April is Jazz Appreciation Month

It's time once again to get ready for Jazz Appreciation Month, the annual celebration of jazz music sponsored every April by the Smithsonian Institution.

Now in its 16th year, Jazz Appreciation Month (or JAM) was created "to draw greater public attention to the extraordinary heritage and history of jazz and its importance as an American cultural heritage. In addition, JAM is intended to stimulate the current jazz scene and encourage people of all ages to participate in jazz—to study the music, attend concerts, listen to jazz on radio and recordings, read books about jazz, and support institutional jazz programs."

This year, JAM is recognizing the centennial of the birth of singer Ella Fitzgerald, lauding her as "one of the greatest American singers in any genre of music" and noting that with "an unparalleled ability for mimicry and “scat” singing, Fitzgerald also produced melodic lines that put her in the category of great instrumental improvisers." You can learn more about Fitzgerald at the Smithsonian's website.

At the end of the month, jazz fans worldwide also will celebrate the sixth annual International Jazz Day on Sunday, April 30. Sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), International Jazz Day is designed to highlight jazz and its diplomatic role of uniting people in all corners of the globe.

Unlike in years past, there apparently will be no all-star International Jazz Day concert televised or webcast in 2017, but there will be hundreds of related events taking place in cities all over the world (though none, alas, here in St. Louis).

Meanwhile, if you can't wait to get started, the Smithsonian offers a list of "ways to celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month," and has produced a poster (pictured) honoring Fitzgerald and fellow singer Billie Holiday.

The first in a special three-year series featuring LeRoy Neiman’s painting "Big Band," the posters were distributed for free to schools, libraries, music and jazz educators, music merchants and manufacturers, radio stations, arts presenters, and U.S. embassies worldwide, and anyone can download a copy in .pdf format here. You also can see and download commemorative posters from the previous 15 years of JAM here.

No BS! Brass Band to play Sunday, June 18 at Old Rock House

The Richmond, Virginia-based No BS! Brass Band will return to St. Louis to perform at 8:00 p.m. Sunday, June 18 at the Old Rock House.

No BS! Brass Band (pictured) has played all over the United States, including at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, the Festival of New Trumpet Music, Lockn festival, and on National Public Radio’s "Tiny Desk Concert.

They also have performed in St. Louis several times before, most recently in February 2015 at the Broadway Oyster Bar. The group's latest recording is Brass Knuckles, which they self-released on vinyl and CD in 2015.

Tickets for the all-ages performance are $10 in advance, $12 day of show, and will go on sale at 5:00 p.m. Friday, March 31 via Metrotix.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The Whitaker Music Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden has announced its schedule for 2017, with ten free concerts in total, including performances from the trad jazz band Gaslight Squares on Wednesday, June 14 and pianist Ptah Williams on Wednesday, July 12.

* Kneebody keyboardist Adam Benjamin was interviewed for a brief article by St. Louis magazine's Erin Williams. The group continues their run at Jazz at the Bistro through Saturday night.

* Riverbend Restaurant and Bar, the Richmond Heights spot that featured live jazz from trumpeter Jim Manley every Tuesday night alongside its creole and Cajun cuisine, has closed permanently.

* An album of pictures from percussionist Poncho Sanchez' shows last week at Jazz at the Bistro has been posted to Facebook by St. Louis trombonist Dave Dickey, who's friends with Sanchez and several members of his group and sat in with them at the Bistro.

* Electronic musician Nathan Cook (aka NNN Cook) was interviewed about his Rhizomatic series of recordings featuring St. Louis experimental musicians by Willis Ryder Arnold of St. Louis Public Radio.

* The website St. Louis Musicians Unite has a short feature about this weekend's events celebrating composer Scott Joplin, and also has put together a Spotify playlist collecting recordings by St. Louis jazz musicians.

* Trumpeter and St. Louis native Ally Hany has won second place in the jazz division of the 2017 National Trumpet Competition, held earlier this month at Metropolitan State University in Denver, CO. Hany, a graduate of Webster Groves High School and University of North Texas, currently is living in NYC, working on a master's degree at Manhattan School of Music and performing with ensembles including the MSM Jazz Orchestra and Sherrie Maricle and the DIVA Jazz Orchestra.

* Pianist Makini Morrison, a senior at University City High School, is one of 17 finalists in the Fox Performing Arts Charitable Foundation's 2017 St. Louis Teen Talent Competition. Morrison (pictured) has been part of Jazz St. Louis' JazzU program and also has played with the North County Big Band. The competition finals will take place Saturday, April 8 at the Fox Theatre.

* Jack Snelling, a senior at Webster Groves High School, has won first place in the high school jazz division of the Mizzou New Music Initiative's 2017 Creating Original Music Project (COMP), a statewide competition for Missouri student composers in grades K-12. Snelling's winning work "Lovesick" will be performed along with this year's other winning compositions as part of the COMP Festival on Saturday, April 15 on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia.

* Worship Jazz, the St. Louis-based publisher of jazz arrangements of sacred music, has added a collection of 12 "jazz liturgies" to the five volumes of jazz hymns already in their catalog. The liturgical resources are "intended to help church musicians create their own jazz worship services, with each focused on a specific liturgical theme with a complete worship format."

* The Wildey Theatre in Edwardsville is looking for a new production manager. If you're interested, you can find more information about the job and how to apply at http://www.cityofedwardsville.com/.

