Jazz this week: Christian McBride's New Jawn, Lonnie Holley, holiday jazz, and more

The calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis is packed this week, with several touring artists performing around town, plus the start of a a very busy season of concerts with a holiday theme.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, November 28
Bassist Christian McBride brings his latest group New Jawn (pictured, top left) to Jazz St. Louis for the first of five nights continuing through Sunday.

The quartet is notable not just for the quality of the musicianship, but for the absence of piano, guitar, or any other chordal instrument, leaving additional space for tenor saxophonist Marcus Strickland and trumpeter Josh Evans while McBride and drummer Nasheet Waits provide the foundation. Find out more and see some videos of them playing live in this post from last Saturday.

Thursday, November 29
It'll be a three-bass hit when Bob DeBoo is joined by fellow bassists Bernard Terry and Ben Wheeler in a free concert of music composed by famous jazz bassists for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

Also on Thursday, singer Feyza Eren and her quartet perform at Joe's Cafe; trumpeter Jim Manley plays at The Pat Connolly Tavern; and saxophonist Ben Reece's Unity Quartet returns to The Dark Room.

Friday, November 30
Saxophonist Kenny G brings his "Miracles Holiday and Hits Tour" to the Touhill Performing Arts Center. (For an overview of all the various holiday jazz shows this year in St. Louis, see this post from Monday.)

Also on Friday, Midwest Jazz-tette plays West Coast cool jazz at Evangeline's; singer Chuck Flowers will perform at 50/Fifty Kitchen; and pianist Adam Maness' trio continues in their new weekly gig at Sophie's Artist Lounge and Cocktail Club.

Saturday, December 1
New Music Circle presents singer, keyboardist, songwriter, and artist Lonnie Holley (pictured, bottom left) at Off Broadway

Holley transcended dire childhood poverty in the deep South to become an acclaimed visual artist, making collages and sculptures from found objects and winning international attention.

He added music to his portfolio of self-expressions in the early 2000s, writing his own distinctive material and sometimes improvising entire songs on the spot, and since has performed at major venues and festivals around the world. You can find out more about him and see some of Holley's performances on video in this post from two Saturdays ago.

Elsewhere around town, saxophonist Marion Meadows and keyboardists Alex Bugnon and Mark Harris II will play "Holiday Jazz" at the Sun Theatre; and guitarist Joe Park 's trio will celebrate the release of their debut album Out of Nowhere with a performance at Focal Point.

Sunday, December 2
The Friends of Scott Joplin present their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site, and the St. Louis Jazz Club will celebrate the holidays with wine, cheese and music from the Funky Butt Brass Band at the Moolah Shrine Center.

Also on Sunday, singer and St. Louis native Lynne Fiddmont returns home for a holiday-themed performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Monday, December 3
The Webster University Jazz Singers, directed by Debby Lennon, will present their annual holiday concert at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus.

Tuesday, December 4
The Route 66 Jazz Orchestra will perform in their third annual "Half A Holiday Concert" at The Sheldon.

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: Christian McBride's New Jawn

This week, let's take a look at some videos of bassist Christian McBride's New Jawn, who will be in St. Louis to perform starting this coming Wednesday, November 29 through Sunday, December 2 at Jazz St. Louis.

A man of many musical projects, McBride has played at the Bistro several times in recent years with both his trio and his Inside Straight quintet, and also leads a big band, which hasn't toured extensively for the usual economic reasons, but won a Grammy Award in 2012 and again in 2018.

His latest group, the New Jawn - "jawn" being Philadelphia lingo for a person, place or thing, sort of like film director Spike Lee's use of "joint" - is a quartet notable for the absence of piano, guitar, or any other chordal instrument.

Along with McBride, the group includes drummer Nasheet Waits, tenor saxophonist Marcus Strickland, and trumpeter Josh Evans, and though they've been gigging intermittently for a couple of years, they just released their self-titled first album in October on Brother Mister Productions, which is McBride's imprint for Mack Avenue Records.

You can hear some of the material from that album played live in today's videos, starting up above with "Pier One Import," recorded in September 2018 at the studios of public radio station KNKX in Tacoma, WA.

After the jump, you can see New Jawn perform two more songs from their debut album, "Ke-Kelli Sketch" and "Middle Man," both from that same session at KNKX. That's followed by a full set of music, including versions of most of the tracks from the album, recorded in July 2018 at the Malta Jazz Festival.

The last two videos, "United" and "Via Mwandishi," offer a glimpse of the band at an earlier point in their development (and of a couple of songs that didn't make it on to their record), as documented in July 2017 at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

For more about Christian McBride's New Jawn, read the reviews of their album from DownBeat and AllAboutJazz.com; this review of a gig last June in New Zealand; and the feature from KNKX that goes with the tracks they recorded there.

Jazz this week: Christian McBride, The Soul Rebels, Greg Tardy, Grand Marquis, and more

The calendar of live jazz and creative music coming up in St. Louis features several noteworthy visitors for the Memorial Day weekend, including a renowned.bassist and bandleader; a veteran saxophonist who's played with some very well-known jazz names; one of New Orleans' busiest brass bands; and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, May 24
Bassist Christian McBride opens a four-night engagement continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro.

Having played the club in 2014 with his trio and in 2009 with the quintet Inside Straight, this time McBride is showcasing his latest group, New Jawn, a quartet featuring trumpeter Josh Evans, saxophonist Marcus Strickland, and drummer Nasheet Waits. (For those curious about the band's name, "jawn" is an "all-purpose noun," perhaps derived from "joint," used specifically by Philadelphia natives.)

