Sunday Session: May 23, 2021

Quincy Jones

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

* Pioneering composer Terry Riley finds himself comfortably marooned in Japan (ToysMatrix.com)
* Curtis Fuller (1932-2021) – A Tribute by Nils Wogram (London Jazz News)
* "Part of the Tradition is Tipping Your Hat": An Interview with Miguel Zenón (Popmatters.com)
* Sam Leak – Findings of the ‘Livestreaming Music’ survey – and a personal perspective (London Jazz News)
* Moers Festival Interviews: Fred Frith (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Long Hair And Lowriders: Latin Rock In 1971 (NPR)
* Making an Album About George Washington Carver Taught James Brandon Lewis About Himself (Bandcamp.com)
* María Grand Moves Her Music Closer to Nature (Jazz Times)
* The golden ratio: an ancient Greek formula could be responsible for most hit musicals (TheConversation.com)
* Bob Koester leaves a colossal legacy in Chicago jazz and blues (Chicago Reader)
* “Stay Literally Forever Young”: A Conversation with Irma Thomas, the Soul Queen of New Orleans (DwellerForever.blog)
* Mars Williams: The Albums That Shaped My Career (SomethingElseReviews.com)
* How a Favela Orchestra Brilliantly Used Soccer to Get Brazil Excited for Classical Music (Adweek)
* THR Icon: Quincy Jones Reflects on Career, Michael Jackson and Why He Wouldn’t Work With Elvis (Hollywood Reporter)
* Marking Legendary Golden-Age Pianist Erroll Garner's Centennial (NPR)
* Joni Mitchell’s First Song Made Her Piano Teacher Angry (UltimateClassicRock.com)
* Fifteen Questions Interview with Claire RousayFlawed, Unsure, and Deeply Human (15Questions)
* Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ Is as Relevant Today as It Was in 1971 (Smithsonian)
* Bob Dylan at 80: in praise of a mighty and unbowed singer-songwriter (The Guardian)
* Linda May Han Oh: the Perth muso immortalised by Pixar (Sydney Morning Herald) * Wadada Leo Smith :: Transmissions (AquariumDrunkard.com)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Funky Butt Brass Band sousaphonist Cody Henry was the featured guest on a recent episode of the Rock Paper Podcast.

* Bassist Darin Gray (pictured) this week released Soundtrack 1, an album of previously unheard recordings made in 2006 by On Fillmore, Gray's duo project with drummer Glenn Kotche.

* Singer and Webster University adjunct professor Debby Lennon will star in Max and Louie Productions' upcoming revival of "Songs for Nobodies," a one-woman play with music by Joanna Murray-Smith in which Lennon will perform songs associated with "legendary divas" Judy Garland, Patsy Cline, Billie Holiday, Edith Piaf, and Maria Callas. The show will run Thursday, December 2 through Sunday, December 12 at the Grandel Theatre.

* Bob Koester, a former St. Louis University student who went on to found Chicago’s famed Jazz Record Mart and the Delmark record label, died Wednesday at age 88. Koester got his start in the music business selling records from his SLU dorm room, then dropped out in 1952 to open the Blue Note record shop here, which he ran until moving to Chicago in 1958.

* Saxophonist and educator Harvey Lockhart was a guest on Thursday's episode of the webcast talk program "The Own Your Now Show."

* Guitarist and former St. Louisan Carl Weingarten has a new release, Ember Days, out this month on his label Multiphase Records

* Saxophonist Julius Hemphill and The Boyé Multi-National Crusade for Harmony, the new seven-CD box set of his previously unreleased Hemphill's music, are the subject of an essay by Adam Schatz in the most recent New York Review of Books.
* Keyboardist Michael Silverman was interviewed by SmoothJazz.com.

