Jazz this week: Jane Monheit, Douglas Ewart and the STL Free Jazz Collective, Battle Trance, holiday jazz begins, and more

This week's busy calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes a return engagement from one of the most popular female vocalists in jazz; a couple of shows featuring adventurous woodwind players; the first few of what will be many holiday-themed concerts for the season; and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, November 29
Singer Jane Monheit returns to St. Louis for the first of four nights at Jazz at the Bistro. Monheit (pictured, top left) last performed here in 2015 with singer and guitarist John Pizzarelli at the Sheldon's annual benefit gala, and before that in 2014 at the Bistro.

She first won wide public attention shortly after the turn of the century, applying a plush vocal tone and a sure sense of swing to mostly standards from the Great American Songbook. Since then, Monheit has released a dozen albums as a leader, and also made guest appearances on record with a wide variety of performers, from fellow singers such as Sara Gazarek and Tony DeSare to instrumentalists including David Benoit, Ray Brown Jr., and many others.

After recording for five different labels, including Sony, Concord, and Decca/EmArcy. Monheit in 2016 started her own record company, Emerald City Records, inaugurating the imprint with the release of The Songbook Sessions, a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald. Listeners this week at the Bistro can expect an emphasis on that material, though the multi-night gig also should give Monheit a chance to dig into her back catalog as well.

Also on Wednesday, singer Joe Mancuso continues his weekly gig at Taha'a Twisted Tiki in The Grove; the Cary Colman Jazz Trio plays at Evangeline's; and this week's "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features Jacob Alspach at Squatters Cafe/The Stage at KDHX, the jam session led by bassist Bob DeBoo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's band at The Dark Room.

Thursday, November 30
Guitarist Vincent Varvel leads a quartet in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; the Liberation Organ Trio plays at Evangeline's; singer Feyza Eren and her quartet will perform at Joe's Cafe; and saxophonist Ben Reece's Unity Quartet returns to The Dark Room.

Friday, December 1
Pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True with guest vocalist Kim Fuller will perform at the Webster Groves Concert Hall; singer/guitarist Tommy Halloran continues his weekly residency at Das Bevo Underground; and saxophonist Tim Cunningham is at Troy's Jazz Gallery.

Saturday, 
December 2
Freddie Washington will be the latest local saxophonist to be featured in Saxquest's series of free Saturday matinee performances, while just down the street at Dead Wax Records, Battle Trance will be promoting their Saturday evening show for New Music Circle with a free in-store performance.

Then, as fate would have it, Saturday evening offers a tough choice for fans of woodwinds and/or creative music, with two shows of interest happening simultaneously.

Battle Trance (pictured, center left), who will be making their St. Louis debut in their Saturday evening concert at The Luminary, is an ensemble of four tenor saxophonists who use extended techniques to play music that's a mix of composition and improvisation, though it can be hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. You can find out more about them, and see videos of some sample live performances, in this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

Meanwhile, across town in the Old North neighborhood, multi-instrumentalist Douglas Ewart will be in town to join the STL Free Jazz Collective for a free concert at the 14th St. Artist Community.

Ewart (pictured, bottom left), who plays a whole arsenal of woodwinds, percussion, and self-made instruments, was one of early members of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, and has performed and/or recorded with many of the most important creative musicians of the past half-century. There's more about Ewart, including videos of some of his live performances, in this post from last Saturday.

Sunday, December 3
It's another day for matinees, as the St. Louis Jazz Club presents Cornet Chop Suey playing traditional jazz and swing at the Moolah Shrine Temple, while the Friends of Scott Joplin present their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's Rosebud Cafe.

Also on Sunday afternoon, the UMSL Jazz Ensemble directed by Jim Widner, Vocal Point, and University Orchestra will present their annual free concert, "UMSL's Jazz For The Holidays," at the Touhill Performing Arts Center; and trumpeter Randy Holmes, singer and impressionist Dean Christopher, and a mini-big band will pay tribute to Frank Sinatra and Hoagy Carmichael at the Webster Groves Concert Hall.

Monday, December 4
Trumpeter Jim Manley is back at Momo's Greek Restaurant, and Washington University's student jazz combos will show off what they've learned this semester in a free performance at the 560 Music Center.

Tuesday, December 5
Dean Christopher, having a busy week, headlines "A Vegas 'Rat Pack and More' Christmas" 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.)

The Baylor Project earns two nominations in 60th Annual Grammy Awards

The Baylor Project, featuring singer Jean Baylor and her husband, drummer and St. Louis native Marcus Baylor, has received two nominations in the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.

The Baylors (pictured) were nominated in the "Best Jazz Vocal Album" category for their debut album The Journey, and for "Best R&B Performance" for their song "Laugh and Move On."

Released in February of this year on the Baylors' Be A Light label, The Journey debuted at No 8 on the Billboard Jazz Chart, and got a favorable reception from media outlets including All About Jazz, Hot House, Soul Tracks, Soulbounce, Modern Drummer, The Chicago Defender, Revive Music, and more.

The 60th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, January 28 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, with portions broadcast live on CBS. You can see the full list of nominees here.

The Baylor Project will perform in St. Louis from Wednesday, March 28 through Saturday, March 31 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Victor Wooten Trio returning to perform Tuesday, March 27 at Old Rock House

Bassist Victor Wooten's trio, featuring drummer Dennis Chambers and saxophonist Bob Franceschini, is coming back to St. Louis to perform at 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, March 27 at the Old Rock House.

Interestingly, the gig will come exactly 364 days after their last performance here at the Old Rock House, on Tuesday, March 28, 2017.

