Sunday Session: March 10, 2019

Dave Burrell

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:

* Kenny Garrett Interview (Jazz in Europe)
* This North Philly bar near Temple hosted legends like Coltrane and Patti LaBelle, but its owner refuses to sell (Philly.com)
* The Complex Sounds of Caspar Brötzmann (DownBeat)
* Buddy Guy Is Keeping the Blues Alive (The New Yorker)
* Song You Need to Know: Joey DeFrancesco and Pharoah Sanders, ‘The Creator Has a Master Plan’ (Rolling Stone)
* Celebrating Pianist and Composer Dave Burrell at the Vision Festival — and on The Checkout (WBGO)
* Rebirth of the Cool (TheLAndMag.com)
* Smithsonian Folkways Details Massive New Orleans Jazz Fest Box Set (Rolling Stone)
* Is the album format irrelevant in the digital age? Let's investigate (Beat.com)
* World’s Largest Music Publishers Offer ‘Full Support of Warner/Chappell’ Against Spotify — Here’s Their Statement (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* When Jerry Lee Lewis Was Accused of Planning to Shoot Elvis Presley (UltimateClassicRock.com)
* Wadada Leo Smith Pays Tribute to Rosa Parks in New Album (Qwest.tv)
* City to Honor ‘Lady Day’ with Statue at Queens Borough Hall (Queens Daily Eagle)
* The Sound of Evil (The American Scholar)
* Producer of ‘Coltrane ’58: The Prestige Recordings’ Discusses Project in New Video (DownBeat)
* Eliane Elias: The Soul of Brazil (SFJAZZ.org)
* Revisit 50 years of Jazz Fest with comprehensive box set of live performances (Offbeat)
* A two-dimensional matrix: Carl Stone speaks to Emily Bick (The Wire)
* International Women’s Day: Meet the women shaping the future of music (Pro Sound News Europe)
* Spotify and Amazon ‘sue songwriters’ with appeal against 44% royalty rise in the United States (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Got $100k? Steinway’s iPad-capable piano turns you into a classical mixmaster (Syfy.com)
* Janis Joplin’s producer John Simon, a Norwalk native, has musical tastes that might surprise fan (Connecticut Post)
* Sandy Jordan: Keeping the Legacies Alive (Jazz Times)
* Laurie Anderson Interview: The Nature of the Mind (Atavist.com)
* Biamp PDX Jazz Festival Tastefully Pays Tribute to the Past (DownBeat)
* Take note – why do women composers still take up less musical space? (The Guardian)
* An interview with Bill Folwell (Point of Departure)
* In Memoriam: Ira Gitler (1928–2019) (DownBeat)

Jazz this week: Anat Cohen, Eliane Elias, Michael Rosen, Bill McNally, and more

The calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis for the week before Mardi Gras is packed with performances in a variety of styles, with a handful of visiting headliners hitting local stages, plus some noteworthy shows from our hometown performers. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, February 27
Clarinetist and saxophonist Anat Cohen (pictured, top left) brings her quartet to Jazz St. Louis for the first of five nights of performances, continuing through Sunday.

Voted the top clarinetist in jazz in the most recent DownBeat critic's poll, Cohen is a versatile player who can navigate a variety of styles with both technical facility and feeling. You can find out more about Cohen and see videos of her playing (in several different musical idioms) in this post from Saturday before last.

Also on Wednesday, this week's "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features the Jazz Troubadours at The Stage at KDHX, along with the jam session hosted by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor at The Dark Room.

Thursday, February 28
Saxophonist Michael Rosen, a New York native and Berklee grad who expatriated to Italy in the late '80s and has made a name for himself on the European jazz scene, will play in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, accompanied by keyboardist Jay Oliver, guitarist and bassist William Lenihan. and drummer Steve Davis.

Elsewhere on Thursday, trumpeter Keith Moyer leads a jam session at Rendezvous Cafe & Wine Bar in O'Fallon, MO; Samba Bom brings a bit of Brazilian carnival to Joe's Cafe & Art Gallery; Dizzy Atmosphere plays vintage swing and Gypsy jazz for the Missouri Botanical Garden's "Orchid Nights"; and saxophonist Ben Reece's Unity Quartet plays the music of Rahsaan Roland Kirk at The Dark Room.

Friday, March 1
New music ensemble Alarm Will Sound returns to the Sheldon Concert Hall with a program featuring music by their late founding member Matt Marks, who died suddenly after a concert here last year; and Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, March 2
The Friends of Scott Joplin present ragtime pianist 
Bill McNally in a matinee concert at the Opera House of Pacific.

