Here's StLJN's latest wrap-up of assorted links and short news items of local interest:
* A memorial service for the late Bryan Cather, ragtime historian and president of the Friends of Scott Joplin, will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, January 25 at St. John's Episcopal Church, 3664 Arsenal (across from Tower Grove Park).
* The recent vinyl reissue box set (pictured) of Miles Davis' The Legendary Prestige Quintet Recordings was reviewed by Jazz Times.
Titled Music From and Inspired by Miles Davis: Birth Of The Cool, the album has 28 tracks of music and dialog from the film selected by Nelson. One of those tracks is a previously unheard recording, "Hail to the Real Chief," which combines unreleased studio trumpet performances by Davis with music by drummer Lenny White, performed by White, Davis' nephew Vince Wilburn, Jr, Marcus Miller, Jeremy Pelt, Antoine Roney, John Scofield, Bernard Wright, and others. You can listen to "Hail to the Real Chief" here.
* Also on the Miles Davis beat, fans of the trumpeter are being invited to submit original artwork to be used on an upcoming vinyl single release of "Miles Runs The Voodoo Down" from Bitches Brew. For details, go to http://secret-7.com/
* KDHX's Chuck Lavazzi reviewed recent cabaret shows at Blue Strawberry by singers Christy Simmons and Emily Skinner.
This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes the return of one of the most acclaimed trios in modern jazz, a visit from a Broadway diva performing in an intimate cabaret setting, and more.
Let's go to the highlights...
Wednesday, January 8 The Bad Plus(pictured, top left) continue their decade-plus-long tradition of a week of January performances here, playing for the first of five nights continuing through Sunday at Jazz St. Louis.
Since their appearance here last year, TBP in October released a new album, Activate Infinity, their second since pianist Orrin Evans replaced founding member Ethan Iverson in 2018.
The album, their first for the British label Edition Records, features eight tracks of new original material, with two written by Evans, two by drummer Dave King, and four by bassist Reid Anderson. Fans can expect to hear most of those new pieces during their shows here, and given the trio's continuing popularity here, advance reservations are advised.
Thursday, January 9
Keyboardist Mo Egeston will have new original material plus some guest stars for an "All-Star Birthday Groove" performance at Joe's Cafe, and Dean Christopher returns with his "Rat Pack and More" show to LoRusso's Cucina.
Friday, January 10
Singer and actress Emily Skinner(pictured, bottom left), known for her leading roles in musicals including Billy Elliot, Side Show, and Dinner at Eight, will present her cabaret show "Broadway My Way" for the first of two nights at Blue Strawberry.
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.)
This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features a concert of music written for the movies by one of the greatest composers and bandleaders in jazz; a tribute to two of the most successful bands in jazz/fusion; a brand-new work created by a St. Louis expat for more than 20 local musicians, and more. Let's go to the highlights...
Wednesday, November 8
Jazz St Louis presents "Duke Ellington and Film," a free event at Jazz at the Bistro featuring Dr. John Hasse, who's the curator of American music at the Smithsonian Institute, and the Jazz St. Louis Big Band.
Hasse will give a presentation about Ellington's involvement with movies, and then the band will play some of the music the maestro wrote for films such as Anatomy of a Murder, the musical short Black and Tan Fantasy, Check and Double Check, Paris Blues, and Assault on a Queen.
Also in Grand Center, the weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features cornetist TJ Muller at The Stage at KDHX, a jam session at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor at The Dark Room.
Also on Thursday, bassist and educator Jim Widner's big band will play at the Bistro; and the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents a free concert from singer Joe Mancuso's trio plus guest saxophonist Freddie Washington.
Saturday, November 11
Wrapping up his New Music Circle residency, John Wiese will lead a cast of more than 20 local musicians in a new, site-specific work created for this performance at University Theatre in St. Louis University's Xavier Hall. You can find out more about Wiese and see video of some of his solo performances in this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.
Also on Saturday, singer Tony Viviano will offer a tribute to military veterans at Candicci's; and the Gaslight Cabaret Festival wraps up their fall series with a sold-out show featuring singer and Tony Award-nominated actress Emily Skinner doing "Broadway Her Way" at the Gaslight Theater. (Though the show is sold out, you can get on the wait list for notifications of any last-minute ticket availability by sending an email to sales@licketytix.com.)
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.)
Welcome to part three of StLJN's Fall 2017 jazz preview, presenting videos featuring noteworthy jazz and creative music performers who will be visiting St. Louis over the next few months. (You can see part one here, and part two here.)
Continuing in chronological order from where part two left off, today's first clip features singer and pianist Eric Comstock and singer Barbara Fasano, whose show "Downton Abbey Road: The Best of Britain" will be presented as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival on Friday, October 27 at the Gaslight Theater.
