Sunday Session: December 8, 2019

Roscoe Mitchell

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

* 'A Tribute To Mose Allison' Celebrates The Music Of An Exciting Jazz Master (NPR)
* Why Don’t We Appreciate Local Music, And Why We Should (Offbeat)
* Crossing the Streams (Revisited) (The Big City)
* Musicians Reach Tentative Deal with Film and TV Studios - But No Streaming Residuals (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Bass clarinetist Jason Stein’s Hearts and Minds (BerkeleySide.com)
* John and Alice Coltrane’s jazz perennial philosophy (Medium.com)
* Dr. John Mined Spiritual Connections (DownBeat)
* Historic Meeting: Valdés & Corea Collaborate in NYC (DownBeat)
* Iconic Southern rock recording studio is revived in Georgia (Associated Press)
* The Nat King Cole Harvest Is In (Jazz Times)
* Annie Clark: Down the Rabbit Hole with St. Vincent (Tape Op)
* This Rhodes College professor became the expert voice in Lil Nas X, 'Old Town Road' debate (Memphis Commercial Appeal)
* Capricorn Records: Dickey Betts, Alan Walden & More on the Iconic Southern Label's 50th (Billboard)
* 2019 Parliamentary Jazz Award winners (London Jazz News)
* Philadelphia Jazz Project launches first graphic novel (Philadelphia Inquirer)
* Garland Jeffreys: The King of In Between (PleaseKillMe.com)
* Evgeny Pobozhiy Tops Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz International Guitar Competition (DownBeat)
* Shabaka Hutchings In Conversation With Art Ensemble Of Chicago's Roscoe Mitchell (ClashMusic.com)
* Darlene Love Calls out ‘Christmas in Rockefeller Center’ Snub (Rolling Stone)
* The World’s Weirdest Guitar Mods and Builds (Premier Guitar)
* Art Ensemble of Chicago: “We were young and foolish. Now we’re old and foolish, but we’re still happy and still trying” (Jazzwise)
* Jane Bunnett & Maqueque Fosters Connection Between Cuban Music, Jazz (DownBeat)
* I Heard God in a Grain of Sound (The Stranger)

Sunday Session: December 1, 2019

Azar Lawrence

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

* 63 years after jazz great Louis Armstrong played at Muhlenberg, long lost concert set for release (The Morning Call)
* Sun Ra and Me | “It’s After the End of the World, Don’t You Know That Yet?” (The Metropolitan)
* Meet the man who restores old music to its original glory (Popular Science)
* Samara McLendon Wins the 2019 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition (WBGO)
* Paper Trail: Where You Can Find the Historical Documents of Jazz (Jazz Times)
* Cyrille Aimée Is Moving On (Jazz Times)
* Spotify Faces $1 Billion Lawsuit Over Intentional Copyright Infringement, Deceptive Trade Practices (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Are your favorite Instagram guitarists faking their incredible technique? (Guitar World)
* Dave Holland: “You can improvise in open-form style for as long as you like, but you’ll never improvise ‘Giant Steps’” (Jazzwise)
* The Pristine Empire of ECM Records (The New Yorker)
* The Loneliness of a Highbrow Teenage Songwriting Robot (Bloomberg.com)
* Sun Ra Arkestra’s June Tyson Was the Queen of Afrofuturism (Bandcamp.com)
* The Who by Fire (Rolling Stone)
* A Half-Century Not Out: Art Ensemble Of Chicago Live (TheQuietus.com)
* Jazz Legend Charlie Parker Honored With Global Bird 100 Centennial Celebration (BroadwayWorld.com)
* 12 Erroll Garner Albums Reissued in Octave Remastered Series (DownBeat)
* Hank Mobley, The Master of Contrasts (DownBeat)
* Sheila Jordan, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Veronica Swift: Three Generations of Vocal Jazz (Jazz Times)
* Why New Orleans jazz legend Buddy Bolden's house should be saved (New Orleans Advocate)
* The unlikely tale of 'Do They Know It's Christmas?': An 'OK song that became something much better than it actually was' (Yahoo News)
* “Music Affects Us In A Healing Way”: Azar Lawrence Is On A Mission (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Anne Midgette - Classical Chronicler Supreme (Perfect Sound Forever)

Sunday Session: April 28, 2019

Professor Longhair

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest, drawn from StLJN's inboxes, newsfeeds, and assorted other sources:

