It's time for the latest installment in StLJN's winter/spring 2020 jazz preview, featuring videos of noteworthy bands and musicians who will be coming here to perform over the next few months. This is part four of the series, which lists the shows in chronological order. You can see part one here, part two here, and part three here.
Picking up where last week's post left off, the next visitors to our town will be famed vocal group The Manhattan Transfer, making their first-ever club appearances here before what likely will be packed houses starting Wednesday, April 1 through Sunday, April 5 at Jazz St. Louis.
Given that they've been a major act for more than 40 years now and still headline at much larger venues and festivals - like the Nisville International Jazz Festival in Serbia where today's first video was recorded in August 2018 - demand for tickets should be brisk.
The next weekend, Jazz St. Louis will present another ad hoc combination of musicians in town for educational residencies, this time featuring saxophonists James Carter and Roxy Coss and trumpeter Riley Mulherkar on Friday, April 10 and Saturday, April 11.
Carter can be seen in the first video after the jump, performing with his organ trio in 2018 at the Sons D'Hiver festival in Paris.
The next clip features Coss, performing music from her most recent album Quintet earlier this month in the studios of radio station KNKX in Tacoma, WA.
As for Mulherkar, while there are a number of videos online of him playing with The Westerlies, the brass quartet he co-founded, drummer Sammy Miller's band and others, there's a paucity of recent clips showing him as featured soloist with a small ensemble. As a result, he's seen in the next video, which was featured on his YouTube channel, leading the band and playing a brief solo behind singer
Dee Dee Bridgewater doing "St. James Infirmary" as recorded in September, 2016 at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Next up, it's Cuban-born pianist Harold Lopez-Nussa, who will return here to perform Wednesday, April 15 through Sunday, April 19 at Jazz St. Louis. Lopez-Nussa and his trio are featured in today's fifth video, a recording of their appearance last December on NPR Music's "Tiny Desk Concert."
That same week, guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli will be back in town to perform on Saturday, April 18 at the Sheldon Concert Hall for the Sheldon's educational foundation. Pizzarelli can be seen in the sixth clip, playing Nat King Cole’s “Straighten Up And Fly Right” as recorded on his most recent album For Centennial Reasons: A 100 Year Salute to Nat King Cole.
After that, it's singer Veronica Swift, who will make her St. Louis debut with performances on Wednesday, April 22 and Thursday, April 23 at Jazz St. Louis. Today's penultimate video shows her scat-singing an intro to launch an uptempo version of Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" in November 2019 at the Birdland Theater in New York City.
The final video today features the veteran Western swing band Asleep at the Wheel, who will be performing on Friday, April 24 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. They're seen here playing "The House Of Blue Lights," long a staple of their live repertoire, as recorded for their DVD Live from Austin, TX.
You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump. Look for part five of StLJN's winter/spring 2020 jazz preview next week in this space...
* Another item at St. Louis Public Radio's website notes the retirement of "Jazz Unlimited" host Dennis Owsley, mostly reiterating information already made public, but also adding the intriguing tidbit that "jazz music will continue on 90.7 KWMU-1 on Sunday nights from 9 to midnight" without any specifics. So, stay tuned...
Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum, a pianist, singer, and tenor saxophonist who was part of the St. Louis music scene from the late 1940s into the 21st century, has died. He was 91 years old.
News of Whalum's passing on Christmas day spread on social media via Facebook posts from Jeff Anderson, who played bass with Whalum for the last 20 years of his career, and Jay Brandt, former owner of Brandt's in University City, where Whalum played many gigs during the same period.
Although Whalum (pictured) had been a mainstay of the St. Louis scene for many years, he actually was born in Wilberforce, OH and raised mostly in Memphis, TN. He first played violin, cornet, and then trumpet as a child, performing with the YMCA band and with his brothers and father in a family group.
