Friday, June 30, 2017

Samora Pinderhughes to perform Thursday, July 20 at Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts

Pianist Samora Pinderhughes is coming to St. Louis to perform at 7:00 p.m. Thursday, July 20 at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts in Grand Center.

Pinderhughes (pictured) will play music inspired by the Pulitzer's exhibition "Blue Black" and by his score for the documentary film Whose Streets?, which was co-directed and produced by St. Louis activist and artist Damon Davis (aka FarFetched). He'll be accompanied by bassist Luques Curtis, percussionist Mark Whitfield, Jr. and special guest trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah.

A Juilliard graduate who's in his mid-twenties, Pinderhughes grew up in Berkeley, CA and now lives in Harlem. In addition to his solo career, he's performed or recorded as a sideman with Scott, Branford Marsalis, Harvey Mason, and others.

Pinderhughes also has made news recently with his album The Transformations Suite, released last year as part of a multimedia work that NPR calls "inspired by African-American resistance and protest movements, as well as the oppression that many still endure."

While Pinderhughes' performance at the Pulitzer is free and open to the public, promotional materials say that "a suggested donation of $5-20 in support of the artists is welcomed. Please pay only what you can. Space will be limited, so early arrival is encouraged."

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Just in time for what will be a long holiday weekend for some, the recently released film Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary is getting a St. Louis run starting today and continuing through Thursday, July 6 at the Tivoli Theatre.

* Trumpeter Kelan Phil Cohran, an influential player, bandleader and educator in Chicago for more than six decades, has died at age 90. Though Cohran is best known for his work in the Chicago avant-garde scene and for playing with Sun Ra, he also had a St. Louis connection.

According to his obituary in the Chicago Tribune (linked above), Cohran moved to St. Louis with his family from Oxford, MS "when he was about 10, immersing himself in the city's robust jazz scene and playing alongside trumpeter Clark Terry in the late 1940s" and lived here until he was drafted into the military in 1950.

* Multi-instrumentalist Lamar Harris has posted a recording of "Harvest For The World," as performed last week during his Isley Brothers-themed shows at Jazz at the Bistro, to his SoundCloud page

* The Gaslight Squares have made a music video of "Nicklin' & Dimin'" as part of producer/director Bill Streeter's Lo-Fi St. Louis series.

* Speaking of videos, pianists Peter Martin and Adam Maness made one this week recorded live on Facebook to talk about their Open Studio Network's new "Elements of Jazz Piano" online video course.

* Completing today's video troika, guitarist Todd Mosby has posted a video of his composition "Moon Song" on YouTube.

* Trombonist Joseph Bowie has just released a new duet album with percussionist Adam Rudolph. Good Medicine by IG-BO Duet: Joseph Bowie & Adam Rudolph is available now as a digital download from Rudolph's BandCamp page and as a CD.

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Jazz this week: Anita Jackson sings King, Mitchell & Nicks, Miss Jubilee, Funky Butt Brass Band, and more

With the Independence Day holiday coming up, there's not much going on over the next few days in terms of touring jazz and creative music performers visiting St. Louis.

Yet while much of the city will be occupied with fireworks, backyard barbecues, and, perhaps, Fair St. Louis, our intrepid local musicians and singers still will be plying their trade on local stages. Let's see what's coming up...

Wednesday, June 28
The weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" proceeds as usual with live music and no cover charge at four different venues in the district. Also on Wednesday, trumpeter Jim Manley will be playing his weekly gig at Sasha's Wine Bar.

Thursday, June 29
Percussionist Joe Pastor brings his trio to The Dark Room's new Thursday night series; guitarist and singer Victor Andrada plays at Evangeline's; and pianist Adam Maness and his trio will be back at Thurman's in Shaw.

Friday, June 30
Singer Anita Jackson (pictured, top left) will return to Jazz at the Bistro for the first of two nights interpreting music from singer-songwriters Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Stevie Nicks. She'll be backed by Dave Black on guitar, Phillip Graves on keyboards, Theodore Brookins on bass, and Demarius Hicks on drums.

Also on Friday, the Original Knights of Swing will play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom, and the Funky Butt Brass Band (pictured, bottom left) will be back for their monthly gig at the Broadway Oyster Bar,

Saturday, July 1
Miss Jubilee plays swing and jump blues at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Sunday, July 2
The Friends of Scott Joplin will present their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site.