On Saturday evening, pianist and singer Eliane Elias (pictured, bottom left) will perform at The Sheldon. Having already proved her skills at jazz-fusion, the music of her native Brazil, and much more, Elias on her most recent recording explores something a bit different, re-imagining the score of the Broadway show Man of La Mancha in a Latin jazz style.

You can see some recent performances by Elias on video in this post from last Saturday. Also, The Sheldon and Metrotix have cut the price of some remaining tickets for the concert to $25. To get the discount, go here and use the promo code LAMANCHA.

Also on Saturday, Chicago-based Third Coast Percussion will play music from composers including Steve Reich and Wilco's Glenn Kotche in a concert at 560 Music Center.

Sunday, March 3
The St. Louis Jazz Club presents keyboardist "Bob Row's "Mardi Gras Party" at Royale Orleans; Genesis Jazz Project plays at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups; and the Jazz Troubadours return to Evangeline's.

Tuesday, March 5
The Funky Butt Brass Band will play for Fat Tuesday revelers at the Broadway Oyster Bar.

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: From Brazil to Broadway with Eliane Elias

This week, let's take a look at some videos from pianist and singer Eliane Elias, who's coming to St. Louis to perform next Saturday, March 2 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

A native of São Paulo, Brazil, Elias was something of a child prodigy as a pianist, teaching music and performing professionally while still a teenager. She first came to the US in 1981 to study at Juilliard, and began to attract wider attention upon joining the jazz-fusion group Steps Ahead the following year.

Elias released her first album Amanda, a collaboration with her then-husband, trumpeter Randy Brecker, in 1985. That was followed in 1987 by her first recording on her own as a bandleader, the trio album Illusions with drummer Steve Gadd and bassist Stanley Clarke.

In all, Elias has recorded more than two dozen albums in a variety of musical styles,  along the way winning honors including a couple of Grammy Awards for "Best Latin Jazz Album" and a "Best Jazz Album" award in DownBeat's Readers Poll.

Her most recent recording, released in 2018, finds her doing something a bit different: adapting songs from the Broadway show Man of La Mancha as instrumental Latin jazz numbers at the request of Mitch Leigh, who composed the score for the original Broadway production.

Concertgoers next week at the Sheldon probably will get a chance to hear some of that material, as well as original compositions and some the Brazilian standards that Elias has returned to periodically throughout her career.

You can get some of the flavor of Elias' show by checking out the first video up above, which documents part of her performance last July at the Edison Jazz/World festival in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, backed by her husband Marc Johnson on bass and Tiago Michelin on drums.

After the jump, you can see her perform the Brazilian standards "Desafinado" and "The Girl From Ipanema" with Johnson and drummer Rafael Barata at the 2017 Trieste Loves Jazz festival in Italy.

Next, there's a clip of Elias doing "So Danco Samba" in 2015 at the International Jazz Day All-Star Global Concert in Paris, accompanied by trumpeter Claudio Roditi, Johnson on bass, Mino Cinelu on percussion, and Terri Lyne Carrington on drums.

The penultimate video shows Elias' entire set from the 2014 Jazz a Vienne festival, backed by Johnson, Barata, and guitarist Graham Dechter.

The final clip is a version of "Chega De Saudade," made famous as the title song from João Gilberto's first album, as recorded in 2010 at the Avo Session festival in Basel, Switzerland with Johnson, Barata, and guitarist Rubens de La Corte.

For more about Eliane Elias, check out her 2017 interview on WBGO radio in NYC, her 2015 interview with Keyboard magazine, and her 2018 interview with ArkivJazz.com.

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

Sheldon Concert Hall announces 2018-19 season

The Sheldon Concert Hall has announced their season schedule for 2018-19.

Keyboardist Jon Batiste will kick off the hall's jazz subscription series on Saturday, October 20. Other concerts in the series will feature singer Dee Dee Bridgewater (pictured), performing music from her recent release paying tribute to Memphis soul (Saturday, November 17); singer Dianne Reeves (Saturday, February 9); and pianist Eliane Elias (Saturday, March 2).

In addition, saxophonist James Carter will return to perform with pianist Peter Martin's trio in a non-subscription "special concert" on Sunday, May 19.

