Due to a somewhat serious injury to yr. humble STLJN editor's right hand, there will be no "Jazz this week" post this week, and it may be a few days before any other new entries appear here.
While the prognosis is good for a full recovery, and I should have limited use of the hand back relatively soon, right now I'm reduced to typing with just my left hand, which makes it hard to crank out copy at the usual speed.
That said, the STLJN calendar was updated before I went on the "disabled list" with all gig info received to date, and as always, there will be new syndicated material showing up daily on the left sidebar from other jazz blogs and from AllAboutJazz.com. See you again in a few days...
The St. Louis GypsyJazz Festival has announced their lineup and schedule for this year, with festivities set for Friday, October 21 through Sunday, October 23 at Evangeline's in the Central West End.
Founded and run by spouses Ben Wood and Eve Seltzer - respectively, the guitarist and singer for the St. Louis band Franglais - the festival is now in its second year and aims to "celebrate the culture and music of Django Reinhardt," the Belgian guitarist whose work in the 1930s and '40s popularized the Gypsy jazz.style around the world.
The festival kicks off on Friday, October 21 with a performance by Fleur De Lou and Jason Anick, followed by an open jam session to close out the evening. Events on Saturday, October 22 will begin with a jazz brunch, followed by a late-afternoon workshop, an evening performance by Franglais and Miles Griffith, and another jam session.
The third and final day of the festival on Sunday, October 23 will feature another jazz brunch, more workshops, a performance by Phats Django and Dario Napoli, and one final late-night jam session.
Admission to the performances and jam sessions is free, but because space is limited, those interested in attending are encouraged to make advance reservations by calling Evangeline's at 314-367-3644. There will be a fee for attending the music workshops, with details on that TBA. For more information, visit the St. Louis GypsyJazz Festival's Facebook page.
* Last week's episode of NPR's program "Jazz Night In America" featured "three interpretations of Miles Davis — on the silver screen, the page and on the bandstand."
Titled "Three Miles Ahead," the episode includes interviews with Don Cheadle, director and star of Miles Ahead, the recent film about Davis, and two St. Louis natives: writer, poet and Davis biographer Quincy Troupe, and trumpeter Keyon Harrold(pictured), who performed on the soundtrack for Cheadle's film and recently presented a tribute to Davis in NYC.
* Miles Davis' grandson Khalid Davis has died at age 42 in St. Louis. A visitation and memorial service will be held starting at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, August 30, at Granberry Mortuary, 8806 Jennings Station Road, with burial immediately after service at Lake Charles Memorial Park. StLJN's condolences go out to the Davis family.
Today for Music Education Monday, you can get a video lesson from famed drummer Peter Erskine on "Playing Brushes With All Styles Of Music."
First gaining wide attention in the mid-1970s as a member of Stan Kenton's big band, Erskine (pictured) can be heard on more than 600 albums encompassing styles including jazz, funk, rock, pop and more.
He has performed and/or recorded with headliners such as Weather Report, Diana Krall, Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan, Steps Ahead, Kate Bush, and many others, and also has released 20 albums as a leader, including two - Dr. Um and Side Man Blue - this year. When not touring or recording, Erskine also teaches at the the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music.
In this video recorded for Drumeo.com, Erskine talks about basic brush techniques, and how to apply them to many different styles of music.
This week, it's part one of StLJN's Fall 2016 jazz preview, in which we present videos featuring various touring jazz and creative music performers who will be visiting St. Louis in the next several months.
Going in chronological order, the first clip showcases Chicago-based singer Tammy McCann, who will be presenting her cabaret show "Ella Loves Gershwin" on Saturday, September 15 at The Emerald Room at The Monocle under the auspices of the Presenters Dolan. McCann can be seen in the first video up above, which shows an excerpt from a set she did at Birdland in NYC in January of this year.
After the jump, you can see a video of organist Dr. Lonnie Smith’s Evolution, who will be in town from Wednesday, September 21 through Saturday, September 24 to kick off the fall season at Jazz at the Bistro.
Named after Smith's most recent album, which features a horn section and second drummer added to the organist's usual trio, Evolution is seen here playing "Straight No Chaser" in October 2015 at BRIC JazzFest in Brooklyn. (Alas, the touring version of the band is a five-piece that only includes one drummer, so St. Louis audiences won't get a chance to hear the sort of interplay between the percussionists that's featured here.)
