StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A Clark Terry retrospective

Today, as funeral services for Clark Terry take place in New York City, StLJN pays tribute to the late, great trumpeter and St. Louis native with a video retrospective of his career. (You can see previous coverage of Terry's passing here and here.)

Over the past decade, StLJN has featured Terry in several previous video showcases, and this post includes some favorites from those posts, as well as some clips previously unseen here. Fortunately, there's a wealth of video of Terry available online, and while it wasn't easy to narrow the field, even to a dozen clips, these examples should provide a good overview.

The first clip up above shows Terry with a small group drawn from the Count Basie Orchestra, performing "Royalty in Rhythm." Although the clip is undated, Terry played with the Count between 1948 and 1951, so it most likely was recorded sometime during that three-year stretch.

After the jump, you'll see a 1958 video of the Duke Ellington Orchestra playing "El Gato," which featured the band's trumpet section, then comprised of Terry, fellow St. Louis native Harold "Shorty" Baker, Ray Nance, and Cat Anderson, for whom the piece was named.

Clip number three was recorded in 1960 in Belgium, and shows Terry as the featured soloist with the Quincy Jones Big Band in an arrangement of pianist Bobby Timmons' hard-bop standard "Moanin."

The fourth video demonstrates Terry's skills as a ballad player, as he performs "Stardust" in a 1964 concert in London, backed by a group including pianist Teddy Wilson, bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Louie Bellson.

Next, you can see Terry performing with pianist Oscar Peterson's trio, with Ray Brown on bass and Ed Thigpen on drums, at a concert recorded March 23, 1965 in Finland. These four musicians had recorded the album Oscar Peterson Trio + One the previous year, which proved to be a fairly big hit by jazz standards and helped introduce Terry's signature tune "Mumbles" to a worldwide audience.

After that, you can see Terry and another of his closest musical associates from the 1960s, valve trombonist and composer Bob Brookmeyer, as they co-lead a quintet in a 1965 broadcast recorded in London for the BBC program Jazz 625.

Terry's steady gig for much of the 1960s was the band for NBC's Tonight Show, which he integrated when he became the orchestra's first African-American member in 1962. In the seventh clip, you can see Terry on the Tonight Show in October 1965 as the featured soloist on a version on Ellington's "In A Mellow Tone." (The show was then based in NYC, but was broadcasting from Los Angeles that week, which is why the set looks unfamiliar and the band except for Terry is comprised of West Coast musicians.)

After leaving the Tonight Show, Terry led his own orchestra, the Big Bad Band, intermittently through the 1970s and early 1980s, and today's eighth clip shows just over 19 minutes of that group in action. The location and date weren't indicated in the YouTube annotations, but judging from the way the musicians are dressed, the late 1970s seems like a good guess for the latter.

Below that, you can see another side of Terry, as he plays "Stormy Monday" with another American musical icon, blues singer and guitarist Muddy Waters. This clip was recorded in July, 1977 in Nice, France, with Muddy's band, which included Bob Margolin (guitar), Guitar Junior (guitar), Pinetop Perkins (piano), Calvin Jones (bass), and Willy "Big Eyes" Smith (drums).

Video number ten features another cameo appearance by Terry, as he serves up some flugelhorn and vocals for Quincy Jones' "Soul Bossa Nova" on Late Night with David Letterman with Jones' orchestra and saxophonist Phil Woods, who takes the solo before Terry's. Again, this clip is undated, but logic suggests it was recorded not too long after the tune was featured in the title sequence of the movie Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery, which came out in 1997.

In the eleventh clip, recorded in 2001, Terry converses with the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, in an extended version of "Mumbles," backed by Herbie Hancock on piano, Russell Malone on guitar, Ron Carter on bass, Roy Haynes on drums, and James Carter on saxophone.

We close out our video tribute to Clark Terry with a complete set recorded in 2002 at a jazz festival on the island of St. Lucia, featuring Terry's own quintet with Donald Harrison on alto sax, Anthony Wonsey on piano, Curtis Lundy on bass, and Victor Lewis on drums. It's quite a testament to Terry's skills that even in his 80s, at an age when many brass musicians find their physical abilities greatly diminished, he still was able to lead a band of musicians half his age and play this well.

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 soundtrack album to Keep On Keepin’ On, the 2014 documentary about the friendship between the late Clark Terry and up-and-coming pianist Justin Kauflin, was released this week on the Varèse Sarabande label.

The soundtrack (pictured) features performances by Terry and Kauflin, with an original score by Kauflin and Dave Grusin. Kauflin also was interviewed this week about Terry and the film by Peter Hum of the Ottawa Citizen.

* KDHX has posted online a photo set from last Saturday's New Music Circle concert by Okkyung Lee and Lotte Anker.

* The Route 66 Jazz Orchestra has posted to Facebook a photo album from their most recent gig at Kirkwood Station Brewing Company.

* According to a story published yesterday by the Riverfront Times, smooth jazz guitarist Olufunsho Adeshina has been charged and now is wanted by federal authorities in a scheme involving tax fraud and identity theft. The Nigerian-born Adeshina hasn't performed much here locally, but reportedly has lived in St. Louis for the last several years, and has an active online presence.

* Saxophonist David Sanborn's upcoming album, which reunites him in the studio with bassist/producer Marcus Miller for the first time in many years, now has a title: Time and the River. The crowd-funded project has been mixed and mastered and is ready for pressing, with release date TBA.

* Saxophonist and St. Louis native Eric Person's quintet will be featured in a free "jazz vespers" concert on Saturday, March 7 at St. Albans Congregational Church in Queens, NYC.

* The Friends of Scott Joplin are holding their annual membership drive. Contributions to the all-volunteer organization are tax-deductible, and help support a concert series, monthly open-piano events, and a quarterly magazine, the Euphony Review.

