So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Cool It If You Can, the most recent recording from Miss Jubilee and the Yas-Yas Boys, was reviewed by Michael Steinman for his Jazz Lives blog.

* Drummer Marcus Baylor was interviewed on local CBS affiliate KMOV for a story about his group The Baylor Project being nominated again this year for a Grammy.

* Euclid Records owner Joe Schwab appeared this past Sunday on NBC's Sunday Today program, being interviewed for a story about why vinyl record sales have boomed over the past year.

* Drummer Emanuel Harrold (pictured) is now an endorser for percussion accessories maker DrumDial, and has recorded a new promotional video for the company.

* One of St. Louis' most famous expatriates of the 20th century plays a major role in a new LitHub essay from writer Harmony Holiday, "A Dinner in France, 1973: Josephine Baker, James Baldwin, and a Very Young Henry Louis Gates, Jr."

* Bassist Darin Gray has a new recording, The Reduction (music for dance), set for release on April 2 in digital formats and as a limited-edition vinyl LP.

* Also with a new release this month is keyboardist and vocalist Jesse Gannon, whose recording Live at the Dark Room is out now as a digital-only album on Bandcamp.

* Trumpeter Josiah Burton, a former member of Jazz St. Louis' All-Stars student ensemble, was the subject of a feature story in the Greenville University campus paper The Papyrus.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Citing losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Edwardsville-based radio station WSIE (88.7 FM) has launched a campaign raising money to stay on the air.

With no financial support from the state of Illinois since 2018, the not-for-profit station needs to raise approximately $100,000 before June 30 to cover losses from this fiscal year. To find out more or make a donation, go to https://www.siue.edu/wsie/support/.

* A recent performance by the Red and Black Brass Band on the streets of the Central West End was documented on video by STLtoday.com.

* Pianist and St. Louis native Tom McDermott has recorded another video for actor and author Harry Shearer's "Piano New Orleans" web series.

* St. Louis' Euclid Records is the latest music retailer to be featured in the "Record Store Spotlight" on the website of blues label Fat Possum.

* HEC-TV has posted online a feature about saxophonist's Tim Warfield run earlier this year at Jazz St. Louis, titled "A Night In The Life Of A Jazz Artist."

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* A performance by trumpeter and St. Louis native Keyon Harrold and a screening of the documentary Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool will be featured during the upcoming "Celebration of Cool" at the famed Apollo Theater in NYC on Saturday, February 1.

* Euclid Records in Webster Groves (pictured) was noted as "The Largest Record Store In Missouri" by the website OnlyInYourState.com.

* New Music Circle administrator Jeremy Kannapell was interviewed about the organization's upcoming concerts by the Riverfront Times' Christian Schaeffer.

* A recent episode of the podcast The Funky Blues Show focused on St. Louis, offering "a celebration of the Jazz and Blues tradition of one of the great musical cities of the USA, with music from Albert King, Roosevelt Sykes, Chuck Berry, Clark Terry, Donny Hathaway and many more."

* St. Louis County will get a new outdoor music venue later this year with the opening of Saint Louis Music Park, a new 4,500 seat facility at the Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights. The venue will debut on May 25 with a show featuring pop singer Kesha and hip-hop star Big Freedia, with operators promising to book acts from a variety of musical genres going forward.

* Singer Anna Blair's cabaret show last week at Blue Strawberry was reviewed by KDHX's Chuck Lavazzi.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Singer Jan Shapiro's performance tonight at the Ozark Theatre features a reunion more than 40 years in the making, as drummer, former St. Louisan, and Wash U alumnus Henry Ettman will join Shapiro (plus pianist Dave Venn and bassist Ben Wheeler) on a local bandstand for the first time since the mid-1970s.

As Shapiro tells the tale in an email to StLJN:

"Henry Ettman was one of the drummers that played all around the St. Louis area in the 1970s. He played with jazz pianist Eddie Fritz, Dave Venn and other jazz musicians.

In 1975 Henry joined up with me and pianist Eddie Plitt. At that time, Eddie Plitt played the Hammond B3, piano (when there was one present) and electronic keyboards. Eddie often played bass using his feet to play the Hammond B3 bass pedals - while at the same time playing chord changes and soloing on the keys! So in those days we did not use a bass player very often. So during 1975 Henry Ettman played with us in St. Louis and traveled on the road with us. I recall we spent about 6 months in Florida during the ‘winter season.’"