* Smart speakers: Why your voice is a major battle in music (BBC)
* A Beginner’s Guide to Contemporary Jazz From Japan (Bandcamp.com)
* The ghost of Roy Orbison gets a new partner, Buddy Holly (USA Today)
* Music Plays a Leading Role in New Health Products for Alzheimer's and Dementia (Billboard)
* Spine Tinglers (FutilityCloset.com)
* JALC Gala Traverses the History of Jazz (DownBeat)
* How Angélique Kidjo Brings Out The Africa Of Celia Cruz's Catalog (NPR)
* Roy Ayers Recovering With Family After Being Rushed To Hospital In Portland (OkayPlayer.com)
* Roadburn Festival Conjures Jazz, Psych (DownBeat)
* The Infectious & Sometimes Annoying Appeal of Ice Cream Truck Music (OKWhatever.org)
* Coltrane: The search for a higher state of humanity (The Times Literary Supplement)
* The uncanny valley: does it happen with voices? (Acoustic Engineering)
* The Real Reasons Artists Succeed on Spotify — From a Playlisting Pro (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Five Of Bob Dylan’s Photographers Share Their Best Dylan Stories (Stereogum.com)
* Michael Brecker In Late-1960s Bloomington, Indiana (Indiana Public Media)
* The Art Ensemble of Chicago’s Way Forward (Jazz Times)
* Strange Fruit: The most shocking song of all time? (BBC)
* Jazz For Beginners: 20 Essential Albums For An Introductory Guide (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* How Professor Longhair went from record store janitor to patron saint of New Orleans Jazz Fest (New Orleans Advocate)
* Jazz Drummer Joe Chambers On Blue Note: “The Black Musicians’ Label” (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* At 90, jazz great Benny Golson returns to Minnesota: 'I feel maybe 45 or 50' (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
* The Jewish Trumpeter Who Entertained Nazis to Survive the Holocaust (The New Yorker)
* The Lasting Legacy of the Art Ensemble of Chicago (Bandcamp.com)
* Elaine Mitchener: Vocal Classics Of The Black Avant Garde playlist (The Wire)
* Craig Harris Finds Inspiration in Muhammad Ali’s Athleticism (DownBeat)
* When Jazz Moved to Chicago (NEH.gov)
* The Dignity of his Sound: Wynton Marsalis talks about the Buddy Bolden movie (Offbeat)
* He played with Springsteen and Sinatra; now Randy Brecker returns to Reading for his 15th Berks Jazz Fest (Reading Eagle)
* Duke Ellington’s melodies carried his message of social justice (TheConversation.com)
* Gilles Peterson on UK Scene, Brownswood, Starting a New Festival (DownBeat)
* A Guide to the Discography of Diamanda Galás, Avant-Garde Oracle (Bandcamp.com)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The Gaslight Squares appeared last week on the morning news broadcast at Fox 2/KTVI, promoting their upcoming "coffee concerts" next Tuesday and Wednesday at The Sheldon.

* Bassist and Washington University faculty member Paul Steinbeck talked with Black Agenda Report about Message to Our Folks, his book recounting the history of the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

* The Cherokee Street venue Foam (pictured), purveyors of coffee and beer and home to performances of all sorts of music including free improv and (occasionally) vintage jazz, is continuing their GoFundMe campaign in an effort to keep their doors open.

* The Funky Butt Brass Band has posted to their website audio recordings of their recent weekend gig at Jazz St. Louis.

* Student musicians in the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars will provide some live music for Big Muddy Dance Co's show “Footnotes” next week at the Grandel Theatre.

* Cabaret Project St. Louis has announced that this year's St. Louis Cabaret Conference will take place as three different educational "tracks," with the first starting Saturday, July 13 and the last wrapping up on Sunday, July 21. The organization also will present "Sing Center Stage," an intensive workshop specifically for singers of high school age, from Friday, July 12 to Tuesday, July 16.

Sunday Session: March 31, 2019

Matthew Shipp

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:

* Jazz in Troubled Times: Watson Professor, WSJ contributor Larry Blumenfeld Riffs on ‘Relevance, Resonance’ of Jazz Culture (Syr.edu)
* Bootsy Collins: The Warner Bros. Era (CultureSonar.com)
* 1918-2018: 20 works that defined a century (Classical-Music.com)
* Michael Wolff’s Miraculous Turn (DownBeat)
* 30 Years of 'Nick of Time': How Bonnie Raitt's 'Underdog Record' Swept the Grammys & Saved Her Career (Billboard)
* The Art Ensemble of Chicago on the Past and Future of Their ‘Great Black Music’ (Rolling Stone)
* Carla Bley Plays the Big Band With Her Hands (Westword)
* Pianists Born 100 Years Ago Prove: There's No One Way To Play Jazz (NPR)
* How the music of 1950’s Cuba revolutionized the sound of young Senegal (QZ.com)
* Carla Bley Stretches Out at Big Ears (DownBeat)
* Signature Moves - A brief conversation with underground jazz piano great Matthew Shipp (RockAndRollGlobe.com)
* Resonance Records to Release Archival Recordings by Wes Montgomery, Bill Evans (Jazz Times)
* DJs of the Future Don't Spin Records—They Write Code (Wired)
* Big Ears Festival 2019: The Best (Echoes.org)
* The best decade for pop music has been revealed – according to science (NME.com)
* Frank Sinatra And Elvis Presley: When The Chairman Met The King (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* The Brotherhood of Alfredo Rodríguez and Pedrito Martinez (DownBeat)
* The Eclectic Artistry of Gary Lucas (Van Wyck Gazette)
* How the Music of Hawaiʻi’s Last Ruler Guided the Island’s People Through Crisis (Smithsonian)
* Downtown Music Acquires CD Baby Owner AVL Digital Group (Price Tag: $200 Million) (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* ‘What The F*** Is Happening Right Now’: A Look At ‘The Bizarre World Of Frank Zappa’ (Pollstar.com)
* Aaron Diehl: paradox at the piano (Rochester City Newspaper)
* Jazz Guitarist Joe Morris: Enhance the Risk (Premier Guitar)
* Jazz Duo Explores the Intersection of Math and Music (Flagpole)

