Sunday Session: August 9, 2020

Bobby Watson

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

* Give & Take with Musician Sonny Rollins (Tricycle.org)
* Kevin Whitehead: Play the Way You Feel: The Essential Guide to Jazz Stories on Film (Oxford University Press) (Jazz Times)
* All Hail King Shabaka! A Preternaturally Talented Artist Shifts Gears (Pollstar)
* Sheila Jordan: A Visit With the Jazz Child (Syncopated Times)
* Georgia Anne Muldrow Makes an Eddie Harris Playlist (Jazz Times)
* Looking for Jazz Uplift Under Lockdown (ZocaloPublicSquare.org)
* Steve Swallow, A little outside the ordinary (Jazz in Europe)
* The Changing Nature of Protest in Jazz (Jazz Times)
* 2020 NEA Jazz Masters: A Q&A with Reggie Workman (SFJAZZ.org)
* Sun Ra Shines Over Cafe Nine (New Haven Independent)
* An Unexpected Casualty of COVID-19? The Quality of Sound in Livestream Performances (Variety)
* Newport Jazz Festival Makes a Four-Pronged Pivot (Jazz Times)
* How Hawkwind's First Voyage Helped Spearhead Space Rock 50 Years Ago (PopMatters.com)
* Dame Shirley Bassey to release first new album in five years (BBC)
* Have sax, will travel: Joshua Redman talks jazz, pandemic, Boston then and now (Bay State Banner)
* Our Views: Congress shouldn't let the music die (New Orleans Advocate)
* John Coltrane’s Giant Steps Gets 60th Anniversary Reissue (Pitchfork)
* COVID-19 hit major labels much harder than it did Spotify (Music Industry Blog)
* The Modern All-Stars: A Newport Jazz Festival Special (NPR)
* Writer Don Marquis' jazz-loving life in New Orleans comes to a close, with one last dance (NOLA.com)
* A Majority of House Lawmakers Say Musicians Shouldn’t Get Paid for Radio Plays (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Bobby Watson Pins Down The Blues (DownBeat)
* Chops: Mark Dresser and Michael Dessen Play Telematic Music (Jazz Times)
* Elvis Presley’s Sessions With Nashville Cats Compiled on New ‘From Elvis in Nashville’ Set (Rolling Stone)
* Forgotten Heroes: Clarence White (Premier Guitar)
* Interview with William Hooker (The Free Jazz Collective)
* Midcentury Time Capsule: Inside Louis Armstrong’s Former Residence (Architizer.com)

Sunday Session: June 25, 2017

Ahmad Jamal

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

* 'It’s just me, on the phone in my son’s bedroom.' The church hall that became contemporary music’s hottest venue (The Guardian)
* Thelonious Monk: Lost Liaison - Inside the Forgotten 1959 Studio Session (Jazz Times)
* Is the Printed Circuit Board a Form of Musical Notation? (New Music Box)
* The Story Behind ‘I’ll Be Around’ (Wall Street Journal)
* Alice Coltrane: “The Gifts God Gave Him” (Jazz Times)
* Team-Ups & Supergroups Power San Francisco Jazz Festival (DownBeat)
* In New Orleans, Party Buses Drive The Legacy Of Bounce Music (TheFader.com)
* Generation Next: Four Voices From Seattle (AllAboutJazz.com)
* The Story of Tropicália in 20 Albums (Pitchfork.com)
* Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah On World Cafe (NPR)
* Money Ain’t a Thang: 11 of the Most Expensive Albums Ever Produced (Soundfly.com)
* Philadelphia Orchestra composer Hannibal finds humanity amid the loss (Philly.com)
* Tony Bennett to Receive Library of Congress Gershwin Prize (Rolling Stone)
* Ann Hampton Callaway Says Her Return to Singing Is ‘Scary and Thrilling’ (Playbill)
* Q&A with Ahmad Jamal: Continuum of Influence (DownBeat)
* "My goal is to reach people on an emotional level" — The Kenny Barron interview (Ottawa Citizen)
* Paul McCartney on making music with Kanye West: ‘You basically don’t write songs’ (NME.com)
* Why my guitar gently weeps - The slow, secret death of the six-string electric. And why you should care (Washington Post)
* Mills College’s Plan to Ax Jazz Legend Roscoe Mitchell Draws International Outrage (East Bay Express)
* Red Hook Jazz Festival: Neighborhood Feel, Avant Sound (DownBeat)
* The Secret Lives of Playlists (CashMusic.org)
* What I'm Listening to Now: Mats Gustafsson (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Why didn’t famous composers write national anthems? (Classical-Music.com)
* The Ethereal Genius of Craig Taborn (New York Times)
* Artist’s Choice: Bobby Watson on Unsung New York Masters - The saxophonist and educator reflects on his mentors (Jazz Times)
* Langston Hughes Creates a List of His 100 Favorite Jazz Recordings: Hear 80+ of Them in a Big Playlist (OpenCulture.com)
* Bon Iver’s Dad Helped Me Discover the Secret Jazz History of His Hometown (Vice.com)
* Is Jazz Still Sexist? (Jazz Times)
* The Weird World Of One-Hit Wonders (UDiscoverMusic.com)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Saxophonist Bobby Watson, who's visiting St. Louis to play tonight with the Jazz Edge Orchestra at the Touhill, was interviewed by the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson.

