StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: The sound art of Charlemagne Palestine

This week, our video lens is trained on Charlemagne Palestine, who will be in St. Louis next weekend to play two concerts presented by New Music Circle. Palestine will perform solo in both shows, playing piano on Saturday, November 8 at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in Grand Center, and then performing on the organ on Sunday, November 9 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Soulard.

Born Chaim Moshe Tzadik Palestine in 1945 in Brooklyn, New York, Palestine studied at New York University, Columbia University, Mannes College of Music and California Institute of the Arts. A contemporary of Steve Reich, Philip Glass and Terry Riley, he often is identified with them as a "minimalist" composer, and like them, many of his works rely in part on effects accrued through the repetition of short musical phrases.

However, he has publicly rejected the label of minimalism, saying in interviews that he prefers to be called a "sound artist" rather than a musician, and has used the term "gesamtkunst" - a 19th century German expression meaning "total art" - to describe his works that combine live performance with installations.

And indeed, while Palestine has released more than twenty solo albums and has performed in music festivals around the world, his work also has been exhibited frequently at major visual arts festivals and institutions, including the Venice Biennale in Italy, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Art Institute of Chicago, and many more. That work also frequently incorporates certain emblematic objects, such as stuffed animals, which serve as what Palestine calls "symbols of identification."

You can hear some of his music (and see examples of some of those totemic symbols) in today's videos, starting up top with some excerpts from a solo piano performance that Palestine did in November 2006 in Oslo, Norway.

After the jump, there are some excerpts from his show at the 2010 All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Minehead, England. Then, there's a performance on church organ, recorded in April, 2012 at the Cathédrale de Nantes in Nantes, France, and seen here in three parts.

In the sixth and final video, you can see and hear a complete piano performance from last year at the Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna.

For more about Charlemagne Palestine, read this 1996 article from Hyperreal.org; Palestine's 2002 interview with Perfect Sound Forever; his 2013 interview with The Quietus; and the interview he did in the summer of 2014 with Bomb 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:

* Following up on a story from last week, artist Ray Harvey has completed his mural of the late trumpeter Clark Terry on a building in the Carondelet neighborhood, and St. Louis magazine has a photo of the finished work and an interview with Harvey.

* On a related note, the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, directed by trumpeter Byron Stripling, last week debuted a newly commissioned big band suite paying tribute to Terry. You can read a review of the performance here.

* A story in Wednesday's Alton Telegraph detailed the financial woes of radio station WSIE. With the state of Illinois poised to withdraw all support by 2018, the article says the station will need to replace approximately $140,000, or 80 percent, of its annual budget with additional sponsorships, underwriting, and listener support.

WSIE currently is conducting an IndieGoGo campaign with a goal of collecting $10,000. With 30 days to go, they've raised $1,155 from 21 backers.

* With the hull of what's left of the Goldenrod Showboat destroyed this past summer in a low-water mishap, an article in the St. Louis Business Journal says that preservationists now hope to salvage the Goldernrod's theater and various other artifacts for possible display in a museum setting.

* Drummer Mark Colenburg has been tapped to present a master class, "Connecting Generations," as part of the Percussive Arts Society's 2015 convention, which takes place Wednesday, November 11 through Saturday, November 14 in San Antonio, TX.

* One of guitarist Kevin Eubanks' performances last week at Jazz at the Bistro was reviewed for the Post-Dispatch by Terry Perkins.

* While Eubanks was in town, the former Tonight Show bandleader made several appearances on local broadcast media, including one on NBC affiliate KSDK and one on ESPN Radio affiliate 101Sports.

* Speaking of reviews, KDHX's Chuck Lavazzi has posted one of Lina Koutrakos and Rick Jensen's show last Sunday for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival.

* And speaking of KDHX, they've also posted to Facebook two photo sets of interest, one from Banu Gibson's performance last Sunday at the Sheldon and one from last weekend's St. Louis Gypsy Jazz Festival.

* Saxquest is introducing their own line of saxophone mouthpieces, and they're taking pre-orders now for the first two models, called "The Core" and "The Bridge".

* Saxophonist Oliver Lake has posted to YouTube some video footage from the Krakow show of his recent European tour with the Generations Quartet.

* Trumpeter, singer and U City native Jeremy Davenport was one of a number of musicians taking part last week in a tribute to 100 years of the legacy of Frank Sinatra at the Orpheum Theater in New Orleans. Davenport (pictured) will be back in St. Louis next month for his annual Thanksgiving weekend gig at Jazz at the Bistro.

Jazz this week: Kat Edmondson, Houston Person, Dave Dickey Big Band, and more

While goblins, ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and zombies may rule the upcoming Halloween weekend, there's also plenty of live jazz and creative music to be found in and around St. Louis over the next few days.

Here's a brief look at some of the most noteworthy shows...

Wednesday, October 28
Multi-instrumentalist Lamar Harris and singer Anita Jackson will team up for the first of two nights of what's billed as a tribute to Nina Simone at Jazz at the Bistro.

Thursday, October 29
The Gaslight Cabaret Festival resumes with singer Kat Edmonson performing music from her new album The Big Picture for the first of two nights at the Gaslight Theater. (While Friday's show is sold out, as of this writing some tickets remain for Thursday.) For more about Edmondson (pictured, top left), check out this interview she did to promote her new release last month with NPR.

Also on Thursday, Stephen Koch, a writer and musician from Little Rock, Ar who penned a biography of saxophonist Louis Jordan, will present "Roll, Jordan, Roll: The Legacy of Louis Jordan, Father of R&B" at The Stage at KDHX;  and the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents "Bernstein and Sondheim: Musical Theatre and the Jazz Vernacular," a free concert featuring vocalist Katie Greenberg, pianist Kara Baldus, guitarist William Lenihan, drummer Steve Davis, and a string section.

