Memorial concert honoring MAXJAZZ's Richard McDonnell set for Sunday, May 25 at Jazz at the Bistro

A memorial concert honoring the late Richard "Rich" McDonnell and featuring artists from his MAXJAZZ label will take place starting at 1:00 p.m., Sunday, May 25 at Jazz at the Bistro.

The event will culminate in a headlining set at 7:00 p.m. featuring trumpeter Terell Stafford (pictured, above left), pianist Bruce Barth, saxophonist Tim Warfield, and singer Carla Cook, all of whom have recorded for MAXJAZZ, backed by St. Louis' Montez Coleman on drums and Bob DeBoo on bass.

Before that, though, the afternoon will feature a performance from Brilliant Corners, which is co-led by saxophonist Paul DeMarinis and guitarist Dave Black and was the first band to record on the MAXJAZZ label, as well as music from Good 4 the Soul, Jesse Gannon, Cheryl Brown, Funky Butt Brass Band, Jazz St. Louis' own Gene Dobbs Bradford and Phil Dunlap, and additional acts TBA. Look for a full schedule of bands on the Jazz St. Louis website the week of the event.

While the concert is free and open to the public with seating on a general admission basis, Jazz St. Louis is suggesting a donation of $25 at the door in honor of McDonnell, who died on February 8 of this year. An investment banker before he retired and founded MAXJAZZ, McDonnell (pictured, below left) also was a board member of Jazz St. Louis.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Singer Carla Cook will perform and fellow vocalist Mae Wheeler will be honored for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts at this year's St. Louis Arts Awards.

* Guitarist Todd Mosby (pictured) went on the 4:00 p.m. newscast at KPLR (Channel 11) this week to demonstrate and talk about his Imratgitar, a custom-built hybrid of a guitar and a sitar. You can see the segment archived online here.

* Radio station WSIE (88.7 FM) is now offering to record and air free promotional spots featuring local jazz talent. From the blog entry on the station's site: "Here’s the plan: Any business owners, booking agents, promoters, music enthusiasts, or musicians are welcome to send us their contact information and/or audio file of who you are, what you do, why you like jazz, why supporting local music is important to you and (of course – the call tag of the station) “88.7 the jazz station”. We will gladly put your 30 second spot on the air! If need be, we can come record you."

WSIE this week also has been airing an interview with pianist Carolbeth True about her concert this Saturday at the Sheldon. The interview will be rebroadcast again today (Friday, January 21) at 6:00 p.m..

* The trombone ensemble Original Boneheads recently visited schools in Granite City to work with music students in the district, as recounted here by Suburban Journals reporter Scott Cousins.

* The University of Missouri St. Louis' Gallery 210 this week opened a new exhibit called “Post-Gig,” a traveling collection of 130 original, contemporary music posters from the 2000s drawn from Clifford Stoltze’s book 1000 Music Graphics. The exhibit runs through March 12, with a closing reception featuring Stoltze at 5:30 p.m. on March 10.

* The Missouri Association of Jazz Educators (MOAJE) has a number of events planned during next week's 73rd Annual Missouri Music Educators Conference at Lake of the Ozarks, including a jam session on Wednesday night and a reading session on Friday. For a complete schedule, see the MOAJE website.

Jazz this week: Bela Fleck & the Africa Project; a tribute to Eddie Jefferson; Jan Shapiro; Matt Wilson; Ntozake Shange & Hamiet Bluiett; and more

There's lots going on in St. Louis over the next few days with regard to jazz and creative music, so let's go right to the highlights, starting with tonight when the much-anticipated Bela Fleck and the Africa Project tour comes to the Sheldon Concert Hall. For more on the Africa Project, see this article that I wrote for last week's Riverfront Times. Also, new this week, Playback STL's Amy Burger has a piece on the show here.

Next up come three performances in which the human voice will play a key role, beginning with "The Genius of Eddie Jefferson," which opens tonight at Jazz at the Bistro and runs through Saturday. This tribute to the late jazz singer and lyricist features vocalists Carla Cook and Allan Harris and pianist Eric Reed, and there's lots to see and hear about them and Jefferson in this post from last Saturday.

Also, Jazz St. Louis is offering a two-tickets-for-the-price-of-one deal for the 8:30 p.m. show on Thursday only; for details on how to get the discount, see this post. As a longtime fan of Eddie Jefferson, I'm glad to see his music revisited in this way; the fact that it can be done by two singers as different from Jefferson (and each other) as Cook and Harris certainly is a testament to its wide range of expression and long-lasting appeal.

