Jazz St. Louis sets 25th anniversary celebration for Friday, October 2

Jazz St. Louis will celebrate their 25th anniversary with a free online event on Friday, October 2.

From its origins as the "Just Jazz" concert series presented by the late Barbara Rose at the Majestic Hotel downtown, Jazz St. Louis has grown into a top presenter of touring and local jazz performers with its own venue in the Grand Center district, renovated in 2014 and now officially known as the Ferring Jazz Bistro.

In addition to presenting live performances, the organization also offers various educational programs for local students from ranging from pre-school to high school age.

The 25th anniversary celebration will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a "pre-event concert" featuring students in the organization's JazzU program.

Then starting at 7:00 p.m., Jazz St. Louis CEO Gene Dobbs Bradford and pianist Peter Martin will serve as hosts for the main event, which will include performances by violinist Regina Carter (pictured), The Bad Plus, singer and pianist Ann Hampton Callaway, and more.

To wrap up the evening, singer Denise Thimes will perform an "after-party" set at 8:00 p.m.

Jazz St. Louis' 25th anniversary celebration will be available for viewing for free via their Facebook page. You can find out more details about the celebration here, and RSVP to receive a reminder email about the event here.

Sunday Session: November 18, 2018

Marshall Allen

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:

* I Thought CDs Were Supposed To Be Dying, But Maybe I Got It All Wrong (Forbes)
* Entangled in Berlin (TheBlueMoment.com)
* How a Lost Charles Mingus Recording Finally Saw the Light of Day (Bandcamp.com)
* The Accidental Perfection of the Beatles’ White Album (The New Yorker)
* The Album Is in Deep Trouble – and the Music Business Probably Can’t Save it (Rolling Stone)
* Nate Smith: Taking Jazz Ahead (Jazz Times)
* ‘Black Fire’: The Andrew Hill Classic That Still Burns Bright (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* How Legendary Composer W.C. Handy Became The 'Father Of The Blues' (WBUR)
* Baku Jazz Festival 2018 (AllAboutJazz.com)
* A Legendary Van Morrison Recording Just Hit the Internet and Quickly Disappeared Again (SPIN)
* TONTO: The 50-Year Saga of the Synth Heard on Stevie Wonder Classics (Rolling Stone)
* Bob Dylan’s Masterpiece Is Still Hard to Find (The New Yorker)
* ‘Green Book’ Renders Don Shirley in Film (DownBeat)
* Aretha Franklin Touches The Infinite In The Long-Delayed Film 'Amazing Grace' (NPR)
* JazzFest Berlin Challenges Attendees with Audacious Programming (DownBeat)
* Stars Celebrate Joni Mitchell at 75 (DownBeat)
* Roy Clark, country guitar virtuoso, ‘Hee Haw’ star, has died (Associated Press)
* James Booker’s “The Lost Paramount Tapes” to be released on vinyl (Offbeat)
* ’63 Monk Tapes Released (DownBeat)
* Latin Music Is Reaching More Listeners Than Ever — But Who Is Represented? (Rolling Stone)
* Working to Preserve Traditional Gospel Music (LongReads.com)
* Marshall Allen Sticks To The Music (AntiGravityMagazine.com)
* Louis Armstrong’s Life in Letters, Music and Art (New York Times)
* Jazz After College (Jazz Times)
* Hitting the Right Notes: Five Actors Who Played Real-Life Jazz Artists (Jazziz)
* Q&A: Ann Hampton Callaway: Creating Landscapes of Human Emotion (Jazziz)
* Strength & Power: In Praise of Roswell Rudd (Jazz Times)
* Crosley Is Now Releasing Retro Cassette Players Starting at $60 (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Setting the Record Straight: Bob Dylan’s ‘Blood On The Tracks’ (Guitarist Kevin Odegard Revisits the Sessions) (RockCellarMagazine.com)
* Iconic Guitar Builder Loses His Home and Workshop to Flames in Paradise (Popular Mechanics)
* Tony Allen: Jack of All Parades (Jazz Times)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* A new blog post from saxophonist Greg Osby, "Who's In The Band?", skeptically examines how a group's lineup of musicians can affect the way presenters view and market them.

* Sibling Revelry, the cabaret show featuring sisters Ann Hampton Callaway and Liz Callaway that played last week at Jazz St. Louis, was reviewed by KDHX's Chuck Lavazzi.

* "The Moon Is Ours Tonight," a new song written and recorded on commission by singer Erin Bode with multi-instrumentalist Viktor Krauss, was the subject of a feature on KSDK's Show Me St. Louis.

* Saxophonist, music educator and St. Louis native Keith Fiddmont (pictured) will conduct the Santa Monica College Jazz Band in a concert "dedicated to the music contributed to the jazz lexicon by musicians from St. Louis, Missouri" on Sunday, October 21 at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica, CA. The band will perform compositions by Clark Terry, Ernie Wilkins, Oliver Nelson and Miles Davis.

* The Baylor Project, led by drummer Marcus Baylor and singer Jean Baylor, is featured in the first episode of "Live From The Lobby," a new video series from JustJazzTV

* As recounted in a story from Washington University's news service, Holmes Lounge, which is the venue for the university's Jazz at Holmes series of free concerts, recently was refurbished with new furniture and carpeting.

* Nottelmann Music has started a blog and a podcast with content aimed at music educators in the St. Louis area, with both audio and text pieces compiled on a single page for easy access.

* Get It How You Live, the recent album release from trumpeter Russell Gunn's Royal Krunk Jazz Orchestra, was reviewed by JazzWeekly.com.

* Audri Bartholomew, a former student in Jazz St. Louis' JazzU program who's now attending Milliken University, is a contestant on this season of the NBC TV series The Voice.