Friday, October 30
Saxophonist Houston Person (pictured, bottom left) returns for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro. The veteran tenor man, who excels equally at blues, bop and ballads, will be backed by a rhythm section of St. Louis musicians including pianist Adaron "Pops" Jackson, bassist Jahmal Nichols and drummer Montez Coleman.

Also on Friday, Miss Jubilee will play a Halloween-themed swing dance at the Casa Loma Ballroom; saxophonist Tim Cunningham is back at Troy's Jazz Gallery; and singer Erika Johnson and guitarist Tom Byrne will perform at Montrey's Cigar Lounge.


Saturday, October 31
Dizzy Atmosphere will play Gypsy jazz as part of SIUE's "International Night" at the Meridian Ballroom in Morris University Center on the SIUE campus; and Elsie Parker & the Poor People of Paris will perform at Nathalie's.

Sunday, November 1
The Dave Dickey Big Band will play their monthly gig at Jazz at the Bistro, with an intermission performance from the Lindbergh HS Jazz Ensemble directed by David Wyss; and drummer Montez Coleman will lead his trio plus guest vocalist Brian Owens in a concert at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

Monday, November 2
Pianist Greg Mills and friends will play improvised music at the Tavern of Fine Arts; and some of Webster University's student jazz combos will show off what they've learned so far this semester in a performance at Webster's Community Music School.

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.)

Kirk Whalum's "Gospel According to Jazz" set for Sunday, December 13 at Friendly Temple

Saxophonist Kirk Whalum is bringing the Christmas edition of his "Gospel According to Jazz" show to St. Louis for a performance at 6:00 p.m. Sunday, December 13 at Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church, 5515 Dr Martin Luther King Dr.

Joining Whalum (pictured) will be his brother, singer Kevin Whalum, along with saxophonist Gerald Albright, guitarist Norman Brown, singer Shelea, and keyboardist and singer John Stoddart, plus Tiffany Mosley, Leslie Johnson, Darius Bradford, the Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church Mass Choir, and the R.F. Specials Choirs.

The Memphis-based saxophonist, who's the nephew of St. Louis pianist, saxophonist and singer Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum, brought the "Gospel According to Jazz" to St. Louis previously in December, 2012, also at Friendly Temple. His most recent album, the fourth volume in the "Gospel According to Jazz" series, came out in 2014. Whalum and Albright's "Sax for Stax" tour also stopped at The Pageant back in the summer of 2009.

Tickets for the 2015 "Gospel According to Jazz" Christmas show are $20 for balcony seats, $30 for floor seats, and $55 for VIP seating, and are on sale now via the Friendly Temple website and by phone at 314-367-9700.

Music Education Monday: A rhythm section workshop with bassist Rufus Reid

Today for Music Education Monday, you can watch the veteran bassist Rufus Reid as he leads a workshop in jazz rhythm section performance with students at Loyola University New Orleans.

A California native, the 71-year-old Reid (pictured) studied music at Northwestern University and began his professional career in Chicago before moving in 1976 to New York City.

He's recorded 17 albums as a leader, and worked with well-known musicians including Eddie Harris, Stan Getz, Art Farmer, J.J. Johnson, Dexter Gordon, Jack DeJohnette, Andrew Hill, and many more.

Reid also is a veteran educator who taught jazz studies and performance for 20 years at William Paterson University in New Jersey, where he still serves as professor emeritus. He's also been a popular clinician and guest instructor at many other colleges, universities, and jazz camps, and wrote the book The Evolving Bassist, first published in 1974 and still used by many bass teachers.

You can see the video of Reid's workshop, recorded in 2009 and presented in two parts, after the jump...

Miles on Monday: Reissue news, Don Cheadle on directing Miles Ahead, and more

This week in Miles Davis news:

* Actor/director Don Cheadle tells Hollywood Reporter why he stayed in character as Davis throughout the process of directing Miles Ahead.

* To promote the upcoming release of Bitches Brew, a volume in the 33-1/3 Books series about the album of the same name, the book's author George Grella last week took over the publisher's blog for a series of posts about Davis:
Day 1: Music To Read Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew By?
Day 2: The Lost Quintet
Day 3: Do As I Say, Not As I Do
Day 4: Miles to Go
Miles Davis Week – Miles Ahead

* The rather prosaically named 1956 LP Miles Davis, Volume 2 is among the latest batch of vinyl reissues from Blue Note records released last Friday, October 23. The 12" album (pictured) added more tracks and new cover art to an earlier version originally issued as a 10" LP in 1953.

* As noted on Universal Music's blog, today marks 60 years since Davis did his first recording session for Columbia Records on October 26, 1955. However, those recordings - which included a version of Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight," but using the variant name "'Round About Midnight"  - weren't issued until 1957. That's because Davis still was under contract to Prestige Records, for whom he cut another version of "Round Midnight" on this date exactly one year later in 1956 that was released as a single and later included on the 1959 album Miles Davis And The Modern Jazz Giants.

* Muhammad Abdullah, previously known as Miles Davis IV and son of Miles Davis and Irene Cawthon Davis-Oliver, has died at age 65 of complications from a heart ailment. Abdullah, a veteran of the US Navy, was buried in a Muslim ceremony on Thursday, October 22 at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis.

