New Jazz St. Louis HQ makes national news

Thanks to an Associated Press story that's getting picked up by media outlets across the country, this weekend's opening of Jazz St. Louis' newly renovated performance space and headquarters is making national news.

The AP story has been run by dozens of newspapers and websites over the past couple of days, even serving as the basis for a brief mention in the New York Times.

Here in St. Louis, the two evenings of performances featuring trumpeter Wynton Marsalis (pictured) and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra that will open the refurbished and expanded Jazz at the Bistro space already are sold out. So, for the benefit of those who don't have tickets, Jazz St. Louis has made arrangements to offer live video coverage of the shows on both Thursday and Friday.

On Thursday, you can watch the evening's events unfold via an online video stream that will run on the websites of both Jazz St. Louis and HEC-TV, as well as that of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Marsalis' and JaLCO's home venue in NYC. Coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. with interviews and a dedication ceremony, with music scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.

Friday's show will be streamed live to the giant outdoor video screens at the new Public Media Commons, located in Grand Center at 3655 Olive between the offices of St. Louis Public Radio and the Nine Network. A live performance by the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars student ensemble will open the evening at 7:00 p.m., followed by video of Marsalis and JaLCO from the Bistro at 7:30 p.m.. Admission is free, but to attend you must reserve a ticket, which can be done online here.

Update, 5:00 p.m., Thursday 10/3/14: Friday's show also will be streamed live online at the Jazz St. Louis, HEC-TV and Jazz at Lincoln Center websites.

Also, the Bistro shows won't be only the performances by Marsalis and the band while they're in town, as on Friday morning, they'll be at Normandy High School to perform in concert with the Normandy HS Jazz Band.

The concert begins at 10:30 a.m. in the school's Viking Hall, and is free and open to "anyone living within the boundaries of the Normandy School Collective." No tickets are required, but since seating and parking are limited, Jazz St. Louis is requesting that anyone who'd like to attend make a reservation by calling 314-289-4071.

Tribute to Floyd LeFlore set for Monday, October 6 at Tavern of Fine Arts

Musical colleagues and friends of Floyd LeFlore will pay tribute to the late trumpeter with a performance at 7:00 p.m. next Monday, October 6 at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

LeFlore, a co-founder of St. Louis' Black Artists Group and a former board member of New Music Circle, died on September 6 at age 74.

The tribute will feature the improvising ensemble Numbers, whose pianist David Parker and drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw both performed and recorded with LeFlore - Parker during the 1980s and 1990s, and Shaw at various times going all the way back to the founding of BAG in the 1960s. Numbers trumpeter George Sams also has history with LeFlore, from occasional gigs to presenting him in concert as part of the Nu-Art Series to serving together on the New Music Circle board.

Also performing will be poet Shirley Bradley LeFlore, percussionist Henry Claude, cellist Tracy Andreotti, and pianist Greg Mills.

Admission to the Floyd LeFlore tribute is free, but donations will be accepted for the performers (who also get a portion of the Tavern's food & drink sales during the show.)

Dave Weckl to present drum clinic Monday, October 13 at Airport Hilton

Drummer and St. Charles native Dave Weckl is coming home to present a drum clinic at 7:00 p.m., Monday, October 13 at the St. Louis Airport Hilton, 10330 Natural Bridge Rd.

The event is sponsored by Fred Pierce Studio Drum Shop, which was a frequent hangout for Weckl (pictured) during his teenage years. It's one of a series of clinics Weckl will be doing next month, and will be followed by stops in New York, Connecticut, and New Hampshire.

Weckl's latest recording, Of The Same Mind, was released earlier this month, and features an acoustic band with bassist and fellow St. Louisan Tom Kennedy, keyboardist Makuto Ozone and bassist Gary Meek.

Tickets for the Dave Weckl drum clinic are $20 each and can be purchased at Fred Pierce's and, if seats are still available, at the door.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Fall 2014 jazz preview, part 5

This week, we finally wrap up StLJN's multi-part video preview of visiting jazz and creative music performers coming to St. Louis this fall. (You can see parts one through four here, here, here and here.)

As the Christmas and New Year's holidays approach, the month of December here in St. Louis usually has relatively few shows from touring jazz musicians, and this year is no exception. Sadly, the number was further reduced earlier this month with the death of pianist Joe Sample, who had been scheduled to play at Jazz at the Bistro the week before Christmas. Jazz St. Louis has not yet named a replacement performer for that week, though some sort of announcement should be coming soon. So, to fill out this week's post, we're going to offer some additional videos related to what should be one of the most noteworthy concerts of the entire season.

First though, up top we get things started with a clip featuring organist Joey DeFrancesco, who will be returning to perform Wednesday, December 3 through Saturday, December 6 at the Bistro. DeFrancesco has been a frequent visitor to the venue in recent years, both as the leader of his own group and in support of David Sanborn. Given that he's releasing his first Christmas album, Home For The Holidays, next month, it seems likely that some of that material will be featured during his St. Louis dates.

Here, though, he's seen playing "At Long Last Love" earlier this year at the Java Jazz Festival in Indonesia, assisted by drummer George Fludas and, interestingly, Chicago guitarist Jeff Parker (who's known more for experimental and "post-rock" music with his own band Tortoise and others than as a player in the typical organ-trio style.) Though there's been no mention yet of who will be playing with DeFrancesco here this time around, both Fludas and Parker are featured on the holiday album, too, so perhaps they'll end up being part of the subsequent live dates supporting it.

After the jump, the rest of today's videos are related to the previously-touted-as-noteworthy concert, a duo performance by multi-instrumentalist Roscoe Mitchell and keyboardist Craig Taborn that will be presented by New Music Circle on Friday, December 5 at The Stage at KDHX.

As a founding member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, Mitchell was a key player in the "free jazz" movement of the 1960s, and since then has continued both to refine his craft and expand his musical landscape, drawing on compositional ideas and techniques associated with classical and new music as well as improvisation.

Taborn, who's from Minneapolis, is one of the most critically acclaimed keyboard players of his generation, working with major musicians like Dave Holland and Chris Potter and deploying distinct styles on acoustic piano and Rhodes electric piano.

Taborn has played here a couple of times recently, with Potter and Danish saxophonist Lotte Anker, but Mitchell - a musician of major importance in jazz history - hasn't played publicly here in a very long time. (There was at least one Art Ensemble gig here in the mid-1980s, and more recently, in 1996 Mitchell did some work with the St. Louis Public Schools, though I don't recall any public performances being advertised and an online search turns up nothing.) Suffice it to say, then, that while two top improvisers working together should offer plenty of sonic rewards, the relative rarity of Mitchell gigs here should make the evening even more special. 

