Sunday Session: August 1, 2021

Billie Holiday

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

* Charles Mingus: An Essential Top Ten Albums (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Laura Nyro: the phenomenal singers’ singer the 60s overlooked (The Guardian)
* Buddy Guy: “When you pick up a guitar, you have something of your own even if you don’t realize it” (Guitar World)
* The United States vs. Billie Holiday vs. the Truth (Jazz Times)
* Fire Music Documentary to See National Release (Jazz Times)
* Ryan Adams, Shunned by the Music Business and ‘Scared,’ Pleads for Labels to Rescue His Career (Variety)
* This Is Your Brain On Vinyl, and Other Tales From Obsessive Collecting in the Pandemic (Jezebel.com)
* BREAKING NEWS: Three major music venues in New Orleans will require vaccination cards or negative Covid tests for entry (Offbeat)
* John Pizzarelli’s Ode to Pat Metheny (DownBeat)
* Dee Dee Bridgewater Returns to Rome (DownBeat)
* Low Fidelity: Vintage Vinyl and The Precarious State of the Indie Record Store (DecibelMagazine.com)
* Jim Keltner: A Before & After Listening Session (Jazz Times)
* Blues guitar legend Buddy Guy looks back on a special career (Associated Press)
* Fred Rzewski’s Classical Call To Arms (Bandcamp.com)
* (Back) In The Club: Jazz United Considers the Return of Live Concerts (WBGO)
* A Beginner’s Guide to Frank Zappa (Guitar Player)
* A Guide to the Late Recordings of Experimental Vocalist Linda Sharrock (Bandcamp.com)
* Do You Hear What I See? (New Music Box)

Sunday Session: March 28, 2021

Billie Holiday

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

* 10 Albums That Explore the Multisided Record Phenomenon (Discogs.com)
* TikTok is changing the rules of the music industry (TechRadar.com)
* Huey Lewis and the News on His Hearing, the Power of Love, and More (Berklee.edu)
* More Oscar History Made as Two Black Composers Are Nominated for Best Original Score (Variety)
* Islands in the Stream (Prospect.org)
* Smalls Jazz Club, Emblem of Pandemic Perseverance, Shifts Gears Yet Again (WBGO)
* Introducing The Singer’s Mask, a costume designer’s invention for COVID-era performances (St. Louis)
* Why Is Tower Records Coming Back Now, of All Times? (Slate.com)
* A Grandson's Gift — A Spotlight — For His Grandfather's WWII Band (NPR)
* Mixtapes Are the Original Playlists, All Thanks to Lou Ottens (Discogs.com)
* Holiday Film Puts Drug War on Trial (DownBeat)
* The Market for Musical Gear Is Amping Up Like Never Before (Bloomberg.com)
* Pharoah Sanders Takes on Electronic Music (The New Yorker)
* Without Limits or Lyrics: The Human Voice as Instrument (Bandcamp.com)
* Indie labels call for end to streaming ‘payola’ – as IMPALA unveils 10-point plan to reform sector (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Saxophone Legends Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp Are Still Pushing Jazz Forward (Rolling Stone)
* Live album featuring Memphis music icons Alex Chilton and Hi Rhythm coming in May (Memphis Commercial Appeal)
* Global recorded music revenues grew 7.4% to $21.6bn in 2020, in spite of the pandemic (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Is the guitar solo dead in the 21st century? (Guitar World)
* National Identities in Jazz: Is There A British Jazz? (TDE Promotions)
* [Ahmed] Pays Tribute to a Titan of Islamic Jazz (Bandcamp.com)
* Pioneering Bassist and Guitarist Carol Kaye Surveys Her Career in Music, Including Her Time in Jazz Clubs (WBGO)
* Instrument extinction: musical instruments that did not survive into modernity (ThisCityKnows.com)
* As Streaming Takes Over, Music Metadata Is Becoming More Critical for Musicians. How Critical, You Ask? (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* It looks like a saxophone but plays 512 notes — many you’ve never heard before (ExpMag.com)
* Jaco Pastorius, An Introduction To The Jazz Legend (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Anonymous Songwriters Group Calls for Artists to Stop Demanding Royalties for Songs They Didn’t Write (Variety)