With no piano, guitar or vibes to supply chords, New Jawn's instrumentation give McBride plenty of harmonic freedom while interacting with Evans and Strickland. It's a setup that's proven adaptable to a variety of jazz styles dating back to at least the 1950s, when Ornette Coleman's original quartet and the Gerry Mulligan/Chet Baker "cool jazz" ensemble both eschewed chordal instruments with memorable, yet very different, results.

You can get an idea of what McBride, Evans, Strickland and Waits are doing with that flexibility in this video of Thelonious Monk's "Raise Four", recorded last September at SFJAZZ in San Francisco, and this clip of Monk's "Mysterioso," from a show this March in Russia.

Also on Wednesday, singer Marsha Evans will perform for the "Chapel Concerts" series at St. Vincent Home for Children, and trumpeter Jim Manley will be back for his weekly gig at Sasha's Wine Bar.

Thursday, May 25
The Soul Rebels (pictured, top left) will perform at the Old Rock House.

Putting a contemporary spin on the New Orleans brass band tradition, the Soul Rebels are known for re-imagining hit songs from a variety of genres, and for their frequent collaborations with an equally diverse range of bands, singers, and MCs.

You can find out more and see some videos of them in action in this post from Saturday before last.

Also on Thursday, The 442s will return to Cyrano's, and saxophonist Greg Tardy (pictured, center left) will be in town for a free, early evening performance at Saxquest.

Tardy, who heads the jazz studies departments at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, has released more than a dozen albums as a leader, enjoying a relationship of more than a decade with the indie label Steeplechase Records. He's also worked with a number of well-known jazz musicians, most notably Elvin Jones, Dave Douglas, Avishai Cohen, Brad Mehldau, and Joshua Redman.

Friday, May 26
Saxophonist Harvey Lockhart and the Collective will be back at The Dark Room; guitarist Tom Byrne and singer Erika Johnson will make their debut at the Parkside Grille in West County; and the Second Generation Swing Band will play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Also on Friday, the annual Glendale Jazz Festival will take place on an outdoor stage at Glendale City Hall. The event, which is free and open to the public, will feature music from the Funky Butt Brass Band, blues/R&B singer Coco Soul, the St. Louis Big Band with singer Anita Rosamond, and Randy Holmes and the Satchmo 7.

Saturday, May 27
The Kansas City-based jump blues and swing band Grand Marquis (pictured, bottom left) returns for a performance at the Casa Loma Ballroom; the Midwest Jazz-tette returns to Evangeline's, and the Kevin Lucas Marimba Band will play a concert at the Jacoby Arts Center in Alton.

Sunday, May 28
The Folk School of KDHX will host their monthly Traditional Jazz Jam Session on Sunday afternoon.

Later in the afternoon and just a short distance away in Grand Center, more than thirty St. Louis musicians and singers will join forces for the "Willie Akins Jazz Festival," an event paying tribute to the late saxophonist at the Grandel Theatre.

Organized by singer Joe Mancuso, the concert also is intended to raise money for music scholarships in Akins' name, and so while the event is free and open to the public, donations will be accepted at the door, and there's also a GoFundMe page for online contributions.

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.)

Edited after posting to add info on the Glendale Jazz Festival. 

Jazz this week: J.D. Parran & George Sams, "New World Harmonica Jazz," Chapter:SOUL, Chick Corea Trio, and more

This week's calendar of jazz and creative music in St. Louis offers some early summer eclecticism, including a homecoming performance by one of our city's exemplars of the avant-garde; a couple of free, multi-venue festivals featuring a variety of local talent; sold-out shows featuring two touring pianists, and, as the saying goes, much, much more. Let's go the the highlights...

Wednesday, June 15
Saxophonist Doug Lawrence leads a quartet in a free show at Saxquest; Cabaret Project St. Louis presents their monthly "Open Mic Night" at the Tavern of Fine Arts; and bassist Bob Deboo will have some special guests for his weekly performance and jam session at the Kranzberg Arts Center, including drummer Matt Wilson, vibraphonist Peter Schlamb, and saxophonist Adam Larson.

Thursday, June 16
The esteemed multi-instrumentalist and St. Louis native J.D. Parran (pictured, top left) will be back home from NYC for a visit, joining forces with trumpeter George Sams and other free improvisers for a performance at the Tavern of Fine Arts; the Route 66 Jazz Orchestra plays at Jazz at the Bistro; and The 442s will celebrate the release of their latest album RELAY with a performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Friday, June 17
Grand Center's "Music at the Intersection" series returns for the second year, kicking off with an assortment of local funk, soul and hip-hop performers paying tribute to Prince at various venues in the district, including Good 4 The Soul at the Ferring Jazz Bistro and Fresh Heir at the Curtain Call Lounge, next to the Fox Theater.

Also on Friday, the Funky Butt Brass Band plays a free outdoor concert at Edwardsville City Park; the St. Louis Big Band performs at St. Peter's United Church of Christ, and singer Chuck Flowers takes the stage at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

Saturday, June 18
Starting on Saturday afternoon and continuing through the evening, the Riverfront Times will present their annual RFT Music Showcase, featuring more than 90 acts at nine venues in the Grove district.

While the lineup emphasizes rock and hip-hop, there are some performers of potential interest to StLJN readers, especially at Handlebar, which over the course of the day will host sets from singer/guitarist Tommy Halloran's Guerrilla Swing, saxophonist Dave Stone's trio, the Vernacular String Trio, Animal Children, and electronic musician Eric Hall.