Right after Smith concludes his run at the Bistro, guitarist Pat Metheny will return to St. Louis with a brand new quartet featuring drummer Antonio Sanchez, bassist Linda Oh, and pianist Gwilym Simcock for a performance on Sunday, September 25 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Metheny is seen here with his Unity Group (Sanchez, bassist Ben Williams and saxophonist Chris Potter) performing the song "Kin" in 2014 at the the Five Angels Theater in New York.
Next up is pianist Bill Charlap, who will perform with his trio on Wednesday, September 28 and Thursday, September 29 at Jazz at the Bistro. The third clip after the jump shows Charlap's entire set from the 2015 Jazz San Javier festival in Spain.
That same week, the Bistro features one of their major "gets" of the season, as singer Al Jarreau checks in for two evenings of intimate duo performances on Friday, September 30 and Saturday, October 1. In today's video, you can see Jarreau singing "Take Five" with an all-star band at the 2016 International Jazz Day concert, held in April at the White House in Washington DC.
That particular weekend is shaping up to be a busy one, as percussionist Jason Marsalis' Vibes Quintet also will be performing here on Saturday, October 1 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Marsalis, who recently moved from his native New Orleans to France, is seen here playing "Offbeat Personality" in 2015 at the Blue Note in Milano, Italy.
And as if those two shows weren't enough for one evening, New Music Circle also will begin their season on Saturday, October 1 with a concert featuring duo performances by pianists Craig Taborn and Kris Davis at the 560 Music Center.
Since the Taborn/Davis tour hasn't even started yet, there's no video of the two of them playing together. So instead, in the next two clips you can see Taborn with his trio in 2015, playing "All True Night" and "Future Perfect" at the Salle Poirel in Nancy, France; and Davis and her trio playing in January 2015 at Klaviersalon MERTA in Linz, Austria.
Today's penultimate video features drummer, singer and songwriter Jamison Ross, who will be making his St. Louis debut as a leader with shows from Wednesday, October 5 through Saturday, October 8 at Jazz at the Bistro. The clip features Ross and his band performing "These Things You Are to Me" in February of this year at the studios of KPLU in Tacoma, WA.
The final video features guitarist Dweezil Zappa, who will return with his band to perform on Thursday, October 13 at The Ready Room. Though currently fighting a legal battle with his family over the rights to perform his father Frank Zappa's music, Dweezil is using the current tour to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the release of FZ's debut album Freak Out. You can hear what that sounds like in the video, an entire show show as shot by an audience member on July 8, 2016 at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY.
Part two of the Fall 2016 jazz preview will appear next week in this space. 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:
* According to posts on social media, Music Record Shop has relocated from the Grove neighborhood to Grand Center.
The retailer will take up residence in temporary space at 3526 Washington (right next door to KDHX) until January, when they'll move into a permanent home in the district's new "arts incubator" .ZACK - and yes, it's pronounced "dot zack" - in the former Cadillac Building at 3224 Locust St (pictured).
With summer winding down and the fall presenting season yet to begin, it's not a particularly busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, but there still are some performances worth noting that are happening over the next few days.
The ensemble attempting to bridge the disparate styles of these two iconic bands will include bassist Zeb Briskovich, drummer Montez Coleman (pictured, top left), keyboarist Adaron “Pops” Jackson, guitarist Eric Slaughter, and saxophonist Jason Swagler.
Tuesday, August 30 The Sidemen return to Evangeline's, and saxophonist Joe Bayer has a new weekly duo gig at Scarlett's Wine Bar in the Central West End, teaming up this week with bassist Glen Smith.
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 series will feature six different performers over five weekends in October and November at the Gaslight Theatre, starting with the return of Marilyn Maye(pictured), the "grand dame of cabaret," on Friday, October 14 and Saturday, October 15.
Next up will be singer Storm Large, who will present her third festival performance here in as many years on Friday, October 21, followed by Broadway actress and singer Tova Feldshuh and her show "Aging Is Optional" on Friday, October 28 and Saturday, October 29.
After that, singer Karen Irwin will present "A Janis Joplin Tribute" on Friday, November 4 and Saturday, November 5, followed by singer and pianist Judy Carmichael on Friday, November 11 and closing out the series, St. Louis' own Ken Haller on Saturday, November 12.
Ticket for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival Fall 2016 series are priced from $30 to $55, depending on the performer and the date, and are on sale now.
The British jazz-fusion band Brand X has announced a reunion tour for Fall 2016 that includes a performance at 8:00 p.m. Thursday, October 20 at the Wildey Theatre in Edwardsville.
