Sunday Session: August 18, 2019

Brian Blade

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

* Bob Wilber 1928 – 2019 (Jazz Times)
* 7 Questions With Catherine Russell (VailJazz.org)
* Live Review: 46th Umbria Jazz Festival (Jazz Times)
* San Antonio jazz great Jim Cullum Jr. dies (MySanAntonio.com)
* 5 minutes alone - George Benson: “A guy said, ‘I could get you a job with Fats Domino’. I said, ‘I am not ready for that’” (MusicRadar.com)
* Chuck Berry’s Family, Famous Fans Remember Guitarist in New Documentary Trailer (Rolling Stone)
* Santana Returns to Woodstock and Revisits “Smooth” (ConsequenceOfSound.net)
* Concrete Science Fiction Riot: Why Do We Ignore The 70s French Underground? (TheQuietus.com)
* In ’61, Stan Getz at His ‘Most Aggressive’ (DownBeat)
* Imagine Documentaries Trumpets Partnership With Louis Armstrong Foundation On Definitive Icon Movie (Deadline)
* You Don’t Have to Be Rich (To Commission New Music) (Limelight)
* Leave No Good Idea Behind: Millennial Composers Embrace a Cosmopolitan Style (San Francisco Classical Voice)
* Ted Dunbar: Teacher Man to Nile Rodgers, Kevin Eubanks, and Many Others (Jazz Times)
* Fine Tuning: The Art Of Guitar Making (KALW)
* Britain’s jazz scene is in full swing (The Spectator)
* Hackers Can Turn Everyday Speakers Into Acoustic Cyberweapons (Wired)
* Brian Blade Leads ‘Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration’ (DownBeat)
* Rhythmo’s BeatBox is a cardboard drum machine (MusicTech.net)
* A Lost Album From John Coltrane Is Found, With Thanks To A French-Canadian Director (NPR)
* Inside the home of a queen: Aretha Franklin's mansion hits market for $1.2 million (MLive.com)
* Thousands of Unseen Blue Note Photos Online Now (Jazz Times)
* The Do's & Don'ts of Sample Clearances (Spotify.com)
* Herbie Hancock gears up for his newest music and joins Kamasi Washington at Northerly Island (Chicago Tribune)

Jazz this week: Catherine Russell & John Pizzarelli, Natural Information Society, Glendale Jazz Festival, two tributes to Miles Davis, and more

The calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis for this week leading up to Memorial Day features two shows celebrating the birthday of the most influential jazz musician ever to come from this area, plus a tribute to two of the most enduring vocalists in American music; the end of an important anniversary season for a local presenter; and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, May 22
Singer Catherine Russell teams up with guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli (pictured, top left) and his trio to present their show "Billie & Blue Eyes" for the first of five nights at Jazz St. Louis.

The show spotlights Russell and Pizzarelli's contemporary interpretations of songs associated with Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra. You can find out more and see some video from previous performances, plus songs from both of their latest recordings, in this post from last Saturday.

Thursday, May 23
Saxophonist Ben Reece's Unity Quartet returns to The Dark Room, and pianist Adam Maness' trio plays at Thurman's in Shaw.

Friday, May 24
The Glendale Jazzfest celebrates its 20th year with Miss Jubilee, the Funky Butt Brass Band, and Dean Christopher providing the music for the free, public outdoor event at Glendale City Hall.

Saturday, May 25
New Music Circle wraps up their 60th season with a concert featuring Natural Information Society, augmented by keyboardist Cooper Crain of Bitchin' Bajas, at Off Broadway.

Also on Saturday, trumpeter Jim Manley brings his band to Evangeline's, and pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True with saxophonist Larry Johnson return to Parkside Grille.

Sunday, May 26
Sunday marks 93 years since the birth of the late, legendary trumpeter Miles Davis, and two current St. Louis trumpeters are presenting tributes to him, as Randy Holmes headlines a "Double Tribute to Miles Davis & Kind of Blue" at the Ozark Theatre while Kasimu Taylor leads a "Tribute to Miles Davis" at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

Tuesday May 28
Guitarist Steve Schenkel's trio plus guest vocalist Kim Fuller will perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Catherine Russell & John Pizzarelli pay tribute to "Billie & Blue Eyes"

Today, StLJN's video spotlight shines on singer Catherine Russell and singer and guitarist John Pizzarelli, who are coming to St. Louis to present their show "Billie & Blue Eyes" starting Wednesday, May 22 through Sunday, May 26 at Jazz St. Louis.

