Sunday Session: October 20, 2019

Nat "King" Cole

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest:

* Remembering the Weirdest Album Launch Stunts of the 2010s (Pitchfork.com)
* Frank Zappa Marks 50th Anniversary of ‘Hot Rats’ With Massive Reissue (Rolling Stone)
* Jazz legend John Surman on a well-travelled career and why he's angry about Brexit (Irish Examiner)
* “It Was Beyond My Wildest Dreams” Pianist Ahmad Jamal Recalls ‘At The Pershing’ (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Percussionist Adam Rudolph Crafts a Tapestry of Sounds (DownBeat)
* Diverse Curation Sustains Belgrade Jazz Festival (DownBeat)
* Art Blakey: Praise the Messenger (Jazz Times)
* Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Reveals 2020 Nominees: Soundgarden, Whitney Houston & More (Billboard)
* Steve Miller cracked the code of 1970s radio. But he’s still raging against the music industry (Washington Post)
* Why Everything Is Getting Louder (The Atlantic)
* What will a music company look like in 2025? (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* INTERVIEW: Morton Subotnick And Lillevan (TheQuietus.com)
* Finalists Announced in 8th Annual Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition (DownBeat)
* Why MLK Believed Jazz Was the Perfect Soundtrack for Civil Rights (JStor.org)
* Before & After: Leon Parker (Jazz Times)
* Oscar nom, opera at the Met, a move to L.A.: New Orleans trumpeter Terence Blanchard's big year (NOLA.com)
* What lost photos of Blue Notes say about South Africa’s jazz history (TheConversation.com)
* How ‘Almost Famous’ Foretold the Future of Music Journalism (TheRinger.com)
* The Transformative Power of Nat ‘King’ Cole (DownBeat)
* An actual bear broke into a woman’s house and started playing piano (ClassicFM.com)
* Matana Roberts’s Memphis (ThisIsEarhart.com)
* The Tragic Story of America’s First Black Music Star (Smithsonian)
* ECM Records: Curating A New World Of Music (SFJAZZ.org)
* Ronnie Scott’s at 60 (TheBlueMoment.com)
* Humanity is Not an Algorithm: What We Lose with WNYC’s Cancellation of New Sounds (ICareIfYouListen.com)
* How Liverpool’s first girl band dubbed ‘the female Beatles’ had run-in with John Lennon (Express.co.uk)

Sunday Session: August 25, 2019

Ahmad Jamal

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest:

* Tenor Sax Hero David Murray Opens Up About His Journey and His Legacy, on The Checkout (WBGO)
* How Was Woodstock Originally Reported 50 Years Ago? (Billboard)
* In his own words: New Leon Russell book shares remembrances from Tulsa music legend (Tulsa World)
* The History of Record Guides, 1934-79 (Part One) (DonaldEArmstrong.com)
* Duane Allman’s ‘Layla’ Guitar Sells for $1 Million at Auction (Rolling Stone)
* The 30 best films about music, chosen by musicians (The Guardian)
* Caretakers Help the Detroit Festival Hit the 40-Year Mark (DownBeat)
* Elvis Presley’s Bandleader Looks Back on His Wild Vegas Years: ‘Elvis Was Really Nervous’ (TheDailyBeast.com)
* This is the Album of the Future (New Music Box)
* Billie Full Of Grace (NPR)
* A Conversation with Ahmad Jamal (SFJAZZ.org)
* (Un)happy Partners: On Jazz and Independent Film (Los Angeles Review of Books)
* Nina Simone: Anthems, anguish and resistance (The Times Literary Supplement)
* Can music journalism transcend its access problem? (Columbia Journalism Review)
* Films for Big Eyes: Charlemagne Palestine’s Baker’s Dozen (TheQuietus.com)
* Does humour belong in music? (Jazz Journal)
* Why Wil Blades is the Latest Celebrated Jazz Musician to Leave the Bay Area (KQED)
* Forget Guitars. Buy a Rocker’s Childhood Home (Rolling Stone)
* A Serious Jazz Take on "Old Town Road"? Big Chief Donald Harrison, Jr. Has Got It Covered (WBGO)
* Sara Gazarek Charts a Path Through Loss, Heartache on ‘Thirsty Ghost’ (DownBeat)
* A Toy Company Now Owns Death Row Records (Rolling Stone)
* How Artist Imposters and Fake Songs Sneak Onto Streaming Services (Pitchfork)
* How a Québécois filmmaker got John Coltrane to record the only soundtrack of his career (CBC.ca)

Jazz this week: Mark Guiliana Quartet, Mwata Bowden, Ahmad Jamal, Grand Marquis, Branford Marsalis Quartet, and more

It's another busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with a calendar featuring noteworthy performances by several visiting headliners, plus an assortment of gigs in various styles from hometown players. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, 
March 27
Drummer Mark Guiliana and his quartet will perform for the first of five nights at Jazz St. Louis

The NYC-based Guiliana is known for mixing acoustic drums and electronic beats in his own projects and while working with musicians including Brad Mehldau, Avishai Cohen, David Bowie, Meshell Ndegeocello, Lionel Loueke, and more.