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, June 25, 2017

Sunday Session: June 25, 2017

Ahmad Jamal
Here's the weekly roundup of various music-related items that have landed in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* 'It’s just me, on the phone in my son’s bedroom.' The church hall that became contemporary music’s hottest venue (The Guardian)
* Thelonious Monk: Lost Liaison - Inside the Forgotten 1959 Studio Session (Jazz Times)
* Is the Printed Circuit Board a Form of Musical Notation? (New Music Box)
* The Story Behind ‘I’ll Be Around’ (Wall Street Journal)
* Alice Coltrane: “The Gifts God Gave Him” (Jazz Times)
* Team-Ups & Supergroups Power San Francisco Jazz Festival (DownBeat)
* In New Orleans, Party Buses Drive The Legacy Of Bounce Music (TheFader.com)
* Generation Next: Four Voices From Seattle (AllAboutJazz.com)
* The Story of Tropicália in 20 Albums (Pitchfork.com)
* Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah On World Cafe (NPR)
* Money Ain’t a Thang: 11 of the Most Expensive Albums Ever Produced (Soundfly.com)
* Philadelphia Orchestra composer Hannibal finds humanity amid the loss (Philly.com)
* Tony Bennett to Receive Library of Congress Gershwin Prize (Rolling Stone)
* Ann Hampton Callaway Says Her Return to Singing Is ‘Scary and Thrilling’ (Playbill)
* Q&A with Ahmad Jamal: Continuum of Influence (DownBeat)
* "My goal is to reach people on an emotional level" — The Kenny Barron interview (Ottawa Citizen)
* Paul McCartney on making music with Kanye West: ‘You basically don’t write songs’ (NME.com)
* Why my guitar gently weeps - The slow, secret death of the six-string electric. And why you should care (Washington Post)
* Mills College’s Plan to Ax Jazz Legend Roscoe Mitchell Draws International Outrage (East Bay Express)
* Red Hook Jazz Festival: Neighborhood Feel, Avant Sound (DownBeat)
* The Secret Lives of Playlists (CashMusic.org)
* What I'm Listening to Now: Mats Gustafsson (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Why didn’t famous composers write national anthems? (Classical-Music.com)
* The Ethereal Genius of Craig Taborn (New York Times)
* Artist’s Choice: Bobby Watson on Unsung New York Masters - The saxophonist and educator reflects on his mentors (Jazz Times)
* Langston Hughes Creates a List of His 100 Favorite Jazz Recordings: Hear 80+ of Them in a Big Playlist (OpenCulture.com)
* Bon Iver’s Dad Helped Me Discover the Secret Jazz History of His Hometown (Vice.com)
* Is Jazz Still Sexist? (Jazz Times)
* The Weird World Of One-Hit Wonders (UDiscoverMusic.com)

Saturday, June 24, 2017

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase:
Six St. Louis saxophonists you should know



When talk turns to saxophonists from St. Louis, many knowledgeable music fans will associate our city with David Sanborn and World Saxophone Quartet founding members Hamiet Bluiett, Oliver Lake and Julius Hemphill.

Sanborn, Bluiett, and Lake all grew up in this area, and Hemphill, though not a native, made an important contribution to the Black Artists Group here, and first gained national recognition for his album Dogon A.D., recorded at Oliver Sain's Archway Studios on Natural Bridge Rd. in north St. Louis.

Going beyond those well-known names, though, there definitely are more saxophonists with roots in the St. Louis area who are enjoying noteworthy careers in jazz and creative music, and today StLJN is featuring videos from six of them that every local jazz fan should know. After you've sampled their sounds here, check out their respective websites for more info.

Leading off is Greg Osby, who can be seen in the first video up above doing a spontaneous duet with bassist Christian McBride on the standard "The Song Is You," recorded in July 2014 at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

After the jump, it's Marty Ehrlich, playing a duet with pianist Myra Melford on her composition "Be Melting Snow," recorded in 2015 at The Stone in NYC.

That's followed by Eric Person doing a full set with his band Meta-Four, recorded in November 2016 at the Blue Note in NYC. Along with Person, the group includes guitarist Freddie Bryant, keyboardist Adam Klipple, bassist Adam Armstrong, and drummer Shinnosuke "Shin" Takahashi.

Next up is East St. Louis' own Andre Delano, seen here working the crowd on a version of Prince's "Adore," recorded in 2016 at The Tavern at Fire Station 1 in Silver Spring, MD.

The fifth video features Chris Cheek with his quintet performing his composition "Pelican Blues" in a show last month at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Along with Cheek, that's James Fernando on piano, Francois Chanvallon on guitar, Max Gerl on bass, and Tyson Jackson on drums.

In the final clip, Butch Thomas plays "La Belle Dame Sans Regrets," written by his former employer Sting, at a gig 2011 in Tampa FL, backed by Frank "Third" Richardson (drums), Tim George (bass), Ron Reinhardt (keyboards), and Peter Mongaya Hogsholm (guitar).

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

Friday, June 23, 2017

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* St. Louis magazine's annual "A-List" issue is out, and among the honorees for "Culture and Amusements" are the STL Free Jazz Collective (pictured) and Yaquis on Cherokee, which features live traditional jazz and blues on weekends.

* Also in St. Louis magazine, pianist Adam Maness' regular Thursday night gig at Thurman's in Shaw is the subject of a brief feature story by Thomas Crone.

* Mr. Handy's Blues, a new documentary about the life and legacy of "St. Louis Blues" composer W.C. Handy, will get its first showing this Sunday at a private event at the MX theater on Washington Avenue.

* St. Louis native Greg Osby will join fellow saxophonists Joe Lovano and Dave Liebman as the newest member of "Saxophone Summit" for a five-night run next week at Birdland in NYC. The group, which in this iteration also includes bassist Cecil McBee, drummer Billy Hart, and pianist Phil Markowitz, will play the club starting Tuesday, June 27 through Saturday, July 1.

* A video with highlights from pianist Ethan Leinwand's St. Louis Piano Festival, which showcased an assortment of ragtime, blues, and stride pianists earlier this month at BB's Jazz Blues & Soups, has been posted to Vimeo.