Sunday Session: March 14, 2021

Roy Haynes

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

* Guelph Jazz Festival offering 'hyper intimate' live music with One-on-One Concert Series (Guelph Today)
* Theo Bleckmann & the Westerlies: This Land Is Their Land (Jazz Times)
* PRS for Music says that more women are registering as professional songwriters, but they’re still underrepresented and earn less than their male counterparts (MusicRadar.com)
* zaynnah conversation....with Sonny Rollins (Zayannah)
* “Judas and the Black Messiah”: Revolutionary Down to the Tunes (TheCorsairOnline.com)
* Best Charles Mingus Pieces: 20 Essentials By Jazz’s Fiery Iconoclast (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Space Oddity: the weird history of the Soviet ANS synthesizer (5Mag.net)
* The Baddest Man in Town (TheAmericanScholar.org)
* 'Swingin’ the Blues' book encapsulates life, legacy of San Marcos jazz legend (UniversityStar.com)
* Family Record (Style Weekly)
* ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ Composer Tom Holkenborg Says They Created a Drum So Big It Wouldn’t Fit Through His Door (Collider.com)
* With Just One Full-Time Jazz Club Left In The District, Local Musicians Contemplate Their Future (DCist.com)
* UConn celebrating 50th anniversary of Joni Mitchell’s ‘Blue’ with international conference open to academics and music lovers (Hartford Courant)
* Jazz clarinetist Dr. Michael White takes a break from songwriting marathon for Snug Harbor gig (NOLA.com)
* With yet another Grammy nomination, Pat Metheny talks music, COVID, his KC upbringing (Kansas City Star)
* How Many Movies About Billie Holiday Does it Take… (The Nation)
* Tribune photos of the famous Mister Kelly's (Chicago Tribune)
* On Roy Haynes’ 96th Birthday Today, a Collective Card From More Than 20 Jazz Giants (Mother Jones)
* Inside the ‘Black Market’ Where Artists Can Pay for Millions of Streams (Rolling Stone)
* Audio cassette tape inventor Lou Ottens dies aged 94 (BBC)
* Country Music Is Changing, in Spite of Itself (Pitchfork.com)
* “The Most Beautiful Sound Next to Silence” (City-Journal.org)
* Jane Monheit Talks New Album Come What May And Her Love Of Musical Theatre (IHeartRadioBroadway.com)
* Considering Chick Corea's Grammys Success And The Kitchen Sink Of Genre (NPR)

Sunday Session: February 21, 2021

Phatoah Sanders

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

* Can Caroline Shaw Make Classical Cool? (The Atlantic)
* Remembering Rupert Neve, Console Creator, 1926-2021 (SonicScoop.com)
* 'He was the Steve Jobs of audio': how Rupert Neve changed the sound of music (The Guardian)
* Memories of Chick Corea – by Tim Garland (London Jazz News)
* Herbie Hancock on Chick Corea: ‘He Always Wanted to Share Whatever He Had’ (Rolling Stone)
* Pharoah Sanders Announces First Album in a Decade With Floating Points (Rolling Stone)
* Milford Graves, Visionary Drummer Who Mapped The Music Of The Heart, Dead At 79 (NPR)
* Rock-Star Journalist Lisa Robinson Has Lived in Her Apartment for 45 Years Even her sofa has an interesting backstory. (Curbed.com)
* The Best Books About Billie Holiday (Rolling Stone)
* Joe Chambers Heads Back To Blue Note (DownBeat)
* Don't Make Her Over: Dionne Warwick Is Still Crushing It at 80 (Billboard)
* New Music Decolonization in Eight Difficult Steps (Van-Outernational.com)
* SoundCloud Fan-Artist Payment System: Too Little, Too Late? (Variety)
* Raymond Hill: Remembering Clarksdale’s Unsung Reed Man (Memphis Flyer)
* Six East Coast Jazz Clubs Band Together for One-Day Virtual Festival (Jazz Times)
* Beach Boys Sell Rights to Intellectual Property, Including Name, Likeness, Masters (ConsequenceOfSound.net)
* Sonny Rollins interview: “I love music of course, but I don’t listen any more... It’s too frustrating to listen to music when I can’t participate” (Jazzwise)
* Gary Bartz Bridges Generations (DownBeat)
* I Pay $9.99 a Month for Spotify Premium. So Why Am I Listening to Podcast Ads? (DigitalMusicnews.com)
* Her saxophonist neighbour wouldn’t stop playing ‘Pink Panther’, so she chronicled her nightmare (ClassicFM.com)
* Irma Thomas, Soul Queen of New Orleans, at 80: 'I'm living fine, as far as I'm concerned' (NOLA.com)
* Milford Graves (1941–2021) (Art Forum)
* Roy McCurdy: From Cannonball to the Rochester Music Hall of Fame (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Livestream Community Survey: What We Learned from the Field (New Music Box)
* The Jazzy Score of "Judas and the Black Messiah" (WBGO)
* Faced with the cold, SMU professor slept with his 331-year-old violin to protect it (Dallas Morning News)