* AllAboutJazz.com is polling readers on the "Top 100 Jazz Venues" for 2018, and you can cast a ballot here.

Jazz this week: Ann Hampton Callaway & Liz Callaway, Alex Mercado Trio, Dave Venn & Jeanne Trevor, Moon Hooch, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features two sisters singing in an intimate cabaret show; two noteworthy pianists; an improvising trio with a danceable sound bridging multiple genres; and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, September 26
Singer and longtime St. Louis favorite Ann Hampton Callaway returns with her sister, singer Liz Callaway, to perform their cabaret show "Sibling Revelry" for the first of two nights at Jazz St. Louis. 

The Callaways (pictured, top left) will do one set each on Wednesday and Thursday, plus a "coffee concert" on Thursday morning.

Also on Wednesday, the "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features singer Wendy Gordon and friends at The Stage at KDHX, a jam session at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's band at The Dark Room.

Thursday, September 27
Saxophonist Ben Reece's Unity Quartet returns to The Dark Room; singer Joe Mancuso and friends will perform at 50/Fifty Kitchen; and students from Washington University's Jazz Performance Program will present a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

Friday, 
September 28
Two veterans of the storied Gaslight Square era will be back in the spotlight as pianist Dave Venn trio and singer Jeanne Trevor will perform for the first of two nights at Jazz St. Louis.

Also on Friday night, pianist Alex Mercado, one of the top jazz musicians in Mexico, makes his St. Louis debut in a late-night concert at the  Kranzberg Arts Center.

Here at the end of a brief Midwest tour, Mercado (pictured, center left) will be backed by Rodrigo Villanueva on drums and St. Louis' own Bob DeBoo on bass. You can find out more about Mercado and see some examples of his playing on video in this post from last Saturday.

Elswhere around town, singer Erin Bode performs at the Jacoby Arts Center; pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True with saxophonist Larry Johnson will play at the Ozark Theatre; and drummer Montez Coleman's band takes the stage for the late show at The Dark Room.

Saturday, September 29
Urban Chestnut Brewing's Oktoberfest St. Louis will feature free live music throughout the afternoon and evening from bands including Tonina Saputo, The People's Key, St. Boogie Brass Band, Jesse Gannon, Lamar Harris and more.

Also on Saturday, bassist Darrell Mixon leads a trio at Troy's Jazz Gallery, and saxophonist Dave Stone's trio returns to Thurman's in Shaw.

Sunday, 
September 30
Pianists Dave Becherer and Ryan Marquez will team up in a dual-keyboard performance for brunch at The Dark Room, and percussionist Herman Semidey and Orquestra Son Montuno will play a matinee at the Ozark Theatre.

Then on Sunday night, the funky, genre-busting saxophones-and-drums trio Moon Hooch (pictured, bottom left) returns for a show at the Old Rock House. Currently in the middle of a tour that runs through mid-November, they've also released an EP, Light It Up, since their last appearance here a year ago.

Tuesday, October 2
A new version of 1990s swing revivalists Squirrel Nut Zippers, led by founding member Jimbo Mathus, will perform at Delmar Hall.

Also on Tuesday, the Tick Tock Jazz Band will play traditional jazz for their monthly gig at the Tick Tock Tavern.

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: 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)

Jazz this week: Ann Hampton Callaway, Erik Friedlander's Black Phebe Trio, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes the return of a popular singer, the local debut of a challenging trio of improvisors, a tribute to a beloved big band trumpeter and bandleader, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, March 15
Longtime St. Louis favorite Ann Hampton Callaway returns for the first time for the first of four nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

Callaway (pictured, top left) was here most recently last summer to do a one-nighter for the St. Louis Cabaret Festival. As a bonus for local fans, her engagement this time will feature former St. Louisan Reggie Thomas, now head of the jazz program at Northern Illinois University, accompanying her on piano.

In addition to her evening performances, she'll also be doing a coffee concert on Thursday morning, and a free, informal lunchtime "conversation" at noon on Friday at the Bistro.

Also on Wednesday, the weekly jam session at @Nesby's in South County hosted by pianist Curt Landes, bassist Glen Smith and drummer Chuck Kennedy, gets a new, later starting time (7:00 p.m.); and Cabaret St. Louis will present their final "Open Mic Night" at the current location, The Emerald Room at The Monocle. The group hopes to continue the monthly series at a new venue yet to be determined.

Thursday, March 16
Cellist Erik Friedlander's Black Phebe Trio (pictured, center left) will play a concert presented by New Music Circle at The Stage at KDHX.

The group features Friedlander, keyboardist Shoko Nagai, and percussionist Satoshi Takeishi, and you can find out more about them and see some video in this post from last Saturday.

Also on Thursday, 1990s swing revivalists Big Bad Voodoo Daddy play at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and pianist Adam Maness' trio will be back at Thurman's in Shaw.

Friday, March 17
Drummer Marty Morrison will be back in town to lead a trio at Cigar Inn; percussionist Herman Semidey and Orquesta Son Montuno will play salsa, Latin jazz and more at Club Viva; and saxophonist Tim Cunningham performs at Troy's Jazz Gallery.

Saturday, March 18
Pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True with saxophonist Larry Johnson will play at the house concert venue Kinda Blue Club, and trumpeter/vibraphonist Joe Bozzi will perform at Evangeline's.

Sunday, March 19
The Jim Widner Big Band will present a "Tribute to Maynard Ferguson" at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

Monday, March 20
Jazz St. Louis doesn't often book touring headliners early in the week, but next week will be an exception, as percussionist Poncho Sanchez (pictured, bottom left) will check in on Monday for the first of two nights at the Bistro.

The popular Latin jazz performer, who last played here in November 2015, was a late addition to the previously announced spring schedule at the Bistro, so tickets still may be available for all shows, but in any case, advance reservations are suggested.  