Unfortunately, although Mitchell and Taborn have collaborated a few times before, there seems to be no video available available online, so instead we'll take a look at each man playing solo.

You can see Mitchell, first on alto saxophone and then on soprano, in two videos recorded in 2010 at the Nickelsdorf Konfrontationen festival in Austria. That's followed by a video interview with Mitchell, who currently serves as the Darius Milhaud Chair of Composition at Mills College in Oakland, CA.

As for Taborn, you can check him out in two solo piano sets, the first recorded in 2013 at the Jazz Jantar festival in Gdansk, Poland and the second in 2010 at a concert in Spain.

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:

* Pianist Reggie Thomas, who left St. Louis a couple of years ago to teach at Michigan State University, has a new job a bit closer to home this fall. Thomas (pictured) is the new head of the jazz studies program at Northern Illinois University, taking over after the retirement of the program's former director, saxophonist Ronald Carter (who also was Thomas' former high school band director in East St. Louis).

* The September edition of HEC-TV's I Love Jazz, hosted by Don Wolff, is available now for viewing on the cable network and online. The episode includes video of Miss Jubilee performing at Casa Loma Ballroom, a "day in the life" feature about trumpeter Sean Jones, and more. Check your TV provider's listing for days, times and channel, or watch online here.

* The Tuesday jazz jam sessions formerly held at Robbie's House of Jazz, which ended earlier this year when the club closed, have returned to Webster Groves at the Ozark Theatre, where former Robbie's GM Dorothy Edwards now is presenting jazz performances on the weekends. The newly revived jam sessions will begin at 7:30 p.m. each Tuesday, with no admission or cover charge.

* Six St. Louis area classical music organizations are teaming up to offer a program for students called the Concert Pass Collaborative (CPC). For a $15 annual fee, students with a valid ID can purchase the pass, which is good for admission to any event produced by the six participating organizations (as long as there's a seat available). Groups taking part include the Chamber Music Society of St. Louis, The Sheldon's classical series, St. Louis Classical Guitar Society, Chamber Project St. Louis, St. Louis Women’s Hope Chorale, Saint Louis Chamber Chorus, and you can get more information on the offer here.

* The Kranzberg Arts Center will present a screening of the new film Finding Fela, a documentary about Afrobeat musician and bandleader Fela Kuti, next Friday, October 3.

* In conjunction with the label's 65th anniversary, Prestige Records is giving away a set of 20 CDs reissue of albums remastered by famed engineer Rudy Van Gelder. Get details and enter to win here.

* Jazz radio update: This Saturday on Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis' “Somethin’ Else,” host Calvin Wilson will feature the music of saxophonist, composer and former St. Louisan Julius Hemphill via Hemphill's recordings asa  leader and as a member of the World Saxophone Quartet, plus interpretations of his work by others including saxophonist Tim Berne. The program can be heard at 8:00 p.m. on 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.

Jazz this week: A Gaslight Square tribute, Mel Bay Jazz Festival, Storm Large, Tatsuya Nakatani, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in around St. Louis once again offers plenty of variety, from big bands to cabaret to free improv to a nostalgic look at an historic time for local music. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents a tribute to Gaslight Square, beginning with a panel discussion featuring trumpeter Bob Ceccarini, saxophonist Freddie Washington and pianist Dave Venn, who all played various clubs in the famed entertainment district during the 1960s.

That's followed by a free concert featuring Ceccarini, clarinetist Scott Alberici, trombonist Wayne Coniglio, guitarist (and series curator) William Lenihan, bassist Eric Stiller and drummer Steve Davis.

Also tonight, the Tavern of Fine Arts presents their monthly "Experimental Arts Open Improv Night" with live improvised music; and down in Jefferson County, the second annual Mel Bay Jazz Festival gets underway with a performance by guitarist Larry Bay's group Sugar Moon at Lorenzo’s Italian Kitchen in De Soto.

The Mel Bay fest continues on Friday with a performance featuring the event's two visiting headliners, guitarist Sheryl Bailey and singer Lena Seikaly, at Fojo Studio, also in DeSoto.

Also on Friday, Los Angeles-based guitarist Tim Fischer leads a quartet at Cigar Inn; singer Joe Mancuso brings his quartet to Nathalie's; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will present an all-stringed-instruments lineup at Thurman Grill; Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and guitarist Brian Vaccaro's trio will host a jam session at The Wolf.

The Mel Bay Jazz Festival then wraps up on Saturday, with a lunchtime performance by Sheryl Bailey at Fountain City Grille, and the grand finale showcase that evening featuring Bailey, Lena Seikaly, and Joe Mancuso at LaChance Vineyards.

Meanwhile, back in St. Louis on Saturday night, singer Storm Large will kick off this fall's edition of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival with a performance of her show "Le Bonheur (Good Times)" at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Also on Saturday; the Coleman Hughes Project with singer Adrienne Felton will play smooth jazz and R&B at Harry's Restaurant and Bar; The Sidemen perform at Evangeline's; pianist Carolbeth True is at The Wine Press; guitarist Tom Byrne leads a quartet at the Ozark Theatre; and the Funky Butt Brass Band plays at the Broadway Oyster Bar.

On Sunday, the Dave Dickey Big Band will play their monthly gig at Kirkwood Station Brewing Company, with an intermission set by the University of Missouri Concert Jazz Band, who will be in from Columbia for the evening.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday singer Dean Christopher will return with his "Rat Pack & More" show featuring trumpeter Jim Manley to One 19 North Tapas & Wine Bar; and saxophonist "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective will be back at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

Then on Tuesday, percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani (pictured) returns to Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center to lead an improvisation workshop for local musicians, followed by a collective performance featuring Nakatani and the workshop participants. (The workshop, which has 10 openings, costs $15 to $20 on a sliding scale, with dinner provided. For more information, contact LNAC's Tom Hill at tomhill.tch at gmail.com.)

Also on Tuesday, the Route 66 Jazz Orchestra will play in a "Notes From Home" concert at The Sheldon; and trumpeter Keith Moyer will return to BB's.

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.)

Ku-umba Frank Lacy, The Cunninghams to perform in October at Ozark Theatre

Adding some visiting artists to the mix of local musicians, trombonist Ku-umba Frank Lacy and vocal duo The Cunninghams are among the performers scheduled in October by the new Robbie's House of Jazz series at the Ozark Theatre.

Lacy (pictured) will perform at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 18, while Don and Alicia Cunningham, supported by a local rhythm section TBA, will take the stage at 8:00 p.m. Saturday, October 25.