Sunday Session: December 6, 2020

Wes Montgomery

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

* Adrift in Cosmic Quarantine: Randy Newman Turns 77 (Los Angeles Review of Books)
* Don't go breaking my art: it's time to axe the mood-ruining, bar-scrambling interval (The Guardian)
* Joni Mitchell’s Youthful Artistry (The New Yorker)
* Nadine Shah Says She Can’t Pay Rent Despite Having More Than 100,000 Spotify Monthly Listeners (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Kassa Overall: A Different Kind of Fusion (Jazz Times)
* JT 50: The History of JazzTimes (Jazz Times)
* Peter Guralnick Is 'Looking To Get Lost' In The Stories Of American Music Icons (NPR)
* John Coltrane's favorite composition was the love song he wrote for his first wife, Naima (Daily Kos)
* Halsey Accuses the Recording Academy of Demanding Bribes for Grammy Nominations and Awards (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Holiday Gift Guide 2020: Sparkling Sounds and Bright Ideas For the Jazz Lover in Your Life (WBGO)
* New York’s Jazz Standard Announces Permanent Closure (DownBeat)
* The Cultural Impact of the Technics SL-1200 Turntable, Then and Now (Discogs.com)
* How Prince Built a Madhouse (Jazz Times)
* New Documentary 'Billie' Explores Mysteries Of Billie Holiday And Her Biographer (WBGO)
* I Remember the Jazz Standard (Medium.com)
* Spotify could be working on an AI ‘plagiarism detector’ that tells you if your songs are original (MusicRadar.com)
* ‘The music business isn’t really a place for truth-tellers’ (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Strictly dropped us after we asked to be paid, say musicians (The Guardian)
* Musicians reimagine Ray Charles’ “Georgia On My Mind” to Encourage Voters (Offbeat)
* Wes Montgomery documentary will include the guitarist's unearthed home movies (Indianapolis Star)
* Musicians from every country form Earth Orchestra to record unique song (Reuters)
* When Sun Ra Went to Egypt in 1971: See Film & Hear Recordings from the Legendary Afrofuturist’s First Visit to Cairo (OpenCulture.com)
* Pat Metheny’s Cinematic Vision (DownBeat)
* Billie Holiday Documentary Chronicles Two Lives (DownBeat)
* What Do We Overlook About Dave Brubeck on His 100th Birthday? Authors, Musicians, and Family Members Reflect (Discogs.com)
* Gary Lucas and Nona Hendryx on the World of Captain Beefheart (PopMatters.com)
* And in the End (Rolling Stone)
* Behind the Overdog: Jazz United Takes a Closer Look at the 2021 Grammy Nominations (WBGO)
* #Wrapped and Sold (TheBaffler.com)

Sunday Session: September 20, 2020

Tomeka Reid

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

* Hawaii Passes the ‘Truth in Music Advertising Act’ to Prevent ‘Imposter Performers’ That Claim to Be Classic Bands (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Book Review: Crime and Espionage — to the Sounds of Jazz (ArtsFuse.org)
* Discovering—and Preserving—the Earliest Known Stereo Recordings (Pro Sound News)
* Chick Corea bonus Q&A: What he learned playing with Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan, Stan Getz and others (San Diego Union Tribune)
* New Billie Holiday Documentary to Open in November (VIDEO) (Jazz Times)
* Why the struggle of small venues will affect the entire music industry (MidiaResearch.com)
* LJ Talks to Ricky Riccardi, Author of "Heart Full of Rhythm: The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong" (Library Journal)
* 55 Years Ago: Otis Redding Sets a New Standard With ‘Otis Blue’ (UltimateClassicRock.com)
* Visa fees for foreign artists touring the US to increase by over 50% (NME.com)
* The Thrills and Frustrations of a Rediscovered Thelonious Monk Recording (The New Yorker)
* Remembering Bassist Gary Peacock, with a Recent Conversation on The Checkout (WBGO)
* Fridays at Five: A Look Behind the Scenes (SFJAZZ.org)
* Stanley Crouch, Towering Jazz Critic, Dead At 74 (NPR)
* Bootsy Collins Collaborates With George Benson, Branford Marsalis And More On ‘The Power Of The One’ (DownBeat)
* Is Richard Wagner Simultaneously the Most Controversial and Influential Composer Ever? (Pitchfork.com)
* How South Africa’s Blue Notes Helped Invent European Free Jazz (Bandcamp.com)
* Stanley Crouch 1945–2020 (Jazz Times)
* Musicians Are Surviving the Pandemic by Giving (and Receiving) Virtual Lessons (Pitchfork.com)
* Vinyl frontier: The story behind one of the rarest records in the universe (TheVinylFactory.com)
* I saw a different side of Stanley Crouch (TheUndefeated.com)
* Late Night TV Show Musicians Sign Open Letter to Networks Asking for "Economic Parity" (Hollywood Reporter)
* Jazz cellist Tomeka Reid to make debut as Mills professor with virtual show (San Francisco Chronicle)
* Toto, ELO, Queen ... why hits from happier times top Covid lockdown playlists (The Guardian)
* The Sheer Force Of Artemis (DownBeat)
* The Greenwich Village jazz scene is scrambling to stay alive (Time Out New York)
* Beyond High Concept, Beyond Algorithms: Classical Recording Artists Go “Off the Leash” (WQXR)
* Retired Victoria broadcaster finds long-lost tapes of Joni Mitchell recording session (Victoria Times Colonist)
* Meet the NEA Jazz Masters, Class of 2020 (NPR)