Jazz this week: Kneebody, a tribute to Scott Joplin, "Sculptures in Sound," and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis offers a century-spanning variety of sounds, ranging from a tribute to legendary composer who helped lay the foundation for jazz to a group offering their own contemporary version of a musical melting pot.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, March 29
The eclectic electro-acoustic fusion quintet Kneebody performs for the first of four nights continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro.

The group (pictured, top left) is touring in support of their latest recording Anti-Hero, their eighth studio album, released earlier this month. For more about Kneebody, plus videos featuring performances of some of the music from Anti-Hero, see this post from Saturday before last.

Elsewhere in Grand Center, the weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" proceeds with guitarist/singer Tommy Halloran at KDHX's Magnolia Cafe, Farshid Etniko at the Curtain Call Lounge, the jam session with bassist  Bob Deboo and friends at the Kranzberg Arts Center and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor at The Dark Room.

Also on Wednesday, the weekly jam session with pianist Curt Landes, bassist Glen Smith and drummer Chuck Kennedy continues at @Nesby's in South County.

Thursday, March 30
The Jazz at Holmes series presents a free concert by students from Washington University's jazz studies program; the Schlafly Tap Room hosts the March edition of the Bruxism experimental music series, this month featuring music from Ice, Catholic Guilt, and Beauty Pageant; and pianist Adam Maness' trio plays at Thurman's in Shaw.

Friday, March 31
Trumpeter Jim Manley returns to One 19 North Tapas and Wine Bar, and singer Tony Viviano will perform at @Nesby's.

Saturday, April 1
Paying tribute on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of Joplin's death, the Friends of Scott Joplin will present "Scott Joplin: A Centennial Reflection" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site.

The event will feature music by pianist John Reed-Torres (pictured, bottom left), members of the Confluence Chamber Orchestra, and vocalists from the University of Missouri St Louis, plus  speakers from UMSL's history department.

Saturday night, the St. Louis Artists' Guild's "Sculptures in Sound" series resumes with a concert from trumpeter Keith Moyer's quintet.

Sunday, April 2
The Friends of Scott Joplin continue their observance of the centennial of Joplin's death with their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site, and the Jazz Troubadours will perform and host a jam session at Evangeline's.

Monday, April 3
Student from the jazz program at Webster University will present a free concert at Webster's Community Music School.

Tuesday, April 4
Singer Kim Fuller performs "A Tribute to Nancy Wilson" in the first of two late-morning "Coffee Concerts" - there's a second show on Wednesday morning - at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. You also can keep up with all the latest news by following St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes or clicking the "Like" icon on the StLJN Facebook page.

(If you have calendar items, band schedule information, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)

Eight O'Five Jive to perform Friday, April 14 at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups

The Nashville-based swing and jump blues band Eight O’Five Jive is coming to St. Louis to perform at 10:00 p.m. Friday, April 14 at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

Formed in 2013 by spouses Lee Shropshire (vocals) and Andy Scheinman (guitar), they won the Nashville Industry Music Award (NIMA) for ‘Best Live Blues Performers’ in 2014 and 2015, and also were the Nashville winners for the International Blues Challenge in 2016 and again this year.

The group (pictured), which also includes bassist Bill Bois, drummer Duane Spencer, and saxophonist Patrick Mosser, released their second album Swing Set in January.

While their debut recording Too Many Men featured versions of jump blues numbers made famous by the likes of Little Esther Phillips, Big Jay McNeely, Memphis Minnie, Jimmy Liggins, Big Maybelle, and others, their latest has just one cover, a "creative re-imagining" of Rudy Green's "My Mumblin' Baby," and ten original songs, inspired by the sounds of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. “Our material covers music from a time in American history when blues, jazz, doo-wop, swing, big band and various other styles got mixed up into one big pot before it became rock ‘n’ roll,” said Scheinman in a news release.

Sunday Session: March 26, 2017

Lee Morgan

Here are some interesting music-related items that have landed in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* How Spotify is finally gaining leverage over record labels (TechCrunch.com)
* Chuck Berry's Family Move Forward With Planned 'Chuck' LP (Rolling Stone)
* That Time Chuck Berry Punched Keith Richards in the Face (Guitar World)
* Chuck Berry's Guitarist Billy Peek Looks Back on 50 Years of Music and Friendship (Billboard)
* How Chuck Berry's Hometown St. Louis Inspired -- and Embittered -- Him (Billboard)
* Business-Savvy Chuck Berry Left Behind An Estimated $50 Million Estate (Billboard)
* Q&A with Dan Brubeck: Exploring Dad’s Songbook (DownBeat)
* Splitting Adams: John Adams' Chamber Symphonies (WQXR)
* Vision Festival 22 Lineup Announced (Jazz Times)
* Detroit Jazz Fest Names Wayne Shorter Artist-in-Residence (DownBeat)
* Rob Mazurek: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview (AquariumDrunkard.com)
* Back when pop music was literary (The-TLS.co.uk)
* Is Texas, not Mississippi, the true home of the blues? (ABC.net.au)
* Cracking the Columbia Records Code (AnalogPlanet.com)
* Q&A with Gary Burton: A Fond Farewell (DownBeat)
* Inside Kamasi Washington's New Ode to Unity (Rolling Stone)
* Bob Dylan Talks Amy Winehouse, Leonard Cohen, Much More in Rare, Extensive Interview (Pitchfork)
* The Most Expensive Record Never Sold (NPR)
* From 'Hamilton' to Jazz at Lincoln Center: 10 Music Projects You Have the NEA to Thank For (Billboard)
* How Weather Report Rewrote the Rules of Jazz on ‘Heavy Weather’ (Observer.com)
* Muldrow Meets Mingus (NPR)
* Perspectives on music-making in a hyper-connected world (Ableton.com)
* Duke Ellington’s Faith (FirstThings.com)
* Q&A: Making sense of music through math (CBC)
* 'I Called Him Morgan' Is A Tale Of Marriage, Murder And Jazz, Told From Two Sides (WBGO)
* Stop Everything and Behold this Mini Art Deco Telephone Jukebox circa 1935 (MessyNessyChic.com)
* The Unofficial History of Home Recording: Big Hits from Bedroom Studios (SonicScoop.com)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Laurence Hobgood