Sunday Session: March 3, 2019

Kurt Elling

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:

* Ennio Morricone settles old scores with ‘simplistic’ directors (The Guardian)
* High Point Plans To Preserve John Coltrane's Childhood Home (WFDD)
* Cosmic jazz for modern times: an interview with Sun Ra Arkestra (Beat.com.au)
* Ira Gitler, Influential and Impassioned Jazz Critic, Historian and Advocate, Dies at 90 (WBGO)
* Worcester native Jaki Byard inspires as jazz artist, educator (Worcester Telegram & Gazette)
* Kurt Elling Talks About 'The Big Blind,' His New Jazz Melodrama, Coming to JALC (WBGO)
* Kurt Elling Readies The Big Blind for NYC Premiere (Jazz Times)
* Jamie Saft Delves into Rich Conversations on new RareNoise Disc (DownBeat)
* Tea at The St. Regis (GreenleafMusic.com)
* EXCLUSIVE TRAILER: Wynton Marsalis Brings Jazz Pioneer Buddy Bolden’s music to life in ‘Bolden’ (TheGrio.com)
* The So-Called 'Local Radio Freedom Act' Is Actually an Anti-Creator, Anti-Property-Rights Bill (Guest Column) (Billboard)
* Oscar Peterson Festival Highlights Canadian Talent (DownBeat)
* Cooper-Moore: Catharsis and Creation in Community Spirit (AllAboutJazz.com)
* The many faces of Bill Frisell in Berkeley residency (San Francisco Chronicle)
* Rhiannon Giddens’ 21st-Century Sound Has a Long History (Smithsonian)
* Neneh Cherry: ‘All that awkward stuff became a force’ (Yorkshire Post)
* The web is killing newspaper arts critics like me. Why that matters (Fast Company)
* WATCH: See Soul Singer Al Green Preach at His Church in Memphis (Southern Living)
* A Guide to Harry Nilsson, Who You've Loved Forever Without Knowing It (Vice.com)
* Gaffer Tape Inventor Ross Lowell Dead at 92 (UltimateClassicRock.com)
* Allison Miller’s Life of Juxtapositions (DownBeat)
* U.S. Music Industry Generated $9.8 Billion in 2018, Third Straight Year of Double-Digit Growth: RIAA (Billboard)
* André Previn, Musical Polymath, Has Died At Age 89 (NPR)
* Do the Rite thing: how Stravinsky's Rite of Spring changed music for ever (The Guardian)
* RIP, Ed Bickert (Ottawa Citizen)
* Yusuke Ogawa: The man in Japan giving jazz fans their rare record fix (Japan Times)
* Delving deep into the Kanto jazz bar scene (Japan Times)
* Joe Lovano Moves on to the Next Chapter (DownBeat)
* Sun Ra: “There’s a lot of strange stuff that goes on around the pyramids – why don’t you bring a tape?” (Uncut)
* New Orleans Music: From Mardi Gras To The Meters… And All That Jazz (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Has Spotify’s Warner bust-up spooked Wall Street? (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Ears Embiggened – 50 Years of Great Black Music: Ancient to the Future (ImmuneToBoredom.com)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold was part of a panel with writer Nate Chinen and musicians Terence Blanchard and Camila Meza discussing the evolution of jazz at the BRIC JazzFest 2018 last month in Brooklyn, NY. You can see the entire discussion on video here.

* A new box set compiling the Art Ensemble of Chicago's recordings for ECM also includes four of trumpeter and St. Louis native Lester Bowie's albums as leader for the label in the 1980s, plus two featuring Bowie (pictured) as part of Jack DeJohnette's New Directions.

* The Riverfront Times' Daniel Hill reports that drummer Kevin Bowers' band Nova will perform next month at the Winter Jazzfest in New York City.

* Singer Storm Large's show "Holiday Ordeal," happening next Tuesday at the Sun Theatre, was previewed in an article for the Post-Dispatch by Daniel Durchholz.

* Also in the Post-Dispatch, saxophonist Dave Koz talked about his holiday show next Tuesday at Family Arena for an article by the Post's Kevin Johnson.