Sunday Session: August 25, 2019

Ahmad Jamal

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

* Tenor Sax Hero David Murray Opens Up About His Journey and His Legacy, on The Checkout (WBGO)
* How Was Woodstock Originally Reported 50 Years Ago? (Billboard)
* In his own words: New Leon Russell book shares remembrances from Tulsa music legend (Tulsa World)
* The History of Record Guides, 1934-79 (Part One) (DonaldEArmstrong.com)
* Duane Allman’s ‘Layla’ Guitar Sells for $1 Million at Auction (Rolling Stone)
* The 30 best films about music, chosen by musicians (The Guardian)
* Caretakers Help the Detroit Festival Hit the 40-Year Mark (DownBeat)
* Elvis Presley’s Bandleader Looks Back on His Wild Vegas Years: ‘Elvis Was Really Nervous’ (TheDailyBeast.com)
* This is the Album of the Future (New Music Box)
* Billie Full Of Grace (NPR)
* A Conversation with Ahmad Jamal (SFJAZZ.org)
* (Un)happy Partners: On Jazz and Independent Film (Los Angeles Review of Books)
* Nina Simone: Anthems, anguish and resistance (The Times Literary Supplement)
* Can music journalism transcend its access problem? (Columbia Journalism Review)
* Films for Big Eyes: Charlemagne Palestine’s Baker’s Dozen (TheQuietus.com)
* Does humour belong in music? (Jazz Journal)
* Why Wil Blades is the Latest Celebrated Jazz Musician to Leave the Bay Area (KQED)
* Forget Guitars. Buy a Rocker’s Childhood Home (Rolling Stone)
* A Serious Jazz Take on "Old Town Road"? Big Chief Donald Harrison, Jr. Has Got It Covered (WBGO)
* Sara Gazarek Charts a Path Through Loss, Heartache on ‘Thirsty Ghost’ (DownBeat)
* A Toy Company Now Owns Death Row Records (Rolling Stone)
* How Artist Imposters and Fake Songs Sneak Onto Streaming Services (Pitchfork)
* How a Québécois filmmaker got John Coltrane to record the only soundtrack of his career (CBC.ca)

Sunday Session: July 22, 2018

Chucho Valdés

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:

* Major Labels Are Upset That They Aren’t Getting More Songs Onto Spotify Playlists, Deutsche Bank Says (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Classical Composers Have Been Inspired For Centuries By Insects (NPR)
* Montreal Jazz Fest Shapes Surrounding City—and Vice Versa (DownBeat)
* The Stone: An Oral History - Musicians and scenesters recount their experiences at John Zorn's storied NYC venue (Jazz Times)
* Guru’s ‘Jazzmatazz’ Uniquely Tied Together Jazz and Hip-Hop (DownBeat)
* In Tandem, the Morans Expand Notions of Art (DownBeat)
* Mary Halvorson: Reinventing the Identity of the Jazz Guitarist (Jazz Times)
* Joey DeFrancesco on Working With Van Morrison (Jazz Times)
* Vijay Iyer: 'We're all improvisers and we're all creative people making choices every step of the way.' (List.co.uk)
* Sound Matters: A History Of Legendary Recording Studios (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* The Perils Of A Cruise Ship Musician (FYIMusicNews.ca)
* Universal Music Group Is Making a Huge Move Into Nigeria (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Billie Holiday: A Complex Woman, A Jazz Legend (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Copenhagen Festival Spans Poetic Swing, Hard-Bop Themes (DownBeat)
* The Charles Lloyd Interview: Life of a Song (Jazz Times)
* George Wein: A Life and Legend in Jazz (AllAboutJazz.com)
* The scam industry: How the hip-hop boom sets hopefuls up for failure (AV Club)
* Asante Drum Language (Afropop.org)
* Chucho Valdés and Irakere: A Musical Revolution (SFJAZZ.org)
* Sun Ra in Sin City The origins of an outer-space empire (Lapham's Quarterly)
* The Music of Fred Rogers’ Neighborhood (Jazz Times)

