Sunday Session: April 29, 2018

Charles Neville

Here's a roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* Revisit the Historic Night When Dizzy Gillespie Opened for Ray Charles in 1970 (Paste)
* Council’s measures present two paths for American Jazz Museum (Kansas City Business Journal)
* Terence Blanchard Talks New Album 'Live,' Gun Violence & Working With Spike Lee (Billboard)
* NEA Jazz Masters Concert Honors Titans (DownBeat)
* The unit structures of Cecil Taylor (The Wire)
* Photographer Spends 10 Years Tracking Down The Original Locations Of Vinyl Covers (Demilked.com)
* Entertainment lawyer Jay B. Ross fought for the people who made the music he loved (Chicago Reader)
* The Quest to Teach AI to Write Pop Songs (Gizmodo)
* Entire music album to be stored on DNA (ETHZ.ch)
* Steve Miller talks back (Offbeat)
* 'We're on Life Support': Is Streaming Music the Final Note for Professional Songwriters? (Pacific Standard)
* Portland Label Unearths Lost Sun Ra Concert (OPB.org)
* Jazz Foundation Honors Greats, Calls for Assistance (DownBeat)
* Live Review: 2018 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert (Jazz Times)
* “Now That’s What I Call Music!” will be mankind's greatest relic (QZ.com)
* This amazing ring allows people to play instruments using hand gestures (BT.com)
* The Fifth Era of Recorded Music (CopyrightAndTechnology.com)
* The 7 people you see at Jazz Fest in New Orleans (NOLA.com)
* My Country Needs Me: on Sons Of Kemet’s Your Queen Is A Reptile (TheQuietus.com)
* Why Terence Blanchard’s “Live” Matters (Village Voice)
* Music Modernization Act Passes U.S. House Unanimously (Hypebot.com)
* Neville Brothers saxophonist Charles Neville has died at age 79 (New Orleans Advocate)
* Charles Neville Of The Neville Brothers Dies At 79 (NPR)
* Four radical and radically original pieces of music that blew up the modernist status quo in 1968 (Los Angeles Times)
* Professor Longhair at 100: New Orleans Jazz Fest, new DVD celebrate piano legend's legacy (New Orleans Advocate)
* State and Mainstream: The Jazz Ambassadors and the U.S. State Department (AllAboutJazz.com)

StLJN turns 13

Thirteen years ago this week - on April 24, 2005, to be precise - the first post went up on St. Louis Jazz Notes. While 13 may be adolescent in real-world years, it's positively ancient in Internet time.

Nevertheless, nearly 4,800 posts later, StLJN is still going, still one of the longest continuously operating jazz blogs in the world and one of the longest running music websites in St. Louis, and it's still the city's most complete and regularly updated source devoted to news about jazz.

Thanks once again to all the readers, commenters, musicians, music students and educators, presenters, club owners, publicists, tipsters, media people, record label employees, and others who have taken an interest in the site over the years. Your time and continued attention are much appreciated.

As usual, if you have any anniversary wishes, congratulations, questions, suggestions, or complaints, the comments are open.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Wynton Marsalis' "Swing Symphony"

This week, let's take a look at Wynton Marsalis' "Swing Symphony," which will be performed here in St. Louis by the composer, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra on Friday, May 4; Saturday, May 5; and Sunday, May 6 at Powell Hall. The performances will be conducted by David Robertson in his final weekend as music director of the SLSO.

The third symphonic work written by Marsalis, "Swing Symphony" was commissioned jointly by the New York Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and London’s Barbican Center and was premiered in June, 2010 by the Berlin Philharmonic. It received its US premiere in September 2010 in a performance by the New York Philharmonic in conjunction with Jazz at Lincoln Center that was televised live on PBS.

In the first video up above, you can see Marsalis talking about the process of composition for "Swing Symphony" in a brief interview recorded for the New York Philharmonic at the time of the US premiere in 2010.

After the jump, you can see a more extensive interview with the composer about the work, recorded a few months later by Jazz at Lincoln Center in March 2011, and divided into four parts.

The final two videos are performances of "Swing Symphony," the first recorded by Marsalis, the JaLCO, and the Ceska Philhamonic with Wayne Marshall conducting in July of last year in Prague, Czech Republic. The second was recorded earlier this month by the Frankfurt (Germany) Radio Symphony and Frankfurt Radio Big Band, with Andrés Orozco-Estrada conducting.

While both performances no doubt have some differences in interpretation and feel from what the audience at Powell Hall will hear next weekend, the two versions - one with the composer and his hand-picked band, the other an interpretation by musicians with no prior connection to the work - should provide some good opportunities for comparing and contrasting.

You can read some reviews of past performances of "Swing Symphony" on Wynton Marsalis' website, including those published by the Sydney Morning Herald and London's The Telegraph. Other noteworthy reviews include one by The New Republic in 2010; the Los Angeles Times in 2011; and London Jazz News in 2012;

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:

* Metrotix and the Grandel Theatre are offering a "buy one, get one free" discount on tickets to the concert by trumpeter Terence Blanchard (pictured) on Sunday, May 20 at the Grandel. To take advantage of the offer, go here and use the discount code TBLIVE.

* St. Louis County Library once again is inviting local musicians to participate in "Listen Up STL," which makes original recordings from St. Louis bands and solo performers available for streaming to library patrons. Submissions are being accepted from May 1 through May 31; for details on the program and how to submit, visit the library's website.