Sunday Session: December 2, 2018

Arturo O'Farrill

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:

* Grammy Winning Saxophonist Frank Catalano On Alternative Revenue Streams And Trio Of New Live Albums (Forbes)
* When you're smiling: Louis Armstrong museum shares digitized pictures of jazz legend (New York Daily News)
* How The 'New World' Symphony Introduced American Music To Itself (NPR)
* One-Hit Wonders Who Deserve a Second Chance (MelMagazine.com)
* William Hooker Interview (InTheTrove.com)
* Green Book: The Real-Life Story of Dr. Don Shirley (Vanity Fair)
* Arturo O’Farrill’s ‘Fandango’ Spans Border to Unify Cultures, Musics (DownBeat)
* Tony Williams Gets the Deluxe Treatment in 'Blue Note Review: Volume Two – Spirit & Time' (WBGO)
* Singer-songwriter John Prine: Still alive and kickin' (CBS News)
* Beneath the Surface of Bruce Springsteen (Esquire)
* The rise of Africa’s most exciting new dance music scenes (DazedDigital.com)
* A Burst of Reissues from the Catalog of Frank Zappa (DownBeat)
* Art Ensemble Chronicled in Massive ECM Box Set (DownBeat)
* Local archaeologist shares discovery about early music (Left Hand Valley Courier)
* Everything on Social Media Is for Sale (The Atlantic)
* Mick Jagger Talks New Rolling Stones Tour, Aretha Franklin and Grammys (Billboard)
* Nina Is Everywhere I Go (Oxford American)
* A Moment in Time - An Interview with Terence Blanchard (ScoreIt.org)
* 'Conserve the Sound' hopes to save sounds of old tech before they're gone (CBC)
* Cyrille Aimée Pushes Herself into New Terrain with 'Move On: A Sondheim Adventure' (WBGO)
* Keith Richards on Rolling Stones’ Stadium Tour: ‘Maybe This Will Be the Last One’ (Rolling Stone)
* Iconic 1958 photo - which featured the biggest names in jazz - is brought to life by never-before-seen frames from legendary photographer Art Kane's shoot (Daily Mail)
* The Place of the Drum Solo in Jazz (Jazz Times)
* Farewell Mary Jane: Grieving for a lost jazz hideout (Japan Times)
* If you think you know who Philip Glass is, you probably don’t (Washington Post)
* Meet Skull Snaps, a Forgotten Funk Band That Soundtracked Hip-Hop (Bandcamp.com)
* Library of Congress Acquires Billy Strayhorn Archive (Jazz Times)
* Jazz icon Wayne Shorter can play anything. He’s still trying to say everything (Washington Post)
* Funk was the black answer to “Star Wars”: Take the trip with “Tales From the Tour Bus” (Salon.com)
* "For the sake of a couple of bucks, they deserted us": Vancouver's last classical record store to close (CBC)
* Expansive Martinelli Book Examines European Jazz History (DownBeat)

Sunday Session: July 29, 2018

Art Ensemble of Chicago

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:

* Art Ensemble of Chicago Reunites in Norway (DownBeat)
* In Conversation: Billy Joel (Vulture.com)
* The right place at the right time: The jazz education of Charles McPherson (Santa Fe New Mexican)
* Terence Blanchard & the E-Collective: Fusion for Humanity (Jazz Times)
* Making Music For A Living is Harder Than Ever (Offbeat)
* Remembering Frank Sinatra’s Time-Stopping Performance At The Sands (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* A new youth movement is energizing the high-end audio market (CNet.com)
* The Rise Of The Sampling Pad In The Modern Drummer’s Setup (MusicThinkTank.com)
* Kongsberg Festival Teams Up Improvisors (DownBeat)
* 10 All-Time Great Jazz Quartets (Jazz Times)
* Streaming services are seeing a jazz renaissance amongst younger fans (BBC)
* Kamasi Washington Wants To Free Your Mind (HighSnobiety.com)
* Jazz Legend Wayne Shorter Announces 'Emanon,' A Multiverse-Inspired Triple Album (WBGO)
* New Book Chronicles the Saga of Jazz in Washington D.C. (DownBeat)
* Michael Franks Is Happy to Be “Some Old Jazz Guy” (Jazz Times)
* Steven Van Zandt Creates a Free School of Rock: 100+ Free Lesson Plans That Educate Kids Through Music (OpenCulture.com)
* Nellie McKay’s Affability Refracted by Humorous Worldview (DownBeat)
* You Don’t Need to Be a Musician to Get a Record Deal in 2018 (Rolling Stone)
* Django Festival Allstars: Strong Picking Hands and Big Hearts (Jazz Times)
* Spotify Hits 180 Million Users — and Loses Even More Money (Rolling Stone)
* Don Was, Dave McMurray Continue Telling Detroit’s Story (DownBeat)
* The state of jazz: Talking with A.B. Spellman (Santa Fe New Mexican)
* Historic home of blues artist W.C. Handy returned to family (Times of Northwest Indiana)
* Catalog of Fania Records, the Motown of Latin Music, Is Sold (New York Times)