Also on Saturday afternoon, singer Wendy L. Gordon will present a matinee performance at J&C BBQ and Blues.

Saturday night, the 12-year-old piano phenom Joey Alexander will play a one-nighter at Jazz at the Bistro. Both sets are sold out, but Jazz St. Louis is advising anyone still interested in tickets to check with the JSL box office on Friday and/or Saturday for cancellations and returns.

Elsewhere around town, pianist Carolbeth True and multi-instrumentalist Sandy Weltman (pictured, center left) will reunite to revisit music from their collaborative album New World Harmonica Jazz at the Kranzberg Arts Center; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to the Venice Cafe; and Wack-A-Doo performs at Evangeline's.

Sunday, June 19
The Jazz Edge Orchestra will present a concert version of the musical Five Guys Named Moe, featuring songs made famous by saxophonist and singer Louis Jordan, in a matinee at the Sun Theater in Grand Center.

Also on Sunday, the recently formed New Orleans funk band Chapter:SOUL (pictured, lower left), which is fronted by saxophonist Calvin Johnson Jr. and features sousaphonist Kirk Joseph of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, will make their St. Louis debut with an early evening show at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Monday, June 20
Singer Dean Christopher and company return with their "Rat Pack and More" show to One 19 North Tapas and Wine Bar.

Tuesday, June 21
Pianist Chick Corea's trio with bassist Christian McBride and drummer Brian Blade will perform for the first of two sold-out nights at Jazz at the Bistro. As with the Joey Alexander performance, at this point any available tickets will be due to returns or cancellations, and prospective buyers are being advised to check with the Jazz St. Louis box office. In the meantime, you can sample a few performances by Corea, McBride and Blade on video by checking out this post from last Saturday.

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: Up close with the Chick Corea Trio

This week, let's take a look at some video of the Chick Corea Trio with Christian McBride and Brian Blade, who will be in St. Louis to perform on Tuesday, June 21 and Wednesday, June 22 at Jazz at the Bistro.

While all three musicians have played St. Louis before on multiple occasions with other groups, this will be their first performance here together. Corea, McBride and Blade made their debut as a trio in 2010 with tours of the US and Japan, and in 2013 released Trilogy, a three-CD set mixing original material and standards that was recorded live on tour all over the world. It was generally well-received by fans and critics, and wound up winning two Grammy Awards in 2014, for Best Jazz Instrumental Album and Best Improvised Jazz Solo, for Corea's work on his song "Fingerprints."

The elder statesman of the group at age 75, Corea has been considered one of the top pianists in jazz for a half-century now. Meanwhile, though they're a generation younger at 44 and 45 respectively, both McBride and Blade are established bandleaders and recording artists with their own fan bases, which no doubt has helped broaden the trio's appeal.

Given the high profiles of all three members, most of their performances have been at festivals, concert halls, and theaters, but in St. Louis, listeners will have a chance to check them out up close in the relatively intimate confines of the 220-seat Bistro.

To give you an idea of what to expect, here's a collection of mostly fan-made videos of the trio recorded at various performances over the past four years. While the video quality ranges from pretty good to just barely OK, they all have listenable audio and more important, all should help convey something of the experience of being within a few yards - or in some cases, just a few feet - of the performance.

For starters, you can check out two relatively recent clips from a show in September 2016 at SFJAZZ in San Francisco. The first, up above this paragraph, is a version of "Fingerprints," and the second, after the jump, is an update on Corea's tune "Armando's Rhumba."

The other four clips are all from 2012, starting with an excerpt of a performance of Miles Davis' "All Blues" from the London Jazz Festival in November of that year.

After that, you can see the trio playing Thelonious Monk's "Work" at a concert in Maribor, Slovinia; an excerpt from another show featuring some free form impvov in Zürich, Switzerland; and last but not least, a jam session at the Tbilisi Jazz Festival in Tbilisi, Georgia (the former Soviet republic, not the US state) in which Corea shares the piano bench with Georgian keyboardist Beka Gochiashvili, who recently has toured with Corea's longtime colleague, bassist Stanley Clarke.

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

Sunday Session: March 13, 2016

Larry Young

For your Sunday reading, some interesting music-related items that have turned up recently in StLJN's inbox:

* The Music Startup Meltdown (Medium.com)
* First Listen Live: Esperanza Spalding, 'Emily's D+Evolution' (NPR)
* 10 Chinese Cassette Labels Leading A Tape Resurgence (ElectronicBeats.net)
* ‘Eye Conductor’ Helps the Physically Disabled Write Music With Facial Movements (Vice.com)
* Interview: Trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah Discusses Involvement with Sun Ra Arkestra, Arts Direction at Sistas’ Place (JazzRightNow.com)
* Conversations With Post World War II Pioneers of Electronic Music (MusicCentre.ca)
* Wayne Shorter & Herbie Hancock Pen an Open Letter to the Next Generation of Artists (NestHQ.com)
* Larry Young’s Self-Questioning Jazz (The New Yorker)
* Why This Popular Designer Is Devoted to Promoting Album Covers on Instagram (Adweek)
* A Collection of Sun Ra’s Business Cards from the 1950s: They’re Out of This World (OpenCulture.com)
* New Book Showcases Forgotten Photojournalist’s Work (DownBeat)
* Legendary Producer George Martin, Dead at 90 (Pro Sound News)
* Why 'Fifth Beatle' Doesn't Do George Martin Justice (Rolling Stone)
* How George Martin's studio tricks and innovations changed pop music (Los Angeles Times)
* Brazilian Percussionist Naná Vasconcelos Dies at 71 (Jazz Times)
* Eight Rising Female Instrumentalists (SFJazz.org)
* What will you miss about CDs? (AV Club)
* Kendrick Lamar's go-to saxophonist Kamasi Washington talks modern jazz (Entertainment Weekly)
* Porter Debuts Music from New Blue Note Album (DownBeat)
* Say “Hello” to the Era of the One-Word Song Title (Priceonomics.com)
* Death of the jukebox: Fighting for bar music's soul amid TouchTunes' takeover (City Pages)
* Google are giving away experiments to teach music and code (CreateDigitalMusic.com)
* Record Store Day 2016: This Year's Highlights from Bowie to Bieber (Newsweek)
* McBride To Become Next Artistic Director of Newport Jazz Festival (DownBeat)
* Mapping the Sounds of Greek Byzantine Churches: How Researchers Are Creating “Museums of Lost Sound” (OpenCulture.com)
* Jazz Great Ernestine Anderson Dies (Seattle Times)
* Music Licensing Shop Harry Fox Agency Appears To Be Scrambling To Fix Its Failure To Properly License Songs (TechDirt.com)
* Review: BCN Impro Festival, Barcelona (Jazz Journal)
* Closing Time: Why More Bands Need to Say Farewell (Consequence of Sound)

Sunday Session: October 11, 2015

Erroll Garner

For your Sunday reading, here are some interesting music-related items that have hit StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Rise of the Synthesizer: How an Electronics Whiz Kid Gave the 1980s Its Signature Sound (Collector's Weekly)
* Review: Erroll Garner - The Complete Concert by the Sea (Jazz Times)

* Max Richter breaks world records with radio performance of Sleep (FactMag.com)
* Should Composers Read Music Critics? (New Music Box)
* Why You Can Never Tune a Piano (OpenCulture.com)
* Legendary Jazz Club Uses Virtual Reality to Bring Concerts to Your Couch (Yahoo)
* Eavesdropping on Dianne Reeves and Christian McBride (Indianapolis Star)
* The new jazz age: New York City's jazz venue renaissance (The Guardian UK)
* Making waves: classical music and the rise of streaming (Gramophone UK)
* Interview with Fusion Trailblazer John McLaughlin (ProgressiveRockCentral.com)
* A Cover That Gave Jazz Lots of Soul (Wall Street Journal)
* Reel-to-reel tape is the new vinyl (TheVerge.com)
* Full Stack Music: 1 Trillion Streams, 200 Million Tickets (TechCrunch.com)
* Ethan Hawke’s Chet Baker Biopic ‘Born to Be Blue’ Sold to IFC (Variety)
* 10 Things Sun Ra Can Teach You About Band Leadership (SonicBids.com)
* Innovative Saxophonists Enliven Guelph Jazz Festival (DownBeat)

Jazz this week: "Jazz St. Louis at 20," "3 Nights in September," Bonerama, and more

This week's calendar of jazz and creative music in and around St. Louis includes an anniversary celebration for the city's most prolific jazz presenter, plus a gathering of our town's free improvisors, the return of a favorite New Orleans band, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, September 23
The "3 Nights in September" festival of improvised music continues at Tavern of Fine Arts, with sets from Ghost Ice, Mister Ben, and Dave Stone with Henry Claude, Glenn "Papa" Wright, and Joe Hess. The event wraps up on Thursday with music from the Experimental Arts Ensemble STL, Vernacular String Trio (pictured, top left), STL Free Jazz Collective, and George Sams and Charles "Bobo" Shaw.

Also on Wednesday, Jazz St. Louis presents the first of four nights of "Jazz St. Louis at 20," an anniversary celebration featuring an all-star band comprised of musicians who have played Jazz at the Bistro multiple times over the last 20 years.

Since the group has been put together just for this occasion, there's no video footage available of all of them together, but you can see individual clips of bassist Christian McBride, pianist Cyrus Chestnut, drummer Gregory Hutchinson, guitarist Russell Malone, trumpeter Terell Stafford (pictured, center left) and saxophonist Tim Warfield in part 1 of StLJN's fall jazz preview.

Elsewhere around town, the jazz-inflected hip-hop group Sidewalk Chalk will perform at the Old Rock House, heading a bill that also includes Lamar Harris in his "DJ Nune" identity. To kick off their two-month tour of more than 50 cities, last week the group released a video of their cover of Kendrick Lamar‘s “Alright.”

Thursday, September 24
Pianist Ptah Williams leads a quartet in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; singer Joe Mancuso and bassist Willem von Hombracht will be in duo mode at Thurman Grill; and pianist Brad Ellebrecht and singer Diane Vaughn will perform at Evangeline's.

Friday, September 25
Orquesta Son Montuno will bring the salsa for a free outdoor concert as part of the Greater St. Louis Hispanic Festival at Soulard Market Park; guitarist Eric Slaughter and bassist Glen Smith will play duets at Thurman Grill; and the Matt McCallie Orchestra will make their debut at Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, September 26
Singer Feyza Eren will lead a quartet in a concert at the Jacoby Arts Center in Alton; multi-instrumentalist Joe Bozzi and band return to Evangeline's; trumpeter Randy Holmes and his quartet will perform in a benefit for local food pantries at the Ozark Theatre; and guitarist Larry Brown Jr. will be back home to celebrate the release of his latest album, The Music And The Moment, at 2720 Cherokee.