After leaving St. Louis, Ettman has lived in Nevada, Oregon and Florida, working in education and continuing his involvement with jazz. "I have continued to keep in touch with Henry and am delighted that after so many years we will share the stage once again on June 7," said Shapiro, seen in the photo above with Ettman, who's holding a promotional pic of the two of them and Eddie Plitt from "back in the day."

* What happened to the trumpet that Miles Davis played on the sessions for his landmark album Kind of Blue? A story last week in the Greensboro, NC newspaper YES Weekly traces the horn's path from Davis to his friend, Arthur "Buddy" Gist, to its current home on display in the music building at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.

* Elsewhere on the Miles Davis beat, the new biographical documentary Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool was screened at the Sydney Film Festival in Australia, and the new box set documenting the Complete Birth of the Cool Sessions is out today.

* Sherry Jones, author of the historical novel Josephine Baker’s Last Dance, was in town for a signing and was interviewed about the book and Baker's life on St. Louis Public Radio's "St. Louis on the Air."

* Pianist and St. Louis native Dred Scott's latest album Rides Alone was reviewed by Glide magazine.

* The Riverfront Times' Daniel Hill offers a look at the St. Louis area's newest vendor of vinyl, the SOHO Record Shop, which opened recently in the Manhattan Antique Marketplace in St. Ann.

* In other record-retail news, Euclid Records recently acquired and is preparing for sale an 8,000-piece collection of jazz vinyl, including rare 1950s and '60s LPs from Blue Note, Prestige and other iconic labels. You can see a video "flip-through" of part of the collection with narration by Euclid's head honcho Joe Schwab here.

* Pianist Tom McDermott's latest album, which feature him performing a collection of Scott Joplin compositions, is the subject of a feature story by the New Orleans Advocate's Kieth Spera.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Tonight's 7:30 p.m. set by Sammy Miller and the Congregation at Jazz at the Bistro will be streamed live online by Jazz St. Louis. You can see it on JSL's website, their Facebook page, or on UStream.

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold was named one of "10 New Artists You Need To Know" in the October issue of Rolling Stone magazine.

Harrold (pictured) also was featured on a recent episode of B-Side, a web series produced and curated by the BRIC arts and media nonprofit in Brooklyn, NYC.

* A recent show by saxophonist Dave Sanborn, and his kindness to a young fan, are the subjects of a feature story on AllAboutJazz.com.

* New Music Circle will present a free program of short films by composer and electronic musician John Wiese at 8:00 p.m. Thursday, November 9 at the Moolah Theatre & Lounge. Wiese will be in town for a concert presented by NMC on Saturday, November 11 at St. Louis University's Xavier Hall.

* In conjunction with a talk this week at Washington University, bassist, author and educator Paul Steinbeck was interviewed about Message to Our Folks, his book about the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

* Saxophonist Greg Osby was interviewed on a recent episode of the Neon Jazz podcast.

* The Sheldon has posted to Facebook a set of photos from the Hudson concert earlier this month.

* Euclid Records has released a free smartphone app, with a barcode scanner that provides access to sound samples, plus info on new releases and store events, and more. The app is available for both Android and iPhone via Google Play and the iTunes app store.

* Actor and singer Alice Ripley's show last weekend for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival was reviewed by KDHX's Chuck Lavazzi.

* The remains of the hull of the Goldenrod Showboat - which for decades on the St. Louis riverfront served as the site for performances of traditional jazz and ragtime - were destroyed in a fire last week in Calhoun County, IL.

* The Regional Arts Commission is surveying the St. Louis arts and culture community in conjunction with EVOKE, a new initiative described as "a cultural planning process that seeks to elicit, inspire and explore how the arts can become more relevant in addressing St. Louis’s cultural challenges...The outcome of the conversations, studies, data gathered and ideas shared will be a regional cultural plan designed to guide RAC’s work and evolve our vision for a more vibrant and equitable future for St. Louis." You can weigh in by taking the survey online here.

* Chasing Trane, the documentary about saxophonist John Coltrane that briefly played in movie theaters earlier this year, will be broadcast as part of the PBS series Independent Lens and will air in St. Louis at 10:00 p.m. Monday, November 6 on Nine PBS (aka KETC).