Since then, Wooten in September of this year released TRYPNOTYX, which is his first new recording in five years and features the trio (pictured).

Wooten also played here in June with his family band, the Wooten Brothers, headlining the Chesterfield Jazz Festival at the Chesterfield Amphitheater.

Tickets for the all-ages show are $32 and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. this Friday, November 30 via the Old Rock House's website and all Metrotix outlets.

Ramsey Lewis to headline benefit gala on Friday, April 13 at The Sheldon

Pianist Ramsey Lewis is returning to St. Louis next year to headline the Sheldon Concert Hall and Art Galleries' annual benefit gala at 8:30 p.m., Friday, April 13.

Lewis (pictured), an NEA Jazz Master who's known for groove-oriented hits from "The In Crowd" to "Sun Goddess" and more, will perform a program featuring his interpretations of the music of the Beatles, including songs such as “And I Love Her” and “A Hard Day’s Night,” plus some favorites from his own extensive catalog.

Lewis last played in St. Louis in November 2015 for The Sheldon's "ArtSounds" benefit. His most recent recording is 2011's Taking Another Look on the Hidden Beach label.

Tickets for the benefit gala are on sale now, starting at $500, and can be purchased by calling The Sheldon at 314-533-9900. Gala tickets include pre-concert cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, dinner, preferred concert seating, complimentary valet parking and a tax deduction. Proceeds from the event will benefit the concerts, gallery exhibitions and educational programs of the Sheldon Concert Hall and Art Galleries.

Concert-only tickets will be $45 orchestra, $40 front balcony, $35 rear balcony, and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Friday, March 2 via The Sheldon's website and from MetroTix.

Sunday Session: November 26, 2017

Jon Hendricks

Here's the roundup of various music-related items of interest that have appeared in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Recording Sgt. Pepper's: Unpublished Conversations with George Martin, Geoff Emerick, and Ken Townsend (Reverb.com)
* Review: Berlin Jazz Festival 2017 (Jazz Journal)
* Bright Moments With Louis Hayes (Jazz Times)
* The music you didn’t realize you grew up with: Chip Tanaka’s 8-bit revolution (Japan Times)
* The Vast, Versatile Range Of Cécile McLorin Salvant (NPR)
* Bandcamp Is Bringing Back the Record Rack (Jazz Times)
* The New Golden Age Of Jazz (LNWY.co)
* Mick Goodrick: Six-String Theorist (Jazz Times)
* Steely Dan Singer Sues Bandmate's Estate (Billboard)
* Quietly successful: Meet the man behind ECM Records (Irish Examiner)
* The vinyl frontier: why do we keep sending music to outer space? (The Guardian)
* Epidemic Sound gives its side of the Spotify ‘fake artists’ controversy (Musically.com)
* Spotify’s Top ‘Fake Artists’ Make Six-Figure Salaries (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* The Inventive Traditions of South African Jazz (Bandcamp.com)
* Dickey Betts: The Lost Allman Brother (Rolling Stone)
* Jon Hendricks, Genre-Pushing Jazz Vocalist, Dead At 96 (NPR)
* Toledo jazz vocalist Jon Hendricks redefined jazz (Toledo Blade)
* George Avakian Dies at 98 - Groundbreaking producer and manager worked with Miles, Armstrong, Ellington, Lloyd, Jarrett and others (Jazz Times)
* George Avakian, Record Producer of Singular Influence, Dies at 98 (WBGO)
* The World of Captain Beefheart: An Interview with Gary Lucas and Nona Hendryx (Popmatters.com)
* Musicians Backstage in the 1970s: The Photos (Esquire)
* Clifford Brown - The Bach of Jazz (Jazz in Europe)
* George Clinton talks back (Offbeat)
* The Delights of Parsing the Beatles' Most Nonsensical Song (The Atlantic)
* The FBI's Long, Alarming History of Investigating Black Musicians (Pacific Standard)
* INTERVIEW: Reid Anderson of The Bad Plus (London Jazz News)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Douglas Ewart

Today, let's take a look at some videos featuring multi-instrumentalist Douglas Ewart, who's coming to St. Louis to perform with the STL Free Jazz Collective in a free concert next Saturday, December 2 at the 14th Street Artists Community.

Ewart, who's 71 years old, plays various saxophones and woodwind instruments, hand drums, and instruments of his own design. Born in Jamaica, he moved to Chicago as a teenager, and first gained wide attention as an early member of that city's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, later serving as the AACM's president from 1979 to 1986.

He has led his own bands in a variety of instrumental configurations and multi-disciplinary performances, and has recorded as a leader and collaborator with many of the well-known musicians associated with the AACM, as well as with Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, and various other creative improvisors and composers.

Given that Ewart and his St. Louis collaborators will be improvising most, if not all, of next Saturday's performance, there's no way to "preview" the show in terms of specific musical content. That said, today's collection of videos, drawn from various Ewart performances in the last eight years, should provide at least some idea of his sound and general approach to making music.

First up is an excerpt from Ewing's set at an observance of John Coltrane's 90th birthday in September 2016 at the Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia, in which he plays solo with two dancers, Jay Jao and Taiga Ultan.

After the jump, you can see a couple of excerpts from the set performed by Ewart and his band Inventions in September 2015 at the Chicago Jazz Festival in Millennium Park. Along with Ewart, the group includes Mankwe Ndosi (voice, poetry, percussion), Maggie Brown (voice, percussion), Duriel Harris (poetry, percussion), Dee Alexander (voice, percussion), Mwata Bowden (winds, percussion), Edward Wilkerson (winds, percussion), Jeff Parker (guitar), Dushun Mosley (drums), Darius Savage (bass), Kidd Jordan (saxophone), and Willie Pickens (piano).