Originally active from the mid-1970s into the early '80s, Brand X made six recordings and fielded 11 different lineups of musicians in a six-year period, including for a couple of albums Phil Collins, then the drummer for prog-rock band Genesis and subsequently a major pop star.
A reunion in the 1990s, featuring founding members Percy Jones on bass and John Goodsall on guitar, yielded two more albums, the last of which was Manifest Destiny in 1997.
The 2016 edition of Brand X (pictured) includes Jones and Goodsall, as well as drummer Kenwood Dennard, who wasn't an original member but played on the band's second album and subsequent tours.
Playing music from the first three Brand X albums, they'll be joined for the reunion tour by keyboardist Chris Clark, whose credits include the John Entwistle Band, and percussionist Scott Weinberger, who's played with Adrian Belew and King Crimson's Trey Gunn. To promote the tour, the band has made a short video, which you can see in the embedded player below.
Tickets for Brand X at the Wildey Theatre are $35, and are on sale now.
* Columbia/Legacy Recordings announced last week the upcoming release of Miles Davis Quintet: Freedom Jazz Dance: The Bootleg Series, Vol 5, a three-CD set featuring more than two hours of previously unreleased studio recordings made from 1966 to 1968 that feature the band known as Davis' "second great quintet," with Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone, Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass and Tony Williams on drums.
The box set (pictured), which has been "newly mixed and mastered in high resolution audio" will include the complete session reels from Davis' album Miles Smiles, with "rehearsals, partial and alternate takes, studio conversation and more." The set's release is scheduled for Friday, October 21 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the original release of Miles Smiles.
This week for Music Education Monday, you can sit in via video on a master class with the late, great pianist Oscar Peterson(pictured).
One of the most acclaimed and popular jazz pianists of his generation. Peterson, who died at age 72 in 2007, wasknown as a technical master in the tradition of Art Tatum, capable of executing elaborate flights of pianistic fancy while still retaining the essential elements of blues and swing.
He was best known for working in a trio format, most notably with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen, and later in his career with guitarist Joe Pass and bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen. Peterson also recorded and performed with many of the major jazz musicians active during his lifetime, including St. Louis' own Clark Terry, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Young, Ben Webster, and numerous others.
He gave this presentation in 1997 in Marciac, France, accompanied by Ørsted Pedersen, drummer Martin Drew, and guitarist Ulf Wakenius. The video, shot by an audience member, isn't exactly professional quality, but if you have some interest in the subject matter, it's worth the effort of adjusting the volume control from time to time to hear what Peterson has to say about developing solos, ensemble playing, arranging, and more.
For those who'd like a little more OP, after the jump you can see a bonus video, a 1995 biographical documentary about Peterson titled Music in the Key of Oscar.
For the first time in 11+ years of running this site, yr. humble editor is taking a few scheduled days off from blogging. During the hiatus, new syndicated content from around the web and AllAboutJazz.com will appear daily on the left sidebar, and regular posting will resume some time next week...
With a temporary shortage of upcoming local shows to preview over the next couple of weeks, today's post once again is dedicated to showcasing some favorite jazz documentary films that can be seen online for free.
First up is Miles Ahead: The Music of Miles Davis, which was produced in 1986 and and aired by PBS as part of their series Great Performances. Not to be confused with the similarly named film by Don Cheadle released earlier this year, this movie is a documentary with concert footage from the 1986 New Orleans Jazz Festival and interviews with Davis, Keith Jarrett, Dizzy Gillespie, Gil Evans, George Benson, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams and others.
After the jump, you can see Mingus: Charlie Mingus 1968, director Thomas Reichman's film about the famed bassist, bandleader, and composer.
Below that, it's On the Road with Duke Ellington, originally made for television in 1967, and updated after Ellington's death in 1974.
The final video is Jackie McLean On Mars, a quirky, short film from 1979 about the saxophonist that features him addressing the camera directly for much of its running time.
You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...
The restoration is the work of the not-for-profit organization House of Miles East St. Louis (HOME), which also plans to use the building (pictured, in a recent photo and in an artist's rendering of the finished project) for music education activities and as an event space for rent. They've started a crowd-funding campaign with a goal of raising $50,000 toward the costs of the renovations; as of this writing, 21 days in, they've collected $255 in pledges.
* And speaking of fundraising efforts, the Belleville News-Democrat has a feature story about the latest attempts to raise the $150,000 needed to make radio station WSIE self-sustaining within the next 18 months. The station, which broadcasts a mix of jazz, blues and R&B plus university news and sports from the campus of SIU Edwardsville, will lose funding from the state of Illinois after 2017 due to budget cuts.