Sunday Session: February 25, 2018

Dave Burrell

Here's the 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 Icon Sonny Rollins on the Difference Between Knowing and Believing (RealClearLife.com)
* “Fascination and fear”: Rhythm and Reaction shows how Edwardian Britain responded to jazz (New Statesman)
* At Gala, SFJAZZ Connects with Preservation Hall (DownBeat)
* The Brian Eno Discography: Stream 29 Hours of Recordings by the Master of Ambient Music (OpenCulture.com)
* A Hall of Fame hitmaker finds happiness and harmony in Bellingham (Seattle Times)
* UK's first live music census warns of threats to small venues (Music Week)
* People find comfort listening to the same songs over and over, study finds (MedicalExpress.com)
* Didier Lockwood, French Jazz Violinist, Dies Suddenly at 62 (Billboard)
* Morton Subotnick Revivifies Silver Apples of The Moon for Its 50th Anniversary (San Francisco Classical Voice)
* How ‘Strange Fruit’ Killed Billie Holiday (Progressive.org)
* John McLaughlin on the Mystery of Creativity, Inspiration, & Music (AllAboutJazz.com)
* 'I didn't give a damn if it didn't sell': how Isaac Hayes helped create psychedelic soul (The Guardian)
* The 50 Best Jazz Guitarists Of All Time (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* The 2018 Vision Festival Will Honor Pianist Dave Burrell, and Feature Prime Younger Talent (WBGO)
* In Pursuit of a Streaming Jazz Utopia with Qwest TV, the New Service From Quincy Jones (WBGO)
* The Sound of Being (Opera News)
* Musical Revolutionary Ornette Coleman Unleashed Free Jazz in 1950s L.A. (LA Weekly)
* In Memoriam: Drummer Ndugu Chancler (DownBeat)
* Gibson Guitar Update: 150 days to save the brand (FarOutMagazine.co.uk)
* NOJO: A Second Chance to Swing (Jazz Times)
* How two GMU professors teamed up to create high-tech music (Washington Post)
* Charley Pride’s music taught listeners that country music was black music, too (Timeline.com)
* Tyshawn Sorey and Terrance Hayes Make a Poignant Statement with 'Cycles of My Being' (WBGO)
* When Sonny Rollins Rose in the West (Village Voice)
* The Last Word: George Clinton on Alien Encounters, Trump's Lack of Funk (Rolling Stone)
* The great big Spotify scam: Did a Bulgarian playlister swindle their way to a fortune on streaming service? (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Q&A with John Surman: Shared Experience (DownBeat)
* From Radiohead to the Oscar-Nominated ‘Phantom Thread’: Jonny Greenwood on His Musical Process (Variety)
* The Kid Who Recorded The First Punk Rock Record (And Invented Surf Guitar) (PleaseKillMe.com)
* Christian Scott: Building Bridges Across Cultures (NPR)
* The Prowess of Nina Simone’s Early Records (The Atlantic)
* Is the greatest hits album dying? (GetIntoThis.co.uk)
* An introduction to Don Cherry in 10 records (The VinylFactory.com)

Sunday Session: October 22, 2017

Abdullah Ibrahim

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

* Why are foreign bands being denied entry into the United States? (Alternative Press)
* Q&A with Don Was: Capturing the Blue Note Vibe (DownBeat)
* The Top Uses of Billie Holiday Songs in Movies or TV (TVOverMind.com)
* When Prince Asked Miles Davis to Play With Him (Diffuser.fm)
* Charnett Moffett: On Loss, Love & Vibrational Healing (Jazz Times)
* Critic's Notebook: Bill Murray, Classical Music's Unlikeliest Star (Hollywood Reporter)
* No alternative: how brands bought out underground music (The Guardian)
* Wadada Leo Smith continues to tinker with his masterpiece (Houston Chronicle)
* MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey stretches musical definitions (Chicago Tribune)
* Who Are the Best-Selling Artists of All Time? (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Star-Studded Concerts Planned in NYC to Aid Puerto Rico (DownBeat)
* Jazz Legend James “Blood” Ulmer Walks the Line Between Melody and Improv (Bandcamp.com)
* Why Is Sun Ra Suddenly Having His Moment? (Rolling Stone)
* Uber, But for Millennials Who Want Orchestras in Their Living Rooms (Wired)
* Thelonious Monk's Quiet, Slow Conquest of the World (The Atlantic)
* Which Sounds Better, Analog or Digital Music? (Scientific American)
* Abdullah Ibrahim: How Improvisation Saved My Life (NPR)
* Shaping the ’70s: Simon Draper and the Story of Virgin Records (RedBullMusicAcademy.com)
* David Torn: Making Records, Film Composition, and Working With David Bowie (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Could city takeover of embattled American Jazz Museum improve its fortunes? (Kansas City Star)
* Two months before the American Jazz Museum bounced checks to artists, it spent how much on a Learjet flight? (Pitch Weekly)
* Meet the Artist Single-Handedly Reviving a Dying Form of Music (Vice.com)
* Herbie Hancock riffs on the ‘ethics of jazz’ (Wisconsin Gazette)
* Philip Glass Reveals His Love for the Cello (The New Yorker)
* What’s actually going on when people talk about digital vs. analogue masters (TheVinylFactory.com)
* Sexism in Jazz, From the Conservatory to the Club: One Saxophonist Shares Her Story (WBGO)
* Perfect Pandemonium: The Art Ensemble Of Chicago At Cafe Oto (TheQuietus.com)

Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill to open Max & Louis Productions' 2017 season

Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, the award-winning musical drama about singer Billie Holiday, will be the opening production of St. Louis theater company Max & Louie Productions' 2017 season.

The play by Lanie Robertson first premiered in 1986 at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, GA, and went on to run Off-Broadway and in regional theaters soon after that, finally making it to Broadway in 2014.

The St. Louis production will run from Friday, February 17 through Saturday, March 4 at the Kranzberg Arts Center, with Alexis J. Roston playing Holiday. Performances will be at 8:00 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 2:00 p.m. Sundays, with one additional matinee at 4:00 p.m. onSaturday, March 4.

Roston (pictured), who won Chicago’s Jeff Award and Black Theatre Alliance Award for her portrayal of Holiday in a previous production of the play by that city's Porchlight Theatre Company, will be accompanied by pianist, composer and arranger Abdul Hamid Royal, with Leda Hoffmann of the Milwaukee Rep directing.

