StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Winter/spring 2018 jazz preview, part 1

With 2017 winding down, it's time for StLJN's winter/spring preview, offering a look via video at the jazz and creative musicians who will be coming to perform in St. Louis in the first part of the new year.

Going, as usual, in chronological order, tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman will be the first well-known jazz visitor to St. Louis in 2018, checking in with his quartet for four nights of performances from Wednesday, January 3 through Saturday January 6 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Though his quartet's personnel may be different by the time he gets here, the first video up above, which documents Redman's set at the 2016 Jazz San Javier festival in Spain, should provide a taste of their repertoire and insight into how the saxophonist approaches the format.

After the jump, you can see four videos featuring the visiting musicians who will be part of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Group, which is set to play Friday, January 12 and Saturday, January 13 at the Bistro.

This isn't a regular working band, but rather an ad hoc ensemble featuring four musicians associated with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra who are coming here to do an educational residency for Jazz St. Louis. Since this gig is a one-off, there's no video of them all together to show, so instead, let's take a look at clips of the four of them featured with other ensembles.

Trombonist James Burton III can be seen in the first video after the jump, playing his composition "Going Somewhere" with the Black Art Jazz Collective at a gig in June of this year in Athens, Greece.

Next, it's an undated clip of trumpeter Tatum Greenblatt, playing Herbie Hancock's "Dolphin Dance” with the Verve Jazz Ensemble, followed by a full set of drummer Jerome Jennings leading his own group in a show in 2016 at Dizzy's at Lincoln Center.

After that, there's a clip of the fourth member of the group, bassist Ben Wolfe, leading his sextet at a gig in August of this year at Dizzy's.

That same weekend, New Music Circle will present a trio version of the International Contemporary Ensemble led by flute player Claire Chase, along with multi-instrumentalist Tyshawn Sorey and pianist Cory Smythe, performing on Saturday, January 13 at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation.

The program will feature five notated compositions - three by Sorey, and two by the late composer and experimental music pioneer Pauline Oliveros. One of those works will be Sorey's "Bertha's Lair," and in the penultimate clip, you can see Sorey and Chase presenting the piece's world premiere in 2016 at The Kitchen in NYC.

The final video provides another taste of Sorey's writing, and features him and Cory Smythe as part of Sorey's Double Trio in a performance of "The Inner Spectrum of Variables" at this past summer's Ojai Music Festival.

Look for part two of the winter/spring 2018 jazz preview next week in this space. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...