Sunday Session: October 25, 2015

Hugh Masekela

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

* Tubby Hayes: British jazz’s forgotten genius is being rediscovered, thanks to fans including Martin Freeman (The Independent UK)
* Review - Echoes of a master fill a tribute to Charlie Haden at CalArts (Los Angeles Times)
* The New Explosion of Bootleg Vinyl (Pitchfork)
* Classical music isn't a secret society unless we allow it to be (The Guardian UK)
* How to get a gig as a game music composer (SoundOnSound.com)
* These Portraits of Southern Blues Musicians Prove That Blues Is Not Dead (Time)
* What’s wrong with the classical concert experience in the 21st century? (Gramophone)
* The Vision Festival: From Upstart to Institution (Jazz Times)
* What’s That Sound? It’s Tough to Tell (New York Times)
* 3 Cohens, Masekela Celebrate Heritage at South Africa’s Joy of Jazz Fest (DownBeat)
* Meet Composer Caroline Shaw, Kanye West’s New Pulitzer Prize-Winning Collaborator (Pitchfork)
* Videogames are helping to keep the symphony orchestra afloat (KillScreenDaily.com)
* “We did it, Mom!”: Frank Zappa’s Roxy The Movie Premieres in LA (Relix.com)
* When Iggy Pop can’t live off his art, what chance do the rest have? (Toronto Globe and Mail)
* NEA Announces Recipients of Jazz Masters Award (DownBeat)
* Vocalist Mark Murphy Dies at 83 (Jazz Times)
* Independent Musicians Find Unexpected Rewards in Streaming (New York Times)
* Why Everyone Wants To Record 'Live At The Village Vanguard' (NPR)
* Rudresh Mahanthappa’s tribute to Charlie Parker soars (Washington Post)
* Frank Sinatra’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”: The Full Story (Vanity Fair)
* Giving United Sound, Detroit's other landmark music studio, its due (ModelDMedia.com)
* Incredibly Strange Music: The Untold Story of Asphodel Records (FactMag.com)
* The Life And Death Of Tower Records, Revisited (NPR)
* Midnight In The Drum Machine Of Good And Evil (NPR)
* Music Download Site eMusic Gets Acquired Again, This Time By Israeli Media Startup TriPlay (TechCrunch.com)
* The Outrageous Auction Prices of Vintage Blue Note Vinyl Records (Collecting Blue Note Records)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Six from Ramsey Lewis

This week, our video spotlight shines on the veteran pianist Ramsey Lewis, who's coming back to St. Louis to perform on Saturday, November 7 for the annual "ArtSounds" fundraiser at the Sheldon Concert Hall. (As with many of their fundraising events, the Sheldon also is offering a concert-only ticket option for those who just want to hear the music.)

Lewis was here most recently in March of this year to play a private gig at the Ferring Jazz Bistro, and wound up adding one public performance to his stay. Before that, he also did a four-night run back in November 2011 at the Bistro, at which time he and some of his best-known songs were the subject of a previous video post.

This upcoming show nominally celebrates the 50th anniversary of the release of "The In Crowd," but since our previous post already covered that tune, "Sun Goddess" and other familiar favorites from the pianist's catalog, today you can see him playing completely different material touching on several different styles, from Brazilian music to gospel.

Speaking of Brazilian music, the first video up above features "Brazilica," a song first recorded by Lewis for his 1976 album Solongo and seen here in a version from the 2013 Jazz à Vienne festival in Vienne, France.

After the jump, Lewis stretches out a bit on "You Are The Reason," recorded in 1980 in Montreal with longtime guitarist Henry Johnson plus Greg Williams on bass and Frank Donaldson on drums.

After that, you can see three performances from Lewis' 1990 band with Johnson, Steve Cobb (drums), Mike Logan (keyboard), and Chuck Webb (bass), starting with a medley of spirituals that are given Lewis' distinctive touch, followed by versions of Stevie Wonder's "Livin' for the City," and the standard "Stella by Starlight."

Last by not least, there's a full show by Lewis and his Electric Band, recorded in 2011 at the Jazz San Javier festival in San Javier, Spain.

For more on what Ramsey Lewis has been up to recently, check out his interview on Jazziz magazine's podcast, released earlier this month.

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 late trumpeter and St. Louis native Clark Terry is being honored with a 900 square foot painting on a building in the Carondelet neighborhood. Per a story on local Fox affiliate KTVI (Channel 2), artist Ray Harvey grew up in the area and was commissioned by the Carondelet Community Betterment Federation to design and paint the mural (pictured), which can be seen at the corner of South Broadway and Schirmer.

* Shanara Gabrielle's show last week for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival was reviewed by Mark Bretz of Ladue News and Chuck Lavazzi of KDHX. Lavazzi also weighed in with a review of Maxine Linehan's festival performance.

* The St. Louis Big Band celebrated their fifth anniversary as an ensemble, and have posted to Facebook an album of photos from the party.

* Speaking of photo albums, Lindy Hop St. Louis has posted one to Facebook collecting pix from their recent "Enchantment Under The Sea" dance.

* Just in time for the holidays, saxophonist Rev. Cliff Aerie and trumpeter Tim Osiek of the Oikos Ensemble have published Worship in a New Key: Jazz Christmas Carols, the second book of musical arrangements in their Worship Jazz series, plus two scripts for "Jazz Nativity" programs that can be be used for concert presentations or adapted for worship services.

* Jazz St. Louis is looking for a part-time box office assistant to work 15 to 20 hours a week. For more information about the job and how to apply, see their website.

* Theatrical producers Fox Associates are opening a new nightspot, the Curtain Call Lounge, in the storefront space on Grand immediately adjacent to the Fox Theatre's front door. A story about the bar in St. Louis magazine suggests that live music will be added in the near future.

* Harris Stowe State University and the Don and Heide Wolff Jazz Institute inducted six musicians and one "jazz advocate" into their St. Louis Jazz Hall of Fame in ceremonies held Sunday night as part of the HSSU alumni gala at the Ferring Jazz Bistro. The honorees included vocalist Mae Wheeler and guitarist Eddie Fisher, both inducted posthumously, along with saxophonists Dwayne Bosman and Dwight Bosman of the Bosman Twins, pianists Ptah Williams and Herb Drury, and broadcaster Don Wolff.