Watson also was interviewed Thursday about the show by KMOX's Charlie Brennan.

* Jazz St. Louis has announced a celebration of National Donut Day at their Grand Center HQ, with tastings of donuts from 15 local bakeries, plus a photo booth, kids' activities, and live music. The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Friday, June 3.

* Saxophonist David Sanborn announced that he'll be touring North America this summer jointly with saxophonist Dave Koz (pictured, with Sanborn). The tour starts July 30 at Thornton Winery in Temecula, CA and continues through the end of August. No St. Louis show this time around, but you can see the full list of dates at Sanborn's website.

* "Da-Dum-Dun," an event presented tonight by the Eugene B. Redmond Writers Club in celebration of the lives of East St. Louisans Miles Davis, Henry Dumas and Katherine Dunham, was previewed by Kenya Vaughn of the St. Louis American.

* Singer Erin Bode's performance last week at a charity concert for St. Louis Children’s Hospital patients was the subject of a news story on KTVI/Fox 2.

* Saxophonist Greg Osby was the subject of an extended feature story by AllAboutJazz.com's Victor Schermer.

* Drummer and St. Louis native Emanuel Harrold performed with singer Gregory Porter last week on PBS's The Tavis Smiley Show, and the performance and interview with Porter now have been posted online.

Jazz this week: Peter Martin, Bobby Watson & Angela Hagenbach, Rhys Chatham, and more

This week's lineup of jazz and creative music performances in St. Louis includes a rare nightclub appearance by a favorite hometown pianist, several noteworthy touring performers, and a rather eclectic selection of tribute shows.

Let's go to the highlights....

Wednesday, May 18
Pianist Peter Martin will lead his trio for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro, the first time he's played the room since it was expanded and renovated in 2014.

Martin (pictured, top left) will be joined by bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Gregory Hutchinson, both first-rate players who contributed to his most recent album What Lies Ahead and have been working with him on some touring dates as well, so they should be primed and ready from the first downbeat. Given Martin's local popularity - he grew up in U City, and continues to live in St. Louis while touring internationally as music director for singer Dianne Reeves - tickets may be hard to get, so advance reservations are recommended.

Also tonight, the experimental noise-rock duo Ahleuchatistas return to headline a four-band bill at 2720 Cherokee, and Cabaret Project St. Louis will celebrate the fourth anniversary of their "Open Mic Night" at the Tavern of Fine Arts

Thursday, May 19
The New Orleans-based band Nutrio makes their St. Louis debut at Evangeline's. The group, which includes saxophonist and clarinetist Byron Asher, bassist Trey Boudreaux, and drummer Shawn Myers, is touring the Midwest in support of their self-titled debut EP.

Also on Thursday, singer Feyza Eren and friends will perform at Nathalie’s

Friday, May 20
The Jazz Edge Orchestra will present a concert paying tribute to Kansas City jazz at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, featuring as special guests the veteran alto saxophonist Bobby Watson (pictured, center left), who once was a key part of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and now co-leads the jazz program at UMKC's conservatory of music; and vocalist and KC native Angela Hagenbach.

Elsewhere on Friday, the funk/jazz quartet Good 4 the Soul will join forces with keyboardist Reggie Thomas for the first of two nights of a tribute to the late keyboardists Joe Sample and George Duke at Jazz at the Bistro; Western swing favorites Asleep At The Wheel will be in town to perform at the Old Rock House, and guitarist Eric Slaughter and bassist Glen Smith will play duets at Tavern of Fine Arts.