Membership levels are $25 for Individual, $35 Couple, $50 Supporter, $100 Sponsor, and $200 Legacy. For more information or to pledge your support, visit the Friends of Scott Joplin website.

* The continuing effort to rescue and restore the historic Goldenrod Showboat is the subject of a feature story from St. Louis Public Radio. Supporters from the Historic Riverboat Preservation Association will hold a fundraiser on Saturday, March 21 at the Left Loft, 1817 Cherokee St.

* Jazz radio update: On this Saturday's edition of Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis' “Somethin’ Else,” host Calvin Wilson will be showcasing live tracks from the career of trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.

The program can be heard at 8:00 p.m. Saturdays on 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.

Jazz this week: Peter Martin & Federico González Peña, Byron Stripling, and more

This week's calendar of jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes a duo concert pairing two prolific pianists, a return visit from a top trumpeter, three different big band performances, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Thursday, February 26
Pianist Kara Baldus, guitarist William Lenihan, and drummer Steve Davis will play a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, with Wash U provost Holden Thorpe also sitting in on piano. In keeping with the evening's theme of different approaches to improvisation, they'll reportedly be using Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's infamous Oblique Strategies as inspiration for a freeform piece or two.

Also tonight, the Tavern of Fine Arts presents their monthly "Experimental Arts Open Improv Night" with live improvised music.

Friday, February 27
Pianist Peter Martin (pictured, top left) will wrap up this season of his eponymous series at the The Sheldon performing a duo concert with keyboardist Federico González Peña, who's played with Marcus Miller, Grégoire Maret and Gene Lake, Sting, Chaka Khan and Meshell Ndegeocello.

Also on Friday, trumpeter Jim Manley and guitarist Randy Bahr will be duet at Thurman Grill; singer Joe Mancuso leads a quartet at Nathalie's; and the Ambassadors of Swing will play for dancers at Casa Loma Ballroom. Over on the east side, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will be perform in concert at the Wildey Theatre, and keyboardist Matt Villinger leads a quartet at Cigar Inn.

(In case you were wondering, Friday also is when Jazz St. Louis will hold their annual fundraising gala at the Ritz Carlton, with music by Jonathan Batiste and Stay Human and an "after-hours cabaret" with Denise Thimes. While tickets for the event were sold in advance, if you've got the requisite $500 per person and want to attend, you can contact JSL's development director Wendy Rosenblum at wendy at jazzstl dot org or 314-881-3085 to see if any seats remain available.)

Saturday, February 28
Trumpeter Byron Stripling (pictured, center left) who's been in town this week doing educational events for Jazz St. Louis, will play two sets at Jazz at the Bistro. For some video of Stripling in action, check out this post from before his appearance here in 2012

Also on Saturday, Miss Jubilee will play swing and jump blues at Casa Loma Ballroom, and Wack-A-Doo returns to Thurman Grill.

Sunday, March 1
The Friends of Scott Joplin present their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site; and the Dave Dickey Big Band will play their monthly gig at Jazz at the Bistro. Dickey will be featuring charts from the late trumpeter Clark Terry's Big Bad Band, and student jazz ensembles from Seckman High School and Middle School will perform at intermission.

Monday, March 2
Guitarist Tom Byrne and singer Erika Johnson will perform at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Tuesday, March 3
The St. Louis Jazz Orchestra, directed by bassist Jim Widner, will feature guest vocalist Mardra Thomas (pictured, lower left) performing material associated with Billie Holiday at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

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: A jazz improvisation primer and video workshop

The subject for this week's "Music Education Monday" is jazz improvisation, with links to a couple of related resources:

* By the author's own admission, pianist Marc Sabatella's A Jazz Improvisation Primer may very well be "the first jazz education resource ever published on the web" and thus a bit dated in spots.

Still, a lot of it remains relevant, as the text offers "information on almost every topic relating to jazz improvisation, from jazz history to music theory to practical advice on playing in a group."

While the primer, as that term implies, is aimed at beginners, more advanced players also may find some useful material in there, too. And since it's free to read online, there's certainly no griping about the price. Should you wish to purchase the book in printed form*, it's available from Sabatella's site under the title A Whole Approach To Jazz Improvisation.

* Experienced improvisors may find more food for thought in the video "Creativity in Jazz Improvisation," seen in the embedded window below.

It's a recording of a 2007 workshop and performance featuring saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom and pianist and Rutgers University professor Lewis Porter that was presented at the now defunct Philoctetes Center for the Multidisciplinary Study of Imagination in NYC, and deals with the philosophical side of improvisation as well as the practical.



* While Sabatella's site says that "there is no downloadable version of this material," what one person can render in HTML, another can convert to PDF.

Remembering Clark Terry

While many of the news stories about the death of Clark Terry (pictured) are linked in StLJN's previous post about his passing, there's also been a major outpouring of tributes and remembrances on social media from musicians and others who knew or worked with the legendary trumpeter.

So, StLJN has put together a Storify compilation of some of the most noteworthy tributes and news stories, including photos, Tweets and videos. You can see it after the jump...

Miles on Monday: Sketches of Spain as classical music; unheard recordings of Davis' "first great quintet"; and more

For this week's "Miles on Monday," some recent news items about the iconic trumpeter:

* As the Miles Davis Memorial Project gets closer to their goal of putting up a statue of the trumpeter in the town where he was born, March 1 is the deadline to purchase an inscribed brick or granite block to be placed around the statue, which will be located on a plaza on West Third Street in Alton’s downtown business district.