Jazz this week: Kevin Eubanks, St. Louis Gypsy Jazz Festival, Banu Gibson, and more

The wide variety of music encompassed by the label "jazz" will be on full display this week in St. Louis, with performances of big band swing, cabaret, free improv, Gypsy jazz, ragtime, and numerous other sub-genres and allied musics happening at local venues.

Here's a look at some of the most noteworthy shows coming up...

Wednesday, October 21
Guitarist Kevin Eubanks and his trio begin a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. Since leaving his steady gig on television, the former Tonight Show bandleader has done work for some educational and charitable causes; toured on his own and with bassist Dave Holland; and made several recordings for Mack Avenue Records, the most recent of which was a duet album with fellow guitarist Stanley Jordan that came out earlier this year.

For more about what Eubanks (pictured, top left) has been up to recently, check out the interview he did back in April with the Voice of America program Beyond Category.

Also on Wednesday, Cabaret Project St. Louis presents their monthly "Open Mic Night" at the Tavern of Fine Arts; and guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran plays at Nathalie's.

Thursday, October 22
The Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University will present a tribute to the music of Ornette Coleman featuring saxophonist Dave Stone, while the Gaslight Cabaret Festival resumes with singer and impressionist Dean Christopher performing "Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime: A Tribute to Dean Martin" at the Gaslight Theater.

Also on Thursday, singer Joe Mancuso and keyboardist Curt Landes will take the stage at Thurman Grill.

Friday, October 23
Organized by singer Eve Seltzer and guitarist Ben Wood of the band Franglais, the first-ever St. Louis Gypsy Jazz Festival begins the first of three days and nights of performances at Evangeline's.

The event will include three evening shows followed by late-night jam sessions, plus brunch-time shows on Saturday and Sunday. In addition to Franglais (pictured, center left) the lineup features St. Louis' own Coco Rico, plus visiting acts including accordionist Dallas Vietty, singer Miles Griffith, and the bands Swing '39 and Bedlam Swing. You can see videos of all the participating acts in this post from last Saturday.

Also on Friday, Minnesota's Davina & The Vagabonds will bring their swinging jump blues to the Old Rock House; Ken Haller performs his cabaret show "Mama's Boy" at the Gaslight Theater; and the Gateway City Big Band plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, October 24
The Friends of Scott Joplin will present pianists Frank LiVolsi and John Reed-Torres (pictured, center left) in an "East Coast Meets West Coast" concert of ragtime music at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's Rosebud Cafe.

Elsewhere on Saturday, trumpeter Jim Manley and guitarist Randy Bahr's "All-Star Band" plays at Nathalie's; singer and actor Jeffrey M. Wright does cabaret at the Gaslight Theater; and the Wire Pilots play original fusion music at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

Sunday, October 25
Bassist Jim Widner's Big Band, having shed its former alternate identity as the St. Louis Jazz Orchestra, will play a matinee at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

Meanwhile, singer Banu Gibson will be back in town for the first time since 2010 to perform a matinee program of music from singer-songwriter Randy Newman at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Then that evening, singer Lina Koutrakos and pianist and singer Rick Jensen will wrap up the Gaslight Cabaret Festival's weekend with their show "Two For The Road" at the Gaslight Theater.

Monday, October 26
The music department at Webster University will present its annual TKT Scholarship Benefit at Winfred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus. The event raises money for scholarships awarded in the names of Terry Jackson, Kirk Cappello and Tony Saputo, three former Webster students who died in the 1991 plane crash that :killed eight members of country singer Reba McIntyre's band.

This year's theme is "Jazz Interpretations of Pop Hits of the 1960s," as performed by members of the jazz faculty, the Webster University jazz Singers, and guest vocalists.

Also on Monday, saxophonist "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective return to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups,

Tuesday, October 27
The Luminary presents "Change is a Sound: Free Jazz and Collective Practice in Political Movements," an event featuring a conversation between percussionist Charles "Bobo" Shaw, a founding member of the Black Artists Group, and St. Louis University's Ben Looker, who wrote The Point From Which Creation Begins, a book about the history of BAG. KDHX's Josh Weinstein will spin BAG-related recordings before and after.

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: B-3 for beginners

The sound of the Hammond B-3 organ is an integral part of many American musical genres, from blues and funk to gospel and soul.

It's been part of jazz, too, almost since its invention in 1935, but really came into prominence starting in the 1950s thanks to Jimmy Smith. Smith, a Philadelphia native who started as a pianist, developed a distinctive style of playing that took advantage of the Hammond's unique feature set and put the organ at the center of a hard-driving, soulful small band.

Smith helped inspire many other players to adopt some of his innovations, and soon organists like "Brother" Jack McDuff, Richard "Groove" Holmes, Shirley Scott, Charles Earland, Jimmy McGriff, and many others followed down the trail he blazed, adding their own tricks, licks and techniques along the way.

Today, it's easier than ever for musicians to access Hammond sounds, thanks to the proliferation of small, portable "clonewheel" organs and software emulations. However, the sounds are just the starting place. Whether using the real thing or just a very good simulation, getting an authentic feel requires an understanding of how the Hammond works and some of the specific techniques used to get what now are considered the instrument's signature sounds.

So toward that end, for this week's Music Education Monday, and what's looking like a couple of future installments yet to be scheduled, you can check out some links to info that should help any musician get a grasp on the basics of the B-3.

* For starters, Keyboard magazine online has some brief yet helpful tutorials, beginning with "Hammond B-3 Basics For Pianists" from Scott Healy, the talented and versatile keyboardist for talk show host Conan O'Brien's house band.

There's also "Must-Know Techniques for Hammond Organ" from Brian Charette, who's performed and recorded with Joni Mitchell, Lou Donaldson, Bucky Pizzarelli, Michael Bublé; and "5 Ways To Comp on a Hammond B-3," written by John Ginty, an original member of Robert Randolph’s Family Band who also has toured and/or recorded with Jewel, Santana, and the Dixie Chicks.