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Drummer Montez Coleman (pictured) was interviewed by St. Louis magazine's Erin Williams in advance of his performances tonight and Saturday night at Jazz at the Bistro.

* Saxophonist Karl Denson talked with the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson for a brief feature story. Denson and his band Tiny Universe perform tonight at the Atomic Cowboy Pavilion.

* Drummer and St. Louis native Emanuel Harrold, who's been part of singer Gregory Porter's band for the past few years, is set to release his first recording as a leader this fall, and is getting advance promotion from TheUrbanMusicScene.com and Afropunk.com for his song "Luv Hurt" and from SoulTracks.com for "Special Time."

* The website Sound of StL has a review with photos of The People's Key's recent performance at The Stage at KDHX.

* Euclid Records is looking to hire a "tech savvy music fan" who is "familiar with the workings of Excel, web design, E-Commerce as well as eBay, Amazon and Discogs." They're accepting resumes dropped off at the store or by email at store@euclidrecords.com.

* Pianist Peter Martin has a new post up at Medium.com, advising aspiring keyboard players on "The One Scale You Should Be Practicing Every Day."

* Trumpeter and Webster Groves native Ally Hany, who recently completed a master's degree at the Manhattan School of Music, announced in a post on Facebook that she's joining the Air Force Band of the Golden West. After completing basic training, Hany will be stationed at Travis Air Force Base in the San Francisco Bay area.

* The musical instrument and accessories manufacturer D'Addario has announced a free support program for instrumental music teachers called the D’Addario Education Collective, offering discounts on products, access to educational resources, and more. You can get details and sign up here.

Fred Tompkins releases new CD Another Place

Flute player and composer Fred Tompkins has released a new CD, Another Place, featuring eight original compositions performed by a cast of St. Louis musicians and singers.

In addition to Tompkins' work on flutes, piano, and sampler, the self-produced release (pictured) features performances from guitarists Dave Black and Lee Scott Price, saxophonist Paul DeMarinis, drummers Gary Sykes, Kevin Cheli and Charlie Dent, keyboardists Jim Hegarty, Greg Mills and Henry Palkes, and singer Debby Lennon.

While most of the album was recorded in Tompkins' studio, several tracks also incorporate live improvisations from performances at the now-closed Tavern of Fine Arts.

Another Place is available as a CD from Vintage Vinyl, Euclid Records, CD Baby and Tompkins' website, and also can be purchased in digital form at iTunes, Amazon, and other online retailers.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The late trumpeter and St. Louis native Clark Terry was among the recently deceased musicians, singers, and music business figures remembered at this year's Grammy Awards ceremony and telecast on Monday night. Terry can be seen, and a tiny snippet of his signature song "Mumbles" heard (in what looks like an excerpt from PBS' Legends of Jazz series) at approximately 1:28 into the Grammy memorial/tribute video.

* Saxophonist Greg Osby talked about his record label Inner Circle Music in an extensive interview with Jakob Baekgaard of AllAboutJazz.com.

* Vinyl collectors and aficionados, be advised that Euclid Records will be having a "Giant Colossal Mega-Whopper of a 2 Dollar Vinyl Sale" on Saturday, February 27 and Sunday, February 28. Given the store's extensive stock of jazz records, it seems likely there may be some items of interest to StLJN readers among those $2 selections.

* The STL Free Jazz Collective has posted to YouTube full-length videos of both sets of their recent concert for Washington University's Jazz at Holmes series.

* Bruxism, the series of experimental music performances run by multi-instrumentalist Nathan Cook (aka NNN Cook), is the subject of a feature story from St. Louis magazine.

* Keyboardist and singer Jesse Gannon (pictured) has posted online a new song, "Take Your Time," that's described as "the first of a series of monthly singles to be released in 2016." You can listen, purchase the track, or subscribe to the series via Gannon's website.

* Multi-instrumentalist Sandy Weltman, who plays a standard diatonic harp with virtuoso skill in styles from bebop to bluegrass, will be teaching a group harmonica class at 7:00 p.m. Tuesdays starting March 1 and continuing through April 19 at City Music. For details or to sign up, go to the City Music website.