Preston Jackson, the artist creating the statue of Davis, currently is finishing preparations to cast the bronze statue, and construction on the site will begin this spring as soon as the weather permits. Memorial bricks are $75 and granite blocks are $400, and can be ordered online, by calling Pride Incorporated at 618-467-2375, or in person at the Alton Convention & Visitors Bureau, 200 Piasa Street in Alton.

* A DJ at Colorado Public Radio wonders if Davis' album Sketches of Spain should be considered classical music.

* DownBeat has republished on their website an interview Davis did with Nat Hentoff back in 1955.

* Also re-released on the web this week: The pubic radio program Studio 360's "American Icons" episode from 2007 about Davis' Kind of Blue.

* Courtesy of the bigO audio archive, you can download recordings of some radio broadcasts of performances by Davis' quintet in the 1950s at NYC's Cafe Bohemia that are previously unreleased in the USA.

The airchecks from 1956 and 1957 feature Davis' "first great quintet," with John Coltrane on tenor sax, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums.

Another broadcast from 1958 features the same group. except with Bill Evans in for Garland. There's also a 1953 version of "A Night in Tunisia" and a 1958 jam session version of "What Is This Thing Called Love?' All the tracks are purported to be in the public domain thanks to copyright laws in Europe, where the recordings originally were issued.

Feyza Eren releases new album

St. Louis vocalist Feyza Eren has released a new recording, I Wish I Knew, that is available for purchase now on iTunes.

The album (pictured) features Eren and a backing band of guitarist Vincent Varvel, bassist Ric Vice, and drummer Steve Davis, who also engineered and mixed it.

It contains 13 tracks comprising an eclectic program of standards and covers, including Eren's version of the title song, plus familiar numbers such as "The Look of Love," "Bye Bye Blackbird," "All Blues," and "Feeling Good."

While the album is download-only for now, Eren says she plans to have physical CDs made later for sale online and at gigs.

Sunday Session: February 22, 2015

Billy Strayhorn

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

* Duke Ellington’s Ode to the First Moon Landing (Air & Space)
* Steve Reich On Tape Loops, Repetition & Phasing (Synthtopia.com)
* Critic's Notebook - Jazz singers bring new life to old standards (Los Angeles Times)
* Narrowing the 90 Miles - How U.S.-Cuba relations may play out for musicians (Wall Street Journal)
* Apple Doesn't Want to Compete -- It Wants to Own the Record Business (Billboard)
* How the Music Industry Is Alienating Its Most Passionate Customers (Digital Music News)
* Captain Beefheart’s Failed Bid for Mainstream Success (Wondering Sound)
* Wizards of Sound - Retouching acoustics, from the restaurant to the concert hall (The New Yorker)
* As the Village Vanguard Turns 80, It Remains New York’s Most Cherished Jazz Club (New York Observer)
* Can New Orleans Save Its Brass Bands? (The Daily Beast)
* Don Was: Moving Blue Note Forward One Day at a Time (DownBeat)
* Jazz Saxophonist Branford Marsalis: Jay-Z Doesn't Know What He's Talking About (San Antonio Current)
* Too Late Blues: Nica Goes to Hollywood - The story of Cassavetes, Mingus and "the Baroness" of jazz (Jazz Times)
* The Doctor Is In: Eddie Henderson On Life As 'The Funk Surgeon' (NPR)
* Composer Billy Strayhorn in the limelight at last (The Scotsman)
* 7 Things You Didn't Realize Are Happening Every Time You Stream a Song on Spotify (Mic.com)
* Starbucks Will Stop Selling CDs In Their Stores Next Month (Forbes)
* A Half Century of Creative Musicianship with the AACM (WTTW)

Clark Terry 1920 - 2015

From the Facebook page of legendary trumpeter and St. Louis native Clark Terry:

"Our beloved Clark Terry has joined the big band in heaven where he'll be singing and playing with the angels. He left us peacefully, surrounded by his family, students and friends.

Clark has known and played with so many amazing people in his life. He has found great joy in his friendships and his greatest passion was spending time with his students. We will miss him every minute of every day, but he will live on through the beautiful music and positivity that he gave to the world. Clark will live in our hearts forever.

With all my love, Gwen Terry"

Though he toured well into his 80s, Terry had been seriously ill and essentially bedridden for the last several years with complications of diabetes. Even after falling ill, he continued to mentor young musicians and even give music lessons via Skype up until a few months ago; he entered hospice care earlier this month.

Our condolences go out to Clark Terry's wife and family and to his many friends, colleagues and fans. Terry's passing no doubt will attract a wide variety of tributes and remembrances, and StLJN will be collecting links to those and updating this post as needed over the next few days:

Clark Terry 1920 - 2015 (Jazz Times)
Jazz Musician Clark Terry Dies at 94 (Hollywood Reporter)
Trumpeter Clark Terry, Who Played in 'Tonight Show' Band, Dies at 94 (Variety)
Jazz icon and St. Louis native Clark Terry passes at 94 (St. Louis American)
Trumpet maestro Clark Terry dies aged 94 (Reuters)
R.I.P. Clark Terry (Ottawa Citizen)
Clark Terry, R.I.P. (Arts Journal/About Last Night)
Clark Terry Dies At 94 (The JazzLine)
Remembering Clark Terry (KPLU)
Clark Terry, Influential Jazz Trumpeter, Dies at 94 (New York Times)
Clark Terry, jazz virtuoso with Basie, Ellington and ‘Tonight Show,’ dies (Washington Post)
Jazz trumpet great Clark Terry dies at 94 (USA Today)
Clark Terry, jazz trumpeter with Ellington and 'Tonight Show,' dies at 94 (Los Angeles Times)
Clark Terry, jazz trumpeter, dies aged 94 (The Telegraph UK)
Clark Terry, Ebullient Jazz Trumpeter, Has Died (NPR)
Jazz Great Clark Terry Dead at 94 (Rolling Stone)
Jazz Trumpeter Clark Terry Dead At 94; Integrated ‘Tonight Show’ Band (Deadline Hollywood)
Clark Terry, trumpeter who spanned jazz era, dies at 94 (Daily Mail UK)
Jazz musician Clark Terry dies at 94 (Entertainment Weekly)
A memorial to St. Louis' jazz gentleman Clark Terry (Devil at the Confluence)
Clark Terry obituary (The Guardian UK)
From swing to bop, trumpeter Clark Terry was tops (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Clark Terry: Famed jazz trumpeter soared above humble St. Louis beginnings (KWMU/St. Louis Public Radio)
St. Louis remembers Clark Terry (KPLR)
Remembering the Great Clark Terry (St. Louis magazine)
Clark Terry Dies at 94 (DownBeat)
The Sound of Musical Joy: Clark Terry’s Trumpet (The New Yorker)
Remembering Jazz Luminary and St. Louis Native Clark Terry, 1920-2015 (Riverfront Times)