Saturday, May 21
Saxquest continues their series of free performances and workshops with a matinee from the New Horizon Saxophone Quartet, which features faculty members from the University of Cincinnati, Drake University, and Colorado State University and "combines the rhythmic and improvisatory language of jazz with elements of modern chamber composition."

Then on Saturday night, trumpeter Kasimu Taylor leads a quintet playing the music of Miles Davis at Kranzberg Arts Center, while the Funky Butt Brass Band will turn their monthly show at Broadway Oyster Bar into a tribute to Prince. Also on Saturday, trumpeter Jim Manley and guitarist Randy Bahr's All-Star Band returns to Nathalie's, and Wack-A-Doo plays swing, vintage pop and Americana at Evangeline's.

Sunday, May 22
On Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents Cornet Chop Suey in a matinee performance of traditional jazz and swing at the Doubletree Hotel St. Louis at Westport.

Sunday night, composer and multi-instrumentalist Rhys Chatham will be visiting for a rare solo performance at The Luminary, with St. Louis' Vernacular String Trio as opening act.

A seminal figure in NYC's experimental music scene of the 1970s and '80s, Chatham (pictured, bottom left) has lived in France for the past 30 years, and his appearances stateside are infrequent and often confined to the coasts. For more about Chatham and some video samples of his music, see this post from last Saturday. 

Also on Sunday night, the Dave Dickey Big Band will play their regular monthly show at Jazz at the Bistro, with an intermission performance from the Sperring Middle School Jazz Ensemble.

Monday, May 23
Dizzy Atmosphere plays swing and Gypsy jazz at The Shaved Duck.

Tuesday, May 24
Two groups associated with improvising pianist Greg Mills, the Mount Everest Trio and the Perihelion Ensemble, will share an evening at the 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.)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* St. Louis magazine's Stefene Russell has written a short preview of tonight's New Music Circle Showcase concert, and the Riverfront Times' Christian Schaffer has an interview with electronic musician Joe Raglani, who's one of the the featured performers at the NMC event.

* JazzTimes has put up another segment of a video interview with saxophonist Bobby Watson (pictured), who's playing this weekend at Robbie's House of Jazz.

* The Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson interviewed Denise Thimes about her Mother's Day show at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

* The East St. Louis High School Jazz Band is the subject of a brief article by the Belleville News-Democrat's Carolyn P. Smith. The band and their special guest, trumpeter Russell Gunn, will play a fundraising concert this coming Monday at the Sheldon.

* In his latest blog entry for St. Louis magazine, Dennis Owsley reflects on thirty years of hosting a jazz radio program.

* The PNC Foundation has donated $500,000 to St. Louis area arts organizations; among the lucky recipients are Jazz St. Louis and the Sheldon, each of which will receive $30,000.

* The history of jazz and blues in St. Louis recently was the subject of an episode of the syndicated public radio program The New Jazz Archive.

* Want to see some party pics of people who attended the Bela Fleck and The Flecktones concert in March at the Sheldon? Well, Town and Style magazine has got 'em.

Jazz this week: Dafnis Prieto, Bobby Watson, New Music Circle showcase, Denise Thimes with Tom Braxton, and more

There are several noteworthy jazz and creative music shows happening this weekend in St. Louis, and for once, the schedule lays out so that it's possible to hear all the touring musicians coming through town, provided you've got the stamina and the necessary funds to go out five nights this week. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, drummer Dafnis Prieto (pictured) makes his St. Louis debut and opens a four-night engagement continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Prieto certainly is one of the more talked-about jazz drummers of recent years, enjoying a rapid rise in fortune since coming to the USA from his native Cuba in 1999. In 2011, he won one of the coveted "genius grants" from the MacArthur Foundation, which, aside from serving as a pretty convincing refutation of all those old jokes about drummers being dumb, also helped him gain wider recognition among the general public.

Genius grant notwithstanding, there's no question that Prieto is both a very impressive drummer and a thoughtful composer, bandleader and teacher of jazz and Latin music, as you can hear for yourself in the performance video clips and interviews included in this post from last Saturday.

