The release party for New Music/Free Improv Live at the Tavern of Fine Arts, a new CD collecting improvised performances by 14 different St. Louis musicians, has been rescheduled for 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, July 12 at Jackson Pianos, 4354 Olive St in the Central West End.
(The event originally was scheduled to take place at the album's titular Tavern of Fine Arts, but had to be moved after that venue closed on Saturday, June 25.)
Produced by flute player/composer Fred Tompkins
and pianist Greg Mills, the album
(pictured) contains ten tracks recorded at a half-dozen different events held between March 2014 and March 2016 at the now-shuttered tavern. Performers include
Tompkins, Mills, cellist Tracy Andreotti, poet Michael Castro, percussionist Henry
Claude, violinist Alex Cunningham, keyboardist James Hegarty, clarinetist Eric Mandat, trombonist Jeremy Melsha, guitarist Lee Scott Price, trumpeter George Sams, saxophonist Dave Stone, bassist Josh Weinstein, and percussionist Thomas Zirkle.
Pressed in a limited edition of 100 CDs, the album will be available to
buy for $10 at the CD release event, and also is now on sale at local retailers
Euclid Records and Vintage Vinyl.
The CD release event is free and open to the public, and will feature performances from most of the musicians who appear on the album, plus "free drinks and snacks."
To be candid, it's a relatively thin week for live jazz and creative music in St. Louis.
But even with no major touring artists visiting our town; venues including Jazz at the Bistro, The Sheldon, and Casa Loma Ballroom going dark for the holiday weekend; and the recent demises of a couple of smaller neighborhood spots (Tavern of Fine Arts and Thurman Grill) that regularly featured live jazz, there still are a few options for those who'd like celebrate Independence Day with one of the USA's great indigenous art forms.
Saturday, July 2
On Saturday afternoon, pianist David Parker will lead his group Spiritual Revolution Ensemble in a free, "child-friendly" performance of his original work “In the Beginning, God created Xochitl/ En el principio creó Diós Xochitl” at the Yeyo Arts Collective. With an ensemble including percussionists Charles "Bobo" Shaw and Glenn "Papa" Wright, guitarist Dave Black, poet Shirley LeFlore, and several other musicians, this show definitely ranks as the intriguing "sleeper" pick of the weekend.
Sunday, July 3
Multi-instrumentalist Sandy Weltman will join guitarist Dave Black to provide some music for the jazz brunch at Nathalie's.
Monday, July 4
If you're in St. Charles and are resolute enough to deal with the crowds and traffic, you can catch the Funky Butt Brass Band playing a free outdoor set as part of the St. Charles Riverfest 4th of July Celebration in Frontier Park.
For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. You also can keep up with all the latest news by following St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes or clicking the "Like" icon on the StLJN Facebook page.
(If you have calendar items, band schedule information, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)
The Jazz at Holmes series of free concerts at Washington University has announced the schedule for this year's "Jazz in July" performances.
The Liberation Organ Trio will kick things off with a concert on Thursday, July 7, followed by performances by singer Feyza Eren(pictured) on Thursday, July 14; a quartet led by trumpeter Danny Campbell on Thursday, July 21; and a trio featuring guitarist Eric Slaughter and bassist Glen Smith on Thursday, July 28.
Admission to the "Jazz in July" concerts is free and open to the public.
Guitarist Pat Metheny is returning to St. Louis this fall to perform at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, September 25 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.
Metheny (pictured) will play with a quartet including drummer Antonio Sanchez, bassist Linda Oh, and pianist Gwilym Simcock, and according to the tour announcement on his website, will perform "a range of music from throughout his career."
He last played in St. Louis with his Unity Group (Sanchez, saxophonist Chris Potter, bassist Ben Williams, and multi-instrumentalist Giulio Carmassi) in March 2014 at The Pageant. Metheny's most recent album releases, The Unity Sessions and Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny, both came out in May of this year.
Tickets for Pat Metheny at The Sheldon are priced at $100 and $75 for orchestra seating, $65 and $55 for the balcony, and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Friday, July 8 via MetroTix and The Sheldon's box office.
* Keeping with this week's developing "electric" theme, an article published last week by The Atlantic examined "The Electric Surge of Miles Davis."