Update - 10:00 a.m., Monday, February 23: Via the Facebook page of JazzCorner.com, which hosts Clark Terry's website, it's been announced that funeral services for Terry will be held at 10:00 a.m. this coming Saturday, February 28 at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in NYC, and will be led by Dr. Calvin Butts.

The message continues, "Clark will be laid to rest at the Woodlawn Cemetery following the service. Funeral services entrusted to P.K. Miller Mortuary, Pine Bluff, Arkansas and George H. Weldon Funeral Home, New York City. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that donations be made to the Jazz Foundation of America which has helped over the years to make sure that Clark's needs were met. Please note on donations that they be made "In Honor of Clark Terry" to help them continue this work.

(This story was edited after posting.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Rene Marie gets "evil" like Eartha Kitt

Today, let's spend some video time with singer Rene Marie, who's coming to St. Louis to perform Wednesday, March 4 through Saturday, March 7 at Jazz at the Bistro.

A Virginia native who will turn 60 in November, Rene Marie was something of a late bloomer, not beginning her professional singing career until she was past 40 and her two sons nearly grown. She was one of the first artists to sign with the St. Louis-based MAXJAZZ label in 1999, and put out a total of five albums with them over the next six years, and also making several live appearances during the same time period here in St. Louis at the Bistro.

After self-releasing several recordings in the mid-2000s, Marie struck a deal with the indie label Motéma in 2011, and since then has put out three more albums, the most recent of which was 2013's I Wanna Be Evil (With Love to Eartha Kitt).

The idea of doing a straight-up tribute album was something of a departure for Marie, who usually writes a good portion of her own material and also is noted for creative arrangements and medleys of others' songs. But as it happens, her musical approach turned out to be a good match for material associated with Kitt, whose eclectic career ranged over seven decades, beginning in the 1940s as a dancer with Katherine Dunham and eventually encompassing numerous roles in films and on Broadway, hit records including "Santa Baby" and "C'est Si Bon," and, famously, even a stint playing Catwoman on the 1960s TV version of Batman.

The album was generally well received, and Marie has built a number of recent live sets around the songs from I Want To Be Evil, including her show last November at the Chicago Humanities Festival, which you can see in its entirety in the embedded video window at the top of this post.

After the jump, you can see her performing "Peel Me A Grape," recorded at last year's Heineken Jazzaldia in San Sebastián, Spain; and an excerpt from her version of "It Might As Well Be Spring" from the 2013 ProJAZZ Festival in Dortmund, Germany.

Next is one of Marie's trademark medleys, joining the 1940s standard "Imagination" with the Temptations' "Just My Imagination," and a version of "Them There Eyes," both recorded in August 2012 at the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in NYC. An acapella version of "When You're Smiling" from 2010 wraps up today's video selections.

For more about Rene Marie and I Want To Be Evil, check out this interview she did with NPR last April, and this conversation she had with fellow singer Roseanna Vitro, published in 2012 by Jazz Times.

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:

* Wanda Kennedy Kuntz, author of Kennedy Music, will read from her book and sign copies at an event from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. this Saturday, February 21 at City Music, 9299 Watson Rd. in Crestwood.

Kennedy Kuntz, a pianist and music teacher, is the sister of jazz bassist Tom Kennedy and pianist Ray Kennedy. Her book (pictured), described as "an historical novel based on the Kennedy family," tells a fictionalized version of how her mother and father met and started the family's music store and school in Maplewood.

UPDATE - 4:25 p.m. Friday, 2/20: Just received an email from City Music saying that Wanda Kennedy Kuntz's book signing event has been postponed until Saturday, March 14.

* Euclid Records' head honcho Joe Schwab was featured on this week's episode of the A&E network's program Shipping Wars.

* Saxophonist and St. Louis native Greg Osby sat down with trumpeter Jason Palmer for a "bootleg blindfold test," listening to and commenting on unreleased recordings (hence the "bootleg" part), and Palmer blogged about it here.

* Saxophonist (and former Webster University student) John Zorn's recent run of shows at NYC's Village Vanguard was reviewed by Ben Ratliff of the New York Times.

* The National Center for Arts Research at Southern Methodist University in Dallas has ranked St. Louis as #17 among cities evaluated for their first-ever "Arts Vibrancy Index."

* Jazz radio update: This Saturday on Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis, Calvin Wilson's program “Somethin’ Else” will feature the music of songwriter Jule Styne as interpreted by Joshua Redman, Abbey Lincoln, Wallace Roney, and others.