Also tonight, saxophonist Jim Stevens will play at the Cigar Inn; and on Thursday, Good 4 The Soul, which includes several of Stevens' frequent collaborators, will perform an early evening show at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

Then on Friday, New Music Circle wraps up their 2011-12 season with a showcase of regional and local performers including Olivia Block, Joseph Raglani, Kevin Harris, Pat Boland, and Jeremy Kannapell at the William A. Kerr Foundation, 21 O'Fallon St. on Laclede's Landing.

Following the showcase, NMC will host an end-of-the-season celebration and fund raiser, with food, beer, DJs and video, plus a raffle of prizes and gift certificates to local businesses. Admission is a suggested $10 donation in addition to the ticket price of the concert, and includes food, drink and one raffle ticket. Additional raffle tickets also will be available for sale, giving you more chances to win the stuff donated by Vintage Vinyl, Euclid Records, Apop Records, St. Louis Tap Room, Tivoli Theatre, Dierberg's, Local Harvest Market, Left Bank Books, and numerous others.

While NMC certainly is deserving of your support - without them, St. Louis audiences would not have had a chance this year to hear musicians like Joe McPhee, Matthew Shipp, and the Claudia Quintet - they do have some tough competition on Friday in addition to Prieto.

That's because alto saxophonist Bobby Watson is coming in from Kansas City on Friday to play the first of two nights at Robbie's House of Jazz. Though perhaps still best known for his stint with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Watson is a true master of the hard bop idiom who's played with dozens of other jazz greats over the course of his long and distinguished career. If you've heard Watson play before, you're probably already making plans to be there. If you haven't heard him, and you have any interest in jazz saxophone, he's definitely worth the trip to Webster Groves.

Watson now teaches at the University of Missouri-Kansas City's conservatory of music, and though he's based just a couple of hundred miles away, doesn't make it to St. Louis all that often. Fortunately, he'll be sticking around to perform again on Saturday at Robbie's, so if you're doing something else Friday, like checking out Prieto or the NMC event, you'll still have another chance to hear Watson.

And as if those weren't enough options for Friday, you can always head east of the Mississippi to catch guitarist Dave Black with bassist Willem von Hombracht and drummer Kevin Gianino at the Cigar Inn in Belleville, or saxophonist Tim Cunningham at Jazz on Broadway in Alton.

On Saturday, Tim Cunningham will be back at Jazz on Broadway, along with singers Anita Jackson and Theo Peoples, the St. Louisan who's worked with both the Temptations and the Four Tops, for a special Mother's Day show. Also on Saturday, singer Joe Mancuso and his quartet with special guest saxophonist Christopher Braig will play at Johnny Gitto's.

On Sunday afternoon, singer Denise Thimes will present her annual Mothers Day performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall, featuring saxophonist Tom Braxton as his year's special guest. There's also a dinner at the Sheldon before the show; check out the show page on Sheldon's site for times and details.

And speaking of the Sheldon Concert Hall and special guests, on Monday night the East St. Louis High School jazz band and their special guest, trumpeter and ESLHS alumnus Russell Gunn, will perform at the Sheldon in an event raising funds to provide band camp scholarships for kids from the ESLHS music program.

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.)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The HEC-TV program I Love Jazz will be doing a live recording for a future episode at 7:00 p.m. this coming Tuesday, May 8 at Jimmy's Cafe on the Park. A quartet led by trumpeter Jim Manley (pictured) will perform for an hour before the cameras, and the taping is open to the public.

* Speaking of televised performances, while saxophonist Tia Fuller was in town last week to play at Jazz at the Bistro, she and bassist Mimi Jones stopped by the studios of local NBC affiliate KSDK for an interview and brief performance on the station's afternoon newscast. You can watch the segment online here

* Online voting has begun for the Riverfront Times' 2012 RFT Music Poll. You can vote for your favorite bands and musicians here.

* The latest entry on Clark Terry's blog reports on the benefit concert held last week in NYC to raise money for Terry's medical expenses.

* JazzTimes has a new video interview with saxophonist Bobby Watson, who will be in St. Louis next weekend to play at Robbie's House of Jazz. You can watch Watson describe how he got his first big break with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers here.

* Jazz on Broadway has posted more photos in a Facebook album documenting recent Friday shows featuring saxophonist Tim Cunningham.

* While you're on Facebook, you also can check out photos of the Meramec Jazz Band's spring concert at the Black Cat Theatre.

