Sunday Session: July 10, 2016

Tyshawn Sorey

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

* Photos: DC Jazz Festival - Kamasi, Cécile, Revive, Marquis Hill and more perform (Jazz Times)
* Corea and Friends Take Part in Multi-Generational Tribute to Tyner (DownBeat)
* Jazz Legend Charlie Parker’s Mystery Music Uncovered (The Daily Beast)
* Live Springsteen: The Floodgates Have Opened (No Depression)
* Sony Music Tricked Michael Jackson Fans Into Buying Fake CDs (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Today In History – July 3, 1969: Newport Jazz Fest Experiments With Rock Music (What's Up Newport)
* Irvin Mayfield resigns as director of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (Offbeat)
* Irvin Mayfield resigns from New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (New Orleans Times-Picayune)
* Hear Electronic Ladyland, a Mixtape Featuring 55 Tracks from 35 Pioneering Women in Electronic Music (OpenCulture.com)
* How Jazz-Loving Teenagers–the Swingjugend–Fought the Hitler Youth and Resisted Conformity in Nazi Germany (OpenCulture.com)
* BadBadNotGood: making jazz hip (hop) again (The Guardian UK)
* Critic's Notebook: Who Will Write the First Great Rock 'n' Roll TV Drama? (Hollywood Reporter)
* The Long Play: The Death and Resurrection of the Pop Album (ThirdBridgeCreative.com)
* Carl Allen: Learning From the Giants (Modern Drummer)
* 10 Cutting-Edge Artists That Have Captured the Imagination Mid-Year (WQXR)
* JALC Announces 2016 Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame Inductees (Jazz Times)
* Iyer, Sorey, Crump Rekindle Bonds at Chicago’s Constellation (DownBeat)
* Beyond “La Bamba”: Los Lobos is the best rock band nobody’s listening to (A.V. Club)
* Review: Steps Ahead at Ronnie Scott's (Jazz Journal UK)
* Bayou Maharaja: James Booker, the tragic genius of New Orleans (The Independent UK)
* Is jazz entering a new golden age? (The Guardian UK)
* Inside the Oldest Labor Union for Black Musicians (Atlas Obscura)
* Benny Golson Remembers John Coltrane (Jazz Times)
* Kansas City Union, Home to Bird and Basie, Plans Centennial Celebration (DownBeat)

Jazz this week: Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, Juilliard Jazz Small Ensemble, and more

It's sort of an unofficial jazz education week here in St. Louis, with the major events centered on student-friendly programming, starting with the concert by the Juilliard Jazz Small Ensemble directed by drummer Carl Allen (pictured) at the Sheldon Concert Hall tonight. Allen and the Juilliard musicians have been working with local school ensembles for the past two days, and several of those bands will take the stage tonight to perform one number each before turning the stage over to Allen, best known for his work with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, and his proteges.

Workshops, clinics and master classes also are an important part of the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, which began yesterday and will culminate this weekend with concerts on Friday and Saturday night at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. Both shows will feature the UMSL Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Jim Widner; Friday's featured guests are pianist Shelly Berg, saxophonist Tom Scott, drummer Gregg Field, bassist Chuck Berghofer and trombonist Paul McKee, while Saturday's guest soloists will be clarinetist Buddy DeFranco and trumpeter Wayne Bergeron.

One group of student musicians who won't be hanging out the TouPAC this weekend is the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars, the band of high-school age players affiliated with Jazz St. Louis' ongoing educational programs, who will do their annual performances at Jazz at the Bistro on Friday and Saturday.

Other noteworthy events over the next few days: Tonight, singer Tony Viviano performs a free concert featuring the music of Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett as part of Washington University's Jazz at Holmes series. On Saturday, improvising percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani will do a solo performance sponsored by New Music Circle at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center, and the Randy Holmes Quintet does a tribute to the music of Duke Ellington at Cookie's Jazz and More. On Sunday, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents Cornet Chop Suey in a concert of traditional jazz and swing at Bel-Air Bowl in Belleville.

Beyond the weekend, the Genesis Jazz Project will do a free big band concert at the TouPAC on Monday night, and on Tuesday, singer and pianist Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum performs at Brandt's, while the BAG Trio, featuring Zimbabwe Nkenya, Gary Sykes and Michael Nelson, takes the stage at The Gramophone.

For more local jazz-related events this weekend and beyond, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar.

(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.)

(Edited after posting to correct the location of the Cornet Chop Suey show.)

Juilliard Jazz Small Ensemble to play the Sheldon Concert Hall on April 17

The Sheldon Concert Hall has just announced that it will present a performance by the Juilliard Jazz Small Ensemble, directed by drummer Carl Allen, on Thursday, April 17.

The ensemble is made up of the top jazz students at Juilliard, while director Allen is best known for his long stint backing trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. Their two-day stay in St. Louis on April 16 and 17 will include workshops with local school jazz ensembles, and those student groups will also participate in the April 17 concert.

Tickets for the performance are $15 for the general public, $5 for students, and will go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 8 via Metrotix.