Described as "a moving portrait of Holiday’s struggles with addiction, racism, love and loss," Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill is set in a run-down bar in Philadelphia, circa 1959. Evoking Holiday's nightclub act, the play includes musical numbers such as “God Bless the Child,” “Strange Fruit,” and “What A Little Moonlight Can Do,” alternating with Holiday telling stories about her life.

General admission tickets for Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill are $45, or $35 for seniors 65 and older and students with ID, and will go on sale this Thursday, December 1 at www.maxandlouie.com; by phone via MetroTix at 314-534-1111; and in person at the Fox Theatre box office.

Sunday Session: December 27, 2015

Terence Blanchard

For your Sunday reading, some interesting music-related items that have turned up recently in StlJN's inbox:

* Did the CIA’s Experiments With Psychedelic Drugs Unwittingly Create the Grateful Dead? (Medium.com/Collector's Weekly)
* A New Music Journey From The U.S. To Havana (NPR)
* 'Chi-Raq' Composer on Longtime Collaboration With Spike Lee: "It's a Mind-Meld Kind of Thing" (Hollywood Reporter)
* Jazz at Lincoln Center Opens Redesigned Atrium (Jazz Times)
* Music in 2030 (DavidEmeryOnline.com)
* Forget 1966, because 1981 was pop's year of revolution (The Guardian UK)
* The Data Behind A Hit Single (Hypebot.com)
* Fusion Reaction - Young artists are drawing new energy from forgotten electric jazz (Jazz Times)
* Dr. John promises a 'different curvature' for each night -- Dec. 27, 28 -- at Tipitina's (New Orleans Times-Picayune)
* Columbia House To Relaunch With Vinyl (Stereogum)
* The Most-Covered Christmas Songs Ever (FiveThirtyEight.com)
* Thanks to Brainfeeder, West Coast Jazz Is Cool Again (LA Weekly)
* Jamie Cullum and José James on Billie Holiday (Jazz Times)
* Interview With Blues Legend And “Last Man Standing,” Bobby Rush (Elmore)
* The strange story of Sun Ra’s lost doo-wop Christmas hit (The Vinyl Factory)
* Bill Evans - The Secret Sessions (Jazz Profiles)
* Pictures Of Infinity: Stewart Smith on the Cosmic Jazz Connection (The Wire)
* Crackle goes pop: how Stockhausen seduced the Beatles (The Guardian UK)
* John Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme' at 50: Saxophonists Ravi Coltrane & Archie Shepp Look Back (Billboard)

Sunday Session: September 20, 2015

Dave Douglas

For your Sunday reading, here are some interesting music-related items that have hit StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Sun Ra Plays a Music Therapy Gig at a Mental Hospital; Inspires Patient to Talk for the First Time in Years (OpenCulture.com)
* Breathing While Saxophone Playing Should Be An Olympic Sport (Atlas Obscura)
* Concert programmes cheat the public (The Independent UK)
* Important Win for Fair Use in ‘Dancing Baby’ Lawsuit - Appeals Court Affirms That Copyright Owners Must Consider Fair Use in Online Takedowns (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
* Dave Douglas’ Tireless Pursuit of Variety & Change (DownBeat)
* The 26 best jazz films (The Telegraph UK)
* Physicists Achieve Perfect Acoustic Absorption (Vice.com)
* Zappa and Jazz: Did it Really Smell Funny, Frank? (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Hit Charade - Meet the bald Norwegians and other unknowns who actually create the songs that top the charts. (The Atlantic)
* The LA Philharmonic Is Trying to Perfectly Recreate Concerts in Virtual Reality (Vice.com)
* Whitney Houston, Billie Holiday and the hologram craze – but is it worth a tour? (The Guardian UK)
* Flipping the playola debate for streaming music playlists (MusicAlly.com)
* Photo Gallery: The Royal Bopsters and Very Special Guests at Birdland - Annie Ross, Jon Hendricks, Sheila Jordan, Bob Dorough & Andy Bey share a stage (Jazz Times)
* Gary Burton: On ECM & Playing With Pat Metheny (AllAboutJazz.com)
* theartsdesk at The Chicago Jazz Festival - Enthusiastic audiences celebrate a programme spanning be-bop to free extremity (TheArtsDesk.com)