* Drummer and songwriter Kevin Bowers' new album Nova was the subject of a brief feature story by Christian Schaeffer of the Riverfront Times.
This weekend's calendar of jazz and creative music in St. Louis has a bit of a New Orleans flavor, with two of that city's favorite working bands playing gigs here, plus two nights of a locally produced tribute to one of the essential New Orleans musicians, Louis Armstrong.
Let's go to the highlights...
Thursday, August 11 Big Sam's Funky Nation(pictured) returns to St. Louis to perform at the Broadway Oyster Bar. Led by trombonist and singer "Big Sam" Williams, they recently were named “Best Band In New Orleans” by the local magazine Where Y’At in the publication's 19th annual writer’s poll. You can check out some of their insistent grooves on video in this post from a couple of Saturday ago.
Friday, August 12
The Louis Armstrong Festival at the Ozark Theatre in Webster Groves will feature two nights of music associated with the legendary trumpeter and singer, performed by a band led by trumpet player Randy Holmes and including trombonist Brett Stamps, clarinetist Scott Alberici, and various special guests.
In case you need a reminder of his greatness, you can see some videos of Armstrong, including recently discovered footage that's the only filmed record of one of his recording sessions, in this post from last Saturday.
Also on Friday, New Orleans' John "Papa" Gros, former frontman of the band Papa Grows Funk, will be in town to play at the Broadway Oyster Bar; and the Funky Butt Brass Band, with help from the St. Louis Burlesque All-Stars, will present a show they're calling "Shake Your Tailfeather: Babes and Brass Salute the Blues Brothers" will perform for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro. (Update, 10:00 p.m. 8/11/16: It has been brought to StLJN's attention that the Blues Brothers and burlesque angles apparently were ditched sometime between the original announcement of JSL's summer season and now, and this weekend's performances now are being billed as "Backyard BBQ with Funky Butt & Friends".)
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.)
* In an essay about the re-release of Louis Malle’s 1959 film Elevator to the Gallows, the New Yorker's film critic Richard Brody calls Davis' score for the film "worth hearing entirely on its own" and "better than the film itself, by far, and there are better ways to hear it than in the movie—namely, by listening to a CD that features the entire studio sessions from which the score was edited." The movie's revival continues at the Film Forum in NYC through Thursday.
* Davis' 1974 double album Big Fun, which collected previously unreleased material from the bands that recorded Bitches Brew, On The Corner, and Jack Johnson, will be reissued on vinyl in September.
* Saxophonist Jim Snidero's upcoming album MD66 will pay tribute to Davis' "second great quintet," the group that from 1966 to 1968 included pianist Herbie Hancock, saxophonist Wayne Shorter, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams.
* The recently released album, The Columbia Sessions, produced by Davis in 1969 for his wife at the time, singer Betty Davis, was reviewed by the website Headstuff.org.
This week for Music Education Monday, you can get a little free advice on recording via some videos from producer Steve Albini.
Though he's known for his work with alt-rock and punk acts such as Nirvana, The Pixies, PJ Harvey, and Iggy Pop, the fundamentals of Albini's pragmatic approach to capturing full band performances in the studio on a modest budget can be applied to many musical genres, including jazz.
In the first video below, recorded in 2005 at a convention of readers of Tape Op magazine, Albini (pictured) discusses his preferred way to record drums, which relies less on close-miking and more on room ambiance than the methods employed by many engineers and producers. For more on Albini's drum miking techniques, see this article from Drum magazine.
After the jump, you can see four more videos in which Albini discusses various aspects of audio production. The first, "How to Produce An Album with Steve Albini," features him talking generally about how he approaches the production process when starting a new project.
After that, there are a couple of Q&A sessions with Albini, recorded in conjunction with his participation in a series of seminars called "Mix with the Masters" in 2014 and 2015. Last but not least, there's a shorter clip in which Albini talks about why he personally prefers analog recording to digital.
Today, let's take a look at some vintage videos featuring trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong, who's back in the StLJN spotlight this week for two reasons.
First, as you may already know, this past Thursday, August 4 was the 115th anniversary of Armstrong's birth. It's true that during his lifetime, he claimed to have been born on July 4, 1900, but years after after his death, researchers uncovered information showing that Armstrong's true date of birth was in fact August 4, 1901. As a result, fans now celebrate on both days.