* On another related note, the music sharing site RoiO has posted online a free download of a 1972 performance by Miles Davis recorded live at Paul’s Mall in Boston for a radio broadcast. The set features music from Davis' then-recent-and-controversial album On The Corner, performed by many of the musicians who helped make the record.
* Keyboardist Robert Glasper last week released a music video to help promote Everything's Beautiful, his album remixing music from and paying tribute to Miles Davis. The clip for "Maiysha (So Long)" was directed by and also stars singer Erykah Badu, and you can see it in the embedded video window at the bottom of this post.
This week for Music Education Monday, here's something that will have special meaning for a lot of St. Louis jazz fans: a short video course in how to play the trumpet from Clark Terry.
Terry, who died last year, was a St. Louis native who spent more than 70 years as a working professional trumpet player, and generally is considered one of the greatest jazz musicians ever to come from this area.
Terry (pictured) also was of the first well-known jazz players to recognize the importance of jazz education for high school and college students, and from the 1970s on, he spent a great deal of time teaching and mentoring young musicians in both formal and informal settings.
Beyond that, summarizing his long and distinguished career in a paragraph or two would be a Herculean task, so if for some reason you are not already familiar with Terry's many accomplishments, please check out StLJN's extensive coverage of him over the past decade.
Today's featured material seen in the embedded window below was recorded in 1981 under the auspices of an organization called The Video Classroom, and is titled simply "Trumpet Course: Beginner - Intermediate with Clark Terry."
It includes nine separate mini-lessons totaling nearly 52 minutes of material, in which Terry is supported by the veteran bassist Major Holly and also interacts with fellow trumpeter Marc Chase Weinstein.
While it definitely is geared toward less experienced players - Terry starts with the basics, identifying the parts of the instrument and the function of each - even veteran trumpeters may find a useful tidbit or two, and just about anyone who likes jazz may enjoy an hour spent with Clark Terry talking about music.
After a slight delay due to some technical issues here at StLJN HQ, today's video spotlight shines on Femi Kuti, the Nigerian singer and multi-instrumentalist who's coming to St. Louis with his band Positive Force to perform on Saturday, July 9 at The Ready Room.
The eldest son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, Kuti was born in London in 1962 and grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, raised mostly by his mother. He moved in with his father as a teenager, and eventually began playing saxophone and keyboards with Fela Kuti's band Egypt 80.
Femi Kuti put out his first solo album in 1995, and has enjoyed considerable subsequent success as an artist in his own right, even getting nominated for Grammy awards in 2003, 2010 and 2012 in the world music category (though he's never won). While his music clearly is in the tradition popularized by his father, the younger Kuti has endeavored to bring his own personality to it as well, even learning to play trumpet a few years ago as a way of broadening his instrumental pallette.
You can see and hear some examples of Femi Kuti's music starting with the first video up above, which offers excerpts from his performance at the 2015 edition of "Felabration," an annual event held in Nigeria to honor his father.
After the jump, you can see a full performances by Kuti and his band from 2013 at the SummerStage Concert Series in Milwaukee, WI, followed by a version of his song "Dem Bobo" that was recorded live in 2004 in Lagos.
Below that, there's another full set, from the 2011 Roskilde Festival in Denmark, followed by two videos that incorporate interviews and backstage footage along with performance excerpts, from 2012 in London and 2013 at Webster Hall in New York City.
* The Riverfront Times this week announced the winners of the 2016 RFT Music Awards, with Tommy Halloran's Guerrilla Swing finishing first in the "Jazz" category and the Funky Butt Brass Band taking home the trophy in "Soul/Funk." You can see the complete list here.
* Speaking of Hallorans, Tommy's trombone-playing brother Charlie Halloran, who now lives in New Orleans, was the subject of a brief St. Louis magazine feature by Thomas Crone. Halloran the trombonist will be back in St. Louis next month with the New Orleans Jazz Vipers for gigs at Foam, Joe's Cafe, Focal Point, and Blues City Deli.
* Also now on BandCamp for streaming and/or downloading: The 442s' latest album RELAY, which was released on CD earlier this month.
* Richard "Groove" Holmes(pictured), the renowned jazz organist who lived in St. Louis for the last years of his life, is the subject of a tribute on radio station WKCR, which broadcasts from Columbia University in NYC.