* Pianist Peter Martin's Open Studio Network is rolling out a new video course, "Elements of Jazz Piano," featuring Martin and Adam Maness. You can find out more and see a preview here.  

* Jazz St. Louis is looking to hire a part-time box office associate. For details on the job and how to apply, visit their website.

* Guitarist Todd Mosby has posted on YouTube a new live performance video of his composition "Moon Song."

* Multi-instrumental Lamar Harris' Isley Brothers tribute show "Ballad of Atlantis," which is being presented this weekend at Jazz at the Bistro, was previewed on KTVI's morning newscast and in a Post-Dispatch feature story by Kevin Johnson.

* Drummer Maurice Carnes has posted to YouYube a video of his band Avant Gardians playing the music of Ornette Coleman earlier this month at the U City Jazz Festival.

* Trumpeter Russell Gunn, originally from East St. Louis and now residing in Georgia, is one of alt-weekly Creative Loafing's "6 rising Atlanta music MVPs for 2017". As mentioned last week in this space, Gunn recently launched a crowd-funding campaign to finance his next recording.

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Jazz this week: Chesterfield Jazz Festival, "Ballad of Atlantis," Denise Thimes, and more

For the first official week of summer, the calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features some noteworthy free outdoor concerts; shows paying tribute to a jazz guitar giant and some old-school soul/funk favorites; and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, June 21
Though there's no live music at Jazz at the Bistro until the weekend, the weekly Grand Center Jazz Crawl proceeds as usual, with live music at four different venues within the district.

Also on Wednesday, guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran will play the Venice Cafe, and singer Feyza Eren will be among the performers taking part in an observance of "Make Music Day St. Louis" at Evangeline's.

Thursday, June 22
Saxophonist Ben Reece’s Unity Quartet will perform at The Dark Room; the Gateway City Big Band plays a free outdoor concert at the Chesterfield Amphitheater; and singer Erin Bode returns to Cyrano's.

Friday, June 23
The Jazz Edge Big Band will offer a "Tribute to Wes Montgomery" featuring guest guitarists Eric Slaughter, Rick Haydon and Gregg Haynes at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Over on the other of Grand, multi-instrumentalist Lamar Harris (pictured, center left) will be presenting "Ballad of Atlantis: The Music of The Isley Brothers" for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

Saturday, June 24
The free, outdoor Chesterfield Wine and Jazz Festival will feature performances from the Wooten Brothers (pictured,top left), Bach to the Future with violinist Tracy Silverman, singer Anita Jackson, Soul Cafe, and singer Kim Fuller-Barnes at the Chesterfield Amphitheater.

For more about the Wooten Brothers - bassist Victor Wooten and drummer Roy "Futureman" Wooten, of Bela Fleck's Flecktones, plus their siblings Regi on guitar and Joseph on keyboards - plus some video of them in action, see this post from last Saturday.

Sunday, June 25
The St. Louis Record and CD Collector's Show will present their summer event at the American Czech Educational Center; the Folk School of KDHX hosts their monthly traditional jazz jam session; and singer Denise Thimes (pictured, bottom left) will perform in a free outdoor concert at Ivory Perry Park.

Monday, June 26
Singer and impressionist Dean Christopher returns with his "Rat Pack and More" show to One 19 North Tapas & Wine Bar

Tuesday, June 27
Saxophonist "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective return to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups, and saxophonist and singer Cary Colman's trio plays at Evangeline's.

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, June 18, 2017

Sunday Session: June 18, 2017

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

* Trombone Shorty: Living for the Crescent City (Jazz Times)
* 10 Musicians Look Back on the Albums They Don’t Remember Recording (SPIN)
* Web Exclusive: Hal Blaine (Modern Drummer)
* Tom Oberheim On The Art Of Synthesizer Design (Synthtopia.com)
* After 7 Decades, Sonny Rollins Can't Get Music Off His Mind (NPR)
* Charlie Parker's Yardbird review – beauty, anger and poetry, but the jazz great's genius eludes us (The Guardian)
* Do Androids Dream of Electric Guitars? Exploring the Future of Musical A.I. (Pitchfork.com)
* Interview: Airto Moreira (RedBullMusicAcademy.com)
* National Endowment for the Arts Announces 2018 Class of NEA Jazz Masters (Arts.gov)
* Gregg Allman: The Wild Times, Lost Years and Rebirth of a Southern-Rock Legend (Rolling Stone)
* Transcending genre labels, Vijay Iyer leads the Ojai Music Festival toward bold new territory (Los Angeles Times)
* Go-Go Forever - The rise, fall, and afterlife of Washington, D.C.’s ultimate rhythm (MTV.com)
* Steve Earle: 'My wife left me for a younger, skinnier, less talented singer' (The Guardian)
* This interracial couple endured discrimination and bullying — but loved each other until the end (Washington Post)
* All That Jazz: The Business Of Over 35 Years At The Blue Note Jazz Club (Forbes)
* Guest Editorial: Why Musicians Don’t Get Paid—A New Orleans Musician’s View (Offbeat)
* A new generation of jazz comes to the fore at Tokyo Lab (Japan Times)
* Who killed the contemporary Christian music industry? (The Week)
* 2 guitars returned to Muddy Waters' heirs in ongoing estate battle (Chicago Tribune)
* Gibson Brands transforms guitar-making into diverse 'music lifestyle' firm (Los Angeles Times)
* Celebrate Ornette Coleman: Artists pay homage to the legendary avant-garde saxophonist (TheVinylFactory.com)

Saturday, June 17, 2017

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase:
The Wooten Brothers keep it in the family



This week, let's check out some videos featuring the Wooten Brothers, who are coming to St. Louis to perform next Saturday, June 24 at the Chesterfield Jazz Festival, headlining a bill that also will include Bach to the Future with Tracy Silverman, Anita Jackson, Soul Cafe, and Kim Fuller & Maurice Carnes.