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.)

Jazz this week: St. Louis Cabaret Festival, Houston Person & Montez Coleman, New Orleans Jazz Vipers, and more

As yr. humble StLJN editor this week has been both swamped with paying-gig-type work and plagued by various equipment malfunctions, and this post is already late, this intro will be both mercifully brief and without embellishment.

Here are some of the more noteworthy jazz and creative music performances happening in and around St. Louis over the next few days: 

Wednesday, July 20
Saxophonist and East St. Louis native Andre Delano, now based on the West Coast, is back in town for a visit and will perform with Good 4 The Soul at The Lux.

Also tonight, the St. Louis Cabaret Festival gets underway with Broadway star Faith Prince and actor/singer Jason Graae performing at the Sheldon Concert Hall. For more about the festival and video samples of the headling performers, see this Saturday video post from a couple of weeks ago.

Elsewhere around town, singer Erin Bode will perform a free concert (weather permitting) for the Whitaker Music Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden; the Liberation Organ Trio plays at Evangeline's; and the New Orleans Jazz Vipers, featuring former St. Louisans Charlie Halloran on trombone and Chloe Feoranzo on clarinet will perform on a double-bill with Feoranzo's old band, the Sidney Street Shakers, at Foam.

The Vipers' gig is the first of four this week in St. Louis for the band, with shows to follow on Thursday at Joe's Cafe, Friday at Focal Point, and Saturday afternoon at the Blues City Deli. For more about that, see Terry Perkins' article about Halloran, Feorenzo and the band posted yesterday on the website of Alive! magazine.

Thursday, July 21
The St. Louis Cabaret Festival continues with singer Marilyn Maye (pictured, top left), her special guest Ann Hampton Callaway, and pianists Billy Stritch and Tedd Firth at the Sheldon Concert Hall. For more on  what the four of them have planned, listen to Maye and Callaway's interview from yesterday on St. Louis Public Radio.

Also on Thursday, trumpeter Danny Campbell leads a quartet in a free "Jazz in July" show for the Jazz at Holmes series at the Tisch Commons of Danforth University Center on the Washington University campus; and guitarist Brian Vaccaro and his trio will play at The Pat Connolly Tavern.

Friday, July 22
The St. Louis Cabaret Festival continues with pianist and singer Tony DeSare at the Sheldon, while over on the other side of Grand Ave, the veteran tenor saxophonist Houston Person (pictured, lower left) will be in town as a special guest soloist with drummer Montez Coleman's band as they undertake two nights of performances at Jazz at the Bistro. You can find out more about Coleman's shows in a preview story written by the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson

Also on Friday, Second Generation Swing will play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and trumpeter and singer Dawn Weber performs in a free outdoor concert as part of the summer series at 370 Lakeside Park in St. Peters.

Saturday, July 23
Singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black will celebrate the release of their new duo CD with a performance at the Kranzberg Arts Center; bassist Bob DeBoo brings his trio to The Dark Room; saxophonist Tim Cunningham will be playing soul jazz and R&B at @Nesby's; and Miss Jubilee will offer up danceable swing, jump blues and more at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Sunday, July 24
The Coleman Hughes Project will play an early evening show at The Rustic Goat; the Ambassadors of Swing return to Kirkwood Station Brewing Company; and the St. Louis Cabaret Festival wraps up with a final celebration and showcase of students from the coterminous St. Louis Cabaret Conference at the Ferring Jazz 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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: 2016 St. Louis Cabaret Festival

This week, it's time to take a look at some of the performers who will part of the 2016 St. Louis Cabaret Festival, which will feature performances by touring headliners on Wednesday, July 20; Thursday, July 21; and Friday, July 22 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

(A final performance on Sunday, July 24 at the Ferring Jazz Bistro will showcase participants from the St. Louis Cabaret Conference, an annual week-long event that encompasses the festival as well as daily educational programming for both aspiring and experienced cabaret performers, professional development, networking, and more.)

This year's festival will feature return appearances by several performers who have been well-received in years past, including longtime St. Louis favorite Ann Hampton Callaway and Kansas native Marilyn Maye, the amazingly spry 88-year-old who's been called the "grande dame of cabaret." They'll both be featured along with pianists Billy Stritch and Tedd Firth on Thursday night's show, titled "Marilyn Maye and her Piano Men".

Also returning for an encore appearance will be Broadway star Faith Prince, who was part of the event in 2014. This year, she'll team up with singer and actor Jason Graae on Wednesday night for "The Prince and the Showboy," which they first did together in 2012 in New York City.

New to the event in 2016 is singer and pianist Tony DeSare, who will be featured on Friday night. Though this is his first year as part of the Cabaret Festival, DeSare has played in St. Louis before, in 2007 at the Bistro and in 2011 at the Sheldon. You can see him in the first video up above, singing "Baby Dream Your Dream," a song from the Broadway musical Sweet Charity, at a gig in March of this year in Las Vegas.

After the jump, you can see DeSare performing his original song "Chemistry" in a recording made at the same Las Vegas gig.

Below that, there are a couple of examples of impromptu interaction between Ann Hampton Callaway and Marilyn Maye, as they're featured in two audience-made clips (one from 2010, the other undated) improvising a bit of blues and playing around with "Our Love Is Here To Stay".

(For more videos of Maye and Callaway, together and separately, plus a clip of Billy Stritch, see StLJN's preview of the 2014 fest. There also are a couple of nice clips of Maye in the preview post from 2015.)

You'll also find a couple of videos of Faith Prince in that 2014 post, and you can see her and Jason Graae in today's fifth clip, which excerpts from and promotes the NYC run of "The Prince and the Showboy".

Last but not least, the sixth and final video features Tedd Firth playing a solo piano version of "When A Woman Loves A Man," a song recorded by both Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holliday, as well as many others.