Second, and of more local relevance, there's an Armstrong-related event coming up soon right here in town, as a band led by trumpeter Randy Holmes will be presenting "The Louis Armstrong Festival of St. Louis" next Friday, August 12 and Saturday, August 13 at the Ozark Theatre. Holmes will be joined by Brett Stamps (trombone), Scott Alberici (clarinet), Mary Ann Schulte (piano), Kevin Gianino (drums) and Bob Lowe (bass) plus special guests for two nights performing music associated with Armstrong.
Since various Armstrong videos already have been spotlighted in this space a couple of times before, in 2012 and 2014, and as the custom here at StLJN is is to try not to recycle the same clips, today's post is focused on material featuring the trumpeter that's come online in just the last couple of years.
The most newsworthy example of that would be the only known film of Armstrong in a recording studio, a clip from 1959 that was re-discovered and made available this spring by the Louis Armstrong House Museum, the official repository of the trumpeter's archives and keepers of his legacy.
Shot while Armstrong was recording the album Satchmo Plays King Oliver, the video shows him and the band recording the master take of "I Ain't Got Nobody," plus silent footage of them listening to the playback. You can see that clip up in the embedded player up above.
After the jump, there are a couple of complete Armstrong performances recorded in 1962. The first was made as an episode of "Goodyear Jazz Concert," a series of short films for television produced by the Goodyear tire company. Originally shot on 35mm film and recorded in stereo, it offers a more high fidelity look and sound than a lot of the available video of Armstrong.
Below that, you can see Armstrong's complete set from a show in May, 1962 in Stockholm, Sweden. Both of these performances feature the same band, and the Goodyear show offers what's basically a subset of the songs from the Stockholm performance, which makes for some compare-and-contrast opportunities. For the record, the group includes Armstrong, trombonist Trummy Young, clarinetist Joe Darensbourg, pianist Billy Kyle, bassist Bill Cronk, drummer Danny Barcelona, and singer Jewel Brown, with Swedish vocalist Monica Zetterlund making a guest appearance during the Stockholm performance.
Finally, there are three songs taken from Armstrong's performance at the 1970 Newport Jazz Festival, which prominently featured a tribute to him in honor of (what then was thought to be) his 70th birthday. First is "Pennies From Heaven," followed by Armstrong's take on Fats Domino's "Blueberry Hill," and a version of "Just a Closer Walk With Thee" featuring a guest appearance by the legendary gospel singer Mahalia Jackson.
The organization's 58th season will include nine events at a half-dozen venues around town, starting with a duo performance from pianists Craig Taborn and Kris Davis(pictured) on Saturday, October 1 at the 560 Music Center.
Taborn and Davis, who are doing a series of concert dates together in the fall, will perform on two grand pianos on the stage at the venue's E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall. The concert will be recorded for possible release on a CD documenting their joint tour.
In addition to Taborn and Davis, both of whom have performed in St. Louis under NMC's auspices in recent years, the lineup also will include return visits from musicians such as percussionist Hamid Drake, electronic musician Ikue Mori, and percussionist Tomas Fujiwara, whose group The Hookup includes his collaborators from the band Thumbscrew, guitarist Mary Halvorson and bassist Michael Formanek, plus saxophonist Brian Settles and trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson.
Performers making their St. Louis debuts will include Chicago-based cellist Tomeka Reid, who will play in a trio with two other buzzworthy Chicago musicians, flute player Nicole Mitchell and drummer Mike Reed; trumpeter Nate Wooley, who will work in a duo with Mori; and French flute player and composer Sylvaine Hélary, who will play with her Spring Roll Quartet.
The complete season schedule (pending confirmation of details for a couple of shows later in the season) is:
Saturday, October 1 at 560 Music Center: Craig Taborn and Kris Davis
Thursday, March 16 at The Stage at KDHX: Erik Friedlander's Black Phoebe Trio
Friday, April 28 or Saturday, April 29 at The Stage at KDHX: Tomas Fujiwara's The Hook Up
May 2017, date and location TBA: New Music Circle Showcase
Most of the performers also will do some sort of free public workshop, master class or other event during their visits to St. Louis, with details on those TBA.
Tickets for NMC shows are $20 for regular admission, $10 for "students or struggling music supporters," and can be purchased in advance online or at the door. In the past, they've also offered a subscription package that includes "flex" tickets that can be used for any show(s) in any combination, plus other benefits. For details on that, or to purchase single tickets, see NMC's website.
