Sunday Session: May 31, 2015

William Parker

For your Sunday reading, here are some interesting music-related items that have hit StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Pop Music Is More About Advertising Now Than Before — And Nobody Realizes It (Mic.com)
* Artist's Profile: John Luther Adams, Composer (Classical Connections)
* The Imitation Archive Part 1: recording the sounds of the world's first computers (British Library Sound and vision blog)
* The Imitation Archive Part 2: making music from the sounds of the world's first computers (British Library Sound and vision blog)
* DrumPants 2.0 is a wearable controller that turns your body into an instrument (Fact magazine)
* The best free music production software (Fact magazine)
* Daniel Barenboim designs 'radical' new piano (BBC)
* Detroit jazz trumpet legend Marcus Belgrave dies at 78 (Detroit Free Press)
* ‘Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution’ Review (Wall Street Journal)
* Record Store Day to expand with weekly event Vinyl Tuesday (Consequence of Sound)
* Ornette Coleman Sues Over Release of “New Vocabulary” Album (Jazz Times)
* Ornette Coleman Lawsuit Against Antibalas' Jordan McLean: Both Sides Weigh In (Billboard)
* A new Near South Side park named for jazz master Fred Anderson (Chicago Tribune)
* Songwriters And Streaming Services Battle Over Decades-Old Decree (NPR)
* AUM Fidelity to Release 3-CD William Parker Box (Jazz Times)
* One industry expert offers his plan to help country radio: Fewer songs by women (Washington Post)
* For Jack DeJohnette, A Chicago Homecoming Brought A Reunion With Old Friends (NPR)
* Cline Makes Big Impression at Quebec’s Victoriaville Festival (DownBeat)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Terence Blanchard and the E-Collective

When we last saw Terence Blanchard here in St. Louis back in February 2014, the New Orleans-born trumpeter was playing on short notice at the Sheldon as a substitute for pianist Chucho Valdes, who had canceled his long-scheduled performance there due to a mid-tour injury.

Blanchard also spent a good amount of time here the previous year, leading up to the world premiere of his opera Champion in June 2013 at Opera Theatre St. Louis. And local jazz fans knew him well before that, both for his film scores for director Spike Lee and others, and for previous performances here, both at the Sheldon and at Jazz at the Bistro.

However, for his upcoming appearance at the Bistro from Wednesday, June 10 through Saturday, June 13, Blanchard will be doing something that's musically quite different.

He's got a new album, Breathless, released by Blue Note this past week and described as "an exciting zone of grooved fusion teeming with funk, R&B and blues colors." And that fusion sound is delivered by a new band, the E-Collective, which includes Charles Altura (guitar), Fabian Almazan (keyboards), Donald Ramsey (bass), and Oscar Seaton (drums), with Blanchard doubling on keyboard as well as playing trumpet.

Breathless includes several of Blanchard's compositions, as well as one by Almazan and an eclectic batch of covers that ranges from Les McCann and Eddie Harris' “Compared to What“ to Hank Williams' “I Ain’t Got Nothin’ But Time," both sung on the recording by PJ Morton of the rock/pop band Maroon 5.

You can check out the E-Collective's sound for yourself in the first video up above, "Oscar Groove," which was recorded last October at the Blue Note Milano in Italy.

After the jump, there's a brief promotional video for Breathless, followed by "Everglades," Almazan's composition from the album, seen here in a version recorded earlier this year at the Blue Note in NYC.

Next is "Confident Selflessness," recorded last November at the Jazz Club Hannover in Germany, and then a complete show (in two parts) from February of this year in Moscow (with an alternate rhythm section comprised of St. Louis native Kimberly Thompson on drums and Burness Travis on bass). (Note that both of these shows were recorded by audience members, so the camera angles are sub-optimal and the video and audio quality varies.)

The final video, "Soldiers: Behind the Song," combines another brief interview with Blanchard and more footage from the NYC Blue Note.

For more about Breathless and the E-Collective, you can read this review in the Guardian UK, and check out this interview with Blanchard, published this week in Billboard.

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

Ray Kennedy 1957 - 2015

Pianist and St. Louis native Ray Kennedy has died after a long battle with multiple sclerosis. He was 58.

Kennedy (pictured) grew up as part of a musical family in Maplewood, where his family owned a music store, and graduated from Maplewood-Richmond Heights High School in 1975.

After moving to NYC in his early 20s, he became best known for his long tenure in the band of guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli, but also was involved in many musical projects as a bandleader, working with his brother, bassist Tom Kennedy, and with others.

Kennedy was diagnosed with MS in 2006, and had been in a nursing home in New York since 2013. Friends last year set up a page on the site Youcaring.com to raise funds to help his family with his care.

Survivors in addition to his brother include his wife, Eve, and two young daughters, of New York; and a sister, Wanda Kennedy Kuntz, of St. Louis. Funeral arrangements are pending, and when more information becomes available, StLJN will update this post.

Also, a benefit concert to raise money for Kennedy's family will be held in St. Louis on July 17 at the Sheldon, and when there's more information about that, we'll have it for you here.

You can see an excerpt from a Ray Kennedy performance of his tune "Oscar Night" with John Pizzarelli in the embedded video below.

Update, 9:00 a.m., 6/3/15:: A "celebration of the life" of Ray Kennedy will take place at 7:00 p.m.,  Wednesday, June 10 at Salem Evangelical Free Church, 2490 Pohlman Road (at New Halls Ferry Rd) in Florissant. Also, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has published a detailed obituary about Ray Kennedy, which can be seen online here.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Bassist Nathan Pence, a senior at Bishop DuBourg High School in St. Louis, received the inaugural Rich McDonnell Scholarship in a presentation last Sunday during the concert at Jazz at the Bistro dedicated to McDonnell's memory.

