Home for the holidays, Ronnie Burrage set for three performances next week

Drummer and U City native Ronnie Burrage is back home for the holidays, and has scheduled three performances in St. Louis for the week between Christmas and New Year's Day.

Burrage (pictured), who now lives in NYC, has a stellar resume that includes performances and recordings with an impressive number of jazz greats, including McCoy Tyner, Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Archie Shepp, and many more. On his own, he's led small groups of various sizes as well as a big band, and has released more than a dozen albums as a leader or co-leader.

Also a composer and multi-instrumentalist who plays mallet percussion and keyboards, Burrage has taught music courses for the Jazzmobile and The New School in NYC and for Penn State University, and with his wife Chanda currently runs World Rhythm Academy, which provides community-based arts and educational programs in Brooklyn, NY.

He'll start his visit home on Wednesday, December 26, when he'll be joined by bassist Darrell Mixon and pianist Ptah Williams to perform from 9:00 p.m. to midnight at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups, with part of the show devoted to a jam session with various invited horn players and guitarists.

Then on Thursday, December 27, Burrage, Mixon and Williams will play from 8:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. at the house concert venue Kinda Blue Club, 6101 1/2 Idaho, 63111.

Burrage will wrap up his visit home on Friday, December 28 with a performance featuring original compositions played by the trio plus special guests at 9:30 p.m. at The Dark Room.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* HEC-TV has posted online a "lost episode" of the program I Love Jazz, featuring an interview with and performances by guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli and his son, guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli.

The episode was filmed in 2014, before the death of host Don Wolff in November 2015, but just now has been released for the first time.

* The Sheldon Art Galleries will present a free gallery talk by Dr. Aurelia Hartenberger on the history of stringed instruments at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, December 12.

The talk is presented in conjunction with the exhibit "The World of Spectacular Strings," which features more than 100 unique stringed instruments from around the world and continues until April 21, 2017. Admission is free, but you must reserve a seat in advance by calling Paula Lincoln at 314-533-9900 x 37 or emailing plincoln@TheSheldon.org.

* Speaking of The Sheldon, they've posted on Facebook an album of photos from last Saturday's concert by Cécile McLorin Salvant.

* Singer Chuck Flowers (pictured) appeared on KTVI-FOX 2's Wednesday morning newscast to promote his appearance tonight at The Dark Room.

* The online radio station Radio63119 has posted an interview featuring poet and percussionist David A.N. Jackson talking with bassist Darrell Mixon and drummer Gary Sykes about their careers in music and more.

* Another new episode of E.B. Stephenson's podcast "The Jazz Mixer" is online, featuring recordings from St. Louis musicians including the Sessions Big Band, Brett Stamps, Farshid Etniko, and more.

Jazz this week: Some picks for Independence Day weekend

To be candid, it's a relatively thin week for live jazz and creative music in St. Louis.

But even with no major touring artists visiting our town; venues including Jazz at the Bistro, The Sheldon, and Casa Loma Ballroom going dark for the holiday weekend; and the recent demises of a couple of smaller neighborhood spots (Tavern of Fine Arts and Thurman Grill) that regularly featured live jazz, there still are a few options for those who'd like celebrate Independence Day with one of the USA's great indigenous art forms.

Here's what's happening...

Friday, July 1
Singer Joe Mancuso brings a quartet to Nathalie's, bassist Darrell Mixon leads a trio at Cigar Inn, and saxophonist Dave Stone will be in his customary Friday night spot at Mangia Italiano.

Also on Friday, the apparently-ironically-named Johnny Cilantro & The Well-Seasoned Sextet, a young band from Peoria, IL that, based on music samples they've put online, seems to have some promise, will be performing at Evangeline's.

Saturday, July 2
On Saturday afternoon, pianist David Parker will lead his group Spiritual Revolution Ensemble in a free, "child-friendly" performance of his original work “In the Beginning, God created Xochitl/ En el principio creó Diós Xochitl” at the Yeyo Arts Collective. With an ensemble including percussionists Charles "Bobo" Shaw and Glenn "Papa" Wright, guitarist Dave Black, poet Shirley LeFlore, and several other musicians, this show definitely ranks as the intriguing "sleeper" pick of the weekend.