However, for his St. Louis debut as a bandleader, he'll be bringing in a more straight-ahead, acoustic group, featuring bassist Chris Morrissey, saxophonist Jason Rigby, and pianist Shai Maestro.

Also on Wednesday, the weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features singer Wendy Gordon and Friends at The Stage at KDHX, along with the jam session led by bassist Bob DeBoo at the Kranzberg Arts Center and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's quartet at The Dark Room.

Thursday, March 28
Multi-instrumentalist Mwata Bowden (pictured, top left) will perform in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. Bowden, a longtime member of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and the head of the jazz program at the University of Chicago, will be joined by Wash U faculty members William Lenihan on guitar and piano and Paul Steinbeck on bass, plus drummer Steve Davis.

Friday, March 29
Singer Feyza Eren returns to Evangeline's; percussionist Herman Semidey and Son Montuno will play Latin jazz, salsa and more at The Dark Room; and the Sentimental Journey Dance Band performs at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, March 30
Pianist Ahmad Jamal (pictured, center left) performs for the annual benefit gala at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Now 88 years old, Jamal plays just a few selected dates a year, so his performance here should be a special occasion, both for diehard fans who have followed him over the course of his seven-decade career and for younger listeners seeking to experience his distinctive style in person.

For more about Jamal and some video samples of recent performances (plus a couple of throwback sets), check out this post from last Saturday. 

Elsewhere around town, Kansas City-based jump blues and swing band Grand Marquis returns to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups; trumpeter Keith Moyer leads a quartet at Evangeline's; and Dizzy Atmosphere will play vintage swing and Gypsy jazz at Urban Chestnut Midtown Brewery and Biergarten.

Sunday, March 31
The University City Symphony Orchestra  presents a program titled "Jazzy Classical" at the 560 Music Center. The free concert will feature works by George Gershwin, Aaron Copland and William Grant Still performed by the orchestra with guest musicians including pianist Ptah Williams, Bach to the Future, guitarist Dave Black, and violinist Tracy Silverman.

Monday, April 1
Webster University's Student Jazz Combos will show off what they've learned this year with a performance at Webster's Community Music School.

Tuesday, April 2
Saxophonist Branford Marsalis (pictured, bottom left) and his quartet will perform for the first of three nights at Jazz St. Louis.

Appearing in St. Louis for the first time since their January, 2017 gig with singer Kurt Elling at the Bistro, Marsalis and his longtime band - pianist Joey Calderazzo, bassist Eric Revis, and drummer Justin Faulkner  - are touring in support of a new album, The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul, which was released last month to favorable reviews.

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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Ahmad Jamal

This week, let's check out some videos featuring pianist Ahmad Jamal, who will be performing Saturday, March 30 at the annual benefit gala for the Sheldon Concert Hall and Art Galleries.

Jamal, who's now 88 years old and plays only a select number of dates per year, is a native of Pittsburgh who began his musical career in the late 1940s, reaching international stardom a decade later with the release of his album Live at the Pershing. Recorded at a Chicago hotel lounge where Jamal had a house-band gig, the album featured a version of what would become his signature song, "Poinciana," and stayed on the charts for more than two years.

Jamal's sparing approach, making ample use of long vamps and space within the music, caused some to deride him at the time as a mere "cocktail pianist," but he also made many fans, including Miles Davis, who praised Jamal's "concept of space, his lightness of touch, his understatement."

And as we now know, history would seem to have proven the naysayers wrong, as Jamal has enjoyed continued influence and popularity to this day and has earned many honors around the world, including being named an NEA Jazz Master in 1994, entering DownBeat's Hall of Fame in 2011, and winning a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.

You can see and hear Jamal perform "Poinciana" in the first video up above, recorded in 2012 at the Olympia in Paris with bassist James Cammack, percussionist Manolo Badrena, and drummer Herlin Riley.

After the jump. you can see how Jamal applies his distinctive approach to the familiar standard "Autumn Leaves," as performed in 2017 in Paris with the same band.

That's followed by a version of "Blue Moon," recorded in 2014 at the Jazz in Marciac festival in France, with Riley, Badrena, and Reginald Veal on bass, and then a performance of Jamal's own "Autumn Rain" with the same musicians at the 2012 Les Nuits D'Istres festival in France.

The last two videos go quite a bit farther back, providing an opportunity to see how Jamal's style has evolved over time. The fifth video documents a full set by Jamal in 1999 at a festival in Germany, while the sixth and final clip is from 1971, when Jamal was the featured performer in an episode of the French TV program Jazz Session.

For more about Ahmad Jamal, read his 2017 interview with DownBeat; writer Ashley Kahn's 2002 feature about Jamal that was republished in 2017 by JazzTimes; and Jamal's 2018 interview with Wax Poetics.