* Or perhaps you need something even more basic than that, a tutorial that starts with something as simple as how to turn on the B-3 (a procedure that has vexed more than one novice). If so, check the series of short videos by church organist Geoffrey Killebrew, each dedicated to a particular feature of the B-3 and how to use it.

* Next, you'll need to understand what drawbars are and how they work, and for that, Hammond-Organ.com's "An Introduction to Drawbars" will come in handy. If you have some experience programming synths, there's an article from ProgSounds.com on "How to emulate Hammond Organ on a synthesizer" that may provide some useful insights related to that knowledge.

And for an even deeper, engineering-nerd style dive into the subject, check out "The Science of Hammond Organ Drawbar Registration".

* Before you start practicing, also take a minute to understand what the website Learn Jazz Standards calls "The #1 Myth of the Hammond Organ," namely that "Hammond B3 players usually play bass with their feet, comp with their left hand, and solo with their right hand."

(In future installments, look for more info on specific tricks and techniques, some Hammond history, and, eventually, some instructional videos.)

Miles on Monday: Don Cheadle defends Miles Ahead, film gets release date, and more

This week in Miles Davis news, there's plenty of additional scoop related to last week's premiere screening of Miles Ahead, Don Cheadle's new film about Davis, but first, a few items not about the movie:

* Last week also marked the 43rd anniversary of the release of Davis' album On The Corner, and S. Victor Aaron of the website Something Else! took the opportunity for a retrospective look at the still-controversial recording.

* Speaking of retrospective looks, the website Jazz Profiles last week republished an interview Davis did with Michael Zwerin, which appeared originally on CultureKiosque in the late 1990s as part of Zwerin's 41-part (!) series of articles about the trumpeter.

* Davis' music also is being used onscreen for a vehicle very different than Miles Ahead, as a new TV commercial for Lincoln automobiles starring actor Matthew McConaughey incorporates "Au Bar du Petit Bac" from the trumpeter's score for the 1958 Louis Malle film Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud ("Elevator to the Gallows").

And now for the movie news: 

* After the New York Film Festival's premiere screening of Miles Ahead, distributor Sony Classics announced that, contrary to previous speculation, the film would not get a one-week theatrical run in 2015 to qualify for this year's Academy Awards. Instead, the opening now is scheduled for April 2016.

* AllAboutJazz.com's Solomon J. LeFlore recapped the story behind the film's making, and his AAJ colleague R. J. DeLuke interviewed Davis' nephew Vincent Wilburn, who was crucial to getting Cheadle to star and direct.

* Meanwhile, more reviews of Miles Ahead continue to be published. Some excerpts and links:

"Don Cheadle glows as Miles Davis and makes a promising and energetic directorial debut, but the film is too restless and over the top to resonate." - Gregory Wakeman, CinemaBlend

"Contextualised by transporting musical interludes, the performances should ensure the movie succeeds in urban markets. The dissonance between its two story strands may nevertheless alienate some viewers." - Graham Fuller, Screen Daily

"Cheadle’s approach of ignoring chronology, and having the music evoke the images, makes Davis’s work accessible to all audiences. The screenplay is another matter. One wishes the filmmaker-biographers would have dropped the buddy plot and left us alone with Davis and his memories." - Maria Garcia, Biography.com

"In its attempt to rewrite the story of Davis, “Miles Ahead” ends up diminishing his personality. It presents Davis as a man of one-note when, as anybody who has listened to his music can attest, he contained multitudes." - Craig Hubert, BlouinArtInfo

"Biographical dramas, unlike jazz, need to be grounded in reality. And Cheadle’s performance, while it makes Miles Ahead worth seeing, should have been grounded in a more focused and tough-minded movie." - Owen Glieberman, BBC

* In the wake of what seem to be generally mixed reviews, Cheadle (pictured, in a flashback sequence from the film) has continued to defend the creative decisions made during his directorial debut in interviews with publications including the Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Vulture.com, and the Los Angeles Times.

* However, Cheadle was candid about the limitations imposed by the film's tight budget and schedule when he appeared for an extended interview on a recent episode of Kevin Pollak's Chat Show. The entire interview is embedded in the video window below, but the main discussion of Miles Ahead starts about 18 and a half minutes in. Cheadle and Pollak continue talking about the film for roughly the next 11 minutes, and refer it to several more times during the course of the interview.

Sunday Session: October 18, 2015

Jack DeJohnette

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

* RCA Records' Peter Edge and Tom Corson on Why the Label Downsized and its Place in Sony's Big Picture (Q&A) (Hollywood Reporter)
* Rob Mazurek: Sound Affects (Jazz Times)
* The Inside Story Behind the Making of Frank Sinatra's Ambitious and Wacky 1980 Three-Disc Album, 'Trilogy' (Billboard)
* Russia’s wedding playlist: 7 must-have hits (Russia Beyond The Headlines)
* Is ‘Artisanal’ Music the Next New Thing? (The Daily Beast)
* Monk Institute Vocal Competition Semi-Finalists Announced - Finals set for Nov 14-15 in L.A. (Jazz Times)
* The Devaluation of Music: It’s Worse Than You Think (Medium.com)
* Two-Thirds of U.S. Homes Stream Audio Over Broadband, With Amazon in a Surprising Lead (Billboard)
* Review: Sun Ra And His Arkestra - To Those Of Earth... And Other Worlds (The Quietus)
* Legacy to Release 4-CD Live Weather Report Box (Jazz Times)
* Elling To Salute Sinatra in NYC (DownBeat)
* Harry Connick Jr. Syndicated Daytime Show Set for Fall 2016 (Billboard)
* An Ancient Indonesian Music Tradition Gets an Electronic Update (Hyperallergic.com)
* Digital Orphans: The Massive Cultural Black Hole On Our Horizon (TechDirt.com)
* DeJohnette, Coltrane, Garrison Forge Deep Bond in Brooklyn (DownBeat)
* Postage Stamps from Bhutan That Double as Playable Vinyl Records (OpenCulture.com)
* Jazz-playing robot will provide insight into how computers communicate with humans (University of Illinois)
* Documenting the women of LA's 70s rock scene (Vice.com)
* What Does Minecraft for Music Look Like? (Medium.com)
* The unrest is silence: why ‘classical’ music traditions are under threat (The Guardian UK)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: St. Louis Gypsy Jazz Festival

If you dig guitarist Django Reinhardt, you'll want to have a look at the bands and musicians performing in the first-ever St. Louis Gypsy Jazz Festival, which will take place this coming Friday, October 23 through Sunday, October 25 at Evangeline's.