The band includes bassist Victor Wooten, the youngest of the four brothers, and drummer Roy "Futureman" Wooten, who are best known as half of banjo player Béla Fleck's group, the Flecktones; keyboardist Joseph Wooten, who's released solo albums with his own group, Hands of Soul, and toured in recent years with the Steve Miller Band; and guitarist Regi Wooten, the oldest sibling, who teaches and gigs in the brothers' adopted hometown of Nashville. (A fifth brother, saxophonist Rudy Wooten, died in 2010.)

They've been playing together nearly all their lives, drafting Victor into the family band when he was just six years old, and later honing their chops while in high school by playing in a country music review at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA. Although as adults their careers have taken them in different directions, the brothers have continued to work together when the opportunity has arisen, teaming up since the early 90s on what's nominally Regi's weekly gig at the Nashville club 3rd and Lindley when they're all off the road, and squeezing in occasional tour dates between their other obligations.

In their last extended tour in 2013, they visited the studios of radio station WMMR in Philadelphia to record the version of "Sex in a Pan" - one of Victor's tunes, first heard on the Flecktones' 1992 album UFO Tofu - seen in the first video up above.

After the jump, you can see the Wooten Brothers' take on Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" during a 2013 gig in Virginia, followed by another clip with some more footage from the 2013 tour.

The fourth video is from 2014 at a jazz festival in Bratislava, Slovakia, and though it's billed as the Victor Wooten Band, the ensemble also includes Reggie and Roy on guitar and drums, plus keyboardist Karlton Taylor and saxophonist Bob Francheschini (who was here In St. Louis with Victor's trio earlier this year at the Old Rock House).

While Joseph missed out on that festival gig, you can see plenty of him in the final two clips, which are taken from the brothers' performance at his wedding reception this past February in Franklin, TN.

The penultimate clip picks up in mid-song with Victor showing off some bass thumping before the rest of the brothers come back in on what turns out to be version of the 1970s hit "Play That Funky Music." (Apparently even musicians as famous as the Wootens have to play some cover-band standards if they're doing a wedding gig...)

In the final clip, Joseph sings the soulful ballad "We Are All In This Together" with his son Jessie Wooten on drums, Victor on bass, and, eventually, everybody on background vocals.

For more about the Wooten Brothers, check out this brief interview with Victor, Roy and Joseph and this longer interview with Joseph, both from 2013.

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

Friday, June 16, 2017

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Trumpeter Russell Gunn (pictured) has launched a crowd-funding campaign to finance the debut recording of his Royal Krunk Jazz Orkestra, which he describes as an "ultra modern contemporary Jazz Big Band from the U.S.A." featuring vocalist Dionne Farris.

You can find out more about the project and pledge your support here.

* The latest album from Trio 3, featuring saxophonist and former St. Louisan Oliver Lake, was reviewed by the Free Jazz Blog.

* A 100th birthday tribute to Buddy Rich at Ronnie Scott's in London, featuring drummer and St. Charles native Dave Weckl driving a group of alumni of Rich's big band for half the show, was reviewed by Jazz Journal.

* Jazziz magazine has published a download-only article detailing "what they think are the five absolute essential Miles Davis albums that any jazz lover must have in their collection." (Spoiler: Their picks are Kind of Blue, Miles Ahead, 'Round About Midnight, Nefertiti, and In A Silent Way.) The download is available (in exchange for an email address) here.

* Speaking of Miles, the SFJAZZ Collective's latest album featuring their new arrangements of Davis' compositions was reviewed by AllAboutJazz.com's John Kelman.

* The website Best of American Towns has included St. Louis' Vintage Vinyl on their list of "15 of the Best Record Stores in America."

* After a hiatus of several months, pianist Peter Martin has a new blog post up at Medium.com, offering his thoughts on the ballad comping style of pianist Wynton Kelly.

* Gene Dobbs Bradford of Jazz St. Louis is one of seven winners of the Arts and Education Council's St. Louis Arts Awards for 2018. Bradford will receive his award, which is for "Excellence in the Arts," at A&E's gala event on January 22 at the Chase Park Plaza hotel.

* Keyboardist James Hegarty, cellist Tracy Andreotti, and flute player Fred Tompkins have released more new improvised music under Hegarty's "Secret Sessions" imprint, now available as a free download from Bandcamp.

Thursday, June 15, 2017

All Angles Orchestra to perform
Wednesday, July 5 at Grandel Theatre

The All Angles Orchestra is coming to St. Louis to perform at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, July 5 at the Grandel Theatre.

Based in Colorado, the 15-piece ensemble is led by trombonist, composer, and arranger Mike Conrad, a graduate of the Eastman School of Music who in recent years has won four ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards and five Downbeat Student Music Awards for composition and arranging.