The hall's "Coffee Concerts" series, presented on select Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, also will feature some musicians of potential interest to StLJN readers, including Cornet Chop Suey (October 9 & 10); singer Feyza Eren (November 13 & 14); and The Gaslight Squares (April 9 & 10), while the Saturday matinee series will include concerts from singer Anita Jackson (February 2) and guitarist Dan Rubright of the Wire Pilots (April 6).

Season tickets for the jazz series are $160 orchestra, $145 balcony; Coffee Concerts are $70 orchestra, $60 balcony; and Saturday Matinee tickets are $25 for adult subscriptions, $10 per child. New subscriptions will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Monday, May 14 and continue through the first concert in each series via the Sheldon's website or by phone at 314-533-9900.

Single tickets, which range in price from $30 to $50 for concerts in the jazz series, will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, August 11 at the Sheldon and all MetroTix outlets.

Jazz this week: Omaha Diner, Eliane Elias, Stanley Clarke, Susan Werner, and more

It's shaping up to be another busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with a handful of visiting headliners in town at various venues, a couple of homecoming shows featuring former St. Louisans, and a full schedule of performances from local players as well. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, November 18
The quartet Omaha Diner (pictured, top left), featuring guitarist Charlie Hunter, saxophonist Skerik, drummer Bobby Previte, and trumpeter Eric Bloom, makes their St. Louis debut in the first of four nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

As an ensemble, they're both high concept - performing nothing but songs that have reached number one on the Billboard pop charts - and loose-limbed, taking considerable liberties with the material while still maintaining the sort of funky grooves associated with Hunter, who, in his customary fashion, simultaneously provides both bass lines and chords. To get a better idea of what this actually sounds like, you can see and hear Omaha Diner in action in this video post from last Saturday.

Thursday, November 19
Guitarist Vincent Varvel plays a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

Friday, November 20
Singer/songwriter Susan Werner closes out the fall series of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival with the first of two performances at the Gaslight Theater; Dreaming in Colour will play jazz-fusion at the Ozark Theatre; and the contemporary chamber ensemble Alarm Will Sound returns to the Sheldon Concert Hall with a program of music from St. Louis composers including pianist Peter Martin, Wash U music professor Christopher Stark, and multimedia artist and activist Damon Davis.

Also on Friday, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will be swinging at Backstreet Jazz & Blues in Westport; the Sentimental Journey Dance Band plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and the Funky Butt Brass Band will be back for their regular monthly gig at Broadway Oyster Bar.

Saturday, November 21
Pianist and singer Eliane Elias returns to St. Louis for the first time since 2010 for a performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

The Brazilian-born Elias (pictured, center left) first gained wide recognition outside her home country in the 1980s as a member of the fusion band Steps Ahead. She subsequently teamed up with her ex-husband, trumpet player Randy Brecker, for a number of albums mixing straight-ahead, contemporary and Brazilian jazz before going solo with a varied menu of projects that have ranged from a big-band album arranged by Bob Brookmeyer to a tribute to pianist Bill Evans.

Elias has spend a good portion of this year touring in support of her most recent album Made In Brazil, which came out last spring and marked the first time she had gone back to her home country to record since moving to the United States in 1981. You can read more about that in the interview Elias did in August with Keyboard magazine.

Also on Saturday night, bassist Stanley Clarke will be playing at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. Clarke, who was here last year at The Pageant, just wrapped up a two-week run at the Blue Note in NYC that included guest appearances from drummer Lenny White and pianists McCoy Tyner and George Cables.

He also has a new album out this month, a trio recording with violinist Jean-Luc Ponty and guitarist Biréli Lagrène called D-Stringz. For the show at the Touhill, though, Clarke (pictured, lower left) will perform with the current version of his electric band, which includes pianist Beka Gochiashvili, keyboardist Cameron Graves, and drummer Michael Mitchell.

Elsewhere on Saturday night, guitarist Tom Byrne and singer Erika Johnson take the stage at Thurman Grill; singer, actor and St. Louis native Craig Pomranz is back home from NYC to perform his cabaret show "Love Takes Time" at Cyrano's; and singer Danita Mumphard will be interpreting the music of Whitney Houston at the Ozark Theatre.

Sunday November 22
Trumpeter Ally Hany returns home from NYC to celebrate the release of her first album Journeys Ahead with a performance at Ferring Jazz Bistro, and Jay Hutson and Da Wolvez will play at Nathalie's.