Sunday Session: June 10, 2018

John Coltrane

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

* The 21 Best Concert Films of All Time (Paste)
* REVIEW: Art Ensemble of Chicago at Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona (London Jazz News)
* Kurt Elling: Living the Questions (Jazz Times)
* 'Still A Lot Of Love': Arturo O'Farrill On Cuba-U.S. Artistic Relations (NPR)
* This legendary Utah saxophonist just turned 99 and you can hear him play tonight (Deseret News)
* Truesdell’s Gil Evans Project Recasts Classics at Jazz Standard (DownBeat)
* The chords of the universe (Aeon.co)
* Discover Weakly (TheBaffler.com)
* “Sun Ra Radio” Premieres Online (Jazz Times)
* Vision Festival Offers Bracing Sounds and a Space for Creativity (DownBeat)
* Q&A with Ambrose Akinmusire: Geographies of Influence (Jazziz)
* The club night making classical music dance to a new beat (The Telegraph)
* 20 essential fusion records that have never been more influential (TheVinylFactory.com)
* Bobby Bradford: Musician, Educator, Survivor (AllAboutJazz.com)
* What Was the Point of Elevator Music? (AtlasObscura.com)
* There’s an “Inverse Piano” in Your Head (Scientific American)
* What was the loudest rock band ever? And how loud was that? This infographic explains everything (AJournalOfMusicalThings.com)
* Shemekia Copeland: A Humble 'Queen Of The Blues' (WGLT)
* Motéma Music Fosters Intense Creativity (DownBeat)
* Byrds Co-Founders Plan 'Sweetheart of the Rodeo' 50th Anniversary Tour (Rolling Stone)
* Coltrane’s ‘Lost’ Studio Album Found (DownBeat)
* Hear Woody Shaw and Dexter Gordon On Tour, and On Fire, In Newly Discovered Recordings (WBGO)
* Jalal Mansur Nuriddin: Bidding Farewell To The Schoolyard Bard (NPR)
* Ticketfly Confirms Hack Exposed Personal Information of 27 Million Accounts (Gizmodo)
* Jazz in the Age of Trump: A Roundtable Discussion (Jazziz)
* Spotify Offers Managers, Artists Advances to License Music Directly to Its Streaming Service: Exclusive (Billboard)
* Happy Birthday Prince: A Look At His Legacy, Progressiveness And Royal Badness (Vibe)
* Eddie Henderson’s Cool Collective (DownBeat)
* On 10 Years of the New New-Music Scene, and 30 Years of My Own (Vulture.com)
* Jazz Meets Hip Hop: Soweto Kinch's Singular Path (SFJAZZ.org)
* BBC to Close Iconic Maida Vale Studios (Pro Sound News)
* The Aural Magic of Stanford's Laptop Orchestra (Wired)
* Why repeating words sound like music to your brain (TheVerge.com)
* ‘We Out Here’ Documentary on London Jazz Scene Now Streaming (DownBeat)
* Lorraine Gordon, Guardian Of Legendary Jazz Club, Dies At 95 (NPR)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Singer Denise Thimes, who just moved to Chicago but is back in St. Louis this weekend to perform at Jazz at the Bistro, got a warm welcome to the Windy City, courtesy of what can only be described as a rave review from the Chicago Tribune's Howard Reich for her shows last weekend at Winter's Jazz Club downtown.

* Drummer and St. Louis native Marcus Baylor and singer Jean Baylor of The Baylor Project were interviewed in advance of their appearance next week at Jazz at the Bistro by the St. Louis American's Kenya Vaughn.

* Message to Our Folks, the book about the Art Ensemble of Chicago written by bassist and Washington University professor Paul Steinbeck and released last year by the University of Chicago Press, has been translated into Italian as Grande Musica Nera. Published by Quodlibet, the Italian edition (pictured) is being celebrated this week with a book release event at the Bergamo Jazz Festival.

* Jazz Times is offering readers a chance to win a free copy of the soon-to-be-released CD box set Miles Davis & John Coltrane: The Final Tour. You can enter the drawing for the giveaway here.

On a related note, NYC radio station WBGO last week previewed a live version of Davis' "So What" from the set as part of their weekly online feature "Take Five."

* Also on the Miles Davis beat, rapper Q-Tip will star as the trumpeter in a staged reading of My Funny Valentine, a new play by Nelson George about "a day in the life of the jazz giant."  The reading happens this coming Monday, March 26 at Joe's Pub in NYC.

* Trumpeter Freddie Hendrix will play the part originally conceived for the late Hugh Masekela when pianist Abdullah Ibrahim & Ekaya present “Jazz Epistles - The Story in Concert” on Saturday, April 14 at The Sheldon. Hendrix's resume ranges from work with jazz artists including saxophonist and former St. Louisan Oliver Lake, the Count Basie Orchestra and the Christian McBride Big Band, to backing up singers such as Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Alicia Keys.

* St. Louis has what might be called a cameo role in the promotional campaign for Standing Room Only, a forthcoming collection of previously unreleased performances by singer Frank Sinatra that will come out in May as a 3-CD set and in digital formats from Capitol/Universal Music Enterprises.

