So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* A tribute to Ella Fitzgerald by singer Anita Jackson (pictured), set for Saturday, February 2 at The Sheldon, is previewed in a short article by St. Louis magazine's Amanda Woytus.

* Opera Theatre of St. Louis is sponsoring a series of events to promote Fire Shut Up In My Bones, the new opera by trumpeter Terence Blanchard that will premiere in June at OTSL.

You can read about the first event, a film screening and talk by the opera's librettist, writer/director and St. Louis native Kasi Lemmons, in this story by the St. Louis American's Kenya Vaughn.

* Singer and actor Lea DeLaria was a guest Wednesday on KSDK's Show Me St. Louis program. DeLaria performs tonight and tomorrow night at Jazz St. Louis.

* Keyboardist and singer Jesse Gannon talked about his eponymous new album for a story by the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson.

* The Friends of Scott Joplin are conducting their annual membership drive; find out more on their web site.

* Benjamin Cawthra, the former St. Louisan who in 2001 curated the Missouri History Museum's exhibit "Miles: A Miles Davis Retrospective," writes in a recent blog post about consulting with director Stanley Nelson on Nelson's documentary Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, which premieres this Sunday at the Sundance Film Festival.

* Two local music venues that are experiencing hard times financially are asking the public for help. Foam, the south side spot that serves up coffee, beer and performances ranging from alt-rock to free improv, has set up a GoFundMe page to help keep the doors open after revenue shortfalls in recent months.

Meanwhile, The Focal Point, which in recent years has featured vintage jazz and swing along with folk, bluegrass, singer-songwriters, and Americana, is "faced with the loss of a key subsistence grant and some unexpected expenses." As a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, they're able to solicit and accept donations directly via their website.

* The UMSL Symphonic Band is looking for additional woodwind, brass, and percussion players. The band is open to all musicians with at least six years of experience on their instrument, and rehearses under the direction of professor Gary Brandes on Monday evenings starting January 28 at the Lee Theater in the Touhill Performing Arts Center. For information on auditions, contact Brandes by email at brandesg@umsl.edu.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Saxophonist Greg Osby did a brief Q&A for the website of the Pew Foundation, which made him one of their Pew Fellows in 2012.

* Saxophonist Oliver Lake (pictured) has announced some major NYC gigs for this fall, including a show with his big band on Saturday, September 13 at Iridium and a week of performances leading various ensembles from October 21 through October 26 at The Stone.

* In other Lake-related news, here's a review of the reissue compilation Oliver Lake: The Complete Remastered Recordings on Black Saint and Soul Note from Tim Niland of the blog Music & More.

* Pianist Jay Oliver has put online a video of "Incantation," a solo improvisation he recorded for Convergence, the new album from drummer Dave Weckl. The album, which also features fellow St. Louis native Tom Kennedy on bass, as well as Randy Brecker, Mike Stern, Gary Meek, Dean Brown, Brandon Fields and more, can be obtained via Weckl's website.

* Former St. Louisan Benjamin Cawthra, author of the book Blue Notes in Black and White, blogged some thoughts about the situation in Ferguson.

* Most of the remaining jazz-related artwork from the collection of the late Richard McDonnell, founder of the indie label MAXJAZZ, now are scheduled to be sold in an auction to be conducted by Link Auction Galleries on Saturday, September 13. You can see items from McDonnell's collection that will be in the sale (and place online bids) starting here.

* Lindy Hop St. Louis was featured in a short video produced by the Riverfront Times.

* Singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black were interviewed last week on KMOX (1120 AM) by "Route 66" host Ron "Johnny Rabbit" Elz.

* Bassist Mark Wallace is the latest subject of St. Louis magazine's recurring feature "Seven Questions With..."

* Jazz radio update: This Saturday on Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis' “Somethin’ Else,” host Calvin Wilson spotlights the music of pianist Cecil Taylor. The program can be heard at 8:00 p.m. on 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.