* Dance St. Louis will include recordings of music by Miles Davis and Lester Bowie into “New Dance Horizons IV: A Celebration inspired by St. Louis’ Legendary Black Artists” on Friday, February 26 and Saturday, February 27 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Multi-instrumentalist Dwayne Bosman of the Bosman Twins (pictured) is one of ten recipients of a Regional Arts Commission Artist Fellowship for 2015.

Each of the ten selected artists receives $20,000, which is intended to "allow for the advancement of the individual artist’s creative journey to include time and space to study, reflect, experiment, explore and create."

* The late Don Wolff was remembered and memorialized by local media outlets including St. Louis Public Radio, St. Louis magazine, KMOV-TV, and HEC-TV.

* Euclid Records was featured in a recent "In Your Neighborhood" segment on KTVI/Fox 2 News.

* Just in time for his annual Thanksgiving weekend gig at Jazz at the Bistro, here's a a fairly lengthy new interview with trumpeter and singer Jeremy Davenport, via HollywoodSoapbox.com.

* Jazz St. Louis education director Phil Dunlap was featured by the Post-Dispatch in an "#STLStreetStyle" video.

* Bassist Stanley Clarke's concert last Saturday at the Touhill Performing Arts Center was reviewed by Terry Perkins for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

* Singer/songwriter Susan Werner's show last weekend for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival was reviewed by Chuck Lavazzi of KDHX.

* Groove Jazz, a new streaming jazz radio station based in St. Louis, is now online and available to hear for free at www.theroots.fm and via free apps available in the iTunes and Google Play stores.

Described in a news release as "primarily a Contemporary Jazz station, featuring artists like Boney James, Paul Hardcastle, Cindy Bradley, George Benson and David Benoit," the station's playlist also will feature "Straight-Ahead Jazz, World Music, Fusion, Funk and other styles." Weekday hosts are Jason Church, Kristi Carson, Eddie Becton, and Darrel Eason, while the weekend voices include Kris Kelly, Bill Poole, Robin Boyce and C.J. Ellis.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The Columbus Jazz Orchestra, directed by trumpeter Byron Stripling, will pay tribute to the life and legacy of the late trumpet great and St. Louis native Clark Terry with "CT Suite - Three Portraits in Blues," a newly commissioned work by John Clayton, Chad Eby, and Dennis Mackrel that will get its world premiere as part of four concerts presented October 22 - 24 at the Southern Theatre in Columbus.

The performance on Saturday, October 24 will be streamed live online for free by Columbus' WOSU Public Media, an affiliate of PBS and NPR. Stripling (pictured, top left, with Terry at right) will be in St. Louis in March to perform a tribute to Terry with the Jazz St. Louis Big Band at Jazz at the Bistro.

* Euclid Records' annual "Sidewalk Sale" is set for next Saturday, October 24. The Webster Groves retailer will be blowing out CDs and DVDs and offering an expanded selection of more than 8,000 vinyl records with special pricing, including some remaining from the collection of the late DJ Leo Chears.

* Speaking of record stores, a new one called Planet Score Records is setting up shop at 7421 Manchester in Maplewood, with plans to open sometime this month.

* St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts has scheduled more workshops for artists of all disciplines in their "Business Edge" series, including tomorrow's "Career Planning for Creatives, "The Entrepreneurial Artist" on Monday, October 26 and "Your Art, Your Brand: An Artist’s Guide to Being Noticeable and Getting Noticed" on Monday, November 9. For details, costs, and registration info, see the VLAA website.

* The Sheldon Concert Hall has posted to Facebook a photo set from pianist Peter Martin's performance there last Saturday.

* The south side guitar shop J Gravity Strings was featured Wednesday on KSDK's Show Me St. Louis.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Euclid Records has acquired the vinyl collection of the late St. Louis jazz DJ Leo Chears, and will be offering 6000 items from it this weekend in what they're calling "The Red Vest Sale" in a nod to Chears' signature apparel.

Chears (pictured), who died in 2006, had jazz programs on WAMV, KADI, KSD, WESL and WRTH over the course of a career than spanned five decades. Euclid's sale runs Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at their store in Webster Groves.

* Tim Schall, performer, producer and faculty member of the St. Louis Cabaret Conference, and Carol Schmidt, pianist and music director for a number of St. Louis performers, will be teaching two classes for aspiring cabaret singers this fall. "Cabaret 101" begins Monday, September 21 and runs for four weeks, followed directly by "Cabaret 201," which begins on Monday, October 19 and concludes on November 9

* Also on the education beat, multi-instrumentalist Adam Rugo will be teaching an African Drum Ensemble course starting Wednesday, September 16 at St. Louis Community College at Forest Park. No previous experience is required, and drums are provided. To sign up, go to http://www.stlcc.edu/mySTLCC and use the self-service system to register for MUS 144.