To promote the release, the label has posted online a clip of Sinatra singing “Fly Me To The Moon” with the Count Basie Orchestra recorded in 1965 at Kiel Opera House in St. Louis. Although the performance is not included in Standing Room Only, which collects shows from 1966 at the Sands in Las Vegas, 1974 at The Spectrum in Philadephia, and 1987 at Reunion Area in Dallas, you can watch the video here.

Sunday Session: October 15, 2017

Thelonious Monk

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

* Black Musicians on Being Boxed in by R&B and Rap Expectations: “We Fit in So Many Things” (Pitchfork.com)
* Interview: A coworking space for musicians, and artists as startups (CDM.link)
* Composer Philip Glass Says Scoring Jane Goodall Doc Was 'Challenge': Interview (Billboard)
* Magic in the method: The Art Ensemble of Chicago live in New York (Dark Forces Swing Blind Punches)
* How Karaoke Secretly Became a Major Driver of Innovation (Vice.com)
* Homages and Tributes for the Thelonious Monk Centennial, But No Competition (For Now) (WBGO)
* 10 Things You Didn't Know About Thelonious Monk, by His Son T.S. Monk (Jazz.org)
* Think of Thelonious Monk (The New Yorker)
* A Century Of Song: Monk At 100 (SFJAZZ.org)
* After Midnight: Thelonious Monk At 100 (NPR)
* The Met and the Philharmonic Look Backward (The New Yorker)
* An Interview With Louis Armstrong House’s Research Director, Ricky Riccardi (Offbeat)
* Grady Tate, Prodigious Jazz Drummer And Noted Vocalist, Dies At 85 (NPR)
* Drummer and Singer Grady Tate Dies (Jazz Times)
* Tyshawn Sorey, A Musical Shapeshifter, Wins MacArthur 'Genius' Prize (NPR)
* The Man Who Forgot He Was a Rap Legend (GQ)
* Hallelujah! The Songs We Should Retire (NPR)
* Live Review: October Revolution of Jazz & Contemporary Music (Jazz Times)
* The Boston Public Library Owns 200,000 Vinyl Records — And It’s Putting Them All Online (WBUR)
* Will Recent Court Rulings Endanger the Future of Biopics and Documentaries? (Hollywood Reporter)
* Can Atlanta Become the Music Industry's Next Business Hub? (Billboard)
* Fear and the Future of Live Music (PSmag.com)
* In Detroit, Artists Rebuild with the City or Get Squeezed Out (Paste)
* How Dan Deacon Collaborated With Rats To Make His Latest Film Score (NPR)
* Human speech, jazz and whale song (PHYS.org)
* The Devaluation of Music: It’s Worse Than You Think (Medium.com)
* Classical music's biggest problem is that no one cares (OvergrownPath.com)

Sunday Session: October 8, 2017

Antonio Sanchez

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

* Trane of No-Thought: How Meditation Inspired Jazz Great John Coltrane (LionsRoar.com)
* Jazz and Communism? The Perfect Oxymoron - Paquito D’Rivera considers the implications of International Jazz Day 2017 (Jazz Times)
* Tom Petty, Rock Iconoclast Who Led the Heartbreakers, Dead at 66 (Rolling Stone)
* An Appreciation of Tom Petty: Rock’s Superstar Everyman (Variety)
* Free Falling with Tom Petty (The New Yorker)
* Tom Petty's final interview: There was supposed to have been so much more (Los Angeles Times)
* Judd Apatow Revives Mainstream, Bob Shad's Independent Record Label (WBGO)
* Nextbop Interviews Kendrick Scott (NextBop.com)
* The Meaning of Soul Music According to Raphael Saadiq (Pitchfork.com)
* Interview: Ashley Kahn on Thelonious Monk's Legacy (Keyboard)
* Antonio Sánchez Brings Electronics and Politics To 'Bad Hombre' (NPR)
* Herbie Hancock: Why he thinks the audience is a member of his band (Philly.com)* A New Model for Paying Musicians a Living Wage? (East Bay Express)
* Esperanza Spalding Talks Recording an Album in 77 Hours, Sexism in Music & Nicki Minaj (Billboard)
* Kamasi Washington on the Music That Made Him a Jazz Colossus (Pitchfork.com)
* Why British DJs From the ’60s and ’70s Kept Their Best Records Secret (AtlasObscura.com)
* The Philosophy & Music of Devo, the Avant-Garde Art Project Dedicated to Revealing the Truth About De-Evolution (Open Culture.com)
* Puerto Rico's 'Singing Newspapers' (NPR)
* The Unknowable Joni Mitchell (The Atlantic)
* Live Sound Processing and Improvisation (New Music Box)
* Mike Stern: Playing Through the Pain (Jazz Times)
* Photos: New York Hot Jazz Festival at the McKittrick Hotel - Cyrille Aimée, Bria Skonberg, Anat Cohen and more swing the fest's fifth edition (Jazz Times)
* European Jazz Conference 2017 (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Speed of sound – how Spotify killed the long intro (The Guardian)
* After year of silence, New Orleans Jazz Orchestra ready to move on without founder Irvin Mayfield (New Orleans Advocate)
* I Wrote a Hit Song With Justin Bieber. Want to See My Royalties? (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Do Androids Dream Of Electronic Beats? How Blade Runner impacted electronic music (FactMag.com)
* Kate Bush, Radiohead, Sister Rosetta Tharpe Nominated For Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame (NPR)
* The Art Ensemble of Chicago Celebrates 50 Years Of Channeling And Challenging History (NPR)
* Jazz Drummer Alvin Queen Denied Entry to U.S. Due to Dropped Charges From 50 Years Ago (Billboard)
* On the Cultural Specificity of Symphony Orchestras (CreateEquity.com)