The fourth clip is a piece called "Manalapho," written in 2013 in tribute to Trayvon Martin, the Florida teenager killed in a 2012 shooting that sparked outrage across the country.

That's followed by Ewart and another iteration of Inventions, as recorded in 2009 at the Vision Festival in NYC. This version of the group features Ewart, the Art Ensemble of Chicago's Joseph Jarman and St. Louis' own J.D. Parran on various woodwinds, along with pianist Donald Smith, percussionist Thurman Barker, and poet Amiri Baraka.

The final video is an interview with Ewart, recorded in 2011 on the occasion of the release of his album Songs of Sunlife on innova Recordings, in which he discusses the album, his life, and influences.

For more about Douglas Ewart, check out the interview with him published in 2015 on the website of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, where Ewart now lives; and his interview from that same year with the NY Jazz Record.

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:

* HEC-TV has posted online a "lost episode" of the program I Love Jazz, featuring an interview with and performances by guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli and his son, guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli.

The episode was filmed in 2014, before the death of host Don Wolff in November 2015, but just now has been released for the first time.

* The Sheldon Art Galleries will present a free gallery talk by Dr. Aurelia Hartenberger on the history of stringed instruments at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, December 12.

The talk is presented in conjunction with the exhibit "The World of Spectacular Strings," which features more than 100 unique stringed instruments from around the world and continues until April 21, 2017. Admission is free, but you must reserve a seat in advance by calling Paula Lincoln at 314-533-9900 x 37 or emailing plincoln@TheSheldon.org.

* Speaking of The Sheldon, they've posted on Facebook an album of photos from last Saturday's concert by Cécile McLorin Salvant.

* Singer Chuck Flowers (pictured) appeared on KTVI-FOX 2's Wednesday morning newscast to promote his appearance tonight at The Dark Room.

* The online radio station Radio63119 has posted an interview featuring poet and percussionist David A.N. Jackson talking with bassist Darrell Mixon and drummer Gary Sykes about their careers in music and more.

* Another new episode of E.B. Stephenson's podcast "The Jazz Mixer" is online, featuring recordings from St. Louis musicians including the Sessions Big Band, Brett Stamps, Farshid Etniko, and more.

Jazz this week: Jeremy Davenport comes home, Althea Rene & Elan Trotman's "Holiday Winds," and more

If you'd like some jazz and creative music to go with this year's Thanksgiving turkey and trimmings, here's what's happening on local stages over the next few days...

Wednesday, November 22
The weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" will feature guitarists Jake Weisman and Eric Slaughter at Squatters Cafe/The Stage at KDHX, along with the weekly jam session led by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor and band at The Dark Room.

Friday, November 24
Trumpeter and singer Jeremy Davenport, who grew up in U City and now resides in New Orleans, will be back in his hometown for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

Davenport (pictured, top left) has a regular house gig at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New Orleans, and generally only makes it home once a year to do these shows, so they should be well-attended, with advance reservations a must. 

Also on Friday, Miss Jubilee will promote the release of a new CD, Throw Me In The Alley, with a show at  Focal Point; singer Chuck Flowers does the late show at The Dark Room; and Samba Bom will provide some Brazilian music to go with the Spanish cuisine at Barcelona Tapas Restaurant.

Saturday, November 25
Cornetist Bill Mason of the St. Louis Ragtimers will sit in with The Gaslight Squares for a matinee at Blues City Deli.

Saturday evening, flute player Althea Rene (pictured, bottom left) and saxophonist Elan Trotman will headline two performances of "Holiday Winds" at the Emerson Theater at Harris Stowe State University, with St. Louis'  Coleman Hughes Project as the opening act.

Sunday, November 26
The Webster Groves Concert Hall will host the musical equivalent of what used to be called a "day/night doubleheader" in baseball, with singer Wendy Gordon performing in the afternoon and drummer Chuck Kennedy and friends presenting "The Beatles Go Jazz" in the evening.

Also on Sunday, the Folk School of KDHX presents their monthly "Traditional Jazz Jam Session," and Wright's Project plays jazz-fusion and funk at Troy's Jazz Gallery.

Monday, November 27
Dizzy Atmosphere will play Gypsy jazz and swing for diners at The Shaved Duck, and trumpeter Jim Manley will does his weekly gig at Momo's Greek Restaurant.

Tuesday, November 28
Erin Bode, Arvell Keithley, Brian Owens and Alan Ox will sing music by Al Hammerman in a benefit for the organization "Kids Rock Cancer" at the Ferring Jazz Bistro.

Also on Tuesday, "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective return to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups downtown, while out in St. Charles County, saxophonist Larry Johnson, pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True will play The Rack House Kitchen Wine Whiskey.

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.)

Maceo Parker to play Wednesday, January 24 - Saturday, January 27 at Jazz at the Bistro

Funk/jazz saxophonist Maceo Parker is coming to St. Louis to perform Wednesday, January 24 through Saturday, January 27 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Parker (pictured) probably still is best known for his time with "Godfather of Soul" James Brown, but he also has made significant contributions to recordings by George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Prince, and numerous others.

Since leaving Brown's employ in the late 1980s, he's enjoyed a successful solo career, fronting his own band and occasionally teaming up with fellow former JB sidemen Fred Wesley and/or Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis.  Parker's most recent recording, Soul Classics was released in 2012.