Pence (pictured, with Jazz St. Louis executive director Gene Dobbs Bradford) will attend the University of Missouri-Kansas City in the fall, majoring in jazz performance.

"Rich was always extremely supportive of our JazzU students, so a scholarship in his name was a perfect fit," said Jazz St. Louis' Devin Rodino in an email to StLJN. "We haven’t finalized all of the guidelines for the scholarship, but do plan to continue to put dollars in and grow it into a sizable fund that can really make an impact each year for one or more students. We will be hashing out full details before next year’s award is given."

* In other news from Jazz St. Louis, Rodino and his pastry-loving colleagues at JSL will host a public celebration of "National Donut Day" from 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. next Friday, June 5 at the organization's HQ in Grand Center. The event is free and open to all, and participants can enjoy a sampling of donuts from 15 local bakeries, plus milk and/or coffee.

Students from the Jazz U program will provide live music, and there will be various activities including a donut taste-test competition "with celebrity judges," a donut-themed photo booth, a raffle for tickets to Jazz at the Bistro, and more.

* And in today's last bit of news from Jazz St. Louis, their 2015-16 season brochure now can be viewed online at http://issuu.com/jazzstl/docs/jsl_2015-16_season.

* Grand Center has announced "Music at The Intersection,"  a free concert series that will bring live music to eight venues within the arts district on three Friday evenings this summer.  The first event on Friday, July 17 will spotlight jazz and blues performers including Marquise Knox, Mo Egeston, Dave Black, Bob DeBoo Trio, Lamar Harris, Big Mike Aguirre, Tom "Papa" Ray, Jesse Gannon, Phil Dunlap Quintet, The People's Key, and the Bottlesnakes.

Venues for the series, which will continue on August 14 and September 11 with events featuring other musical genres, include Strauss Park, The Dark Room, Vito's Sicilian Pizzeria & Ristorante, Lucha, Dooley's Beef N Brew House, Jazz at the Bistro, Kranzberg Arts Center, and The Stage at KDHX.

* As part of his effort to establish the St. Louis Black Radio Hall of Fame, veteran broadcaster and author Bernie Hayes has launched a GoFundMe campaign with a goal of raising $15,000. The money will used to finance a benefit concert in August, rent temporary space for a physical museum, and develop a "virtual" radio and media hall of fame.You can read more about the campaign and donate here.

* Jazz radio update:  This Saturday on Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis, Calvin Willson's program “Somethin’ Else,” will focus on the music of composer Harry Warren ("Lullaby of Broadway, "At Last," "That's Amore") as performed by musicians including Sonny Rollins, Paul Motian, Diana Krall, and more. You can listen in at 8:00 p.m. Saturdays on 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.  

A few clicks to the left on your radio dial, Dennis Owsley's "Jazz Unlimited" program on St. Louis Public Radio this Sunday will present music from "jazz giants" including Bix Beiderbecke, Frank Trumbauer, Joe “King” Oliver, Fats Waller, Benny Goodman, Miles Davis, Shelly Manne, Freddie Redd, Betty Carter, Woody Herman, Eric Dolphy, Chick Corea, Bud Shank, Bill Holman, Betty Carter, and Sun Ra.  The program can be heard from 9:00 pm to midnight Sundays on KWMU (90.7 FM) and online at http://www.news.stlpublicradio.org.

Jazz this week: Dr. Lonnie Smith & Lionel Loueke, Alarm Will Sound, a tribute to Billie Holiday, and more

This week's lineup of jazz and creative music shows in St. Louis emphasizes collaboration, with several events presenting novel combinations of musicians for your listening enjoyment.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, May 27
Jazz St. Louis' latest combination of two headliners into one evening of music features organist Dr. Lonnie Smith teamed with guitarist and singer Lionel Loueke, who will perform this week through Saturday night at Jazz at the Bistro.

Both Smith and Loueke (pictured, top left) certainly share a penchant for grooves, and they have worked together before - you can see video evidence, plus each man leading his own band in several performance clips, in this post from last Saturday - but only briefly. The best guess here is that Smith's repertoire may predominate in terms of song selection, but whatever they end up playing, there should be some surprising moments for everyone this weekend onstage at the Bistro.

Budget-conscious fans take note: In addition to their evening performances, Smith and Loueke also will take part in a free, hour-long "performance and conversation" at noon on Friday at the Bistro. The Bistro won't have food or beverage service available, but listeners can bring in their own food and drink to enjoy along with the sounds.

Thursday, May 28
It's a night for large ensemble performances, as the Jim Widner Big Band plays a free concert at Chesterfield Amphitheater, while the new-music mini-orchestra Alarm Will Sound (pictured, center left) wraps up their third St. Louis season with a program of music from their "Alarm System" project at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The concert will feature the premieres of new works created with performers from several different musical genres, including St. Louis electronic electronic musician Adult Fur, Icelandic composer and producer Valgeir Sigurðsson, and jazz/funk keyboardist John Medeski.

Adventurous music fans also may want to check out the Tavern of Fine Arts monthly "Experimental Arts Open Improv Night," which this month will feature musicians improvising to new video works; or the triple bill featuring saxophonst Dave Stone, the Tory Starbuck Project, and electronic musician Kevin Harris at the Schlafly Tap Room

Friday, May 29
It's a busy night for female vocalists, as singer Debby Lennon and pianist Carolbeth True play a concert at Concord Trinity United Methodist Church in South County; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will swing the Venice Cafe, and Erin Bode returns to Nathalie's.

Elsewhere around town, Lindy Hop St. Louis presents their "West End Stomp," this month featuring live music from Robbie and the Rockin' Fools, at the Mahler Ballroom; and The People's Key will play at the house concert venue KindaBlue.