Lacy, who's originally from Houston, has something of a local connection via his past collaborations with St. Louis musicians such as Greg Osby, Oliver Lake, Julius Hemphill, and Lester Bowie. He also served as music director for one of the latter-day editions of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers; has been a member of the Mingus Big Band; and has worked with many other prominent musicians including Henry Threadgill, Carla Bley, Dizzy Gillespie, Abdullah Ibrahim, Bobby Watson, David Murray, McCoy Tyner, and the R&B singer D'Angelo.

Although he's been featured on so many recordings that a Down Beat magazine article once referred to him as "the baddest sideman in jazz," Lacy has released only four albums as a leader, the most recent of which, Live at Smalls, came out earlier this year.

The Cunninghams, who are based in Las Vegas, are well-known to St. Louis audiences. Don Cunningham, a percussionist and saxophonist as well as a vocalist, began his career here performing in local clubs during the Gaslight Square era, and in recent years he and Alicia, a singer and pianist, have made several return visits to perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall and other local venues.

The duo's extensive credits include headlining tours in Japan and elsewhere in Asia and a stint touring as featured vocalists with the Count Basie Orchestra as well as performances with a long list of other jazz greats, and even a Grammy nomination in 1992 for their Charlie Parker tribute album Strings 'n Swing. Their most recent recording is 2012's Sao Paulo Lights, recorded in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Tickets for Ku-umba Frank Lacy are $15 general admission, $10 for students with ID, while tickets for The Cunninghams are $20 and $10. Tickets can be reserved by phone at 314-578-2049 or purchased at the door.

Local jazz performers in October at the Ozark will include pianist Brad Ellebrecht's quartet with singer Diane Vaughn (Saturday, October 4); singer Feyza Eren (Friday, October 10); pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True (Saturday, October 18) and singer Dean Christopher's "Rat Pack and More" show on Friday, October 31.

Other scheduled shows include "oldies tribute band" Recap on Saturday, October 4, and singer, guitarist and songwriter Kevin Renick on Friday, October 17. Tickets for all of these performances are $15 general admission, $10 for students.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Fall 2014 jazz preview, part 4

Today, it's part four of StLJN's video preview of jazz and creative music performers who will be coming to St. Louis this fall. (In case you missed them, here's part 1, part 2, and part 3.)

For this installment, we resume with more of what's coming up in November, starting with a video featuring keyboardist Marco Benevento, who will be back to play Sunday, November 9 at 2720 Cherokee.

Benevento is touring this fall in support of his recent album Swift, which features him singing lead vocals for the first time. As someone who's generally enjoyed his instrumental music, I've not found what I've heard so far of his singing to be particularly compelling, so rather than showcasing one of his new songs here, we've got a live version of the Benevento concert staple "RISD", recorded in June of this year at The Saint in Asbury Park, NJ. (For samples of Benevento new vocal material, check out these live performances of "At The Show" and "Eye to Eye.")

Later that week, saxophonist Tia Fuller, trumpeter Sean Jones and vibraphonist Warren Wolf will team up to perform on Friday, November 14 and Saturday, November 16 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Although all three have recorded for the Mack Avenue label, and Fuller and Jones have worked together on occasion, this specific lineup is a custom one-off for Jazz St. Louis, so there's actually no footage online of all three of them playing together.So instead, we've got clips of them performing individually.

First up is Fuller, seen in a recording made in March of this year at Smoke in NYC that excerpts her solo on a tune that's not positively identified but may very well be "Impressions." The interesting thing about this is that it demonstrates that while some may think of Fuller as a slick R&B saxophonist, based on her tenure with pop singer Beyonce and other commercial gigs, she's also comfortable going outside in a post-Coltrane style.

And speaking of Coltrane, the next clip features Sean Jones' trumpet solo on a big band version of "Giant Steps" recorded with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, for whom he has spent nearly a decade as lead trumpeter. Below that, you can see Wolf in a duo performance of Chick Corea's "Senor Mouse" with pianist Alex Brown, recorded at a performance by Wolf's band in March of this year in Boston at Berklee College of Music's 939 Cafe.

After that, you can see singer Carole J. Bufford doing "Cry Me A River" in a recording made last year in NYC. She'll perform her show "Body and Soul" on Friday, November 13 and Saturday, November 14 for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival.

Next, it's guitarists Bucky Pizzarelli, Frank Vignola and Vinny Raniolo, who will bring their show "Swing Xing! Three Generations of Swing Guitar" to the Sheldon Concert Hall on Saturday, November 15. They're seen here performing "Three Little Words" in a recording made in May 2014 at the Cutting Room in NYC.

The very next evening, the all-female ensemble Jazz in Pink will take the Sheldon stage in a benefit performance for Community Women Against Hardship. In this clip from 2013, they're playing "Soulchestral Groove."

A few days later, saxophonist Jeff Coffin and his band, the Mutet, will make make their debut at Jazz at the Bistro with a four-night run starting Friday, November 19 and continuing through Saturday, November 22. This recording of "The Mad Hatter Rides Again" was made by an audience member at Coffin's show last October in Athens, GA.

That same weekend, clarinetist and saxophonist Anat Cohen will be back in town to serve as special guest for pianist Peter Martin's concert on Saturday, November 21 at the Sheldon. Cohen, who led her own group for a week at the Bistro a couple of years ago and this year toured with Martin as part of the Newport Jazz Festival 60th anniversary band, is seen here last December at the Umbria Jazz Festival dueting with guitarist Howard Alden on "Espinha de Bacalhau."

Last but certainly not least, today's final video features trumpeter, singer and U City native Jeremy Davenport, who will return from his adopted home in New Orleans for his annual post-Thanksgiving performance on Friday, November 28 and Saturday, November 29 at Jazz at the Bistro. This is a full set of Davenport and his band, apparently recorded within the last year at some sort of private or corporate gig, but otherwise not labeled with a date or place.

You'll find the fifth and final part of the fall 2014 jazz preview in this space next week, and 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:

* Wednesday night's performance in Chicago by Joe McPhee and Survival Unit III was the subject of a post by Howard Mandel for his blog Jazz Beyond Jazz. The group plays tonight in St. Louis at Joe's Cafe.

* Dan Warner, one of the organizers of the Old Webster Jazz and Blues Festival, was interviewed on Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis about the fest, which happens tomorrow. Featured performers will include the "St. Louis Jazz All-Stars" (pictured), with Montez Coleman (drums), Bob DeBoo (bass), Ptah Williams (keyboards), Freddie Washington (tenor and soprano sax), Danny Campbell (trumpet), and Joe Mancuso (vocals).