* Trumpeter Jim Manley was interviewed last week by KSDK's Art Holliday for a story about Record Store Day.

* On a semi-related note, you can hear tracks from the two new Grant Green recordings released on Record Store Day via last week's episode of WBGO's "The Checkout."

* Pianist and St. Louis native Lawrence Fields can be seen in a new music video for "Libra," a track from the new album by Sound Prints, the quintet co-led by trumpeter Dave Douglas and saxophonist Joe Lovano that also includes Linda May Han Oh on bass and Joey Baron on drums.

* Drummer Dave Weckl will lead a a group of Drum Fantasy Camp students on a tour of Cuba in January of next year. You can see a promotional video for the trip here.

* Singer Chuck Flowers was interviewed on the online radio program "Jazz in the AM."

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold will join pianist Abdullah Ibrahim and Ekaya for their tribute to Ibrahim's ground-breaking Jazz Epistles this Sunday, April 29 at the Annenberg Center in Philadelphia. Harrold will play the parts originally intended for the late Hugh Masekela, a role that has been filled on Ibrahim's other recent dates by trumpeters Terence Blanchard, Wadada Leo Smith, and, in their show last week here in St. Louis, Freddie Hendrix.

Jazz this week: John Scofield & Joe Lovano, Julian Vaughn, Eddie Gomez Trio, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes the reunion tour of two major jazz stars; a rare visit from a famed bassist; a couple of tributes to Duke Ellington; and plenty of other sounds ranging from vintage to experimental. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, April 25
Guitarist John Scofield and saxophonist Joe Lovano (pictured, top left) bring their quartet to Jazz at the Bistro for the first of four nights, continuing through Saturday.

Though their musical relationship goes back to the early 1990s, Scofield and Lovano both are so busy with their own projects that they've only been able to tour together occasionally, with their most recent reunion before this one coming in 2015. You can see some videos of performances from that tour and read more about them in this post from last Saturday.

Thursday, April 26
Pianist Ptah Williams, who usually plays on Fridays at The Dark Room, also will be there on Thursday this week, performing the music of George Gershwin and recording a promotional video for a prospective tour featuring Gershwin's songs.

Also on Thursday, the Bruxism experimental music series continues with a three-act bill of Popular Housing, Azaleas and Ron S. at the Schlafly Tap Room; and the Adam Maness Trio is back at Thurman's in Shaw.

Friday, April 27
Bassist Julian Vaughn, a Kansas City native who works mostly in smooth jazz and R&B styles, will perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall, with St. Louis' Tim Cunningham opening.

Also on Friday, trumpeter Randy Holmes convenes a quintet and a ten-piece band for his  "2nd Annual Duke Ellington Birthday Tribute" at the Ozark Theatre (which seems to have abandoned, at least for the time being, its attempt to re-brand as the "Webster Groves Concert Hall").

Elsewhere around town, the Hard Bop Messengers spread the gospel of Blakey, Silver et al at Evangeline's; saxophonist Harvey Lockhart returns to The Dark Room; and saxophonist Ben Reece's Unity Quartet is substituting this week for Dave Stone on his long-running gig at Mangia Italiano.

Saturday, April 28
The People's Key will play a mid-day matinee at the Sheldon Concert Hall; and drummer Kyle Honeycutt leads a trio at Thurman's in Shaw.

Sunday, April 29
Bassist Eddie Gomez (pictured, bottom left) will lead a trio with pianist and drummer Rodrigo Villanueva at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

Now 73 years old, Gomez still may be best known for spending more than a decade near the start of his career with the late pianist Bill Evans' trio. Over the ensuing years, he's also released more than dozen albums as a leader and has performed and recorded with many other notable jazz musicians, including Chick Corea, JoAnne Brackeen, Jeremy Steig, Steps Ahead, and many more.

Given that it's a chance to see a musician of Gomez' stature in an intimate venue (and the fact that, as best as can be determined, he's never played here before as a bandleader), this definitely is StLJN's pick for the "sleeper" show of the week.

Also on Sunday, pianist Christopher Parrish leads an octet for "Duke Ellington’s 119th Birthday Celebration" at Focal Point, and the students in Jazz St. Louis' JazzU Big Band will perform at Jazz at the Bistro.

Monday, April 30
Kosi, an NYC-based singer who cites Abbey Lincoln and Nina Simone as influences, will perform at Evangeline's; "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective return to BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups and guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran is back at Yaquis on Cherokee.

Tuesday, May 1
Drummer Montez Coleman and saxophonist Eric Slaughter host "The Tuesday Night Hit" jam session at The Dark Room/