Organized by singer Eve Seltzer and her husband, guitarist Ben Wood, both of the band Franglais, the event will include three nights of evening performances and late-night jam sessions, with brunch-time shows added on Saturday and Sunday, all featuring jazz played in the style pioneered in the 1930s by Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli.

In addition to Franglais (pictured, lower left) the musical lineup will include St. Louis' own Coco Rico, plus visiting acts including accordionist Dallas Vietty, singer Miles Griffith, and the bands Swing '39 and Bedlam Swing, as well any other special guests who may turn up for the jam sessions.

You can see Franglais in the first video up top, performing the 1918 standard "After You've Gone" in a Gypsy jazz style.

After the jump, there's a clip of Vietty with the band Gypsy Roots playing "Limehouse Blues," a 1922 tune famously done by Reinhardt. This version was recorded in 2012 at the Ironhorse in Ashland, VA.

Next is Miles Griffith singing "Toot Toot Tootsie" with some help from pianist Kirk Nurock. The clip was made in 2009 at NYC's Symphony Space as part of a series devoted to the arts during the year 1939.

Below that, you can check out an undated video of Bedlam Swing playing "Putting on the Ritz"; Swing '39's version of "I Got Rhythm," recorded in June 2014 at an outdoor concert in Louisville, KY; and Coco Rico, with guest clarinetist Chloe Feoranzo, doing their version of "Lady Be Good."

For complete schedule information and the latest updates, visit the St. Louis Gypsy Jazz Festival's Facebook page.

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

Roseanna Vitro to perform Saturday, December 5 at the Ozark Theatre

Singer Roseanna Vitro is returning to St. Louis to perform at 8 p.m. Saturday, December 5 at the Ozark Theatre.

Vitro (pictured) will present what's being billed as an "American Composers Holiday Concert," featuring the music of Ray Charles, Randy Newman, Bill Evans, Duke Ellington, and Clare Fischer. Fischer's compositions were the focus of Vitro's most recent album Clarity: Music of Clare Fischer, which was released last year.

She'll be backed for this performance by a group of St. Louis musicians including Kim Portnoy (piano), Ric Vice (bass), Danny Campbell (trumpet), Clancey Newell (drums), and Jeff Anderson (tenor sax).

The show is being produced by Dorothy Edwards of Robbie's House of Jazz, the now-closed club nearby in Webster Groves where Vitro last performed in St. Louis in September 2013. Tickets are $20 in advance via http://robbieshouseofjazz.com/, $25 at the door.

Edited 10/244/14 to correct date of concert.

2016 Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival to feature John Pizzarelli, tribute to Maynard Ferguson

The 2016 Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival is set for Friday, April 22 and Saturday, April 23 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, and will feature guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli on Friday and a tribute to the late trumpeter Maynard Ferguson on Saturday.

Pizzarelli (pictured) is a frequent visitor to St. Louis who played here most recently in July at the Sheldon in a fundraiser for the family of pianist Ray Kennedy. His latest album Midnight McCartney, which was released in September, features interpretations of the songs of Paul McCartney. Pizzarelli also was one of the headliners at the 2009 GSLJF.

The Maynard Ferguson tribute will be presented by the the M.F. All-Star Band, which features former Ferguson sidemen including trumpeters Wayne Bergeron and Frank Greene, trombonist Steve Wiest, baritone saxophonist Dennis DiBlasio, and drummer Stockton Helbing.

The UMSL Jazz Ensemble, directed by Jim Widner, will open both shows. The GSLJF also will include three days of adjudicated performances and clinics for high school jazz ensembles from around the area, beginning on Thursday, April 21 and continuing through Saturday.

Tickets for the Friday and Saturday concerts will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. next Tuesday, October 20 via the Touhill box office, online at http://touhill.org/, and by phone at 314-516-4949.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The Columbus Jazz Orchestra, directed by trumpeter Byron Stripling, will pay tribute to the life and legacy of the late trumpet great and St. Louis native Clark Terry with "CT Suite - Three Portraits in Blues," a newly commissioned work by John Clayton, Chad Eby, and Dennis Mackrel that will get its world premiere as part of four concerts presented October 22 - 24 at the Southern Theatre in Columbus.

The performance on Saturday, October 24 will be streamed live online for free by Columbus' WOSU Public Media, an affiliate of PBS and NPR. Stripling (pictured, top left, with Terry at right) will be in St. Louis in March to perform a tribute to Terry with the Jazz St. Louis Big Band at Jazz at the Bistro.

* Euclid Records' annual "Sidewalk Sale" is set for next Saturday, October 24. The Webster Groves retailer will be blowing out CDs and DVDs and offering an expanded selection of more than 8,000 vinyl records with special pricing, including some remaining from the collection of the late DJ Leo Chears.

* Speaking of record stores, a new one called Planet Score Records is setting up shop at 7421 Manchester in Maplewood, with plans to open sometime this month.