Meanwhile, over across the river in Edwardsville, WSIE (88.7 FM) has scheduled a new program called "St. Louis Jazz Talk" that will air at 11:00 a.m. Sundays beginning September 8. The show will be hosted by WSIE's Dick Ulett and musicians Mike Silverman, Robert Silverman, and Erika Johnson, and will feature interviews with and recordings by St. Louis musicians.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* It's been an eventful week for Miles Ahead, Don Cheadle's movie about Miles Davis, as Cheadle and company began filming on Monday in Cincinnati and last night wrapped up a successful IndieGoGo campaign raising more than $340,000 in additional funding for the movie.

Meanwhile, Cheadle also was interviewed about the movie by Entertainment Weekly (which ran the photo of him as Davis-circa-1969 that accompanies this post), Okay Player, and Uprising Radio.

* In other Davis-related news, the trumpeter also showed up on a list recently published by WhoSampled.com of the top 10 most-sampled jazz artists of all time. Davis ranks number nine on the list, with 146 samples of his music used in hip-hop records that made the charts. (Incidentally, the musician ranked as "most sampled" is a Missouri native - keyboardist Bob James, who's originally from Marshall, MO and has had his jazz/funk tunes sampled 734 times to date.).

* Drummer Dave Weckl has announced a tour and forthcoming album by his new group, the Dave Weckl Acoustic Band, which features St. Louis native Tom Kennedy on bass along with saxophonist Gary Meek and pianist Makoto Ozone. Though the tour schedule for this summer doesn't include a St. Louis date, you can see a brief preview video of the band, recorded earlier this year at the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood, here.

* In conjunction with other merchants in the Old Webster business district, Euclid Records will hold a sidewalk sale next Saturday, July 19, with thousands of LPs, CDs and DVDs for sale at marked-down prices in front, in back, and inside the store, which is located at 19 North Gore in downtown Webster Groves.

* Tavern of Fine Arts co-owner Aaron Johnson got married over the Fourth of July weekend to Melissa Brooks, cellist with the St. Louis Symphony. Congratulations to the happy couple!

* Historian and former St. Louisan Benjamin Cawthra, who wrote the book Blue Notes in Black and White about the history of jazz photography, has a few thoughts about recent developments here concerning Jazz St. Louis and the Palladium, and how the presentation of live jazz continues to evolve.

* Keyboardist Jim Hegarty has published a new ebook, Guts & Soul: Looking for Street Music and Finding Inspiration, which is available now for free on Smashwords and soon via iTunes and other outlets. "Street music has always inspired me and I went looking for more," explained Hegarty in an email touting the book, which contains photos of and conversations with street musicians in New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New Orleans.

* Jazz radio update: Coming up this week on Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis' “Somethin’ Else,”  host Calvin Wilson explores the compositions of saxophonist Ornette Coleman, as recorded by the composer himself, bassist Christian McBride, drummer John Hollenbeck and others.

Following that, on "The Jazz Collective," host Jason Church will offer up tracks from Morgan James, Omar Hakim, Cookin on 3 Burners, Down To The Bone, Ragan Whiteside, Mindi Abair, Lou Donaldson, Wes Montgomery, Junior Walker, Wilton Felder, and Donald Byrd as well as locals including Dawn Webert, Soul Cafe, and Jim Manley.

"Somethin' Else" can be heard at 8:00 p.m. Saturdays, followed by "The Jazz Collective" at 9:00 p.m., on 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The Veterans Administration hospital has filed papers to demolish the Palladium, aka Club Plantation, the historic building (pictured) at the intersection of Enright and Delmar that hosted performances from many significant jazz and blues musicians from the 1930s through the 1950s. The VA wants to put a parking lot on the site. Author and illustrator Kevin Belford is keeping track of the story via a "Save The Palladium Building at Grand Center" page on Facebook.

* Author and former St. Louisan Benjamin Cawthra was on KWMU's Cityscape program last week to discuss his book Blue Notes in Black and White: Photography and Jazz and his appearance on Sunday afternoon at the Missouri History Museum.

* The Post-Dispatch's Gail Pennington has a story about Ken Haller's cabaret performance "The TV Show," which happens tonight and tomorrow night at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

* The KDHX website has photos from last Friday's performance by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band at the Old Rock House.