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

Ahmad Jamal to perform for The Sheldon's benefit gala on Saturday, March 30

Pianist Ahmad Jamal will be the featured performer for the Sheldon Concert Hall and Art Galleries' annual benefit gala at 8:30 p.m., Saturday, March 30 at The Sheldon.

Now 88 years old, Jamal (pictured) plays only a select handful of concert dates a year, so his performance here should be especially anticipated by local jazz fans.

He's been a fixture on the music scene since the late 1950s, winning just about every honor that can be given to a jazz musician, including being named an NEA Jazz Master back in 1994 and getting a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. Jamal's most recent recording is Marseille, released in 2017, and he last appeared in St. Louis in November 2011 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

Patron tickets for the gala can be purchased now by calling the Sheldon at 314-533-9900. Prices start at $500 per person, and include pre-concert cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, dinner, preferred concert seating, complimentary valet parking, and a tax deduction.

Concert-only tickets will be $50 for orchestra seats, $45 front balcony, $40 rear balcony, and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Friday, February 15 via MetroTix and the Sheldon box office. Proceeds from the event benefit The Sheldon's concerts, gallery exhibitions and educational programs.

Sunday Session: October 14, 2018

Esperanza Spalding

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:

* BBC 'to make classical music archive available' (BBC)
* Quincy Jones, From A to Z (Rolling Stone)
* From Studio to Screen: Becoming a Composer (FactMag.com)
* Roy Orbison hologram concert in L.A. invites awe and debate (Los Angeles Times)
* Barcelona’s Jazz Festival Thrives at 50 (DownBeat)
* Visualizing 40 Years of Music Industry Sales (VisualCapitalist.com)
* Women Run the Show at Monterey Jazz Fest (San Francisco Classical Voice)
* Louis Armstrong's unseen artifacts almost ready for public view (AMNY.com)
* Radiohead, the Cure, Rage, Janet Jackson Nominated for Rock Hall of Fame 2019 (Pitchfork)
* Esperanza Spalding Casts First of “12 Little Spells” Online (Jazz Times)
* Shelved: Bill Evans’ Loose Blues (LongReads.com)
* “Automation Divine”: Early Computer Music and the Selling of the Cold War (New Music Box)
* Ahmad Jamal at 88: Still playing hard and on his way to Chicago (Chicago Tribune)
* A Labor of Love Supreme: Saving John Coltrane's Home Studio (Pro Sound News)
* Elvis Costello Explains His Great New Album, ‘Look Now’ (Rolling Stone)
* Into the Vault: Erroll Garner Uncovered (NPR)
* Key Music Modernization Act Proponents Disinvited to White House Signing Ceremony (Billboard)
* Marc Ribot Leads a Musical Army Protesting Against Trump (The Daily Beast)
* Lindsey Buckingham sues Fleetwood Mac for kicking him out (Associated Press)
* Famed jazz saxophonist accused of sexual misconduct by former protégé now suing for defamation (New York Daily News)
* Ben Wendel Takes ‘The Seasons’ from Video Project to Album (DownBeat)
* Tony Bennett & Diana Krall: They Like a Gershwin Tune (Jazz Times)
* Berklee to Launch Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice (Jazz Times)
* Maxine Gordon Ended Up Married to the Music (Publishers Weekly)
* The Unearthing of Thelonious Monk’s Lost Live Classic (Bandcamp.com)

Sunday Session: June 25, 2017

Ahmad Jamal

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

* 'It’s just me, on the phone in my son’s bedroom.' The church hall that became contemporary music’s hottest venue (The Guardian)
* Thelonious Monk: Lost Liaison - Inside the Forgotten 1959 Studio Session (Jazz Times)
* Is the Printed Circuit Board a Form of Musical Notation? (New Music Box)
* The Story Behind ‘I’ll Be Around’ (Wall Street Journal)
* Alice Coltrane: “The Gifts God Gave Him” (Jazz Times)
* Team-Ups & Supergroups Power San Francisco Jazz Festival (DownBeat)
* In New Orleans, Party Buses Drive The Legacy Of Bounce Music (TheFader.com)
* Generation Next: Four Voices From Seattle (AllAboutJazz.com)
* The Story of Tropicália in 20 Albums (Pitchfork.com)
* Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah On World Cafe (NPR)
* Money Ain’t a Thang: 11 of the Most Expensive Albums Ever Produced (Soundfly.com)
* Philadelphia Orchestra composer Hannibal finds humanity amid the loss (Philly.com)
* Tony Bennett to Receive Library of Congress Gershwin Prize (Rolling Stone)
* Ann Hampton Callaway Says Her Return to Singing Is ‘Scary and Thrilling’ (Playbill)
* Q&A with Ahmad Jamal: Continuum of Influence (DownBeat)
* "My goal is to reach people on an emotional level" — The Kenny Barron interview (Ottawa Citizen)
* Paul McCartney on making music with Kanye West: ‘You basically don’t write songs’ (NME.com)
* Why my guitar gently weeps - The slow, secret death of the six-string electric. And why you should care (Washington Post)
* Mills College’s Plan to Ax Jazz Legend Roscoe Mitchell Draws International Outrage (East Bay Express)
* Red Hook Jazz Festival: Neighborhood Feel, Avant Sound (DownBeat)
* The Secret Lives of Playlists (CashMusic.org)
* What I'm Listening to Now: Mats Gustafsson (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Why didn’t famous composers write national anthems? (Classical-Music.com)
* The Ethereal Genius of Craig Taborn (New York Times)
* Artist’s Choice: Bobby Watson on Unsung New York Masters - The saxophonist and educator reflects on his mentors (Jazz Times)
* Langston Hughes Creates a List of His 100 Favorite Jazz Recordings: Hear 80+ of Them in a Big Playlist (OpenCulture.com)
* Bon Iver’s Dad Helped Me Discover the Secret Jazz History of His Hometown (Vice.com)
* Is Jazz Still Sexist? (Jazz Times)
* The Weird World Of One-Hit Wonders (UDiscoverMusic.com)