Sunday, 
September 27
The sound of multiple trombones will be thundering on South Broadway as New Orleans'
Bonerama (pictured, lower left) returns to the Broadway Oyster Bar, while just up the street, blues/rock guitarist Billy Barnett and friends will present a "Tribute to Danny Gatton" at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Also on Sunday, the Jazz Edge Orchestra and singer Marsha Evans return to Kirkwood Station Brewing Company; and guitarist Vincent Varvel plays at Nathalie's.

Monday, September 28
Saxophonist and Webster University faculty member Paul DeMarinis and his ensemble will perform a program of original compositions and more at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus.

Tuesday, September 29
The Route 66 Jazz Orchestra presents a "Tribute to Frank Sinatra" as part of the Sheldon Concert Hall's "Notes From Home" series.

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: Fall 2015 jazz preview, part 1

As the start of the fall presenting season approaches, it's time once again for a video preview of the touring jazz and creative musicians and bands who will be visiting St. Louis in the next few months. Here's a look at who's coming to town during the fall of 2015, presented in chronological order.

Jazz at the Bistro's first touring attraction of the season will be the Dave King Trucking Company, who will perform there on Friday, September 4 and Saturday, September 5.

Although bandleader and drummer King has played the Bistro many times with The Bad Plus, this will be the Trucking Company's debut at the venue. You can hear them in the first video clip up top, playing a piece called "Blue Candy" that was recorded in June, 2010 at the Artists Quarter in St. Paul, MN with King on drums, Erik Fratkze on guitar, Brandon Wozniak on sax, and Adam Linz on bass.

The following week, pianist Monty Alexander will return to the Bistro for the first time to perform with his trio on Wednesday, September 9 and Thursday, September 10. After the jump, you can see a clip of Alexander, bassist John Clayton and drummer Jeff Hamilton playing "Mojo" back in 2013 at the studios of radio station KPLU in Seattle.

A couple of days after that, trumpeter Bobby Shew will be in the area to take part in the festivities surrounding the unveiling of the Miles Davis commemorative statue in Alton, IL. Shew will play with drummer Montez Coleman's band after the ceremony on Saturday, September 12 at Elijah P's in Alton. In today's third video, he can be seen performing his own composition "The Red Snapper" earlier this summer with the Airmen of Note big band.

Next up, Jazz St. Louis will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Bistro from Wednesday, September 23 through Saturday, September 26 with a band assembled especially for the occasion, featuring musicians who have been frequent visitors to the Bistro over the years as bandleader or co-leaders - specifically, bassist Christian McBride, pianist Cyrus Chestnut, drummer Gregory Hutchinson, guitarist Russell Malone, trumpeter Terell Stafford, and saxophonist Tim Warfield.

Since the band has been put together just for this occasion, for purposes of this preview you'll have to settle for seeing clips of the musicians individually (with one exception). So, today's fourth video shows McBride's trio with pianist Christian Sands and drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr. playing - "Fried Pies" earlier this year, also at KPLU.

That's followed by Chestnut's trio playing Charlie Parker's "What Price Love," recorded earlier this year at Shanghai Jazz in Madison, NJ; and then a clip of a drum solo by Greg Hutchinson, recorded last year at the Drum Daze expo in Columbus, OH.

The seventh video shows Russell Malone fronting his own quartet at the 2009 Jazz at Marciac festival in France, playing the Duke Ellington standard "Caravan."

Last but not least, Stafford and Warfield - old friends who grew up near each other in Pennsylvania, and frequently share the same bandstand - can be heard in the final clip performing "The Touch of Your Lips" at the 2006 Jazz Baltica festival in Salzau, Germany, assisted by Matt Wilson on drums, Martin Wind on bass, and the late pianist Mulgrew Miller.

Look for part 2 of the Fall 2015 jazz preview in this space next week. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The Goldenrod Showboat, which for years served as the site of jazz, ragtime and other musical performances on the St. Louis riverfront, finally could be headed for the scrapyard, according to this article from the Post-Dispatch's Mark Schlinkmann.

A not-for-profit group called the Historic Riverboat Preservation Association has launched an IndieGoGo campaign trying to raise the $30,000 needed to rescue the boat (pictured, in a photo from steamboats.org) from a docking facility in Kampsville IL, where it's been since 2001.

* Speaking of IndieGoGo campaigns, trumpeter Terence Blanchard has begun one to finance a recording of Champion, his opera that debuted last summer at Opera Theatre St. Louis.

* Last Saturday's performance of Tim Schall's cabaret show 1961 was reviewed by Andrea Braun for the Vital Voice. Schall will present an encore of the show as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival on Saturday, March 22.

* Photos of Miles Davis taken by Aram “Al” Avakian, brother of former Columbia Records producer George Avakian, are among the shots accompanying a New York Times article by Al Avakian's daughter Alexandra Avakian.

* Jazz St. Louis has posted on their Facebook page an album of photos from last week's shows by bassist Christian McBride's trio.

* And speaking of photo albums, the Sheldon Concert Hall has posted to their Facebook page some photos from the most recent concert there by pianist Peter Martin.

* Drummer Andre "Dre" Boyd, still in London with the touring company of Cirque du Soleil, has turned up in yet another endorsement video, this one from music software maker PreSonus.