Although no excerpts of that show are available on video, you can see them up above performing "When In Rome (I Do As The Romans Do)" as recorded in April 2015 during the weekly "Cast Party" event at Birdland in NYC.
After the jump, there's a clip featuring guitarist, singer and St. Louis favorite John Pizzarelli, who's returning to headline the annual "ArtSounds" benefit on Saturday, October 28 at Sheldon Concert Hall.
Recorded last month at KNKX in Tacoma, WA, it features Pizzarelli and Daniel Jobim, the grandson of Brazilian music legend Antonio Carlos Jobim, performing "The Girl From Ipanema" from Pizzarelli's latest album Sinatra & Jobim @ 50.
The third video features saxophonist Houston Person, who will be back in town to perform Wednesday, November 1 through Saturday, November 4 at Jazz at the Bistro.
Person, who usually works with local rhythm sections on gigs like the one he's doing at the Bistro, is seen here in a video from March of this year that documents his team-up with fellow saxophonist and St. Louis native Eric Person for a gig at Dizzy's Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center in NYC. Along with the two Persons, the band includes pianist Zaccai Curtis, bassist Kenny Davis, and drummer McClenty Hunter.
Next, it's singers Farah Alvin and William Michals, who will join forces to present "Broadway's Greatest Hits of All Time" for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival on Friday, November 3 and Saturday, November 4 at the Gaslight Theater.
In their individual clips, Michals is performing "This Nearly Was Mine" from South Pacific, recorded last month at Feinstein's/54 Below in NYC, while Alvin is singing "Infinite Joy" as part of a show last month at the the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, MA.
Today's sixth video features a full set from singer Cécile McLorin Salvant, recorded in December 2016 at Dizzy's with a band including pianist Aaron Diehl, bassist Paul Sikivie, drummer Lawrence Leathers, and guest star Anat Cohen on clarinet.
Salvant has a new album called Dreams and Daggers coming out at the end of this month, and her tour in support of the record will include a performance on Saturday, November 11 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.
Billed as "a site-specific composition that includes over 20 local musicians,
utilizing both traditional and non-traditional instrumentation," the performance can't really be previewed here, but you can get an idea of the sort of thing Wiese does in today's penultimate video, which documents a performance in August 2016 at the Artifex Guild in Bloomington, IN.
The final video features actress and singer Emily Skinner, who will perform "Broadway Her Way" for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival on Saturday, November 11 at the Gaslight Theater.
Word came down this week that Skinner already has sold out this single performance, but since this post was mostly written by the time that news reached StLJN HQ, you might as well enjoy a clip of her performing "Could I Leave You" last fall in the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis' production of Follies.
Look for part four of StLJN's Fall 2017 jazz preview next week in this space. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...
The series will begin with jazz singer Paula West on Friday, October 13 and Saturday, October 14.
West (pictured), who's known for her ability to interpret a wide range of material, from the Great American Songbook to contemporary pop and rock, will be accompanied by pianist and music director Bruce Barth, bassist Ben Wheeler, and drummer Montez Coleman.
Next up is Alice Ripley, who won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in Next to Normal, and was in the original Broadway casts of Les Misérables, Sunset Boulevard, Side Show, The Rocky Horror Show, and American Psycho. She'll take the stage of the Gaslight Theater on Friday, October 20 and Saturday, October 21.
The following weekend, singer/pianist Eric Comstock and singer Barbara Fasano will present a show called "Downton Abbey Road: The Best of Britain" on Friday, October 27. As the name suggests, the show is built on songs from an eclectic selection of British songwriters, from Noel Coward and Anthony Newley to the Beatles and Sting.
After that, Ken Haller, one of two St. Louis performers in the series, will present a new holiday-themed show, "Happy Haller Days!" on Thursday, November 2 and Thursday November 9.
Singers Farah Alvin and William Michals will be the next to take the festival stage, bringing their show "Broadway's Greatest Hits of All Time" from Feinstein's in New York City to St. Louis on Friday, November 3 and Saturday, November 4.
For the series' final weekend, former St. Louisan Katie McGrath, who moved to NYC last year, will return on Friday, November 10 with her show "Significant Others," and Emily Skinner, who's been nominated for Tony Awards for her work in Broadway shows including Side Show, Billy Elliot and The Full Monty, will wrap things up with a performance called "Broadway Her Way" on Saturday, November 11.
Single ticket prices for the Gateway Cabaret Festival range from $30 to $45, depending on the show, and there's a 10% discount for a subscription of five shows or more. For more information or to buy tickets, visit the Gaslight Cabaret Festival website.