Then on The Jazz Collective, host Jason Church's playlist will include music from Down To The Bone, U-Nam, Nathan East, Melissa Manchester, Lack of Afro, Wes Montgomery, Grover Washington, Jr., Young-Holt Unlimited, Bobby Womack, Tim Cunningham, Funky Butt Brass Band, and more.

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

Jazz this week: Jeff Lorber Fusion, Lotte Anker & Okkyung Lee, and more

This week's jazz and creative music offerings in St. Louis run the gamut from fusion to free improvisation, with plenty of mainstream sounds as well. Let's go to the highlights... 

Wednesday, February 18
Keyboardist Jeff Lorber and the latest iteration of his Fusion group featuring bassist Jimmy Haslip and saxophonist Eric Marienthal (pictured, top left) will begin a four-night engagement continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. You can see a video preview of the performances here, and Lorber, Haslip and Marienthal also are featured in this week's "Music Education Monday" post.

Also tonight, Cabaret Project St. Louis presents their monthly "Open Mic Night" at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

Thursday, February 19
Saxophonist Kristian Baarsvik plays a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; The 442s will perform in the "community room" at St. Louis Public Radio in Grand Center; and singer Feyza Eren returns to Nathalie’s.

Friday, February 20
Trumpeter Randy Holmes' quintet with singer Kim Fuller will present "A Tribute to the Music of Billie Holiday" at Voce; Second Generation Swing will play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; singer Joe Mancuso, guitarist Dave Black and bassist Willem von Hombracht will perform at Element STL; and the Midwest Jazz-tette will bring their West Coast "cool jazz' sound to Cigar Inn.

Saturday, February 21
New Music Circle presents a double bill featuring cellist Okkyung Lee (pictured, center left) and saxophonist Lotte Anker at the "house concert" venue Joe’s Cafe.  You can see some performance videos of Lee in this Saturday video showcase post (which also has a link to an earlier post about Anker.)

Elsewhere around town, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will return to Evangeline's; guitarist Tom Byrne and clairnetist Scott Alberici will duet at Thurman Grill; and The Wire Pilots will play original jazz-fusion compositions at Focal Point.

Sunday, February 22
St. Louis musicians from a variety of genres will join together in a benefit concert for bassist Phil Burton (pictured, bottom left) at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups. Burton has played with numerous rock, blues and jazz bands around town since the 1980s, and also works as a musical instrument and audio repair technician at Winston Electronics. He recently suffered a heart attack, and the performance will raise funds to help with some of his expenses while he recovers.

Monday, February 23
Trumpeter Byron Stripling will be featured in a free "Happy Hour" of music and conversation with Jazz St. Louis' Phil Dunlap at the Tavern of Fine Arts;  the Webster University Jazz Collective will perform music by Charles Mingus, Horace Silver and more in a Black History Month concert at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus; and saxophonist "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective will play their monthly date at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

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.)

Julian Lage and Chris Eldridge playing Thursday, April 30 at Off Broadway

Guitarists Julian Lage and Chris Eldridge (pictured) are coming to St. Louis to perform a duo show at 8:00 p.m., Thursday, April 30 at Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave.

Lage has toured and recorded with vibraphonist Gary Burton, and his 2009 debut album Sounding Point was nominated for the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album.

Eldridge is the guitarist for the Americana and bluegrass band the Punch Brothers, and also has worked with well-known musicians including Fiona Apple, Paul Simon, John Paul Jones, Justin Timberlake, T-Bone Burnett, Elvis Costello, Jerry Douglas, Del McCoury and others.

Their duo project, documented on the 2014 album Avalon, is described as "a collaborative effort founded in the roots of acoustic music, exploring the worlds of improvisation and composition."

Tickets for the all-ages show are $10 in advance, $12 at the door, with a $3 surcharge for minors, and are on sale now via Ticketfly.

Music Education Monday: Fusion fundamentals with Lorber, Haslip & Marienthal

Most of the musicians who come to St. Louis to play at Jazz at the Bistro also get involved in some sort of educational activity on behalf of Jazz St. Louis, performing at local schools and/or working with their jazz ensembles, and doing master classes and workshops for the student musicians involved in JSL's own JazzU program.

While these events are open only to the student groups involved, as it happens the three named headliners playing this week at the Bistro all have created some fairly detailed educational materials that can be found for free online.

Keep reading after the jump for instructional videos and links to some useful lessons from keyboardist Jeff Lorber, bassist Jimmy Haslip, and saxophonist Eric Marienthal.

Miles on Monday: Winter Warm-up with Miles

"The forecast calls for WHAT?"

It's a frigid, snowy winter day here in St. Louis, so for today's "Miles on Monday" post, here's a musical antidote in the form of a YouTube playlist filled with tracks from the legendary trumpeter that have titles evoking warmth.

Just click the video embed at the bottom of this post, and you should hear, in order:

* The complete album Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, first recorded in 1956 but not released until 1961;
* "Summertime" from the 1958 album Porgy and Bess;
* "Once Upon a Summertime" and "Summer Night" from 1964's Quiet Nights;
* "Lonely Fire" (in two parts) from 1973's Big Fun;
* The complete soundtrack from the 1990 film The Hot Spot, composed by Jack Nietzsche and performed by a band featuring Davis and John Lee Hooker; and finally,
* A reprise of "Summertime," from Davis' performance with Quincy Jones and his orchestra at the 1991 Montreux Jazz Festival.