Both Russell and Pizzarelli are well-known as headliners in their own right, with Pizzarelli being a particular local favorite thanks to multiple St. Louis appearances over the last couple of decades. They first joined forces last year to create the "Billie & Blue Eyes" show, with the idea of offering their own contemporary interpretations of classic material associated with Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra.

Pizzarelli has included songs associated with Sinatra in his repertoire throughout his career, and even has devoted two albums specifically to paying tribute to him. The first, in 2006, was Dear Mr. Sinatra, for which he was accompanied by The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, followed in 2017 by Sinatra & Jobim @ 50, which contained Pizzarelli's interpretations of songs from the famed 1967 collaboration between Sinatra and Brazilian singer-songwriter Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Meanwhile, since starting her solo career Russell has earned a reputation as a top interpreter of vintage jazz material from the 1920s, 30s and 40s, making her something of an expert in the songs and styles Holiday likely would have heard during her formative years. Though many singers have attempted to pay tribute to Holiday over the years, some more successfully than others, few have had the musical roots and specific experience that Russell brings to this project.

Though there's been no album (yet) documenting the collaboration, there are a few videos online from when they toured the presentation in 2018, starting with a promotional clip that explains the concept along with some very brief musical excerpts, which you can see up above.

After the jump, there's a clip from one of their 2018 dates showing Russell and Pizzarelli performing "I Thought About You."

That's followed by a video from 2017 of Pizzarelli performing "Baubles, Bangles and Beads," as recorded for the Sinatra & Jobim @50 album.

That's followed by a version of "All of Me," also from last year's "Bilie & Blue Eyes" tour.

Next up is a song recorded by Pizzarelli for his latest album For Centennial Reasons: 100 Year Salute to Nat King Cole, a version of "Straighten Up And Fly Right" in which he's accompanied by the members of his current working trio, Mike Karn on bass and Konrad Paszkudzki on piano.

After that, you can see Russell in the studios last month at radio station KNKX in Tacoma, WA, singing "You Can’t Pull the Wool Over My Eyes," a song included on her latest album Alone Together, which came out in March.

The final video showcases Pizzarelli doing another number from his Nat Cole tribute album, the venerable standard "Route 66."

For more about the "Billie & Blue Eyes" project, read the interview that Russell did last year with the Santa Fe New Mexican, and this brief review of a concert performance last year in Brooklyn.