This week, let's take a look at some videos featuring pianist Laurence Hobgood, who's coming to St. Louis to perform with his trio on Wednesday, April 5 and Thursday, April 6 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Known widely for his more than 20 years as musical director for singer Kurt Elling, Hobgood split from Elling at the end of 2013 to concentrate on his own music. Since then, he's been involved in a variety of projects, playing solo, with his trio, and with larger ensembles, and sometimes even working with other vocalists, notably the British singer Barb Jungr, for whom he produced an album in 2016.

Hobgood's most recent trio recording was 2015's Honor Thy Fathers, which featured guest appearances from bassist John Patitucci and drummer Kendrick Scott. For his forthcoming album Tesseterra, set for release next month, he's using his regular accompanists, drummer Jared Schonig and bassist Matt Clohesy, augmented by the string quartet ETHEL to perform "iconic songs (by artists like Cole Porter; Sting; Hoagie Carmichael; Crosby, Stills & Nash; Joni Mitchell; Stevie Wonder, etc…) set in a cutting edge jazz-classical hybrid."

While it's certainly possible some adapted versions of those arrangements could turn up during Hobgood's St. Louis shows with only the trio, for the purpose of today's preview, you can see and hear him in several different musical settings that, together, should provide some more general insight into his musical personality.

In the first clip up above, Hobgood is seen performing a solo version of the Duke Ellington standard "Do Nothing Til You Hear From Me," recorded in October 2015 at the Arts Club in Ellington's home town of Washington DC.

After the jump, you can see Hobgood in an episode of Mad Toast Live!, a "community music showcase" based in Madison, Wisconsin. The program, recorded in 2012, features him performing solo and with singer Sally deBroux, bassist Laurie Lang, and percussionist John Becker.

Next are two more clips featuring Hobgood with female vocalists. He backs Barb Jungr in a version of the title track from the album they did together, Bob Dylan's "Shelter From The Storm," that was recorded in March 2016 at Pizza Express in London, and then accompanies Atla DeChamplain on another Ellington tune, "Love You Madly."

Those are followed by some footage of the pianist leading a sextet in a gig during the 2012 Winter Jazz Fest at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC. The band includes Schonig on drums as well as saxophonists Joel Frahm and Todd Bashore, trumpeter Brandon Lee, and bassist Matthew Rybicki.

The final clip features an interview with Hobgood recorded in 2012 for Jazz Times magazine, in which he discusses how he got started in music.

For more about Laurence Hobgood, you can listen to him on a 2013 episode of NPR's "Piano Jazz" and in a 2015 interview on the UK's JazzFM.

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

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Dave Weckl will drum with the Buddy Rich Big Band in a tribute concert in May at Ronnie Scott's in London.

* Speaking of London, the website London Jazz News last week published two posts of local interest to StLJN readers: a previously unseen interview from 1995 with trumpeter and St. Louis native Lester Bowie; and a review of Message to Our People, bassist and Washington University faculty member Paul Steinbeck's new book recounting the history of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, of which Bowie was a member.

* Organizers of the U City Jazz Festival have announced the date and lineup for this year's event. The fest will be held Saturday, June 10 in Heman Park, and will feature music from Demarius Hicks, Ptah Williams (pictured), Dave Black, Bach to the Future, and the St. Louis Jazz All Stars.

* David Steward, founder of St. Louis-based World Wide Technology Inc, and his wife Thelma Steward will receive the Ed Bradley Award for Leadership in philanthropy from Jazz at Lincoln Center during JALC's annual gala on April 26 in NYC. Though the award is for their contributions to JaLC, the Stewards also were the lead donors for Jazz St. Louis' renovated headquarters and performance space that opened in October 2014.

* Drummer Kimberly Thompson is transformed into an animated version of herself in the first episode of "Music Time with Kimberly Thompson," a new web series for kids posted this week to YouTube.

* Meanwhile, in another animation aimed at a more adult audience, singer, actor and Belleville, IL native Lea DeLaria lends her voice to the role of a talking birth control pill in "I'm Just A Pill," a new animated video produced by the Lady Parts Justice League "to school (Supreme Court nominee Neil) Gorsuch and dispel fake facts on birth control and drop some scientific knowledge on Plan B as a preventative measure."

* Chris Hansen of the Kranzberg Arts Foundation was interviewed by writer Terry Perkins for an article in Alive! magazine about The Dark Room's new location in the renovated Grandel Theatre.