This week's calendar of jazz and creative music performances in St. Louis includes an event celebrating the release of a popular singer's latest album, two free outdoor festivals taking place at opposite ends of the metro area, and more.
Let's go to the highlights....
Wednesday, June 22
The Chick Corea Trio with Christian McBride and Brain Blade will finish their sold-out two-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro.
If you're determined to hear them but don't already have tickets, you can check with the Jazz St. Louis box office for last-minute cancellations or returns, or get down to the Bistro early enough to stake out a spot in the first-floor lounge opposite the performance space, where you can watch a live video feed of the show.
Thursday, June 23
Saxophonist Dave Stone and his trio will make a rare appearance outside their usual South Grand stomping grounds, heading to the Central West End for a performance at Evangeline's.
Friday, June 24
Singer Erin Bode(pictured, top left) will celebrate the release of her latest CD, Here And Now, with the first of two nights of performances at Jazz at the Bistro. The album features Bode's interpretations of songs from an eclectic selection of writers including Irving Berlin and Frank Loesser, Rickie Lee Jones and Gerry Rafferty.
Elsewhere on Saturday afternoon, the Stan Coleman/Darrell Mixon Quartet will give the final jazz performance ever at the Tavern of Fine Arts, which is closing for good after service on Saturday evening.
For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. You also can keep up with all the latest news by following St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes or clicking the "Like" icon on the StLJN Facebook page.
(If you have calendar items, band schedule information, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)
The late guitarist Herb Ellis(pictured) was known as a master of blues-inflected mainstream swing, and today for Music Education Monday, you can get a video lesson from him in jazz soloing and comping.
Ellis, who died in 2010, started his career in the 1940s as a big band guitarist, playing with Glen Gray and Jimmy Dorsey, but first gained wide notice as a member of pianist Oscar Peterson's trio from 1953 to 1958.
After that, he spent three years performing with Ella Fitzgerald, and during the 1950s also recorded and/or gigged with many other jazz greats, including saxophonists Ben Webster and Stan Getz, trumpeters Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge, and Sweets Edison, drummer Buddy Rich, bassist Ray Brown, and more.
In the 1960s, Ellis did studio sessions for film, TV, and commercials, and played in the live bands accompanying television hosts Steve Allen, Merv Griffin and Regis Philbin. He eventually returned to jazz and to touring, notably teaming up with fellow guitarist Joe Pass, and later joining forces with Barney Kessel and Charlie Byrd under the name "The Great Guitars".
In this video, recorded in 1989, Ellis (with some help from Ray Brown on bass, plus rhythm guitarist Terry Holmes) uses a 12-bar blues progression to demonstrate some of his favorite licks, and discusses a variety of topics including tuning, chord formations, scales, comping, melodic ideas, and more.
As regular readers know, this space frequently is used to preview shows from touring jazz and creative music performers coming to St. Louis. But with a relative paucity of acts visiting here in the next several weeks, today's video showcase offers something a little different: a look back at some of jazz performers who have been making news during the first half of 2016, starting with trumpeter and St. Louis native Keyon Harrold.
Harrold has gotten good notices and a lotofpublicity this year for his work on the soundtrack of Miles Ahead, actor/director Don Cheadle's film about Miles Davis that was released in April. The first video up above features a full set of Harrold's own music, as performed at Revive Music's recent tenth anniversary celebration in NYC and captured on video by Boiler Room.
After the jump, the first video features pianist Robert Glasper, who's also been in the news a lot this year thanks to his involvement in Miles Ahead. Glasper wrote five new compositions for the film's soundtrack, and last month also released Everything's Beautiful, a tribute/remix album using samples from the Miles Davis catalog. The clip is an interview with Glasper, in which he talks about his work on Miles Ahead, his musical relationships with hip-hop performers such as The Roots and the late J Dilla, and more.
The first video of Threadgill features a brief interview with him conducted in January by Frank Oteri of New Music USA. That's followed by a full 75-minute Zooid performance, recorded in October 2013 at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.