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

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

Sunday Session: April 22, 2018

Kamasi Washington

Here's a roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* Why the Hell Can’t Hollywood Make a Decent Music Festival Movie? (Los Angeles)
* A record shop life (TheBlueMoment.com)
* Cape Town Festival Honors Hugh Masekela (DownBeat)
* The Unlikely Pairing of Louis Armstrong With Ella Fitzgerald Is (Still) Pure Bliss (Mother Jones)
* Laurindo Almeida: Forgotten Genius of Guitar Arrangement (Acoustic Guitar)
* Bill Charlap: “I’m Not a Composer” (Jazz Times)
* Beyond 'Blurred Lines': How Forensic Musicology Is Altering Pop's Future (Rolling Stone)
* The State of the Music Cities Union (Medium.com)
* This Must Be David Byrne (GQ)
* Kendrick Lamar's 'DAMN.' Wins Historic Pulitzer Prize In Music (NPR)
* Pulitzer Prize Administrator Explains How Kendrick Lamar Won (Billboard)
* This Year’s Other Two Pulitzer Finalists on Losing to Kendrick Lamar (Slate)
* What the classical-music world can learn from Kendrick Lamar’s Pulitzer Prize (Washington Post)
* Should Artists Get a Cut When Their Songs Land On Branded Playlists on Spotify? (Billboard)
* Kamasi Washington on how South Central shaped his experiential new record (DazedDigital.com)
* My Amazing Day…and Night, with Jimi Hendrix (GovindaGallery.com)
* Los Tigres Del Norte Perform At Folsom Prison 50 Years After Johnny Cash (NPR)
* 10 of the Best Music Podcasts (Variety)
* Tiger Lily Records: The wild story of the tax scam label run by the notorious Morris Levy (Part II) (DangerousMinds.net)
* "Jazz & Social Justice": A Playlist by Angela Davis (SFJAZZ.org)
* Vinyl: Ornette Coleman’s Revolution (DownBeat)
* Global Recorded Music Revenues Grew By $1.4 Billion in 2017 (Music Industry Blog)
* Outlaws of the Airwaves: The Rise of Pirate Radio Station WBAD (KCRW)
* What Is HD Vinyl and Is It Legit? (Gizmodo)
* The great Record Store Day debate and why we like vinyl so much, anyway (Alternative Press)
* The Beatles: In Defense of Revolution 9 (Den of Geek)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on the John Scofield Joe Lovano Quartet

Today, StLJN's video spotlight shines on the John Scofield Joe Lovano Quartet, who will be in St. Louis to perform starting next Wednesday, April 25 through Saturday, April 28 at Jazz at the Bistro.

In terms of both popularity and musical accomplishments, both Scofield and Lovano rank in the upper echelon of current jazz players on their respective instruments, and their musical relationship dates back to the early 1990s, when they put together the first version of the quartet.

However, since both are involved in multiple musical projects, their gigs together in recent years have been comparatively rare, with their most recent quartet tour coming back in 2015, and that's the time from which most of today's videos are drawn.

The best-produced documentation from that tour probably is the recording of Scofield, Lovano, bassist Ben Street and drummer Bill Stewart in November at the Leverkusener Jazztage festival in Germany, and you can see a version of Scofield's "Chariots" from that show in the first embedded video up above.

After the jump, there are three more performances from that same Leverkusener Jazztage show: "Slinky," "Hangover," and "Chap Dance."

The fifth clip is an audience-shot video that catches them a little earlier in the same tour, playing "Cymbolism" in late October at the Republic Theater in Salzburg, Germany.

Next, you can see a nearly hour-long interview with both men, recorded in October 2015 at the Blue Note in New York City for NYU's Steinhardt Interview Series.

Last but not least, there's a blast from the past that documents the long duration of the Lovano/Scofield partnership, in the form of a full set of the two of them with Stewart and the late bassist Dennis Irwin in 1993 at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy.

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:

* Saxophonist and former St. Louisan Oliver Lake is featured in a new instructional video for Jazz at Lincoln Center's "Jazz Academy."

* Trumpeter/singer and U City native Jeremy Davenport's song "One Way Ticket to New Orleans," written to commemorate the city's tricentennial, was the subject of a feature story in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

* Grant Green Jr. will take his father Grant Green's music on the road this summer to help promote Resonance Records' release of two previously unheard albums by the guitarist and St. Louis native (pictured).

In addition to Green Jr, who is Green's eldest son and also a guitarist, the band billed as "Grant Green's Evolution of Funk" will include saxophonist Donald Harrison, keyboardist Marc Cary and drummer Mike Clark, and will make their debut with performances from June 28 to July 1 at NYC's Jazz Standard.

* On a related note, London Jazz News has reviewed Green's two new Resonance albums, Live at Oil Can Harry's and Funk in France, which will be released officially this Saturday, April 21 for Record Store Day.  You can find much more on this year's RSD jazz releases in this article from DownBeat.

* Drummer Kevin Bowers was interviewed about his shows this weekend at Jazz at the Bistro by the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson.

* Multi-instrumentalist Adam Maness has composed and produced music for a new video honoring the St. Louis Cardinals' Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson on the 50th anniversary of his historic performance in 1968, aka "The Year of the Pitcher."

With some coaching from Maness and singer Brian Owens, kids from the not-for-profit LIFE Arts, Inc wrote and performed the lyrics for the video, which can be seen on Major League Baseball's site MLB.com.

* Speaking of baseball, the Cardinals' Ernie Hayes was among the MLB ballpark organists featured in a recent post by JazzWax's Marc Myers.

* The Sheldon Concert Hall has posted to Facebook an album of photos from Ramsey Lewis' performance at last Friday night's benefit gala and an album from last Saturday's performance by pianist Abdullah Ibrahim and Ekaya.

* Singer Denise Thimes' Mothers Day show raising money to fight pancreatic cancer, which will be held this year at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, was previewed in an article by Ladue News' Emma Dent.

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold has been on tour in the UK and Europe, and his show last week at Jazz Cafe in London got a rave review from Jazzwise magazine.

* Miles Davis was the subject this week of a BBC program hosted by Adrian Utley of the British "trip-hop" band Portishead. Also on the Miles beat, the recently released box set Miles Davis & John Coltrane — The Final Tour: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 6 was reviewed by the Village Voice's Michael J. Agovino.