* New Music Circle has posted on Facebook an album of photos from last Friday's concert by Thumbscrew.

* There's lots of Miles Davis-related news this week, as both the New York Times and Jazz Times have stories about actor/director Don Cheadle and Miles Ahead, his film about Davis that wrapped principal photography last month in Cincinnati.

* Meanwhile, the website MNSWR.com has an article about Davis as an icon of men's clothing styles; and Medium.com has a piece about a journalist's early-career encounter with Miles. 

* And if all that weren't enough, a four-CD set featuring performances from a 1960 European tour by Davis' band with John Coltrane will be issued in December by Trapeze Music & Entertainment on its Acrobat label.

* Here's a report on last Saturday's memorial service for trumpeter Floyd LeFlore by Chris King of the St. Louis American.

* The St. Louis Rivermen are headed this weekend to McComb, IL, where they'll play at the 13th annual Al Sears Jazz Festival.

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold helped kick off the 2014 FONT (Festival of New Trumpet) Music Festival with a set last night at the NYC club Smoke. Harrold's band included fellow St. Louisans Shedrick Mitchell on keyboards and Marcus Baylor on drums, plus saxophonist Marcus Strickland on saxophone.

* Jazz radio update: On this Saturday's episode of Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis' “Somethin’ Else,” host Calvin Wilson will play the compositions of songwriter Arthur Schwartz ("Dancing In The Dark," "Alone Together") as interpreted by jazz musicians including Gary Bartz, Robert Glasper, and Patricia Barber.

Then on "The Jazz Collective," host Jason Church will pay tribute to the late Joe Sample with solo recordings, tracks from the Jazz Crusaders and duets with Randy Crawford, and also will spin tracks from Gregg Karukas, Cindy Bradley, Ryan Montano, Steve Cole, Ragan Whiteside, Erin Bode, Jesse Gannon, Tommy Halloran's Guerrilla Swing, and Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum.

Wilson's program can be heard at 8:00 p.m., 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: Joe McPhee & Survival Unit III, Old Webster Jazz & Blues Festival, Snarky Puppy, and more

It should be another good weekend to get out and hear some live jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with several free shows featuring local performers, plus a couple of noteworthy touring acts coming to town. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, there are a couple of free concerts, as guitarist Vincent Varvel plays for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, and trumpeter/singer Dawn Weber performs as part of the "Not So Quiet" concert series at the main branch of the St. Louis Public Library downtown.

Also tonight, there's an eclectic bill of improvised and electronic music at Blank Space, featuring Alex Cunningham, Beauty Pageant, Dave Stone, Eric Hall, Stone Hen, and Willis.

On Friday, you can catch more avant-jazz and free improv from multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee (pictured), cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and percussionist Michael Zerang, aka Survival Unit III, at Joe's Cafe.

The trio performed here in 2011 under the auspices of New Music Circle, and it went well enough that NMC's Jeremy Kannapell set up this return date for them as an independent production. If you missed that show, you can get a preview of Friday's action via a video of a full set by McPhee, Lonborg-Holm and Zerang included in part one of StLJN's fall 2014 jazz preview.

Elsewhere around town on Friday, writer and poet Michael Castro leads his "poetrio" in a show at Tavern of Fine Arts; Second Generation Swing plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; singer Feyza Eren and pianist Curt Landes perform at The Wine Press; and saxophonist Austin Cebulski leads a trio at Cigar Inn.

On Saturday, the annual Old Webster Jazz and Blues Festival will take place in the Old Webster business district surrounding the intersection of Lockwood and Gore Avenues in Webster Groves. This year's edition of the free, all-day event will have two stages featuring performances from the Funky Butt Brass Band; the Webster University faculty jazz ensemble; The 442s with Erin Bode; an ad hoc group assembled for the occasion and dubbed the St. Louis Jazz All-Stars; the Webster Groves High School Jazz Band; trumpeter Jim Manley and Wild, Cool and Swingin'; and more.

Also on Saturday, singer Gene Lynn brings his smooth sound to Evangeline's; fusion band Koplant No plays at the Tavern of Fine Arts; and keyboardist Adam Maness and drummer Irvin Neal will perform at Troy's Jazz Gallery.

On Sunday, the jazz/funk/world music ensemble Snarky Puppy (pictured) will be back in town for an encore performance at the Old Rock House. Since their last gig here in May 2013 at The Demo, they've stayed quite busy, spending this past summer playing the festival circuit in the USA, Europe and Asia and promoting their sixth album, We Like It Here, which came out in February. You can read more about them and see a couple of videos of them in action (though several other clips have disappeared due to link rot) in this post made before their last St. Louis appearance.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday saxophonist Paul DeMarinis will lead a sextet performing his original compositions in a concert at Moore Auditorium on the Webster University 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.)

Music for Lifelong Achievement annual instrument drive starts September 29

If you've got an old, unused, or extra musical instrument taking up space in the basement, garage or spare room, Music for Lifelong Achievement will get it out of your way and put it to good use as part of their annual instrument drive, which this year begins Monday, September 29 and continues through Sunday, October 26.

MFLA is a not-for-profit organization based at the Sheldon Concert Hall that collects used and new musical instruments and donates them to school and community music programs serving disadvantaged young people. Since its inception, the organization has provided more than 500 instruments to music students all over the St. Louis area.

There are two ways to help: by giving a musical instrument, or giving cash. For the ninth year, St. Louis-area Starbucks stores once again will serve as drop-off locations for used and new musical instruments during the drive. The donated instruments then will be repaired and distributed to students who otherwise would not be able to afford an instrument. Donors get a letter documenting the value of the instrument for tax deduction purposes.

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

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Fall 2014 jazz preview, part 3

It's the third chapter of our Fall 2014 video preview of jazz and creative music performers coming to St. Louis, and today we'll cover the touring acts that will be in town during the first part of November. (You can find part one of the fall jazz preview here, and part two here.) 

Today's first video features the SpokFrevo Orquestra, a 17-piece Brazilian big band who will make their St. Louis debut on Sunday, November 2 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Seen here performing a full set in 2011, the group blends jazz with frevo, a high-energy Brazilian musical genre associated with Carnival time.

After the jump, you can see saxophonist Joshua Redman, who will return to lead a trio with bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Greg Hutchinson starting Wednesday, November 5 through Saturday, November 7 at Jazz at the Bistro. Redman is seen here playing two songs - his own composition "I'll Go Mine" and Gil Evans' "Barracudas" - in March of this year at the Visioninmusica festival in Terni Italy, accompanied by pianist Aaron Goldberg, Rogers, and Hutchinson.