Although Bridgewater, Smith, and the other winners won't actually receive their awards until 2017, you can celebrate now by enjoying a full set of Bridgewater, recorded live at the 2013 Jazzaldia festival in San Sebastian, Spain, followed by the good Doctor's version of Paul Simon's "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover," as performed earlier this year with guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg and drummer Kendrick Scott at Kente Arts Alliance in Pittsburgh, PA.
(If you'd like to hear more, both Bridgewater and Smith have been the subjects of previous Saturday video posts. StLJN looked at Bridgewater's current collaboration with trumpeter Irvin Mayfield in this post from March of this year, and paid visits to Dr. Smith in 2009, 2012, 2013, and 2015.)
Smith's latest album Evolution was released by Blue Note in January, and based on thecriticalreception, seems likely to end up on a fair number of year-end "best of" lists. Two other performers who released muc-talked-about albums in the first half of 2016 were bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding and singer Cyrille Aimée.
Spalding picked up an electric bass, a new look and a new theatrical persona for her album Emily's D+Evolution, which went in what NPR Music called "a louder, proggier, weirder funk-rock direction." You can see and hear that direction in today's seventh clip, a full performance recorded by NPR and WFUV in March of this year at BRIC in NYC.
For those who tastes run more toward the traditional, that's followed by a clip of Spalding's appearance at this year's International Jazz Day celebration held on April 30 at the White House, in which she performed a swinging version of "On The Sunny Side Of The Street" for the President, First Lady, and assembled guests.
As for Aimée, her album Let's Get Lost was released in February to goodnotices, and audiences around the country seem to be responding enthusiastically to her updated take on Gypsy jazz You can see her singing much of the material from that album in today's penultimate clip, recorded in February at WNYC in New York.
Last, but certainly not least, you can check out some music from saxophonist Kamasi Washington, whose sprawling three-CD debut album The Epic was one of the best-reviewed records of last year.
Washington's star has continued to rise quickly in 2016, as he's gotten major press coverage from the New York Times, Rolling Stone, GQ, and many other mainstream media outlets, and has been touring to enthusiastic and often sold-out houses.. Today's final clip is a concert version of The Epic, recorded last August for NPR's "Jazz Night In America".
You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...
Here's this week's wrap-up of assorted links and short news items of local interest:
* The Tavern of Fine Arts (pictured), the Central West End restaurant and bar that has presented numerous jazz, free improv, cabaret, and classical music performances over the past five years, will close permanently at the end of service next Saturday, June 25.
In a message posted on the venue's website, proprietors Aaron Johnson and Matt Daniels wrote, "While the performances have often attracted large audiences, and we have always paid the bills, the business is not profitable." Next week's performances will go on as scheduled, but the closing means the cancellation of a CD release party planned by local free improvisors for next month, as well the loss of the venue for recurring events including poetry readings, a monthly free improv jam session, and Cabaret Project St. Louis' monthly "open mic."
* Saxophonist Christopher Braig has started a podcast called, fittingly enough, Sax St. Louis Podcast, offering "an eclectic mix of music, jazz, saxophone history, interviews, performing and educational topics relating to the greater St. Louis music community." Episode 1 is online now, with a second installment promised soon.
* Belford also posted to Vimeo a 30-second clip from Blues for Charlie O'Brien, a "doc in progress" about the former St. Louis police detective who in the 1950s helped revive interest in the city's early blues and jazz performers.
* Bassist and St. Louis native Dan Loomis will debut "Job's Trial's - Our Trials," a new jazz oratorio he composed for bass, guitar, drums, voices, and a narrator, in a performance next Friday, June 24 at IBeam Brooklyn in NYC.
Multi-instrumentalist Brian Culbertson is coming to St. Louis to perform at 8:00 p.m. Wednesday, October 19 at The Pageant.
Culbertson, who plays keyboards and trombone, currently is wrapping up a crowd-funding campaign via IndieGoGo to complete work on his upcoming album FUNK!, which he calls "a throwback, old-school, funkadelic record in the style of P-Funk meets Prince" and is scheduled for release in September.
His St. Louis date is part of an extended tour promoting the record that begins September 23 and will continue through December. Culbertson (pictured) last played St. Louis in August, 2012, also at the Pageant, as part of a series of gigs that year with saxophonist David Sanborn.
