Jazz this week: Freddy Cole & Houston Person, Arturo Sandoval & Jane Monheit, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes two shows featuring two visiting headliners for the price of one, plus a Middle Eastern instrumental virtuoso and the usual assortment of performances in various styles from our hometown's own.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, October 23
Pianist and singer Freddy Cole and his quintet with special guest saxophonist Houston Person (pictured, top left) will perform for the first of five nights continuing through Sunday at Jazz St. Louis.

Cole, the brother of the legendary Nat "King" Cole, shares his late sibling's general air of suavity and his good taste in songs and musicians, but has established his own identity as a performer, as defiantly noted in his original song "I'm Not My Brother, I'm Me." Person, a veteran steeped in bebop, blues and ballads, seems a fine match for Cole, as both not only are of the same generation but share an old-school musical sensibility.

Also in Grand Center, this week's "Wednesday Night Jazz Crawl" includes pianist Ethan Leinwand at The Stage at KDHX, the jam session hosted by bassist Bob DeBoo, and singer Erika Johnson, debuting her new organ trio at The Dark Room.

Thursday, October 24
Guitarist Brian Vaccaro leads a quartet in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, and keyboardist Andrew Stephen returns to The Dark Room.

Friday, October 25
Guitarist Dave Black, recovered from a serious cycling accident this summer that took him out of action for a couple of month, plays solo at The Dark Room; and Iraqi-American oud player Rahim Al Haj brings his trio, plus guest pianist Adaron "Pops" Jackson, to the Kranzberg Arts Center.

Also on Friday, the Ambassadors of Swing play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and the Oîkos Ensemble teams up with SkyStone Conservatory Dance Ensemble and the Logos Readers for "Earth Walk Returns," a multi-disciplinary performance at the First Congregational Church of Webster Groves.

Saturday, 
October 26
The annual "Friends of the Sheldon Benefit" features trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, his band, and guest singer Jane Monheit (pictured, bottom left) in a performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Sandoval, the Cuban-born protege of Dizzy Gillespie turned multiple Grammy Award winner, certainly can bring the pyrotechnics on trumpet when the situation calls for it, while Monheit belongs in any discussion of the top women jazz singers working today.

Both usually headline their own shows, though they have done some select gigs in this configuration, and so it should be interesting to hear what musical ground brings them together, and how they choose to navigate it.  You can see some recent performances by Sandoval on video in this post from last Saturday.

Also on Saturday, The Gaslight Squares return to the Frisco Barroom.

Sunday, October 27
Miss Jubilee performs for jazz brunch at Evangeline's; and bassist Ben Wheeler’s Sketchbook plays an evening concert at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

Monday, October 28
Dizzy Atmosphere plays vintage swing and Gypsy jazz at The Shaved Duck, and pianist Kim Portnoy leads a big band playing original works in a concert at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster University campus.

Elsewhere around town, the Folk School of KDHX has moved their Traditional Jazz Jam Session to Monday nights, and made it a weekly event.

For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. You also can keep up with all the latest news by following St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes or clicking the "Like" icon on the StLJN Facebook page.

(If you have calendar items, band schedule information, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Arturo Sandoval

This week, let's take a look at some videos featuring trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, who will perform with his band and vocalist Jane Monheit for the annual "Friends of the Sheldon" benefit next Saturday, October 26 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. It will be Sandoval's first local appearance since a weekend in October 2017 at Jazz St. Louis; Monheit last performed here in November of that year, also at Jazz St. Louis.

Born in Cuba, the 69-year-old Sandoval first gained recognition in the USA in the late 1970s as a member of Cuban jazz-fusion band Irakere. Around that same time, he met fellow trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, who became a friend, mentor, and eventually, employer of Sandoval via Diz's United Nations Orchestra.

Thanks in part to Gillespie's mentorship, Sandoval's solo career took off, resulting in offers to record in the USA and tour around the world. He eventually defected to the United States in 1990 while touring with Gillespie, and became a naturalized American citizen in 1998.

In all, Sandoval has released more than 30 recordings as a bandleader, and continues to tour regularly, playing jazz and occasional symphonic gigs, as well as scoring films. He's won a total of ten Grammy Awards to date, plus a Presidential Medal of Freedom and many other honors.