* Pianist Peter Martin is a partner in a new startup, Open Studio Network, which will offer online music lessons from Martin and other well-known musicians, so far including guitarist Romero Lumbabo and drummer Greg Hutchinson.

* Saxophonist Eric Person has posted to Facebook a photo album of a recent gig with trumpeter Wallace Roney.

* Drummer Dave Weckl's Acoustic Band will be touring Asia this month, starting September 15 in Seoul, South Korea. The group which also features St. Louis native Tom Kennedy on bass along with pianist Makoto Ozone and saxophonist Gary Meek, will go on to play multiple dates in Japan before finishing up September 27 in Taiwan.

* The late trumpeter and St. Louis native Clark Terry figures prominently in an archival article about jazz on television in 1965 that was reposted this week by DownBeat.

* Saxophonist Oliver Lake has posted to YouTube a video from his residency last fall at The Stone in NYC - specifically, an excerpt from a set with drummers Bill McClellan and Ed Nicholson.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Following up on a story first mentioned here a couple of weeks ago, community radio station KDHX this week has launched their fall fund drive early and with a bit more urgency than usual.

A letter to the community from board president Paul Dever published Wednesday explains what's going on with the station in the wake of the recent dismissal of its longtime executive director, and why the need for donations now is especially acute. If you'd like to give, you can call 314-925-7514 or donate online at http://support.kdhx.org/.

* Jazz St. Louis has teamed with St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Washington University Neurofibromatosis (NF) Center to create called “Beat NF,” which combines jazz and physical therapy to promote socialization and improve gross motor skills in youngsters ages two to five with Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1).

* Euclid Records, the indie label associated with the St. Louis based music store of the same name, will be releasing a two-LP 180-gram vinyl version of Talk Thelonious by keyboardist Terry Adams with NRBQ. The tribute to Monk will be out in November on vinyl from Euclid, and also will get a CD release from Clang!, both via Burnside Distribution.

* Via Facebook, Saxquest reveals that they've unearthed a vintage alto sax that's been verified as once belonging to Jimmy Dorsey.

* Saxophonist Eric Person has posted to Facebook a photo album documenting his week studying at 2015 Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute at UCLA's Herb Alpert School of Music.

* Before his performance at the John Coltrane International Jazz and Blues Festival in High Point, NC, saxophonist David Sanborn was interviewed by radio station WFDD.

* Mark Colenburg is featured on the Revive Music website as one of "5 Drummers You Should Know Off Supreme Sonacy Vol. 1"

* The People's Key are featured as one of ten "emerging St. Louis artists" profiled in the Post-Dispatch/STLtoday.com.

Record Store Day is Saturday, April 18

This Saturday is the ninth annual Record Store Day, the national celebration of independent music sellers, and St. Louis record stores will be doing their part, not only selling special limited-edition new releases but also offering various other promotional activities and in-store performances.

Yr. humble StLJN editor once again will taking part in some of those activities as one of the "guest DJs" spinning records in-store at Vintage Vinyl in the U City Loop. I'll be taking over the store's DJ booth for an hour starting at 4:30 p.m., playing jazz, blues, funk, soul and more, with a high probability of some recordings from St. Louis musicians being in the mix.

In addition to the lineup of visiting record-spinners, drawn from the local music scene, the festivities at VV also will include live bands performing all day outside the store, free coffee and donuts in the morning, free beer (for those of legal drinking age), and more. You can see a complete schedule of events here.

Over in Webster Groves, Euclid Records also will be doing it up big, with live bands and comedians both on Friday night and all day Saturday, plus coffee, beer, doughnuts, BBQ from Highway 61 Roadhouse, and so on. You can see their band schedule and more details here.

Down in the Grove, the all-vinyl Music Record Shop will present five bands next door at the Demo, and local vendors such as Urban Chestnut Brewery, Rise Coffee and the Gramophone will be offering food and beverages. Other area music retailers taking part in RSD event include CD Reunion, Reunion Revolution, Slackers, and V-Stock.