Monday November 23
Dizzy Atmosphere plays Gypsy jazz and swing at The Shaved Duck, and trumpeter Keith Moyer and band will perform at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

Tuesday November 24
Genesis Jazz Project will play a benefit concert for the Circle of Concern Food Pantry at the Midwest Music Conservatory in Ballwin; and student jazz ensembles from Webster Groves High School will perform in a fundraiser for the school's music programs at Highway 61 Roadhouse.

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.)

Updated after posting to correct info on this week's Jazz at Holmes show. 

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Fall 2015 jazz preview, part 5

This week, it's the fifth and final installment of StLJN's fall 2015 jazz video preview, offering an advance look at jazz and creative music performers who will be visiting St. Louis between now and year-end.

Parts one, two, three and four covered September, October and the first part of November, so today's post begins with Omaha Diner, who will make their St. Louis debut with performances starting Wednesday, November 17 through Saturday, November 21 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Comprised of guitarist Charlie Hunter, saxophonist Skerik, drummer Bobby Previte, and trumpeter Eric Bloom (in for original member Steven Bernstein), Omaha Diner is premised on the idea of performing only original arrangements of songs that have made it to number one on the Billboard pop charts. And so, in the first clip up above you can see them playing "Thrift Shop," which was a hit for hip-hop duo Macklemore & Lewis.

After the jump, you can see a clip featuring singer Susan Werner, who will close out the fall edition of the Presenters Dolan's Gaslight Cabaret Festival with performances on Friday, November 20 and Saturday, November 21 at the Gaslight Theater. Werner, who's associated with folk and country as much as cabaret, can be seen here performing "(Why Is Your) Heaven So Small" a a gig in August 2014 in Nashville.

Next up is pianist Eliane Elias, who's playing Saturday, November 21 to kick off the 2015-16 jazz series at  The Sheldon. Elias is seen in the third clip performing "So Danço Samba" at the 2015 International Jazz Day Global Concert in Paris, with some help from trumpeter Claudio Roditi, percussionist Mino Cinélu, and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington.

The same evening as Elias' concert, the Stanley Clarke Band will be in town for a concert at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. The fourth clip features the bassist and his electric ensemble in a full set at this year's North Sea Jazz Festival.

After that, it's trumpeter Sean Jones, who returns to St. Louis to play Wednesday, December 2 through Saturday, December 5 at Jazz at the Bistro. Jones is seen here performing his deconstructed version of "How High The Moon" last month at the Litchfield Jazz Festival in Connecticut.

Also in town that same weekend will be the duo of pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and violinist Mark Feldman, who will perform in a concert presented by New Music Circle on Friday, December 4 at The Stage at KDHX. They're represented here by a video shot by an audience member in 2014 during their set at NYC's Winter Jazzfest.

Today's final clip features drummer Matt Wilson Christmas Tree-O, who will be spreading holiday cheer from Wednesday, December 16 through Saturday, December 19 at Jazz at the Bistro. The video shows them performing in 2011 for NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series.

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

The Sheldon announces 2015-16 season

The Sheldon Concert Hall has announced their various series lineups for the 2015-16 season, with a jazz series featuring four piano players, plus various other events that may be of interest to jazz and creative music fans.

Brazilian-born pianist Eliane Elias (pictured, top left) will begin the jazz series on Saturday, November 21, followed by Billy Childs presenting his show "Re-Imagining Laura Nyro" on Saturday, January 30.

The Panamanian native Danilo Pérez (pictured, center left) is next, with a program called, appropriately enough, "Panama 500" on Saturday, February 27, and Cyrus Chestnut, who's quite familiar to St. Louis listeners from numerous previous appearances at Jazz at the Bistro and The Sheldon, wraps up the series with "African Reflections" on Saturday, May 7.

Two of the Sheldon's big fundraising events of the year also will feature jazz headliners, with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis (pictured, bottom left) booked to perform at the Friends of the Sheldon benefit gala on Saturday, October 3, and pianist Ramsey Lewis celebrating the 50th anniversary of his hit "The In Crowd" at the annual ArtSounds! event on Saturday, November 7.

(While the benefit gala ticket prices start at $150 for JaLCO and Marsalis, and $125 for Lewis, and go up from there, there also will be concert-only tickets sold for both, priced at $45 orchestra, $40 balcony for JaLCO and $65 orchestra, $55 balcony for Lewis.)

Also of potential interest to jazz fans, singer Banu Gibson will pay tribute to "40 Years of Randy Newman" in a special non-subscription matinee concert on Sunday, October 25.