Eschewing the traditional instrumentation of a jazz big band, the All Angles Orchestra (pictured) instead "forces the classical and jazz worlds to collide" with a "combination of orchestral woodwinds, a string quartet, a mix of brass instruments, and a jazz rhythm section." 

They're touring a half-dozen Midwestern cities in July in support of their debut album New Angle, which is set for release at the end of this month. The recording features all original music and arrangements by Conrad and other members of the group, including trumpeter and St. Louis native Greg Weis and pianist Thomas Amend. It also includes guest performances from NYC trumpeter Alex Sipiagin, who's worked with Dave Holland, Mingus Dynasty, Michael Brecker and others, but is not part of the tour.

The All Angles Orchestra's concert at the Grandel Theatre is free and open to the public. You can hear some samples of their music on their Bandcamp page, and see some brief performance excerpts and interview segments in the promotional video clip below.



Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Jazz this week: Fourth annual Richard McDonnell Scholarship Concert, Gerald Albright, No BS! Brass Band, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes a concert raising funds for music scholarships in honor of a much-loved local jazz supporter; gigs from a popular, groove-oriented saxophonist and a New Orleans-style brass band, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, June 14
The third annual Richard McDonnell Scholarship Concert will take place at Jazz at the Bistro, featuring drummer Matt Wilson, members of Good 4 The Soul and the Funky Butt Brass Band, and various other guest musicians.

The event raises money for music scholarships for St. Louis area students in the name of Richard McDonnell, the late founder of MAXJAZZ Records who also was a board member of Jazz St. Louis and an enthusiastic, well-liked supporter of the local jazz scene before his sudden death in 2014.

Also on Wednesday, The Gaslight Squares will play a free outdoor concert for the Whitaker Music Festival at Missouri Botanical Garden.

Thursday, June 15
The Dark Room is changing up their regular music offerings a bit starting this week. Going forward, they're booking a different band every week on Thursdays, with pianist Ptah Williams moving to a regular weekly trio show at "happy hour" on Fridays. This week's debut of the "Thursday Night Revue" will feature drummer Kaleb Kirby's band Animal Children.

Also on Thursday, Cabaret Project St. Louis will present their monthly "Broadway Open Mic" at the Curtain Call Lounge.

Friday, June 16 
Saxophonist Gerald Albright (pictured, top left), will headline a "Salute to Fathers/Mentors" at the Sheldon Concert Hall, with support from saxophonist Tim Cunningham, comedian James Stephens III and singer Denise Thimes. For more about what Albright has been up to lately, and some videos of recent live performances, check out this post from last Saturday.

Also on Friday, guitarist Farshid Etniko Soltanshahi brings his multi-ethnic "world music" sound to Jazz at the Bistro; drummer Steve Davis leads a group with singer Feyza Eren in a free show at the Webster Groves Concert Hall; and Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to the Venice Cafe.

Over on the east side, Gypsy jazz/swing trio The Bonbon Plot will play a concert at Jacoby Arts Center; and drummer Marty Morrison leads a trio at Cigar Inn.

Saturday, June 17
The Gaslight Squares will play a matinee at the Blues City Deli; and keyboardist and singer Jesse Gannon and his band The Truth will perform at Jazz at the Bistro.

Sunday, June 18
The Grand Center district will be the site of not one, but two different Frank Sinatra tributes for Father's Day, as singer/impressionist Dean Christopher will do his "Sinatra...and Other Stuff" show for brunch in the relatively intimate confines of The Dark Room, while singer Steve Lippia will be featured with the St. Louis Symphony for a matinee of "Sinatra: 100 Years and Beyond" at the spacious Powell Symphony Hall.

Sunday night, the No BS! Brass Band (pictured, bottom left), a Virginia-based group offering their own contemporary take on the traditional New Orleans ensemble sound, will play at the Old Rock House.

Monday, June 19
A triple bill of free-improvising musicians featuring guitarist Shane Parish, the duo of Christopher E. Trull and Mabel Suen, and the Vernacular String Trio will play at Foam.