Saturday, May 30
Singer Kim Fuller and trumpeter Randy Holmes (pictured, lower left) will present a "Tribute to Billie Holiday" at the Ozark Theatre.

The celebration of the 100th anniversary of Holiday's birth also marks the return of jazz to the Ozark, which briefly presented local jazz musicians in a series of performances last fall.

Also on Saturday, Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Sunday, May 31
Students from several high schools in North County have joined together to form the North County Big Band under the leadership of saxophonist Harvey Lockhart, band director at Riverview Gardens High School, and they'll present a matinee concert showing off what they've accomplished over the past year 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 birthday, Miles Davis!

Today is the 89th anniversary of the birth of Miles Davis, the most famous and historically significant jazz musician to come from the St. Louis area and one of our favorite subjects over the years here at StLJN.

It's shaping up to be a big year for fans of the legendary trumpeter, as Miles Ahead, the feature film about Davis directed by and starring Don Cheadle, currently is awaiting release, and the Miles Davis Memorial Project is on track to install a statue of Davis in his birthplace of Alton, IL, later this year.

To keep track of these and other Davis-related developments, for the past six months StLJN has been running a weekly feature called "Miles on Monday," and you can see the archive of all those posts here. To see the rest of StLJN's extensive past coverage of Miles Davis over the past decade, click here.

After the jump, you'll find a YouTube playlist with audio of ten of Davis' greatest albums...

Music Education Monday: Summer jazz camps in St. Louis

Summer's almost here, but there's still time for aspiring young jazz musicians in the St. Louis area to enroll in one or more of the summer jazz camps being presented by local universities:

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville will hold its annual camp for students at "all levels, grades 8-12" from Monday, June 1 through Friday, June 5 on the SIUE campus. Classes are taught by members of the SIUE jazz faculty. For details or to sign up, go to http://www.siue.edu/artsandsciences/music/community/jazz-camp.shtml.

Bassist Jim Widner's big band will serve as the faculty for the annual University of Missouri - St. Louis jazz camp, with instructors including Widner, Scott Whitfield, Dave Scott, Ken Kehner, Rod Fleeman, Chip McNeill, Kim Richmond, Gary Hobbs, and others. The camp for "students of all ages and talent levels" will be held Monday, June 7 through Friday, June 12 on the UMSL campus. For more information or to enroll, visit http://www.umsl.edu/~pcs/noncredit-offerings/jazz-camp.html.

Webster University's annual camp for "beginning, intermediate and advanced level jazz improvisers and instrumentalists" will take place from Monday, July 6 through Friday, July 10 on the Webster U campus, with instruction from the university's jazz faculty. You can find more information and a signup form at http://www.webster.edu/fine-arts/departments/music/summer-programs/jazz-camp.html

Miles on Monday: Miles Davis Jazz Festival scheduled for Saturday, June 27, and more

This week for "Miles on Monday," some recent news items related to the legendary trumpeter:

* The tenth annual Miles Davis Jazz Festival will be held on Saturday, June 27 at the Jacoby Arts Center in Alton, IL.

This year's lineup will be headed by drummer Montez Coleman's trio featuring pianist Adam Maness, with support acts including saxophonist Fred Walker and a quartet led by trumpeter Danny Campbell with bassist Jeff Anderson, drummer Marty Morrison, and pianist Matt Villinger.

Tickets for the Miles Davis Jazz Festival are $25 each, and can be purchased in advance at the Alton Museum of History & Art, which is producing the event, or at the door.

* Miles & Coltrane: Blue, a play recently produced at the International Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro, NC, was reviewed by AllAboutJazz.com's K. Shackelford. The production starred Sultan Omar El-Amin as Davis and Quentin Talley as Coltrane (pictured).

* In Davis' autobiography, published in 1990, the trumpeter identified three artists as the possible "future of music." Now, a new article just out on Mic.com looks at Davis' prognostication and how those musicians' careers have turned out.

Sunday Session: May 24, 2015

George Lewis

For your Sunday reading, some interesting music-related items that have hit StLJN's inbox over the past week: 

* In defense of the lowly “Greatest Hits” album: They’re not just “for housewives and little girls” (Salon)
* Sun Ra's free space (Pitchfork)
* Lyric Intelligence In Popular Music: A Ten Year Analysis (SeatSmart.com)
* Bruce Lundvall, Blue Note Records Veteran, Beloved Executive, Dead at 79 (Billboard)
* Jazz Stars Celebrate “Go-Go” Heritage in Washington, D.C. (DownBeat)
* Bob Belden—Musician, Producer, Arranger, Writer, Historian—Dies at 58 (Jazz Times)
* 5 Questions to George Lewis (composer, improvisor, trombonist) (I Care If You Listen)
* Victoriaville Festival Unites Jazz, Rock, Avant-Garde in Quebec (DownBeat)
* "Mad Men" Theme Composer RJD2 Plans His Next TV Takeover (Fast Company)
* 'Mad Max: Fury Road' Composer: 'The First Time I Saw The Movie I Thought, This Is So Insane!' (Billboard)
* Louis Johnson, Legendary Bassist, Dead at 60 (The Boombox)
* New Sun Ra Recordings To Be Released This Fall: Exclusive (Billboard)
* 'Robert Johnson' photo does not show the blues legend, music experts say (The Guardian UK)
* Sony Music “holding artists hostage” in campaign against SoundCloud (Fact)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Dr. Lonnie Smith & Lionel Loueke

Dr. Lonnie Smith is the elder statesman of jazz organ, one of the last living links back to the 1960s and 70s heyday of Jimmy Smith, Brother Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff, Charles Earland, Richard "Groove" Holmes, and other Hammond heroes. Lionel Loueke is a guitarist from a different generation and half a world away who mixes jazz with the rhythms of his home country, the west African nation of Benin. Both men have distinctive sounds that tend to dominate the harmonic and rhythmic directions of their respective bands.