You can see and hear various aspects of the trumpeter's musical personality in today's collection of videos, starting up top with a version of the venerable standard "Peanut Vendor" recorded in 2017 at the Java Jazz Festival in Indonesia.

After the jump, there are two clips recorded in November 2017 at the studios of KNKX radio in Tacoma, WA, as Sandoval performs "Here's That Rainy Day" and "Soca Beat."

Next, you can see two videos of Sandoval last year at the Jazz Trumpet Festival in Brazil, performing his mentor Gillespie's signature song "A Night In Tunisia" and "Funky Cha-Cha" with the Speaking Jazz Big Band.

The final video shows Sandoval in June of this year performing his second original trumpet concerto with the Prague National Orchestra.

For more about Arturo Sandoval, read his May 2019 interview with AllAboutJazz.com, and listen to his 2018 interview with KIOS radio in Omaha, and his September 2019 interview on the "Get Happy with Dr. Marissa" podcast.

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

Sunday Session: December 23, 2018

Eric Dolphy

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:

* Chicago blues at 90 (Jazz Beyond Jazz)
* Eric Dolphy: The ‘Prophet’ of Freedom (DownBeat)
* A Great Day in Harlem: behind Art Kane's classic 1958 jazz photograph (The Guardian)
* The Black Gay Man That Brought ‘Soul!’ To Television (Afropunk.com)
* Dr. Donald Shirley’s Brother Calls ‘Green Book’ Portrayal ‘A Symphony Of Lies’ (Essence)
* Perry Robinson 1938-2018 (Jazz Times)
* Zoe Keating Shares Spotify, Streaming Earnings 2018 (Hypebot.com)
* Mapping the Cosmic Discography of the Sun Ra Arkestra (Portland Mercury)
* I Analyzed 122 Hours of Holiday Radio (TowardDataScience.com)
* Big Band Holiday Cheer With The Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra (NPR)
* Myra Melford’s Snowy Egret Is Jazz’s Most Dynamic Quintet (The Nation)
* Stax Records stars Sam and Dave to be honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (Memphis Commercial Appeal)
* 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Bob Dylan’s Never Ending Tour (Vulture.com)
* How stereo was first sold to a skeptical public (TheConversation.com)
* Despite Growing Pains, L.A.’s Jazz Scene Continues to Blossom (DownBeat)
* Art Neville announces retirement from music after 60+ years (Offbeat)
* New Orleans Royalty Gathers To Celebrate Professor Longhair (Offbeat)
* For the First Time in More Than 20 Years, Copyrighted Works Will Enter the Public Domain (Smithsonian)
* Jazz Night In America Remembers Some of the Artists We Lost In 2018 (WBGO)
* That music in Clint Eastwood’s ‘The Mule’? It's jazz legend Arturo Sandoval in his film-scoring debut (Los Angeles Times)
* Joe Lovano’s Guide to ECM: Five Essential Albums (Jazziz)
* Jazz legend Wayne Shorter ill, pulls out of San Francisco residency (San Jose Mercury News)
* Why Is AI-Generated Music Still so Bad? (Vice.com)

Sunday Session: June 24, 2018

Eric Dolphy

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:

* Back in Swing: The Secret Subculture of Jazz Cafes (Japan Forward)
* The home of timeless music (CNet.com)
* George Clinton: ‘If people don’t like funk, it’s just the wrong time for them’ (The Guardian)
* Lorraine Gordon, 1922 — 2018 (EthanIverson.com)
* How Herbie Hancock Charted New Territory With ‘Empyrean Isles’ (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* This simple robot offers more cowbell (TechCrunch.com)
* Rutgers Acquires Count Basie Collection (Jazz Times)
* Gregg Allman's Son Devon Talks Carrying on the Family Legacy (Rolling Stone)
* Herbie Hancock Looks Back on Work with Indy Jazz Legends (Nuvo.net)
* Warner to Launch Elektra Music Group as Standalone Company (Variety)
* Nina Simone’s Childhood Home Named National Treasure (Pitchfork)
* 16 Years Late, $13B Short, but Optimistic: Where Growth Will Take the Music Biz (Redef.com)
* The Sound Of Silence: Female Composers At The Symphony (NPR)
* Eric Dolphy: Gone In The Air (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Systems Two Recording, A Prolific and Pivotal Studio in Brooklyn, Quietly Closes Its Doors (WBGO)
* Arturo Sandoval Features Pharrell, Grande and More on ‘Ultimate Duets’ (DownBeat)
* Clatskanie native Nate Wooley translated musical passion into thriving New York career (TDN.com)
* Revered Drummer Brian Blade Draws a Through-Line from Jazz to Gospel (KQED)
* Archaeologists Just Sifted Through the Woodstock '69 Festival Field (Billboard)
* Brötzmann Reflects on ‘Machine Gun’ as it Hits 50th Anniversary (DownBeat)
* Jazz Commentary: Greg Hopkins Big Band at Ryles — Whither Big Bands? (ArtsFuse.org)
* Crosscurrents: Converging Jazz And Indian Classical Music (NPR)
* A Lot of Energy—Remembering Cecil Taylor (1929-2018) (New Music Box)
* Meet the Italian composer who conducts the world’s biggest all-robot orchestra (KXXV)
* The Axe Murderer Who Loved Jazz (WBUR)
* Can You Measure How Good a Song Is? (New Republic)

Jazz this week: Arturo Sandoval, Moon Hooch, Paula West, Hudson, The Wee Trio, and more

It's a big week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with a half-dozen noteworthy headliners performing in various styles visiting the area over the next few days.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, October 11
The weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features Mark Wallace at KDHX's Magnolia Cafe, a jam session with bassist Bob Deboo and friends at Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor at The Dark Room.

Also on Wednesday, the students of Washington University's Monday Night Jazz Band will present a free concert at the 560 Music Center's Pillsbury Theatre.

Thursday, October 12
If  you're up for a short road trip, trumpeter Serafin Aguilar, best known for his work in Maynard Ferguson's band, will be just down the road in Flat River on Thursday, performing with the MAC Kicks Band and MAC Jazz Ensemble at the Mineral Area College Theater in Flat River.

Also on Thursday, guitarist Dave Black plays at The Pat Connolly Tavern, and singer Erin Bode returns to Cyrano's.

Friday, October 13
The saxophones-and-drums trio Moon Hooch (pictured, bottom left) returns, bringing their distinctive "acoustic techno" sound to the Old Rock House.

For more about them and some video samples of recent performances, see this post from last Saturday.

Also on Friday, the Cuban-born trumpeter Arturo Sandoval is back for the first of two nights paying tribute to his mentor Dizzy Gillespie at Jazz at the Bistro; and singer Paula West kicks off the fall series of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival with the first of two nights at the Gaslight Theater.

Saturday, October 14
The "supergroup" Hudson (pictured, top left), featuring drummer Jack DeJohnette, guitarist John Scofield, keyboard player John Medeski and bassist Larry Grenadier, brings their first-ever nationwide tour to the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Elsewhere around town, the New Orleans Suspects return to the Broadway Oyster Bar, and The Gaslight Squares and Miss Jubilee will perform on a double bill at Das Bevo Biergarten.

Sunday, October 15
The St. Louis Jazz Club presents pianist Pat Joyce and clarinetist Scott Alberici at the Webster Groves Concert Hall; and singer Mary Dyson performs at Troy's Jazz Gallery.

Monday, October 16
Trumpeter Jim Manley plays for diners and drinkers at Momo's Greek Restaurant.

Tuesday, October 17
The Wee Trio, featuring bassist and St. Louis native Dan Loomis, will be back in the area for a performance at SIU Edwardsville's Dunham Hall, augmented by members of the university's jazz faculty for select numbers from their most recent album Wee +3 .

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 2017 jazz preview, part two

This week, it's part two of StLJN's Fall 2017 jazz preview, featuring videos of noteworthy performers who will be coming to St. Louis in the next several months. (You can see part one, published last week, here.)

Picking up the chronology in mid-October where part one left off, today's first video features trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, who will be back in St. Louis to perform on Friday, October 13 and Saturday, October 14 at Jazz at the Bistro. The video shows a full set from Sandoval and his band, recorded in February of this year in Moscow, Russia.