You can see the complete list of Record Store Day special releases here, and a searchable list of all participating stores nationwide here.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Wanda Kennedy Kuntz, author of Kennedy Music, will read from her book and sign copies at an event from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. this Saturday, February 21 at City Music, 9299 Watson Rd. in Crestwood.

Kennedy Kuntz, a pianist and music teacher, is the sister of jazz bassist Tom Kennedy and pianist Ray Kennedy. Her book (pictured), described as "an historical novel based on the Kennedy family," tells a fictionalized version of how her mother and father met and started the family's music store and school in Maplewood.

UPDATE - 4:25 p.m. Friday, 2/20: Just received an email from City Music saying that Wanda Kennedy Kuntz's book signing event has been postponed until Saturday, March 14.

* Euclid Records' head honcho Joe Schwab was featured on this week's episode of the A&E network's program Shipping Wars.

* Saxophonist and St. Louis native Greg Osby sat down with trumpeter Jason Palmer for a "bootleg blindfold test," listening to and commenting on unreleased recordings (hence the "bootleg" part), and Palmer blogged about it here.

* Saxophonist (and former Webster University student) John Zorn's recent run of shows at NYC's Village Vanguard was reviewed by Ben Ratliff of the New York Times.

* The National Center for Arts Research at Southern Methodist University in Dallas has ranked St. Louis as #17 among cities evaluated for their first-ever "Arts Vibrancy Index."

* Jazz radio update: This Saturday on Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis, Calvin Wilson's program “Somethin’ Else” will feature the music of songwriter Jule Styne as interpreted by Joshua Redman, Abbey Lincoln, Wallace Roney, and others.

Then on The Jazz Collective, host Jason Church's playlist will include music from Down To The Bone, U-Nam, Nathan East, Melissa Manchester, Lack of Afro, Wes Montgomery, Grover Washington, Jr., Young-Holt Unlimited, Bobby Womack, Tim Cunningham, Funky Butt Brass Band, and more.

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

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* KDHX has posted online a photo set from last Saturday's New Music Circle concert featuring pianist Johanna Ballou at 560 Music Center.

* Euclid Records, both in St. Louis and New Orleans, was featured in the Vinyl Lives section of GlideMagazine.com.

* Saxophonist Joe Lovano and trumpeter Dave Douglas’ band Soundprints, featuring St. Louis native and Berklee grad Lawrence Fields (pictured) on piano, is set to release their debut album Live at Monterey Jazz Festival, which includes two new Wayne Shorter compositions.

* Saxophonist Oliver Lake's NYC Winter Jazzfest show with Trio 3 and guest pianist Vijay Iyer was reviewed by Feast of Music.

* Guitarist Farshid Soltanshahi aka Farshid Etniko will be performing a live soundtrack of original music for Upstream Theater’s upcoming production Bashir Lazhar. Described as "a timely and poetic piece about grief and healing, love and survival," the play tells the story of "an Algerian refugee in Montreal who is hastily hired as a substitute teacher for a class of sixth graders who, like him, have experienced recent trauma."

The production opens next Friday, January 30 and continues weekends through Sunday, February 15 at the Kranzberg Arts Center, with tickets on sale now via Brown Paper Tickets.

* The Arts & Education Council's video tribute to singer Denise Thimes, first shown Monday night at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel when Thimes was honored at the annual St. Louis Arts Awards ceremony, has been posted to YouTube.

* Saxophonist Greg Osby's latest blog post ruminates about the potential difficulties and rewards for musicians trying to deal with change.

* Singer and East St. Louis native Phil Perry has released a new album, A Better Man, on the Shanahachie label. The CD, which features guest musicians including saxophonist Kim Waters and trumpeter Rick Braun, is Perry's sixth for the label and eleventh overall.

* Pianist Peter Martin's New Year's Eve performance with singer Dianne Reeves and the New York Philharmonic has been posted online by PBS. (Martin's bit begins in the second half of the concert at about 1:15, with his piano solo on "Embraceable You" starting at 1:35:53.)

* Singer Wendy L. Gordon has announced details on new scholarships funded with proceeds from her "Jazz Heaven" series of concerts. The two LeeVert & Wendy Gordon Scholarships are worth $500 each, and will be awarded to a Sumner High School student (or students) attending Harris Stowe State University in the fall of 2015. (Both Gordon and her husband LeeVert are alumni of Sumner HS.)