So what happens when you put them together on one stage? St. Louis listeners will find out next week, when Smith and Loueke team up to perform Wednesday, May 27 through Saturday, May 30 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Of course, in addition to being bandleaders, both man also are quite experienced in supporting roles. Loueke has spent much of the past decade as Herbie Hancock's guitarist of choice, while Smith has had a long-running, fruitful partnership with saxophonist Lou Donaldson that dates back nearly 50 years.

You can hear Smith and Loueke together, along with drummer Kendrick Smith, backing Donaldson in the first video up top, which was recorded last year as part of a "Blue Note at 75" celebration involving many of the label's artists, past and present. (All three men have put out records on Blue Note at various times.)

While it seems unlikely that Smith and Loueke will take on the bawdy blues "Whiskey Drinkin' Woman" or Donaldson's signature song "Alligator Boogaloo" during their visit to St. Louis, the versions of those tunes in the clip at least give a hint of how they might interact on stage.

Alas, that seems to be the only video available online of Smith and Loueke performing together. They did do some collaborative gigs last year at NYC's Jazz Standard, but apparently no documentation of those shows has surfaced. So instead, after the jump you can see and hear some examples of both men leading their own bands.

The next three clips all were recorded in 2014 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and feature Loueke with bassist Massimo Biolcati and drummer Ferenc Nemeth. The songs are "Hiroshima," "Nonvignon," and "Veuve Malienne".

After that, you can check out Smith performing one of his signature songs, "Backtrack," in March of this year at Jamboree Jazz in Barcelona, Spain. That's followed by a medley recorded in July 2015 at Jazz Panorama in Valencia Spain, in which Smith plays a free-form intro that goes into the tune "Beehive." After solos and a drum break, Smith, guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg and drummer Jamire Williams then end with a version of "My Favorite Things."

The final clip is a re-imagining of "Straight, No Chaser" in which the good Doctor offers a rather idiosyncratic set of substitute chord changes for the song's usual 12-bar blues progression.

For more of Smith, see the two previous video posts made before his appearances here in 2012 and 2013;  Loueke was the subject of a previous video showcase post back in 2013.

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 news items of local interest:

* The New Music Circle concert earlier this month featuring saxophonist Tim Berne's Snakeoil was reviewed for DownBeat magazine by St. Louis freelance writer Terry Perkins.

* Guitarist Jeff Beck's show this past Tuesday night at the Fox Theatre was reviewed for the Post-Dispatch by freelancer Dan Durchholz.

* Saxophonist Oliver Lake's latest release (pictured), a duet album with bassist William Parker called To Roy, was reviewed by AllAboutJazz.com's John Sharpe.

* Drummer Kaleb Kirby and his band Animal Children are featured in the latest issue of St. Louis magazine.

* The Sheldon and Jazz St. Louis are among 11 St. Louis arts groups that will get funding next year from the PNC Arts Alive program.

* Hand drummers are congregating this weekend in St. Louis at the first ever Grandmaster Djembe Xplosion, a four-day event presented by Africa United Ballet at Better Family Life Cultural, Educational and Business Center. Instructors from Guinea, Mali, Ivory Coast, New York and Chicago are leading more than 20 workshops and demonstrations of drumming techniques, as well as discussions of African history and culture.

* Jazz radio update: On this Saturday's edition of Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis's program “Somethin’ Else,”  host Calvin Wilson will be puttin' the bass in your face, with a selection of music featuring bassist Ron Carter, both as a bandleader and as a sideman to Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, and others. 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 St. Louis announces 2015-16 season schedule

Melissa Aldana

Jazz St. Louis has announced their 2015-16 season schedule, and with it, a new, explicitly stated policy of offering live music every Wednesday through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro.

That will mean more acts playing two-night stands at the Bistro, with touring groups occasionally showing up midweek as well as on the weekends. Given the developments this year since Jazz St. Louis purchased its building and renovated and expanded the Bistro, that change may be more evolutionary than revolutionary, but it does move the venue toward being essentially a full-time operation rather than a seasonal presenter.

Some of the most noteworthy bookings for 2015-16 include a trio version of bassist Dave Holland's Prism, with guitarist Kevin Eubanks and drummer Eric Harland, but minus keyboardist Craig Taborn (October 21-24); a pairing of singer DeeDee Bridgewater with a band led by New Orleans trumpeter Irvin Mayfield (March 16-19); and the current edition of the all-star SFJAZZ Collective, returning to St. Louis for the first time since 2007 (March 30-April 2).

Cyrille Aimée

Notable St. Louis debuts will include singer Cyrille Aimée (February 3-6); saxophonist Melissa Aldana (April 27-30); the Dave King Trucking Company, led by the drummer who's played the Bistro many times with The Bad Plus (September 4 & 5); and the previously mentioned Omaha Diner, with guitarist and Bistro veteran Charlie Hunter along with drummer Bobby Previte, saxophonist Skerik, and trumpeter Eric Bloom in place of Steven Bernstein (November 18-21).

Gregory Porter

As for returning acts, singer Gregory Porter has been booked for a much-anticipated encore appearance, but since his shows at the Bistro back in January 2013, his star has risen sufficiently that this time he'll be doing a one-nighter at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on Saturday, February 6 instead of a week at the Bistro.

Bassist Stanley Clarke's electric band also will play on Saturday, November 21 at the Touhill under the auspices of Jazz St. Louis, apparently renewing the collaboration between the two presenters that seems to have been dormant for a couple of years.