* Happiness of Living,  the new album from On Fillmore, bassist Darin Gray's duo project with drummer Glenn Kotche, is officially released today, and already has gotten positive press coverage from Rolling Stone and Chicago Reader.

* Saxophonist Eric Person has posted to Facebook a photo album from his recent "Person to Person" shows with fellow saxophonist (and unrelated namesake) Houston Person at the Blue Note in NYC.

* Trombonist Charlie Halloran talks about his move from St. Louis to New Orleans in a brief feature by the Riverfront Times' Christian Schaeffer.

* Cabaret Project St. Louis' monthly open mic night has yet another new home, after a brief run at The Monocle following the closing last year of its longtime location, the Tavern of Fine Arts. Starting on Thursday, April 20, the event, now known as the Broadway Open Mic, will take place from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on the third Thursday of every month at the Curtain Call Lounge in Grand Center.

Jazz this week: Emmet Cohen, Madeleine Peyroux, Victor Wooten, and more

This week's calendar of jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes the local debut of a promising young pianist, a festival of student big bands, return appearances from a jazz-influenced singer and a virtuoso electric bassist, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, March 22
The NYC-based pianist Emmet Cohen will perform at the Curtain Call Lounge with his trio, which customarily features bassist Russell Hall, of the house band on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and drummer Kyle Poole.

Praised by DownBeat for his “kaleidoscopic sense of musical narrative,” Cohen (pictured, top left) has played at jazz festivals including Monterey, Newport, North Sea, Bern, and Edinburgh, and performed, recorded or collaborated with Christian McBride, Herlin Riley, Kurt Elling, Billy Hart, Jimmy Heath, Brian Lynch, Lea DeLaria, and many others. His most recent album Masters Legacy Series, Vol. 1 features legendary drummer Jimmy Cobb, the only surviving musician from Miles Davis' Kind of Blue.

Note also that in addition to his free gig Wednesday as part of the Grand Center Jazz Crawl, Cohen and his trio also will perform in a ticketed concert on Thursday night at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

Also on Wednesday, pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True with saxophonist Larry Johnson will open a two-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro.

Thursday, March 23
With Washington University students back on campus after spring break, the Jazz at Holmes series will present a free concert featuring pianist Ken Kehner, accompanied by William Lenihan on bass and Montez Coleman on drums.

Friday, March 24
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville will host the "Essentially Ellington" Regional Festival at Dunham Hall on the SIUE campus. Affiliate with the similarly named annual event at NYC's Jazz at Lincoln Center. The day-long festival will culminate in a public concert featuring performances from the participating high school bands; clinicians Zeb Briskovich, Rick Haydon, Adaron Jackson, Garrett Schmidt, Jason Swagler, and Miles Vandiver; and the SIUE Concert Jazz Band.

Also on Friday, the Funky Butt Brass Band will open a two-night gig at Jazz at the Bistro; the Midwest Jazz-tette returns to Evangeline's; and singer and impressionist Dean Christopher brings his "Rat Pack & More" show to the Kinda Blue Club.

Saturday, March 25
Pianist James Matthews plays an early-evening show at the Palomino Lounge, and singer Joe Mancuso, guitarist Dave Black and multi-instrumentalist R. Scott Bryan will team up for a concert at Focal Point.

Sunday, March 26
Miss Jubilee plays for brunch at Evangeline's, and the Folk School of KDHX will present their monthly matinee Traditional Jazz Jam Session.

Then on Sunday evening, singer and guitarist Madeleine Peyroux returns for two shows at the Old Rock House.

Squeezing this date into a brief break in her joint tour with singer Rickie Lee Jones, Peyroux (pictured, center left) will be accompanied by Steely Dan guitarist Jon Herington and Israeli-born bassist Barak Mori, performing a variety of music from her catalog including songs from her most recent release, 2016's Secular Hymns.

Also on Sunday evening, the Williams Brothers - trumpeter Joshua, saxophonist Jo-e’l, and pianist Jaydon - will perform together for a one-nighter at Jazz at the Bistro.

Monday, March 27
Dizzy Atmosphere plays Gypsy jazz and swing for diners at The Shaved Duck, and Webster University's student jazz combos will show off what they've learned so far this year in a free concert at Webster's Community Music School.

Tuesday, March 28
Bassist Victor Wooten (pictured, bottom left) returns for a performance with his trio, featuring the great drummer Dennis Chambers and saxophonist Bob Franceschini, at the Old Rock House.

The bass virtuoso, who made his name as a member of banjo player Bela Fleck's band the Flecktones, has been touring with this lineup since the end of last year, so they should be in fine form by the time they reach St. Louis.

Also on Tuesday, the Washington University Jazz Band, directed by Chris Becker, performs at Jazz at the Bistro; and BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups has a jazz double-header, with percussionist Joe Pastor's Legacy Jazz Ensemble playing in the early evening, followed by saxophonist "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective.

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.)

Tony Bennett returning for concert on Wednesday, June 7 at the Fox Theatre

Singer Tony Bennett is returning to St. Louis to perform at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 7 at the Fox Theatre.

Bennett, still remarkably active after turning 90 years old last August, is touring in support of his most recent album, the not-coincidentally-titled Tony Bennett Celebrates 90, which came out in December 2016.