* St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts has scheduled more workshops for artists of all disciplines in their "Business Edge" series, including tomorrow's "Career Planning for Creatives, "The Entrepreneurial Artist" on Monday, October 26 and "Your Art, Your Brand: An Artist’s Guide to Being Noticeable and Getting Noticed" on Monday, November 9. For details, costs, and registration info, see the VLAA website.

* The Sheldon Concert Hall has posted to Facebook a photo set from pianist Peter Martin's performance there last Saturday.

* The south side guitar shop J Gravity Strings was featured Wednesday on KSDK's Show Me St. Louis.

Jazz this week: Adam Larson, Lettuce, Youngblood Brass Band, March Fourth!, The New Mastersounds, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in and around St. Louis features a couple of different acts purveying instrumental funk, a saxophone phenom working in the modern jazz mainstream, a mutant marching band, and, as the saying goes, much, much more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, October 14
Up-and-coming saxophonist Adam Larson will play the first of two nights with his quartet at Jazz at the Bistro. Originally from Normal, IL, Larson (pictured, top left) graduated from Manhattan School of Music and now is based in NYC. He's recorded three albums as leader, the latest of which, Selective Amnesia, is scheduled for release next month.

Also on Wednesday, Franglais, featuring singer Eve Seltzer, will play Gypsy jazz at Nathalie's

Thursday, October 15
Singer Denise Thimes will present the 10th annual fundraiser for the Mildred Thimes Foundation, which raises money for research to fight pancreatic cancer, at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Standup comic and radio personality Monique Marvez will be Thimes' special guest.

Also on Thursday, the Gaslight Cabaret Festival resumes with Shanara Gabrielle, a graduate of Webster University's theater program and now a working actress who will be making her cabaret debut with the show "Rated SG" at the Gaslight Theater.

Friday, October 16
The funk/jazz/jam band Lettuce (pictured, center left) returns for the first time since last year's LouFest, touring in support of their just-released album Crush, for a performance at The Pageant; and the Coleman Hughes Project, featuring singer Adrienne Felton, will play smooth jazz and R&B in the first of two nights of their debut gig at Jazz at the Bistro.

Elsewhere around town, the Gaslight Cabaret Festival continues with the acapella group One Too Many at the Gaslight Theater; Second Generation Swing plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and Tim Cunningham continues what's now being billed as a ongoing weekly gig at Troy's Jazz Gallery

Saturday, October 17
The Spiritual Revolution Ensemble will team up with poets Mama Blue and Pacia Anderson to pay tribute to Ornette Coleman in a fundraiser for the Yeyo Arts Collective; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to the Venice Cafe; and singer Chuck Flowers will perform his cabaret show "Songs I Came Up With" at the Gaslight Theater.

Sunday, October 18
Youngblood Brass Band, a Wisconsin-based group that filters the New Orleans brass band tradition through hip-hop and punk, plays at 2720 Cherokee.

Monday, October 19
With between 15 and 20 members at any given time, Portland, OR's MarchFourth! (pictured, lower left) will no doubt fill the stage at the Old Rock House, looking something like a fun-house mirror version of a marching band augmented by dancers and stilt-walkers, with a percussion- and brass-heavy sound that defies easy categorization.

For some video samples of what this looks and sounds like in a live situation, check out this video post from last Saturday.

Tuesday, October 20
The British funk quartet The New Mastersounds bring their Meters-esque funk to the Old Rock House, while new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound begins their fourth St. Louis season at the Sheldon Concert Hall with a program of music from composers under age 40.

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.)

Miles on Monday: First reviews of Miles Ahead

With the debut this past weekend of Don Cheadle's film Miles Ahead at the New York Film Festival, this week's Miles Davis news is full of items about the long-awaited movie.

* On the eve of the Festival, New York Times film critic A.O. Scott thought Miles Ahead could be an Oscar contender, writing, "Anyone who wants to get a jump on possible Oscar nominees for 2017 — as I said, it’s never too soon! — should check out “Miles Ahead”...Blending musical biopic standards (ill-starred marriage, drug addiction, record-company shenanigans) with caper-movie riffs (pistol-whippings, car chases, sketchy deals with shady characters),“Miles Ahead” at its best is as witty and knowing as Mr. Cheadle’s sly, whispery performance. The music is pretty good, too."

* Over the weekend, film distributors Sony Classics released a couple of short clips from the film online. You can see the first one here, and the second is embedded at the end of this post.

* For his part, Cheadle talked to the Guardian newspaper to defend his decision not to do a straight-up biography, saying, “I just wasn’t interested in doing a story that way with this particular artist – this singular artist. I wanted to make a movie that I think Miles Davis would have wanted to star in.”

* The film site IndieWire offered up in-depth analysis via three separate reviews of the NYFF screening.

In "Don Cheadle Strives to Make a Film That Miles Davis Would, in 'Miles Ahead'," reviewer Tambay A. Obenson opined, "Despite any misgivings I have about the film, it's undoubtedly one of significance - a necessary work in a time when the clamor is over projects about musicians who came along decades after Davis' peak period, who stand on his shoulders, and may not even realize it. And while it's not a factual cradle-to-grave story, and more of a flight of fancy, and wouldn't necessarily serve as an introduction to Miles Davis for the uninitiated, there's enough in it to make it a worthy addition to the Miles Davis canon."

Meanwhile, in his article titled "Don Cheadle's 'Miles Ahead' Isn't Really a Miles Davis Biopic," reviewer Eric Kohn noted that "Davis, after all, built his unique sound on the backs of earlier jazz inspirations and the improvisatory processes of dissonant elements. "Miles Ahead" follows suit with mixed results, but its ambition is formidable..Like Davis, the movie keeps reaching for new ideas, occasionally hitting on some great ones."

Fellow reviewer Rodrigo Perez seemed marginally less impressed, concluding, "In the end, it's clear Cheadle’s movie’s reach exceeds its grasp and capabilities, but as recent biopics go, its musicality, flair, and verve certainly count for something."