After the jump, it's singer Paula West, who will open the fall series of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival on Friday, October 13 and Saturday October 14 at the Gaslight Theater. West is seen here performing David Bowie's "Space Oddity" as part of a tribute to Bowie in February 2016 at Feinstein's in San Francisco.

Next, it's the recently formed "supergroup" Hudson, featuring drummer Jack DeJohnette, guitarist John Scofield, keyboardist John Medeski, and bassist Larry Grenadier. They'll perform here on Saturday, October 14 at the Sheldon Concert Hall, and can be seen in today's third clip vamping for a few minutes on the title track from their eponymous first album, as recorded on June 30 of this year at the Montreal Jazz Festival.

The fourth video features the young Cuban-born pianist Harold Lopez-Nussa, who will make his St. Louis debut here with performances starting Wednesday, October 18 through Saturday, October 21 at Jazz at the Bistro. He's seen here performing music from his most recent album El Viaje in March of this year at the Banlieues Bleues Festival in Seine-Saint-Denis, France.

The fifth video features actor and singer Alice Ripley, the Tony Award-winning Broadway star who will perform as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival on Friday, October 20 and Saturday October 21 at the Gaslight Theater. The video shows Ripley singing "As If We Never Said Goodbye" (from the musical Sunset Boulevard) and was recorded on June 5, 2017 at Feinstein's/54 Below in NYC.

Today's final clip spotlights Sammy Miller and the Congregation, a young band from New Orleans who will cap off a week-long educational residency for Jazz St. Louis with shows on Friday, October 27 and Saturday, October 28 at Jazz at the Bistro. Miller and his flock are seen here performing "Ain't Misbehavin'" in April of this year at the studios of radio station KNKX in Tacoma, WA.

Look for part three of StLJN's Fall 2017 jazz preview in this space next week. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Jazz this week: Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, Chicago Underground Duo, Tommy Halloran's Guerrilla Swing, and more

As the final weekend of Jazz Appreciation Month comes into view, there's still plenty to celebrate, with a variety of jazz and creative music performances happening in and around St. Louis over the next few days. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, the 2014 Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival gets underway with a quartet performance led by pianist and ex-St. Louisan Reggie Thomas and his Michigan State University colleague, bassist Rodney Whitaker, at Jazz at the Bistro. Drummer Montez Coleman and saxophonist Willie Akins will round out the group.

Also tonight, the St. Louis Low Brass Collective presents a free showcase at the Sheldon Concert Hall; and the Tavern of Fine Arts will present their monthly "Experimental Arts Open Improv Night" with live improvised music.

Tomorrow, the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival shifts to the Touhill Performing Arts Center, where Cuban-born trumpeter Arturo Sandoval will headline Friday's show, with the UMSL jazz band, directed by Jim Widner, as opening act. For more about this GSLJF, read this interview  that Widner did with Terry Perkins for St. Louis Public Radio.

Also tomorrow night, the Chicago Underground Duo (pictured), featuring Rob Mazurek (cornet, electronics) and Chad Taylor (drums, percussion), plays at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center; singer-guitarist Tommy Halloran and his band Guerrilla Swing make their debut in the first of two evenings at Jazz at the Bistro; and the Gaslight Cabaret Festival concludes with the first of two performances this weekend by St. Louis' own Lara Teeter at the Gaslight Theater.

And if all that's not enough, elsewhere around town on Friday Samba Bom will perform a free concert at Ferguson Citywalk; singer Joe Mancuso leads a quartet at Nathalie's; trumpeter Randy Holmes' sextet pays tribute to the music of Duke Ellington at Robbie's House of Jazz; and Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to CJ Muggs in Webster Groves.

On Saturday, record collectors will want to make time to stop by "The Gigantic St. Louis DJ Album Sale for Charity" being held in midtown at 3137 Locust St. (east of Compton, one block west of The Fountain on Locust). The sale will feature more than 10,000 LPs, CDs and items of music memorabilia donated by local radio personalities past and present; for more details, see this post from last week.  

Also on Saturday afternoon, mouthpiece guru Mike Lomax will give a free workshop and presentation at Saxquest; and Miss Jubilee plays a matinee at Blues City Deli.