Tickets for Maceo Parker at Jazz at the Bistro are $40 for the Wednesday and Thursday shows, $45 for Friday and Saturday, and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. this Friday, November 24 via the Jazz St. Louis box office. 

Sunday Session: November 19, 2017

Grover Washington Jr.

Here's the roundup of various music-related items of interest that have appeared in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* How Roy DeCarava’s jazz photographs captured the soul of Harlem and influenced a generation (TheVinylFactory.com)
* Remembering, With Fondness, the ‘Worst Orchestra in the World’ (AtlasObscura.com)
* Legendary music venue My Father’s Place reopening on Long Island after 30 years (Newsday)
* Pay-Per-Beat: Inside the Underground Market Shaping Soundcloud Rap (Vice.com)
* Ron Lessard Is a Noise Music Hero (Vice.com)
* Renaissance Man: The Story of Hermeto Pascoal’s Great Lost Album, “Viajando Com O Som” (Bandcamp.com)
* ‘Whisperpop’: why stars are choosing breathy intensity over vocal paint-stripping (The Guardian)
* Spatial audio is the most exciting thing to happen to pop music since stereo (ArsTechnica.com)
* A Bottle In Front Of Me: The Strange World Of... Tom Waits (TheQuietus.com)
* Hide And Seek - For a while, hidden tracks were everywhere, especially during the CD era. But thanks to streaming music, there’s nowhere to put them. Is that good or bad? (Tedium.co)
* The concert was about unity; the message was all Russian (Washington Post)
* Hip Hop Named as the Most Popular Music Genre in the US (MagneticMag.com)
* The Body in Question: Herbie Hancock in Concert (CommonReader.WUSTL.edu)
* The New Golden Age Of Jazz (Lnwy.co)
* How Basin Street Records Has Been Giving New Orleans Jazz Music a Home For 20 Years (Billboard)
* Steve Winwood On World Cafe (NPR)
* Influential Jazz and Classical Label ECM Records Releasing Entire Catalogue to Streaming Outlets (SPIN)
* Free improvisation: still the ultimate in underground music? (The Guardian)
* Nicole Mitchell on the lasting legacies of AACM architect Muhal Richard Abrams (The Wire)
* An abandoned pre-WWII Hasidic synagogue gets a second life as a kosher jazz club (Times of Israel)
* With $70M from Alphabet, UnitedMasters replaces record labels (TechCrunch.com)
* How Grover Washington Jr. Defined And Transcended 'Smooth Jazz' (NPR)
* Bassist Ron Carter On His Life With Jazz (WNYC)
* Venezuela's Uprooted Musicians: Bands Struggle to Survive (Rolling Stone)
* The cosmic messenger: How Karlheinz Stockhausen shaped contemporary electronic music (TheVinylFactory.com)
* Field Notes: GoGo Penguin’s “Koyaanisqatsi” in Brooklyn (Jazz Times)
* Jazz and Classical Treasures from the Digitized Catalogue of ECM Records (The New Yorker)
* Ben Riley, a Jazz Drummer Who Made Accompaniment His Art, Has Died at 84 (WBGO)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Introducing Battle Trance

Today, let's take a look at some videos featuring performances from Battle Trance, who will be coming to St. Louis to play a concert presented by New Music Circle on Saturday, December 2 at The Luminary.

One could think of them as a saxophone quartet, but with a twist, as all four members - founder and leader Travis Laplante, Patrick Breiner, Matt Nelson and Jeremy Viner - play tenor sax, with no doubles on any other instruments.

This isn't entirely unprecedented - jazz history buffs may recall that back in the late 1940s, Woody Herman's "Second Herd" featured tenor saxophonists Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Herb Stewart and Jimmy Giuffre as the "Four Brothers" - but Battle Trance is making a very different type of sound, one that PopMatters has identified as "existing in the cracks between contemporary classical music, avant-garde jazz, black metal, ambient, and world music."

Formed in 2014, they've released two recordings, their debut Palace of Wind, and last year's Blade of Love. You can see them performing music from both albums in today's compilation of videos, starting up above with a segment of the album-length composition that makes up Palace of Wind, recorded in June 2015 at the Yellow Barn Music Festival in Brattleboro, VT.

After the jump, there are four short clips, ranging from under 2 to 10 minutes, excerpting shows from 2015 and '16 in Detroit; Silver Spring, MD; Brighton, MA, and NYC.

The last two videos both were recorded in January of this year at the Vandoren Studio in Los Angeles, CA, and feature a "live in the studio" performance of the first section of Blade of Love, and an interview with the group.

For more about Battle Trance, read TheQuietus.com's review of Palace of Wind, and Observer.com's October 2016 feature story about them.

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:

* The St. Louis International Film Festival has posted on Facebook a photo album from the fest's screening of the documentary Mr Handy's Blues and accompanying musical performance.

* Tomorrow night's performance by singer Cécile McLorin Salvant (pictured) at the Sheldon Concert Hall is previewed by the St. Louis American's Kenya Vaughn.

* Yaqui's on Cherokee, which frequently features The Gaslight Squares and other local performers of vintage jazz, was featured in an article on the Regional Arts Commission website.

* The jazz program at UMSL, directed by bassist Jim Widner, has produced a new fund-raising video.

* The Funky Butt Brass Band's "Holiday Brasstravaganza" and new album are previewed in a St. Louis magazine article by Thomas Crone.