* HEC-TV has produced a video featuring testimonials from two local students, Kendall Blumenthal and Brittany O'Reilly, who have benefited from music scholarships awarded by Jazz St. Louis.

Jazz this week: Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, The Sunset Stomp, "Bach and Jazz," and more

It's a big week for big bands in St. Louis, as the calendar of upcoming jazz and creative music events in St. Louis features a couple of famed large ensembles as headliners of the annual Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival.

There's also a retrospective of the Harlem Renaissance and a look at how Johann Sebastian Bach influenced jazz, plus plenty of other performances in jazz styles ranging from vintage to modern. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, April 18
Jazz St. Louis' "Whitaker Jazz Speaks" series continues at Jazz at the Bistro with Washington University professor Gerald Early talking about "Harlem's Renaissance,"  followed by a performance of music associated with the period.

Meanwhile, this week's "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" will help kick off the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival by featuring small ensembles from UMSL's jazz program at The Stage at KDHX and as opening acts for the jam session led by bassist Bob DeBoo at the Kranzberg Arts Center and for trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's band at The Dark Room.

Also on Wednesday, the Ambassadors of Swing return for the monthly "Shake n Shout" event at Tin Roof St. Louis.

Thursday, April 19
Singer Erin Bode performs at Cyrano's, and the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival continues with trumpeter Hermon Mehari (pictured, top left), who's originally from Kansas City and now splits his time between there and Paris, leading a quartet at The Dark Room.

(You can find out more and see some videos of performances by Mehari and the headlining bands of the GSLJF's weekend shows in this post from last Saturday.)

Friday, April 20
The SLGJF presents the University of North Texas One O'Clock Lab Band at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, while drummer Kevin Bowers reunites the band from his Nova project for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

Also on Friday, pianist Dave Venn begins a new weekly. early-evening gig at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel's Sidecar Lounge, and singer Danita Mumphard will perform at the Webster Groves Concert Hall

Saturday, April 21
The Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival concludes with a performance by Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band (pictured, bottom left); and Carolbeth True and Two Times True will be joined by singer Joe Mancuso at the Webster Groves Concert Hall.

Sunday, April 22
This week's Sunday jazz brunch options include The Bonbon Plot playing bossa nova and more at The Dark Room, and Miss Jubilee singing vintage jazz and blues at Evangeline's.

Also on Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents traditional jazz band The Sunset Stomp from Indianpolis, IN at the  Doubletree Hotel St. Louis at Westport.

Monday, April 23
The Webster University Jazz Singers will show off what they've learned this year in a performance at  Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus.

Also on Monday, Dizzy Atmosphere returns to The Shaved Duck, and trumpeter Jim Manley will be back at his weekly residency at Momo's Greek Restaurant.

Tuesday, April 24
As part of St. Louis Bach Festival 2018, the Bach Society of St. Louis will present "Bach & Jazz" with singer Erin Bode, guitarist Steve Schenkel and pianist Kim Portnoy at Jazz at the Bistro.

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.)

Joe Policastro Trio to perform Thursday, May 3 at The Dark Room

The Chicago-based Joe Policastro Trio is coming to St. Louis to perform at 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 3 at The Dark Room. Admission to the show is free (though The Dark Room does require a food or drink purchase).

The group (pictured), which includes the leader on bass along with guitarist Dave Miller and drummer Mikel Avery, is touring to promote their latest album Screen Sounds.

The trio's third release, after 2013's West Side Story Suite, and 2016's POPS!, Screen Sounds features their re-imaginings of music from film and TV, ranging from Cool Hand Luke to Yojimbo to Twin Peaks and more.

When not touring, Policastro, Miller and Avery perform three nights a week at Chicago’s Pops For Champagne, and individually, their credits include work with the likes of Phil Woods, Jeff Hamilton, Diane Schuur, Patricia Barber, Joshua Abrams, Rob Mazurek, and more.

Willie Akins Jazz Festival set for Sunday, May 27 at Grandel Theatre

The second annual Willie Akins Jazz Festival will take place starting at 3:00 p.m. Sunday, May 27 at the Grandel Theatre.

The event honors the late St. Louis saxophonist by raising money for music scholarships in his name at Webster University, where Akins (pictured) was an adjunct faculty member. Singer Joe Mancuso is organizing the fest and will serve as co-MC with singer Erika Johnson, who worked with Akins early in her career.

The concert will feature music from saxophonist Ben Reece's Unity Quartet, trumpeter Danny Campbell's quartet, and the "Willie Akins All-Stars," an ad hoc group of musicians who worked with and/or knew Akins, including saxophonists Freddie Washington, Paul DeMarinis and Kendrick Smith, guitarist Tom Byrne, bassist Willem von Hombracht, and drummer Kyle Honeycutt.

Following the concert, the action moves to The Dark Room, where pianist Ptah Williams, bassist Darrell Mixon and drummer Gary Sykes will host a post-performance jam session.

Tickets for the Willie Akins Jazz Festival will be $12 for general admission, available at the door.