His daughter Antonia Bennett, also a singer and a graduate of Berklee College of Music, will open the show.

Bennett (pictured) last performed in the St. Louis area in September 2015 at Lindenwood University's Scheidegger Center for the Arts.

While the announcement received by StLJN did not include prices, tickets for Tony Bennett at the Fox Theatre will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. this Friday, March 24 via MetroTix and the Fox box office.

Sunday Session: March 19, 2017

Chuck Berry

Here are some interesting music-related items that have landed in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Hail and farewell: Rock legend Chuck Berry dies at 90 (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
* $7.5 million guitar sale questioned by professionals (USA Today)
* Play Paul Simon’s Piano or Croon Into Elvis’ Mic at These Seven Historic Recording Studios (Smithsonian)
* Paul Shaffer Releases ‘Most Dangerous’ Album (AmericanBluesScene.com)
* Metheny Celebrated at Alternative Guitar Summit (DownBeat)
* The Fate of the Critic in the Clickbait Age (The New Yorker)
* Last Call (About Last Night/ArtsJournal.com)
* SoundCloud’s Valuation Has Dropped 75% In Less Than a Year (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Cornelia Street Cafe Struggling With High Rent After 40 Years In Village (DNAInfo.com)
* Tommy LiPuma, Grammy-Winning Producer & Record Exec, Dies at 80 (Billboard)
* Ride the Feedback: A Brief History of Guitar Distortion (Vice.com)
* Ornette Coleman’s Inspired Soundtrack for “Who’s Crazy?” (The New Yorker)
* Return of the Composer-Performer: A Rough Guide to New Music by Virtuoso Musicians (San Francisco Classical Voice)
* Rock Band: An Electromechanical Sound Machine That Makes Music With Rocks (ThisIsColossal.com)
* Late musician Tony Conrad in the documentary 'Completely in the Present': 'I wanted to end composing — get rid of it' (Los Angeles Times)
* Kamasi Washington Follows ‘The Epic’ With a New Work in Whitney Biennial (New York Times)
* Alice Coltrane: Her Sound and Spirit (BBC)
* When East Meets West: Hear What Happened When Ravi Shankar & Philip Glass Composed Music Together (OpenCulture.com)
* In Oakland, Trombone Shorty & Chili Peppers Create Red Hot Groove (DownBeat)
* The UK jazz invasion: 'I’m sure that some purists wouldn’t even call it jazz' (The Guardian)
* The Francis Brothers: African Record Center (Afropop.com)
* REVIEW: John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension at Ronnie Scott's (LondonJazzNews.com)
* The Art of Tour Managing (Projection, Lights And Staging News)
* Enter the SoundBox: How the SF Symphony Turned a Dreadful Room Into Sonic Paradise (Wired)
* John Coltrane Documentary ‘Chasing Trane’ Gets Release Date (Variety)
* James Cotton Dies at 81 (DownBeat)
* The Real Cost of Abolishing the National Endowment for the Arts (The Atlantic)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Kneebody offers fusion "For The Fallen"

Today, StLJN's video spotlight shines on the group Kneebody, who will be returning to St. Louis to perform Wednesday, March 29 through Saturday, April 1 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Formed in 2001 in Los Angeles by four former students at the Eastman School of Music - keyboardist Adam Benjamin, trumpeter Shane Endsley, bassist Kaveh Rastegar, and saxophonist Ben Wendel - plus drummer Nate Wood, Kneebody has a hard-to-pigeonhole sound that might be called contemporary fusion, an evolution from 1970s/80s-style fusion in that it incorporates not only jazz and rock, but many other musical influences as well.

Their St. Louis gigs will be in support of their latest recording Anti-Hero, which was released earlier this month and is their eighth studio album. You can see an "album trailer" for Anti-Hero in the first video up above, which includes excerpts from the track "For the Fallen".

After the jump, there's a clip of an in-studio performance of "Uprising", another song from Anti-Hero. That's followed by two videos from Kneebody's gig at the venue Subculture during the Winter Jazz Fest in New York City in January of this year, capturing the beginning of their set, followed by the song "The Balloonist".

The final two clips, both from 2014 in Boston, show that the material released on Anti-Hero has been in development for some time, as you can see Kneebody play the album's title track at the Beantown Jazz Festival, and then, a set of music from the album performed at the Berklee School of Music Performance Center.

For more about Kneebody and Anti-Hero, check out the interview with the band published in February on Vice.com; Rastegar's video interview with For Bass Players Only from last November; and Wendel's 2015 interview with Jazz Times.

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

The Soul Rebels to perform Thursday, May 25 at Old Rock House

New Orleans brass band The Soul Rebels are coming to St. Louis to perform at 8:00 p.m. Thursday, May 25 at the Old Rock House. St. Louis funk group The Grooveliner will open.

Playing more than 200 dates a year, The Soul Rebels (pictured) are busy participants on the New Orleans live music scene and the festival circuit nationwide. They released their most recent recording, Power=Power Mixtape, in 2013.

Tickets for the all-ages show are $15, and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. this Saturday, March 18.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The Riverfront Times is rethinking its annual Music Showcase this year. The paper has changed the name of the event to ShowcaseSTL, discontinued the accompanying annual music poll, and is asking readers for their suggestions as to who should perform. ShowcaseSTL will take place Saturday, June 17 at various locations in The Grove.