That same weekend, the Gaslight Cabaret Festival will be spotlighting three performers from Chicago. Beckie Menzie and Tom Michael, who will perform "That '60s Show" on Friday, November 7, are seen in the next clip dueting on "You and the Night and the Music" at the Chicago Cabaret Professionals 2011 annual gala. After that, it's Joan Curto, who will perform the music of Cole Porter on Saturday, November 8, singing "Change Partners" in a clip recorded at the 2013 Chicago Humanities Festival.

That same weekend, New Music Circle will present a double-bill concert on Saturday, November 8, at the new location of The Luminary, 2701 Cherokee St. The concert will feature separate sets from improvising percussionist Eli Keszler and electronic musician Rashad Becker. Both men are seen here in videos recorded earlier this year (in May and March, respectively) at Cave 12 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Closing out our preview of the first half of November is singer Sheri Sanders with a rendition of the song "Pieces" from the musical Salvage, recorded last year in NYC. Sanders is coming to St. Louis on Thursday, November 13 to do her show "Rock It" as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival.

Look for part four of StLJN's Fall 2014 jazz preview next week, and 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:

* Guitarist Mary Halvorson was interviewed for an article on the New Music Circle website. NMC is presenting Thumbscrew, featuring Halvorson, bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Tomas Fujiwara, in concert tonight at Joe's Cafe.

* Saxophonist David Sanborn has sold his NYC townhouse for $11 million. The property has been on the market since 2009 as part of a reported effort by Sanborn to downsize to slightly more modest quarters.

* Pianist and St. Louis expat Linda Presgrave (pictured) and her husband, saxophonist Stan Chovnick, have posted online a video of their duo concert recorded last week at Michiko Studios in NYC. The complete show can be seen for free until October 5.

* The reissue of composer/flute player Fred Tompkins' Fanfare 8: The Early Works was reviewed by blogger Grego Applegate Edwards of the blog Gapplegate Music Review, who called Tompkins "one of the greatest, if lesser known, of the so-called "third-stream" composers."

* Last weekend's LouFest set by Trombone Shorty was discussed in reviews of the event from the Riverfront Times and KDHX's Kevin Korinek.

* The Cherokee Street music and art venue Blank Space is expanding, as detailed in this story by the RFT's Joseph Hess.

* St. Louis Volunteer Attorneys and Accountants for the Arts and Missouri Arts Council have put online a video of their "Copyright Basics" workshop.

* The St. Louis swing dance community this week is mourning the death of veteran dancer Tommy Russo, who passed away last week at age 98.

* As part of their 65th anniversary promotion, Prestige Records has released online a short video interview with producer Ira Gitler, who describes what really happened during one of the Miles Davis sessions included among the label's recent reissues.

* Writing for the St. Louis American, James Ingram (not the singer, but rather a columnist for the paper) wonders why Don Cheadle couldn't have filmed his Miles Davis movie in East St. Louis rather than Cincinnati.

(Actually, I think I know the answer to this one. Presumably, one big reason is because ESL lacks sufficient locations that could double for NYC in the 1970s, which was cited as a key reason Cheadle chose Cincinnati. Ingram's essay mentions having room in ESL to construct sets and facades, but the modest budget of Miles Ahead would have precluded that option no matter where it was shot. The film also reportedly received tax incentives from the city and from the state of Ohio, which Illinois and/or ESL may have been unwilling or unable to match.)

* Jazz radio update: This Saturday on Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis' “Somethin’ Else,” host Calvin Wilson will feature tracks from saxophonist Sonny Rollins' recent series of “Road Shows” recordings. The program can be heard 8:00 p.m. on 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.

A bit farther down the dial, this week's edition of "St. Louis Jazz Talk" at 11:00 a.m. Sunday on WSIE (88.7 FM) will feature an interview with drummer Steve Davis.

Jazz this week: Thumbscrew, U City Jazz Festival, Funeral Bonsai Wedding, and more

There's lots going on this week with jazz and creative music in St. Louis, as two concert series offer their first shows of the season; a free fall festival returns; and other stages around town will be filled with even more improvised music influenced by everything from funk to flamenco. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University begins the fall semester with a free concert reuniting the jazz-fusion trio Tracer, with pianist Ptah Williams, bassist Darrell Mixon and drummer Gary Sykes.

Also tonight, Good 4 The Soul will play their monthly show at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups; and trumpeter Jim Manley will be doing his weekly gig at Joyia Tapas.

On Friday, it's the start of another season for New Music Circle, as guitarist Mary Halvorson, bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Tomas Fujiwara, aka Thumbscrew (pictured), will perform at the house-concert venue Joe’s Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave.

Also on Friday, the St. Louis Big Band plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; saxophonist Tim Cunningham returns to Troy's Jazz Gallery; singer Joe Mancuso enlists the support of not just one, but two guitarists, as he joins forces with Dave Black and Steve Schenkel for an evening of Beatles covers at the Tavern of Fine Arts; saxophonist Jim Stevens plays a free outdoor show at Ferguson Citywalk; and singer Tony Viviano returns to Talayna's in Chesterfield.

On Saturday, the U City Jazz Festival will take place in Heman Park, located at Olive & Midland in University City. This year's free outdoor concert is headlined by funk/fusion band Pieces of A Dream, with supporting acts including Bach to the Future, pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True, the Tony Viviano Big Band, trumpeter Anthony Wiggins, and the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars student ensemble.  

Also on Saturday, Funeral Bonsai Wedding will be in town from Chicago to promote their debut release with a performance at The Stage at KDHX. The newly formed group features singer-guitarist Steve Dawson, best known as the front man for the roots-rock band Dolly Varden, backed by vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, drummer Frank Rosaly and bassist Jason Roebke, who all work regularly in Chicago's jazz and improvised music scene.  

Elsewhere around town that evening, percussionist Herman Semidey and his Orquesta Son Montuno will continue the new jazz series at the Ozark Theatre; and singers Mary Dyson and Diane Vaughn will perform at Troy's Jazz Gallery.

On Sunday, there are a couple more free outdoor shows in the offing, as Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will play swing, hot jazz and vintage blues at Benton Park, while the St. Charles Municipal Big Band will hold forth by the river in Frontier Park.

That evening, jazz meets flamenco in a performance by EviscerArt, featuring pianist Cristian de Moret, guitarist Eduardo Pachecho, and dancer Vanesa Aibar, at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Webster University jazz faculty will present their tribute to  "Great Jazz Records of 1964" at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus; and on Tuesday, guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran will play the music of Randy Newman in a "Notes From Home" concert at The Sheldon.

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.)