* Also in St. Louis magazine, another article by Thomas Crone previews this Sunday's debut performance by cornetist TJ Muller's Arcadia Jazz Orchestra.

* Singer Katie McGrath's Gaslight Cabaret Festival show was reviewed by KDHX's Chuck Lavazzi.

* Reaching back for some history about a St. Louis native, a new article in The Daily Beast looks back at "When Jazz Age Superstar Josephine Baker Spied on the Nazis."

Funky Butt Brass Band showcases guest singers on new Christmas album

The Funky Butt Brass Band has released a new holiday-themed album, A Funky Butt Family Christmas.

The album (pictured) includes a remix of their original song “Because It’s Christmas” and  covers of seven more holiday songs, featuring some of the guest vocalists who have been part of the band's annual "Holiday Brasstravaganza' concerts at Off Broadway. 

The guest singers include Big Mike Aguirre, Steve Ewing, Dave Grelle, Al Holliday, Roland Johnson, Brian Owens and Emily Wallace. Along with the FBBB's six musicians, the album also features additional instrumental contributions from Grelle and Holliday on keyboards, Aguirre on guitar, Matt Henry on percussion and chimes, Ben Reece and Derick Tramel on saxophones, Matt Brinkmann on sousaphone, Emma Tiemann on violin, and Andy Hainz on cello.

A Funky Butt Family Christmas is on sale now at FBBB's live shows, and will be available within the next few days for order or download from iTunes and CDBaby. The 2018 Holiday Brasstravaganza will take place on Friday, December 15 and Saturday, December 16 at Off Broadway, and for the first time this year, will include a children's matinee on Saturday afternoon.

Jazz this week: Russell Gunn's "Blackhawk Revisited," Cécile McLorin Salvant, and more

There's some interesting jazz and creative music on local stages this week in St. Louis, including only the second local performance ever by a highly acclaimed young singer, and a re-examination of music from an oft-overlooked period of Miles Davis' career, courtesy of a trumpeter raised in Davis' hometown.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, November 15
Trumpeter Russell Gunn, who grew up in East St. Louis and now lives in Atlanta, will be back home with his "Blackhawk Revisited" project for the first of four nights, continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro.

"Blackhawk Revisited" is dedicated to exploring the music of Miles Davis in the early 1960s, post-Kind of Blue and before the formation of his "Second Great Quintet." To lend authenticity and elder wisdom to the proceedings, Gunn (pictured, top left) has enlisted 88-year-old drummer Jimmy Cobb, who played with Davis during those years (and is the last participant from Kind of Blue still living) . You can find out more about the project, and see some videos of them in action, plus an interview with Cobb, in this post from last Saturday.

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, this week's "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features guitarist Eric Slaughter and bassist Glen Smith at Squatters Cafe, the new name for the front half of The Stage at KDHX, plus the weekly jam session hosted by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor and band at The Dark Room.

Thursday, November 16
The Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents a free concert featuring the "Arc of Light Ensemble," which includes guitarist and series curator William Lenihan, saxophonist Paul DeMarinis, trumpeter Randy Holmes, trombonist Wayne Coniglio, pianist Ptah Williams, bassist Paul Steinbeck, and drummer Montez Coleman.

Also on Thursday, the UMSL Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Lab Band, and choral group Vocal Point will give a free concert at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, trumpeter Jim Manley plays The Pat Connolly Tavern, and percussionist Joe Pastor returns to The Dark Room

Friday, November 17
Drummer Steve Davis' "Super Band" featuring singer Feyza Eren returns to the Webster Groves Concert Hall, while just down the street, The 442s will be back to perform at Cyrano's.

Elsewhere around town, the Sentimental Journey Big Band will play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom, and Miss Jubilee returns to the Moonshine Blues Bar in St. Charles.

Saturday, November 18
Singer Cécile McLorin Salvant, one of the most talked-about jazz vocalists to emerge in the last decade, returns for a performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

With one Grammy Award for "Best Jazz Vocal Album" already in her trophy case at age 28, Salvant (pictured, bottom left) has a distinctive sound that is both rooted in the tradition and quite contemporary. You can find out more about her and see some videos of recent performances in this post from a couple of weeks ago.

Also on Saturday, saxophonist Jeanette Harris will play smooth jazz and R&B in two shows at .ZACK; Thaxton Speakeasy will celebrate ten years in business with an event aptly named "A Decade of Decadence," featuring music from Annie & the Fur Trappers; and saxophonist Dave Stone and his trio are performing at Thurman's in Shaw.

Sunday, November 19
It's a Sunday made for matinees, as the St. Louis Jazz Club presents the Funky Butt Brass Band at the DoubleTree Hotel in Westport, while the Midwest Jazz-tette will bring their West Coast sound to the Webster Groves Concert Hall.

If you're looking to make it a full day of music, you can catch either one of those gigs and probably still make it to the debut performance of the Arcadia Dance Orchestra, a new 11-piece vintage jazz group fronted by cornetist and singer TJ Muller, at The Stage at KDHX.

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.)

Kirk Whalum's "Gospel According to Jazz" set for Sunday, December 10 at Friendly Temple

Saxophonist Kirk Whalum is bringing his "A Gospel According to Jazz Christmas" concert back to St. Louis for a performance at 7:00 p.m. Sunday,  December 10 at the Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church

Whalum (pictured) released his first "Gospel According to Jazz" recording back in 1998, with three more albums added to the series over the years, and began touring the Christmas show in 2012. This year's edition also will feature singer and guitarist Jonathan Butler, singers Sheléa, John Stoddart and Kevin Whalum (who is Kirk's brother), and special guests.