* The Missouri Arts Council this week published an article on their website called "Snapshots of the Missouri Arts Blogosphere," and included not only St. Louis Jazz Notes but also StLJN's sibling music video blog Heliocentric Worlds. Thanks to Barbara MacRobie of MAC for the mentions, and if you'd like to see the article, visit https://www.missouriartscouncil.org/ and click on the headline/link in the middle of the page.

* This Saturday night on Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis, Calvin Wilson's "Somethin' Else," will present a program of Charlie Parker music previously scheduled for February 1 but delayed due to “technical difficulties.” You can hear music from the Parker songbook performed by trumpeter Roy Hargrove, Junk Genius, saxophonist Anthony Braxton, and others at 8:00 p.m. Saturday via 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.

Jazz this week: Christian McBride Trio, Gaslight Cabaret Festival, Joshua Abrams' Natural Information Society, and more

Has the dreadful winter of 2014 finally released its icy grip on the St. Louis area? We can only hope so, because there's a lot of interesting jazz and creative music to hear around town over the next few days. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, bassist Christian McBride begins a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro, this time with the latest iteration of his trio, featuring drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr. and the up-and-coming pianist Christian Sands.

Their first album together, Out Here, was released last August as McBride's fifth recording for Mack Avenue Records. With a sound firmly "in the tradition," it's gotten generally positive reviews, as has their live show, which the New York Times' Ben Ratliff called "constant sleek fun, organized and coordinated."

Elsewhere around town tonight, the Route 66 Jazz Orchestra returns to Kirkwood Station Brewing Company, and Cabaret Project St. Louis will present their monthly open mic night at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

Tomorrow night, actor/singer Ken Page, a St. Louis native who starred in the original companies of Ain't Misbehavin', Cats, and other Broadway hits, opens the Gaslight Cabaret Festival with the first of two performances of his show "Old, New, Borrowed & Blue" at the Gaslight Theater. The festival continues through April 26, and you can hear more about that and Page's show during this interview he did last week with KWMU's "Cityscape" program.

Also on Thursday night, the Rainbow Band, a quartet with guitarists William Lenihan and Vincent Varvel, bassist Eric Stiller, and drummer Steve Davis, will play a free concert for Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

On Friday, vibraphonist Peter Schlamb leads a trio at Robbie's House of Jazz; keyboardist Matt Villinger brings his group to The Engine Room; Second Generation Swing plays for dancers at Casa Loma Ballroom; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will perform at CJ Muggs in Webster Groves; and pianist Peter Schankman will present a trio concert at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

On Saturday, New Music Circle will present multi-instrumentalist Joshua Abrams’ Natural Information Society at Joe’s Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave. in the Central West End. As a bassist, Abrams is a mainstay of Chicago's improvised music scene, but the Natural Information Society is something a bit different, as it's built around his work on the guimbri, a three-string acoustic bass from west Africa.

The band's lineup for this concert will include drummers Frank Rosaly and Mikel Avery, Emmett Kelly on electric guitar, Ben Boye on autoharp and Lisa Alvarado on harmonium. For more about Abrams and some video footage of the band in action, check out this post from last Saturday. Abrams also was interviewed for a preview story by St. Louis magazine's Stef Russell, and the show even is the subject of a full-page cartoon in this month's issue of Eleven magazine.

Also on Saturday, the Gaslight Cabaret Festival continues with St. Louis' own Tim Schall performing his show "1961" at the Gaslight Theater; singer Feyza Eren and pianist Scott Sheperd will duet at The Wine Press; saxophonist Mike Fitzgerald returns to Jazz On Broadway; and the Funky Butt Brass Band headlines an evening of funk at The Gramophone

On Sunday, the Coleman-Hughes Project will play smooth jazz, R&B, and more at Nathalie's; and the Dave Dickey Big Band will be back for their monthly gig at Kirkwood Station Brewing Company.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday faculty members from Webster University will join together as the Webster Jazz Collective for a concert at  Winifred Moore Auditorium on the main campus in Webster Groves; and saxophonist "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective will return to BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

Then on Tuesday, guitarist Dave Black will be featured in a "Notes From Home" show at the Sheldon Concert Hall, aided and abetted by violinist Asako Kuboki, saxophonist Paul DeMarinis, singer Joe Mancuso, bassist Willem von Hombracht, and drummer Steve Davis.

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.)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard's Champion, which premiered last summer at Opera Theatre St. Louis, has been named a finalist in the "World Premiere" category of the 2014 Opera Awards. Blanchard is back in St. Louis this weekend to perform on Saturday night at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

* Jazz St. Louis' Gene Dobbs Bradford and Bob Bennett described their favorite releases from the late Richard McDonnell's MAXJAZZ label for an article by the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson.

* Bassist Christian McBride's trio shows next week at Jazz at the Bistro are previewed in a Post-Dispatch article by Terry Perkins.

* The "Newport Jazz Festival: Now 60" tour, which features an all-star band including St. Louis' Peter Martin on piano, kicked off this past week with dates in Atlanta and Boston. The tour will play a total of 17 cities, ending here in St. Louis on Sunday, March 30 at The Sheldon. The band (pictured, from left) is comprised of singer Karrin Allyson, drummer Clarence Penn, bassist Larry Grenadier, clarinetist/saxophonist and musical director Anat Cohen, guitarist Mark Whitfield, trumpeter Randy Brecker, and Martin.

* St. Louis record stores Vintage Vinyl, Euclid Records and Record Exchange all got shout-outs in a recent post from the blog Vinyl Record Collector.