* On Fillmore, bassist Darin Gray's duo project with Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche, is preparing to release a new album, Happiness of Living.

* Saxophonist Roland Clark, a busy performer on the St. Louis scene from the 1970s into the 90s with his band Sound Exchange, passed away on February 23 at his home in Highland, IL. He was 82.

* Music Record Shop's new location in Grand Center is the subject of a short feature from the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson.

* Organizers of the weekly jazz jam at @Nesby's have posted on Facebook a photo album from this week's session. 

* Keyboardist Jim Hegarty (pictured) has a new solo piano release, One Question, available as a pay-what-you-will download from Bandcamp.

* The late jazz critic, author, and essayist Nat Hentoff, who died in January at age 91, is being honored here in St. Louis tonight with an event raising funds for his daughter Jessica's not-for-profit organization Circus Harmony, which teaches circus skills to St. Louis students of all ages.

* The Piano Technicians Guild will hold their 2017 Annual Convention & Technical Institute in St. Louis from July 12 through July 15 at St Louis Union Station Hotel.

Jazz this week: Ann Hampton Callaway, Erik Friedlander's Black Phebe Trio, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes the return of a popular singer, the local debut of a challenging trio of improvisors, a tribute to a beloved big band trumpeter and bandleader, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, March 15
Longtime St. Louis favorite Ann Hampton Callaway returns for the first time for the first of four nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

Callaway (pictured, top left) was here most recently last summer to do a one-nighter for the St. Louis Cabaret Festival. As a bonus for local fans, her engagement this time will feature former St. Louisan Reggie Thomas, now head of the jazz program at Northern Illinois University, accompanying her on piano.

In addition to her evening performances, she'll also be doing a coffee concert on Thursday morning, and a free, informal lunchtime "conversation" at noon on Friday at the Bistro.

Also on Wednesday, the weekly jam session at @Nesby's in South County hosted by pianist Curt Landes, bassist Glen Smith and drummer Chuck Kennedy, gets a new, later starting time (7:00 p.m.); and Cabaret St. Louis will present their final "Open Mic Night" at the current location, The Emerald Room at The Monocle. The group hopes to continue the monthly series at a new venue yet to be determined.

Thursday, March 16
Cellist Erik Friedlander's Black Phebe Trio (pictured, center left) will play a concert presented by New Music Circle at The Stage at KDHX.

The group features Friedlander, keyboardist Shoko Nagai, and percussionist Satoshi Takeishi, and you can find out more about them and see some video in this post from last Saturday.

Also on Thursday, 1990s swing revivalists Big Bad Voodoo Daddy play at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and pianist Adam Maness' trio will be back at Thurman's in Shaw.

Friday, March 17
Drummer Marty Morrison will be back in town to lead a trio at Cigar Inn; percussionist Herman Semidey and Orquesta Son Montuno will play salsa, Latin jazz and more at Club Viva; and saxophonist Tim Cunningham performs at Troy's Jazz Gallery.

Saturday, March 18
Pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True with saxophonist Larry Johnson will play at the house concert venue Kinda Blue Club, and trumpeter/vibraphonist Joe Bozzi will perform at Evangeline's.

Sunday, March 19
The Jim Widner Big Band will present a "Tribute to Maynard Ferguson" at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

Monday, March 20
Jazz St. Louis doesn't often book touring headliners early in the week, but next week will be an exception, as percussionist Poncho Sanchez (pictured, bottom left) will check in on Monday for the first of two nights at the Bistro.

The popular Latin jazz performer, who last played here in November 2015, was a late addition to the previously announced spring schedule at the Bistro, so tickets still may be available for all shows, but in any case, advance reservations are suggested.  

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.)

Steve Tyrell to perform Thursday, April 13 at Sheldon Concert Hall

Singer Steve Tyrell is returning to St. Louis to perform at 8:00 p.m. Thursday, April 13 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Tyrell (pictured) last played St. Louis in April 2012 at The Sheldon. His most recent album That Lovin’ Feeling, which came out in 2015, features his interpretations of material from 1960s rock and pop songwriters including Carole King, Burt Bacharach, Neil Sedaka, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber, and more.

Tickets for Steve Tyrell at The Sheldon are $100 for VIP seating, which includes a post-concert "meet & greet"; $45 orchestra; $40 balcony; and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. this Friday, March 17 via MetroTix and the Sheldon box office.