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

Jazz this week: St. Louis Cabaret Festival, Bull of Heaven, "All That Tap XXIII," and more

Though the dog days of August are looming nigh, it's a busy week for live jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with local festivals representing two different branches of jazz-related performance, a rare live gig from a much-talked-about experimental music duo, and a whole lot more. Let's go the highlights...

Tonight, Broadway star Faith Prince kicks off the St. Louis Cabaret Festival with a performance of her show "Have A Little Faith" at the Sheldon ballroom. Produced by Cabaret Project of St. Louis, the festival takes place in conjunction with their annual St. Louis Cabaret Conference. You can read more about it and see some video of Prince and the festival's other headliners in this post from last Saturday.

Tomorrow, the Cabaret Festival continues with longtime St. Louis favorite Ann Hampton Callaway (pictured) presenting "The Streisand Songbook" at the Sheldon.

Also on Thursday, pianist Kara Baldus, bassist Eric Stiller and drummer Kyle Honeycutt will play a free concert to wrap up Washington University's summer Jazz at Holmes series, which is being staged at Tisch Commons in the Danforth University Center; and the Tavern of Fine Arts will present their monthly "Experimental Arts Open Improv Night" with live improvised music.

On Friday, the Cabaret Festival presents a double bill at the Sheldon, with pianist and singer Billy Stritch opening with his own show entitled "I've Got Your Number: The Jazz of Cy Coleman" and then accompanying singer Marilyn Maye for her headlining set. Given Maye's status as one of the reigning grande dames of cabaret, this seems a likely sellout, so if you're interested in going, advance reservations would be a must.

Fortunately, if you can't get tickets in time, there will be plenty of St. Louis jazz vocal talent on display around town on Friday, too, as Miss Jubilee plays a free show at the St. Louis Art Museum; Wendy Gordon and pianist Arthur Toney return to DeLeo's Cafe & Deli; the Ann Dueren Trio performs at Il Bel Lago; and Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will be swinging at Evangeline's. And should you be out west in Union, MO, you can catch singer Joe Mancuso's quartet at Domenic's Ristorante and Social Club (membership in la familia not required.).

On Saturday, the Cabaret Festival wraps up with the St. Louis Cabaret Conference Showcase at the Kranzberg Arts Center, featuring performances from a roster of up-and-coming singers in town to take part in the conference.

That same evening, the spotlight shines on yet another part of the jazz diaspora as the annual St. Louis Tap Festival comes to a conclusion with "All That Tap XXIII", presented this year at the Edison Theatre.

Pianist Carolbeth True's trio will provide the music for a lineup of dancers including the festival's founder, Robert L. Reed; Emmy Award-winning choreographer Jason Samuels Smith; dancer and author Karen Callaway Williams; the Israeli dance team of Avi Miller and Ofer Ben; Reed’s protégé Logan Miller; multi-media choreographer Bob Audy; Evan Ruggiero; Maud and Chloe Arnold, who were featured on this past season of the Fox network's So You Think You Can Dance; Martin 'Tre' Dumas III; and Megan Maltos.

Elsewhere around town on Saturday, the experimental duo Bull of Heaven will be in town for a rare live performance at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center. As much a conceptual art project as a performing unit, Bull of Heaven reportedly have released hundreds of thousands of hours of audio since being formed in 2006, including individual "songs" that are hundreds of hours long, as well as "music puzzles" using some of the peculiarities and specifics of digital technology to deliver unexpected results. For a bit more about them, and links to interviews with the group's members, see this post.

And if all that's not enough for one Saturday night, the Funky Butt Brass Band will be making a comparatively rare non-holiday appearance at Off Broadway; and singer Tony Viviano will present his "Tony Bennett 88th Birthday Tribute" at Four Seasons Winery in Chesterfield.

On Sunday, the Friends of Scott Joplin will host their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site; singers Mary Dyson and Dianne Vaughn will be this week's guest stars with saxophonist Willie Akins' quartet at Troy's Jazz Gallery; and guitarist Dave Black will play at Pomme Cafe & Wine Bar.

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: St. Louis Cabaret Festival

Today, let's take a look at some video clips featuring the stars of next week's St. Louis Cabaret Festival. The festival is produced by Cabaret Project of St. Louis, and takes place in conjunction with their annual St. Louis Cabaret Conference, a week-long event offering educational programs, professional development, networking, and so on for cabaret performers, both established and aspiring.

In the first video up above, Marilyn Maye, the Kansas native whose show business career spans parts of seven decades, performs a medley of songs by Johnny Mercer with Ted Firth (piano) and Steve Doyle (bass), recorded in June 2009 at Birdland in NYC.

Maye will co-headline a concert with pianist and singer Billy Stritch on Friday, August 1 at the Sheldon Concert Hall's upstairs ballroom.After the jump, you can see her, backed by Stritch on piano, in an undated but fairly recent clip singing "My Man."

Next, while online videos featuring Stritch as a solo performer do not seem to be in plentiful supply, we were able to find one of him singing and playing "I've Got the World on a String" and "I've Got Rhythm" at an awards show way back in 1999.

(You also can see a full hour of Maye and Stritch together right here in St. Louis courtesy of HEC-TV's I Love Jazz, which devoted a whole episode to them in September 2013 that, alas, cannot be embedded.)

Below that, there's a video tribute filmed at Birdland on the occasion of Maye's 85th birthday. Depending on your interest in the minutiae of NYC's cabaret and theater scenes, you may or may not want to watch the whole thing, but definitely check out the first part featuring a brief improvised blues duet between Maye and another of the festival's performers, longtime St. Louis favorite Ann Hampton Callaway.

Callaway has been a regular visitor here over the last decade and a half, and she'll be back at the Sheldon next Thursday, July 31, performing an evening of songs associated with Barbra Streisand.

