Jazz this week: Claire Chase, Tyshawn Sorey & Cory Smythe; Jazz at Lincoln Center Group; The Sextet; Marcus Lewis; and more

This week's lineup of jazz and creative music in St. Louis features a couple of Kansas City acts making their first trips here, a couple of small groups comprised of musicians drawn from larger, well-known ensembles, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, January 10
This week's "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features cornetist and banjo player T.J Müller at The Stage at KDHX, the jam session led by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's quartet at The Dark Room.

Thursday, January 11
The Kansas City-based band The Sextet will make their St. Louis debut at The Dark Room. Incorporating "soulful grooves and elements of funk" into their sound (per Bill Brownlee of the Kansas City jazz blog Plastic Sax), the up-and-coming group is supporting their recently released second album Blob Castle.

Also on Thursday, Miss Jubilee will perform at the Chase Club at the Chase Park Plaza, which apparently now is including occasional jazz in their revamped live music offerings.

Friday, January 12
Billed as the Jazz at Lincoln Center Group, trombonist James Burton III, trumpeter Tatum Greenblatt, drummer Jerome Jennings, and bassist Ben Wolfe (pictured, bottom left) will cap off a week-long educational residency for Jazz St. Louis with the first of two nights of performances at Jazz at the Bistro.

Although all four are associated with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the group was assembled specifically for these dates, and so it's hard to know specifically what they'll be doing at the Bistro, Still, you can get a look at all of the players in action individually in part one of StLJN's winter/spring 2018 jazz preview.

Also on Friday, singer Anita Jackson returns to The Dark Room, and guitarist Tom Byrne leads a trio at Cigar Inn.

Saturday, January 13
Depending on the project, the International Contemporary Ensemble can grow to the size of a chamber orchestra, but for their St. Louis date on Saturday presented by New Music Circle at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, they'll be a trio, featuring founder, leader and flute player Claire Chase, the much-talked-about multi-instrumentalist and composer Tyshawn Sorey, and pianist Cory Smythe (pictured, top left).

They'll perform three compositions by Sorey, and two by the late composer and experimental music pioneer Pauline Oliveros. You can see one of Sorey's pieces, plus additional videos featuring Chase and Smith, in this post.

Also on Saturday, guitarist Dave Black leads a trio at the house concert venue The Judson House in Grand Center.

Sunday, January 14
The St. Louis Jazz Club presents trumpeter Randy Holmes' Satchmo Six in a matinee performance at the Moolah Shrine Center.

Tuesday, January 16
The St. Louis Low Brass Collective will present their annual gala at the Sheldon Concert Hall featuring special guest trombonist and composer Marcus Lewis, who's based in Kansas City when he's not on the road with R&B singer Janelle Monae.

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: Manhattan Transfer & Take 6; Cassity, Jensen & Wolfe; and more

While this week's concert calendar isn't as jam-packed with jazz and creative music as last week's almost-insane schedule, there still are several noteworthy shows happening over the next few days, including a long-anticipated concert teaming up two of the top jazz-influenced vocal groups in the world, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, October 26
The eclectic instrumental quartet The 442s will take the stage for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro, where their sets will include music they created this past summer as the first-ever artists-in-residence for Forest Park Forever.

Elsewhere in Grand Center, the weekly "jazz crawl" proceeds with bassist Bob Deboo and friends hosting a jam session at the Kranzberg Arts Center and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor leading a trio at The Dark Room. Also on Wednesday, Elsie Parker and the Poor People of Paris return to Nathalie's, and the Jazz Troubadours play at Evangeline's.

Thursday, October 27
Singer Denise Thimes headlines her 12th annual benefit performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall, raising money for the Mildred Thimes Foundation (named after her late mother) to fight pancreatic cancer. Thimes will be joined by guest performers including the Chicago-based singer Dee Alexander and comedian Monique Marvez.

Also on Thursday, the New Orleans Suspects are back in town for another performance at the Broadway Oyster Bar, and singer Erin Bode returns to Cyrano's.

Friday, October 28
The joint tour by vocal groups Manhattan Transfer and Take 6 (pictured, top left) billed as "The Summit" arrives in St. Louis for a concert at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

Based on reports from earlier in the tour, the show will include favorites from both groups, performing separately and together, as well as an entertaining segment in which each group performs some of the other's material. If you're a fan of jazz vocal harmony or ensemble singing in general, this should rank as the "must-see" concert of the year.

Also on Friday, saxophonist Sharel Cassity, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, and bassist Ben Wolfe wrap up their week-long educational residency for Jazz St. Louis with the first of two nights of performances at Jazz at the Bistro, with some help from pianist Phil Dunlap and drummer Marty Morrison. For more about Cassity, Jensen, and Wolfe (pictured, bottom left), and some video samples of all three musicians in action, see this post from last Saturday.