Nostalgically speaking, Jazz St. Louis will celebrate its 20th anniversary officially in September with a custom assemblage of musicians who have played the Bistro numerous times over the years, including bassist Christian McBride, pianist Cyrus Chestnut, drummer Gregory Hutchinson, guitarist Russell Malone, trumpeter Terell Stafford, and saxophonist Tim Warfield.

DeeDee Bridgewater & Irvin Mayfield

Return appearances by pianist Monty Alexander and singer Karrin Allyson also will harken back to the Bistro's early days. Both (along with a return visit from pianist Kenny Barron, who was here just this past season) are part of a new series named after the late Barbara Rose, the presenter and impresario whose "Just Jazz" series evolved into Jazz at the Bistro and the founding of Jazz St. Louis.

Saxophonist and hometown hero David Sanborn also will be back, along with such now-familiar figures as The Bad Plus, saxophonist James Carter, trumpeter Sean Jones, pianist Freddy Cole with saxophonist Harry Allen, the fusion band Yellowjackets, and more.

After the jump, you can see the complete 2015-16 schedule, ticket ordering information, and some additional commentary and analysis...

Jazz this week: Moon Hooch, Avishai Cohen's Triveni, Mardra & Reggie Thomas, and more

Memorial Day weekend may be arriving a bit earlier than usual this year, but along with it, St. Louis fans of jazz and creative music can enjoy a couple of touring headliners, the return of some longtime local favorites, a day of performances paying tribute to an influential figure on the local scene, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, May 20
Moon Hooch (pictured, top left) returns to St. Louis for another gig at 2720 Cherokee. The difficult-to-categorize trio got their start busking in the subways and streets of NYC, and over the past couple of years have brought their funky, stripped-down sound to clubs, concerts and festivals.

Also tonight, Sarah Jane & The Blue Notes perform at the Feasting Fox, and guitarist Dave Black plays at Thurman Grill.

Thursday, May 21
Trumpeter Avishai Cohen (pictured, center left) brings his trio Triveni to Jazz at the Bistro for one night only.

Also featuring drummer Nasheet Waits, who's appeared on all three of the group's recordings, and bassist Linda Oh, subbing for Omer Avital, Triveni is featured on three of Cohen's recordings as a leader, the most recent of which is Dark Nights, released last October. 

You can read more about Cohen and Triveni and see some samples of them in performance in this video post from last Saturday, and you can read a review of their show this week in Kansas City here.

Elsewhere around town, pianist Ptah Williams and guitarist Eric Slaughter are continuing with themed shows in their weekly residency at The Dark Room, this week performing music from the songbook of Earth, Wind and Fire.

Friday, May 22
Former St. Louisans Mardra and Reggie Thomas, whose vocals and keyboards were staples of the local music scene for more than a decade, will be back in town to headline two nights of performances at Jazz at the Bistro.

After moving to Michigan several years ago, the Thomasas (pictured, bottom left) now are based in Macomb, IL, where last fall Reggie Thomas succeeded Ronald Carter as head of the jazz studies program at Northern Illinois University.

This weekend, they'll be showcasing some of the music from their most recent album, Matters of the Heart, accompanied by a band including three St. Louis musicians - saxophonist Jason Swagler, bassist Zeb Briskovich, and drummer Montez Coleman - plus backing vocalists Nicole Jonas, Olivia Neal, and Zelina Star, and Detroit native Perry Hughes on guitar.

Elsewhere on Friday, the annual Glendale Jazz Festival will feature free, outdoor performances from the St. Louis Big Band, blues guitarist Pennsylvania Slim, and Miss Jubilee at Glendale City Hall, 424 N Sappington Rd.; singers and brothers Tony Viviano and Frank Viviano will join forces at Talayna's Italian Restaurant in Chesterfiled; and singer Joe Mancuso brings a quartet to Nathalie's.

Saturday, May 23
Saxophonist Tim Cunningham will be back at Troy's Jazz Gallery, while guitarist Eric Slaughter and bassist Glen Smith will team up for some duets at Thurman Grill.

Sunday, May 24
Jazz St. Louis will present the second Richard McDonnell Memorial Concert at Jazz at the Bistro. The concert honoring the memory of the late founder of MAXJAZZ records and former Jazz St. Louis board member will begin mid-afternoon and continue through the evening will music from Peter Martin, the Funky Butt Brass Band, Adam Maness, Bob DeBoo, Eric Slaughter, Montez Coleman, Jesse Gannon, and more. 

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 Education Monday: Six-month index

It's been six months since StLJN's "Music Education Monday" feature began, and since the idea here is to make this information easily accessible to as many people as possible, now seems like a good time to index all the related posts so far.

The series will continue with a new entry next week In the meantime, here's your chance to catch up with any of the previous posts you may have missed:

* A master class in understanding audio formats
* A master class with percussionist Milford Graves
* Still all about that bass (with Ray Brown and Milt Hinton)
* Jazz piano lessons from Mike Wolff and Barry Harris
* John Abercrombie on jazz guitar improvisation
* Sound system basics
* Aebersold's "Jazz Handbook," plus Latin percussion classes with Dafnis Prieto
* Electronic music production tips, plus a keyboard workshop with Richard Tee
* Arranging 101
* Saxophone master classes with Greg Osby
* Inside the musical mind of Bill Evans
* A jazz improvisation primer and video workshop
* Fusion fundamentals with Lorber, Haslip & Marienthal
* Books, both fake and Real
* What's the score?
* Video workshops with Urbie Green & Delfeayo Marsalis
* Behind the score of Birdman with drummer Antonio Sanchez
* A jazz guitar master class with Jim Hall
* Free play-along recordings, and a free class from Gary Burton
* All about that bass
* Microphone basics, and some studio tips from Al Schmitt
* A Benny Golson master class, and the Saxophone Museum
* A music theory reference, and a Matt Wilson master class
* Monk's advice and Bishop's fourths
* Saxophonists speak out, and a musician's guide to copyright
* "Visual Reference for Musicians" & "Cymbals 101"
* Electronic music history, and a Clark Terry master class
* "Music Theory for Musicians and Normal People" & The Red Hot Jazz Archive

Miles on Monday: Wayne Shorter speaks out, Amandla turns 26, and more

This week for "Miles on Monday," some recent news items related to the legendary trumpeter:

* In a new interview with Billboard magazine, saxophonist Wayne Shorter (pictured) discusses topics including his relationship with Davis as a member of the trumpeter's "second great quintet."