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

Sunday Session: July 1, 2018

Don Cherry

Here's a roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* Catherine Russell: Queen of the Armstrong Blues (Jazz Times)
* Legendary Experimental Composer Jon Hassell Is Still Dreaming Up New Worlds (Vice.com)
* What happened to the blues? (Chicago Defender)
* DC Jazz Festival Reaches New Peak with Sanders, Carrington (DownBeat)
* Spotify Can Boost an Artist’s Royalties by $163,000 With One Playlist Add, Study Calculates (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* DownBeat Announces Winners of 2018 Critics Poll (DownBeat)
* Joe Lovano and Dave Douglas step up with Sound Prints at the Village Vanguard (Jazzwise)
* The Saxophone’s Unlikely Journey Out of Meme Hell (Vice.com)
* Thelonious Monk Inside Out: A Fresh Perspective On His Music (AllAboutJazz.com)
* The Story of Don Cherry’s Forgotten Classic “Home Boy (Sister Out)” (Bandcamp.com)
* Swedish Jazz, Excavated (DownBeat)
* How Did A Major Label Manage To Lose A John Coltrane Record? (TheQuietus.com)
* Composing Your Thoughts (Nautilus)
* WOULD SUIT MUSIC SCHOOL: How Total Refreshment Centre became the collaborative heart of London (TheVinylFactory.com)
* R+R=NOW’s Robert Glasper On Being Free AF For Juneteenth, ‘Collagically Speaking’ & More [Interview] (OkayPlayer.com)
* Kamasi Washington, the wisest man on Earth (TheFader.com)
* Jazz great Sheila Jordan's 70-year career was launched by a single song (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
* A Year After Geri Allen’s Death, A Tribute From Howard University (DownBeat)
* John Coltrane's 'Lost Album' Is A Window Into His Pursuit Of The Impossible (NPR)
* The Average Working Musician Makes Less Than an Uber Driver, Study Finds (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Antiquated copyright laws threaten aging musicians: Guest opinion (Portland Oregonian)
* A sound supreme: lost John Coltrane treasures rediscovered (Irish Times)
* When Miles Davis and Charlie Parker were in SF, this was the go-to club (San Francisco Chronicle)
* Deep Dive with Lewis Porter: Considering John Coltrane's 'Lost Album,' From All Directions (WBGO)
* This music is designed for extraterrestrials. Listen carefully (BigThink.com)
* Jon Hassell at 81: Visionary Composer-Trumpeter Reflects on a Half Century of Music on His Own Terms (Billboard)
* Angry George Benson fans BOO legendary star and demand refunds when he loses his voice and can't sing during Royal Albert Hall concert (Daily Mail)
* Raymond Scott, the musical genius you probably don't know, is getting his own L.A. festival (Los Angeles Times)
* 50th anniversary editions of The Band's 'Music From Big Pink' due Aug. 31 (Los Angeles Times)
* Ravi Coltrane On the State of Jazz & Why John Coltrane's Lost Album Couldn't Have Been Found at a Better Time (Billboard)

Sunday Session: February 4, 2018

Quincy Jones

Here's the roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* Jazz-Related Grammy Award Winners Announced (Jazz Times)
* Jazz and Blues Artists Make a Slippery Impression at the 2018 Grammy Awards (WBGO)
* We Asked a Top A&R Executive If Rock Is Really Dead (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Burkina Faso Music Honored at Grammys, but Artists Cry Foul (VOANews.com)
* Finding meaning in music again (The Globe and Mail)
* Junk Shop Classical On Stravinsky: Music Stories Told £1 LP By £1 LP (TheQuietus.com)
* Rhythm and Reaction: how jazz made Britain swing before rock ‘n’roll began (INews.co.uk)
* Quincy Jones Has a Story About That (GQ)
* Chuck Berry-Fats Domino tribute at the Grammys misses the boat (Los Angeles Times)
* Blood, Sweat & Tears’ Groundbreaking Debut @50 (BestClassicBands.com)
* Mingus’ “Tijuana Moods” Reborn (Jazz Times)
* After the Grammys, it may be time's up for the music industry (Los Angeles Times)
* How to Be a Responsible Music Fan in the Age of Streaming (Pitchfork.com)
* Jason Moran: Modernistic, Historical and More (Jazz Times)
* A Q&A with jazz heiress Catherine Russell (Arkansas Times)
* DC-Area Record Label Cuneiform Has Gone on Hiatus, and It May Not Come Back (Washingtonian)
* Keeping the Art of Silent Film Music Alive (AtlasObscura.com)
* Piano Madness: Kris Davis and Craig Taborn in Freewheeling Dialogue (Village Voice)
* David Byrne on Trump, Cultural Appropriation and Why He Won't Reunite Talking Heads (Rolling Stone)
* A Tribute to James Jamerson and His Lost Funk Machine (Reverb.com)
* Link Wray, Inventor of the Power Chord, Snubbed Again (PleaseKillMe.com)
* Drummer Mike Reed Reflects on the Racist Encounter That Sparked 'Flesh & Bone' (WBGO)
* Spotify (Finally) Adds Songwriter and Producer Credits (Variety)
* Wherein three national corporations control nearly all of San Francisco's live music (DNALounge.com)
* Best Buy will cease selling CDs later this year (ConsequenceOfSound.net)
* Temptations' Dennis Edwards dies at 74: 'Helped define Detroit soul (Detroit Free Press)