Sunday Session: October 9, 2016

Dexter Gordon

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

* Watch Bill Clinton, Carlos Santana Praise John Coltrane in Doc Promo; Sonny Rollins, Common, Kamasi Washington also appear in preview of 'Chasing Trane" (Rolling Stone)
* Jerry Seinfeld and the Buddy Rich tapes (Jazz in Pop Culture)
* Art or music? The National Gallery of Art provokes ears and thoughts (Washington Post)
* Musician Wants to Make Taking the A Train Easier on the Ears (Wall Street Journal)
* Bob Koester opens new record store after Jazz Record Mart closes (Chicago Tribune)
* Q&A with Ibrahim Maalouf: Synthesizing East & West (DownBeat)
* The demise of rock ’n’ roll nostalgia (Macleans)
* The 14 pieces of software that shaped modern music (FactMag.com)
* Classical Reimagined (M-Magazine.co.uk)
* Blow, Mr. Dexter: A Look Back at Round Midnight, 30 Years Later (Mediander.com)
* The Best of Festival Season - Standout photos from this summer's major jazz events (Jazz Times)
* Donny McCaslin on David Bowie: 'We had this amazing connection, then he was gone' (The Guardian UK)
* The Musicians Behind Luke Cage on Creating a ‘Timeless’ Sound and the Lack of Opportunities for Black Composers (Vulture.com)
* Guitar Wizard John McLaughlin Announces Final U.S. Tour (DownBeat)
* The Giant Legacy of Rudy Van Gelder (AllAboutJazz.com)
* A Brief History of Jazz in Hip-Hop: Tribe, De La Soul, Digable Planets (HowlAndEchoes.com)
* 'Thriller' Songwriter Rod Temperton Dies At 66 (NPR)
* Rod Temperton: the effortless orchestrator of the perfect pop illusion (The Guardian UK)
* Q&A with Drummer Nate Smith: From Many Voices, One Sound (DownBeat)
* The new cool: how Kamasi, Kendrick and co gave jazz a new groove (The Guardian UK)
* Danny Fields Is the Music Industry Wild Man You’ve Never Heard Of (Vice.com)
* ‘Are we there yet?’: on the road with Beach Boy Brian Wilson (The Guardian UK)

Bob Koester to speak Saturday, May 1 at the Sheldon Art Galleries

Bob Koester, a former St. Louisan who owns the Delmark Records label and Jazz Record Mart in Chicago, will speak on the history of Delmark in St. Louis at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, May 1 at the Sheldon Art Galleries.

Delmark, which is one of the most long-lived and well-respected independent jazz and blues labels currently in operation, was founded by Koester in St. Louis in 1953. A native of Wichita, KS, Koester originally came here to study at St. Louis University, where he sold records out of his dorm room, and later opened a small shop not far from campus. In 1958, Koester and the Delmark operation moved to Chicago, where the label has documented many of the city's significant jazz and blues musicians.

Koester's talk will take place in the Sheldon's History of Jazz Gallery, and is free and open to the public. The current exhibit in the gallery, "Legends of St. Louis Blues," continues through August 28.

Kevin Belford, Bob Koester signing books at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Vintage Vinyl

Author and artist Kevin Belford will sign copies of his new book Devil at the Confluence: The Pre-War Blues Music of St. Louis, Missouri at 7:30 p.m. tonight, Monday, October 19, at Vintage Vinyl, 6610 Delmar Blvd in University City.

Belford will be joined at the signing by former St. Louisan Bob Koester, the owner of Chicago's Jazz Record Mart and the blues and jazz label Delmark Records, who helped compile the companion CD included with the book.

Devil at the Confluence tells the story of St. Louis' pre-World War II blues musicians through Belford's original paintings, historic record labels, sheet music covers, ads, newspaper clippings and photographs. The book (pictured) is published by St. Louis based Virginia Publishing and is available from their Web site and at most local book stores. You can read a review written by Terry Perkins for the Post-Dispatch here.

Belford also will have signings at 7:00 p.m., Saturday, November 7 at Borders Books in Sunset Hills, and at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, December 3 at Subterranean Books in University City.

New book by Kevin Belford chronicles pre-WWII history of St. Louis blues

St. Louis artist and author Kevin Belford, who has made local musicians a frequent subject of his work over the course of his career, has a new book coming out that chronicles St. Louis blues musicians of the 1920s and 1930s.

Issued by St. Louis-based Virginia Publishing, Devil at the Confluence: The Pre-War Blues Music of St. Louis is a coffee-table book recounting the stories and songs of legends including Peetie Wheatstraw, Henry Townsend, St. Louis Bessie and many other pre-World War II era performers.

The product of years of research, the book is illustrated with Belford's original paintings, plus vintage photographs and other material he unearthed during his digging. As a bonus, there's also an accompanying CD of rare recordings of St. Louis blues legends, produced by former St. Louisan Bob Koester's label Delmark Records.

Devil at the Confluence is scheduled for official release in September, and Belford will be doing a number of promotional events, the most ambitious of which would seem to be a one-night-only showing of the paintings from the book, to be held from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 on Friday, September 11 at Mad Art Gallery.

Other planned events include a signing at the Big Muddy Blues Festival downtown over Labor Day weekend; another at Webster Records during the Old Webster Jazz and Blues Festival on Saturday, September 19; and two more later in the month at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups and the Blues City Deli. For more info, check out the blog Belford has set up in conjunction with the book's release.

Known among local music fans for his posters of St. Louis jazz legends and blues performers, Belford has worked as a freelance illustrator doing advertising, corporate art, and editorial illustration for books and for print media such as The Sporting News, the St Louis Post Dispatch, St Louis magazine, and the Riverfront Times. His previous books include The Ballpark Book (for The Sporting News) and the children's books Amazing Arthur Ashe, Spirit Of A Champion and Twist Of Fate-The Miracle Horse Of Longmeadow Ranch.