You can see Callaway in the fifth clip teaming up with Maye again for an impromptu version of "It Had to be You" recorded in 2010 at a benefit gala for the Heartland Men's Chorus in Kansas City, and below that, there's a video compiling some highlights of her Streisand show.

The festival's final headliner, singer and actress Faith Prince, is represented by the final two clips. Although Prince is a well-known regular on Broadway thanks to starring roles in shows like Guys and Dolls, Bells Are Ringing and Annie, there seems to be essentially no online video of her performing in a cabaret setting.

So instead, we close out today with a clip of Prince singing "Adelaide's Lament" from Guys and Dolls on a 2001 TV special; and an interview she recorded for the program "Show People With Paul Wontorek."

For more about the St. Louis Cabaret Festival, you can hear Callaway and Cabaret Project of St. Louis' Tim Schall in this interview recorded Friday for the "Cityscape" program on KWMU (90.7 FM).

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

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Next Monday's episode of KETC's Living St. Louis will include an update from reporter Ruth Ezell and Jazz St. Louis executive director Gene Dobbs Bradford on the renovation and expansion of Jazz at the Bistro.

The program is broadcast at 7:00 p.m. Mondays on Channel 9; for cable or satellite channels, check your TV provider's program guide.

* There's a brief new interview with saxophonist David Sanborn posted on PledgeMusic.com. Sanborn is using the crowd-funding service to raise money for his next album, which reunites him with bassist Marcus Miller in the studio for the first time in 15 years.

* Voting is now underway in Down Beat magazine's 79th annual reader's poll. You can cast your vote for your favorite musicians, bands, and recordings here.

* Prestige Records' crop of jazz vinyl reissues hitting the shelves this week includes Miles Davis' The Musings Of Miles, originally released as Davis' very first 12" LP in 1955. The Davis LP (pictured) is one of 16 "classic" Prestige albums that will be reissued in conjunction with the label's 65th anniversary.

* Speaking of vinyl reissues, yet another new deluxe edition of Davis' Kind of Blue was reviewed by London Jazz News.

* And speaking of Davis, drummer and producer Anu Sun teased a tantalizing tidbit on Twitter this week about trumpeter and St. Louis native Keyon Harrold and the soundtrack of Miles Ahead, Don Cheadle's film about Davis that's shooting now in Cincinnati: "Got @robertglasper & @keyonharrold in the studio working on the score for the Miles Davis movie. #FunTimes"

* Singer and pianist Ann Hampton Callaway's performance at the upcoming St. Louis Cabaret Festival is previewed by Hannah Botney of the Vital Voice.

* On a related note, actress and singer Faith Prince, who also will be performing during the Cabaret Festival, was a guest on the latest episode of KDHX's "Break A Leg".

* The blog Music Taster's Choice has a short review and some photos of a recent performance by Miss Jubilee at the Blues City Deli.

* Jazz radio update: This Saturday night on Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis' “Somethin’ Else,” host Calvin Wilson will present "Ladies with Verve," spinning tracks recorded by singers Abbey Lincoln, Shirley Horn and Betty Carter late in their careers for the Verve label.

"Somethin' Else" can be heard at 8:00 p.m. Saturdays on 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.

Then on Sunday, KWMU's "Jazz Unlimited" will be re-broadcasting part three of host Dennis Owsley's ten-part documentary on the history of St. Louis jazz. The episode, covering World War II and the aftermath, features recordings from the period plus interviews with Miles Davis, Clark Terry, Eddie Randle, Ernie Wilkins, and Charlie Menees, the first jazz DJ in St. Louis.

"Jazz Unlimited" is broadcast from 9:00 p.m. to midnight Sundays on KWMU (90.7 FM), and also can be heard online at http://www.news.stlpublicradio.org/.

St. Louis Cabaret Festival announces 2014 schedule

The Cabaret Project of St. Louis has announced the lineup of performers for their 2014 St. Louis Cabaret Festival, which will take place Wednesday, July 30 through Saturday, August 2 with performances in Sheldon Concert Hall's third floor ballroom and at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

Popular Broadway performer Faith Prince gets the festivities started with her show "Have A Little Faith" at 8:00 p.m.,Wednesday, July 30 at the Sheldon. Prince is best known for starring in recent hit revivals of Guys and Dolls and Annie, and will make her St. Louis debut as a solo cabaret performer with this show.

Next up is longtime local favorite Ann Hampton Callaway (pictured), who will present "The Streisand Songbook" at 8:00 p.m., Thursday, July 31 at the Sheldon.

Then on Friday, August 1, there's a double-header of sorts starting at 8:00 p.m. at the Sheldon, as singer and pianist Billy Stritch first will perform a solo show, "I've Got Your Number: The Jazz of Cy Coleman," and then accompany singer Marilyn Maye for her set, titled simply "An Evening With Marilyn Maye."

The festival closes with the annual St. Louis Cabaret Conference Showcase, in which 30 singers attending  the concurrently held conference will have the opportunity to perform at 7:00 p.m. Saturday, August 2 at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

Tickets for the 2014 St. Louis Cabaret Festival are from $40 to $75 for the Sheldon performances; $25 for the final night's Cabaret Conference Showcase; and are on sale now via Metrotix.

Jazz this week: Ann Hampton Callaway, Nevermore Jazz Ball, Trombone Shorty, and more

This week's highlights in jazz and creative music include the return to St. Louis of a singer, songwriter and pianist who's been a longtime local favorite, and a funky New Orleans trombonist who's rapidly becoming one, plus a weekend-long event that attracts swing dancers from around the country, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

On Wednesday, the aforementioned singer, songwriter and pianist Ann Hampton Callaway opens a four-night engagement continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro.