Sunday Session: January 8, 2017

David Garibaldi

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

* Music History in an Alternate Universe: Imagine the Beatles Never Existed (Crixeo.com)
* Mahalia Jackson rediscovered: New CD features unreleased recordings from Historic New Orleans Collection (New Orleans Advocate)
* 'La La Land' Composer Explains Why His Music Isn't Supposed to Sound Nostalgic (Vice.com)
* ‘Kimono My House’: Sparks’ audio guide to the Los Angeles rock scene of the Sixties (DangerousMinds.net)
* How Sun Ra’s Definitive Singles Catalog Finally Saw The Light of Day (Bandcamp.com)
* Listeners Are Paying for Music Again: Subscription Streaming Soars (Pitchfork.com)
* United Record Pressing's Original Nashville Plant, Steeped in Music History, to Cease Operations (Billboard)
* 'Loft Jazz: Improvising New York in the 1970s' Explores a Vital Chapter in Downtown History (Village Voice)
* Another Good Year For Jazz Drummer Bill Stewart (Iowa Public Radio)
* Q&A: Catherine Russell (Jazz Times)
* Inside the Life of John Prine, the Mark Twain of American Songwriting (Rolling Stone)
* Give The Drummer Some: Tower of Power’s David Garibaldi (RedBullMusicAcademy.com)
* 50 Years Ago, the Wah-Wah Pedal Was Born in a Hollywood Hills Garage (LA Weekly)
* Before & After: Andy Bey - A listener, and storyteller, for the ages (Jazz Times)
* Irving Fields: Bagels and Bongos (LatinoUSA.org)
* The Self-Evidence of Kamasi Washington (Tucson Weekly)
* Curtains fall on arts critics at newspapers (Columbia Journalism Review)
* Meet The Producer Who Runs Her Opera Empire From A Two-Bedroom Apartment (NPR)
* Jazz Legends Explore Their Social Justice Legacy at Winter Jazzfest 2017 (Observer.com)
* Joe Henderson In 5 Songs (SFJAZZ.org)
* David Byrne on not being afraid to fail (TheCreativeIndependent)
* Nat Hentoff, Journalist and Social Commentator, Dies at 91 (New York Times)

Jazz this week: Catherine Russell, Mardra Thomas, Brooke Michael Smith, and more

This week's calendar of jazz and creative music in St. Louis features a pleasing variety of female vocalists, both visiting and local, as well as a tribute to saxophonist Dexter Gordon's work in the 1986 film Round Midnight, and more. Let's go the the highlights...

Wednesday, November 16
Singer Catherine Russell (pictured, top left) will perform for the first of four nights continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro.

Russell, the daughter of pianist and bandleader Luis Russell and singer/guitarist Carline Ray, is known for interpreting vintage jazz and blues material, and recently released her sixth solo album Harlem On My Mind. For more about that, and some videos of Russell performing some songs from the album, see this post from last Saturday.

Thursday, November 17
The Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University will present a free program called "Jazz and Film: 30th Anniversary of Bernard Tavernier's Round Midnight." The event features multi-instrumentalist Jeff Anderson on tenor sax, with Adam Maness on piano, Darrell Mixon on bass, and Maurice Carnes on drums. They'll interpret some of the music from Round Midnight that originally was performed on the soundtrack by Dexter Gordon (who also gave an Academy Award-nominated starring performance in the film.) .

Also on Thursday, students in the UMSL Jazz Combos will give a free concert at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

Friday, November 18
Former St. Louisan Mardra Thomas (pictured, bottom left) will be back in town to perform a free concert at St. Peter's United Church of Christ, and singer Wendy Gordon, pianist Carolbeth True, and friends will present an "Ebony and Ivory Tribute to Divas of Song" at the Ozark Theatre.

Elsewhere around town, Second Generation Swing will play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; saxophonist Austin Cebulski leads a trio at Cigar Inn; and San Francisco-based cabaret singer Brooke Michael Smith will perform for the first of two nights at The Emerald Room at The Monocle. While Smith's Friday show is already sold out, as of this writing some tickets remain for Saturday.

Saturday, November 19
The vintage swing and Americana band Wack-A-Doo return to Evangeline's, and percussionist Herman Semidey and Orquesta Son Montuno will play salsa, Latin jazz, and more at Club Viva.