On Saturday evening, the Funky Butt Brass Band (pictured) plays a free outdoor show at Lafayette Park, and guitarist Todd Mosby will bring his New Horizons Ensemble to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups, with bassist Ben Wheeler's group Sketchbook opening.

Sunday, July 3
Multi-instrumentalist Sandy Weltman will join guitarist Dave Black to provide some music for the jazz brunch at Nathalie's.

Monday, July 4
If you're in St. Charles and are resolute enough to deal with the crowds and traffic, you can catch the Funky Butt Brass Band playing a free outdoor set as part of the St. Charles Riverfest 4th of July Celebration in Frontier Park.

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.)

Engine Room revs up first month's schedule

The Engine Room at Feraro's, the new live music venue at 7700 Ivory St. on the south side, has announced its first full month's schedule, as assembled by musician and instrument-builder David Certain, who's serving as the club's "minister of music."

Things get underway this Tuesday when the club presents the first in a series of weekly jam sessions, hosted by a trio including Darrell Mixon on bass, Jack Lane on guitar, and Certain on drums. Wednesdays will be Reggae Night, featuring Oba Simba's Onix Reggae band.

Thursdays through Saturdays, the Engine Room will present a mix of jazz, funk, R&B and rock, with the first week's bookings including saxophonist "Blind" Willie Dineen on Thursday, January 9; guitarist Tom Byrne (pictured) and his trio on Friday, January 10; and singer Brian G. Soul and band on Saturday, January 11.

The rest of the month's schedule will include saxophonist Lew Winer III, leading a trio (January 16); Kaleb Kirby's Animal Children (January 17); CertainBeat WorldBop (January 18); a return gig for Dineen (January 23); pianist/singer Jesse Gannon and Truth (January 24); GeoBilly with Billy Barnett & George Potsos (January 25); trumpeter Ben Henderson's trio (January 30); and the Kevin Renick Band (January 31), with UberCool kicking off next month on Saturday, February 1.

Tuesday hours for live music will be 8:00 p.m. to midnight, with no cover charge. Reggae Night performances on Wednesdays will be 9:00 p.m. to midnight, with a $5 cover, while weekend shows will run from 8:00 p.m. to midnight with the same $5 cover. And if you're interested in following along on social media to keep up with future bookings, The Engine Room has both a Facebook page and Twitter account.

(Edited after posting to fix a typo and to correctly identify Brian G. Soul.) 

February brings homecoming gigs for Quincy Troupe, Jeremy Haynes, Ronnie Burrage

Given what St. Louis weather usually is like in February, there may be better times to visit. But cold, snow and slush notwithstanding, there are three noteworthy St. Louis expats returning home this month with shows of interest to local jazz fans:

* Poet, author and teacher Quincy Troupe will lead another edition of his "SoundArt" project in a performance at 3:00 p.m., Saturday, February 16 at the Metropolitan Gallery, 2936 Locust St. downtown.

Troupe, who's originally from St. Louis and collaborated with Miles Davis on the trumpeter's 1989 autobiography, has brought SoundArt home twice previously - in 2009, performing with guitarist Kelvyn Bell and drummer Ronnie Burrage at Robbie's House of Jazz, and in 2011 with Bell at the Metropolitan Gallery.

This time, Troupe will be joined by saxophonist Stan Coleman and bassist Darrell Mixon. The event is presented by the Nu-Art Series, and general admission will be $20 at the door.

* Drummer Jeremy Haynes, a St. Louis native who's made his fame playing gospel music, will show off another side of his musical personality with his show "Return of the Prodigal Son" at 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, February 19 at Lola. The gig is in support of Haynes' recent jazz album Prodigal Son 2K, which is available for purchase on iTunes and CD Baby. Haynes' band Rhythm is Life includes keyboardists Eric W. Catron and Jarrell "JDot" Little and bassist Jermaine Hall.