Whalum eventually made tenor sax his primary instrument while attending Central State University in Ohio, where he played with the Central State Collegians band, a group that performed at Carnegie Hall, sharing the stage with Woody Herman, Billy Eckstine, Peggy Lee, and Ella Fitzgerald, and later was hired to back Eckstine.
After graduating from Central State with a degree in chemistry, Whalum toured with vibraphonist Lionel Hampton and relocated to St. Louis in September, 1949. During the 1950s, he formed his own trio here and also worked as a freelance saxophonist, gigging with touring musicians including Miles Davis and Ed Thigpen, and as part of the Jeeter-Pillars band, once playing behind Nat "King" Cole and his trio.
To be able to work as a solo performer, Whalum also began singing and playing piano, in the process finding the niche that would sustain his career for decades, as he played nightclubs, restaurants, hotel lounges, private parties, and more. A Riverfront Times article marking his selection as "Best Lounge Act" in the paper's 2006 "Best of of St. Louis" issue described him this way:
"As cool and smooth as the perfect martini, Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum has provided sophisticated musical entertainment for several generations of St. Louisans, starting in Gaslight Square and continuing into the present day. A fine tenor saxophonist as well as a pianist and singer, Whalum somehow manages to be both suave and down-home, charming audiences even as he educates them in the finer points of jazz and the Great American Songbook."
Despite being a popular and prolific live performer, Whalum didn't record as a headliner until 2006, when his nephew, saxophonist Kirk Whalum, helped him get a deal for an eponymous album released on Rendezvous Records and distributed internationally by Mack Avenue Records.
Around that same time, Whalum also was featured on some of his nephew's "Gospel According to Jazz" shows, and he continued to play around St. Louis until age-related health issues led him to wind down his performing career in the early 2010s.
Update, 7:30 a.m., 1/1/20: A wake for Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum will be held from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Friday, January 3, at Archway Memorial Chapel, 111 Taylor Road in Hazelwood. A funeral Mass will take place at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, January 4, at St. Elizabeth Mother of John, 4330 Shreve Ave in St. Louis, MO, followed immediately by a repast at the church. Burial will be at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, January 6 at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, 2900 Sheridan Road in St. Louis.
It's that time of year again, as jazz journalists, DJs, critics, podcasters, and bloggers are publishing their annual "Best Of" lists. And once again, for the 13th consecutive year, St. Louis Jazz Notes eschews the compilation of such a list, instead offering readers a meta-list with links to all of the other "Best Jazz of 2019" lists that can be located online.
As usual, the meta-list is alphabetized by writers' names. When a list was collaborative or presented as a staff-written project, the name of the publication or media outlet is used instead, with the writers' names noted if available. This post will be updated multiple times over the next several weeks as more lists become available.
Active scouting for more lists will continue for at least a couple more weeks, but your input is welcome, too. If you've seen any other 2019 year-end jazz lists available online that aren't mentioned here, please use the comments (or send StLJN an email) to share the information. And if you like, please feel free also to use the comments to discuss your own favorite jazz releases, shows and moments of 2019.
Finally, if you'd like to re-visit StLJN's past "best of" list round-ups, here are the meta-lists for 2007 (parts 1 and 2), 2008 (parts 1 and 2), 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.
Updated 12/27/19 with two more lists. Updated 12/28/19 with one more list. Updated 12/29/19 with two more lists. Updated 12/30/19 with two more lists. Updated 12/31/19 with three more lists. Updated 1/1/20 with three more lists. Updated 1/2/20 with two more lists. Updated 1/3/20 with four more lists. Updated 1/4/20 with two more lists. Updated 1/6/20 with eight more lists. Updated 1/7/20 with three more lists. Updated 1/8/20 with one more list. Updated 1/9/20 with three more lists. Updated 1/10/20 with one more list. Updated 1/12/20 with two more lists. Updated 1/13/20 with seven more lists. Updated 1/14/20 with three more lists. Updated 1/15/20 with three more lists. Updated 1/16/20 with one more list. Updated 1/17/20 with two more lists. Updated 1/30/20 with eight more lists.