Floyd LeFlore, trumpeter and co-founder of Black Artists Group, dead at age 74

StLJN has learned from reliable sources that trumpeter Floyd LeFlore, who co-founded St. Louis' Black Artists Group, performed and recorded with most of the city's important "free jazz" musicians, and later served as a board member for New Music Circle, has died. Available public records list his year of birth as 1940 and his age at death as 74.

LeFlore was born in Mississippi, but as a young child moved with his family to St. Louis, where his uncle Clarence "Bucky" Jarman was a guitarist. He attended Sumner High School at the same time as a number of other notable local jazz musicians, including fellow trumpeters Lester Bowie and David Hines, saxophonist Oliver Lake, pianist John Hicks, and drummers Jerome "Scrooge" Harris and Philip Wilson.

After serving in the military from 1962 to 1965, LeFlore returned home and got involved in the city's rapidly changing music scene, becoming a member of what's generally acknowledged as St. Louis' first organized, recurring "free jazz" ensemble, the Oliver Lake Art Quartet, with Lake, Harris, and bassist Carl "Arvinia" Richardson.

With many of the musicians mentioned above, LeFlore then helped to start the Black Artists Group in 1968. When a number of the BAG co-founders moved to Europe in 1972, LeFlore initially remained in St. Louis, but he later went to Paris and stayed for a couple of years, touring and recording with BAG on their "official" debut album Black Artists Group - In Paris, Aries 1973.

Around this same time, LeFlore also recorded with Oliver Lake; the BAG-related Human Arts Ensemble; saxophonist Luther Thomas; and Solidarity Unit, Inc, which featured Lake, Richardson, drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw, trombonist Joseph Bowie, trumpeter Baikida Carroll, guitarist Richard Martin, and bassist Kada Kayan. He also picked up occasional sideman work, ranging from early gigs with blues guitarist Albert King to a one-off local show with the Arkestra of legendary pianist and bandleader Sun Ra.

In the 1980s, LeFlore recorded and gigged with pianist David Parker, and in the early 1990s he became a board member of New Music Circle. He served on the organization's music committee and was a featured performer in several concerts produced by NMC, including his music/theater piece “Ritualistic Revival,” with LeFlore performing his own poetry and dialogue in the role of the Rev. Alonzo Alphonso Jones.

At this point, this story gets personal for me. As an NMC board member and later administrator during those years, I was fortunate to get to know and work closely with Floyd LeFlore, playing keyboards on some shows he was involved in, and also line-producing "Ritualistic Revival" and several other events he conceived.

Although he was having some trouble with his chops around that time, due to the lingering effects of an auto accident in which he had injured his mouth and lip, LeFlore was still an inventive player and, perhaps more important, an inspiring presence - just a great person to work with and be around. In the near future, I hope to do another post paying tribute to Floyd LeFlore that will draw more on some of those memories as well as archival materials from those years.

Floyd LeFlore's first and only recording as a leader, the 1998 CD-EP City Sidewalk Street Song Suite, was praised by Terry Perkins in a Riverfront Times review for combining “elements of straight-ahead jazz, R&B, funk and traditional children’s street rhymes into a seamless and highly entertaining recording.”

In the early 2000s, LeFlore performed a few gigs around the St. Louis area with saxophonist Freddie Washington as the Divinity Jazz Quintet. He also took part in the BAG retrospective convened in 2006 at Washington University, but otherwise had been mostly inactive in recent years. At present, there's no information available as to the cause of his death.

(Updated 9/12/14 with information from the obit published by the St. Louis American.)

LeFlore is survived by his ex-wife Shirley Bradley LeFlore, daughters Lyah Beth LeFlore, Jacie Price, and Hope Price Lindsay; four grandchildren, Noelle Lindsay, Jordan Lindsay, Jullian Price Baez, and Bella Grace LeFlore Ituen; and one sister, Cynthia A. LeFlore.

A memorial service will be held at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, September 13, 2014 at McClendon Mortuary, 12140 New Halls Ferry Road, St. Louis MO, 63033.

Jazz at Holmes series announces Fall 2014 schedule

The Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University has announced their schedule of free concerts for the Fall 2014 semester.

The series begins this Thursday, September 11, with a reunion performance by Tracer, the jazz-fusion trio featuring keyboardist Ptah Williams (pictured), bassist Darrell Mixon, and drummer Gary Sykes.

As has been the custom in recent years, the series also includes a couple of themed programs. The first, a look back at the Gaslight Square entertainment district of the late 1950s and early '60s, will take place on Thursday, September 25 and will be preceded by a short panel discussion featuring pianist Dave Venn, trumpeter Bob Ceccarini, and saxophonist Freddie Washington, who all gigged at various establishments in Gaslight Square, and Wash U professors Pat Burke and William Lenihan.

The second, "Freedom Summer '64: A Love Supreme" will take place on Thursday, October 9, and will feature the music of John Coltrane as performed by Washington, Lenihan, Paul DeMarinis, Maurice Carnes, Steve Davis, Kara Baldus, and others.

The complete schedule for the semester is:

Thursday, September 11: Tracer
Thursday, September 18: Vince Varvel
Thursday, September 25: "Gaslight Square" with Bob Ceccarini, Scott Alberici, Wayne Coniglio, William Lenihan, Eric Stiller and Steve Davis.

Thursday, October 2: Brian Vaccaro Trio
Thursday, October 9: "Freedom Summer '64: A Love Supreme"
Thursday, October 23: Bob DeBoo plays the music of Charles Mingus
Thursday, October 30: Adam Schefkind

Thursday, November 6: Mike Buerck Orchestra
Thursday, November 20: Jeff Anderson Quartet

Thursday, December 6: Wash U Student Jazz Combo

Presented most Thursday evenings when school is in session, the Jazz at Holmes concerts are free and open to the public. Concerts begin at 8:00 p.m. in Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall, located on Washington University’s campus at the west end of the Brookings Quadrangle, near the intersection of Brookings and Hoyt drives.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Fall 2014 jazz preview, part 2

Today, it's part two of StLJN's video preview of the touring jazz and creative music performers who will be playing in St. Louis this fall. You can find part 1, which covered the month of September, here.

The first videos up above feature trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, who will be returning here on Thursday, October 2 and Friday, October 3 to re-open the newly renovated and expanded Jazz at the Bistro. These two clips represent a complete show from the 2013 Jazz San Javier festival.

(For more footage of Marsalis and JaLCO, see this post about their touring production "Abyssynian," which played here last October; this one, about Marsalis' "Swing Symphony," which they performed here in 2012 with the St. Louis Symphony; and the video showcase posts previewing their appearances here in 2008 and 2010.)