Sunday Session: July 5, 2015

Charles Mingus

For your Sunday reading, here are some interesting music-related items that have hit StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Matthew Shipp unveils new trio with upcoming release The Conduct of Jazz (Something Else)
* Ornette Coleman and a Joyful Funeral (The New Yorker)
* Until the Real Thing Comes Along - Sorting out the Billie Holiday centennial onslaught (Jazz Times)
* The Next Generation of 3D-Printed Musical Instruments Are Worthy of a Star Trek Movie (Classical Lite)
* The Great Columbia Jazz Purge: Coleman, Evans, Jarrett, And Mingus (WFIU)
* The Singer and the Song (Ronan Guilfoyle)
* BMG Acquires Catalog of Verse Music, Includes Songs of Nina Simone, J. Lo (Billboard)
* How Jazzman Robert Glasper Won Over the Hip-Hop Heads (Mother Jones)
* The Exit Interview: I Spent 12 Years in the Blue Man Group (Atlas Obscura)
* If SoundCloud Goes Under, Music Will Change for the Worse (Mic.com)
* Apple Music first impressions: something borrowed, something new (The Verge)
* Meet Brian Wilson's Secret Weapon: Darian Sahanaja (Rolling Stone)
* The Care and Feeding of Songwriters: Why “Art for Art’s Sake” Could Have An Unfortunate Future (Pro Sound News)
* How Do You Teach A Robot Feelings? Make It Sing Opera (Vice.com)
* Terry Riley, a Founder of Minimalism, Turns 80 (Studio 360)
* The Con Man Who Invented American Popular Music (Radio Silence)
* Digital Watch: Apple Music Conflict Highlights the Problem of Free Music (Radio Survivor)
* Did Nielsen Kill The Radio Star? (FiveThirtyEight.com)
* Minimalist Composer La Monte Young on His Life and Immeasurable Influence (Vulture)
* Quincy Jones: Honey, we have no music industry (Fortune)
* Does The Death Of Album Revenue Spell The End For Rock Stars As We Know Them? (SeatSmart.com)
* Deep Soul - How Muscle Shoals became music's most unlikely hit factory (The Telegraph UK)
* John Luther Adams: a force of nature (The Guardian UK)
* Cassette Revolution: Why 1980s Tape Tech Is Still Making Noise in Our Digital World (Collector's Weekly)
* Ringo's no joke. He was a genius and the Beatles were lucky to have him (The Spectator UK)
* NPR Music's 25 Favorite Albums Of 2015 (So Far) (NPR)
* Fife and drum: Keeping the Mississippi rhythm alive (BBC)

Sunday Session: June 28, 2015

Nina Simone

For your Sunday reading, here are some interesting music-related items that have hit StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* The iTunes Download Model Is Broken—Here’s How to Fix It (New York Observer)
* Musicians don't just hear in tune, they also see in tune (MedicalXpress.com)
* Gunther Schuller, Who Bridged Classical Music And Jazz, Dies At 89 (NPR)
* Review: Van Morrison Finds New Meaning in Extensive and Nostalgic Catalog (New York Times)
* Gibson Guitar Is a Remarkably Unpopular Company (Gawker)
* You won’t steal our music anymore: The fraction of a cent that saved the major labels (Salon)
* James Horner, Film Composer for 'Titanic' and 'Braveheart,' Dies in Plane Crash (Hollywood Reporter)
* King Sunny Adé and Special Guest Wunmi Forced to Cancel US and Canada tour (Jazz Corner)
* The Sounds of Science: Inside Berkeley's Meyer Sound Laboratories (KQED)
* Rock and Roll HOF Dumps 16 Nominating Members, Proving Its Irrelevance Yet Again (New York Observer)
* A Tribute to the Enduring Voice of Nina Simone (Wall Street Journal)
* Music Of The Future Cannot Ignore The Past (Standpoint)
* An Engineer Takes Us Through The History of Abbey Road, the World's Most Famous Studio (Vice.com)
* How CDs Keep Clinging On To Life (Alternative Press)
* Love for Sale: Billie Holiday’s Greatest Songs (Barnes & Noble Review)
* The Prince of the Player Piano (New York Review of Books)
* Unearthed In A Library, 'Voodoo' Opera Rises Again (NPR)
* Blue Note Jazz Club Plans Expansion to China (New York Times)
* Using Music to Underscore Three Words: I Can’t Breathe (Medium.com)
* Iyer Voted Jazz Artist of the Year in DownBeat Critics Poll (DownBeat)
* The most powerful man in classical music (The Spectator)
* Musicians and writers choose their favourite book about music (The Guardian UK)
* Live Through This: A Pioneering Rock Critic Looks Back with Love and Sorrow on the 1960s (Los Angeles Review of Books)

Sunday Session: April 12, 2015

Charles Lloyd

For your Sunday reading, some interesting music-related items that have hit StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Afrofuturism on film: five of the best (The Guardian UK)
* The best and oddest science-inspired music (BBC)
* Rare Footage of Duke Ellington Highlights When Jazz and Baseball Were in Perfect Harmony (Smithsonian)
* Philip Glass On Legacy: 'The Future ... It's All Around Us' (NPR)
* Carol Kaye at 80 (BBC)
* Star Tribune music critic Jon Bream parts with his 25,000-piece record collection (Minnesota Public Radio)
* THX Just Remade the Deep Note Sound to be More Awesome (CreateDigitalMusic.com)
* The Science of a Piezoelectric Violin (PhysicsCentral.com)
* Frank Sinatra Is Chairman of the Board From Here to Eternity (The Daily Beast)
* VIDEO: Sinatra in the Studio (Pro Sound News)
* Have all the good songs been written? (NPR)
* Smithsonian receives $2.5M to expand jazz programs at museum (Washington Post)
* Billie Holiday's centenary: a life in pictures (The Guardian UK)
* Robert Johnson: rare new photograph of delta blues king authenticated after eight years (The Guardian UK)
* Farewell, Doug Sax (Bobby Owsinski's Big Picture Music Production Blog)
* Charles Lloyd, Jazz Master, Questing Still (New York Times)