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, June 11, 2017

Sunday Session: June 11, 2017

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

* Jazz Pioneer Roscoe Mitchell Marked for Dismissal at Mills College (KQED)
* Aretha Franklin Says Detroit Music Weekend May Mark Last Concert (Patch.com)
* Rodney Bingenheimer says farewell to 'Rodney on the ROQ' after 40 years — but he certainly isn't retiring (Los Angeles Times)
* In $43 Million Settlement, Spotify Forced To Confront A Persistent Problem (NPR)
* The Beatles 'A Day In The Life' Is A Landmark In Sound Engineering 50 Years After It Was Recorded (Forbes)
* How Gregg Allman and Cher stunned Canisius High 'assembly' in 1976 (Buffalo News)
* Edison vs. Scott (LaphamsQuarterly.org)
* How to Destroy YouTube & Save the Music Industry (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Jimmy Webb on Auto-Tune, lying to keep John Lennon from being deported and how cocaine changed music (Los Angeles Times)
* The Bird in my hand: my journey to Charlie Parker (The Guardian)
* Sony Merges RED Into The Orchard: What the Music Giant's Latest Consolidation Means for Indie Labels (Billboard)
* Chops: The Art of the Slap - Poncho Sanchez and Adam Rudolph on transitioning from the drum kit to the conga (Jazz Times)
* Ambrose Akinmusire: Upholding Tradition & Breaking Decorum (Jazz Times)
* NYPL’s Schomburg Center Acquires Sonny Rollins Archive (Jazz Times)
* The Beatles’ iconic Sgt Pepper album returns to the top on its 50th birthday (OfficialCharts.com)
* New Album Narrates Charlie Parker’s Life in Song - Peyroux, Porter, Elling and others create vocal versions of Bird classics to tell his story (Jazz Times)
* The Earth Harp turns an L.A. skyscraper into world's longest stringed instrument (Los Angeles Times)
* Hear Bob Dylan Recite His Nobel Prize in Literature Lecture (Rolling Stone)
* ‘The value of creative assets is systematically being taken away from artists and music companies’ (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Ken Vandermark’s Indefatigable Drive and Avant-Garde Vision (Bandcamp.com)
* FMP Records’ Free Jazz Legacy is Alive and Well at Destination: OUT (Bandcamp.com)
* Why Are Frenchmen Street Musicians Undervalued? (Offbeat)
* “In Search of the Lost Chord”: Danny Goldberg’s new book on 1967 and the “Hippie Idea” (NightFlight.com)
* Vision Festival Promotes Message of Freedom through Creative Music (DownBeat)
* Woodstock Festival Location Becomes Official Historic Site (Rolling Stone)
* Gary Burton: Retiring The Mallets (NPR)
* This Is What Extinction Sounds Like (Vice.com)
* Inside the Making of 'Sgt. Pepper' (Rolling Stone)

Saturday, June 10, 2017

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase:
Spotlight on Gerald Albright



This week, StLJN's video spotlight shines on saxophonist Gerald Albright, who will be back in St. Louis to perform on Friday, June 16 at the Sheldon Concert Hall as part of "A Salute to Fathers and Mentors," also featuring singer Denise Thimes, saxophonist Tim Cunningham, and comedian James Stephens III.

A native of Los Angeles, Albright first gained public attention as a solo artist in the mid-1980s after touring as a sideman with Patrice Rushen and Alphonse Mouzon. With a bluesy sound on alto sax and a penchant for covering popular soul and R&B songs, he has released 18 albums as a leader, the most recent being 2016's G, and also has toured and/or recorded with Anita Baker, Ray Parker, Jr., The Temptations, Olivia Newton-John, Jeff Lorber, Teena Marie, Quincy Jones, Whitney Houston, Phil Collins, and many others.

In addition to leading his own band, Albright in recent years has been part of a series of tours under the "Jazz Explosion" banner, co-headlining with Will Downing, Jonathan Butler, Hugh Masekela, Chaka Khan, Rachelle Ferrell, and others. He was last in St. Louis in December 2015 at the Friendly Temple as part of saxophonist Kirk Whalum's "Gospel According to Jazz" Christmas show.

Though he's best known for a contemporary R&B style, Albright also is a capable interpreter of jazz standards, as demonstrated in the first video up above, a version of Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight" recorded in 2016 at The Villa in Sandy, Utah.

After the jump, you can see two clips shot by an audience member at a 2013 show at Thornton Winery in Temecula, CA, in which Albright plays a medley of two of his most popular songs, "So Amazing" and "My My My," followed by a version of Grover Washington Jr's "Winelight."

Next up are two clips recorded at Spaghettini Grill & Jazz Club in Seal Beach CA, which feature Albright in 2013 covering "Georgia On My Mind" and in 2016 digging into James Brown's "Its a Man's, Man's, Man's World".

The last clip is a brief video interview from March 2017, in which Albright talks with journalist Roland Martin about his most recent album and more.

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

Friday, June 09, 2017

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Fans of adventurous music and/or craft beer can support New Music Circle at a fundraiser scheduled from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. next Tuesday, June 13 at Urban Chestnut brewery's Midtown location, 3229 Washington Ave. A portion of beverage purchases made during those hours will be donated to NMC.

* The Boston Creme donut from Old Town Donuts in Florissant is the winner of Jazz St. Louis' "Best Donut" award for 2017, as determined last Friday during JSL's annual "National Donut Day" celebration. You can see photos from the event in a Facebook album here.

* Saxophonist and St. Louis native Greg Osby, who's been spending a lot of time in Europe recently, last month conducted two workshops for young musicians in Spain, working under the auspices of the US Embassy with students at the Teresa Berganza music conservatory in Madrid and the Padre Antonio Soler music school in San Lorenzo de El Escorial.

* Singer-songwriter Norah Jones' performance on Tuesday at the Scottrade Ceneter was reviewed for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch by Dan Durchholz.

* Singer Dee Daniels (pictured), who will perform this Sunday with the St. Louis Symphony as part of their "Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald and the Ladies of Swing," was interviewed by St. Louis magazine.

* The newly renamed Webster Groves Concert Hall, formerly the Ozark Theatre, is the subject of a St. Louis County Arts blog feature by Valerie Tichacek.

* As one of 77 local bands that will perform in the Riverfront Times' upcoming ShowcaseSTL, the  Funky Butt Brass Band were profiled this week by the RFT's Roy Kasten.

* Singer Tony Bennett's show Wednesday night at the Fox Theatre was reviewed by the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson, and the Post also published an "IParty" album of photos from the evening.