Sunday Session: February 15, 2015

Billie Holiday

For your Sunday reading enjoyment and edification, here are some noteworthy items encountered during the past week about jazz, creative music, and more:

* You're Not Weird for Preferring the Live Version (Pacific Standard)
* Bird Of A Feather: Rudresh Mahanthappa On Learning From Charlie Parker (NPR)
* Glasper, Q-Tip Celebrate Blue Note 75th Anniversary at Capitol Records in Los Angeles (Down Beat)
* 50 Years of the AACM Celebrated in NYC Concerts (Jazz Times)
* Grammy-Nominated Mastering Engineer Emily Lazar on 2,000 Records, Women in Music & Pranking Audio Stores (Billboard)
* Jack White’s Guacamole Meets Van Halen’s M&Ms (Guitar Player)
* New Models: The State of Music Commissioning (21CM.org)
* Can’t See the Trees for the Forest at the 2015 Grammys (New Music Box)
* Remembering Bobby “Blue” Bland (Texas Monthly)
* Bill Evans' Kind of Blue Notes (JazzWax)
* FACT: Pandora Only Pays Songwriters 4% Of Revenues (Hypebot)
* Kurt Elling talks tackling Frank Sinatra: Portland Jazz Festival 2015 (Portland Oregonian)
* Gamers, Musicians Unite for SFJAZZ Bowl on Super Sunday (Down Beat)
* New Billie Holiday Collection Coming From Legacy - 20-track set covers 1935-45 (Jazz Times)
* The Stacks: Billie Holiday: Jazz’s Aching Songbird (The Daily Beast)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: The return of Jeff Lorber Fusion

Today, let's check out some video clips previewing next week's performances by keyboardist Jeff Lorber, who will be playing Wednesday, February 18 through Saturday, February 21 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Officially billed as Jeff Lorber Fusion featuring Jimmy Haslip and Eric Marienthal, this will be the group's second time at the Bistro after having played there previously in 2011. That was shortly after Lorber first teamed up with Haslip, longtime bassist for the Yellowjackets, and Marienthal, who originally came to wide public attention with the Chick Corea Elektric Band, to revisit the ensemble style and sound, and even some of the same material, that first brought him to fame in the late 1970s.

Their initial album under the revived Jeff Lorber Fusion banner, Now Is The Time, was released in 2010 on Heads Up Records and nominated for the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album. Lorber's subsequent recordings Galaxy (2012) and Hacienda (2013) continued the collaboration with Haslip and Marienthal. In recent years the three also have played a number of live dates, backed by several different drummers, and today you can see and hear some close-up examples of what their show is like.

First up is a version of Lorber's tune "Chinese Medicinal Herbs" recorded in May, 2014 at the Baked Potato in Los Angeles with Third Richardson on drums. This looks to have been shot by an audience member sitting jsut a few feet away from the band, and does a good job of conveying what it's like to hear them in an intimate venue.

After the jump, you can see them playing Frank Zappa's "King Kong" and Lorber's own "Hacienda" from a gig in June, 2014 at The Blue Note in NYC, this time with Lionel Cordew on drums. (These recordings appear to have been made surreptitiously from the audience, but even if the video quality reflects that, the audio is good.)

That's followed by a version of "Montserrat" with drumming from Gary Novak, recorded in 2012 at Spaghettini's in Los Angeles; and finally, a full show in three parts, featuring Lorber, Marienthal, Haslip and drummer Sonny Emory at the 2012 Festiwal Jazz na Starówce in Starówce, Poland.

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:

* In case you missed it, St. Louisans who were part of Sunday night's Grammy Awards included drummer Mark Colenburg (pictured), who played on pianist Robert Glasper's Grammy winning Black Radio 2; Peter Martin, pianist and bandleader for Dianne Reeves, who won "Best Jazz Vocal Album" for Beautiful Life; and the St. Louis Symphony, who won the Grammy for Best Orchestral Recording for their album featuring composer John Adams' City Noir.

You can see a list of all the jazz Grammy winners here, and read more about the Symphony's win in this article from Sarah Bryan Miller of the Post-Dispatch.

* The Dave Dickey Big Band has posted to Facebook an album of photos from their gig this past Sunday at Jazz at the Bistro.

* Local luthier Tritone Guitars is organizing a "Gear Expo" of St. Louis guitar makers to be held from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Saturday, March 21 in the common room of the Metropolitan Art Lofts, across Grand Ave from The Fox Theater. Participants will include K-Line Guitars, Landry Amps, ESB Guitars, Stage Craft Cabs, Rein Guitars, Hollow Tree Guitars, Don Lennon St. Louis Slides, Firebrand Studios, Certain Bass, Locomotive Audio, Bearfoot FX, WoC Guitars, Rock Road Custom Guitars, and Vintage Amp Restoration, plus artwork from local artists, beer from 4Hands Brewery, and more. The event is free and open to the public.

* Lindy Hop St. Louis is encouraging local swing dancers to sign up for a local screening of the new film Ctrl+Alt+Dance, billed as "a cinematic celebration of swing dancing." However, the event only will happen if enough people reserve tickets by February 15, which can be done online here.

* Jazz radio update: The jazz programming this weekend on Radio Arts Foundation is all about the love, as on Saturday's edition of “Somethin’ Else,” host Calvin Wilson will present his second annual Valentine's Day-themed show, featuring recordings by musicians including including Keith Jarrett, Norah Jones, Joe Lovano, and more.

After that on The Jazz Collective, host Jason Church continues the Valentine's Day theme with tracks from David Benoit, Herbie Hancock, Acoustic Alchemy, Paul Hardcastle, Tommy Halloran, Swing Out Sister, Michael Franks, Fourplay, Candy Dulfer, Al Jarreau, Chris Botti, Diana Krall, and more.

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

(Edited after posting.)

Jazz this week: Mary Stallings, Erin Bode, Dalton Ridenhour, and more

With Valentine's Day and the annual Mardi Gras parade falling on the same Saturday this year, there's a bountiful selection of jazz and creative music performances on tap this weekend in St. Louis. Let's go to the highlights...