* Here's more coverage of Jazz St. Louis' 2012-13 season schedule announcement from Terry Perkins of the St. Louis Beacon, Kevin Johnson of the Post-Dispatch, and Elaine Hoffman of St. Louis magazine. (And in case you missed it, StLJN's story is here.)

* A new episode of HEC-TV's I Love Jazz will get its first airing at 8:00 p.m. next Thursday, June 7 on Charter channel 989, U-Verse channel 99, and via the cable network's website. This installment features a live performance by trumpeter Jim Manley recorded at Jimmy's on the Park.

* As reported by both the Post-Dispatch and Business Journal, Wells Fargo Advisors will contribute $100,000 to Jazz St. Louis to be the presenting sponsor of the 2012-13 Jazz at the Bistro season.

Benjamin Cawthra, author of book on jazz and photography, to speak Sunday, June 3 at the Missouri History Museum

Author, jazz historian and former St. Louisan Benjamin Cawthra is coming back to his old hometown for an event promoting his book Blue Notes in Black and White: Photography and Jazz.

Cawthra will speak and sign copies of the book (pictured) starting at 3:00 p.m. Sunday, June 3 in the Des Lee Auditorium at the Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell. The event is free and open to the public.

He'll discuss "the development of jazz photography from the swing era of the 1930s to the rise of black nationalism in the 1960s." Saxophonist Kelvin Evans will play a short set of standards before the lecture.

Cawthra lived in St. Louis for 16 years, earning a Ph.D in history from Washington University and working for the History Museum, where in 2001 he curated the exhibit "Miles: A Miles Davis Retrospective." Cawthra, who also helped coordinate the Sheldon Art Galleries' 2008 exhibit of the jazz photos of Herb Snitzer, now is an associate professor of history and associate director of the Center for Oral and Public History at California State University, Fullerton.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Tim Halpin, guitarist for the Funky Butt Brass Band (pictured), was interviewed twice this week about the FBBB's "Holiday Brasstravaganza" on Saturday at Off Broadway, by both the RFT's Christian Schaeffer and the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson.

* Former St. Louisan Benjamin Cawthra’s new book Blue Notes in Black and White: Photography and Jazz was reviewed by Ben Ratliff for the New York Times. Cawthra also has a short essay excerpted from the book now online at the Montreal Review.

* Dennis Owsley's most recent blog post for St. Louis magazine is an appreciation of singer Kurt Elling, who was in St. Louis last month to perform at Jazz at the Bistro.

* Jazz on Broadway has posted on Facebook an album of photos from last weekend's gig at the Alton club by bassist Bob DeBoo's quartet.

* The RFT's Kholood Eid has a look inside Native Sound, a new recording studio on Cherokee St.

* St. Louis based Jazz Cruises LLC has changed its name to Entertainment Cruise Productions, reflecting the company's expansion into cruises featuring other musical genres, including "Malt Shop Memories" and the new "Soul Train" cruise, featuring soul, funk and R&B stars from the 1970s and 1980s.

New book by former St. Louisan examines relationship between jazz and photography

Former St. Louisan Benjamin Cawthra, who curated the 2001 exhibition "Miles: A Miles Davis Retrospective" for the Missouri History Museum, has just published a new book called Blue Notes in Black and White: Photography and Jazz via the University of Chicago Press.

Cawthra, now an associate professor of history and associate director of the Center for Oral and Public History at California State University, Fullerton, lived in St. Louis for 16 years and earned a Ph.D in history from Washington University.

Blue Notes in Black and White is touted as "the first of its kind: a fascinating account of the partnership between two of the twentieth century’s most innovative art forms." The book (pictured) covers significant jazz photographers such as Gjon Mili, William Gottlieb, Herman Leonard, Francis Wolff, Roy DeCarava, and William Claxton, as well as their jazz musician subjects, including Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis, who's shown on the cover. It endeavors to show "the connections between the photographers, art directors, editors, and record producers who crafted a look for jazz that would sell magazines and albums" as well as how musicians shaped their public images to further their own goals.

For more about Cawthra and Blue Notes in Black and White, see the University of Chicago Press website and/or the book's own Facebook page. (And if you order a copy through this Amazon link, a few pennies of commission will kick back to StLJN.)