StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Six St. Louis saxophonists you should know

When talk turns to saxophonists from St. Louis, many knowledgeable music fans will associate our city with David Sanborn and World Saxophone Quartet founding members Hamiet Bluiett, Oliver Lake and Julius Hemphill.

Sanborn, Bluiett, and Lake all grew up in this area, and Hemphill, though not a native, made an important contribution to the Black Artists Group here, and first gained national recognition for his album Dogon A.D., recorded at Oliver Sain's Archway Studios on Natural Bridge Rd. in north St. Louis.

Going beyond those well-known names, though, there definitely are more saxophonists with roots in the St. Louis area who are enjoying noteworthy careers in jazz and creative music, and today StLJN is featuring videos from six of them that every local jazz fan should know. After you've sampled their sounds here, check out their respective websites for more info.

Leading off is Greg Osby, who can be seen in the first video up above doing a spontaneous duet with bassist Christian McBride on the standard "The Song Is You," recorded in July 2014 at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

After the jump, it's Marty Ehrlich, playing a duet with pianist Myra Melford on her composition "Be Melting Snow," recorded in 2015 at The Stone in NYC.

That's followed by Eric Person doing a full set with his band Meta-Four, recorded in November 2016 at the Blue Note in NYC. Along with Person, the group includes guitarist Freddie Bryant, keyboardist Adam Klipple, bassist Adam Armstrong, and drummer Shinnosuke "Shin" Takahashi.

Next up is East St. Louis' own Andre Delano, seen here working the crowd on a version of Prince's "Adore," recorded in 2016 at The Tavern at Fire Station 1 in Silver Spring, MD.

The fifth video features Chris Cheek with his quintet performing his composition "Pelican Blues" in a show last month at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Along with Cheek, that's James Fernando on piano, Francois Chanvallon on guitar, Max Gerl on bass, and Tyson Jackson on drums.

In the final clip, Butch Thomas plays "La Belle Dame Sans Regrets," written by his former employer Sting, at a gig 2011 in Tampa FL, backed by Frank "Third" Richardson (drums), Tim George (bass), Ron Reinhardt (keyboards), and Peter Mongaya Hogsholm (guitar).

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

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A St. Louis saxophone sampler

The St. Louis area is known for having produced many fine jazz trumpeters over the years. Indeed, the legacy of musicians such as Miles Davis, Clark Terry, Lester Bowie and Harold "Shorty" Baker is significant enough that local jazz historian and radio host Dennis Owsley chose City of Gabriels as the title of his book on the history of jazz in St. Louis.

However, St. Louis also has been home to many outstanding jazz saxophonists over the years. Players like David Sanborn, Oliver Lake, Hamiet Bluiett and Julius Hemphill are well-known to jazz fans for their musical accomplishments and their association with the Gateway City. Today, let's take a look at some videos featuring three more saxophonists with roots in St. Louis.

First up is Eric Person, a St. Louis native who's seen here with his groove-oriented project Metamorphosis in a clip recorded last November at the Blue Note in NYC. Since moving to New York in 1982, Person has performed and recorded with a wide variety of musicians from many genres, including McCoy Tyner, Dave Holland, Chico Hamilton, John Hicks, Ronald Shannon Jackson, the World Saxophone Quartet, Vernon Reid, Ben Harper, Ofra Haza and Bootsy Collins. The song in this video is called "Justification," and the band includes Zaccai Curtis (keyboards), Cary DeNigris (guitar), Chulo Gatewood (electric bass) and Brandon Lewis (drums).

Down below, there's a video from Chris Cheek, a St. Louis native and graduate of Webster University who in addition to leading his own bands has played played with Paul Motian, Guillermo Klein, Seamus Blake, David Berkman, Jen Chapin, Kurt Rosenwinkel and many others. This clip shows Cheek and accordionist Victor Prieto playing Cheek's composition "Shelter" at a concert in NYC, location otherwise unspecified.

The third video features Butch Thomas, another St. Louis native and Webster University graduate who's worked with big rock stars like Sting, Lenny Kravitz, and Thomas Dolby as well as with bass legend Jaco Pastorius and a whole host of other well-known names. After living in NYC and London, Thomas recently relocated to Florida, and his appearance on a local TV program in Tampa yielded this clip of him performing "Caribbean Woman" from his self-titled debut CD released last year.