Tickets for the concert are priced at $20 balcony, $35 floor, and $50 for VIP seating, and are on sale now via the Friendly Temple office and bookstore and online.

Sunday Session: November 12, 2017

John McLaughlin

Here's the roundup of various music-related items of interest that have appeared in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Let's face the facts: Facebook controls classical music (OvergrownPath.com)
* Arts Critics Are Disappearing From Newspapers. Or, Wait, Is That The Good News? (ArtAndSeek.org)
* A Hard Day's Night: Solving a Beatles mystery with mathematics (ABC.net.au)
* Essential Solos: 40 Great Improvisations (Jazz Times)
* Van Morrison Announces New Album 'Versatile' (Rolling Stone)
* Field Notes: John McLaughlin & Jimmy Herring in NYC - Thinking about a jazz-guitar icon’s U.S. farewell tour (Jazz Times)
* Joni Mitchell Talks Exes, Addictions and Music in Candid, All-Access Biography (Rolling Stone)
* The demons and obsessions of jazz genius Thelonious Monk (The Guardian)
* Critic bashing - Defending the Music Media (Atavist.com)
* Blue Note Records Unveils a New Subscription Boxed Set Series, Blue Note Review (WBGO)
* The Strange World Of... Linda Sharrock (TheQuietus.com)
* The rise of ‘three-car garage rock’ (Curbed.com)
* Why the indie band never dies: fake breakups, permanent adolescence and cash comebacks (The Guardian)
* Bill Frisell Receives Honorary Degree and Is Subject of Film (Jazz Times)
* I went to see La Monte Young playing in his New York loft, and you should do the same (Medium.com)
* 'Only 17th-century industrial bluegrass will do': your favourite weird records (The Guardian)
* 'Their DNA is forever ingrained in the keys' - Roman Rabinovich on playing composers' own pianos (TheArtsDesk.com)
* After Six Decades in the Vault, 'Ella at Zardi's' Brings New Shine to Ella Fitzgerald's Centennial (WBGO)
* Malleable Structures: An Interview with Tyshawn Sorey (Atavist.com)
* How Concert Ticket Prices Vary Across the U.S. (Wanderu.com)
* The Many Faces of Jazz Today: The Big Picture (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Return of the Top 40 Troubadour: How Singer-Songwriters Reclaimed Pop Radio (Billboard)
* Pat Metheny: Driving Forces (AllAboutJazz.com)
* ‘In five seconds my life changed. I was worse than the worst jazz snob’ (Irish Times)
* A Jazz Centennial of a Seamier Sort: The End of Storyville, As Remembered Through the Ages (WBGO)
* Paul Buckmaster, Essential Arranger for David Bowie and Elton John, Dead at 71 (Rolling Stone)
* Meet Rufus Harley, the First Jazz Bagpiper (AtlasObscura.com)
* Herbie Hancock: ‘I like to discover new rules so I can break them’ (The Guardian)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Russell Gunn's Blackhawk Revisited

Today, let's check out some videos featuring trumpeter and East St. Louis native Russell Gunn, who's bringing his "Blackhawk Revisited" project to St. Louis to perform starting next Wednesday, November 15 through Saturday, November 18 at Jazz at the Bistro.

The word "Blackhawk" in this case refers not to the hockey team, the comic-book hero, or the helicopter, but to the Black Hawk nightclub in San Francisco where Miles Davis in 1961 recorded In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk, which turned out to be one of the more enduring live albums of his long career.

Since his death in 1991, musicians frequently have paid tribute to Davis by revisiting and sometimes re-imagining music from Kind of Blue, Birth of the Cool, and Davis' post-1967 electric bands. In contrast, this time period - between the recording of KoB and the formation of Davis' "Second Great Quintet" a few years later - has remained relatively under-examined, making Gunn's interest in it that much more notable.

The trumpeter's engagement with Davis' music from the turn of the '60s also gets a significant boost in authenticity from the presence of Jimmy Cobb, the 88-year-old drummer who's the last living participant from the Kind of Blue sessions and will be in the band for Gunn's shows at the Bistro.

So how close do they get to the sound of Miles' band in 1961? You can decide for yourself by checking out today's videos, starting up above with a clip of "So What" recorded in November 2015 at the Velvet Note in Atlanta, with Gunn, Cobb, pianist Kevin Bales, saxophonist Mike Walton, and bassist Kevin Smith.

After the jump, there's a version of Thelonious Monk's "Well, You Needn't" - another staple of Davis' repertoire in the late 1950s and early '60s - recorded at the same gig.

Below that, there are two full sets of the "Blackhawk Revisited" band in action, the first featuring Gunn, Cobb, Bales, saxophonist Morgan Guerin, and bassist Corcoran Holt in October 2016 at Dizzy's Club in NTC's Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the second from the 2015 Atlanta Jazz Festival, with Gunn, Bales, Walton, Smith, and Kinah Botto Ayah in for Cobb on the drums.

Next up are three videos that show Gunn working out on three more tunes associated with Davis - "Solar," "Walkin'" and "Blue in Green" - recorded at various jam sessions in 2017 and 2016 at Churchill Grounds in Atlanta.

Finally, the last video features an interview with Jimmy Cobb, recorded in November 2014 at SubCulture in New York for NYU's Steinhardt Jazz Interview Series, in which Cobb discusses his career, his time with Davis, and other topics.

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

Terence Blanchard to perform Sunday, May 20 at Grandel Theatre

Trumpeter Terence Blanchard and his band The E-Collective are returning to St. Louis to perform at 8:00 p.m. Sunday, May 20 at the Grandel Theatre.