(Update, 9/7/14: The Thursday performance by Marsalis and JaLCO is for Jazz St. Louis donors only, and Friday's is now sold out. Contrary to the info in the original version of this post, there is no performance scheduled on Saturday. StLJN regrets the error.)

After the jump, you can see fluegelhornist Hugh Masekela, who will team with singer Vusi Mahlasela to perform their show "20 Years of Freedom" on Saturday, October 4 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. This video shows Masekela and his band performing a show titled "Celebrate Mama Africa" for the 2011 Estival Jazz Lugano in Switzerland.

Next, it's alto saxophonist (and Kirkwood's own) David Sanborn, peforming "Comin' Home Baby" in 2012 at the Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta, Indonesia. Sanborn will be back home again to play with an all-St. Louis rhythm section of Peter Martin (piano), Chris Thomas (bass), and Montez Coleman (drums) starting Wednesday, October 8 through Saturday, October 11 at Jazz at the Bistro.

(For more Sanborn on video, you can check out the showcase posts that preceded his appearances here in 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2008, as well as this post about Quartette Humaine, his 2013 album with Bob James.)

That same week, the Rebirth Brass Band will return to St. Louis to perform on Thursday, October 9 at The Gramophone. They're seen here in a video of a full set recorded in 2012 at the club Howlin' Wolf in their hometown of New Orleans.

On Friday, October 11, pianist Chick Corea will be in town for a solo performance at The Sheldon. Corea, who has performed here in recent years with banjo player Bela Fleck and with Return to Forever, is seen in a clip from 2009 playing his composition "Alegria" at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr in Dortmund, Germany.

A few days later, bassist Stanley Clarke will be here with the latest version of his electric band to play on Tuesday, October 14 at The Pageant. The video here shows Clarke's touring band from last year, with keyboardists John Beasley and Nick Smith, drummer Ronald Bruner Jr., and violinist Zach Brock, performing in August 2013 at the Telluride Jazz Festival in Colorado.

Next up, it's the new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound, who will begin their third St. Louis season by taking part in the "250 Years of St. Louis Music" concert on Friday, October 17 at The Sheldon.

Along with performances from Denise Thimes, Kim Massie, Billy Peek, the St. Louis Ragtimers, and other St. Louis jazz and blues favorites, AWS* will play a set including a new work composed by Peter Martin specifically for the occasion. In this clip, you can see them in 2013 giving the world premiere performance of a very different sort of piece, composer Jason Thorpe Buchanan's "Asymptotic Flux Second Study in Entropy," at the Mizzou International Composers Festival in Columbia.

Also on Friday, October 17, singer Karen Mason will be in town for the first of two performances for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival at the Gaslight Theater. Mason, who will do her show "Secrets of the Ancient Divas" again on Saturday, October 18, is seen here singing a medley of "My Favorite Things" and "Count Your Blessings" from a performance last December in Norwalk, CT.

Below that, you can see guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli playing a solo version of "The Way You Look Tonight" recorded in August of this year in the offices of Fretboard Journal magazine. Pizzarelli will be back in St. Louis to perform Wednesday, October 22 through Saturday, October 25 at Jazz at the Bistro. You can see more of him on video in previous posts from 2012 and 2013.

Closing out our jazz preview of October in St. Louis is singer and pianist Steve Ross, who will return to perform as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival on Friday, October 24 and Saturday, October 25. Although Ross has been a fixture on the cabaret scene for decades, oddly there's almost no video online of him performing, so a very brief clip of him singing "You Were Never Lovelier" by Johnny Mercer and Jerome Kern will have to suffice for now.

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump. Look for part three of the fall 2014 jazz preview here next week.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The impending release of Keep On Keepin' On, the new documentary about Clark Terry - covered in this space most recently a couple of weeks ago - was noted by Jazz Times' Jeff Tamarkin.

* Saxophonist David Sanborn will be among the musicians back on board the Smooth Jazz Cruise in January and February of 2016. The just-announced lineup also will include singer Randy Crawford joining Joe Sample and the Crusaders for the first time at sea, plus bassist Marcus Miller, saxophonists Boney James and Candy Dulfer, keyboardist Brian Culbertson, and more.

* In this week's Miles Davis-related news, a set by the Miles Electric Band at the SFJAZZ Trumpet Festival was reviewed by Down Beat, AllAboutJazz.com, and BAM magazine.

* Also this week, Life magazine published online some previously unreleased photos from 1958 of Davis with John Coltrane, Jimmy Cobb, Paul Chambers, Cannonball Adderley, and Bill Evans, aka the sextet that would record Kind of Blue the next year.

* Meanwhile, drummer Dave Weckl is following in the footsteps of Davis and numerous other musicians by releasing some of his visual art to the public. You can check out what he calls "his new collection of rhythm-on-canvas" at http://www.davewecklart.com/.

* Weckl and keyboardist Jay Oliver also have put online a video of their version of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground," which is one of the tracks on Weckl's new album Convergence.

* Speaking of putting new music online, saxophonist Oliver Lake has posted on SoundCloud a track, "Wiring," from the new collaborative release by Trio 3 (Lake, drummer Andrew Cyrille and bassist Reggie Workman) and pianist Vijay Iyer.

* Soprano Christine Brewer and members of the St. Louis Symphony will perform a new commissioned composition by pianist Peter Martin as part of the fourth annual "Arts & Faith" concert this Sunday at The Sheldon. The Post-Dispatch's Sarah Bryan Miller has a preview here.

*  The winners of this year's "Webster's Got Talent" contest, and thus the opening act for the upcoming Old Webster Jazz and Blues Festival, are The Spys.

* Upcoming concerts by Thumbscrew and Survival Unit III were previewed by the Riverfront Times' Joseph Hess.

* Saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett will be honored next week with a "Friend of the Family" award and tribute concert from Y’All of New York, Inc, the arts organization founded and run by another former St. Louisan, saxophonist and composer James "Jabbo" Ware.

The concert on Saturday, September 13 at the Church for All Nations in NYC will feature Ware (pictured, at left, with Bluiett) and the Me, We and Them Orchestra performing "The St. Louis Experience," a new work described as "a tone parallel telling the story of the formative relationship and exchange between musicians in St. Louis and East St. Louis that did much to create a signature sonic sensibility along the banks of the Mississippi River."

* Jazz radio update: And speaking of New York, this Saturday on Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis, “Somethin’ Else” host Calvin Wilson will be spinning NYC-themed tunes as performed by Diana Krall, Eric Alexander, Mark Whitfield, and more.