Sunday Session: April 15, 2018

Nina Simone

Here's a roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* The British jazz explosion: meet the musicians rewriting the rulebook (The Guardian)
* Monika Herzig’s SHEroes Addresses Gender in Jazz (DownBeat)
* Why Hip-Hop Is Taking Center Stage On Netflix's Original Music Programming (Forbes.com)
* At Tiny Telephone music studio, recording to tape is not a metaphor (KALW)
* MATA at 20 (New Music Box)
* How Drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath Learned to Play Jazz (Westword)
* Philadelphia native James Mtume returns to celebrate 35th anniversary of ‘Juicy Fruit’ (New Pittsburgh Courier)
* Jimmie Vaughan’s B-3 Vibe (Jazz Times)
* The Deceptively Accessible Music of Cecil Taylor (The Atlantic)
* Illuminating Cecil Taylor with Pianist Jason Moran, on The Checkout (WBGO)
* Turning The Tables: The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women (As Chosen By You) (NPR)
* “All at Full Fullness”: Remembering Cecil Taylor - Steve Coleman, Vijay Iyer, Jason Moran, Matthew Shipp and Wadada Leo Smith pay tribute to an avant-jazz icon (Jazz Times)
* All That Jazz: A #JazzAppreciationMonth Podcast Round-up (Arts.gov)
* Music Publishers Win Major Copyright Fight Over Streaming of Legendary Rock Concerts (Hollywood Reporter)
* Composer Tyondai Braxton: 'I'm at war with myself. That's what the piece sounds like' (The Guardian)
* Spotify could kill Jazz, Soul and Classical music. Really. (SoulTracks.com)
* Q&A with Al Di Meola: In a Good Place (DownBeat)
* The New Jazz Torchbearer: Kamasi Washington on His Musical Message (Rolling Stone)
* Cecil Taylor and the Art of Noise (The New Yorker)
* The Revolutionary Genius of Cecil Taylor (The New Yorker)
* The British Guitar Embargo: When Brits Were Banned from Buying American (Reverb.com)
* How Nina Simone Captivated a New Generation (Rolling Stone)
* In Memoriam: Cecil Taylor (DownBeat)
* ‘It’s an insane project’: Toronto resident documenting city’s live-music history through posters (The Globe and Mail)
* Esperanza Spalding: Redefining Production - The bassist, composer and bandleader on her innovative recent "pop-up" album, "Exposure" (Jazz Times)
* How Musicians Are Using Field Recordings to Capture the Politics of Place (Pitchfork.com)
* ‘A Singular Sound, A Singular Force’: Artists Remember Jazz Great Cecil Taylor (BedfordAndBowery.com)
* Saxophonist Kamasi Washington Announces New Album 'Heaven and Earth' With Two Teaser Videos (NextBop.com)
* Hitting Reboot: Manhattan Transfer (DownBeat)
* American orchestras: Revamping the model, or embracing the obvious? (Washington Post)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Previewing the 2018 Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival

This week, let's take a look at some videos of the musicians who will be performing at the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, which takes place next week and culminates with concerts on Friday, April 20 and Saturday, April 21 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

While the first part of the festival involves student bands from around the area working with and performing for visiting clinicians, the GSLJF also usually has several public events. This year, those performances include a show by trumpeter Hermon Mehari on Thursday at The Dark Room, and the weekend concerts at the Touhill, which will feature the One O'Clock Lab Band from the University of North Texas on Friday and Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band on Saturday, with the UMSL Jazz Band directed by Jim Widner as opening act on both nights. Small ensembles from UMSL also will be performing as part of next week's "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" on Wednesday night.

Based in Los Angeles and stocked with first-call West Coast musicians, the Big Phat Band occupies a place in the jazz world not unlike that once held by Stan Kenton and later Maynard Ferguson. They're favorites of band directors and members of high school and college student big bands across the country, thanks to their energetic live show and slickly executed arrangements, and no doubt aided by their willingness to travel and perform at high schools and small colleges as well as at more prestigious venues.

The first video of the Big Phat Band up above, "Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes," was recorded in 2016 at one of those off-the-beaten-path gigs at New Trier High School in Winnetka, IL, near Chicago. So were "Count Bubba's Revenge" and "Horn Of Puente," the two numbers that follow it after the jump. While the videos are low-res, the audio quality is good, and the three numbers depicted give a good taste of the Big Phat Band's sound and stylistic range.

The One O'Clock Lab Band is the top student band at the University of North Texas, home to one of the most storied and longest-running collegiate jazz programs in the USA. Although like any college band, they have ongoing turnover in membership, the One O'Clock band over the years has maintained a consistent high standard of musicianship rivaling many professional ensembles, as you can hear in the next three videos.

"Hey, It’s Me You’re Talking To" is an arrangement of a tune by drummer Victor Lewis, recorded on March 1 of this year at Winspear Hall on the North Texas campus, as was the Robert Washut arrangement "Beneath the Mask" just eight days later. The third of clip of the group, a new arrangement of the venerable "Harlem Nocturne," was recorded last November, also at Winspear Hall.

Today's last two videos feature Hermon Mehari. who grew up in Kansas City and now splits his time between there and Paris, France. "Minority" is, as Mehari mentions in his introduction, a staple of his live shows, seen here in a version recorded last October at Belleville Brûlerie in Paris, while "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face" showcases Mehari alongside the acclaimed young pianist Aaron Parks in a live-in-the-studio promotional clip for the trumpeter's 2017 debut album Bleu.

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:

* Pianist Ramsey Lewis, who's in town to perform tonight at the Sheldon's benefit gala, was interviewed about the show by the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson.

* Meanwhile, pianist Abdullah Ibrahim's retrospective concert paying tribute to his early band The Jazz Epistles, which will be presented this Saturday night at the Sheldon, was the subject of a feature article on the website of Brooklyn Academy of Music (where Ibrahim will perform later this month).