Sunday Session: July 23, 2017

John Coltrane

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

* This conch shell trumpet would be heard far and wide in the ancient world (Science)
* Portrait of a jazz player: Remembering John Coltrane (Greensboro News-Record)
* John Coltrane: Beyond the Holy Mountain (Jazzwise)
* Marking the Death of John Coltrane, Through the Poetry of Amiri Baraka (WBGO)
* John Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme' Is Still a Masterpiece After 50 Years (Newsweek)
* Alice Coltrane: “The Gifts God Gave Him” (Jazz Times)
* The John Coltrane Record That Made Modern Music (GQ)
* Where To Start... John Coltrane - Celebrating the work of a saxophone and spiritual giant (ClashMusic.com)
* Spotify Is Accused Of Creating Fake Artists — But What Is A Fake Artist? (NPR)
* Los Angeles Jazz Institute Festival "Big Band Spectacular" 2017, Part 1-4 (AllAboutJazz.com)
* In New Orleans, There's A Piece Of Music History Around Every Corner (NPR)
* SoundCloud tries to allay fears, but streaming needs a business model (CDM.link)
* On a scale of Monkees-to-Gorillaz, how should we evaluate fictional music? (Washington Post)
* Take a Cruise With Music’s Uncoolest People (TheDailyBeast.com)
* Can't Prog Rock Get Any Respect Around Here? (NPR)
* Fireside Chat: Wadada Leo Smith (RedBullRadio.com)
* 'It's like a Miles Davis trumpet solo': 'Swinging' birds are caught singing off-beat like jazz musicians (Daily Mail)
* Bill Laswell: Four Strings, Zero Limits (Premier Guitar)
* REPORT: Val Wilmer - The Wire Salon at Cafe Oto (London Jazz News)
* A Water Tank Turned Music Venue (The New Yorker)
* These super cool pictures show Frank Sinatra at his best in 1960s Miami (Timeline.com)
* Thelonious Monk's surreally strange and spartan genius gets its due (The Guardian)
* UCSD jazz haters prompt Brian Ross to move on (San Diego Reader)
* The Poetics of Jazz (The Nation)
* The Nels Cline Show (ForGuitarPlayersOnly.com)
* Jazz Legend Herbie Hancock Tells Us How He Wound Up In the Sci-Fi Epic 'Valerian' (Thrillist.com)
* Art Ensemble of Chicago Reunites in Norway (DownBeat)
* The 75 Moments That Defined the Decade in Music (So Far) (Billboard)
* 'Here Come The Girls'... Again (NPR)
* Editorial: Kansas City government can’t keep bailing out American Jazz Museum (Kansas City Star)
* Welcome to Moonlight Rollerway, Where Nothing Has Changed Since 1956 (Narrative.ly)

New book by St. Louisan Paul Steinbeck tells history of the Art Ensemble of Chicago

Message to Our Folks: The Art Ensemble of Chicago, a new book by St. Louis bassist and educator Paul Steinbeck, has been published by The University of Chicago Press.

Generally considered one of the most important small groups of the creative music movement that began in the 1960s, the Art Ensemble originally spun off from saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell's sextet, which was made up of musicians who were part of Chicago's storied Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.

Released in time to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Art Ensemble's founding, Message to our Folks is touted by its publisher as "the definitive study of the Art Ensemble," and Mitchell has called the book "more than we could have hoped for, telling the complete history of the Art Ensemble of Chicago in careful, engaging detail.”

"The book tells the complete history of the band, from its founding in 1966 to its final performances in the 2010s," said Steinbeck, who is an assistant professor of music theory at Washington University and plays bass with the STL Free Jazz Collective, in an email to StLJN. "Message to Our Folks also closely examines some of the group's best performances."

(At this point, it's worth noting that though born and based in the Windy City, the AEC also featured two St. Louis natives in important roles: original drummer Phillip Wilson, who left the group after one album to join the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and was replaced by Famoudou Don Moye; and trumpeter Lester Bowie, another co-founder who would remain with the band until his death in 1999.)

The book (pictured) can be purchased directly from the University of Chicago Press; from booksellers everywhere, including St. Louis' Left Bank Books and the bookstore at Washington University; and in digital form from ebook vendors such as Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Google Play, and Kobo.