Haynes (pictured) began his career at age 12, drumming with St. Louis' famed gospel singers the O’Neal Twins, and recorded his first album with them at 15. Haynes went on to play in the Broadway production of “God’s Trying to Tell You Something” and has continued to work with well-known gospel acts including Kevin Bond, Karen Clark Sheard, Kirk Franklin and Donnie McClurkin. To date, Haynes has performed on four movie soundtracks and been part of more than 150 gospel recordings, which have received a total of five Grammys and 12 Stellar Awards and accounted for 15 #1 hits on the Billboard gospel charts. Tickets for Haynes' show at Lola will be $15 at the door.

* Lastly, there are more details on the upcoming events featuring drummer Ronnie Burrage first described several weeks ago in this post.

Rehearsals for Burrage's trio gig on Thursday, February 28 for Washington University's Jazz at Holmes series will be held on campus on Tuesday, February 26 and Wednesday February 27 at a location TBA. The rehearsals with Burrage, bassist Darrell Mixon and pianist Ptah Williams will be open for student observation from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. each day. The performance is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. Thursday, and is free and open to the public; Burrage tells StLJN that there will be some Wash U. students invited to sit in on the gig as well.

The set times for Burrage's shows on Friday, March 1 and Saturday, March 2 at The Office, 5719 Delmar, have been confirmed as 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. The band for those shows will include Burrage, saxophonist Freddie Washington, guitarist Eric Slaughter and bassist Darryl Mixon.

Advance ticket prices have been finalized at $30.00 for the "VIP" package, which includes a ticket to an "all you can eat" buffet; $20 for general admission, which includes one drink; and $25.00 per person for a special Valentine's Day "lovers" offer, which includes a champagne toast. Tickets for groups of 20 or more are priced at $25 for the VIP package and $15 for general admission.

In addition, the first 20 advance ticket purchasers for the shows at The Office will receive a free CD from Burrage. Tickets are on sale now via his website at www.ronnieburrage.biz.

Troy's Jazz Gallery owner says club will showcase St. Louis musicians

If there's any truth to the old saying that "the third time's a charm," Troy Williams is hoping it applies to running a jazz club.

Williams, whose past ventures into presenting live music included Troy's on the Park near Lafayette Square and Filter in the Central West End, recently re-entered the business with the opening of Troy's Jazz Gallery, 4519 Olive. "This is my third space doing jazz," he told StLJN in a phone conversation last week. "You learn, and you try not to make the same mistakes."

Responding to previous posts here about the club, Williams reached out to offer some additional information on what he's got planned for his new space. Regarding the venue's soft opening and relative lack of marketing to date, he said that plans for a grand opening and accompanying advertising campaign are in the works. "I wanted to get the kinks out first," he said. "The most important thing was trying to line up the right bands for the different nights."

For Williams, that means emphasizing local talent, and as 2013 begins, he said he's booked four St. Louis musicians for weekly appearances. Vibraphonist Peter Schlamb (pictured) will perform from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Tuesdays, with up-and-coming saxophonist Kendrick Smith's quartet slotted in from 9:00 p.m. to midnight Fridays. Williams said East St. Louis High School jazz band director and trumpeter Delano Redmond, who taught Smith at ESL HS, will be performing with Smith's group.

Saturdays will feature saxophonist Willie Akins and his group playing from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., as a sort of successor to Akins' long-running Saturday matinee gig at the now-defunct Spruill's. "I've wanted to work with Willie for five years," said Williams. Saturday evenings will feature bassist Darrell Mixon leading a group from 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Williams hopes that presenting the same bands each week will help both the club and the musicians to get repeat business. "We all agreed to three to six months to try to build a following over time," he said. However, he's also continuing to talk about possible bookings with other local musicians, mentioning singer Erin Bode and guitarist Dave Black as two performers of interest.

As for the rest of the week, Williams said that by February, he hopes to be open on Wednesdays, presenting a weekly poetry night, and on Thursdays with a DJ spinning, presumably jazz, soul and other compatible music. Watch this space for more info on that, and on the "grand opening" of Troy's Jazz Gallery.