* If you wanted to attend the recent workshop at the Regional Arts Commission about how to use the online crowd funding site Kickstarter, but couldn't make it that night, check out a slide show recapping the presentation here (.pdf file).

* Keyboard player, composer and New Music Circle board member Jim Hegarty has just posted free mp3s of two albums on his website. One of the recordings features duos and trios with drummer Shane Robles and bassist Willem von Hombracht; the other is of a quartet with von Hombracht, saxophonist Dave Stone and percussionist Henry Claude.

* And speaking of New Music Circle, they'll wrap up their 2011-12 season next Friday, May 11 at the William A. Kerr Foundation, 21 O’Fallon St, with a showcase concert featuring music from regional and local performers including Olivia Block, Joseph Raglani, Kevin Harris, Pat Boland, and Jeremy Kannapell. You can watch a promo video for the concert in the embedded window below.



(Edited to add three more items inadvertently omitted from the first version of this post.)

Bobby Watson to perform Friday, May 11 & Saturday, May 12 at Robbie's House of Jazz

Saxophonist Bobby Watson (pictured), once part of the front line of drummer Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and now an elder statesman of the Kansas City jazz scene, is returning to St. Louis to perform at 8:30 p.m. Friday, May 11 and Saturday, May 12 at Robbie's House of Jazz.

Watson last played St. Louis in December 2009 at Robbie's. In addition to his work with Blakey from 1977 to 1981, he has performed and recorded with many other well-known musicians, including Max Roach, George Coleman, Branford Marsalis, Sam Rivers, Wynton Marsalis, Joe Williams, Dianne Reeves, Lou Rawls, Betty Carter, Carmen Lundy, Carlos Santana, Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, Bob Belden, and John Hicks.

Since 2000, Watson has taught jazz studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City's conservatory of music, serving for the past six years as head of the jazz department. In addition to numerous collaborative recordings, he has made 18 albums as a leader, the most recent of which, From the Heart, came out in 2008 on Palmetto Records.

For his St. Louis gig, Watson will be accompanied his frequent collaborator, bassist Curtis Lundy, as well as St. Louis' own Montez Coleman on drums and Bryan Harrison on piano. Admission to Bobby Watson at Robbie's House of Jazz will be $20; the club's website exhorts potential buyers to "Please reserve Your Seat Early!" - presumably by calling Robbie's at 314-968-5556 - but, absent any other ticketing information, there apparently are no advance sales as such.

Jazz this week: Kurt Elling, Bobby Watson, Steve Davis with William Lenihan, Erin Bode, and more

The beginnings of winter weather seem to be blowing into St. Louis this week, but as long as you're properly bundled up, there are several jazz and creative music events happening over the next few days that certainly justify braving the elements.

First up is singer Kurt Elling's return to Jazz at the Bistro, where he'll appear through Saturday night. Along with his usual trio headed by the fine pianist Laurence Hobgood, Elling will be accompanied by St. Louis saxophonist Willie Akins. Akins is on board to provide the sax parts for material from Elling's latest CD Dedicated to You, which revisits songs recorded in the 1960s by singer Johnny Hartman and saxophonist John Coltrane.

For more on Elling and Dedicated to You, check out this video post from last Saturday, this interview from Jazz.com, and this blog post from the New York Times' Nate Chinen.

Also in town this weekend will be saxophonist Bobby Watson (pictured), who will perform with a quartet featuring bassist Curtis Lundy on Friday and Saturday nights at Robbie's House of Jazz. The former member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers now lives in Kansax City, where he teaches at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and serves as one of the leading lights and elder statesmen of the local jazz scene.

On Saturday night, Latin/jazz/fusion group Spyro Gyra brings their holiday show "A Night Before Christmas" to the Touhill Performing Arts Center, with signer Jane Monheit also on the bill as speical guest.

Elsewhere around town, tonight drummer Steve Davis and guitarist William Lenihan will team up for a free concert to close out this semester's Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

On Friday, singer Erin Bode and her band will be joined by violinist and Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra concertmaster David Halen for a holiday themed concert at Sheldon Concert Hall, featuring material from Bode's own holiday CD A Cold December Night as well as familiar pop, jazz and classical selections.