Sunday Session: February 12, 2017

Jon Hendricks

Here are some interesting music-related items that have landed in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Happy 30th birthday, 'world music' (PRI)
* The Enduring Mystery of Jefferson Airplane’s ‘Surrealistic Pillow’ (Observer.com)
* THE BEAT GOES ON: New Albany jazz master Jamey Aebersold brings music to community (Jeffersonville News and Tribune)
* What if you could touch and feel a score? (CreateDigitalMusic.link)
* “Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers” - Classic comedy album a Firesign of the times (Boston Globe)
* 13 Musicians Influenced by Author William S. Burroughs (Paste)
* Michael Chapman: the man who connects Elton, Bowie, Nick Drake and Sonic Youth (The Guardian)
* "This is not a woman's issue' – tackling conducting's gender problem (The Guardian)
* David Axelrod, Influential Musician and Producer, Dies (Billboard)
* The Music Legal Forecast for 2017 (Vice.com)
* Review: 'Celebrate Ornette' Gives Avant-Jazz Legend an All-Star Farewell (Rolling Stone)
* Crate Diggers: Mats Gustafsson -A rare visit to the free jazz giant’s two and a half tonne vinyl cave (The VinylFactory.com)
* The tables have turned, but will vinyl’s record sales last? (TheDrum.com)
* When Discs Die (Tedium.co)
* These Seven Black Composers Made Classical Music History (Nashville Public Radio)
* The Art Ensemble Of Chicago captivate at Cafe OTO (Jazzwise)
* After 50 Years, Hendricks’ “Miles Ahead” Remake Set for NYC Premiere (DownBeat)
* Dear Creepy Men of the Music Industry, Please Stop (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* The cassette revival needs blank tapes – meet the hoarders coming to the rescue (FactMag.com)
* Billboard's 2017 Power 100 List Revealed (Billboard)
* A Sonic Introduction to Avant-Garde Music: Stream 145 Minutes of 20th Century Art Music, Including Modernism, Futurism, Dadaism & Beyond (OpenCulture.com)
* Does College Radio Even Matter Anymore? (Pitchfork)
* How Railroads Influenced Jazz Music (WBUR)
* Al Jarreau: An American Original (Jazz Times)
* ‘Spine-tingling’ lost Bob Marley tapes restored after 40 years in a cellar (The Guardian)
* The Standard Bearers: In Jazz Categories, The Grammys Remain Focused On The Past (NPR)
* Spinal Tap Reunite to Sue Record Label for $400 Million (Guitar World)
* Krall Revisits Songbook on New Album, Announces World Tour (DownBeat)
* “I’ll be there”: Charlie Haden was the Tom Joad of jazz, and his Liberation Music Orchestra lives on (Salon.com)
* How 'Chattanooga Choo Choo' Became The World's First Gold Record (NPR)

Remembering Lester Bowie

Today, we remember the great St. Louis trumpeter Lester Bowie, who was born October 11, 1941.

Though Bowie (pictured) actually was born in Maryland, he grew up in St. Louis as part of a family that included two brothers who also became professional musicians: Joseph Bowie, a trombonist and leader of the funk-jazz band Defunkt; and Byron Bowie, a saxophonist and arranger/composer.

After developing his trumpet chops playing blues gigs around St. Louis with singers including Albert King and Little Milton and jazz wherever and whenever he could, Lester Bowie moved to Chicago in 1965, where he became a founding member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, the group with whom he is most closely associated.

In addition to the AEC, Bowie was involved in many different musical projects, recording in duo and trio settings with many of the musicians from BAG and Chicago's AACM, and leading a number of his own groups, notably Brass Fantasy and the Lester Bowie Organ Ensemble. His work incorporated many types of music, from free improv and knotty post-bop to gospel and doo-wop, and he stood out among trumpet players of his generation for his combination of deep concepts, a sense of humor, and use of extended techniques. Sadly, Lester Bowie died young, passing away from liver cancer on November 9, 1999 when he was just 58.

In the first video window below, you can see him in 1983 performing with From The Root To The Source, a multi-stylistic group reflecting Bowie's love of popular and church music as well as jazz that also was something of a family band, since it featured his ex-wife Fontella Bass and former in-laws Martha Bass and David Peaston.

In the window below that, you can see him performing "Summertime" in an undated clip with Brass Fantasy, and below that, in two parts, a complete Art Ensemble concert recorded in 1991 in Budapest.

Destination: Out celebrates anniversary with Lester Bowie download

The cool cats who run the avant-jazz music sharing blog Destination: Out are celebrating their first blogiversary this week. To commemorate the occasion, they've reposted the very first piece of music put up on the site a year ago, an early track from the Art Ensemble (before they added "of Chicago" to their name) called "Warm Up" that features St. Louis native Lester Bowie - not on trumpet, but on kelp horn.

Now, I'm sure what a kelp horn is, but the track is an interesting listen. You can download it here, and while you're at it, you may also want to leave a comment congratulating the proprietors and urging them to keep up the good work. D:O has posted a lot of St. Louis-related music in the last year; here's hoping for much more to come.