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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Catherine Russell has Harlem on her mind

This week, StLJN's video spotlight shines on singer Catherine Russell, who will be returning to St. Louis to perform Wednesday, November 16 through Saturday, November 19 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Russell, lauded as one of the most gifted contemporary interpreters of vintage jazz and blues songs, will be making her first St. Louis appearance since her debut as a headliner here in 2014 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

It's been an eventful year for Russell, who in July released her sixth album as a leader, Harlem On My Mind, which is "comprised of songs from artists who played at The Apollo in Harlem, where all African American artists of note appeared."

In addition to touring this summer and fall in support of the new album, she was featured in an episode of the public TV series American Songbook and performed at the 2016 Brit Awards as part of a tribute to the late David Bowie, with whom she toured as a backup singer for nearly a decade. Russell also performed at the 2016 NEA Jazz Masters award ceremony at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and in April was featured on NPR’s “Jazz Night In America.”

To wrap up the year, next month she'll serve as guest vocalist for Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on their annual "Big Band Holidays" tour, which won't make it to St. Louis but will include a stop in Columbia, MO for a performance presented by the We Always Swing concert series.

Right now, though, you can take a look at some videos of recent Russell performances recorded since her last St. Louis appearance, starting with some material from Harlem On My Mind.

Today's first three clips come from Russell's visit last month to the studios of radio station KNKX in Tacoma, WA, beginning up above with "Swing Brother Swing," originally made famous by Billie Holiday, and followed after the jump by "You've Got The Right Key But The Wrong Keyhole" and "You're My Thrill" from the same session.

Below that, you'll find two songs that Russell recorded during a previous visit to the station in 2015, "Bring It Back" and "Darktown Strutters' Ball".

The final two clips, recorded in 2014 at Berklee School of Music in Boston, show Russell interpreting some Chicago-style blues as she sings Howlin' Wolf's "Spoonful" and Muddy Waters’ “Trouble No More”.

For more about Catherine Russell, check out London Jazz News' review of Harlem On My Mind; her performance earlier this year on "Jazz Night in America"; and this recent Q&A with Hollywood Soapbox.com.

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

Jazz this week: Poncho Sanchez, Catherine Russell, The Cunninghams, and more

As Jazz Appreciation Month 2014 continues past the halfway point, the live performance calendar this week in St. Louis includes several touring performers visiting our town, the return of a veteran of Gaslight Square, and the usual variety of activity from local musicians. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, percussionist Poncho Sanchez and his band (pictured) open a four-night engagement continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. One of the standard-bearers for mainstream Latin jazz, Sanchez' group over the years has consistently offered satisfying grooves topped with engaging solos, and the current edition is no exception. You can check out some relatively recent Sanchez performances on video in this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

Also tonight, the Route 66 Jazz Orchestra returns to Kirkwood Station Brewing Company; Cabaret Project St. Louis presents their monthly "open stage" event at the Tavern of Fine Arts; and Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center presents a double-bill featuring free improvisation by Joe Hess, Nick Horn, Alex Cunningham and Dave Stone, plus some more structured jazz sounds from the newish band Boysiac, with Mason Baran, Matt Villinger, Joe Hibbs, and Nathan Pence.

Tomorrow night, Miss Jubilee will being doing double duty, with a happy hour performance at Magpie's in St. Charles and a late night session downtown at Thaxton Speakeasy; and guitarist Dave Black and Friends, including singer Joe Mancuso, will be at Nathalie’s.

On Friday, the Twin Cities jump blues and swing band Davina and the Vagabonds will be back in town for a show at The Gramophone, with singer/guitarist Tommy Halloran's Guerilla Swing as opening act. That same evening, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will perform at the Highway 61 Roadhouse; singer Feyza Eren will lead a quartet in concert at the Kranzberg Arts Center; and guitarist Tom Byrne's trio plays at Cigar Inn.

On Saturday evening, singer and multi-instrumentalist Don Cunningham and his wife, singer-pianist Alicia Cunningham - better known as The Cunninghams - will be visiting from their home in Las Vegas to perform at 560 Music Center, accompanied by a local rhythm section including pianist Carolbeth True, Jeff Anderson on bass, and Gary Sykes on drums. You can read more about Don Cunningham's days performing in Gaslight Square, his first meeting with Alicia, the couple's subsequent popularity as a touring act in Asia, and more in this short feature about them that I wrote a few years back for the Riverfront Times.