Monday, December 30
The Folk School of KDHX hosts their final Traditional Jazz Jam Session of the year, and BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups has a double bill with guitarist Adam Hansbrough's trio early and The Usual Suspects late.
Tuesday, December 31
If you're interested in hearing some jazz this New Year's Eve, bassist and singer Janet Evra will play early evening at The Dark Room, while the Funky Butt Brass Band will be ringing in the new year at the Broadway Oyster Bar, and the Chase Park Plaza's "New Year’s Eve Ball" features multi-instrumentalist Lamar Harris (pictured, bottom left) and the L plus a Frank Sinatra tribute and DJ.
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.)
Today it's time for another installment of StLJN's winter/spring 2020 jazz preview, presenting videos of bands and musicians who will be visiting St. Louis over the next few months. This is part three of the series, covering those shows in chronological order; you can see part one here, and part two here.
Picking up where last week's post left off, the first video up above features Kuzu, an improvising trio from Chicago that includes guitarist Tashi Dorji, drummer Tyler Damon, and saxophonist Dave Rempis
They're coming here for a concert presented by New Music Circle on Wednesday, March 11 at Joe's Cafe, and can be seen in the video performing a full set of music in October 2018 at if ART Gallery in Columbia, SC.
This season's edition of the group is commemorating the 50th anniversaries of the release of Miles Davis’ In a Silent Way and Sly & The Family Stone’s Stand!, with a touring show featuring original arrangements of music from both albums. The video is a promotional clip for the tour, outlining the concept with some brief interview quotes and musical excerpts.
Next, it's keyboardist and singer Kandace Springs, who will make her St. Louis debut with shows starting Wednesday, March 18 continuing through Sunday, March 22 at Jazz St. Louis.
She's seen here in the first episode of saxophonist David Sanborn's new online video series "Sanborn Sessions," released earlier this month.
The following week, cabaret singer and pianist Billy Stritch will perform music associated with Mel Torme on Wednesday, March 25 and Thursday, March 26 at Jazz St. Louis. You can get a feel for Stritch's style by checking out the video excerpt from his show "Lucky To Be Me" recorded in 2018 at Birdland in NYC.
Today's fifth video features guitarist Dweezil Zappa, who's returning to St. Louis to perform on Saturday, March 28 at The Ready Room.
While he's currently forbidden from using his father's name and image, Dweezil still is keeping Frank Zappa's music alive for a new generation of listeners, as seen in this performance of the complete Hot Rats album recorded in September, 2019 at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, NJ.
The final video showcases harmonium player Amirtha Kidambi’s group Elder Ones, who will perform in a concert presented by New Music Circle on Saturday, March 28 at Xavier Hall on the St. Louis University campus. It shows a complete set recorded on March 25, 2019 at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC,
You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump. Look for part four of StLJN's 2020 winter/spring jazz preview next week in this space...
Here's StLJN's latest wrap-up of assorted links and short news items of local interest:
* Broadcaster, author and photographer Dennis Owsley will end his long-running St. Louis Public Radio program "Jazz Unlimited" with a final broadcast on Sunday, December 29.
Owsley, who moved with his wife to Arizona this fall to be closer to his grandchildren, had been sending in pre-recorded shows from there. He said the decision to sign off after 36 years of broadcasting was entirely his own, with no pressure from station management. With the notable exception of the St. Louis Symphony's live broadcasts, "Jazz Unlimited" is one of the last music programs on the St. Louis Public Radio schedule, which increasingly has emphasized news and talk since the mid-2000s.)
The author of twobooks on the history of jazz in St. Louis, Owsley (pictured) has won honors including several Riverfront Times "Best of St. Louis" awards for best jazz radio program and a "Jazz Hero" award in 2016 from the Jazz Journalists Association. The Post-Dispatch's Joe Holleman has more here.