Harry Miller to play Saturday, November 17 at Robbie's House of Jazz

Pianist and St. Louis expat Harry Miller, who grew up in University City and now lives in NYC, is coming back home this month to perform at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, November 17 at Robbie's House of Jazz.

Miller's credits include a couple of years of road work with trumpeter Maynard Ferguson's last touring group, Big Bop Nouveau, with whom the pianist played his last St. Louis gig about a decade ago. In addition to leading his own bands and doing freelance gigs in a variety of genres, Miller (pictured) also has worked with notables including Greg Osby, Ralph Moore, Jean Toussaint, Mike Stern, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Jerome Harris, Slide Hampton, Ted Curson, Paul Motian, Phoebe Snow, Michael Urbaniak, Cindy Blackman, DK Dyson, Allan Zavod, Terri Lyne Carrington, Ashford & Simpson, Quincy Jones, and Bebe Winans.

Miller also has self-released four recordings as a leader, the most recent of which, Jazz Beauty Supply, featured a supporting cast that included saxophonist Steve Slagle and singer Kate McGarry. He'll be joined for his gig at Robbie's by bassist Darrel Mixon and drummer Gary Sykes. Admission at the door is $10, $5 for students with ID.

Jazz this week: Ray Vega, Chris Botti, "SoundArt" with Troupe, Bell & Bluiett, Craig Pomranz, Todd Clouser, and more

This week's noteworthy jazz and creative music performances in St. Louis include visits from two traveling trumpeters, and two shows featuring St. Louis expats coming home. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, trumpet player Ray Vega (pictured) brings his Latin jazz-meets-hard bop quintet to town to open a four-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro, continuing through Saturday. For more about Vega and some video clips of him in action, see this post from last week.

On Thursday evening, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University will present a free concert from the St. Louis Jazz X-Tet, with saxophonist David Stone and vibraphonist Peter Schlamb. The concert is co-sponsored by campus radio station KWUR as part of KWUR Week.

On Friday, actor, singer and St. Louis native Craig Pomranz returns home from NYC to open a two-night stand of his cabaret show at the Kranzberg Arts Center under the auspices of the Presenters Dolan. Directed by Ron Cohen with musical direction from Stephen Bocchino, the performance includes a range of material, from Mel Brooks and Ronny Graham to Rodgers and Hart and Cole Porter. For more about Pomranz, see this feature article written by Alisha Alexander for the Vital Voice.

Also on Friday, singer Crystal Haywood, profiled last week here by the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson, will do a Billie Holiday tribute at Robbie's House of Jazz. .

On Saturday afternoon, poet Quincy Troupe and guitarist Kelvyn Bell, who both grew up in the St. Louis area, will be back home to perform with special guest saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett in a show called "SoundArt," presented by the Nu-Art Series at the Metropolitan Gallery. The St. Louis American's Chris King interviewed Troupe about the gig for a story published in last week's paper, and it's still available online here.

Saturday also is the date for the annual Southwestern Illinois College Jazz Festival, which starts at 9:00 a.m. and continues into the evening at the Main Complex Theatre on SWIC's Belleville campus, 2500 Carlyle Ave. in Belleville. In the morning, jazz bands from area schools will perform and get critiqued. After lunch, saxophonist and noted jazz educator Ron Cart of Northwestern Illinois University will present a master class, followed by more student performances and critiques. Then at 7:00 p.m., Carter will perform a concert with the SWIC Jazz Band and a combo featuring Reggie Thomas (piano), Anthony Wiggins (trumpet), Nick Jost (bass) and Marty Morrison (drums). All events are free and open to the public.

On Saturday night, trumpeter Chris Botti returns to St. Louis to make his debut with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra at Powell Symphony Hall. The show was heavily promoted, with tickets offered as a pledge premium, by local PBS affiliate KETC, and that, plus Botti's baseline popularity, equals a show that sold out a good while ago. However, the Symphony may have some standing room tickets for sale; call 314-534-1700 for information.

That same night, guitarist Brian Vaccaro's trio, with keyboard player Nick Schlueter and drummer Kyle Hunnicutt, will play at Robbie's.