On Thursday night, singer and St. Louis expat Jan Shapiro, who now heads the jazz vocal program at Berklee College of Music in Boston, will perform with guitarist William Lenihan in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. As you'd expect from a vocal teacher, Shapiro's got a fine technique, and unlike many of the more callow female singers on the scene today, she's lived enough to know how to use that technique to best advantage while imbuing her song interpretations with some real emotional weight.

Moving on to Saturday afternoon, the Nu-Art Series will present poet and author Ntozake Shange in a spoken word performance with music from legendary baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett and multi-instrumentalist Dr. London Branch starting at 3:00 p.m. at the Metropolitan Gallery, 2936 Locust St. in downtown St. Louis. The program also will feature the musical group JBMG, which includes the grandchildren of singer Fontella Bass and trumpet player Lester Bowie.

On Saturday evening, trombonist and low brass man Lamar Harris brings his mix of jazz, funk, hip-hop, R&B, classical and who-knows-what-else to downtown's newest live music venue, the St. Louis Jazz Cafe.

Then on Sunday afternoon, drummer Matt Wilson (pictured) and his Quartet will do a matinee starting at 3:00 p.m. at the Black Cat Theatre. in Maplewood. The group, founded in 1996, includes Andrew D’Angelo on alto saxophone and bass clarinet, Jeff Lederer on tenor and soprano saxophones and clarinet, and Chris Lightcap on acoustic and electric bass. Wilson is a consistently interesting drummer as well as a prolific and sometimes provocative bandleader, and given that the Quartet has played together since 1996, they've got a lot of shared experience and repertoire to mine, which should make for an entertaining and musically substantive show.

UPDATE, 4/1/09, 1:00 p.m. - As yr. humble editor is not really the charity-party type, I neglected to mention in the first version of this post that this Sunday is also the date of Jazz St. Louis' annual fundraising gala, which begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark. The event features dinner, an auction, cocktail music from the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars student ensemble, and a headlining set from the lovely Italian-born, Berklee-educated singer Chiara Civello.

Tickets are $250 per person. I don't know if there's any room left as of this writing, but if you'd like to go, you can contact Melissa Jones at Jazz St. Louis by calling 314-289-4037 or via email at melissa@jazzstl.org to ask about ticket availability.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Sunday night, the eclectically funky Good 4 The Soul plays the early set at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups, and the St. Louis New Jazz X-Tet holds forth as usual at Riddles. On Monday night, the Sessions Big Band returns to BB's, and on Tuesday, Bennett Wood and Friends are back at The Gramophone.

As always, these are just some of the more noteworthy shows happening around St. Louis this week, and with the start of a new month, there will undoubtedly some updates and additions over the next few days. To see the latest listings for jazz-related events in St. Louis 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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Previewing "The Genius of Eddie Jefferson"

Today, we've got a wealth of material related to "The Genius of Eddie Jefferson", a tribute to the late jazz singer starring vocalists Allan Harris and Carla Cook and pianist Eric Reed that will be performed here in St. Louis starting Wednesday, April 1 through Saturday, April 4 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Jefferson, who was born August 3, 1918, first gained wide public recognition thanks to "Moody's Mood For Love," a lyric he wrote to a solo improvised by saxophonist James Moody on a recording of the standard "I'm In The Mood For Love." Although Jefferson didn't get a hit record out of it - the version recorded in 1952 by Clarence "King Pleasure" Beeks had a greater initial impact - the idea of writing lyrics to pre-existing jazz solos and compositions caught on, eventually becoming known as "vocalese."

Performers such as Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, the Manhattan Transfer, Al Jarreau, George Benson (who recorded "Moody's Mood"), and many others certainly owe a major creative and conceptual debt to Eddie Jefferson, who, after periods of relative inactivity during the 1960s, enjoyed something of a career renaissance during the 1970s. Tragically, Jefferson was shot and killed in May, 1979 after leaving a gig at Baker's Keyboard Lounge in Detroit; a suspect in the murder was tried and acquitted, and the case officially remains unsolved.

In addition to his legacy as one of the creators of vocalese, Jefferson left behind a number of fine recordings showcasing his rough-hewn vocal timbre and energetic, hard-swinging style; for a discography of his work, go here. And for even more on his life and career, check out "Music Makes the World Go Round: A Tribute to Eddie Jefferson," a program originally aired in 1980 by KPFA radio in Berkeley, CA and now available online in both downloadable and streaming forms via archive.org.