Reserved seats for Culbertson's October 19 show at The Pageant are $35 each, and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Friday, June 24.
(An online pre-sale will take place starting at 10:00 a.m. Thursday, June 23 and continuing until 10:00 a.m. the next day. To purchase tickets during the pre-sale, go here and enter the promotional code FUNCTOR.)
With production overseen by flute player/composer Fred Tompkins and pianist Greg Mills (both of whom also perform on some of the tracks), the album compiles music from monthly jam sessions at the ToFA; last fall's "3 Nights In September" festival; and more, all recorded live to two-track by Tompkins.
In addition to the two producers/project managers, performers include cellist Tracy Andreotti, poet Michael Castro, percussionist Henry Claude, violinist Alex Cunningham, keyboardist James Hegarty, clarinetist Eric Mandat, trombonist Jeremy Melsha, guitarist Lee Scott Price, trumpeter George Sams, saxophonist Dave Stone, bassist Josh Weinstein, and percussionist Thomas Zirkle.
To help promote the album (pictured), the various musicians involved will stage a CD release event at 8:00 p.m. Wednesday, July 13 at the ToFA. Admission is free.
Update, 12:00 a.m., 6/17/16: The proprietors of the Tavern of Fine Arts announced late yesterday that they'll be closely permanently on Saturday, June 25, meaning that the CD release event on Wednesday, July 13 is canceled. If it is rescheduled at another venue, depending on the timing there will be either another update or a new post here on StLJN.
Pressed in a limited edition of 100 CDs, the album will be available to buy for $10 at the event on July 13, and also will be available for purchase from the participating musicians and soon, at local retailers Euclid Records and Vintage Vinyl. Plans for a digital release are pending, said Tompkins.
This week's calendar of jazz and creative music in St. Louis offers some early summer eclecticism, including a homecoming performance by one of our city's exemplars of the avant-garde; a couple of free, multi-venue festivals featuring a variety of local talent; sold-out shows featuring two touring pianists, and, as the saying goes, much, much more. Let's go the the highlights...
Thursday, June 16
The esteemed multi-instrumentalist and St. Louis native J.D. Parran(pictured, top left) will be back home from NYC for a visit, joining forces with trumpeter George Sams and other free improvisers for a performance at the Tavern of Fine Arts; the Route 66 Jazz Orchestra plays at Jazz at the Bistro; and The 442s will celebrate the release of their latest album RELAY with a performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall.
Friday, June 17
Grand Center's "Music at the Intersection" series returns for the second year, kicking off with an assortment of local funk, soul and hip-hop performers paying tribute to Prince at various venues in the district, including Good 4 The Soul at the Ferring Jazz Bistro and Fresh Heir at the Curtain Call Lounge, next to the Fox Theater.
Saturday, June 18
Starting on Saturday afternoon and continuing through the evening, the Riverfront Times will present their annual RFT Music Showcase, featuring more than 90 acts at nine venues in the Grove district.
While the lineup emphasizes rock and hip-hop, there are some performers of potential interest to StLJN readers, especially at Handlebar, which over the course of the day will host sets from singer/guitarist Tommy Halloran's Guerrilla Swing, saxophonist Dave Stone's trio, the Vernacular String Trio, Animal Children, and electronic musician Eric Hall.
Saturday night, the 12-year-old piano phenom Joey Alexander will play a one-nighter at Jazz at the Bistro. Both sets are sold out, but Jazz St. Louis is advising anyone still interested in tickets to check with the JSL box office on Friday and/or Saturday for cancellations and returns.
Sunday, June 19
The Jazz Edge Orchestra will present a concert version of the musical Five Guys Named Moe, featuring songs made famous by saxophonist and singer Louis Jordan, in a matinee at the Sun Theater in Grand Center.
Also on Sunday, the recently formed New Orleans funk band Chapter:SOUL(pictured, lower left), which is fronted by saxophonist Calvin Johnson Jr. and features sousaphonist Kirk Joseph of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, will make their St. Louis debut with an early evening show at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.
Tuesday, June 21
Pianist Chick Corea's trio with bassist Christian McBride and drummer Brian Blade will perform for the first of two sold-out nights at Jazz at the Bistro. As with the Joey Alexander performance, at this point any available tickets will be due to returns or cancellations, and prospective buyers are being advised to check with the Jazz St. Louis box office. In the meantime, you can sample a few performances by Corea, McBride and Blade on video by checking out this post from last Saturday.