Callaway (pictured) has played St. Louis many times before, most recently in March 2011 at the Bistro, and has a substantial and loyal fan base here. This time, she'll be showcasing material from her forthcoming CD From Sassy to Divine: A Celebration of Sarah Vaughan, which is scheduled for release next year. Given Callaway's continued popularity in St. Louis, advance reservations are strongly suggested.

Tomorrow night, the weekend-long Nevermore Jazz Ball kicks off with a "welcome" evening of music from Wack-A-Doo at the Schlafly Brewery & Tap Room. The ball continues with more dances, classes, contests and other activities through Sunday; read on for more about the other musical performances.

Also on Thursday, singer Denise Thimes will present her annual benefit for the Mildred Thimes Foundation, performing the music of the late Phyllis Hyman at the Sheldon Concert Hall; multi-instrumentalist Jeff Anderson, concentrating on tenor sax for the evening, leads a quartet in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; and Sandy Weltman will showcase his virtuoso skills in a harmonica workshop at Mozingo Music in O'Fallon.

On Friday, the Nevermore Jazz Ball gets going in earnest with an afternoon performance from singer-guitarist Tommy Halloran at City Museum and an evening of dancing to music from Miss Jubliee at the Casa Loma Ballroom. Also on Friday, singer Wendy Gordon performs at DeLeo's Café & Deli, 2782 N. Lindbergh; drummer Robert Tucker leads a quartet at Robbie's House of Jazz; guitarist Tom Byrne brings his trio to Thurman Grill; and singer Zena Star will hold forth at the Cigar Inn.

On Saturday afternoon, the Nevermore Jazz Ball will present the Cherokee Street Jazz Crawl, a free, open-to-the-public event featuring nine different St. Louis bands and soloists playing at venues and businesses along a stretch of Cherokee St, from roughly the 2300 block up to the 2800 block. Participating performers and locations this year include Saxquest’s nine-piece jazz orchestra at Saxquest; Tommy Halloran’s Guerrilla Swing at Retro 101; Miss Jubilee at Foam; Tom Hall at Scarlett Garnet Jewelry; Wack-A-Doo at Black Bear Bakery; Devil’s Dream at I Scream Cakes; Swing Deville at MELT; the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars at Blank Space; plus the Saint Boogie Brass Band, who presumably will be roaming about. 

The ball continues on Saturday evening with another dance featuring trumpeter and pianist Ben Polcer’s Nevermore Jazz Band at Casa Loma, plus a late night event at the Grandel Theatre featuring banjo player Jake Sanders' Arcadian Serenaders.

Elsewhere around town on Saturday, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will play swing, traditional jazz and jump blues at Malle's, 3506 Hampton Ave; and pianist Carolbeth True brings the quartet version of her band Two Times True to Robbie's House of Jazz. That same evening, singer Ann Dueren's trio is at Il Bel Lago; and saxophonist and percussionist "Raven Wolf" C. Felton Jennings II will team up with poet Dwight Bitikofer and some other friends to play the Stone Spiral Coffee House.

On Sunday, Kirkwood United Church of Christ continues its monthly "Inner Jazz" series with the Oikos Ensemble, led by saxophonist Rev. Cliff Aerie and this month featuring guest singer Kim Fuller. Later that evening, the Nevermore Jazz Ball concludes with a final performance from Ben Polcer and band at 2720 Cherokee.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday New Orleans' own Trombone Shorty (aka Troy Andrews) will be back in town with his band Orleans Avenue to play at the Old Rock House. For more about Shorty and lots of video of him and the band in action, please see this post from last Saturday.

Also on Monday, percussionist Joe Pastor's trio returns to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups; and music students from Webster University will be doubly busy, as the student jazz combos present another free performance at the Community Music School, while the singers involved in the cabaret program will have their annual showcase and benefit at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

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: Fall 2013 jazz preview, part 4

Today, it's part 4 of StLJN's Fall 2013 jazz preview, in which we offer video samples of the various jazz and creative musicians coming to our town before the end of the year. (Here's part one, part two, and part three.)

Our preview resumes at the beginning of November with guitarist Peter Bernstein, who will be appearing with pianist Peter Martin on Saturday, November 2 at the Sheldon Concert Hall as part of Martin's eponymous concert series there. Bernstein, whose notable credits include stints with Diana Krall, Lou Donaldson, the all-star Blue Note 7, and many others, is seen in the first clip up above playing "Penthouse Serenade" in June 2012 at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music.

Down below, the next clip offers a look at trumpeter and pianist Ben Polcer, who will be leading the band providing music for this year's Nevermore Jazz Ball Saturday night dance, also on November 2. Polcer, who lives in New Orleans, will assemble a group specifically for the St. Louis gig; he's seen here with the band known as His Swingin' Six, including vocalist Mischa Lake, performing "24 Robbers."

The following week, singer and pianist Ann Hampton Callaway returns to St. Louis to perform Wednesday, November 6 through Saturday, November 9 at Jazz at the Bistro. Callaway, who last played the Bistro in 2011, is seen here in the studios of KPLU radio in Seattle, improvising song lyrics based on words and phrases suggested by the audience, which on this occasion included "sunshine in Seattle," "home for wayward girls," "basketball" and "snuffleupagus."

A couple of days later, Trombone Shorty and his band Orleans Avenue return to St. Louis to play Monday, November 11 at the Old Rock House. Shorty, aka Troy Andrews, last played here for the Bluesweek festival in May; in this clip, you can see him performing "Big 12."