Update - 11:00 a.m. 4/25/14: Saxquest has posted on Facebook that the Mike Lomax mouthpiece workshop has been postponed due to illness.   

Then Saturday evening, the 2013 Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival concludes with a concert by the Count Basie Orchestra, now directed by trumpeter Scotty Barnhart and featuring Reggie Thomas on piano, at the Touhill. For more about the Basie band and some video samples of performances of their classic repertoire, see this post from last Saturday.

And that's not the only big band show in town on Saturday, as that same evening bassist/trombonist Wayne Coniglio will lead a 35-piece orchestra with guest soloists including Cecil Cope and Elsie Parker in "The Swing of Hearts," a romance-themed program at Florissant Civic Center Theatre.

Also on Saturday night, violinist David McNair and his Gypsy jazz group Tzgane return to Robbie's House of Jazz; and the Ann Dueren Trio performs at Il Bel Lago.

On Sunday, the Dave Dickey Big Band plays their monthly gig at Kirkwood Station Brewing Company, with saxophonist Chip McNeill as guest soloist and the Genesis Jazz Project performing at intermission.

Also on Sunday, guitarists Steve Schenkel, John McClellan, Dave Black and Tom Byrne - aka the guitar faculty of Webster University - team up to perform at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus; and saxophonist Tim Cunningham and singer Jeffery Hardin join forces for a concert at the Forest Park golf course clubhouse.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective return to  BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups; and on Tuesday, pianist David Parker and drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw will perform as a duo at Tavern of Fine Arts.

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: Winter/spring 2014 jazz preview, part 5

This week, it's the fifth and final installment of StLJN's winter/spring 2014 jazz preview, giving you a chance to check out live performance videos of the various touring jazz and creative music performers coming to St. Louis in the next few months. (If you missed the earlier posts, or want to take another look, here are part one, part two, part three and part four.)

Today's first clip up above features singer Catherine Russell, who will make her St. Louis debut as a headliner on Saturday, April 19 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Russell, the daughter of musicians Luis Russell (who played with Louis Armstrong) and Carline Ray, is known for her interpretations of pre-WWII jazz and blues material.

She is seen here performing "Romance In The Dark," a Lil Green song from 1940 later covered by artists such as Dinah Washington and Nina Simone and recorded by Russell on her album Strictly Romancin'. This video was shot in February, 2012 at Wellfleet Preservation Hall in Wellfleet, MA; Russell's accompanists are Matt Munisteri (guitar), Mark Shane (piano), and Lee Hudson (bass).

Down below, you can see a video featuring trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, who will return to our town on Friday, April 25 to play at the Touhill Performing Arts Center as part of the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival. The Cuban-born brassman, a friend and protege of the late Dizzy Gillespie, is seen here in an extended jam on what perhaps is Diz' most famous composition, "A Night in Tunisia," recorded in February 2013 in Gleisdorf, Austria. (The video was shot by an audience member on a handheld camera, so the picture is a bit shaky at points, but the audio quality is good throughout.)

The third clip captures a recent performance by the Count Basie Orchestra, who will be the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival's featured attraction on Saturday, April 26 at the Touhill. Now under the direction of trumpeter Scotty Barnhart, with Bobby Floyd on piano and veteran drummer Butch Miles back behind the kit, the Basie band can be seen here performing "The Deacon" in September, 2013 at the Blue Note in Nagoya, Japan.

Our fourth video is a fairly slick-looking promotional clip for saxophonist Joe Lovano's two-drummer ensemble Us Five, who will be making their St. Louis debut with performances starting Wednesday, April 30 and continuing through Saturday, May 3 at Jazz at the Bistro. This version of "Blessings in May," from Lovano's 2013 album Cross Culture, was filmed live at the Mint in Los Angeles. (And in case you were wondering - yes, that's Esperanza Spalding on bass in this clip, and no, she's not scheduled to be part of the band's St. Louis gig.)

Below that, you can see singer Jane Monheit in a performance recorded in February 2013 at a venue called Bourbon Street in São Paulo, Brazil. The audience-shot video captures her up close and personal, singing the Carol Hall lyric for pianist Bill Evans' well-known composition "The Two Lonely People," which Monheit recorded on her album The Heart of The Matter. She'll be in St. Louis from Wednesday, May 14 through Saturday, May 17 to perform at Jazz at the Bistro.