As for Harris, Cook and Reed, they did a similar tribute to Jefferson last year for Jazz at Lincoln Center in NYC, and it was the subject of one of JALC's audio "jazzcasts," which you can still hear online in streaming form here. You can even follow along with the script, in either HTML or .pdf format. (If you can't get the audio to stream from the link above, go to JALC's podcast archive page here and look for the program from 8/28/08.)

Alas, there doesn't seem to be any video online of Harris, Reed and Carr's JALC performances, instead, we've got some other relevant clips for you, starting up top with a extended excerpt from one of Eddie Jefferson's last performances.

This footage was recorded on May 6, 1979 at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago, just three days before Jefferson was shot and killed. It runs just under 50 minutes, and features Jefferson singing a number of songs from his then-current repertoire. He's accompanied by saxophonist Richie Cole, a frequent touring and recording partner in Jefferson's later years, and a rhythm section of Joel Spencer (drums), Kelly Sill (bass,) and John Campbell (piano).

(The video of this show was originally issued years ago on VHS by Rhapsody Films, but apparently has gone out of print. There are a number of shorter excerpts and individual songs from this show posted online at YouTube, Google Video and elsewhere, but this is the longest and most complete version I could find.)

Down below, we've got clips of the three performers who will be in St. Louis to pay tribute to Jefferson, starting with Carla Cook, seen in the first embedded video window singing "The Way You Look Tonight." This live-in-the-studio clip was put out to promote Cook's CD It's All About Love by her record label, St. Louis-based MAXJAZZ.

Next up is Allan Harris, in a video recorded in September 2007 at the Blue Note in NYC, where he was celebrating the release of Long Live The King, a CD paying tribute to Nat "King" Cole. The video features snippets from several Cole songs, as performed by Harris, Jesse Jones Jr. on sax and flute, Dan Kaufman on piano, Paul Beaudry on bass, and Ulysses Owens on drums.

Last, but not least, is pianist Eric Reed, who, like Cook, may be familiar to St. Louis listeners from his recordings for MAXJAZZ. This clip was made at the NYC club Smoke, and feature Reed in a trio setting playing a tune called "Why?"

Jazz St. Louis offering 2-for-1 deal on tickets for Eddie Jefferson tribute

Via a local email list, Jazz St. Louis is offering two tickets for the price of one for a performance of "The Genius of Eddie Jefferson" next week at Jazz at the Bistro. The tribute to the late jazz singer Jefferson (pictured), who is credited as one of the inventors of vocalese, will feature pianist Eric Reed and singers Carla Cook and Allan Harris, and runs next from Wednesday, April 1 through Saturday, April 4 at the Bistro.

Tickets are $30, and the 2-for-the-price-of-1 deal is available ONLY for the performance at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 2. To get the discount, buy your tickets in advance by calling 314-289-4030 and mentioning promotional code FC0901 when you place your order.

Jazz this week: Ray Brown Tribute Band, Billy Harper, Carla Cook, Mike Vax Big Band, The Wee Trio, Amina Figarova, and more

There's quite a variety of live jazz happening this week in St. Louis, so let's go right to the highlights, presented in chronological order:

Tonight, the Ray Brown Tribute Band featuring bassist Christian McBride (pictured), pianist Benny Green and drummer Greg Hutchinson opens a four-night run which continues through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Brown, who worked with Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald - whom he also married - and many others, was pretty much the gold standard of mainstream swing bass-playing throughout his more than 50 years in jazz. McBride and Green - both well versed in tradition, yet young enough to have been shaped by vastly different experiences than musicians of Brown's generation - would seem to have both the skills and the sensibility to do justice to his legacy. Here's hoping they're using the opportunity to explore some of Brown's own compositions, as the bassist did build up a catalog of tunes over the years.

UPDATE, 1:00 a.m., 4/24/08: Calvin Wilson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a preview story about the Ray Brown Tribute Band in today's paper. Read it online here.

On Thursday, pianist Amina Figarova, who's originally from Azerbaijan, brings his group to St. Louis for a free concert in the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; and Brooklyn-based alterna-jazz band The Wee Trio, with former St. Louisan Dan Loomis on bass, performs at Lucas School House.

On Friday, former Stan Kenton trumpeter Mike Vax and his Big Band are doing a concert at Principia High School. Although Vax's band is not officially a Kenton tribute, the band does include a number of Kenton alumni and reportedly plays a few charts from Kenton's book, too.