Though Bowers is best known for playing with rock groups such as The Feed, Street Fighting Band, and others, Nova is influenced heavily by Brazilian music, and is described as "a mélange of Brazilian samba, psychedelic rock, romantic compositions, and impressionistic lyrics" in a press release that also name-checks Gilberto Gil, Sergio Mendes, and Gal Costa.
In addition to writing all the songs for the album (pictured) and playing drums and guitar, Bowers also played a variety of percussion instruments, sometimes overdubbing himself into a one-man percussion ensemble. He also got help from more than a dozen St. Louis musicians, including members of the Funky Butt Brass Band, Sleepy Kitty's Paige Brubeck, bassist Zeb Briskovich, keyboardist Dave Grelle, guitarist Jimmy Griffin, and others.
“Brazilian music is something I’ve always had a passion for,” said Bowers in the press release. “I studied Brazilian drumming at Musicians Institute in Hollywood, CA. I even had the privilege of traveling to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil with some close friends to soak up its culture."
The symposium will incorporate several jazz worship services and performances, including evening vespers, morning worship, a "sacred jazz" concert, and jam sessions, with the St. Louis-based Oikos Ensemble, led by saxophonist Rev. Cliff Aerie (pictured), serving as featured performers.
The three days also will include a variety of workshops, networking opportunities, and speakers such as keynote presenter Rev. Geoffrey Black, a visiting professor at Eden Seminary and retired general minister and president of the United Church of Christ.
Available now in digital formats and as a limited-edition CD, the recording (pictured) includes 12 tracks of groove-oriented original material and also features guest solos from guitarist and former St. Louisan Jeff Snider.
* St. Louis musicians are being invited to submit music videos to GOTV, a new local cable channel featuring original documentaries and films and "the largest independent made-for-television music format in the world." GOTV's programming airs on Charter’s channel 995 from 7-11 am and 6-10 pm daily, with "plans to expand to Atlanta and LA in September and Dallas in January of 2017." For more information, visit mygotvmusic.com.
* The voice of the late Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs, who grew up in St. Louis, is accompanied by music from guitarist Bill Frisell, keyboardist Wayne Horvitz, and others on a new album, Let Me Hang You, out now from Ernest Jenning Record Co/Khannibalism. Recorded by producer Hal Wilner shortly before Burroughs' death in 1997 but unreleased until now, the album features Burroughs reading excerpts from his infamous novel Naked Lunch.
Yes, it's officially the dog days of August, a time of year most identified with pervasive slacking off.
And though it'll be a few more weeks before the fall presenting season begins, bringing a variety of touring jazz and creative music performers to town, in the meantime St. Louis' own homegrown musicians still are out there working hard, week in and week out.
Here are some of the more noteworthy shows happening around town over the next few days...
Wednesday, August 3
Speaking of the fall presenting season, in a portent of things to come, New Music Circle will hold a "58th Season Kickoff and Fundraiser" at the Tick Tock Tavern, just down the street from the old KDHX studios on Magnolia Ave. The free event will feature music from DJs Josh Weinstein and Jeremy Kannapell, raffles of CDs, LPs, and other music-related items, and a first look at NMC's 2016-17 season.
Elsewhere around town, singer Tony Viviano is presenting a "90th Birthday Tribute to Tony Bennett" at Patrick's Westport Grill, with singer Dawn Turlington along to duet on some of the material Bennett has recorded recently with pop diva Lady Gaga; and singer Joe Mancuso will close out this year's Whitaker Music Festival series of free concerts at Missouri Botanical Garden.
Friday, August 5
The Funky Butt Brass Band will play a free outdoor concert at Schroeder Park in Manchester, while flutist Oliver Nelson, Jr., the son of famed saxophonist, arranger and St. Louis native of the same name, will present a rare performance in his dad's hometown, playing a free concert at 370 Lakeside Park in St. Peters. The younger Nelson received his doctorate in music from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign earlier this year.
Also on Friday, singer, guitarist and former St. Louisan Javier Mendoza, now living in Nashville and known professionally as Hobo Cane, will be back in town to play with Javier Mendoza’s Estereotipo(pictured), aka the Javier Mendoza Latin Jazz Project, for the first of two nights of performances at Jazz at the Bistro.
Saturday, August 6
Trumpeter Jim Manley, guitarist Randy Bahr and their "All-Star Band" return to Nathalie's; percussionist Herman Semidey and Orquesta Son Montuno will play Latin jazz, salsa and more at Club Viva; and Animal Children perform at The Dark Room.
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.)