Sunday Session: March 12, 2017

Terence Blanchard

Here are some interesting music-related items that have landed in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Recording with David Bowie left a mark on jazz sax player Donny McCaslin (Washington Post)
* How sound effects are really made (BBC)
* Was this Cambridge's greatest ever music gig? (Cambridge News)
* Are living room gigs the future of live music? (BBC)
* How Rock ‘n’ Roll History Was Made—and Nearly Forgotten—in Dallas (DMagazine.com)
* The Inspiration Behind ‘Roundabout,’ the 1972 Hit Song by Yes (Wall Street Journal)
* Eddie Palmieri: Celebrating 80 Years (DownBeat)
* Interview with Robert Glasper (EthanIverson.com)
* On Iverson on Glasper (Pause): Everyone Wants Everything, Even If It's Different (Nextbop.com)
* Sexism From Two Leading Jazz Artists Draws Anger — And Presents An Opportunity (NPR)
* The Strange World Of... Annette Peacock (TheQuietus.com)
* The Survivalists: Mosaic and Newvelle Records (Stereophile)
* Dave Valentin, Virtuoso Flutist with a Foundation in Latin-Jazz, Dies at 64 (WBGO)
* Owner of Wolfgang’s Vault in legal battle over streaming rights (The Guardian)
* The Queen of Soul Receives a Multi-Artist Tribute at Carnegie Hall With 'The Music of Aretha Franklin' (Billboard)
* An obituary: The National Endowment for the Arts, 52, of unnatural causes (The Hill)
* These '70s Avant-Garde Jazz Musicians Blew Freely, Fiercely, and Reverently (PopMatters.com)
* Blanchard’s Opera “Champion” Triumphs in East Coast Debut (DownBeat)
* How A Contract Clause Led To A Fight Between Musicians And Austin's Biggest Event (NPR)
* After Public Battle, SXSW Apologizes And Pledges To Change Its Artist Contract (NPR)
* Italian Band Soviet Soviet Denied Entry To The U.S., Jailed And Then Deported (NPR)
* How Weird Al Yankovic Removed the Misogyny of ‘Blurred Lines’ by Adding Grammar Lessons (Vulture.com)
* Forget High Fidelity: How women are reclaiming record stores (MixMag.net)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Erik Friedlander's Black Phebe Trio

Today, it's time to check out some videos featuring cellist Erik Friedlander, who will be in St. Louis to perform with his Black Phebe Trio in a concert presented by New Music Circle next Thursday, March 16 at The Stage at KDHX.

Over the past 20 years or so, the NYC-based Friedlander has released more than two dozen albums as a leader or co-leader, performing solo and with a variety of collaborators and ensembles.

He's especially known for his frequent work with saxophonist John Zorn and with Zorn-adjacent musicians such as Cyro Baptista, Uri Caine, Nels Cline, Sylvie Courvoisier, Dave Douglas, and Wadada Leo Smith, and Friedlander also has recorded and/or performed with the jazz/fusion quartet Topaz, Laurie Anderson, and rock performers including Courtney Love and Alanis Morissette.

The Black Phebe Trio, which includes Friedlander, keyboardist Shoko Nagai, and percussionist Satoshi Takeishi, takes its name from a track on the cellist's 2016 album Rings.

Both Nagai and Takeishi are Japanese natives and graduates (though a decade apart) of Berklee School of Music.

Takeishi has been in New York City since 1991, working in genres ranging from free improv to Latin jazz with musicians such as Ray Barretto, Carlos ‘Patato’ Valdes, Eliane Elias, Marc Johnson, Eddie Gomez, Randy Brecker, Dave Liebman, Anthony Braxton, Mark Murphy, Herbie Mann, Ned Rothenberg, and numerous others.

Nagai graduated from Berklee in 1999, and since her move to NYC has performed and recorded with Zorn, Butch Morris, Miho Hatori (from the Japanese experimental rock band Cibo Matto), Elliot Sharp, and many others.

Unfortunately, there's not much video online of the three of them performing together as the Black Phebe Trio, save for the excerpt from a show at Saalfelden Jazzfestival 2014 in Austria that was shared here a few weeks back as part of StLJN's winter/spring 2017 jazz preview.

However, you can glean quite a bit about Friedlander's playing tendencies and techniques by seeing and hearing some of his solo performances, starting up above with an excerpt from his 2007 album Block Ice & Propane recorded live in Moers, Germany.

After the jump, there are two more Friedlander solos, "Prelude - Scriptorium" and "Madrigal - Siddur," recorded in 2014 during the Jewish Culture Festival in Krakov, Poland

Those clips are followed by a duo performance by Takeishi and Nagai - seemingly the only one available online - called "Oneness," recorded in October 2012 at Inage Candy in Chiba, Japan.

The final two videos are brief interviews with Friedlander. The first, recorded in 2015, features him talking about John Zorn and jazz bassist/cellist Oscar Pettiford (the subject of his tribute project Oscalypso). The second, from last year, is the video portion of an interview with New Music Box in which he talks about telling stories through sound.

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 the week's assorted links and short news items of local interest:

* Saxophonist, composer, independent record label owner, and St. Louis native Greg Osby (pictured) was featured on a recent episode of trumpeter Dave Douglas' podcast A Noise from the Deep.

* Jazz St. Louis' Ferring Jazz Bistro is the winner of the Commercial Restaurant Space category in the the St. Louis Architect and Designer Awards 2017. The space, which opened in October 2014 as part of Jazz St. Louis' renovated HQ in Grand Center, was designed by Jamieson Design.

* Also from Jazz St. Louis, education director Phil Dunlap's music business class at the University of Missouri-St. Louis was featured in a story on the university's website about entrepreneurial courses.

* The application period is open for the Regional Arts Commission's 2017 Artist Support Grants, which provide up to $3000 per grant to St. Louis artists in all disciplines for special creative projects, professional opportunities, or equipment needs. Two application workshops will be held in March, and are free and open to the public. To find out more, go to http://racstl.org/grant/artists-support-grants/.

* New music ensemble Alarm Will Sound's performances this weekend of Steve Reich's "The Cave" are previewed in stories by Sarah Bryan Miller in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Chris King in St. Louis magazine, and St. Louis Public Radio's Kelley Moffitt.