And speaking of beloved big band bosses of a bygone era, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, still carrying on without its long-departed leader, is in the St. Louis area on Saturday, with a matinee and an evening show at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. Elsewhere on Saturday, singer Carla Cook, who's familiar to local audiences because she has recorded for the St. Louis based MAXJAZZ label and performed at Jazz at the Bistro, takes the stage at the Sheldon Concert Hall, and tenor saxophonist Billy Harper plays at Luna Bar in the Central West End.

On Sunday, western swing stalwarts Asleep at the Wheel will cram themselves on to the smallish outdoor stage at Beale on Broadway, a venue that would seem to have the right vibe but insufficient room to accommodate the number of fans likely to show up for such a relatively well-known act. If you happen to dig the blend of jazz and country music that is western swing, Asleep at the Wheel are about as good as it gets these days.

Other noteworthy shows this weekend include singer Jeanne Trevor at Brandt's and Wild, Cool and Swingin' at Cookie's Jazz and More on Friday; and singer Erin Bode at Lucas School House and Trio Tres Bien with Danita Mumphard at Cookie's on Saturday.

For still more St. Louis jazz and creative music 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.)

Sheldon Concert Hall offering $5 discount on tickets for Carla Cook performance

The Sheldon Concert Hall is offering a $5 discount to ticket buyers who go online to purchase seats for the concert by singer Carla Cook (pictured) next Saturday, April 26.

To get the discount, go to www.metrotix.com/promotions and enter the promotional code 5OFF08.

Sheldon single tickets on sale August 11

Single ticket for events in the Sheldon Concert Hall's various 2007-08 series will go on sale at 10 a.m., Saturday, August 11. The Sheldon's 2007-08 jazz series will include concerts by guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli, pianist Ahmad Jamal, singer Carla Cook, pianist Michael Wolff, and Lavay Smith and the Red Hot Skillet Lickers.

Tickets can be purchased via Metrotix or in person at the Fox Theatre box office at 534 N. Grand Blvd.

Sheldon Concert Hall announces 2007-08 season

The Sheldon Concert Hall has announced its 2007-08 season, and the hall's jazz series for next year includes a number of familiar names.

Three of the announced shows confirm information previously revealed by Pollstar (and StLJN): guitarist/singer John Pizzarelli (Saturday, October 6), Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers (Saturday, November 10) and pianist Ahmad Jamal (Friday, January 26, 2008).

In addition, the Sheldon also will present pianist Michael Wolff (pictured), best known as the former bandleader for talk show host Arsenio Hall, on Friday, February 23, 2008, and singer Carla Cook, who's recorded for the local MAXJAZZ label, on Friday, April 26, 2008. Subscriptions for the 2007-08 jazz series are $175-$195.

The Sheldon's Coffee Concerts, Saturday Matinee and Special Concerts series will also feature some musicians of interest to jazz listeners. The Coffee Concerts will include appearances from Anita Rosamond (October 9 & 10), the St. Louis Stompers (November 12 & 13), Sherry Drake and Carolbeth True (December 4 & 5), and the St. Louis Ragtimers (March 4 and 5, 2008). In addition, Jean Kittrell and the St. Louis Rivermen will do a special concert on Sunday, September 23 and trombonist Brett Stamps will do a Saturday matinee on April 12, 2008.

To yr. humble editor, this lineup of touring performers, while comparatively safe from a box-office standpoint, seems rather uninspired. Pizzarelli, Cook and Jamal are all well-known to local audiences, with each having several recent St. Louis gigs to their credit; their appearances here once again serve as yet another example of recycling by a local presenter, a practice I've criticized on numerous prior occasions. Meanwhile, Smith and Wolff, while no doubt competent and entertaining, are musicians of minor importance at best. And while the lineup of local bands and musicians consists of proven performers, it appears to offer no particular surprises, either.

Although there's always the possibility that an interesting show or two may be added to the schedule somewhere down the line, as happened this year with the Pat Metheny/Brad Mehldau concert, overall it feels like the Sheldon is just treading water here. Given the vast universe of exciting artistic possibilities available for a jazz series at a high-quality concert venue, it's hard not to see this mostly recycled lineup of musical moderates as something of a disappointment, a case of pandering to audience tastes rather than expanding or challenging them.

You can find out more about the rest of the Sheldon's 2007-08 series in this article, written by Post-Dispatch pop critic Kevin Johnson and published in today's paper.