Sunday Session: March 6, 2016

For your Sunday reading, some interesting music-related items that have turned up recently in StLJN's inbox:

* Ginger Baker Cancels Tour Due to 'Serious Heart Problems' (Rolling Stone)
* Mavis Staples’ HBO doc hits relevant Civil Rights notes (Arts Journal)
* Resonance Records Presents LARRY YOUNG - IN PARIS: THE ORTF RECORDINGS With Never-Before-Released Tracks by The Jazz Organist And Pianist (JazzCorner.com)
* Content ID and the Rise of the Machines (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
* Is Jazz The Brand (Offbeat)
* Kamasi Washington Presents Jazz-Rock Spectacle in New York (DownBeat)
* Today’s best country music songwriter is a Twitter bot (Dangerous Minds)
* Sun Ra's Voice On Earth (WELD)
* Is the Album Review Dead? (Vice.com)
* Swing Vote: What Would the Presidential Election Sound Like as Jazz? (The Atlantic)
* Jazz Legend Archie Shepp Reflects On John Coltrane’s Quest For Musical Freedom (Consequence of Sound)
* Ron Carter Named Artist-in-Residence at Detroit Jazz Fest (Jazz Times)
* Why is China’s music market still so small? (Quartz.com)
* Jean-Paul Sartre on How American Jazz Lets You Experience Existentialist Freedom & Transcendence (OpenCulture.com)
* Sarah Vaughan forever stamp to be unveiled in Newark (New York Amsterdam News)
* How One Museum Is Fighting To Preserve The History Of Recorded Sound (Fast Company)
* Music is getting worse, unless of course it isn’t (CreateDigitalMusic.com)
* How Ahmad Jamal’s The Awakening became a hip hop sample goldmine (TheVinylFactory.com)
* Blanchard’s Incisive Jazz Opera Packs Powerful Punch (DownBeat)
* Nina Simone Estate Slams Biopic Star Zoe Saldana (Rolling Stone)
* How Steely Dan Returned to Form by Remaining 'Two Against Nature' (UltimateClassicRock.com)
* Shuggie Otis plays guitar (Financial Times)
* Gary Clark Jr: Blues Brother (Wax Poetics)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* While in St. Louis last week to play at Jazz at the Bistro, guitarist John Scofield was interviewed by KSDK's Art Holliday on the NBC affiliate's 4:00 p.m. newscast.

* Jazz St. Louis has posted photo albums with shots of pianist Ahmad Jamal in performance last Sunday at the TouPAC, and of the reception following the concert by Jamal and singer Dianne Reeves.

* Retro-swing string band Wack-A-Doo (pictured) was spotlighted this week in the Post-Dispatch's "Listen" music video feature, performing "By The Sea" at the Fox Theatre.

* Bassist and luthier David Certain sends word that bassist and St. Louis native Mark Peterson will be playing a CertainBass Model One on an upcoming recording with pianist Bob James. You can see Peterson and his instrument with singer Ben E. King's band here.

* In more celebrity recording news, keyboardist Michael Silverman of the Classical Jazz Quartet says that famed fusion guitarist Scott Henderson has agreed to record on CJQ's next album project, The Rebirth of Fusion. Henderson, known for his work with Tribal Tech and Chick Corea's Elektrik Band, will lay down his tracks in January.

* St. Louis Kids magazine is giving away four tickets to the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra's November 27 performance of the "The Nutcracker Meets Jazz," featuring music by George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein and Duke Ellington. The performance is presented in partnership with Jazz St. Louis, and specifically designed to introduce children to the symphony. To enter the drawing for the free tickets, go here.