* Greg Osby, in conjunction with St. Louis retailer Saxquest, has put online a series of videos in which he demonstrates his new signature alto sax by P. Mauriat.

* Singer Tony Viviano makes an appearance at the end of a promotional video released this week by StL 250, the organization coordinating this year's celebration of St. Louis' 250th birthday.

* NPR this week had a story about how one difficult night for Miles Davis and his mid-1960s quintet resulted in two classic albums.

* In more Davis-related news, the legendary trumpeter is one a number of entertainment and sports figures whose portraits are featured in "American Cool," a new exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC.

* Meanwhile, Miles Davis Online's Jeff Hyatt takes another look at the official Davis website, and still finds room for improvement.

* Online retailer Sheet Music Plus is offering a 20% discount on all Mel Bay products through next Tuesday, February 18. (When you use the link provided, StLJN gets a small commission on the sale.)

* Jazz radio update:  On this Saturday's episode of Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis' "Somethin' Else," host Calvin Wilson spotlights contemporary jazz musicians based in New York City, including trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, violinist Jenny Scheinman and the trio Dawn of Midi.

Right after that, Jason Church's "The Jazz Collective," will feature a musical menu including tracks by Down To The Bone, Average White Band, Brian Bromberg, Cindy Bradley, Jeremy Davenport, Miles Davis, Al Caldwell, Tracy Heaston, Robert Silverman, and Dawn Weber.

Wilson's program can be heard at 8:00 p.m. Saturdays, followed by Church at 9:00 p.m., via 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.      

(Edited after posting.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Winter/spring 2014 jazz preview, part 2

This week, it's part two of our winter/spring 2014 preview taking a look at some of the touring jazz and creative music performers who will be visiting St. Louis next year.

Part one, published last week, covered the month of January. Today, we pick up the timeline at the start of the following month for our first clip, featuring Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, who will be returning here on Saturday, February 1 to perform at The Demo.

They're seen here performing "The Burning" in a gig last August at Jazzfestival Saalfelden in Germany. Written for their album The Race Riot Suite, this piece (and the whole record) features the core JFJO band - pianist Brian Haas,bassist Jeff Harshbarger lap steel guitarist Chris Combs, and drummer Josh Raymer - augmented by a five-piece horn section, comprised of Steven Bernstein (trumpet, slide trumpet), Peter Apfelbaum (tenor and baritone saxophone), Mark Southerland (tenor saxophone), Skerik (saxophones) and Matt Leland (trombone).

Down below, you can see pianist Bill Charlap who will be in St. Louis to team up with saxophonist Houston Person to play Wednesday, February 5 through Saturday, February 8 at Jazz at the Bistro. The video, recorded in October 2013 at KPLU radio in Seattle, features Charlap doing brief solo interpretations of "All The Things You Are" and "Sophisticated Lady."

Meanwhile, Person can be seen in the third clip, playing Fats Waller's "Ain't Misbehavin'" in June of this year at the Blue Note in NYC, accompanied by pianist Joe Alterman, bassist James Cammack and drummer Alex Raderman.

The following weekend, the Cuban-born pianist Chucho Valdés and his quintet will perform on Saturday, February 15 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The fourth video features their complete set from this year's Barcelona Jazz Festival.

A few days later, bassist Christian McBride checks into Jazz at the Bistro, where he'll play with his new trio from Wednesday, February 19 through Saturday, February 22. The group, which features pianist Christian Sands and drummer Ulysses Owens Jr., is featured on McBride's latest album Out Here. They're seen here playing "My Favorite Things" in November 2013 at the Teatro Verdi in Padova, Italy.

The sixth and final video features bassist Josh Abrams’ Natural Information Society, who will be here to play in a concert presented by New Music Circle on Saturday, February 22 at Joe’s Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave. Although Abrams is known primarily for playing the standard acoustic bass, the Natural Information Society is premised on his use of the guimbri, "a three-stringed animal hide bass traditionally used by the Gnawa of north Africa in healing ceremonies," which you can see him play in this undated clip.

Next week, we'll present part three of StLJN's winter/spring 2014 jazz preview...

Jazz this week: Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival with Anat Cohen, Matt Wilson, Doc Severinsen, Monterey Jazz Festival 55th Anniversary tour; and more

While this week's big event for jazz and creative music in St. Louis is the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, featuring a number of nationally known touring musicians, there also are plenty of noteworthy performances featuring local players coming up in the next few days. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, singer Mary Dyson and pianist Brock Walker's trio will play at Troy's Jazz Gallery; Cabaret Project St. Louis presents their monthly open mic night at the Tavern of Fine Arts; and the Route 66 Jazz Orchestra performs at Kirkwood Station Brewing Company.

On Thursday, clarinetist/saxophonist Anat Cohen and drummer Matt Wilson will open the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival by teaming up for two sets at Jazz at the Bistro. You can read StLJN's interview with Cohen here, and see a video preview of all of the festival acts here. Also, the St. Louis Beacon has a preview story about the festival by Terry Perkins here; and Matt Wilson talked with the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson (no relation) for a brief article that can be found online here.

Also on Thursday, singer Erin Bode will be at Crave coffee house, and keyboardist Pete Ruthenberg plays an early evening set at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups.

On Friday, the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival continues with the Monterey Jazz Festival 55th Anniversary Tour at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. The all-star band features singer Dee Dee Bridgewater, bassist Christian McBride, pianist Benny Green, drummer Lewis Nash, saxophonist Chris Potter, and trumpet player Ambrose Akinmusire. The UMSL Big Band, directed by bassist and GSLJF head honcho Jim Widner, will open the show. For more, see the preview stories about as well as Bridgewater's interview with the Post's Calvin Wilson, which can be found online here.