That same evening, the Gaslight Cabaret Festival resumes with singer and actress Tovah Feldshuh performing for the first of two nights at the Gaslight Theater; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to the Venice Cafe; and Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, October 29
Singer Feyza Eren returns to the house concert venue KindaBlue, and Animal Children will play at The Dark Room.

Sunday, October 30
The St. Louis Jazz Club presents pianist Stephanie Trick in a matinee performance at the Moolah Temple,
and the JazzU Big Band, made up of the top high school students in Jazz St. Louis' education programs, will make their debut at Jazz at the 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: Sharel Cassity, Ingrid Jensen & Ben Wolfe

Today, let's take a look at three musicians who will be sharing the stage next Friday, October 28 and Saturday, October 29 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Saxophonist Sharel Cassity, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen and bassist Ben Wolfe aren't regular bandmates, but all three will be in town next week to do educational residencies for Jazz St. Louis, and they'll then join forces (presumably augmented by a local musician or two) to wrap things up with two nights of public performances at the Bistro.

Wolfe may be the most familiar to St. Louis audiences, as he released a couple of albums as a leader on the locally based label MAXJAZZ (acquired earlier this year by Detroit's Mack Avenue Records). However, the 54-year-old bassist probably is best known as an accompanist, particularly for his work with highly visible performers including singer/pianist Harry Connick Jr., trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and singer and pianist Diana Krall, as well as many others.

Cassity, the youngest of the three at 38, played at the Sheldon here in St. Louis last year as part of the Dizzy Gillespie tribute band led by bassist John Lee. In addition to fronting her own groups, the Iowa native also has worked with trumpeter Nicolas Payton; big bands including the DIVA Jazz Orchestra, the Jimmy Heath Big Band, and the Roy Hargrove Big Band; and numerous other small groups.

Jensen, who's 50 years old and hails from Vancouver, is a Berklee graduate who moved to NYC in the late 1980s. From busking in subway stations and playing pickup gigs, she's risen gradually to headliner status, working along the way with composer/arranger Maria Schneider's acclaimed big band, bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding, pop singer Corrine Bailey Rae, keyboardist Jason Miles, and many others. Jensen also has been nominated twice for Juno awards - the Canadian equivalent of the Grammys - and won in 1995 for her album Vernal Fields.

You can see Cassity and her band Elektra in the first video up above, performing a full set recorded in July of this year at Dizzy's Club in NYC's Jazz at Lincoln Center. Along with the leader on alto and soprano sax, the group includes guitarist Mark Whitfield, keyboardist Miki Hayama, bassist Rashaan Carter, and drummer Lucianna Padmore.

After the jump, you can see Cassity fronting an acoustic quintet with E .J. Strickland (drums), Josh Evans (trumpet), Victor Gould (piano) and Yasushi Nakamura (bass) in an excerpt from a set recorded this past April at Teatro Vivian Blumenthal in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Next, you can see Jensen starring in a episode of Discover Jazz, a program produced by Vermont PBS, that aired for the first time earlier this month. The performance features Jensen and her sister, saxophonist Christine Jensen, with a rhythm section including pianist Jon Cowherd, bassist Matt Clohesy, and drummer Jon Wikan.

Below that, you can see Jensen's set from this year's Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival, recorded in May at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

Finally, you can see Wolfe providing the low end for two very different performances - a stripped-down rendition of "Stardust" by guitarist and singer Doug Wamble, recorded in 2015, and a radically reworked version of "Autumn Leaves" with pianist Orrin Evans and drummer Obed Calvaire, recorded in 2011.

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

MAXJAZZ deal with Naxos begins with three new releases

After an initial announcement was made back in July of this year, the latest three releases from the St. Louis-based independent label MAXJAZZ are the first to be distributed under a new agreement with Naxos of America.

Headquartered near Nashville in Franklin, Tennessee, Naxos is the leading independent distributor of classical music in the U.S. and Canada, and in recent years also has begun to add selected jazz labels to its roster.

The first three MAXJAZZ albums that Naxos is handling are bassist Ben Wolfe's From Here, first released back in August; Essential Elements, a trio date that came out in October and is the label's first from NYC pianist/organist Ben Paterson; and Where or When, the brand new release and MAXJAZZ debut from Italian saxophonist Emanuele Cisi (pictured).

Naxos distributes nearly 35,000 titles on CD and DVD to traditional retail stores, and also supplies a catalog of more than 30,000 albums to various digital music outlets. The company also offers marketing, publicity, e-commerce, and various other support services to its distributed labels.

MAXJAZZ releasing Ben Wolfe's new CD From Here I See on Tuesday, April 2

The St. Louis-based independent label MAXJAZZ has scheduled the release of bassist/composer Ben Wolfe's new CD From Here I See for Tuesday, April 2.