* The Grand Center district in midtown will be the site of a new concert venue with a capacity of 1,200 that's scheduled to open in 2021. The club, to be called The Sovereign, will book national touring acts, local and regional bands in a variety of genres, as well as corporate events, private parties and weddings.
The venture is the product of a team-up between Tim Weber, managing partner of Old Rock House and former general manager and talent buyer at Mississippi Nights, and Steve Smith, the CEO of Lawrence Group, an architectural and development firm involved in a number of real estate projects in the neighborhood. The P-D's Kevin Johnson has more, including some quotes from Weber, here.
The week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes a top drummer's local debut as a bandleader, a holiday homecoming from a well-known St. Louis native, the season's last holiday-themed shows, and more.
Let's go to the highlights...
Wednesday, December 18
Drummer Nate Smith(pictured, top left) and his band KINFOLK will perform for the first of five nights, continuing through Sunday at Jazz St. Louis.
Known for his work with bassist Dave Holland, saxophonist Chris Potter and more, Smith named his band after his debut album as a bandleader, which came out in 2017 and earned praise from critics - NPR Music lauded its "catchy, singable melodies and spring-loaded backbeats" - as well as a couple of Grammy nominations for Smith for "best instrumental composition" and "best arrangement." The five-piece ensemble's week-long run should give them plenty of time to expound on the material from that album, and more.
Also on Wednesday, singer Erin Bode will present a "Holiday Concert" at the Wildey Theatre. (At publication time, this show was nearly sold out; call ahead for ticket availability.)
Elsewhere in Grand Center, this week's "Wednesday Night Jazz Crawl" features traditional jazz band Annie and the Fur Trappers at The Stage at KDHX, the jam session hosted by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor and band at The Dark Room.
Thursday, December 19 The Dark Room has a double-header of live jazz, with guitarist Dave Black at the dinner hour and keyboardist Ryan Marquez and his trio taking over for the late-night sets.
Also on Thursday, singer David Giuntoli evokes the styles of Sinatra and Bennett in "A Swinging Holiday Soiree" at Blue Strawberry; and the Bruxism experimental music series returns to the Schlafly Tap Room with a triple bill including JoAnn McNeil, Wamhoda (aka Dan Wamhoff), and Grass Whistle, a collaboration between series organizer NNN Cook and multi-instrumentalist David Burnett.
Friday, December 20
The Funky Butt Brass Band(pictured, bottom left) gets their "Holiday Brasstravaganza" underway with a show at Delmar Hall, followed by two matinees and another evening show on Saturday.
Elsewhere around town, pianist, singer and Kirkwood native John McDaniel, known for his work on Broadway and as musical director for actor/comedian Rosie O'Donnell's TV show, is back home from NYC to present "A John McDaniel Christmas" at Blue Strawberry.
Also on Friday, Miss Jubilee returns to the Casa Loma Ballroom, and guitarist Joe Park's trio will play music associated with jazz guitar legend Wes Montgomery at Focal Point.
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.)
Today's post is part two of StLJN's winter/spring 2020 jazz preview, in which you can get a look via video at noteworthy bands and musicians who are coming to St. Louis to perform in the next few months. You can see part one, which covers the month of January, here.
Picking up where last week's installment left off, today's first video features guitarist Pat Martino, who will be playing starting Wednesday, February 5 through Sunday, February 8 at Jazz St. Louis. He's seen here performing a set in October 2019 at a club called Moods in Zurich, Switzerland.
After the jump, there's a clip of pianist Christian Sands who will be "Remembering Erroll Garner" on Saturday, February 8 at Sheldon Concert Hall. Sands is playing "My Funny Valentine," accompanied by bassist Luques Curtis and drummer and East St. Louis native Terreon Gully, and recorded last month at Cadogan Hall in London.