In the sixth spot, there's an excerpt from a performance and workshop given by trumpeter Terell Stafford at Saxquest when he was here in St. Louis in November, 2012. Stafford will return to St. Louis to serve as guest soloist with Jazz St. Louis' JazzU student ensemble when they play their annual weekend at the Bistro on Friday, May 23 and Saturday, May 24.

Last but not least, today's seventh and final video shows off the solo piano talents and storytelling of Joe Sample, who will perform with his trio from Wednesday, May 28 through Saturday, May 31 at Jazz at the Bistro. Recorded with some sort of hand-held device in April 2013 at the Fairfield Theatre in Fairfield, CA, the clip has a tiny picture but some very nice audio of Sample getting down and dirty on "Gee, Baby Ain't I Good To You" and "How You Gonna Keep Them Down On The Farm (After They've Seen Paree)."

Arturo Sandoval, Count Basie Orchestra to headline 2014 Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival

Trumpeter Arturo Sandoval and the Count Basie Orchestra will be the headliners for the 2014 Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, which is scheduled for Thursday, April 24 through Saturday, April 26 at Jazz at the Bistro and the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

The GSLJF begins Thursday night at the Bistro with music from a quartet co-led by pianist and former St. Louisan Reggie Thomas and his fellow faculty member at Michigan State University, bassist Rodney Whitaker. Drummer Montez Coleman and saxophonist Willie Akins round out the group, which will play sets at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

Sandoval, who last played in St. Louis in October 2012 at the Sheldon Concert Hall, will headline Friday's concert at 8:00 p.m. at the Touhill.

The Basie band (pictured), which last visited the St. Louis area in April 2010 for a gig at SIUE, will perform at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday at the Touhill. They recently had a change in leadership and now are under the direction of trumpeter Scotty Barnhart, a 20-year veteran of the band who nevertheless also is the first leader who never actually worked for the Count himself.

The UMSL Jazz Band, under the baton of bassist and GSLJF director Jim Widner, will open both shows at the Touhill. The GSLJF also includes a significant educational component, with high school and college jazz ensembles from around the area scheduled during the daytime hours for performances and coaching sessions at the Touhill and UMSL's student center.

Tickets for all performances go on sale at 10:00 a.m. this coming Monday, November 18. Tickets for the Thomas/Whitaker quartet are $33 via Metrotix or by calling the Jazz St. Louis box office at 314-289-4030. Tickets for Arturo Sandoval and the Count Basie Orchestra range in price from $20 to $40 each, and will be available through the Touhill website and box office or by calling 314-516-4949.

Jazz this week: Billy Childs Quartet, Tatsuya Nakatani, Mephista, Arturo Sandoval, and more

It's another busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with a couple of notable concerts of adventurous improvised music, plus an all-star quartet of modern mainstream players, a top Latin-jazz trumpeter, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, pianist Billy Childs' quartet begins a four-night engagement, continuing through Saturday, at Jazz at the Bistro. Though Childs may be the nominal leader, it's something of an all-star band, with drummer Brian Blade, alto saxophonist Steve Wilson and bassist Scott Colley bringing together a rather eclectic menu of influences, ranging from straight-ahead jazz to rock and pop to experimental. For more about Childs, including a video interview and some performance footage, check out this post from last Saturday.

Also tonight, singer Joe Mancuso leads a quartet with Carolbeth True (piano), Willem von Hombracht (bass) and Kevin Gianino (drums) at Frontenac Grill. 

Tomorrow night, percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani returns to St. Louis, this time teaming with bassist Darin Gray and dancer/choreographer Vanessa Skantze for a concert at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center
exploring the intersection of improvised music and the Japanese performance form called Butoh.

Also on Thursday, poet Eileen G'sell and guitarist William Lenihan's trio will join forces for "Stories: The New Beat Generation," a free concert of poetry and improvised music for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

On Friday, Lindy Hop St. Louis will present another in their series of monthly swing dances at the Mahler Ballroom, with music from Miss Jubilee and the Bella Rue Jazz Band. Also on Friday, the Willie Akins/Montez Coleman quartet is at Robbie's House of Jazz; trumpeter Jim Manley plays at One 19 North Tapas Bar & Restaurant; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes are at Highway 61 Roadhouse; and drummer Paul Shaw leads a trio with bassist Bob DeBoo and vibraphonist Tom Rickard at Cigar Inn. 