The album (pictured) is Wolfe's second for MAXJAZZ, which previously released his CD No Strangers Here back in 2008. The NYC-based Wolfe is known for his work with Harry Connick Jr., Diana Krall, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and also teaches at Juilliard.

His new recording features him with pianist Orrin Evans, drummer Donald Edwards, and saxophonist J.D. Allen, along with a string quartet on several tracks and special guest appearances by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, guitarist Russell Malone, and saxophonist Marcus Strickland. Audio samples of From Here I See should be online soon at Wolfe's page on the MAXJAZZ website.

Notes from the Net: More on Miles From India, an appreciation of Oliver Nelson, plus reviews, interviews and more

It's now officially summer time, and the linkin' is easy...to yet another collection of news bits about jazz musicians with a St. Louis connection, recent visitors and coming attractions, pus assorted other items of interest:

* First up, some links related to the Miles Davis-inspired project Miles From India, starting with another review of the two-CD set, written by ContemporaryJazz.com's John Luciano. The CDs have also spawned a limited series of concerts, including one in Los Angeles, reviewed here, and one in San Francisco that inspired an article about how the jazz now is incorporating musical influences from all over the world, Last but not least, AllAboutJazz.com has an interview about the project with former Davis sideman, guitarist Pete Cosey (pictured).

* The film blog Cinema Styles recently had a nice appreciation of saxophonist and St. Louis native Oliver Nelson's film and TV scoring, with an accompanying .mp3 of his composition "A Typical Day in New York."

* Saxophonist Oliver Lake is featured in Breakin' Glass, a new book in the Photonality Jazz Series

* Saxophonist and composer John Zorn recently designed a sound installation/experiment for a San Francisco museum.

* Composer, sound artist and St. Louis native Ben Manley is taking part in NYC performance space Roulette's annual Mixology Festival, which focuses on new and unusual uses of technology in music.

* Here's a review of No Strangers Here, bassist Ben Wolfe's new CD from the St. Louis-based MAXJAZZ label, and a review of Wolfe's recent gig at NYC's Jazz Standard.

* Check out these two interviews with saxophonist John Ellis, who guests on the new Erin Bode CD The Little Garden - one in print from AllAboutJazz.com, the other on radio with blogger and DJ LeRoy "The Jazzcat" Downs.

* The Return to Forever reunion tour, which came through St. Louis last week for a date at the Fox Theatre, is getting lots of press, starting with news that group's two-CD Anthology has been released; the collection gets an AllAboutJazz.com "extended analysis" here. Also, check out reviews of the band's shows in Denver, Salt Lake City, and Los Angeles, and this interview with drummer Lenny White in Drum Magazine

* Since playing at Jazz at the Bistro last October, bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding's star has contined to rise. She recently was interviewed on NPR's All Things Considered, and the New York Times has reviewed her new CD.

* Guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli, who's performed in St. Louis at both the Bistro and the Sheldon Concert Hall , has released a new CD devoted to the songs of Richard Rodgers

* Singer Paula West will perform at the Sheldon next season; here's a review of her recent gig in Charleston, SC.

* Trumpeter Rick Braun and saxophonist Richard Elliot have been added to the lineup of this fall's Dave Koz Cruise, produced by St. Louis-based Jazz Cruises LLC. Braun, Elliot and Koz all will perform at The Pageant this summer.

* Pianist Les McCann and saxophonist Javon Jackson, who will team up for a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro in October, were a last-minute replacement for pianist McCoy Tyner at the jazz festival earlier this month in Telluride, CO.

* The National Endowment for the Arts has announced its 2009 Jazz Masters honorees, including guitarist and singer George Benson, drummer Jimmy Cobb, alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, guitarist and harmonica player Toots Thielemans and trumpeter Snooky Young. Recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder will receive the 2009 A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy.

* Last but not least, composer and blogger Darcy James Argue recently had a couple of insightful and amusing posts about the phenomenon of "fan service," which he defines as "a marker or signifier that serves no legitimate aesthetic purpose, but is there to stroke those in the in-crowd while simultaneously alienating even the most sophisticated and open-minded newbies."

MAXJAZZ releasing CD by bassist Ben Wolfe

Next Tuesday, May 20 will be the official release date for No Strangers Here, the debut CD by bassist Ben Wolfe (pictured) on the St. Louis-based MAXJAZZ label.

Wolfe has toured and recorded with musicians such as Harry Connick Jr., Diana Krall and Wynton Marsalis, and his CD features guests including saxophonist Marcus Strickland, trumpeter Terell Stafford and drummer Greg Hutchinson performing a program of Wolfe's compositions for a jazz quartet accompanied by a string quartet. Although MAXJAZZ hasn't yet posted any excerpts on their Web site, within the next few days you should be able to find more information the CD here.