* A recent article on Mapquest.com about "20 St. Louis stops every music fan should have on their tour schedule" recommends several local destinations of particular interest to jazz enthusiasts, including Saxquest's Saxophone Museum, the Miles Davis statue in downtown Alton, Jazz at the Bistro, the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site, and BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

Jazz this week: TAUK, Jeff Hamilton, Etienne Charles, Big Sam's Funky Nation, and more

This week's jazz and creative music calendar in St. Louis is all about the one-nighters, with an eclectic handful of headlining acts in town for single-serve appearances.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, March 8
NYC-based funk/fusion band TAUK plays at the Old Rock House, and pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True with saxophonist Larry Johnson will perform at Evangeline's.

Also on Thursday, Jazz St. Louis in cooperation with COCA presents a "Rent Party Concert" at Jazz at the Bistro, a free event featuring unspecified performers who will "celebrate the music of the Harlem Renaissance" with songs made famous by Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, James P. Johnson, and more.

Thursday, March 9
Drummer Jeff Hamilton (pictured, top left) will perform with his trio, featuring bassist Christoph Luty and pianist Tamir Hendelman, at Jazz at the Bistro. Hamilton, who co-leads the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra and has served as a sideman for jazz luminaries from Oscar Peterson to Diana Krall, also will perform on Saturday at Mineral Area College in Park Hills, MO (see below).

Also on Thursday, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents a free concert by pianist Adam Maness and bassist Bob Deboo; and guitarist Dave Black and saxophonist Freddie Washington will play duets at The Pat Connolly Tavern.

Friday, March 10
The jazz-fusion tribute project Weather Forever returns for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro; the Funky Butt Brass Band will headline the musical entertainment for the first night of the Schlafly Tap Room's Stout and Oyster Festival; and Wright's Project plays at Thurman's in Shaw.

Saturday, March 11
Trumpeter Etienne Charles (pictured, bottom left) makes his St. Louis debut as a bandleader with a performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall

Mixing jazz with Caribbean popular musical styles like reggae, calypso and soca, Charles has developed a distinctive, crowd-pleasing sound that seems to resonate with a variety of music fans. For more about him, and some video samples of his "Creole Soul" ensemble, check out last Saturday's post.

Also on Saturday, Big Sam's Funky Nation will be back from New Orleans for another visit to serve as featured performers for the second night of the Schlafly Tap Room's Stout and Oyster Festival.

A bit farther afield, if you can't catch Jeff Hamilton on Thursday at the Bistro and don't mind a bit of a drive, you can head down to Park Hills, MO to see him and his trio headlining Mineral Area College's Carol Moore Memorial Jazz Festival. Hamilton will present a master class at noon and perform in the fest's evening concert, with the Mineral Area College Jazz Ensemble and the Mineral Area College Kicks Band opening.

Sunday, March 12
The St. Louis Jazz Club presents boogie-woogie and stride pianist Carl "Sonny" Leyland in a matinee concert at the Moolah Shrine Center; trumpeter Keith Moyer returns for a matinee performance at BB's Jazz. Blues & Soups; and the Ambassadors of Swing will be back to play at Kirkwood Station Brewing Company.

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.)

Sunday Session: March 5, 2017

Here are some interesting music-related items that have landed in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* We Are The Robots: Is the future of music artificial? (FactMag.com)
* Sun Records Studio: 18 Musical Milestones (Rolling Stone)
* Dot Time Records Discovers Previously Unreleased Armstrong Recordings (DownBeat)
* The fight to preserve King Records’ legacy (Cincinnati Enquirer)
* It’s a Synthesizer. It’s a Violin. It’s a Modulin (HackADay.com)
* Grammy-winning jazz superstar Gary Burton to play final concerts in March, then retire (Miami Herald)
* KCSM jazz station cuts programming (SFGate.com)
* Veteran jazzmen played with the greats (NorthJersey.com)
* Philly jazz greats celebrate publication of new book (Philadelphia Inquirer)
* Is vinyl Detroit's latest growth industry? (Detroit Metro Times)
* The Keith Jarrett Phenomenon (The Nation)
* How Raphael Saadiq is quietly keeping R&B on film, TV and the radio (KPCC)
* Lou Reed's Archives Acquired By New York Public Library For The Performing Arts (Billboard)
* Inside Lou Reed's Revelatory New Public Archive (Rolling Stone)
* UMG Alone Earns $4.5 Million a Day from Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Saving Nina Simone’s Birthplace as an Act of Art and Politics (New York Times)
* Sending Off Nat Hentoff, With Memories and Jazz (Village Voice)
* Linda Oh Pursues New Direction on Forthcoming Album (DownBeat)
* Soundcloud Tells Guy It Needs To Kill His Account Of 8 Years Because Someone Else Trademarked His Name (TechDirt.com)
* The Internet Is Silencing Artists, According To An Artist On The Internet (TechDirt.com)
* Ride the Feedback: A Brief History of Guitar Distortion (Vice.com)
* John Hammond: The Lost Interview (Part 1: Signing Aretha and Dylan) (BestClassicBands.com)
* 9 Artists Carrying the Torch for Cosmic Jazz (Pitchfork.com)
* How A Contract Clause Led To A Fight Between Musicians And Austin's Biggest Event (NPR)
* Misha Mengelberg, Influential Dutch Pianist-Composer Behind the ICP Orchestra, Dies at 81 (WBGO)