Next up, it's violinist Regina Carter, who's returning to play Wednesday, November 20 throguh Saturday November 23 at Jazz at the Bistro. When she was here to play the Bistro a couple of years ago, Carter performed with the the band from her album Reverse Thread, with whom she can be seen here playing “Zerapiky,” a folk song from Madagascar. The quartet for this fall tour includes the drummer from that band, Alvester Garnett, as well as pianist Xavier Davis and bassist Jesse Murphy, which, absent Reverse Thread's accordion and kora, suggests at least a partial return to a more straight-ahead sound.

The week after Carter is town, trumpeter, singer and U City native Jeremy Davenport will return home from new Orleans to play his annual post-Thanksgiving dates here on Friday November 29 and Saturday, November 30 at Jazz at the Bistro. In today's sixth clip, shot by an audience member at the French Quarter Festival in April of this year, Davenport offers his version of the standard "Bourbon Street Parade."

The following week, guitarist Pat Martino will play Wednesday, December 4 through Saturday, December 7 at the Bistro. Martino, who's been to St. Louis many times and last played the Bistro in 2010, is seen in the sixth clip performing Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight" earlier this year at a jazz festival in Salerno, Italy.

The next show on the calendar is a bit harder to preview, as pianist Marc Copland, bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Joey Baron aren't really a regular working unit and thus there's no video online of them all playing together. So, to give you at least taste of what to expect when they join forces to play Friday, December 6 at 560 Music Center, we've got two clips. The first features Copland and guitarist John Abercrombie dueting on "Speak to Me" at a concert last year in Vienna; the second is a profile of Baron, produced for German television.

Today's final video features two more musicians who should be quite familiar to local audiences, singer/guitarist John Pizzarelli, who's done more gigs here in the last decade than just about any other touring jazz musician, and his dad, the legendary guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli. For this visit to our town, the Pizzarellis will team up for performances on Wednesday, December 18 through Saturday, December 21 at Jazz at the Bistro. The video is a short feature story about them, with musical excerpts, produced by a New Jersey public TV station and filmed at the Shanghai Jazz Club in Madison, NJ.

Jazz this week: Ann Hampton Callaway, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Peter Henderson and more

This week's calendar of jazz and creative music events in St. Louis offers another varied selection of styles, from swinging jazz in a mainstream groove to eccentric, electric fusion to cabaret to contemporary avant-garde concert music. Let's go the highlights, presented as usual in chronological order:

Tonight, singer, songwriter and pianist Ann Hampton Callaway (pictured) opens a four-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro. Callaway has performed in St. Louis many times, most recently in 2009 for a benefit at the Contemporary Art Museum. According to this interview she did with the P-D's Calvin Wilson, this time out she'll be singing material from her most recent CD and also performing some new arrangements.

Tomorrow night, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey returns to St. Louis for the first time in a decade to play at Cicero's. For more about this eclectic quartet from Tulsa, see this post from last Saturday. (I also spoke last week with JFJO keyboardist and founding member Brian Haas for an interview that will go up soon on the RFT's A to Z music blog, and will add a link here to that post once it's online.)

Also on Thursday, pianist Carobeth True and Two Times True (which she co-leads with her son, drummer David True) will play a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; and Erin Bode will perform at Cyrano's in Webster Groves.

On Friday, singer Katie McGrath will start a two night run at the Kranzberg Arts Center under the auspices of the Presenters Dolan. McGrath's show "The Underside of Love" includes songs composers such as Stephen Sondheim, Judy Collins, Peter Gabriel, Cole Porter and Leon Redbone, and was directed by Tim Schall, with Rick Jensen as music director.

Also on Friday, pianist Curt Landes leads his trio, with featured guest singer Mary Dyson, at Robbie's House of Jazz.

On Saturday, pianist Peter Henderson will perform at Christ Church Cathedral in a concert sponsored by New Music Circle. Henderson, who specializes in performing contemporary works, will play Frederic Rzewski's "The People United Will Never Be Defeated!" and "24 Studies in African Rhythms" by Fred Onovwerosuoke, founder of the St. Louis African Chorus. Onovwerosuoke, who was raised in Ghana and Nigeria and moved to St. Louis in 1994, will be on hand to introduce his piece.

If you're in the mood from something more straight ahead on Saturday, the fine trumpeter Randy Holmes and his quartet will be returning that evening to Robbie's.

On Sunday, there's the April edition of the monthly jam session with saxophonist Jason Swagler and guitarist Eric Slaughter's trio at Bossanova Restaurant & Lounge in Alton. Also on Sunday, BB's Jazz Blues and Soups has funk and R&B-infused sounds from Good 4 The Soul in the early evening and Latin jazz from Ritmo Caliente later on.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Tuesday bassist Bob Deboo will lead a quartet with saxophonist Willie Akins, pianist Ptah Williams and drummer DeMarius Hicks in a a couple of early evening sets. They'll be there from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Tuesdays for an open-ended run, and Deboo tells StLJN that they're also doing some live recording.

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.)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The Riverfront Times has a slideshow of photos from last week's concert by Galactic at The Pageant, courtesy of photographer Jon Gitchoff

* Hamiet Bluiett talked with the St. Louis American's Chris King for an article about his Big Orchestra Band, Youth Division, which plays this Saturday afternoon at the Metropolitan Gallery for the Nu-Art Series.

* Singer/songwriter and pianist Ann Hampton Callaway (pictured) will be in town next week to perform at Jazz at the Bistro, and the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson has an interview with her here.

* Over on St. Louis magazine's Look/Listen blog, Stefene Russell interviewed pianist Kara Baldus Vandiver about her upcoming concert of music associated with Bill Evans, which is scheduled Thursday, April 7 for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

* St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts (VLAA) will continue their seminar series for individual artists with a presentation on band partnership agreements at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, March 28 at the Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar. Presenters will include attorneys Andrew Scavotto of Stinson Morrison Hecker and Chris Coleman of RubinBrown, with "ripped from the headlines stories provided by Loren Wells, creator of The Discography: Legal Encyclopedia of Popular Music." The registration fee is $10 in advance, $15 at the door. For more information, call 314-863-6930 or visit VLAA’s website.