Blanchard (pictured) last played in St. Louis in June 2015 at Jazz at the Bistro, and was a frequent visitor here in 2012 and 2013 as Opera Theatre St. Louis was preparing for the world premiere of his opera Champion in June 2013.

His most recent jazz album Breathless was released in May, 2015 on Blue Note, and was nominated for a 2016 Grammy Award for "Best Jazz Instrumental Album." A prolific film composer, Blanchard also released a soundtrack album for the film The Comedian, directed by Taylor Hackford and starring Robert DeNiro, in February of this year.

Tickets for Terence Blanchard and the E-Collective are priced from $35 to $75, and will go on sale via Metrotix at 10:00 a.m. next Friday, November 17. However, there's an online pre-sale happening now, which can be accessed by going here and entering the promo code BLANCHARD.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Jazz St. Louis' Gene Dobbs Bradford is one of the 2018 St. Louis Arts Awards winners featured in an article on the website of the Arts and Education Council of Greater St. Louis. The honorees will receive their awards at a ceremony on January 22 at the Chase Park Plaza.

* Drummer Emanuel Harrold (pictured) has a new promotional video out offering a preview of his forthcoming EP Look Forward.

* St. Louis based Entertainment Cruise Productions is offering special, limited-time two-for-one pricing on their upcoming "Blue Note at Sea" cruise. The cruise takes place January 27 - February 3,  and will feature performances from Charles Lloyd, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Marcus Miller, Robert Glasper, St. Louis' own David Sanborn, Chick Corea, Dr. Lonnie Smith and many others.

* Singer Ken Haller's Gaslight Cabaret Festival show "Happy Haller Days" was reviewed by the Ladue News' Mark Bretz and KDHX's Chuck Lavazzi.

* And speaking of KDHX, the station now has a page on VuHaus.com, "a non-profit, digital music video service that introduces emerging and established artists to new audiences. Through a website and mobile app, VuHaus aggregates performance videos and interviews from leading "Music Discovery" public radio stations from markets across the U.S."

Douglas Ewart to perform with STL Free Jazz Collective on Saturday, December 2

Multi-instrumentalist Douglas Ewart is coming to St. Louis to perform with the STL Free Jazz Collective at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, December 2 at the 14th Street Artist Community, 2701 N 14th St in the Old North neighborhood.

The concert is free and open to the public, thanks to funding from the Regional Arts Commission.

Ewart (pictured), who plays various saxophones and woodwind instruments, hand drums, and instruments of his own design, was an early member of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, and served as the AACM's president from 1979 to 1986.

He has collaborated in performance and on recordings with many of the well-known musicians associated with the AACM, as well as with Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, and numerous other creative improvisors and composers. Ewart, who now lives in Minneapolis, last played in St. Louis in 2010 at Webster University's Community Music School.

The STL Free Jazz Collective includes "Baba" Mike Nelson (trumpet, shells, percussion), Jerome "Jay Dubs" Williams (alto sax), Jim Hegarty (piano, electronics), Paul Steinbeck (bass), Gary Sykes (drums, percussion), and Michael Castro (poet). You can see a video of their last performance at the 14th St. Artist Community here.

Jazz this week: John Wiese, "Duke Ellington and Film," Weather Forever, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features a concert of music written for the movies by one of the greatest composers and bandleaders in jazz; a tribute to two of the most successful bands in jazz/fusion; a brand-new work created by a St. Louis expat for more than 20 local musicians, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, November 8
Jazz St Louis presents "Duke Ellington and Film," a free event at Jazz at the Bistro featuring Dr. John Hasse, who's the curator of American music at the Smithsonian Institute, and the Jazz St. Louis Big Band.

Hasse will give a presentation about Ellington's involvement with movies, and then the band will play some of the music the maestro wrote for films such as Anatomy of a Murder, the musical short Black and Tan Fantasy, Check and Double Check, Paris Blues, and Assault on a Queen.

Also in Grand Center, the weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features cornetist TJ Muller at The Stage at KDHX, a jam session at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor at The Dark Room.

Thursday, November 9
New Music Circle presents one of several free events this week involving electronic musician, composer, multi-media artist and St. Louis native John Wiese (pictured), screening nine short films by Wiese at the Moolah Theatre and Lounge.

Also on Thursday, bassist and educator Jim Widner's big band will play at the Bistro; and the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents a free concert from singer Joe Mancuso's trio plus guest saxophonist Freddie Washington.

Friday, November 10
The 1970s jazz/fusion tribute Weather Forever returns for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro; the Funky Butt Brass Band will play their monthly show at Broadway Oyster Bar; and pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True with saxophonist Larry Johnson will perform at the Parkside Grill.

Saturday, November 11
Wrapping up his New Music Circle residency, John Wiese will lead a cast of more than 20 local musicians in a new, site-specific work created for this performance at University Theatre in St. Louis University's Xavier Hall. You can find out more about Wiese and see video of some of his solo performances in this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

Also on Saturday, singer Tony Viviano will offer a tribute to military veterans at Candicci's; and the Gaslight Cabaret Festival wraps up their fall series with a sold-out show featuring singer and Tony Award-nominated actress Emily Skinner doing "Broadway Her Way" at the Gaslight Theater. (Though the show is sold out, you can get on the wait list for notifications of any last-minute ticket availability by sending an email to sales@licketytix.com.)

Sunday, November 12
Enjoy some jazz with your brunch, either from Miss Jubilee at Evangeline's or The BonBon Plot at The Dark Room.