* NPR's Kevin Whitehead last week reviewed the new, limited-edition CD reissue of saxophonist Julius Hemphill's landmark debut album Dogon A.D., with the NY Times Ben Ratliff weighing in on the disc here. The reissue is limited to 1,500 copies, and was done by the small International Phonograph label, which earned plaudits for its earlier re-issue of another long-out-of-print session, trumpeter Bill Dixon's Intents and Purposes. The reissue already is out of stock or back-ordered at some online retailers, but if you like, you still can download and hear a free .mp3 rip of the original recording via this StLJN Audio Archive post from back in August.

Jazz this week: John Scofield Quartet, Dianne Reeves, Ahmad Jamal, Jan Shapiro, Kung Fu, and more

It's shaping up to be another fairly busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, particularly for the good folks at Jazz St. Louis, who are presenting touring headliners at two different venues, but there's lots going on elsewhere, too. Let's go to the highlights:

Tonight, guitarist John Scofield opens a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. For this visit, Scofield is downplaying his usual tendencies toward funk, and bringing a quartet playing relatively straightforward swing and featuring pianist Michael Eckroth, bassist Ben Street, and drummer Greg Hutchinson, who was here most recently back in March to do a Ray Brown tribute at the Bistro with Christian McBride and Benny Green. Scofield's new CD A Moment's Peace is just out, so expect to hear some selections from that recording. For more about that project and some videos of Scofield and the quartet in action, check out this post from last Saturday.

On Thursday, singer and St. Louis native Jan Shapiro comes home from Boston, where she heads the vocal department at Berklee College of Music, to perform a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. Shapiro's accompanists will include guitarist William Lenihan and pianist Ptah Williams.

Also on Thursday, singer Billy Valentine will be in town to join Denise Thimes in her annual performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall to raise money for the Mildred Thimes Foundation for pancreatic cancer research. That same evening, the funk/jazz/rock/fusion band Kung Fu, which features musicians associated with Jazz is Dead, RAQ, The Breakfast, and Deep Banana Blackout, will play at 2720 Cherokee.

On Friday, percussionist Herman Semidey leads his Orquesta Nitro Son Montuno for a night of Latin jazz and dancing at Robbie's House of Jazz; traditional jazz group the Dixie Dudes play at Jazz on Broadway in Alton; and guitarist Mason Baran leads a quartet with bassist Ryan Chamberlain, drummer Jerry Mazzuca and saxophonist Austin Cebulske at the Cigar Inn in Belleville.

On Saturday morning, bass players and aspiring bassists may want to head down to the "Ultimate Bass Clinic" at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups, featuring instruction from electric bassists Alvin Clark, Philip Burton, John King, Vince Clark and Jahmal Nichols.

That afternoon, the Nu-Art Series presents the up-and-coming young alto saxophonist Kendrick Smith and his group at Metropolitan Gallery. Then on Saturday evening, singer Joe Mancuso performs at Robbie's, and saxophonist Rod Tate plays at the Halls Ferry Inn Jazz Cafe.

On Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show will present its fourth and final event of the year at the American Czech Center. Also on Sunday afternoon, the Classical Jazz Quartet performs in a benefit for Five Acres Animal Shelter at The Landings at Spirit Golf Club in Chesterfield.

Then on Sunday evening, Jazz St. Louis continues their "Legends of Jazz" series with a double bill at the Touhill Performing Arts Center featuring singer Dianne Reeves (pictured), whose band includes St. Louis' own Peter Martin on piano, and the veteran pianist Ahmad Jamal. Reeves and Jamal are scheduled to do separate sets, though one supposes a spontaneous collaboration cannot be completely ruled out. Either way, it's a chance to see two well-known headliners for one price.

For more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, 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.)

Jazz St. Louis adds more performers to 2011-12 season

Jazz St. Louis today announced several more performances by touring jazz artists that will be part of their 2011-12 season.

A double bill of singer Dianne Reeves and pianist Ahmad Jamal, each appearing separately with their own group, has been booked for Sunday, November 6 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, filling the third date in Jazz St. Louis' new "Legends" series that was listed as "TBA" when the bulk of JSL's 2011-12 season was announced last month.

In addition, pianist Robert Glasper (pictured) has been booked to play at Jazz at the Bistro on Friday, February 10 and Saturday, February 11; and vibraphonist Stefon Harris and trumpeter Sean Jones will team up to perform on Thursday, April 19 at the Bistro as part of that week's Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival.

The big surprise here is Glasper, who at one point seemed to have burned his bridges with JSL after canceling some previous dates at the Bistro on relatively short notice. Obviously, those bridges got repaired, and now St. Louis jazz fans finally will get a chance to see Glasper, whose attempts to combine jazz, hip-hop and experimental sounds have made him one of the most talked-about pianists of his generation.

Reeves, Jamal, Jones and Harris all have played St. Louis within the past couple of years - and Reeves has an additional connection to our town in the person of her pianist and music director Peter Martin - but the double bill involving the first two and the collaborative effort of the latter two should put slightly different twists on the respective performances, and both pairings certainly offer additional value for ticket buyers.