* Singer Denise Thimes, who recently moved from St. Louis to Chicago, is featured on The Celebrity Front Page, an entertainment website based in her new home city.

* North County's newest musical instrument store Low Key Music officially opened for business this week, and was featured Monday on the morning newscast at KTVI/Fox 2. The store also has posted to YouTube a brief video tour of their premises.

* The reality TV show Autopsy on the REELZ network last week ran an episode about the death of trumpeter Miles Davis (pictured), and RadarOnline.com has a video excerpt.

* On a happier note, if you're willing to give them an email address, BebopBootCamp.com has a free transcription from Davis' album Relaxin' intended for musicians who want to study or play along with a classic from the trumpeter's hard bop period. It's a sample from a series of transcriptions of Davis' mid-1950s sessions for Prestige published by the company; to get a copy, go here.

* Timeline.com has a short article spotlighting how singer, dancer and St. Louis native Josephine Baker dealt with a particularly egregious episode of racial discrimination on a visit back to the United States in the 1950s after a couple of decades as an expatriate in Paris.

Jazz this week: "Songs of Freedom," Ramsey Lewis, Abdullah Ibrahim & Ekaya, and more

It's another jam-packed week of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with two esteemed pianists appearing back-to-back at one of the city's best-sounding halls; a retrospective of music from three of the 1960s' most provocative female vocalists, starring a St. Louis native; a couple of events raising scholarship money for local music students; and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, April 11
Drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr. presents his show "Songs of Freedom," with featured vocalists Joanna Majoko and St. Louis' own Alicia Olatuja, for the first of four nights at Jazz at the Bistro. Developed by Owens for Jazz at Lincoln Center, the production explores the 1960s through the music of Joni Mitchell, Abbey Lincoln, and Nina Simone.

Also on Wednesday, trumpeter Jim Manley is back at Sasha's Wine Bar, and the weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features saxophonist Andy Ament at The Stage at KDHX, a jam session led by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's band at The Dark Room.

Thursday, April 12
Saxophonist Ben Reece’s Unity Quartet returns to The Dark Room and pianist Adam Maness' trio will be back at Thurman's in Shaw.

Friday, April 13
Pianist Ramsey Lewis (pictured, top left) is the headline attraction at the Sheldon Concert Hall's annual benefit gala. The concert is billed as Lewis playing the music of the Beatles,  but don't be surprised if he slips in a couple of his own hits like "The In Crowd" or "Sun Goddess" along with his interpretations of the Fab Four.  As usual with their benefit performances, the Sheldon is offering a limited number of concert-only tickets; contact their box office for availability.

Also on Friday, the Webster Groves Concert Hall reopens for the spring with "Take the "A" Train Cabaret," featuring storyteller and comedian Bobby Norfolk, pianist Tom George, and singer Beverly Brennan; saxophonist Tim Cunningham plays smooth jazz and R&B at Troy's Jazz Gallery; and singer Anita Jackson will be working the late shift at The Dark Room.

Saturday, April 14
On Saturday afternoon, Miss Jubilee will perform at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's Rosebud Cafe as part of the Friends of Scott Joplin's new monthly series there.

Saturday evening, pianist Abdullah Ibrahim (pictured, bottom left) and his band Ekaya, featuring trumpeter Freddie Hendrix, will present "Jazz Epistles - The Story in Concert" at the Sheldon Concert Hall. 

The Jazz Epistles were one of Ibrahim's first bands, bringing a hard bop sound modeled on Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers to his native South Africa in the late '50s, and he's been touring this tribute show since last year with various trumpeters standing in for the late Hugh Masekela, who was part of the original Jazz Epistles and had planned to . For more about Ibrahim and this retrospective show, plus a video from this current tour and more, check out this post from last Saturday.
 
Also on Saturday, pianist Greg Mills will present original improvisations in a free concert at St. Louis University's Xavier Hall; the Midwest Jazz-tette plays West Coast jazz at the Webster Groves Concert Hall; and Acoustik Element will be joined by percussionists Baba Mike and Matt Henry for a show at Joe's Cafe & Art Gallery.

Sunday, April 15
There's more matinee action on Sunday , as singer Joe Mancuso brings his organ trio to the house concert venue The Judson House, and drummer Chuck Kennedy, pianist Curt Landes, bassist Glen Smith, and singers Valerie Tichacek, Trish Richardson and Tom Kozlowski will present their take on Liverpool's most famous hitmakers, "The Beatles Go Jazz," at the Webster Groves Concert Hall.

Also on Sunday, Jazz St. Louis presents "Swing For The Scholars," a benefit raising money for music scholarships for local students with entertainment provided by Denise Thimes, Good 4 The Soul, members of the Funky Butt Brass Band, and more.

Monday, April 16
The music department at Webster University will present their annual Suzy Shepard and Donald O. Davis Scholarship Concert, featuring students, faculty and perhaps even some alumni performing music associated with Ella Fitzgerald, at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus. 

Tuesday, April 17
Improvisational keyboardist Thollem, violinist Alex Cunningham, and singer/pianist Ellen the Felon will perform on a triple bill at Foam; and drummer Montez Coleman and guitarist Eric Slaughter will host "The Tuesday Night Hit" jam session at The Dark Room.