If the Cunninghams' close harmony and occasional forays into exotica aren't your bag, you might want to check out singer Catherine Russell, who will be making her St. Louis debut as a headliner on Saturday at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Russell is sometimes referred to as "the daughter of jazz royalty," and you can find out more about that and see some video samples of her performing in this post from last Saturday. And if that piques your interest, you also should know that The Sheldon and Metrotix now are offering a discount on tickets to the concert.

Elsewhere around town on Saturday, saxophonist Jason Swagler, guitarist Eric Slaughter, bassist Nick Jost, and drummer Marty Morrison will take the stage at Robbie's House of Jazz; singer Tony Viviano returns to Talayna's of Chesterfield; and the Funky Butt Brass Band will play at the Old Rock House.

On Sunday, saxophonist Jim Stevens and band will perform in a matinee by the Mississippi at The Loading Dock in Grafton; and pianist Dave Venn will be holding forth at Pomme Café & Wine Bar.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the student jazz singers from Webster University will cap their semester with a performance at Winifred Moore Auditorium on campus.

Then on Tuesday, this spring's series of "Twilight Tuesday" concerts at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park gets underway with saxophonist Michael Fitzgerald offering "A Tribute to Miles Davis and David Sanborn"; and the SIUE Concert Jazz Band & Alumni, directed by Brett Stamps, will be back for another evening at Jazz at the Bistro.

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.)

The Sheldon, Metrotix offering discount on tickets for Catherine Russell concert

The Sheldon Concert Hall and Metrotix are offering a discount on tickets for singer Catherine Russell's performance this Saturday, April 19 at the Sheldon.

Russell (pictured) will be making her St. Louis debut as a headliner. You can read more about her and check out some videos of her performing in this post from last Saturday.

Tickets for Saturday's concert originally priced at $40 and $35 now are available for just $25 by using the promotional code RUSSELL14. This discount code can be used for orders placed online at metrotix.com, by phone orders at 314-534-1111, or in person at the Fox Theatre box office, 527 N. Grand Blvd.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: In the tradition with Catherine Russell

Today, let's get acquainted with singer Catherine Russell, who will be making her St. Louis debut as a headliner next Saturday, April 19 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Russell is from New York, born in 1956 to Luis Russell, a pianist, composer and longtime bandleader for Louis Armstrong, and Carline Ray, a bassist and vocalist who performed with Mary Lou Williams and the International Sweethearts of Rhythm.

While she's been active in the music business for many years, Russell's career as a solo artist took a while to blossom. Before releasing her debut album Cat in 2002, she earned a living as an in-demand backup singer on tours and recordings with major artists including Steely Dan, Levon Helm, David Bowie, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Simon, Jackson Browne, Michael Feinstein, Carrie Smith, and Rosanne Cash.

Though she's held on to some of those gigs - even getting a feature spot in the show on recent tours of the Dukes of September (Steely Dan's Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald, and Boz Scaggs) -  her solo career has grown to occupy more and more of her time. Since her debut, Russell has released four more albums,  the most recent of which, Bring It Back, came out in February on the Jazz Village label, and in 2012 won a Grammy Award for her appearance as a featured artist on the soundtrack album for the HBO series Boardwalk Empire.

Given her family connections to jazz history, it seems appropriate that Russell has found a niche as a solo artist by interpreting songs from the 1930s, 40s and 50s for a contemporary audience, and today we've got a few samples of her vocal stylings for you to enjoy.

In the video up at the top of this post, recorded in 2009 in the Netherlands with pianist Mark Shane, you can hear Russell perform "Back O' Town Blues," written by her father and Louis Armstrong.

The next four clips all were recorded in March 2012 at the The Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and feature Russell performing with a band that includes guitarist and musical director Matt Munisteri, along with Mark Shane (piano), Lee Hudson (bass), Mark McLean (drums), Jon-Erik Kelso (trumpet), John Allred (trombone), Dan Block (sax, clarinet), Andy Farber (saxes), Dave Brown (trumpet), and Scott Robinson (saxes). The first number is "Everybody Loves My Baby," followed by "Romance In The Dark," "Ev'ntide," and "No More."