Pianist Peter Martin turns up on three different programs - first, in a concert for his eponymous series, with a special guest TBA, on Saturday, October 10; then with St. Louis Symphony violinist David Halen and friends for a holiday program on Wednesday, December 2; and finally, with Halen and other St. Louis Symphony members playing classical music on Wednesday, April 6.

New music ensemble Alarm Will Sound also will be back for their fourth St. Louis season, with concerts scheduled for Tuesday, October 20; Friday, November 20; Friday, February 12; and Thursday, May 26.

The popular Coffee Concert series of mid-week morning performances will include Alan Ox doing “Songs of Great American Crooners” on Tuesday, October 6 and Wednesday, October 7; actor/singer Ben Nordstrom on Tuesday, February 16 and Wednesday, February 17; Wack-A-Doo on Tuesday, April 5 and Wednesday, April 6; and cabaret singer Tim Schall in a tribute to music of the Gaslight Square era, “The Gaslight Generation,” on Tuesday May 10 and Wednesday, May 11. Last (from a jazz perspective) but not least, trumpeter and singer Dawn Weber will play a Saturday matinee on Saturday, April 2.

So what's the "hot take" on this lineup? Longtime readers may recall that in the past, yr. humble StLJN editor has taken the Sheldon's management to task for being too risk-averse when booking the jazz series, and the phrase "talented, but safe" once again could be used to describe pretty much all this year's choices. Consider also that, although some of the individual programs presented might have been different, the entire jazz series  could have been booked with these exact same artists 10 years ago, and the dimensions of the challenge become more apparent.

Of course, there's always potential for additional individual concerts to be added as the fall approaches, and if past years are any guide, there likely will be at least a couple more shows of interest to jazz fans. But given that this year's lineup contained some arguably riskier choices, such as the Spokfrevo Orquestra and Cécile McLorin Salvant, the 2015-16 slate seems like a bit of an artistic retrenchment.

Subscriptions for the four-concert jazz series are $150 for orchestra seating, $135 balcony, with prices for other shows varying according the specific event. New subscriptions go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Monday, May 11, with sales will continuing through the first concert in each series, via phone at 314-533-9900 and online at http://www.thesheldon.org/. Single tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. August 8 at 10 a.m. via MetroTix or the Sheldon website.

Jazz this week: Vijay Iyer, Eliane Elias, Jeff Coffin, ScrapArts Percussion, and more

This week brings a number of potentially interesting jazz and creative music performances to St. Louis, so let's go straight to the highlights:

Tonight, pianist Vijay Iyer (pictured) opens a four-night stand continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Iyer will be making his St. Louis debut as the man of the moment with jazz critics and fans, as his most recent CD Historicity has emerged as a consensus choice as one of 2009's best. For more on Iyer, check out this video post from a few Saturdays back; this interview from Jazz St. Louis' podcast series; and this interview published last weekend in the Post-Dispatch.

On Thursday, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University resumes for the winter/spring semester with a free concert by guitarist Matthew Von Doran, backed by drummer Steve Davis and bassist Bob DeBoo.

Then on Friday, the versatile saxophonist Jeff Coffin, who's known for his work with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and the Dave Matthews Band, will bring his own band the Mu'Tet and their their brand of jam-band jazz to 2720, the former south side furniture store now operating as a gallery and music venue.

There are a couple of noteworthy shows on Saturday, starting with Eliane Elias at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The Brazilian-born pianist and singer first made her mark here in the States in the early 1980s as a member of the latter-day fusion band Steps Ahead, and went on to team with her ex-husband, trumpet player Randy Brecker, for a series of well-received albums mixing straight-ahead, contemporary and Brazilian jazz. As a solo artist, Elias has continued to tap her roots in Brazil, but also has been involved in projects ranging from a big-band album arranged by Bob Brookmeyer to an intimate tribute to pianist Bill Evans.

Also of interest on Saturday, the ScrapArts Percussion ensemble will perform at Washington University's Edison Theatre. The five-member group builds their own instruments "from the castaway scraps of industrial production,' resulting in "a groove-based fusion of world music traditions and 21st century sounds."

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday pianist Kim Portnoy will perform at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium as part of the University's series of bargain-priced Monday concerts.

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 by becoming a "fan" of 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.)