Saturday,  the trio Mephista, featuring pianist Sylvie Courvoisier, electronic musician Ikue Mori, and percussionist Susie Ibarra, will perform at 560 Music Center in a concert presented by New Music Circle. Given the three musicians' diverse range of experiences, from classical to punk rock to avant-jazz, this is a tough concert to pigeonhole, stylistically speaking, but definitely recommended for fans of creative improvised music.

Also on Saturday, trumpeter Arturo Sandoval (pictured) returns to St. Louis to perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The Cuban native, who last performed here in 2006 at jazz at the Bistro, first became known in this country as a member of the Latin jazz/fusion group Irakere, and also benefited early in his career from the friendship and mentoring of trumpet great Dizzy Gillespie. On his own, he's become both an in-demand leader of his own combo and a frequent guest soloist with big bands and classical orchestras.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday saxophonist Paul Demarinis will bring his group to Webster University's Moore Auditorium, and drummer Joe Pastor's trio plays at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups. Then on Tuesday, guitarist Dave Black and his band will be at BB's. 

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 2012 jazz preview, part 2

This week, we present part two of StLJN's fall jazz preview, featuring video samples of some of the musicians who will be coming to St. Louis to perform between now and the end of the year. (You can see part one of the preview here.)

Today's first video up top features guitarist John Scofield playing "Trio Blues" with bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Bill Stewart in November 2010 in Leverkusen, Germany. Scofield will be back here in St. Louis to perform Friday, September 28 and Saturday, September 29 at Jazz at the Bistro

Down below, you can see and hear singer Bett Butler (vocals) performing an excerpt from "Come Rain or Come Shine" at the Elephant Room in Austin, TX during this year's SXSW festival. Though she's accompanied here by Joël Dilley (bass), Paul Klemperer (sax), and Philip Marshall (drums), Butler will be in St. Louis with writer Pam Houston to present a collaborative program called "Words and Music" on Sunday, September 30 at the Ethical Society.

Below that , it's pianist Billy Childs playing a solo piece called "The Red Wheelbarrow" in May 2010 at WNYC radio in New York. Childs is coming to St. Louis to perform Wednesday October 3 through Saturday October 6 at Jazz at the Bistro with an all-star quartet that also will include drummer Brian Blade, saxophonist Steve Wilson, and bassist Scott Colley.

Next up, we've got a clip showcasing the first of four stellar trumpeters who will be visiting St. Louis during a four-week stretch this fall. It's the Cuban-born virtuoso Arturo Sandoval, playing "There Will Never Be Another You" in January of last year in the studios of Seattle radio station KPLU. His band in the clip includes Mahesh Balasooyria (piano:) Zane Musa (saxophone), John Belzaguy (bass) and Johnny Friday (drums). Sandoval returns to St. Louis for a concert on Saturday, October 6 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Then, it's New Orleans native and trumpeter Christian Scott, doing his tune "Spy Boy" last November at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Scott's band here features Berklee grad and St. Louis native Lawrence Fields on piano, plus Matthew Stevens (guitar), Kris Funn (bass) and Jamire Williams (drums). He'll be in St. Louis to perform Wednesday, October 17 through Saturday, October 20 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Right on Scott's metaphorical heels is trumpeter Terell Stafford, seen here with his quintet playing "Blues for J.T." at the 2006 Jazz Baltica festival in Salzau, Germany. Stafford's accompanists in the clip include Tim Warfield (tenor sax, soprano sax), Martin Wind (bass), Matt Wilson (drums) and Mulgrew Miller (piano). For his upcoming St. Louis gig, which will take place Wednesday, October 31 through Saturday, November 3 at Jazz at the Bistro, Stafford will be showcasing music from This Side of Strayhorn, his 2011 release on St. Louis' MAXJAZZ label.