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.)
Today for Music Education Monday, you can get a drum lesson via video from Danny Seraphine, best known as a founding member and the original drummer of the band Chicago.
Although Seraphine (pictured) left the group in 1990, his work on their early albums helped establish them not only as major hit-makers, but also as a band that, at least early in their career, was considered innovative and musically credible by a lot of jazz players and fans.
Although Chicago subsequently wound up squandering much of that reputation by becoming little more than a vehicle for soft-rock tunes by outside songwriters, it doesn't diminish the quality or importance of Seraphine's playing on those early recordings. And as you'll hear, the skills that helped Seraphine earn a place on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "The Top 100 Drummers of All Time" remain undiminished even now.
In the video below, produced by the website Drumeo.com and titled "The Art of Jazz Rock Drumming," Seraphine plays three songs with his current band C.T.A., gives a presentation outlining some his drumming ideas and concepts, and takes questions from the audience. As a bonus, after the jump you can see another master class presented by Seraphine just last month at Bentley's Drum Shop in Fresno, CA.
Chapter:SOUL, a new funk band from New Orleans featuring an original member of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, will make their St. Louis debut with a performance at 6:00 p.m. Sunday, June 19 at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.
The group (pictured) features sousaphonist Kirk Joseph, who helped found the DDBB back in 1977 and also leads his own band Backyard Groove, and saxophonist and vocalist Calvin Johnson Jr., who's played with the DDBB, Big Sam's Funky Nation, Harry Connick Jr., and Irvin Mayfield's New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. Keyboardist/vocalist Kashonda Bailey and drummer Terry Scott complete the lineup.
Chapter:SOUL currently plays weekly on Thursdays at Verret's Lounge in New Orleans, and their website says the band is "currently tracking its debut album, and plans for a spring 2016 release." Admission to their show at BB's will be $10 at the door.
(Edited 6/13/16 to correct a type & add ticket price.)
While all three musicians have played St. Louis before on multiple occasions with other groups, this will be their first performance here together. Corea, McBride and Blade made their debut as a trio in 2010 with tours of the US and Japan, and in 2013 released Trilogy, a three-CD set mixing original material and standards that was recorded live on tour all over the world. It was generally well-received by fans and critics, and wound up winning two Grammy Awards in 2014, for Best Jazz Instrumental Album and Best Improvised Jazz Solo, for Corea's work on his song "Fingerprints."
The elder statesman of the group at age 75, Corea has been considered one of the top pianists in jazz for a half-century now. Meanwhile, though they're a generation younger at 44 and 45 respectively, both McBride and Blade are established bandleaders and recording artists with their own fan bases, which no doubt has helped broaden the trio's appeal.
Given the high profiles of all three members, most of their performances have been at festivals, concert halls, and theaters, but in St. Louis, listeners will have a chance to check them out up close in the relatively intimate confines of the 220-seat Bistro.
To give you an idea of what to expect, here's a collection of mostly fan-made videos of the trio recorded at various performances over the past four years. While the video quality ranges from pretty good to just barely OK, they all have listenable audio and more important, all should help convey something of the experience of being within a few yards - or in some cases, just a few feet - of the performance.
For starters, you can check out two relatively recent clips from a show in September 2016 at SFJAZZ in San Francisco. The first, up above this paragraph, is a version of "Fingerprints," and the second, after the jump, is an update on Corea's tune "Armando's Rhumba."
The other four clips are all from 2012, starting with an excerpt of a performance of Miles Davis' "All Blues" from the London Jazz Festival in November of that year.
After that, you can see the trio playing Thelonious Monk's "Work" at a concert in Maribor, Slovinia; an excerpt from another show featuring some free form impvov in Zürich, Switzerland; and last but not least, a jam session at the Tbilisi Jazz Festival in Tbilisi, Georgia (the former Soviet republic, not the US state) in which Corea shares the piano bench with Georgian keyboardist Beka Gochiashvili, who recently has toured with Corea's longtime colleague, bassist Stanley Clarke.
You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...