* This weekend's U City Jazz Festival and Fair U City are previewed in the Post's "Hot List" section.

* Mozingo Music is presenting a free workshop on audio recording at 7:00 p.m. Monday, June 26 at their store at 4689 Hwy. K in O'Fallon, MO. The 90-minute workshop will feature manufacturer's rep Michael Canning demonstrating the use of PreSonus software and hardware and Audio Technica microphones in a live recording session. Admission is free, but since space is limited, advance reservations are required.

Wednesday, June 07, 2017

Jazz this week: Tony Bennett, two Miles Davis tributes, U City Jazz Festival, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes the return of a legendary vocalist; two different events paying tribute to this city's most influential jazz musician ever; several free outdoor events featuring live jazz, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, June 7
Singer Tony Bennett (pictured, top left), who remarkably is still touring regularly as a nonagenarian, returns to perform at the Fox Theatre. Some tickets are still available as of this writing; for details, visit the "rush" section of the Fox's website. To when your appetite with some live performance videos of Bennett, check out this post from last Saturday.

Also on Wednesday, the weekly Grand Center Jazz Crawl continues with live music at four different venues in the district; and the Route 66 Jazz Orchestra performs at First Unity Church of St. Louis.

Thursday, June 8
Pianist Adam Maness returns with his trio to Thurman's in Shaw.

Friday, June 9
Keyboardist Adaron Jackson, guitarist Eric Slaughter, saxophonist Ben Reece (pictured, center left) and drummer Montez Coleman, doing business as Jackson, Slaughter, Reece & Coleman, will revisit the sounds of some of the classic organ/tenor soul-jazz combos of 1950s and '60s for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

Also on Friday, trumpeter Randy Holmes leads his quintet in the first of two nights of the "St. Louis Miles Davis Festival," performing music associated with Davis at the Webster Groves Concert Hall (formerly the Ozark Theatre).

Elsewhere around town, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; ; and saxophonist Paul DeMarinis and guitarist Dave Black, collaborators in several past bands, will debut a new group called Breathtet, also featuring bassist Mark Wallace and drummer Kevin Cheli, in a show at The Focal Point,

Saturday, June 10
It's a good day to hear some jazz at a free outdoor festival, with three different events happening in the afternoon and evening.

Starting in mid-afternoon, the U City Jazz Festival will feature music from drummer Demarius Hicks, pianist Ptah Williams (pictured, bottom left), guitarist Dave Black, Bach to the Future, and the St. Louis Jazz All-Stars, continuing through the evening at Heman Park,

A little later in the afternoon and just a few miles away, the City of Clayton Music + Wine Festival will include performances from The Gaslight Squares, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes, and Miss Jubilee as part of a free outdoor concert at Carondelet Plaza.

At the same time a little further to the east, the Central West End Cocktail Party will include a stage at Euclid and McPherson with live performances from bands including the Twin Cities' Gatsby Gang and St. Louis' own Funky Butt Brass Band.

Also on Saturday, the Alton Museum presents the 12th annual Miles Davis Jazz Festival in the town where the iconic trumpeter was born, featuring music from blues singer Big George Brock Jr. and the NGK Band, piano/vocal duo Bob and Me, guitarist Tim Jarden, and saxophonist Fred Walker at the Jacoby Arts Center.

Sunday, June 11
The St. Louis Symphony presents a "Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald and the Ladies of Swing" featuring singer Dee Daniels at Powell Symphony Hall; the St. Louis Jazz Club's monthly show will feature John Gillick and the Impacts with pianist Bob Row at the DoubleTree Hotel; and the Ambassadors of Swing return to Kirkwood Station Brewing Company.

Monday, June 12 
Trumpeter Jim Manley will play his weekly gig serenading diners and drinkers at Momo's Greek Restaurant.

Tuesday, June 13
Saxophonist Adam Larson will be in town to present a free masterclass and performance at Saxquest, backed by guitarist Matt Sewell, bassist Bob DeBoo, and drummer Matt Wilson.

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, June 04, 2017

Sunday Session: June 4, 2017

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

* Rod Argent: A 50 Year Odyssey - The Zombies Odessey and Oracle (Tape Op)
* Trouble No More: Allman Brothers Biographer Alan Paul Reflects on 25 Years of Interviewing Gregg Allman (Billboard)
* Don't Worry, Your MP3s Are Safe: A Frank Discussion On The Future Of A Format (NPR)
* In A Lost Concert, Jaco Pastorius Sounded The Rhythm Of The City (WBGO)
* Philadelphia's music legacy is vast but hard to find (Charlotte Observer)
* For Video Soundtracks, Computers Are The New Composers (NPR)
* Thundercat: Drinking Songs (Jazz Times)
* Saxophonist Sonny Rollins On His Colossal Archive (NPR)
* The Checkout: The Irrepressible Ingenuity of Cooper-Moore (WBGO)
* Allman Brothers Manager Bert Holman Talks Band Archives in Wake of Gregg Allman's Death: 'There's a Great Deal of Material' (Billboard)
* Sax Sonics, Guitar Phonics at FIMAV (DownBeat)
* Frustrated by Trump, D.D. Jackson rekindles his passion for jazz (Ottawa Citizen)
* Four innovations in classical music (MusicXTechXFuture.com)
* Keeping the Flame Alive: The World of Deep Funk Archival Compilations (Bandcamp.com)
* Have We Reached the End of the FM Dial? (Billboard)
* 21st Century Bebop? (Ronan Guilfoyle)
* First Listen: DeJohnette, Grenadier, Medeski & Scofield, 'Hudson' (NPR)
* Kamasi Washington Leads a New Guard in Jazz  (SevenDaysVT.com)
* La La Means … What Exactly? (Jazz Times)
* Why Catchy Songs Get Stuck in Our Brains: New Study Explains the Science of Earworms (OpenCulture.com)
* Luxembourg’s ‘Like a Jazz Machine’ Fest Lives Up to Spirited Name (DownBeat)
* Bern Nix, Guitarist Steeped in Ornette Coleman's Harmolodic Language, Dies at 69 (WBGO)
* Prince’s death has given rise to a ghoulish new tourism business in Minnesota (Chicago Reader)
* Hear Diana Krall Play an Exclusive Session, and Talk About Her Sleek New Album (WBGO)
* Vanishing: Where Is The Music Of The Impending Apocalypse? (TheQuietus.com)
* Inside the quietest place on earth (BBC)
* Jazz Icons Lend Music and Vocals to Wilson’s Poetic Sandburg Tribute (DownBeat)