* With the 89th anniversary of Davis' birth coming up next Tuesday, saxophonist Gary Bartz and drummer Al Foster - both ex-sidemen of Davis' - will join trumpeter Eddie Henderson for a series of tribute gigs this weekend at the NYC club Smoke.

* Visual artists opening a new exhibit in London, citing the influence of Davis' album of the same name, have titled their show "In a Silent Way."

* Today is the 26th anniversary of the release of Davis' album Amandla, his third and final recording with bassist/composer Marcus Miller serving as producer. (The others were Tutu in 1986 and the soundtrack to the film Siesta, issued in 1987.) Amandla also features some keyboard work from the late George Duke and a very young Joey DeFrancesco, who had just turned 18 years old when the record came out.

You can listen to all the tracks from the album by clicking on the embedded YouTube playlist below.

Sunday Session: May 17, 2015

Jack DeJohnette

For your Sunday reading, some interesting music-related items that have hit StLJN's inbox over the past week: 

* When does a violin copy become a forgery? (The Strad)
* Review: Pharoah Sanders at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn (New York Times)
* Austin Signal Cuts to the Chase (Pro Sound News)
* Tiny Music Royalties Add Up, Unexpectedly (NPR)
* For orchestra musicians, thrill of Cuba trip tempered by fear over instruments (Minnesota Public Radio)
* Review: The New Orleans Jazz Scene, 1970-2000: A Personal Retrospective (AllAboutJazz.com)
* More Evidence Of Big Changes Coming To Guitar Center (Forbes)
* A holding corporation called old America: Charles Mingus’ religious multitudes (Oxford University Press)
* Spillage and Flow: Notes from the 2015 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (BlouinArtInfo.com)
* Further Spillage (The Good Kind): More Notes on the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (BlouinArtInfo.com)
* An Animated John Coltrane Explains His True Reason for Being: “I Want to Be a Force for Real Good” (Open Culture)
* VNYL Sliding: Why The “Netflix For Vinyl” Service Is Such A Mess (Stereogum)
* LOVE WILL FIND A WAY: The VNYL Subscription Service Blows It? (Pt. 1) (Blurt)
* Jerome Cooper, a Multitextured Jazz Percussionist, Dies at 68 (New York Times)
* The Death of the One-Hit Wonder (Priceonomics.com)
* 'The In Crowd': An Audience-Fueled Jazz-Pop Crossover Hit (NPR)
* Spalding Showcases Range, Diversity in San Francisco (DownBeat)
* The Technology That Saved '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction' (The Atlantic)
* BB King was that rare thing – a game-changer who was also beloved (The Guardian UK)
* King’s Essential Recordings (DownBeat)
* Composer Philip Glass’s Childhood Gig (Wall Street Journal)
* Even when looking back, Jack DeJohnette forges ahead (Boston Globe)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Avishai Cohen's Triveni reimagines standards

This week, our video spotlight shines on trumpeter Avishai Cohen, who will be in St. Louis to perform for one night only this Thursday, May 21 at Jazz at the Bistro. Cohen will be playing with his group Triveni, a trio with bassist Omer Avital and drummer Nasheet Waits that plays stripped-down versions of well-known songs from the modern jazz repertoire, along with original material in a similar style.

Not to be confused with the jazz bassist of the same name, the trumpet-playing Avishai Cohen is a native of Tel Aviv, Israel and the younger brother of clarinetist and saxophonist Anat Cohen and saxophonist Yuval Cohen, with whom he tours and records as The 3 Cohens.

He also has played since 2010 in the SF JAZZ Collective, succeeding Nicholas Payton and Dave Douglas in the group's trumpet chair. Although this will be Cohen's first gig at the Bistro as a bandleader, he did play the club once previously in November 2007 with Waverly Seven, a one-shot project that also included his sister.

Like his siblings, Avishai Cohen first came to the United States to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston, and like his sister Anat, he stayed here after graduation and moved to NYC to launch his career. Since then, he's recorded seven albums as a leader, including three with Triveni, the most recent of which, Dark Nights, was released last October.

You can see Triveni perform "Dark Nights, Darker Days," the composition from which the album's title was derived, in the first video up above. After the jump, there's a video of them playing "You In All Directions," which, like the first clip, was recorded "live in studio" at The Bunker in Brooklyn.

The third clip goes back to October 2010, when the trio promoted their first album by performing in the studios of radio station WBGO for the program "The Checkout."

After that, there are three live tracks recorded more recently by variants of the band's principal lineup. "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," which is on the Dark Nights... album, was recorded in February of this year in Rotterdam by Cohen, bassist Yoni Zelnik, and drummer Justin Brown.

Then, it's "One Man's Idea" from the 2014 North Sea Jazz Festival, with Cohen, Zelnik and Waits; and "Safety Land," recorded in February 2014 at Jazzhouse in Copenhagen by Cohen, Waits and bassist Reiner Elizarde.

Last but not least, there's a brief video interview from last fall, with Cohen talking about the concept for the band as Waits and Zelnik look on.

