Music Education Monday: Learning jazz violin with Christian Howes, and more

Although there have been jazz violinists ever since the music began, formal jazz education programs in schools usually are set up to cater mostly to trumpets, trombones, saxophones and rhythm sections, leaving many aspiring string improvisors to forge their own musical paths.

Fortunately, there seem to be plenty of instructional materials available to help chart that pathway, both for purchase and for free online.

And since pointing out free music education resources available on the internet is the stated premise of Music Education Monday, today's installment spotlights a few useful videos and articles that are readily accessible to any violinist who wants to learn jazz:

* The well-known jazz violinist Christian Howes (pictured) offers lessons online and has written several books you can buy on how to play jazz violin, but he's also shared some materials for free on YouTube.

At the end of this post, you'll find embeds of five short video lessons by Howes, covering "How to play Jazz Violin"; "Blues for Jazz Violin"; "Improvisation for Beginning to Intermediate String Players"; "Arpeggios for Jazz Violin, Cello, and Viola"; and "How to use Modes on violin from Light to Dark".

* Jazz violinist Regina Carter was interviewed last year by the "string blog" ElbowMusic.com for two articles offering "some advice on exploring the genre."

* For more ideas about violin improvisation, check out the "how to" articles by Tracy Silverman of the Turtle Island String Quartet; UK violinist Chris Haigh; and violinist Martin Norgaard, an assistant professor at Georgia State University who's written ten jazz string method books for Mel Bay Publishing.

* For further reading, you can peruse "A Guide to Pedagogical Resources for Improvisation on Violin, Viola, Cello and Bass", a 101-page PDF put together by a doctoral of musical arts student that serves as a handy guide to the commercially available materials that are available for string players who want to learn jazz.

You can see the Christian Howes instructional videos after the jump...

Christian Howes performing this Sunday, April 28 at Deco Fortress

Violinist Christian Howes is coming to St. Louis to perform at 7:00 p.m. this Sunday, April 28 at the Deco Fortress, 3622 S. Broadway, across from the Lemp Brewery complex.

Howes (pictured) formerly was an associate professor at Berklee College of Music, and won first place in the "Rising Star -Violin" category of the 2011 Down Beat Critic's Poll. He has released 13 albums as a leader, including his most recent, Southern Exposure, which came out earlier this year on the Resonance Records label.

The Deco Fortress is a "house concert" venue, which means it's BYOB and advance reservations are recommended. Tickets for Christian Howes are $12 general admission, $10 students at the door. For more information, see the Deco Fortress' Facebook page.

Jazz this week: Matthew Shipp, Trombone Shorty, Christian Howes, Jazz In Pink, Anita Jackson, and more

While many St. Louisans understandably will be preoccupied with cheering for the Cardinals in this week's National League baseball championship series (and possibly hoping for a return appearance from the infamous Rally Squirrel), there's plenty of good jazz and creative music happening around town over the next seven days, too. Let's go to the highlights:

Tonight, the Meramec Jazz Lab Band performs at the Black Cat Theatre in Maplewood, in what will be the first of four Wednesday night concerts there during this academic year.

On Thursday, violinist Christian Howes will be in town to play a free concert at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium, accompanied by guitarist Steve Schenkel, bassist Ric Vice and drummer John Lum. Also on Thursday, saxophonist Jeff Riley will bring his Big Band to Robbie's House of Jazz.

The "must see" show of the week happens on Friday, when pianist Matthew Shipp (pictured) and his trio will play at 560 Music Center under the auspices of New Music Circle. It's kind of hard to believe that a prominent musician like Shipp is just now making his St. Louis debut as a leader, but NMC deserves a round of applause just for bringing him to town. For much more about Shipp, plus video footage of him and the trio in action, see this post from last Saturday.

Also on Friday, singer Anita Jackson begin a two-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. Jackson, who's making her debut at the Bistro as a leader, has done musical theatre at the Black Rep and performed around town with drummer Jerome "Scrooge" Harris, keyboardist Jeremiah Allen and others. That same evening, trumpeter Jim Manley and Wild Cool and Swingin' will play at the JCCA's Mirowitz Theatre for the "Encore at the J" series; guitarist Tom Byrne's trio with singer Trish Turek will be at Robbie's; and drummer Paul Shaw will lead a trio with bassist Bob DeBoo and alto saxophonist Kristian Baarsvik at the Cigar Inn.

On Saturday, the Reunion Jazz Band - keyboardist Don Carson, bassist J. Michael Kearney and drummer Mike Scavotto - will join forces with the Bosman Twins for an early evening performance at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups; and pianist Carolbeth True's trio with singer Christi John Bye will perform at Robbie's.

On Sunday, the all-female group Jazz in Pink comes to town to perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall in a benefit for Community Women Against Hardship.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Tuesday multi-instrumentalist and singer Trombone Shorty, who some have touted as the dance-floor-friendly future of jazz in his hometown of New Orleans, will return with his band Orleans Avenue to play at the Old Rock House. For a sample of some of Shorty's recent work, check out his set from the Newport Jazz Festival in August, captured for posterity by NPR.

For more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, 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.)

(Edited after posting to fix typos.)