Saturday, June 03, 2017

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase:
Steppin' out with Tony Bennett



This week, let's check out some videos featuring singer Tony Bennett, who will be returning to St. Louis to perform next Wednesday, June 7 at the Fox Theatre.

Bennett, still remarkably active for a 90-year-old, has stayed newsworthy into the 21st century, thanks most recently to the Duets albums pairing him with currently popular singers ranging from Lady Gaga to Carrie Underwood.

On his own in concert, Bennett's distinctive voice inevitably is showing some effects of age, but his performances continue to please audiences who appreciate his taste in songs, superb timing, choice of musicians, and continued craftsmanship as a singer and showman.

Today's collection of videos shows off those attributes as they have evolved over the last 40 years, from the present day back to the mid-1970s. To start, you can get a sense of Bennett's approach to a song circa 2015 in the first video up above, a duet with pianist Bill Charlap on "The Way You Look Tonight" as recorded on their album The Silver Lining: The Music of Jerome Kern.

After the jump, you can see Bennett and one his most storied duet partners, pianist Bill Evans (who's also an important inspiration for Charlap), in Together Again, a half-hour television special recorded in 1976 for the Canadian TV network CBC. While this period may have been a low point in history for Bennett in terms of commercial appeal and critical notice, the performances provide clear evidence that he was still singing very well.

Below that, there are four more recent live shows, recorded over a 20-year period beginning as Bennett's career entered a second act, nearly unprecedented in pop culture, in which he became more popular than ever.

The first complete show is from 1991 at the Prince Edward Theatre in London, England, followed by Bennett's set from the 2002 Newport Jazz Festival.

Next, in a performance that foreshadows those Duets projects, you can see Bennett joined by singer k.d. lang for a 2002 concert in San Francisco. The final video is from Bennett's 85th birthday concert in 2012 at the London Palladium, and includes guest performances from British singers Cleo Laine and Leona Lewis.

For more about what Tony Bennett has been up to recently, check out his interview from last November on the Boston radio station WBUR, and his video interview from April 2017 with PBS' Tavis Smiley.

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

Friday, June 02, 2017

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Michael Lazaroff, the CEO of St. Louis based Jazz Cruises LLC, was interviewed by Jazz Times magazine

* Blues pianist Ethan Leinwand (pictured) and his St. Louis Piano Festival, which will include stride and ragtime pianists as well as blues, are the subjects of a feature story from the Riverfront Times' Christian Schaeffer.

* The Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson talked to some members of the local music community to get their reactions to the death of BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups co-owner Mark O'Shaughnessy.

* The photography exhibit "The Music Seen: Beyond the Stage,” which opens next week at Bullivant Gallery in Grand Center, was previewed by the Ladue News' Bryan A. Hollerbach.

Thursday, June 01, 2017

Recently on Heliocentric Worlds

With the start of another new month, it's time once again to check in on StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds, where each day there's posted a new online music video, drawing from genres including jazz, blues, soul, funk, classic rock, prog rock, experimental, and more. 

The five most-watched videos added to the site last month were:

Hot 8 Brass Band - "New Orleans"
Bill Evans & Tony Bennett - Together Again
The Soul Rebels - "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"
Average White Band - Live in Germany
The James Gang - "Walk Away"

Other recent posts include videos featuring Morris Day and The Time, Sonny Rollins, Abdullah Ibrahim, The Kinks, Muddy Waters, Kidd Jordan Quintet, J.J. Johnson & Kai Winding, Clark Terry and the Oscar Peterson Trio, Mulgrew Miller Trio, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Maynard Ferguson, Ralph Towner, George Benson, Steps Ahead, Mavis Staples, Amina Claudine Myers Quartet, Steely Dan, Richard "Groove" Holmes, Joe Henderson Trio, Stanley Cowell, Matthew Shipp, Mary Halvorson Octet, Esperanza Spalding, Jimmy Smith & Jimmy McGriff, and Dennis Coffey.

If you've somehow missed out on all this up until now, you still can see all these videos, plus thousands more from the archives, by going to http://heliocentricworlds.blogspot.com/.