For more about Avishai Cohen and Triveni, see the interview with Cohen published in August 2014 by AllAboutJazz.com and his October 2014 interview with Music and Literature magazine.

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 news items of local interest:

* Saxophonist Oliver Lake (pictured) was interviewed by the website Revive Music in advance of his big band gig this Sunday at Aljira Gallery in Newark, NJ.

* Lake's recent duo album with bassist William Parker, To Roy, was reviewed by the website Music and More.

* A new article on the Blue Note Records website looks back at saxophonist Greg Osby's 2000 album The Invisible Hand.

* Pianist and former St. Louisan Tom McDermott, now a mainstay on the New Orleans music scene, has a new duo album, City of Timbres, with clarinetist, saxophonist and singer Aurora Nealand.

* The St. Louis Stompers are on the road this weekend playing the Bunny Berigan Jazz Jubilee in Fox Lake, WI.

* The Funky Butt Brass Band has posted to Facebook an album of photos from their performance in March at the World Chess Hall of Fame

* Jazz radio update: This Saturday on Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis, Calvin Wilson's program “Somethin’ Else” will feature music from young vocalists including Becca Stevens, Rebecca Martin and Gretchen Parlato. 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.

Then, on Sunday's episode of "Jazz Unlimited" on St. Louis Public Radio, host Dennis Owsley will highlight the music of saxophonist Joe Lovano. The program can be heard from 9:00 p.m. to midnight over the air at 90.7 FM and online at http://www.stlpublicradio.org/listen.php.

Pollstar: Omaha Diner to perform November 18 - 21 at Jazz at the Bistro

The online touring information service Pollstar has just added a listing showing the group Omaha Diner performing Wednesday, November 18 through Saturday, November 21 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Formed in 2013, Omaha Diner (pictured) includes guitarist Charlie Hunter, who's played the Bistro before with several different configurations of musicians, along with drummer Bobby Previte, trumpeter Steven Bernstein, and the single-named saxophonist Skerik (who's played in St. Louis at a couple of different venues as part of the trio Garage A Trois, of which Hunter was a founding member).

As you'd expect from the backgrounds of the various members, Omaha Diner's music incorporates a variety of influences, from funk and fusion to punk rock and experimental jazz. However, their stated musical purpose (or gimmick, or unique selling proposition, depending on how you look at it) is to deconstruct pop music, playing only songs that have reached #1 on the Billboard charts.

You can get a idea of what that sounds like in the promotional video embedded below, or check out the versions of Macklemore's "Thrift Shop," Guns N' Roses "Sweet Child O' Mine" and Beyoncé's "Single Ladies" that they performed during a visit last November to radio station KPLU in Seattle.

As always with listings posted on Pollstar, dates should not be considered confirmed until officially announced by the venue or presenter. That said, the service has proved to be very accurate over the years, and given that Jazz St. Louis has said they plan to announce their 2015-16 season schedule next week, local listeners won't have to wait long for confirmation on this one, anyway.

Jazz this week: Regina Carter, Jeff Beck, STL Free Jazz Collective, and more

This week's calendar of jazz and creative music performances in St. Louis is book-ended by two performers - perhaps the most famous living jazz violinist, and a legendary rock guitarist - who both have successfully stretched the boundaries of their respective musical genres.

In between, there are a number of noteworthy shows from local musicians in styles ranging from traditional jazz to free improv. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, May 13
Violinist Regina Carter returns to Jazz at the Bistro, opening a four-night engagement that continues through Saturday.

During this visit to St. Louis, Carter (pictured, top left) will be showcasing music from her 2014 album Southern Comfort, which presents her personal interpretations of folk, blues, country and roots music from the rural South. You can find out more about the project, and see videos of Carter performing several songs from the album, in this post from last Saturday.

Also tonight, singer Eve Seltzer fronts a trio at Nathalie's; and keyboardist Bob Werner and singer Ellen Martinez host a new "open mic" night at Shakers, which recently moved into the space formerly occupied by  Jazz on Broadway at 554 W. Broadway, in downtown Alton.

Thursday, May 14
Singer Tony Viviano pays tribute to the legacy of Bobby Darin at Patrick's Westport Grill; bassist Willem von Hombracht will team up with singer Arvell Keithley for a duo show at Thurman Grill; and trumpeter Jim Manley and guitarist Randy Bahr are now doing their duo gig at Momo's Greek Restaurant in U. City on Thursdays as well as Mondays.

Friday, May 15
The recently formed STL, A Free Jazz Collective will take the stage for their second-ever show at Tavern of Fine Arts.

Explicitly attempting to carry on the improvised music banner once raised by the historic Black Artists Group, the band (pictured, center left) features an intriguing assortment of musical personalities, including Jim Hegarty (piano, electronics), "Baba" Mike Nelson (trumpet, shells, miscellaneous instruments), Jerome "J. Dubs" Williams (alto sax), Paul Steinbeck (bass), and Gary Sykes (drums, percussion), topped off by the spoken word contributions of St. Louis poet laureate Michael Castro.

Elsewhere on Friday, veteran trumpeter Gary Dammer plays a rare public gig at Jacoby Arts Center; saxophonist Jay Hutson brings his R&B sound to Evangeline's; saxophonist Tim Cunningham will return to Troy's Jazz Gallery; the Ambassadors of Swing play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and guitarist Vincent Varvel will perform in the intimate confines of the house concert venue KindaBlue.

Saturday, May 16
Guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran's Guerrilla Swing will play a kid-friendly "Musical Merry-Go-Round" matinee, sponsored by KDHX, at the Tick Tock Tavern, 3549 Magnolia.