Sunday Session: April 5, 2015

Gil Scott-Heron

For your Sunday reading, some interesting music-related items that have hit StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Review: Various Artists The Complete Dial Modern Jazz Sessions Mosaic Records (Jazz Times)
* Six seconds that shaped 1,500 songs (BBC)
* The day the music ... spied? (Philadelphia Inquirer)
* Investors think streaming could take music back to its glory days (QZ.com)
* Jason Moran takes liberties with his homage to Thelonious Monk (Washington Post)
* Cease, Desist and Rock Out with a Different Band Name (Paste)
* A Conversation With 'Alarm Will Sound' Artistic Director Alan Pierson (Cleveland Scene)
* Bill Laswell: No Boundaries (AllAboutJazz.com)
* What's Not to Love About the Trombone? (Popmatters)
* How performers conquer ‘unplayable’ works (BBC)
* Langston Hughes Presents the History of Jazz in an Illustrated Children’s Book (Open Culture)
* Gil Scott-Heron Documentary "Who Is Gil Scott-Heron?", Album "Nothing New" Out Digitally (Pitchfork.com)
* Six Jazz Artists Receive Doris Duke Artists Awards (Jazz Times)
* Remembering Billie Holiday at 100 (Baltimore Sun)
* In the year jazz went avant-garde, Ramsey Lewis went pop with a bang (Washington Post)
* The Art of Billie Holiday’s Life (The New Yorker)

Sunday Session: March 15, 2015

Jason Moran

For your Sunday reading, some interesting music-related items that have hit StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* 'I have never been a success, never had a hit movie': Frank Sinatra Jr on living in the shadow of Ol' Blue Eyes (Daily Mail UK)
* It’s Music Because I Can Hear It: 1960s Experimental Music Festivals (New Music Box)
* Biting Breaks: Sampling and Ownership (New Music Box)
* How Music Hijacks Our Perception of Time (Nautilus)
* Jazz Has Become The Least Popular Genre In The U.S. (The JazzLine)
* Independent music labels project promising industry future (Los Angeles Times)
* Lew Soloff, Trumpeter for Blood, Sweat and Tears, Dies at 71 (New York Times)
* The "Harvard Sentences" Secretly Shaped the Development of Audio Tech (Gizmodo)
* Wilson Adds New Complexity to Holiday’s Music (DownBeat)
* ‘Blurred Lines’ Infringed on Marvin Gaye Copyright, Jury Rules (New York Times)
* "Blurred Lines" verdict a blow to creative expression (Los Angeles Times)
* Butman, Moscow Jazz Orchestra Impress at Russia’s Triumph of Jazz Festival (DownBeat)
* Jason Moran discusses the legacy and lore of the Village Vanguard (Time Out New York)
* Partch Advocates’ Sensibility Makes Sense Of Bizarre (Classical Voice America)
* Anton Fig: Behind the Band Stand (AllAboutJazz.com)
* How Verve Records Got Gutted (The Daily Beast)
* How a Star Trumpeter Makes Money Even When Jazz Can't (Bloomberg Business)

Sunday Session: February 15, 2015

Billie Holiday

For your Sunday reading enjoyment and edification, here are some noteworthy items encountered during the past week about jazz, creative music, and more:

* You're Not Weird for Preferring the Live Version (Pacific Standard)
* Bird Of A Feather: Rudresh Mahanthappa On Learning From Charlie Parker (NPR)
* Glasper, Q-Tip Celebrate Blue Note 75th Anniversary at Capitol Records in Los Angeles (Down Beat)
* 50 Years of the AACM Celebrated in NYC Concerts (Jazz Times)
* Grammy-Nominated Mastering Engineer Emily Lazar on 2,000 Records, Women in Music & Pranking Audio Stores (Billboard)
* Jack White’s Guacamole Meets Van Halen’s M&Ms (Guitar Player)
* New Models: The State of Music Commissioning (21CM.org)
* Can’t See the Trees for the Forest at the 2015 Grammys (New Music Box)
* Remembering Bobby “Blue” Bland (Texas Monthly)
* Bill Evans' Kind of Blue Notes (JazzWax)
* FACT: Pandora Only Pays Songwriters 4% Of Revenues (Hypebot)
* Kurt Elling talks tackling Frank Sinatra: Portland Jazz Festival 2015 (Portland Oregonian)
* Gamers, Musicians Unite for SFJAZZ Bowl on Super Sunday (Down Beat)
* New Billie Holiday Collection Coming From Legacy - 20-track set covers 1935-45 (Jazz Times)
* The Stacks: Billie Holiday: Jazz’s Aching Songbird (The Daily Beast)