Thursday, February 12
Guitarist Tim Fischer will lead a quartet in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; and bassist Willem von Hombracht and saxophonist Eric Schugren will duet at Thurman Grill.

Friday, February 13
Singer Erin Bode (pictured, top left) returns to Jazz at the Bistro for the first of two nights of performances, backed by an ensemble including her husband, bassist Syd Rodway, plus pianist Kara Baldus, guitarist Dave Black and drummer Mark Colenburg.

Notably absent will be multi-instrumentalist Adam Maness, a mainstay of Bode's group for a decade who in recent months has gotten increasingly busy with The 442s and other personal projects. In addition to it being Valentine's Day weekend, longtime fans of Bode no doubt will interested to hear what effects the changes to her long-running backing band will have on her sound, so reservations would seem to be a must for this one.

Elsewhere around town, Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; saxophonist Tim Cunningham will take the stage for the first of two nights at Troy's Jazz Gallery; and percussionist Herman Semidey's Orquesta Son Montuno will bring their Latin sound to Club Viva.

Saturday, February 14
This year, although the Mardi Gras parade celebration once again will feature mostly DJs and rock cover bands, organizers have thrown a bone to the musical-authenticity contingent by booking the Funky Butt Brass Band for an early afternoon outdoor set at 9th and Geyer in Soulard. Later in the day, the FBBB will head to the Old Rock House for a split-bill show with R&B group Al Holliday and the East Side Rhythm Band.

Also on Saturday, the Friends of Scott Joplin will present pianist Dalton Ridenhour (pictured, center left), fresh from this week's ragtime festival activities in Sedalia, in a performance at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site.

Elsewhere around town that evening, singers Liz Callaway (sister of St. Louis fave Ann Hampton Callaway) and Jason Graae will present their cabaret show "Happily Ever Laughter: A Valentine's Party" at the 560 Music Center; and singer Danita Mumphard will offer her own Valentine's Day show, "Love's Taking Over," at Orlando Gardens in Maryland Heights.

Also, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes are playing for a "St. Valentine's/Mardi Gras Speakeasy Party" at singer Sarah Ulrich's South Broadway HQ, the Deco Fortress; and the Schlafly Tap Room will present a triple-bill of eclectic sounds featuring the Gypsy jazz of Dizzy Atmosphere, contemporary composition and improv from the Vernacular String Trio, and "folk opera" from May Day Orchestra. 

Sunday, February 15
St. Louis Jazz Club presents a matinee performance featuring pianist Bob Row and friends at the Sheraton Westport Hotel.

Later that afternoon, Community Women Against Hardship's annual benefit concert will feature a performance from singer Mary Stallings at Jazz at the Bistro. Stallings (pictured, lower left) made several St. Louis appearances in the early 2000s while signed to the locally based MAXJAZZ label, but hasn't performed here since 2007. For this gig, the San Francisco native will be backed by pianist David Udolf plus a local rhythm section including Jeff Anderson on bass, Jerome "Scrooge" Harris on drums, and Eric Slaughter on guitar.

Also on Sunday, BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups will feature a matinee from percussionist Joe Pastor's group, plus an early evening show in which Good 4 The Soul and saxophonist Jim Stevens will offer an encore of their tribute to the music of David Sanborn.

Monday, February 16
Trumpeter Jim Manley has added another recurring weekly gig to his schedule, playing each Monday at  Momo's Greek Restaurant in University City, while the Sessions Big Band will return to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Tuesday, February 17
Saxophonist Christopher Braig, bassist Willem von Hombracht, guitarist Dave Black and singer Joe Mancuso will offer a "Tribute to John Coltrane" at the Tavern of Fine Arts; and the Fat Tuesday parade celebration wraps up with the Funky Butt Brass Band and zydeco ensemble The Boudin Brothers at the Broadway Oyster Bar.

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.)

Clark Terry enters hospice care

Via Clark Terry's Facebook page, some sad news about the 94-year-old legendary trumpeter and St. Louis native:

"It is with a heavy heart we share that our beloved Clark Terry is now in hospice care. Gwen and the health care team are making sure that Clark is as comfortable as possible.

During this time the family is asking for your prayers. If you would like to share your favorite stories or music about Clark please do so here or on his website at http://clarkterry.com"

Byron Stripling set for "Happy Hour" on Monday, February 23 at Tavern of Fine Arts

Have you ever wished for a chance to chat with trumpeter Byron Stripling? You might just get the opportunity a week from next Monday, as Jazz St. Louis has announced a free "Happy Hour" program featuring Stripling at 5:30 p.m., Monday, February 23 at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

Stripling (pictured) will be in town that week to do some educational programs for Jazz St. Louis and perform on Saturday, February 28 at Jazz at the Bistro.

He'll be joined for what's billed as "an hour of music and conversation" at the Tavern of Fine Arts by pianist and JSL education director Phil Dunlap. The event is free and open to the public.

Music Education Monday: Books, both fake and Real

For this week's "Music Education Monday," it's part two of a look at free sheet music resources available online, this week concentrating on fake books.

First, a bit of background: A fake book is a collection of sheet music for well-known tunes, usually formatted with one song per page using only chord symbols, a written-out melody line, and lyrics (if the song has them).

The idea is that with these raw materials, an experienced musician doesn't need a full, written-out arrangement of the tune, but rather can "fake" her way through a spontaneous, improvised version. Since they contain a lot of tunes in a relatively small package, fake books commonly are used by jobbing musicians who have to deal with lots of requests, as in a hotel lounge gig or wedding band, but also can be used just to learn tunes and develop a wider repertoire.

(For more on fake books, Real Books, and where to find them online for free, keep reading after the jump...)

