Friday, August 06, 2021

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The Boyé Multi-National Crusade for Harmony, the seven-CD set drawn from the archives of saxophonist and Black Artists Group co-founder Julius Hemphill and released earlier this year, is the subject of a short feature/review for Jazz Times by Ted Panken.

* Trumpeter and East St. Louis native Russell Gunn, now based in Atlanta, has released the second recording from his band The Royal Krunk Jazz Orkestra. Titled The Sirius Mystery opus 4 no. 1, the album is out today via Ropeadope Records on all digital platforms, plus limited editions on CD and vinyl LP.

* Bassist Damon Smith, a recent transplant to St. Louis, also has a new recording, Houston 2012, out this week on digital and as a double CD. The album teams Smith with guitarists Keith Rowe and Sandy Ewen and the ensemble Gooseberry Marmalade.

* And speaking of new releases, a Miles Davis performance recorded in 1991 at La Villette in Paris, France will be released as The Lost Concert on digital services and as a two-CD set on Wednesday, September 29, the 30th anniversary of his death. The album (pictured) is the third in a series from Sleepy Night Records that started with Miles Davis: The Lost Quintet and continued with The Lost Septet, both released last year.

The Lost Concert is particularly noteworthy because Davis' then-current band was augmented for the date by numerous guest stars and former sidemen, including Chick Corea, Al Foster, Steve Grossman, Herbie Hancock, Dave Holland, Darryl Jones, John McLaughlin, Jackie McLean, John Scofield, and Joe Zawinul.

* Gene Dobbs Bradford of Jazz St. Louis was interviewed about the organization's upcoming 2021-22 season by the St. Louis American's Danielle Brown.

* One of St. Louis' most acclaimed young talents is leaving town, as singer and multi-instrumentalist Tonina Saputo this week announced in a Facebook post, "I have accepted a job as an audio engineer at a media group in Los Angeles. I’ll be driving from STL to LA this weekend." Saputo will play what she's calling her final show as a St. Louis resident tonight at Tower Grove Park (though she also is on the bill for the Music at the Intersection festival in September).

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