Sheldon jazz concerts to feature pre-show talks from Dennis Owsley

The Sheldon Concert Hall has announced that jazz DJ, historian and photographer Dennis Owsley will present a series of pre-concert talks before each performance in their 2009-2010 jazz series. The talks will begin at 7:10 p.m. before each 8:00 p.m. concert, and are "designed to introduce new audiences to jazz and deepen the impact of the touring artists’ appearances."

The Sheldon's 2009-10 jazz series concert dates, performers and lecture topics will be:

Saturday, October 3 - Dee Dee Bridgewater - "The Triumph of Billie Holiday"
Saturday, November 7 - Nicholas Payton - "The New Orleans and St. Louis Trumpet Tradition”
Saturday, January 23 - Eliane Elias - “The Lure of Latin Jazz"
Saturday, April 10 - Cyrus Chestnut - "Jazz Piano Giants"
Saturday, May 1 - Steve Tyrell - "The Great American Songbook"

Owsley's talks are funded through a new Mid-America Arts Alliance grant to support “Community Engagement with Touring Artists” (CETA). The grant will also fund visits by Owsley to visit three towns (yet to be selected) in Missouri and Illinois to give talks on jazz to community groups.

Sheldon Concert Hall announces 2009-10 season

In an article written for the Post-Dispatch by pop critic Kevin Johnson, the Sheldon Concert Hall has announced the schedule of performers for its various 2009-10 season series. As outlined in the story, the Sheldon's 2009-10 jazz series looks like this:

Saturday, October 3: Singer Dee Dee Bridgewater in a tribute to Billie Holiday
Saturday, November 7: Trumpeter Nicholas Payton
Saturday, January 23, 2010: Pianist and singer Eliane Elias
Saturday, April 10: Pianist Cyrus Chestnut plays the music of Elvis Presley
Saturday, May 1: Singer Steve Tyrell

The Sheldon's Web site has a brief announcement on the front page directing current season subscribers to Metrotix for renewals, but currently has no other information about the 2009-10 season. New subscriptions to the Sheldon's 2009-10 jazz series will go on sale May 13, with single ticket sales beginning in August.

While overall this seems like a solid lineup of mainstream jazz performers, it strikes me as being, once again, a bit too familiar and risk-averse. The only one of these musicians who hasn't already played St. Louis in recent years is Elias, and none of them can be considered innovative, cutting-edge or even particularly involved in any significant current developments in jazz.

And, once again, I'd question the booking of two singers - three, if you count Elias - into a five-concert series, as it seems an excessive concession to commerical considerations. The Sheldon is a great place to hear a concert; I just wish they'd show a bit more imagination and yes, perhaps even some guts, in their season series booking policies.

Pollstar: Eliane Elias, Nicholas Payton coming to The Sheldon next season

With spring just around the corner, it's also the time of the year when local not-for-profit presenters such as Jazz St. Louis and the Sheldon Concert Hall are busy finalizing their 2009-2010 season schedules. While the official announcements likely won't come for a couple of months yet, in some cases the online tour information service Pollstar gives us a sneak peek at what may be in the pipeline.

In this case, Pollstar has just added listings for two concerts in the jazz series next year at the Sheldon: trumpeter Nicholas Payton on Saturday, November 7, 2009, and pianist and singer Eliane Elias (pictured) on Saturday, January 23, 2010.

Payton, a New Orleans native, is known as a celebrator of his hometown's musical traditions, especially the music of Louis Armstrong. He's also a very good modern jazz player, and currently is displaying those skills on tour with the Blue Note 7, who played the Sheldon just last week.

Elias is originally from Brazil, and first gained public attention in the United States as a member of the latter-day jazz fusion group Steps Ahead. Since then, she's gone on to explore a wide variety of musical interests, including interpretations of the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim and other Brazilian composers, and that of pianist Bill Evans, a major influence on her playing.

As always, listings on Pollstar are subject to change, and should not be considered official until confirmed and/or announced by the venue or local presenter. That said, in nearly four years of writing StLJN, I can only remember a couple of instances when a show announced on Pollstar did not happen, and one of those was just a date change, so make of that what you will.

Both Payton and Elias seem like solid choices for the Sheldon's jazz series; here's hoping the entire series schedule is made up of equally substantive musicians. Also, both should should be familiar enough to local listeners to draw a good crowd - Payton has headlined in St. Louis before, at Jazz at the Bistro, while Elias was one of the artists included by Jazz St. Louis in their recent poll asking audience members who they'd like to see at the Bistro next year, which suggests a certain baseline of interest/awareness as well. When any official announcements are made, StLJN will have them for you right here.