In the sixth and final clip, Russell talks about her latest album, Bring It Back. For more about Catherine Russell, check out this interview from earlier this year on the Tavis Smiley Show; and these recent features from the Boston Globe and World Music Central.

(See the rest of today's videos after the jump...)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Winter/spring 2014 jazz preview, part 5

This week, it's the fifth and final installment of StLJN's winter/spring 2014 jazz preview, giving you a chance to check out live performance videos of the various touring jazz and creative music performers coming to St. Louis in the next few months. (If you missed the earlier posts, or want to take another look, here are part one, part two, part three and part four.)

Today's first clip up above features singer Catherine Russell, who will make her St. Louis debut as a headliner on Saturday, April 19 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Russell, the daughter of musicians Luis Russell (who played with Louis Armstrong) and Carline Ray, is known for her interpretations of pre-WWII jazz and blues material.

She is seen here performing "Romance In The Dark," a Lil Green song from 1940 later covered by artists such as Dinah Washington and Nina Simone and recorded by Russell on her album Strictly Romancin'. This video was shot in February, 2012 at Wellfleet Preservation Hall in Wellfleet, MA; Russell's accompanists are Matt Munisteri (guitar), Mark Shane (piano), and Lee Hudson (bass).

Down below, you can see a video featuring trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, who will return to our town on Friday, April 25 to play at the Touhill Performing Arts Center as part of the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival. The Cuban-born brassman, a friend and protege of the late Dizzy Gillespie, is seen here in an extended jam on what perhaps is Diz' most famous composition, "A Night in Tunisia," recorded in February 2013 in Gleisdorf, Austria. (The video was shot by an audience member on a handheld camera, so the picture is a bit shaky at points, but the audio quality is good throughout.)

The third clip captures a recent performance by the Count Basie Orchestra, who will be the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival's featured attraction on Saturday, April 26 at the Touhill. Now under the direction of trumpeter Scotty Barnhart, with Bobby Floyd on piano and veteran drummer Butch Miles back behind the kit, the Basie band can be seen here performing "The Deacon" in September, 2013 at the Blue Note in Nagoya, Japan.

Our fourth video is a fairly slick-looking promotional clip for saxophonist Joe Lovano's two-drummer ensemble Us Five, who will be making their St. Louis debut with performances starting Wednesday, April 30 and continuing through Saturday, May 3 at Jazz at the Bistro. This version of "Blessings in May," from Lovano's 2013 album Cross Culture, was filmed live at the Mint in Los Angeles. (And in case you were wondering - yes, that's Esperanza Spalding on bass in this clip, and no, she's not scheduled to be part of the band's St. Louis gig.)

Below that, you can see singer Jane Monheit in a performance recorded in February 2013 at a venue called Bourbon Street in São Paulo, Brazil. The audience-shot video captures her up close and personal, singing the Carol Hall lyric for pianist Bill Evans' well-known composition "The Two Lonely People," which Monheit recorded on her album The Heart of The Matter. She'll be in St. Louis from Wednesday, May 14 through Saturday, May 17 to perform at Jazz at the Bistro.

In the sixth spot, there's an excerpt from a performance and workshop given by trumpeter Terell Stafford at Saxquest when he was here in St. Louis in November, 2012. Stafford will return to St. Louis to serve as guest soloist with Jazz St. Louis' JazzU student ensemble when they play their annual weekend at the Bistro on Friday, May 23 and Saturday, May 24.

Last but not least, today's seventh and final video shows off the solo piano talents and storytelling of Joe Sample, who will perform with his trio from Wednesday, May 28 through Saturday, May 31 at Jazz at the Bistro. Recorded with some sort of hand-held device in April 2013 at the Fairfield Theatre in Fairfield, CA, the clip has a tiny picture but some very nice audio of Sample getting down and dirty on "Gee, Baby Ain't I Good To You" and "How You Gonna Keep Them Down On The Farm (After They've Seen Paree)."