Tickets for Dianne Reeves and Ahmad Jamal are priced at $150, $60 and $40 and go on sale at 10:00 a.m. next Tuesday, June 14 via the Touhill ticket office or by phone at 314-516-4949. Tickets for Robert Glasper will be $25 and $10 for students; and for Harris and Jones, $30 and $10 for students. Those shows go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, August 16 online via Metrotix or by phone at 314-534-1111.

Ahmad Jamal featured in Post-Dispatch

Pianist Ahmad Jamal, who's performing in St. Louis Saturday night at the Sheldon Concert Hall, talked with freelance jazz journalist Terry Perkins for a feature story that ran in Wednesday's Post-Dispatch. Read it online here.

Jazz this week: Ahmad Jamal, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Typhanie Monique, a benefit for KWMU, and more

This week brings two significant touring jazz headliners to St. Louis to help dispell winter's chill. If you're a fan of traditional New Orleans-style jazz, or just want to celebrate Carnival with some seasonally appropriate sounds, check out the Preservation Hall Jazz Band performing at Argosy Alton Casino on Friday and Saturday nights. Based on what I saw of the PHJB at the 2006 St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival, it should be an entertaining, if not especially profound, evening of music.

If you're into a more laid-back, intimate sound forged in the post-bop era, you may enjoy veteran pianist Ahmad Jamal (pictured), who returns to St. Louis for a concert at the Sheldon on Saturday. Jamal's influence isn't nearly as pervasive as, say, Bill Evans or McCoy Tyner, to pick a couple of players from roughly the same age cohort, and back in the day some derided him as a mere "cocktail pianist." Yet, much to his credit, Jamal's music has continued to find an audience throughout a career spanning more than 50 years, and his best work continues to evince both very solid musicianship and a certain conceptual consistency that no doubt has played a role in his longevity.

Also visiting St. Louis this week is Chicago-based singer Typhanie Monique, who will perform in the first free Jazz at Holmes concert of the year Thursday night at Washington University.

That same night, singer Mardra Thomas and the Jazz Gentlemen Quartet - that's Mardra's husband Reggie Thomas' band, with Adaron "Pops" Jackson subbing for the leader on piano - will play at a benefit event for KWMU (FM 90.7) to be held at the Bistro at Grand Center. In addition to raising money for the radio station, the benefit also pays tribute to DJ, author and photographer Dennis Owsley, who hosts KWMU's Sunday night program Jazz Unlimited and will be there to emcee.

On Friday and Saturday, trombonist and "brass specialist" Lamar Harris will bring his band to Jazz at the Bistro, taking over the weekend originally scheduled for drummer Montez Coleman. St. Louis Post-Dispatch pop critic Kevin Johnson's column this week includes an interview with Harris that previews the performances; read it online here.

Other noteworthy gigs coming up: Cookie's Jazz and More has some solid straight-ahead sounds with trumpeter Randy Holmes' quintet on Friday and Trio Tres Bien with singer Danita Mumphard on Saturday. And looking beyond the weekend, on Monday guitarist Tom Byrne will lead an ensemble in a concert at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium.

For more St. Louis area jazz events, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar.

(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.)

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: Ahmad Jamal, then and now

This week's Saturday video feature shines the spotlight on veteran pianist Ahmad Jamal, who will be in St. Louis to perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall on Saturday, January 26.

Up top is a clip from a 1959 television performance that shows Jamal playing his composition "Ahmad's Blues," accompanied by Israel Crosby on bass and Vernel Fournier on drums. This configuration of his trio was the group that helped Jamal make his initial reputation in the jazz world, and if you look at the gentlemen standing in the background and listening, you may recognize some famous faces digging the sounds.

The second video is from a 2005 performance at a jazz festival in Vienne, France, and features Jamal playing another one of his own tunes, "Topsy Turvy," backed by his current compatriots James Cammack on bass and the great Idris Muhammad on drums.

Notes from the Net: Miles Davis, Oliver Lake CDs reviewed, Marty Ehrlich pictured, Anat Cohen profiled, and more

Hanukkah's already come and gone, and Christmas and Kwanzaa are fast approaching, but StLJN never takes a holiday from bringing you the latest links to news, reviews and more about jazz and creative musicians from St. Louis, recent visitors and coming attractions:

* Let's start this installment with yet another review of Miles Davis' Complete On The Corner Sessions box set.

* Meanwhile, Downbeat magazine has compiled all their coverage of Davis over the years, including news, reviews, interviews and more, into a new book, The Miles Davis Reader.

* As mentioned in our last installment, Toronto trumpeter Nick "Brownman" Ali recently mounted a series of five concerts, each paying tribute to a different period of Miles Davis' career. For a look at how Ali instructed his sidemen to capture the spirit of Miles' mid-1960s ensemble, check out this thread from rec.music.bluenote.