Right after that, "The Jazz Collective" and host Jason Church return from summer repeats with a new program featuring tracks from Cindy Bradley, Paul Taylor, Citrus Sun, Morgan James, Bob Baldwin, Maynard Ferguson, Isaac Hayes, Albert King, Chris Standring, Funky Butt Brass Band, Jesse Gannon, Anthony Hines, Tim Cunningham, and more.

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

On Sunday, WSIE (88.7 FM) will debut their new program "St. Louis Jazz Talk" at 11:00 a.m. Hosted by WSIE's Dick Ulett and musicians Mike Silverman, Robert Silverman, and Erika Johnson, the program's first episode will feature pianists Ptah Williams and Jesse Gannon.

Jazz this week: Roomful of Teeth, "Jazz Heaven: They Paved The Way" and more

While the fall presenting season isn't quite in full swing yet, the activity level of jazz and creative music in St. Louis definitely is picking up this first weekend after Labor Day. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, guitarist Dave Black and Friends, including singer Feyza Eren, play at Nathalie's.

Tomorrow night, the new music vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth will perform at 560 Music Center. Founded in 2009, the eight-member group is best known for having premiered composer Caroline Shaw's Pulitzer Prize-winning work "Partita for Eight Voices" and for winning the 2014 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. With a mission to "mine the expressive potential of the human voice," they incorporate a variety of musical traditions and extended vocal techniques into their sound.

Elsewhere around town on Friday, trumpeter Randy Holmes' quintet kicks off the new jazz series at the Ozark Theatre in Webster Groves with a concert featuring the music of Horace Silver.

Friday also is the opening night for a couple of weekend festivals of note. The entertainment at Schlafly Bottleworks' "Art Outside" event on Friday will include sets from Miss Jubilee and Dawn Weber, while the St. Louis Art Fair, which runs from Friday through Sunday, includes jazz acts such as drummer Bensid Thigpen's Le Jazz Hot, singer Joe Mancuso, the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars student ensemble, and others among its varied musical offerings.

And still on Friday night, the Ambassadors of Swing play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; vibraphonist Tom Rickard leads a trio at Cigar Inn; saxophonist Tim Cunningham plays smooth jazz and R&B at Troy's Jazz Gallery; the Funky Butt Brass Band return to the Broadway Oyster Bar; and singer Tony Viviano joins forces with his namesake, pianist Tony Viviano, for what might be termed "a tale of two Tonys" at Fortel’s in Creve Coeur.

On Saturday, pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True, with saxophonist Larry Johnson as special guest, will perform at the Ozark Theatre; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will play swing and jump blues at Evangeline's; and trumpeter Jim Manley and guitarist Randy Bahr will duet at The Wine Press.

On Sunday afternoon, you've got time to stop by the early fall edition of the St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show at the American Czech Hall on the south side before heading out to Clayton, where singer Wendy Gordon will be presenting her latest production, "Jazz Heaven: They Paved The Way," at the Ethical Society.

In addition to Gordon (pictured), the cast includes singers Jeanne Trevor, Dean Christopher, Erika Johnson, Chuck Flowers, Tish Haynes, and more, performing in the styles of vocal greats such as Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, Betty Carter, Etta James, Frank Sinatra and Lou Rawls, plus tap dancer Ryan Johnson as Sammy Davis Jr.; Linda Kennedy as narrator; and a band featuring Arthur Toney (piano), Jeffrey Anderson (bass), Eric Slaughter (guitar), Alfred Barnes (drums), Kendrick Smith (alto sax) and Adrian Bowers (trumpet).

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday Webster University begins their fall series of concerts featuring members of their jazz faculty with "A Celebration of ECM Records"; and percussionist Joe Pastor brings his group back to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

And lastly, we'd be remiss if we didn't note that bassist Bob DeBoo's briefly dormant weekly gig and jam session at the Kranzberg Arts Center has been re-started this month on Wednesday nights, while trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's weekly Wednesday session just down the block at The Dark Room now has been moved to a later time so that the two don't conflict.

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.)

Ozark Theatre to begin new jazz series this weekend with Randy Holmes, Carolbeth True

The Ozark Theatre, a refurbished movie house at 103 E. Lockwood in Webster Groves, will begin a new jazz series this weekend with shows from trumpeter Randy Holmes and pianist Carolbeth True.

Holmes and his quintet will present "A Tribute to Horace Silver" at 8:00 p.m. this Friday, September 5, while True and her band Two Times True with guest saxophonist Larry Johnson will perform at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, September 6. 

Dorothy Edwards, who was co-owner and general manager of the now-closed Robbie's House of Jazz, is booking the series. The Ozark Theatre (pictured) is about a half-mile east of the former Robbie's location at 40 Allen Ave. in the Old Webster business district.

Other dates so far in the "Robbie's at the Ozark" series include percussionist Herman Semidey and his Orquestra son Montuno (Saturday, September 13); singer Sarah Maria Labeat  (Friday, September 19); a quartet featuring vibraphonist Ben Porter, pianist Matt Villinger, bassist Nathan Pence, and drummer Joseph Winstein Hibbs (Saturday, September 20); and singer Joyce Byers Hines (Friday, September 26). 

Tickets for all shows are $15 for general admission, $10 for students, and can be purchased at the door or in advance via the Ozark Theatre website.

Sheryl Bailey, Lena Seikaly to headline second annual Mel Bay Jazz Festival

Guitarist Sheryl Bailey and singer Lena Seikaly (pictured) will headline the second annual Mel Bay Jazz Festival, which will take place Thursday, September 25 through Saturday, September 27 at four different venues in and around De Soto, MO.

The NYC-based Bailey is a Berklee School of Music graduate who has released eight albums as a leader, the most recent being 2013's A Meeting Of Minds.

Seikaly, who earned a degree in classical vocal performance at the University of Maryland, has released three albums of her own and teaches and performs regularly in Washington DC.

The fest kicks off at 6:00 p.m. Thursday, September 25 with a performance by Sugar Moon, featuring guitarist Larry Bay (nephew of the famed guitarist, educator, entrepreneur and festival namesake Mel Bay) at Lorenzo’s Italian Kitchen, 106 South Main in De Soto.

Bailey and Seikaly will perform starting at 6:00 p.m. Friday, September 26 at Fo-Jo Studio, just down the street at 116 North Main.  Bailey also will play a lunchtime show starting at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 27 at the Fountain City Grill, 302 North Main.

Both headliners then will be joined by St. Louis singer Joe Mancuso for the final "Festival Showcase" starting at 5:00 p.m. Saturday, September 27 at LaChance Vineyards, 12237 Peter Moore Lane (at Highway Y).

For ticket information, see the festival's website.