Today's final video features cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum's sextet performing a piece called "Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths" at the 2010 Saalfelden Jazz Festival in Germany. Along with Bynum, the group's current lineup includes Jim Hobbs (alto saxophone), Bill Lowe (bass trombone, tuba), Mary Halvorson (guitar), Ken Filiano (bass) and Chad Taylor (drums), and they'll be playing Saturday, November 3, at the Luminary Center for the Arts in a concert presented by New Music Circle.

Join us again in this space at the same time next week for the third part of StLJN's Fall 2012 jazz preview...

Sheldon Concert Hall announces 2012-13 season schedule

The Sheldon Concert Hall has announced the 2012-13 schedule for its various season series.

As tipped earlier here on StLJN, the jazz subscription series will include a performance by trumpeter Arturo Sandoval on Saturday, October 6, while the Preservation Hall Jazz Band will offer their "Creole Christmas" show on Sunday, December 9 as a non-subscription "special concert." Other performers in the jazz series will include pianist Marcus Roberts (pictured) and his trio (Saturday, December 1); trumpeter and singer Jeremy Davenport (Saturday, February 2); and singer Dianne Reeves (Saturday, April 27).

The Sheldon's "Coffee Concert" series of mid-morning shows by local performers will include singer Dean Christopher's “Tribute to Frank Sinatra” (Tuesday, April 2 and Wednesday, April 3) and Cornet Chop Suey (Tuesday, May 7 and Wednesday, May 8). Also, the St. Louis Stompers will play special coffee concerts that are not part of the subscription series on Tuesday, October 30 and Wednesday, October 31.

Looking at the rest of the non-subscription special concerts, jazz listeners also may be interested in the hall's official 100th anniversary celebration on Thursday, October 11, which will feature a multi-genre lineup of musicians including pianist Peter Martin, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, bassist Christian McBride and drummer Ulysses Owens Jr. as well as classical singer Christine Brewer, violinist David Halen and members of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.

In addition, singer Sylvia McNair will return for the Sheldon's annual ArtSounds fundraiser on Friday, November 9, and singer Denise Thimes will team with guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli for a "special concert" on Friday, February 15.

So what's the takeaway here for St. Louis jazz fans? While one really can't criticize the musical quality or skills of the jazz performers booked for 2012-13, it's also a conservative, risk-averse lineup, both in terms of musical styles and with regard to the potential box office draw of the performers. Except for Sandoval, who last played St. Louis in 2006, and Roberts, the former Wynton Marsalis sideman who's had a lower touring profile since joining the faculty at Florida State University in 2004, all of the touring bands and musicians on the schedule already have played St. Louis during the last couple of years.

While the Martin/Marsalis/McBride/Owens combo would seem to offer some real potential for surprise, the fact that it's a one-off gig for a benefit show that will be shared with other performers imposes some serious constraints. Overall, the Sheldon remains a great place to play and hear music, but it's too bad that the current circumstances there seem to preclude offering audiences more jazz that's different, new, or just previously unheard here in St. Louis.

Single tickets for the jazz series shows are priced from $35 to $45, while Coffee Concert tickets are $12 and $15. Pricing for "special concerts' varies from $20 and $25 for Thimes and Pizzarelli to up to $500 for patron seats for the 100th anniversary and ArtSounds shows. Single tickets will go on sale at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, August 11. Season subscriptions go on sale at 10:00 a.m. May 14 via phone at 314-533-9900 or the Sheldon's website.

(Edited after posting to add a link.)

Pollstar: Arturo Sandoval to perform in October at the Sheldon

The online touring information service Pollstar has just added a listing for a performance by trumpeter Arturo Sandoval (pictured) on Saturday, October 6 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Sandoval, who was born in Cuba and broke into the music business under the tutelage of the late Dizzy Gillespie, last appeared in St. Louis in 2006 at Jazz at the Bistro.

The listing is posted just as the Sheldon is sending out renewal forms to season subscribers, and there's now a picture of Sandoval on the "season subscription" section of their website, so this show would seem to be a lock.

However, as always, readers are cautioned that listings on Pollstar should not be considered confirmed until officially announced by the presenter or venue. As soon as the Sheldon releases details about their 2012-13 season to the public, we'll have the scoop on their jazz series for you right here.