Also of possible interest on Friday, a group from Madison, WI called The Venice Gas House Trolley will be performing at Mad Art Gallery as part of the kickoff party for the "Big Ass Indie Art and Craft Show" this weekend. The band "hearkens back to the times when hipsters and cool-cats would chill out digging ecstatic poets and musicians and then aggressively explodes through the present and into the future with vocal effects, bass, and twisting rhythms."

Looking beyond the weekend, on Tuesday the Jazz St. Louis CD Listening Club will have its monthly meeting at Borders, 1519 S. Brentwood Blvd. in Brentwood. Jazz historian, photographer, and DJ Dennis Owsley will serve as host and moderator, and the featured CD will be Mingus Ah Um, the classic 1959 recording from bassist Charles Mingus that introduced compositions such as “Fables of Faubus” and "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” and was recently reissued in a special two-disc 50th anniversary edition.

As usually happens at the beginning of the month, band and venue schedule information is still coming in to StLJN headquarters, and updates will be ongoing over the next couple of days. In the meantime, for information on more jazz and creative music events this weekend and beyond, check out the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, available for viewing on the left sidebar, or by clicking here. Also, you can follow St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes and become a "fan" by signing up 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.)

(Updated 11:00 p.m. 12/3/09 to add the Spyro Gyra/Jane Monheit show.)

Robbie's schedules "Rapology" with Troupe, Bell & Burrage, plus shows from Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio, Bobby Watson

Robbie's House of Jazz has announced some additions to their upcoming schedule.

On Friday, October 9 and Saturday, October 10, the club will present "Rapology," featuring a spoken word performance from poet Quincy Troupe with music from two St. Louis expats, guitarist Kelvyn Bell and drummer Ronnie Burrage, who will come back home for the gig. They'll perform sets at 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., with tickets priced at $20.

On Friday, November 6 and Saturday, November 7, Chicago-based percussionist Kahil El'Zabar will bring his own group, the Ritual Trio, to Robbie's, having already played the club's "soft opening" with saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett back in August.

Then on Friday, December 4 and Saturday, December 5, saxophonist Bobby Watson (pictured), a veteran of drummer Art Blakey's band as well as many other high-profile gigs, will make the trip across the state from Kansas City to perform.

(There's no word yet on ticket prices for El'Zabar or Watson, but I'd expect something in the same general range as the Troupe/Bell/Burrage show.)

In other related news, Robbie's will feature the Robert Edwards Big Band every Thursday beginning in October, and the club's Web site is now online.

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: Fontella Bass and the Cinematic Orchestra, plus Bobby Watson in "Cowtown Riff"

While this week's videos both have a St. Louis connection, both are something a little different than the usual live performance clips featured here. First up is the music video for "All That You Give," the 2002 collaboration between the Cinematic Orchestra and St. Louis singer Fontella Bass. The song was a fair-sized hit in the UK and Europe, and five years later, the group is releasing a new CD, once again featuring Bass' vocals.

The second video clip is called "Cowtown Riff," and it's from an experimental student documentary featuring saxophonist Bobby Watson, the former Jazz Messenger who teaches at the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Watson will be in St. Louis in April for the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, and in this clip, he talks about jazz in Kansas City.

Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival will feature Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band, Bobby Watson, Mike Metheny and Steve Wiest

The Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, which will take place this year from Wednesday, April 18 through Saturday, April 21, has announced its 2007 lineup of guest artists, including Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, saxophonist Bobby Watson (pictured), trumpeter Mike Metheny and trombonist Steve Wiest.

The festival is presented by the University of Missouri-St. Louis and Jazz St. Louis, and will include clinics and workshops for student musicians, as well as a night of guest artist performances at Jazz at the Bistro and two concerts at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

It all starts on Wednesday, April 18, when members of the UMSL jazz faculty will appear with Watson, Metheny and Wiest for two shows at Jazz at the Bistro. Then the action shifts to the TouPAC, where on Friday, April 20, Watson, Metheny, and Wiest will perform in concert with the UMSL Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Jim Widner. The festival then wraps up on Saturday, April 21 with a concert by Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band.

For more information about Wednesday’s performance, visit the Jazz St. Louis Web site. For more about Friday and Saturday's concerts, see the TouPAC web site.

Below, you'll find a couple of embedded videos featuring Goodwin and the Big Phat Band. The first shows them backing singer Dianne Reeves on Goodwin's arrangement of "Too Close For Comfort," and the second is a promotional video for the band's recent CD/DVD "The Phat Pack".