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

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

Sunday Session: April 8, 2018

Cecil Taylor

Here's a roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* Spotify Is Killing Song Titles (Medium.com)
* Branford Marsalis talks jazz, classical and playing with Miles Davis, Grateful Dead, Public Enemy (San Diego Union Tribune)
* Did Simon & Garfunkel Write The Jewish ‘Sgt. Pepper?’ (The Forward)
* Arcade Fire: 'People have lost the ability to even know what a joke is. It’s very Orwellian (The Guardian)
* You Can’t Find What You Don’t Look For: Spotify, Google, Pandora Can’t Find Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry–but what about Martha Stewart (MuscTechPolicy.com)
* The Festival Legend: George Wein – 64 Years Of Producing Festivals From Newport To New Orleans And Far Beyond (Pollstar.com)
* At Roulette, Admirers Gather To Honor John Abercrombie (DownBeat)
* The Lofty Optimism of Spotify and the Influence of the Streaming Revolution (The New Yorker)
* Instrumental Listens to 30,000 New Songs a Day to Find the Next Hit. So Why Do We Need A&R People, Again? (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* The sample legacy of Sly And The Family Stone (TheVinylFactory.com)
* The Day Herbie Hancock Met the Electric Piano (OZY.com)
* Q&A with Norma Winstone: The Consummate Voice (DownBeat)
* Stream a 144-Hour Discography of Classic Jazz Recordings from Blue Note Records: Miles Davis, Art Blakey, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman & More (OpenCulture.com)
* How a Calypso Anthem Became the Surreal Centerpiece of Beetlejuice (Pitchfork)
* Inside Jimi Hendrix’s blood-spattered record collection (NME)
* Venture Beyond a Walking Bass Line with the All-American Walter Page, in Deep Dive (WBGO)
* Can Biomusic Offer Kids With Autism a New Way to Communicate? (Smithsonian)
* Love, London, and an enormous Moog: how Simon & Garfunkel made Bookends (The Telegraph)
* How much will artists get paid from the major labels’ Spotify profits? (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Avant-Garde Pianist Cecil Taylor Dies at 89 (DownBeat)
* Cecil Taylor Dies at 89 - Piano titan pioneered the jazz avant-garde with an utterly unique sound, technique and approach to improvisation (Jazz Times)
* Cecil Taylor (1929 - 2018) (The Free Jazz Collective)
* Cecil Taylor, Jazz Icon Of The Avant-Garde, Dies At 89 (NPR)
* Cecil Taylor, Pianist Who Defied Jazz Orthodoxy, Is Dead at 89 (New York Times)
* How The #VinylRevival Is Paradoxically Threatening Record Shop Survival (TheQuietus.com)
* What’s Up Tiger Lily?: The wild story of the tax scam record label run by the notorious Morris Levy (DangerousMinds.net)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Abdullah Ibrahim & Ekaya

This week, let's check out some videos featuring pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, who will be appearing with his band Ekaya in a concert next Saturday, April 14 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Born in 1934 in Cape Town, South Africa, Ibrahim grew up under his country's apartheid system of segregation, which was in place from 1948 to 1993. After briefly studying music at the University of Cape Town, in 1959 he formed the Jazz Epistles, a septet that featured the young Hugh Masekela on trumpet and recorded the first-ever jazz album by black South African musicians. Although the group was relatively short-lived, the influence of their music - a variant on the hard bop of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, garnished with a bit of local flavor - was significant in their home country.

Moving to Europe in 1962, Ibrahim would be mentored by Duke Ellington, who helped him sign his first record deal in the USA with Reprise Records, and would go on to a major career as a pianist, composer and bandleader, touring the world and recording more than 70 albums over the next six decades.

Now 84, Ibrahim for the last couple of years has been revisiting his early years with a touring show paying tribute to the music of the Jazz Epistles. While Hugh Masekela originally was intended to be part of the proceedings, his failing health and eventual death in January of this year have led to Ibrahim employing several substitute trumpeters in his place, including Wadada Leo Smith, Terence Blanchard, and Freddie Hendrix, who will perform with Ibrahim in St. Louis.

You can see one of the Jazz Epistles tribute shows featuring Blanchard in its entirety, recorded at last summer's Jazzaldia festival in Spain, in the first video embed up above.

After the jump, there's a collection of various other clips featuring Ibrahim. The first two videos, both from the 2011 Jazzaldia festival, featuring the pianist and Ekaya performing "Water from an Ancient World" and "John."

Next is a video of another full show, featuring Ibrahim leading a trio in December 2016 at the Library of Congress, where he was a designated "Jazz Scholar" that year.

That's followed by two solo piano performances, "Triste - My Love" and "Blues For A Hip King," both recorded in June 2016 in the studios of KNKX Public Radio in Tacoma, WA.

Last but not least, as a lagniappe you can see some of the earliest existing footage featuring Ibrahim. The video of the song "Jabolani" ("Joy") was recorded in 1968 for German television, and features the pianist with saxophonists John Tchicai and Gato Barbieri, bassist Barre Phillips, and drummer Makaya Ntshoko.

For more about Abdullah Ibrahim, check his 2011 interview with Marc Myers' Jazzwax blog, and his 2016 interview with the Irish Times.

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:

* More reviews of the just-released box set Miles Davis and John Coltrane: The Final Tour - Bootleg Series, Vol 6 are surfacing online, including one from AllAboutJazz.com's Doug Collette,
one from Slate's Fred Kaplan, and one by Jeff Tamarkin for Relix.