* Downtown Music Gallery has a bunch of photos from a couple of recent Marty Ehrlich gigs. (Scroll down the page to the entries from November 25.)

* AllAboutJazz.com has reviews of saxophonist Oliver Lake's CD Zaki, as well as two recordings from hometown label Mel Bay Records, Frank Vignola's Vignola Plays Gershwin and Jonathan Kreisberg's The Sound of Everywhere.

* Blogcritics has a review of guitarist Joe Friedman's Cup O' Joe.

* From the "recent visitors" file, drummer Roy Haynes led an all-star band to open the new San Francisco location of Yoshi's jazz club, previewed here and reviewed here. AAJ.com also has reviews of Haynes' CDs The Sound of Sonny and We Three here.

* Saxophonist and clarinetist Anat Cohen of Waverly Seven is profiled by AAJ.com here and by the Associated Press (via the International Herald Tribune) here. Also, the 3 Cohens CD Braid is reviewed here.

* Guitar and singer John Pizzarelli, a frequent visitor to St. Louis in recent years, just did a gig at NYC's Birdland, reviewed here.

* Turning to coming attractions, trumpeter Chris Botti, who's playing in January at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, just did a gig at NYC's Blue Note (with St. Louis native Peter Martin on piano) and was reviewed by the New York Times here.

* Here's another review of pianist Cyrus Chestnut's recent CD of songs associated with Elvis Presley. Chestnut (pictured) returns to Jazz at the Bistro on March 7 and 8.

* Pianist Ahmad Jamal, who's performing at the Sheldon Concert Hall on January 26, recently did a concert in San Diego and was interviewed by the San Diego Union Tribune here.

* Lastly, productivity site Lifehack had an interesting post on how the skills of a jazz improvisor may also be useful in many non-musical situations.

Sheldon single tickets on sale August 11

Single ticket for events in the Sheldon Concert Hall's various 2007-08 series will go on sale at 10 a.m., Saturday, August 11. The Sheldon's 2007-08 jazz series will include concerts by guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli, pianist Ahmad Jamal, singer Carla Cook, pianist Michael Wolff, and Lavay Smith and the Red Hot Skillet Lickers.

Tickets can be purchased via Metrotix or in person at the Fox Theatre box office at 534 N. Grand Blvd.

Jazz this week: Ahmad Jamal, Freddie Cole, Glenn Miller Orchestra, and more

It looks like a mainstream swing kind of week here for jazz fans in St. Louis, with three very familiar names in the area to perform over the bext several days.

Most notably, veteran pianist Ahmad Jamal (pictured) and his trio are at Jazz at the Bistro, doing two sets a night through Saturday night. While some critics may have derisively labeled him a "cocktail pianist" early on, that was some fifty-plus years ago, and Jamal is now recognized rightfully as a stylist who has maintained the integrity of his personal musical conception over a lengthy career. Though he's scheduled to be back in St. Louis next year to perform in concert at the Sheldon, true fans nevertheless will want to take advantage of the opportuniry to see him up close and personal in a club setting.

Speaking of the Sheldon, singer and pianist Freddie Cole will be playing a concert there on Saturday, mining roughly the same vein of swing, standards and the occasional blues as his more famous brother Nat, but fashioning the raw material according to his own designs. The Sheldon is offering a discounted tickets for this show, so if you've ever wanted to see Cole, this would seem to be a good time.

Also on Saturday, the Glenn Miller Orchestra will be performing in the Meridian Ballroom at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. While the current band consists almost exclusively of musicians who weren't even born yet when Miller passed away, the band's songbook obviously has an enduring appeal that keeps them working more than 60 years later.

Other shows worth noting this week include the return of Chicago-based singer Typhanie Monique and guitarist Neal Alger to Finale Music and Dining on Thursday night; Dizzy Atmosphere performing a free show at the Saint Louis Art Museum's Griggs Gallery early Friday evening; "Roadtrip USA," a program of travel-themed songs from singer Debby Lennon and pianist Carolbeth True on Saturday morning at the Sheldon; and a Sunday matinee performance sponsored by the Saint Louis Jazz Club featuring Jean Kittrell and the Old St. Louis Levee Band at the Swansea Improvement Association in Swansea, IL.

As always, these are just some of the week's highlights; to see a more complete list of jazz-related events for this weekend and beyond, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar.

(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. No attachments, please.)

StLJN Saturday at the Movies:Ahmad Jamal's "Poinciana," plus Freddie Cole sings "I'm Not My Brother, I'm Me"

This week's featured videos offer previews of two veteran jazz musicians who will be performing in St. Louis next week.

First up is pianist Ahmad Jamal, who will take part in one of Jazz St. Louis' "Conversations With..." events on Tuesday and then play at Jazz at the Bistro from Wednesday through Saturday. This clip shows Jamal and his trio performing his signature tune "Poinciana" in July 2003 at the Baalbeck International Festival in Lebanon.