Then on Saturday evening, trumpeter Kasimu Taylor leads a quintet in a Miles Davis birthday tribute show at the Kranzberg Arts Center; and Wack-A-Doo plays swing, hot jazz and Americana at Evangeline's

Sunday, May 17
St. Louis Jazz Club presents a matinee performance by the Union Dixie Jazz Band at Concord Farmers' Club.

Monday, May 18
 "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective are doing their regular gig at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups a week earlier that usual this month, as BB's will be closed for Memorial Day..

Tuesday, May 19
It's been 50 years since Jeff Beck (pictured, lower left) first came to public attention as the guitarist tapped to replace Eric Clapton in the British blues-rock band the Yardbirds, and 40 years since the all-instrumental album Blow by Blow showed the world that he was much more than just a stereotypical raving rocker.

Although there have been some periods of relative inactivity in the ensuing years, Beck's command of tone, touch and time remains distinctive and nearly unequaled, and so his show at the Fox Theatre should be a highlight of the year for fans of crafty electric guitar playing. As of this writing, there still are some tickets available, so if you've ever wanted to see Jeff Beck, now would seem to be the time

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.)

Richard McDonnell Memorial Concert to be held Sunday, May 24 at Jazz at the Bistro

Jazz St. Louis has announced that the second annual Richard McDonnell Memorial Concert will take place starting at 3:00 p.m., Sunday, May 24 at Jazz at the Bistro.

The concert will feature performances by St. Louis musicians including Peter Martin, Funky Butt Brass Band, Adam Maness, Bob DeBoo, Eric Slaughter, Montez Coleman, Jesse Gannon, and more.

McDonnell (pictured), who died suddenly on February 8, 2014, was a long-time board member of Jazz St. Louis; founder and owner of the St. Louis based independent record label MAXJAZZ; and a well-liked and near-ubiquitous presence around the local jazz scene.

Tickets for the 2015 Richard McDonnell Memorial Concert are $25 for general admission, $100 for VIP reserved seats, and are on sale now. All the musicians are donating their time so that all proceeds from the concert can go towards a scholarship fund for student musicians in McDonnell’s name.

Music Education Monday: A master class in understanding audio formats

This week's "Music Education Monday" explores a subject that's rather technical, but nevertheless of interest to any working musician who wants to distribute audio to the public.

Engineer Andrew Scheps is a music industry veteran who has won two Grammys and logged credits working with major pop, rock and hip-hop acts including Adele, U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Black Sabbath, Jay-Z, and Metallica.

Working with the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Scheps (pictured) also has put together a presentation about audio quality called “Lost in Translation” that compares many current music services to demonstrate the audible differences among the various file formats, from MP3 and AIFF to FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, and more.

Today, we've got two ways you can glean some of the info Scheps is offering. He was interviewed by Electronic Musician magazine for a very detailed article titled "Masterclass: Andrew Scheps, 'Lost In Translation,' and Understanding Consumer Audio Formats," which you can read online here.

Scheps also has been giving the presentation to a variety of groups in the tech, media, and music industries, and so you can see "Lost in Translation: Audio Quality in Streaming Media," as delivered for the "Talks at Google" series at Google HQ in California, in the embedded video window below.

Miles on Monday: Date set for unveiling of Miles Davis memorial statue, and more

This week for "Miles on Monday," we've got links to the most recent news about the legendary trumpeter:

* The Miles Davis Memorial Project has announced that the unveiling ceremony for the statute of Davis in downtown Alton, IL will be held on Saturday, September 12.

Construction began on the site on West Third St last month, while sculptor Preston Jackson (pictured) is finishing his work on the statue. StLJN also has learned that trumpeter Kasimu Taylor will perform live at the ceremony, with other details of the unveiling festivities still in the planning stages.

The project committee also has announced that they'll print a limited number of program booklets for the event, with advertising space available at prices ranging from $50 for a business card ad to $200 for a full page. For information or to purchase an ad, call Pride Inc. at 618-467-2375 or email pride at prideincorporated dot org.

* Davis' soundtrack for Louis Malle's 1958 film Elevator to the Gallows was the subject of a post at Open Culture. You can see a brief behind-the-scenes film of Davis working on the soundtrack in the embedded video window below.



* A recent blog post from trumpeter Wynton Marsalis attempts to set the record straight about a 1986 encounter with Davis.

Sunday Session: May 10, 2015

Wes Montgomery

For your Sunday reading, some interesting music-related items that have hit StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* In music today, it’s all or nothing – rich at the top or languishing forlornly at the bottom (The New Statesman)
* 40 favorite photos from the 2015 New Orleans Jazz Fest (New Orleans Times-Picayune)
* A New Jazz Suite For Head, Shoulders. Knees, And Toes (NPR)
* 'Buena Vista Social Club' Documentary Sequel Begins Filming This Summer (Rolling Stone)
* AACM Members Unite in Chicago To Celebrate 50th Anniversary (DownBeat)
* Mazzy Star Batman (Paris Review)
* Long-Unheard Harlem Renaissance Opera Coming in June (New York Times)
* "Jazz detective" Zev Feldman talks brand new Wes Montgomery release (NUVO News)
* Solos Under Siege: Country Radio Combats 'Bored' Listeners By Cutting Guitar Parts (Billboard)
* 'Has It Come To This?': A Rational Conversation About Music In Museums (NPR)
* The Most Popular Keys of All Music on Spotify (Spotify)
* Study: New Music Discovery Stops at Age 33 (The Takeaway)
* Is B.B. King Being Held Hostage by His Manager? (The Daily Beast)
* Pressed to the Edge: Why vinyl hype is destroying the record (Fact)
* The Birth of Loop (Prepared Guitar)
* Did a Jazzman Bilk Big Easy’s Libraries? (The Daily Beast)