Also on Friday, singer Feyza Eren performs at the Wine Press; saxophonist Willie Akins plays at Cigar Inn; and saxophonist Stephen Martin, a grad student at Webster University, brings a quartet to Robbie's House of Jazz.

On Saturday, the GSLJF concludes with a performance from the Doc Severinsen Big Band at the Touhill. The veteran Tonight Show trumpeter (pictured), still quite capable at age 85, has a band reportedly stocked with top players from the West Coast, including the great tenor saxophonist Ernie Watts, which should make for a enjoyable evening of music. The UMSL Big Band will open the show.

Also on Saturday, guitarists Tom Byrne and Eric Slaughter will play at Schlafly Bottleworks; the Kevin Mitchell 4 are at Robbie's House of Jazz; and Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to the Venice Cafe

Then on Sunday, singer and pianist Anita Rosamond performs a free concert for the St. Louis Jazz and Blues Vespers series at Second Baptist Church in Richmond Heights; and the St. Louis Metrobones will bring their many trombones to the Highway 61 Roadhouse.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday, the Webster University Jazz Collective plays at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus.

Then on Tuesday, singer Joe Mancuso will perform for the Sheldon Concert Hall's "Notes From Home" series with a quartet plus guest stars including trumpeter Jim Manley, saxophonist Larry Johnson, and singers Wendy Gordon and Jeanne Trevor. Also on Tuesday, the Genesis Jazz Project plays a free concert at Hazelwood West High School.

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.)

Jazz this week: The Sheldon turns 100, Dave Black & Paul DeMarinis, Josh Quinlan, "A Jazz Heaven: Under The Rainbow" and more

The jazz and creative music calendar this weekend is front-loaded with an all-star ensemble convening Thursday at the Sheldon Concert Hall for a big birthday party. But while that concert may have the marquee names, there are plenty of other noteworthy shows happening around town over the next few days, too. Let's go to the highlights....

As mentioned above, the big-ticket event of the weekend happens tonight, as the Sheldon Concert Hall will commemorate its 100th anniversary celebration with a gala concert featuring the world premiere of pianist Peter Martin's new work "This Present Past," commissioned specifically to celebrate the hall's centennial.

Martin (pictured) will be joined by saxophonist Branford Marsalis, bassist Christian McBride, drummer Ulysses Owens Jr, soprano Christine Brewer, violinist David Halen and other members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Halen and his SLSO colleagues also will perform the world premiere of another commissioned piece, a string quartet composed by Stefan Freund, who teaches music at the University of Missouri and is cellist with the contemporary chamber ensemble Alarm Will Sound, who will perform next Thursday at The Sheldon.

Although the Sheldon concert is reported to be close to a sell-out, there may be a few tickets remaining at the door, but I'd suggest calling ahead before making the trip down there.

Elsewhere around town tonight, trumpeter Bob Ceccarini will play "Tin Pan Alley and the Music of Jerome Kern" in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. And although the Thursday night jam sessions hosted for several months by guitarist Tom Byrne at Highway 61 Roadhouse have ended, two new weekly events have begun downtown on Thursdays that may help fill the gap: Clave Sol, led by pianist Phil Gomez, now are hosting a Latin jazz jam session downtown at Lola, while retro-style singer Miss Jubliee will be performing swing, jazz and blues at Thaxton Speakeasy, 1009 Olive.

Tomorrow night, guitarist Dave Black and saxophonist Paul DeMarinis will play for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro. Though the two veterans of the Webster University jazz faculty are capable of tackling a variety of musical styles, the promo material from Jazz St. Louis for the show says they'll be doing "straight ahead jazz," though likely with at least few twists along the way.

Also on Friday, Colorado-based saxophonist Josh Quinlan will be in town for a gig with his Funky Fresh Trio at Robbie's House of Jazz; and the new music ensemble eighth blackbird - the Chicagoans prefer the lower case - will perform at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

Over on the east side, pianist Tim Garcia leads a trio at Cigar Inn in Belleville, and saxophonist Tim Cunningham is back at Jazz on Broadway in Alton.

On Saturday afternoon, saxophonist Wilie Akins will perform at the Metropolitan Gallery as part of the Nu-Art Series' "Tenor Madness Project." Also on Saturday afternoon, the touring musical revue In The Mood, featuring music from Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and other Swing Era idols, plays the first of two shows at the Touhill, with a second performance in the evening. Then on Saturday night, trumpeter Randy Holmes will lead a sextet in a tribute to Art Blakey at Robbie's.

On Sunday afternoon, singer Wendy Gordon will present "Under the Rainbow," another performance in her "A Jazz Heaven" series, at the Florissant Civic Center Theatre. Jeanne Trevor, who starred alongside Gordon in earlier editions of the production, is back to sing music associated with Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, along with a cast featuring singers Joe Mancuso, Chuck Flowers and Barbara Helmer, poet Clayton McCants, narrator Sheila Reed, and a band including Adrian Bowers (trumpet), Chad Evans (saxophones), Arthur Toney (piano), Jeff Anderson (bass), and Gary Sykes (drums).

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Sessions Big Band will be back for their monthly gig at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups. And on Tuesday, the funky organ trio Downstereo, who formerly played Sunday nights at now-shuttered Delmar Lounge, have set up a weekly gig at The Crow's Nest in Maplewood.

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.)