Miles on Monday: Revisiting On The Corner, filming Miles Ahead, and more

If it's the start of the working week, that means it's time for the latest installment of "Miles on Monday,"  today featuring another compilation of the latest links about the most famous jazz musician to come from the St. Louis area:

* Roberto Schaefer, cinematographer for actor/director Don Cheadle's upcoming feature film Miles Ahead, was interviewed about his work on the movie for the American Society of Cinematographer's blog.

* Saxophonist Dave Liebman, who performed and recorded with Davis from 1970 to 1974, was in Nashville last week for a concert featuring music from the trumpeter's still-controversial album On The Corner. Before the show, Liebman (pictured here with bassist Michael Henderson and Davis at a 1973 gig in Lebanon) also did an interview with Nashville Scene in which he expounded at greater length about his work with Davis.

* Two Davis albums derived from the same gig 40 years ago in Japan are examined by writer Angus Batey in an article for The Quietus titled "Agharta Versus Pangaea."

* Davis' album E.S.P. (covered in this space a few weeks ago) is included in a post from the Philadelphia music blog The Key about the standout albums of 1965. 

* There's more evidence of the trumpeter's fondness for sports cars in a photo set unearthed and published by the UK magazine Influx showing Davis and his Ferrari 275 GTB.

Sunday Session: February 8, 2015

Henry Threadgill

For your Sunday reading enjoyment and edification, here are some noteworthy items encountered during the past week about jazz, creative music, and more:

* John Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme' Is Still a Masterpiece After 50 Years (Newsweek)
* Matt Wilson, on finding consolation in jazz (Ottawa Citizen)
* When Musicians Unintentionally Steal (Pacific Standard)
* Two-Letter Domain Change Lands Jazz at Lincoln Center in the Middle of Heated Debate, V.P. André Guess Weighs In (ClassicalLite.com)
* Concert: The Bad Plus at Berklee Performance Center - Trio performs Ornette Coleman’s “Science Fiction” with special guests (Jazz Times)
* Inside The Awesome Synth Lair Of Mark Mothersbaugh (Synthtopia.com)
* Racism and Jazz Mythology (Brilliant Corners, A Boston Jazz Blog)
* Legendary Bassist Carol Kaye on Joe Cocker and What's Wrong With Today's Singers (Examiner.com)
* Composing the Future: A Talk With Jazz Titan Henry Threadgill (KQED)
* The Netflix of Vinyl: How VNYL actually works (Consequence of Sound)
* New Frequencies Fest brings cutting-edge performers to Bay Area (Contra Costa Times)
* Why Americans Hate Instrumental Music (Ultimate-Guitar.com)
* The End of Guitar Center (Eric Garland)
* The Noise And How To Bring It: Hank Shocklee Interviewed (The Quietus)
* A Striking Exception - A record label proves successful by bucking commercial trends (Wall Street Journal)
* Jazz Searches For The New Land: Yusef Lateef's Jazz ’Round The World (The Wire)
* Yes, Major Record Labels Are Keeping Nearly All The Money They Get From Spotify, Rather Than Giving It To Artists (TechDirt)
* The Next Important Jazz Singer - A Brief Interview with Sara Gazarek (Medium)
* The Bill Evans Legacy (Wall Street Journal)
* The '90s Alliance Between Blue Note and Hip-Hop (Wondering Sound)
* Kind Of Weird: How The Köln Concert Made Keith Jarrett A Pop Star (The Concourse/Deadspin)
* Gentrification versus Jazzification: Birdland nightclub grows vision to spark jazz district (KALW)
* Bleckmann, Vandermark Generate Sparks at Winter Jazzfest (DownBeat)
* Labels, not Spotify, are screwing over artists and breaking the music industry. Here’s how to fix it. (Pando Daily)
* Big Shake-Up to Music Licensing Regime Embraced by U.S. Copyright Office (Hollywood Reporter)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Getting to know cellist Okkyung Lee

Today, our video spotlight falls on cellist and composer Okkyung Lee, who will be making her St. Louis debut in a New Music Circle concert on Saturday, February 21 at Joe's Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave.

Lee, who's originally from Korea, came to the United States in 2000 and settled in NYC, where she has collaborated on performances and recordings with well-known improvising and experimental musicians including John Zorn, Jim O'Rourke, Vijay Iyer, Nels Cline, Christian Marclay, Thurston Moore, Laurie Anderson, Butch Morris, Evan Parker, Wadada Leo Smith, and many others.

For her St. Louis show, she'll be on a double bill with saxophonist Lotte Anker, with each doing an individual set. (Of course, given the penchant of many improvisors for promiscuous collaboration, it's possible they might end up playing together for a bit as well, but there are no guarantees. Anker also performed here in 2013 in a concert for New Music Circle, and you can check out some of her work in the Saturday Video Showcase that ran not long before that show.)

As for Lee, we start out today with an video excerpt from her solo set last November at Le Guess Who? Festival in Utrecht, The Netherlands. After the jump, you can see four more clips from solo shows of hers, in February 2014 at the Rumor Festival, also in Utrecht; at the Latvian experimental music festival Skaņu Mežs, also in 2014; in April, 2012 in Cork, Ireland; and an undated clip from the Music Unlimited festival in Austria.

Just to round things out, we've also included a couple of videos of Lee improvising with other musicians. In the sixth clip, she's seen with saxophonist John Butcher in 2013 at the Next Festival in Bratislava, Slovakia. The seventh and final video shows an excerpt from a set with turntablist Christian Marclay in May 2010 at NYC's Cafe Oto.

For more about Okkyung Lee, check out this 2014 interview with her from Radio Panik; this one she did with the music blog Flowers In A Gun; this 2013 conversation with Fluid Radio; and this interview that ran in 2011 in the Village Voice.

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