifth clip, labeled simply "Descarga," is from an undated TV appearance and features tasty solos from Sanchez and former pianist/music director David Torres.

And in the sixth and final spot, there's a complete show from 1991, apparently released on home video as "A Night at Kimball's East." While the band's personnel and the song list certainly have changed, Sanchez' musical consistency means that what you see and hear in this show isn't all that different that what you likely can expect to hear at the Bistro later this month.

For more about Poncho Sanchez, check out this older interview with JustSalsa.com; this conversation with LatinJazzNet.com from 2010; and the podcast interview Sanchez recorded for Jazz St. Louis before appearing at the Bistro in 2008.

You can see and hear the rest of today's videos after the jump...

The New Mastersounds to perform Friday, June 6 at Old Rock House

The British funk/jazz group The New Mastersounds are coming to St. Louis to perform at 9:30 p.m., Friday, June 6 at the Old Rock House.

Doors for the 18+ show will open at 8:30 p.m., with the genre-hopping quartet Dopapod serving as the supporting act.

Led by guitarist Eddie Roberts, The New Mastersounds (pictured) were formed in 1999 in Leeds, and currently include Roberts and fellow founding members Simon Allen (drums) and Pete Shand (bass), plus keyboardist Joe Totten, who joined in 2007. While their sound owes an obvious debt to the Meters, they incorporate a number of other influences as well, with some tracks evoking vibes similar to fellow UK funksters Brian Auger or the Average White Band.

The New Mastersounds have released a dozen albums on their own, and also have collaborated with other artists in the UK and USA on various singles and one-offs. They've toured extensively in Europe and Asia and here in the USA, playing clubs, small theaters, and festivals and opening larger gigs for the likes of the Headhunters and the Greyboy All-Stars. 

Tickets for The New Mastersounds at Old Rock House are $17 in advance, $20 day of show, and are on sale now.