* In other reviews, Patrick Ryan of USA Today said the film "captures Miles Davis' spirit"; Nick Shager of Variety called it "A wild, and wildly uneven, free-form investigation of Davis’ turbulent personal and professional life that’s bolstered by an outsized lead performance"; David Rooney of the Hollywood Reporter says the film's "freeform riffs on highs and lows from the musician's life are a fine example of structure emulating the ever-evolving style of an artist defined by unrelenting experimentation"; and Esquire magazine's Matt Patches said, "The biopic stays faithful to the Kind of Blue trumpeter's essence at the expense of his output."

Music Education Monday: A master class with Tony Williams

Drummer Tony Williams burst on to the international jazz scene in sensational fashion, getting hired when he was just 17 years old by Miles Davis to join what would become known as the trumpeter's "Second Great Quintet."

Starting in 1963, that band become one of the most popular and critically acclaimed jazz groups of the decade, stretching the boundaries of the music ever further over the course of six years, more than a dozen recordings, and hundreds of gigs. 

Williams (pictured) would go on to play in a variety of styles, doing sessions for Blue Note with adventurous musicians including Jackie McLean, Grachan Moncur III, Sam Rivers, Andrew Hill, and Eric Dolphy and helping pioneer the fusion movement of the 1970s with his band Lifetime.

He eventually would return to a more acoustic sound, in the late 1970s reuniting with his old colleagues from Davis' band (with Freddie Hubbard on trumpet) under the name VSOP, and in the 1980s forming his own straight-ahead quintet, which helped bring to prominence musicians including pianist Marcus Miller and trumpeter Wallace Roney.

Tragically, Williams (pictured) was just 51 when he died, passing away in 1997 from a heart attack after what was supposed to have been routine gall bladder surgery. But he left behind a significant legacy, as along with Elvin Jones, he was one of the most influential drummers of the era, offering a powerful combination of chops, audacity, and conceptual thinking that helped change the game for all who followed him.

In 1985, Williams presented a master class at a promotional event for the cymbal maker Zildjian, and fortunately, someone had the presence of mind to videotape it and, many years later, upload it to YouTube. You can see that video of Tony Williams' master class, presented in three parts, after the jump...

Sunday Session: October 11, 2015

Erroll Garner

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

* Rise of the Synthesizer: How an Electronics Whiz Kid Gave the 1980s Its Signature Sound (Collector's Weekly)
* Review: Erroll Garner - The Complete Concert by the Sea (Jazz Times)

* Max Richter breaks world records with radio performance of Sleep (FactMag.com)
* Should Composers Read Music Critics? (New Music Box)
* Why You Can Never Tune a Piano (OpenCulture.com)
* Legendary Jazz Club Uses Virtual Reality to Bring Concerts to Your Couch (Yahoo)
* Eavesdropping on Dianne Reeves and Christian McBride (Indianapolis Star)
* The new jazz age: New York City's jazz venue renaissance (The Guardian UK)
* Making waves: classical music and the rise of streaming (Gramophone UK)
* Interview with Fusion Trailblazer John McLaughlin (ProgressiveRockCentral.com)
* A Cover That Gave Jazz Lots of Soul (Wall Street Journal)
* Reel-to-reel tape is the new vinyl (TheVerge.com)
* Full Stack Music: 1 Trillion Streams, 200 Million Tickets (TechCrunch.com)
* Ethan Hawke’s Chet Baker Biopic ‘Born to Be Blue’ Sold to IFC (Variety)
* 10 Things Sun Ra Can Teach You About Band Leadership (SonicBids.com)
* Innovative Saxophonists Enliven Guelph Jazz Festival (DownBeat)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A most unusual "marching band"

From the looks of things, fitting everyone on stage may be a tight squeeze when MarchFourth! comes to St. Louis to play an all-ages show on Monday, October 19 at the Old Rock House.

Formed in Portland, OR for a Mardi Gras gig in 2003, the group includes stilt-walkers, acrobats and dancers, as well as up to five percussionists and six brass and wind players among its lineup of 15 to 20 musicians and performers.

Their accomplishments to date include touring the summer jam-band and rock festival circuits multiple times here in the US; performing in Germany, The Netherlands, France, Canada and China; and having their music featured in TV and film productions including a commercial for Microsoft and the Pixar film Monsters University.

But while their instrumentation and stage wear may draw inspiration from the marching band tradition, MarchFourth!'s music is far from traditional, incorporating influences from jazz, rock, ska, klezmer, hip-hop, swing, Afro-Cuban beats, and more.

You can get a better idea of how all these elements come together by checking out today's videos, starting with the first clip up top, which shows them playing a tune called "Surfunk" in 2014 at their 11th anniversary Fat Tuesday party at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland.

After the jump, you can see and hear them performing "Space Hole," recorded in 2012 at the same venue; "Delhi Belly," from October 2014 at The Funky Biscuit in Boca Raton, FL; and "Gospel," their tune that was featured in Monsters University, recorded in October 2013 at the Fairfield Theatre in Fairfield, CT.

If you'd like to delve a little deeper, after that there are videos of two full sets, from March 2014 at The Wild Buffalo in Bellingham, WA, and October 2014 at Magnoliafest in Live Oak, FL.

For more about MarchFourth!, check out the interview they did in 2013 with Salt Lake City Weekly and this one from 2011 with MetroSpective in Boulder, CO. 

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

Site news: Post #4,000

Today, let us pause our regularly scheduled blogging briefly to point out that this is post number 4,000 on St. Louis Jazz Notes. Many thanks to all the readers, commenters and sources who have been part of this site since it began in April, 2005.

To mark the occasion of today's dubious achievement, please feel free to use the comments to offer your hearty congratulations, helpful suggestions, and/or bitter complaints.