* Record Store Day 2011 is set for Saturday, April 16, and yr. humble StLJN editor actually will be playing a small supporting part this year, as Vintage Vinyl has invited me to DJ at their store for an hour as part of the daylong celebration of independent record sellers across the USA.

I'll be spinning the platters that matter and stacks of hot wax from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. that day at VV , and they and their fellow local indie music retailers have a full menu of activities scheduled, with guest DJs, live bands, limited-edition releases, special pricing, and more. The RFT's Annie Zaleski has a roundup of all the Record Store Day festivities in St. Louis here.

Notes from the Net: "First times" with Miles; Oliver Lake's new CD; Boney James on the mend; plus news, reviews, interviews and more

Here's the latest compilation of assorted news briefs and links related to jazz, improvisation, and creative music in St. Louis, including news of musicians originally from the Gateway City, recent visitors, and coming attractions, plus assorted other items of interest:

* Starting off, as is our custom, with a Miles Davis item, NPR's A Blog Supreme recently asked readers "What Was Your First Miles Davis Album"? and got "nearly 1,000 replies on NPR's Facebook page; 103 replies here on A Blog Supreme (an astronomical amount for us) and hundreds of tweets and re-tweets." The number one intro-to-Miles album was, unsurprisingly, Kind of Blue, which remains the best selling jazz album of all time; the runner-up was Bitches Brew, which is getting a 40th anniversary re-release this year.

* In news of other St. Louis natives, saxophonist Greg Osby will headline a live webcast for NPR's "Live at the Village Vanguard" program on Tuesday, August 3. (Episodes are archived online for later listening, too.)

* Saxophonist Oliver Lake (pictured) has a new CD called Plan featuring his Organ Trio with keyboardist Jared Gold, trumpeter Freddie Hendrix and drummer Jonathan Blake. Here's a review from Music and More blogger Tim Niland, who calls it "a very exciting and constantly compelling album."

* Turning to news of recent visitors, guitarist Jeff Beck, who played St. Louis' Fox Theatre in April, this week led a tribute to guitarist and inventor Les Paul at the intimate NYC club Iridium, where Paul had a steady Monday night gig for many years right up until his death in 2009. Here's another review, written by Bill Milkowski for Jazz Times.

* Meanwhile, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, last seen here in March at the Sheldon Concert Hall, have headed across the Atlantic for a tour that includes four concerts in Berlin, three in London, and five in other UK cities.

* Singer and pianist Jamie Cullum, who also was in St. Louis in March to play the Roberts Orpheum Theatre, will be one of the headliners at the Carefusion Newport Jazz Festival in August.

* Saxophonist Peter Brötzmann and percussionist Hamid Drake have a new eponymous duo CD, reviewed here by "Stef" of the blog Free Jazz. Their recent duo tour, the first in more than a decade, included a stop in April at St. Louis' Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center.

* As if he wasn't busy enough already, bassist Christian McBride is producing and playing on vibraphonist Warren Wolf's debut CD for Mack Avenue Records. McBride revealed on his Twitter feed that recent sessions in NYC also included drummer Greg Hutchinson, saxophonist Tim Green and, on piano, St. Louis' own Peter Martin, all of whom also have been associated with McBride's Inside Straight band. Last seen here in November at Jazz at the Bistro, McBride will play a duo concert with Martin in September at the Sheldon, and will return again next year in March for a Ray Brown tribute at the Bistro.

* Speaking of return engagements, trumpeter Chris Botti, who will return to St. Louis in February 2011 for a concert at Powell Hall with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, will perform next week at NYC's Carnegie Hall for the CareFusion Jazz Festival New York. Botti also will play the CareFusion Newport Jazz Festival in August.

* Singer, pianist and songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway, who's coming back to the Gateway City next March to play at the Bistro, recently did a duo show with her sister, Broadway and cabaret performer Liz Callaway, at Town Hall in NYC. The program featured their interpretations of pop hits from the 1960s and 1970s; here's the review from the New York Times' Stephen Holden.

* Saxophonist Gerald Albright has a new CD, Pushing The Envelope, on sale next week. The funk-flavored release features special guest appearances by Fred Wesley on trombone, Earl Klugh on acoustic guitar and George Duke on acoustic piano, along with keyboardists Tracy Carter and Luther "Mano" Hanes, guitarist Ricky Watford and drummer Ricky Lawson. Albright is out on the road this summer with the Guitars and Saxes tour, which hits The Pageant in St. Louis on Friday, August 13.

* Singer Tierney Sutton was one of the headliners at last week's Isthmus Jazz Festival in Madison, WI, resulting in this interview with the local magazine that sponsored the event. Sutton will be back in St. Louis in October to play the Sheldon.

* Saxophonist Chris Potter has put online some free live music from his band Underground, via the website ArtistShare. Potter and Underground will play Jazz at the Bistro next March.

* Lastly, smooth jazz saxophonist Boney James is on the mend from being rear-ended in a recent car accident, in which he suffered a gash in his chin that resulted in 14 stitches, a fractured maxilla bone, and two broken front teeth. James is taking off several weeks for orthodontic repairs and recovery, but anticipates being able to play again the first week of July, which would be in time for him to make his show scheduled for Thursday, July 8 at the Bottleneck Blues Bar in St. Charles.

Some of James' canceled shows have been rescheduled, but for his date this Saturday in Sacramento, trumpeter Rick Braun and saxophonist Richard Elliot will fill in and co-headline what's being billed as a "Get Well Soon Tribute" as part of their ongoing "RnR" tour, which comes to the Pageant on July 30.

(Edited after posting to clean up some typos.)