* The St. Louis Post-Dispatch/STLtoday.com has put online an "iParty" gallery of photos from Ken Page's performance Wednesday night at Jazz at the Bistro, shot by the P-D's Jon Gitchoff. 

* Trumpeter Russell Gunn (pictured) this week announced the release date for his next album. Get It How You Live, the debut recording of Gunn's Royal Krunk Jazz Orkestra, will be out on Ropeadope Records on Friday, July 13.

* Drummer Allison Miller talked about her gigs this weekend at Jazz at the Bistro with the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson.

* Organizers of the Nevermore Jazz Ball have announced the event's dates for 2018. The annual celebration of swing dancing and music will take place from Thursday, November 1 through Sunday, November 4 at various venues around town, with tickets going on sale on a date this summer TBA.

* North County is getting a new musical instrument store in a familiar location, as Low Key Music will open next Monday, April 9 at 6235 N. Lindbergh, the former site of Dale's Music. The store's Facebook page also has announced an "open house" for musicians and band directors from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. tomorrow (Saturday, April 7).

* The St. Louis American's inimitable Delores Shante offered her impressions of one of last week's performances by The Baylor Project at the Bistro.

* St. Louis will be represented at this year's North Sea Jazz Festival, as saxophonist David Sanborn and trumpeter Keyon Harrold are among the musicians announced this week who will be heading to Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in July for the three-day event.

* Voting is now open for the next group of prospective inductees to Jazz at Lincoln Center's Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame, and one of this year's 10 nominees has a local connection. That would be the innovative bassist Jimmy Blanton, who gained fame playing with Duke Ellington's orchestra before his tragic death from tuberculosis at age 23. Blanton's very first professional job was in St. Louis, playing with the Jeter-Pillars Orchestra for a year before joining Ellington.

You can see the whole list of nominated musicians and cast your vote here. Voting ends at 11:59 p.m. EDT on Saturday, April 28, and the three nominees who receive the most votes will be inducted in 2018.

* Keyboardist and Metro East native David Garfield, best known for his work with guitarist and singer George Benson, has a new tune on, of all places, the country charts. According to a press release,  “I Lied,” a "power pop" ballad written by Garfield with Motown's Smokey Robinson and sung by vocalist J. Paris, has reached No. 60 on the Music Row singles chart this week and gained New & Active status on the Billboard Indicator chart. The song will appear on Garfield’s upcoming album Vox Outside the Box, release date TBA.

Jazz this week: Ken Page, Miller, Mulkerhar & Lefkowitz-Brown, C. Spencer Yeh & Andrew Lampert, Mark Lettieri, Anat Cohen & more

It's a busy week for live jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with performances in styles ranging from cabaret to vintage jazz to fusion to experimental intermedia and beyond.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, April 4
Singer, actor and St. Louis native Ken Page, now living back in his hometown after a distinguished career on Broadway and in film, will perform his cabaret show for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro .

Page (pictured, top left), whose resume includes the original casts of Ain't Misbehavin' and Cats, will be making his debut at the Bistro with these shows, and the demand for tickets should be high, so advance reservations are strongly suggested.

Also on Wednesday, the weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features saxophonist Austin Cebulski and guitarist Tom Byrne at 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, April 5
Roya and the High Timers perform vintage jazz and swing for the monthly "Koken House Shout" at Koken Art Factory; saxophonist Dave Stone brings his trio to The Dark Room; and pianist Adam Maness' trio will be back at Thurman's in Shaw.

Friday, April 6
Drummer Allison Miller, trumpeter Riley Mulherkar and saxophonist Chad Lefkowitz-Brown wrap up a week-long educational residency for Jazz St. Louis with the first of two evenings of performances at Jazz at the Bistro. (As with past occasions when JSL has assembled an ad hoc band from among visiting clinicians,  the three NYC-based musicians presumably will be supported by local players on bass and piano or guitar, but as of this writing Jazz St. Louis hasn't shared any information as to who they'll be.)

Also on Friday, singer Ken Haller will reprise his cabaret show "Song by Song by Sondheim" for the first of two nights at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, April 7
New Music Circle presents musician C. Spencer Yeh and artist, filmmaker and St. Louis native Andrew Lampert (pictured, bottom left) in a collaborative performance at The Luminary.

You can find out more about both men and see some related videos in this post from last Saturday.

Also on Saturday, guitarist Mark Lettieri, known for his work as a member of Snarky Puppy, leads a trio at The Ready Room; singer and actor Norm Lewis will perform music from Broadway and the Great American Songbook at the Sheldon Concert Hall; and trumpeter Jim Manley leads at trio at the house concert venue KindaBlue Club.

Sunday, April 8
The Arcadia Dance Orchestra will perform vintage pre-war jazz in a matinee at Christ Church Cathedral, and the Coleman Hughes Project with singer Adrianne Felton-King will present a "Tribute to Sade" at The Signature Club.

Monday, April 9
Dizzy Atmosphere plays for diners at The Shaved Duck; the Webster University Jazz Collective will perform in concert at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus; and singer and impressionist Dean Christopher brings his "Rat Pack & More" show back to One 19 North Tapas and Wine Bar.

Tuesday, April 10
Clarinetist Anat Cohen brings her Tentet to McKendree University's Hettenhausen Center for the Arts in Lebanon, IL (which, for those contemplating the drive, is roughly the same distance from the Gateway Arch as Chesterfield.)

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.)