Monday, November 13
Webster University's student jazz combos will show off what they've learned this semester in a concert at the Community Music School, 535 Garden Ave in Webster Groves.

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.)

Storm Large to perform Wednesday, January 17 at The Sheldon

Singer Storm Large is returning to St. Louis to perform at 8:00 p.m. Wednesday, January 17, at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Large (pictured) first came to national attention in 2006 as a contestant on the CBS reality television show Rock Star: Supernova. Since then, she's worked in a variety of styles, from rock to cabaret to performances with orchestras including the New York Pops, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, Memphis Symphony, and BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Large has played here St. Louis previously as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival and with the band Pink Martini. For this date, she'll be accompanied by her band Le Bonheur, with whom she cut an eponymous album in 2014 featuring "sublime and subversive interpretations of the American Songbook."

Tickets for Storm Large at The Sheldon are $55 and $45 for orchestra seating, $40 and $35 for the balcony, and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Friday, November 17 via all MetroTix outlets, by phone at 314-534-1111, or online at http://thesheldon.org/.

Sunday Session: November 5, 2017

Muhal Richard Abrams

Here's the roundup of various music-related items of interest that have appeared in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* John McLaughlin on His Final U.S. Tour, Revisiting Mahavishnu Orchestra (Rolling Stone)
* Jack DeJohnette is a Deluxe Drummer (Montreal Gazette)
* Donald Fagen: ‘With Steely Dan there was no career plan’ (The Times)
* 'I never envisaged what lay ahead’: the first issue of Rolling Stone (The Guardian)
* Music and space (Varsity.co.uk)
* Steely Dan reviewed, London O2 Arena, October 29, 2017 (Uncut.co.uk)
* Playlist: The Roots, And The Reach, Of Fats Domino (NPR)
* Russian Espionage and Electromagnetic Fields: The Story of the Theremin (RedBullMusicAcademy.com)
* Orrin Keepnews: Thelonious Monk—A Remembrance (Keyboard)
* Want to 'train your brain'? Forget apps, learn a musical instrument (The Guardian)
* When Bob Dylan Saw God (Esquire)
* Introducing: Quincy Jones’ Qwest TV (Jazzwise)
* Breaking: Florida Supreme Court Rules That Oldies Recordings are Public Domain (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Thelonious Monk: Tributes from Colleagues (Keyboard)
* Jazz Community Unites To Support Puerto Rico Relief Efforts (NPR)
* I can go for that: how soft rock finally got cool (The Guardian)
* Muhal Richard Abrams Dies at 87 - Hugely influential pianist-composer co-founded the AACM (Jazz Times)
* Muhal Richard Abrams, A Sweepingly Influential Jazz Artist, Has Died At Age 87 (NPR)
* Muhal Richard Abrams, jazz champion and innovator, dies at 87 (Chicago Tribune)
* Muhal Richard Abrams, An Artist Always Looking Forward, Leaves Us Behind (WBGO)
* The Musical Revolution of Muhal Richard Abrams (The New Yorker)
* Billie Holiday to perform live in Los Angeles 58 years after her death (The Independent)
* Chuck D of Public Enemy and Prophets of Rage opens up about the history of rap and hip-hop (Orange County Register)
* This Kennedy Center director is making performance art out of jazz. Can he bring fans along? (Washington Post)
* Sonny Rollins Spent A Mythical 'Night at the Village Vanguard' 60 Years Ago Today (NPR)
* Bad Plus thrills fans at SFJazz Center on last tour of original lineup (SFGate.com)
* Will Spotify Kill the Local Music Scene? (ElectricLiterature.com)
* How Advertisers Get Away With Using Fake Versions of Your Favorite Songs (Pitchfork)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Cécile McLorin Salvant

This week, StLJN's video spotlight shines on singer Cécile McLorin Salvant, who's returning to St. Louis to perform next Saturday, November 18 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Salvant, a 28-year-old native of Miami, made her St. Louis debut a couple of years ago at The Sheldon and is one of the most talked-about jazz singers to emerge in the last decade. She's already earned a "Best Jazz Vocal" Grammy Award for her third album, 2015’s For One to Love, and currently is touring in support of her latest album Dreams and Daggers. It's a two-CD set recorded live at the Village Vanguard in NYC, released by Mack Avenue Records in September.

Dreams and Daggers mixes standards and originals in what Pitchfork has called "the boldest move of her career", and in the first clip up above, you can see the official music video for "You're My Thrill," which Mack Avenue is promoting as a single from the album.

After the jump, you can see several more videos of recent live performances, starting with Salvant and her working band, led by pianist Aaron Diehl, performing "Boy! What Has Love Done To Me" at a gig in February 2017 in Montreal.

Next up, Salvant and pianist Sullivan Fortner duet on Cole Porter's "Every Time We Say Goodbye," recorded in April of this year at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse in NYC.

After that, there are two tracks, "Doudou" and "Just A Gigolo," recorded in August of this year at the Jazz in Marciac festival in France. Both feature Salvant performing with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis' quintet, which includes drummer Ali Jackson, pianist Dan Nimmer, bassist Carlos Henriquez, and saxophonist Walter Blanding.

In the last video, you can see an interview with Salvant in which she discusses Dreams and Daggers, her influences and career so far, and more.

For more about Cécile McLorin Salvant, check out London Jazz News' review of her show last month at Ronnie Scott's; the article about her published in September by the Los Angeles Times; and the feature story about her from May of this year in The New Yorker.

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