On Sunday evening, bassist Darrell Mixon's trio will play at Second Baptist Church in Richmond Heights for the St. Louis Jazz and Blues Vespers series; and pianist Kim Portnoy and his trio, with clarinetist Scott Alberici as special guest, will perform in a concert at Eliot Chapel in Kirkwood.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Tuesday night guitarist Todd Clouser and his band A Love Electric will make a tour stop at the downtown bar/restaurant Lola. For a bit more about Clouser, who comes from Minneapolis by way of Mexico, see this post.

And 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 2/16/11 to add info about the SWIC Jazz Festival and fix the date for Chris Botti.)

Billy Harper to perform at Luna Bar this Saturday, April 26

This just in: Tenor saxophonist Billy Harper will be in St. Louis this Saturday, April 26 for a performance at Luna Bar, 13 Maryland Avenue (next to Bar Italia) in the Central West End. Harper is a veteran of the NYC scene who, in addition to his work as a bandleader, composer and teacher, has played with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Elvin Jones, the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, Gil Evans and Max Roach.

Despite that stellar resume and his considerable skills, Harper is a bit underappreciated, perhaps in part because he draws on a unusually wide range of influences, from gospel and blues to bop and swing to post-Coltrane modernism and free jazz, and thus is hard to pigeonhole. He first caught my ear on a couple of Gil Evans' recordings in the late 1970s, showing off an aggressive tenor sound and an adventurous sensibility that seemed a good fit with Evans' arranging style.

Harper will be joined Saturday night by trumpeter and former St. Louisan Marlon Bonds, plus Ptah Williams on piano, Darrell Mixon on bass and Jerome "Scrooge" Harris on drums. He'll perform at 8:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., and admission is $25.00, with a $5.00 discount if you dine at Bar Italia.

The performance is being presented by the Nu-Art Series, the brainchild of trumpeter, arts administrator and entrepreneur George Sams, and for more information you can call the Nu-Art Series office at 314-535-6500. You can see and hear a brief sample of Harper's playing in the embedded video window below, which contains an excerpt from the song "Cry of Hunger" on the Arkadia DVD release Billy Harper in Concert: Live from Poland.



(Edited after posting to correct the performance time.)

Whitaker Music Festival announces 2008 lineup

The Whitaker Music Festival, a series of free concerts held each summer at the Missouri Botanical Garden, has announced its 2008 lineup. The series opens June 4 with Erin Bode, who will make up a date that was rained out in 2007, and continues on Wednesdays through August 13.

Other shows in the series that may be of potential interest to jazz listeners include Two Times True, with pianist Carolbeth True and her son, drummer David True, on June 11; Le Jazz Hot, featuring pianist Ptah Williams, bassist Darrell Mixon, drummer Bensid Thigpen and saxophonist Chad Evans, on June 18; the Tony Simmons Band on June 25; singer Anita Rosamond (pictured) on July 2; singer Kim Massie on July 16; and French cabaret music purveyors the Poor People of Paris on July 23.

All concerts start at 7:30 p.m., and admission to the Garden is free after 5 p.m. on concert days. The Missouri Botanical Garden is located at 4344 Shaw Blvd. in St. Louis, just off I-44 at Vandeventer. For more information and a complete schedule, visit the Garden's Web site or call 314-577-9400 or 1-800-642-8842.

St. Louis Creative Ensemble tracks available as free downloads

The avant-garde audionauts who run the music sharing blog Destination: Out have featured a number of St. Louis artists in their quest to bring attention to underappreciated, adventurous jazz of the last three decades or so, and they've done it again with today's post, which features free downloads of two tracks from a 1979 Moers Music release by the St. Louis Creative Ensemble (as well as a nice shoutout and link to StLJN, for which I'm most grateful).

The personnel on "I Can't Figure Out (Whatcha Doin' To Me)" and ".38 Special" includes Luther Thomas (alto sax), Joseph Bowie (pictured, trombone, vocals), Rasul Siddik (trumpet), Darrell Mixon (bass) and Charles “Bobo” Shaw, drums. Read about them and download the music here. Please note that though the text portion of the post may be online indefinitely, the audio files are available for a limited time only, so act quickly if you want copies.