The second video features singer and pianist Freddie Cole, who will be doing a concert at the Sheldon next Saturday night. Here, he's seen singing "I'm Not My Brother, I'm Me", which serves as a swinging rejoinder to those who would compare him to his famous older sibling Nat "King" Cole. The performance is from 2005, and was photographed by filmmaker Clay Walker for the documentary "The Cole Nobody Knows."

Sheldon Concert Hall announces 2007-08 season

The Sheldon Concert Hall has announced its 2007-08 season, and the hall's jazz series for next year includes a number of familiar names.

Three of the announced shows confirm information previously revealed by Pollstar (and StLJN): guitarist/singer John Pizzarelli (Saturday, October 6), Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers (Saturday, November 10) and pianist Ahmad Jamal (Friday, January 26, 2008).

In addition, the Sheldon also will present pianist Michael Wolff (pictured), best known as the former bandleader for talk show host Arsenio Hall, on Friday, February 23, 2008, and singer Carla Cook, who's recorded for the local MAXJAZZ label, on Friday, April 26, 2008. Subscriptions for the 2007-08 jazz series are $175-$195.

The Sheldon's Coffee Concerts, Saturday Matinee and Special Concerts series will also feature some musicians of interest to jazz listeners. The Coffee Concerts will include appearances from Anita Rosamond (October 9 & 10), the St. Louis Stompers (November 12 & 13), Sherry Drake and Carolbeth True (December 4 & 5), and the St. Louis Ragtimers (March 4 and 5, 2008). In addition, Jean Kittrell and the St. Louis Rivermen will do a special concert on Sunday, September 23 and trombonist Brett Stamps will do a Saturday matinee on April 12, 2008.

To yr. humble editor, this lineup of touring performers, while comparatively safe from a box-office standpoint, seems rather uninspired. Pizzarelli, Cook and Jamal are all well-known to local audiences, with each having several recent St. Louis gigs to their credit; their appearances here once again serve as yet another example of recycling by a local presenter, a practice I've criticized on numerous prior occasions. Meanwhile, Smith and Wolff, while no doubt competent and entertaining, are musicians of minor importance at best. And while the lineup of local bands and musicians consists of proven performers, it appears to offer no particular surprises, either.

Although there's always the possibility that an interesting show or two may be added to the schedule somewhere down the line, as happened this year with the Pat Metheny/Brad Mehldau concert, overall it feels like the Sheldon is just treading water here. Given the vast universe of exciting artistic possibilities available for a jazz series at a high-quality concert venue, it's hard not to see this mostly recycled lineup of musical moderates as something of a disappointment, a case of pandering to audience tastes rather than expanding or challenging them.

You can find out more about the rest of the Sheldon's 2007-08 series in this article, written by Post-Dispatch pop critic Kevin Johnson and published in today's paper.

Pollstar predicts piano performances

If for some reason you're interested in, but can't attend, the upcoming shows by Brad Mehldau (at the Sheldon with Pat Metheny on Wednesday, April 4) and/or Ahmad Jamal (at Jazz at the Bistro from Wednesday, April 25 through Saturday, April 28), it looks like you'll get another chance to hear both men play St. Louis in 2008.

That's because the oracular online entity known as Pollstar has recently revealed that Mehldau now is scheduled to play the Bistro from April 9 - 11, 2008, and Jamal is set to perform at the Sheldon on January 26, 2008. In semi-related news, blues pianist/vocalist Marcia Ball also will be making a return trip to St. Louis next year, to play at the Sheldon on January 11.

These bookings are, as best I can tell, the first public inklings of next year's season schedules at both venues, and thus should be taken with the appropriate measure of skepticism until officially announced.

Still, this kind of back-and-forth between the Bistro and the Sheldon is not at all unprecedented, as jazz performers including Jane Monheit, Freddie Cole, John Pizzarelli and Joey DeFrancesco have appeared at both venues in recent years. I suppose these sorts of recurring bookings are good news for the fans of those particular musicians, and both Mehldau and Jamal are artists who warrant continued attention.

However, artistic quality and/or audience demand notwithstanding, our local not-for-profit presenters' propensity to go back to the same wells is something of a disappointment for those of us who would like to see them embrace as much musical variety and risk-taking as possible. There are, as mentioned before in this space, many prominent jazz musicians who haven't played St. Louis in years, or in some cases, at all. Here's hoping that when the Sheldon and Jazz St. Louis announce their full 2007-2008 schedules, we'll hear at least some of those names, too.

UPDATE - 1:23 p.m., 3/22/07: While I was writing this post, another Pollstar alert came in, revealing that the Sheldon has scheduled a date for San Francisco-based traditional jazz/swing revivalists Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers on November 7, 2007. So, for those of you who are now keeping score, that's one act for the 2007-08 season that, while they may be playing an older style of music, will be something new for St. Louis concertgoers.