Next up, it's saxophonist Tim Warfield, who's bringing his Organ Band to town to perform starting Wednesday, February 19 through Sunday, February 23 at Jazz St. Louis. There's not a lot of quality video of this particular ensemble online, so the clip here goes back to 2012 to capture the Detroit native and his cohorts performing "Calvary" at La Rose Jazz Club
The following week, the show "Georgia On My Mind: A Celebration of the Music of Ray Charles," featuring vocal group Take 6, singers Clint Holmes and Nnenna Freelon, and saxophonist Kirk Whalum will come to town for one night only on Thursday, February 27 at Touhill Performing Arts Center. The video, recorded a few years back to promote the show's Las Vegas run, explains the concept and features some interview quotes from the artists and brief snippets of them performing.
Hennies is seen in a video from April 2017, performing at the Ende Tymes VII Festival of Noise and Experimental Liberation at the venue Silent Barn in Brooklyn, NY. After that, there's a clip of Blasco showing part of a performance called "FAUNA," a "live improvisation with a set of custom-made instruments used to process field recordings, incorporating body movements and the live exploration of intricate material textures" recorded in October 2018 at the Issue Project Room Brooklyn.
The final video features trumpeter Etienne Charles, who made his St. Louis debut as a bandleader in 2017 at The Sheldon and will return to perform starting Wednesday, March 4 through Sunday, March 8 at Jazz St. Louis. Recorded in June 2019 (by an audience member, so the video quality is a little spotty in places), it shows a full set by Charles and his band at the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival in Wilmington, DE.
You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump. Look for part three of StLJN's winter/spring 2020 jazz preview next week in this space...
* In related news, PBS has announced that the American Masters episode featuring the documentary Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool will premiere on Tuesday, February 25. (Check local affiliate listings for the broadcast time in your area.)
* The holiday cabaret shows of singers Debby Lennon and Dean Christopher last week at Blue Strawberry were reviewed by KDHX's Chuck Lavazzi.
* And speaking of Debby Lennon, she'll star next month in Max and Louie Productions' staging of "Songs for Nobodies," a one-woman play by Joanna Murray-Smith that features the music of Judy Garland, Patsy Cline, Billie Holiday, Edith Piaf, and Maria Callas in "a mosaic of stories told by the everyday women who had unexpected life-changing encounters with these musical icons." The production will run from Thursday, January 23 through Saturday, February 1 at the Kranzberg Arts Center.
This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes the long-awaited return of an influential experimental guitarist, a whole bunch of holiday-themed shows, and more. Let's go to the highlights...
Elsewhere in Grand Center, the weekly "Wednesday Night Jazz Crawl" will feature Miss Jubilee at The Stage at KDHX, the jam session led by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and bassist Ben Wheeler's Sketchbook at The Dark Room.
Thursday, December 12
The Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University wraps up the semester with a free concert from the university's jazz combo students; singer Tony Viviano returns to Fallon's Grill & Tap; and saxophonist Kendrick Smith brings his trio to The Dark Room.
Friday, December 13
Trumpeter Jim Manley(pictured, center left) returns with his holiday show "A Very Manley Christmas" for the first of two nights at Jazz St. Louis.
Frith has been an important voice in improvised music for nearly a half-century, bringing innovative guitar techniques to a variety of bands and collaborative projects. For a brief overview of his storied career, plus some videos of recent solo performances, take a look at this post from Saturday before last.
Also on Saturday, the Oikos Ensemble presents this year's edition of their annual "Jazz Noel" program in a matinee at Parkway United Church of Christ (with another performance on Sunday at First Congregational Church in Webster Groves); and Chicago pianist Paul Asaro, last seen here in November as part of the Nevermore Jazz Ball, headlines an evening at Casa Loma Ballroom.
Then on Sunday night, Denver-based funk/jam band The Motet(pictured, bottom left) returns to the Old Rock House. After putting out their ninth album Death or Devotion in January, they've been doing shows all year to promote the release, including the current 30-date tour that brings them here.
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.)