The 2015 edition of "Jazz Heaven" is scheduled for Sunday, August 30 at the Florissant Civic Center's James Eagan Theater.

* The St. Louis Cabaret Conference has announced July 18-25, 2015 as the dates for its tenth anniversary, with more details promised next week. To get on the email list for conference information, just send a request to info@stlouiscabaretconference.com.

* Jazz radio update: This Saturday on Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis, Calvin Wilson's “Somethin’ Else” program will explore the influence of Charlie Parker via the bop stylings of alto saxophonists Frank Morgan, Jackie McLean, and Sonny Stitt. Wilson can be heard at 8:00 p.m. Saturdays on 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* In advance of his gig tonight with pianist Craig Taborn at The Stage at KDHX, multi-instrumentalist and composer Roscoe Mitchell (pictured) sat down for a Q&A session with KDHX's Alex Cunningham, and also had a few words with the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson.

* Wiring, the most recent album by Trio 3 - saxophonist and former St. Louisan Oliver Lake, bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille - with guest pianist Vijay Iyer, was reviewed by Gapplegate Music Review.

* The new Clark Terry documentary Keep On Keepin' On was reviewed by the Boston Globe.

* Euclid Records currently is offering a free Blue Note poster or turntable platter mat with the purchase of any new Blue Note CD or LP.

* And speaking of limited time offers, WornFree.com is offering a 25% discount on their Miles Davis-related clothing line. To get the discount, use the coupon code MILES25.

* Jazz radio update:  On Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis this Saturday night, “Somethin’ Else” host Calvin Wilson will spotlight the music of the late saxophonist, flutist and bass clarinetist Eric Dolphy. 

After that on The Jazz Collective, host Jason Church has holiday music from Michael Franks, Ramsey Lewis, Vince Guaraldi, Louis Armstrong, Boney James, Jimmy Smith, Larry Carlton, Jim Manley, Erin Bode, Dawn Weber, Funky Butt Brass Band. and more.

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

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Keep On Keepin' On, the new documentary about trumpeter and St. Louis native Clark Terry and his student Justin Kauflin (pictured) that opened in limited release last weekend, won one of the top prizes at the Aspen Film Festival in Colorado. The film also was reviewed favorably by publications including the AV Club, Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times,  New York Times and Washington Post.

* The Baylor Project, featuring drummer (and St. Louis' own) Marcus Baylor and his wife, singer Jean Baylor, will make their Washington, DC debut as a band next Tuesday, October 14 at the city's famed Blues Alley club.

* Another St. Louis native, bassist Dan Loomis of The Wee Trio, has a new album out with his "other" band, the quartet Spoke. Their third outing, titled (R)anthems, features a dozen tracks, including originals as well as an eclectic collection of covers including the Beatles' "Blackbird," Rufus' "Tell Me Something Good," and "I Only Have Eyes For You."

* Saxophonist Oliver Lake recently took his big band to Pittsburgh for the 10th annual concert of jazz and poetry at the venue City of Asylum. You can watch the show in its entirety (including poets) here.

* In what has to be one of the more puzzling and polarizing projects of the year, Miles Davis' landmark album Kind of Blue has been replayed and recorded note-for-note by the band Mostly Other People Do The Killing and released by them under the title Blue. In two of the first reviews to be published, Peter Bacon of the UK blog The Jazz Breakfast calls it "a completely and marvellously realised joke," while AllAboutJazz.com's Mark Corroto said, "What MOPDTK has done is demanding and esoteric. But it is not jazz and, importantly, they know it."

* In other Miles Davis-related news, the trumpeter's visual art was spotlighted this week by the website Open Culture.

* Euclid Records in Webster Groves will hold their semi-annual sidewalk sale from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 18, featuring live music and thousands of used LPs, CDs and DVDs priced to move.

* The kitchen at the new Jazz at the Bistro is up and running this week, and the menu by St. Louis Catering now can be viewed online.

* In related news, Yamaha is touting the fact that their pianos are the instruments of choice at the new Bistro and in Jazz St. Louis' adjacent classrooms (which are still under construction); and the club took delivery this week on a new custom drum kit hand-made by Jeff Schaefer, a St. Charles builder/refurbisher/tech known professionally as The Reapercussionist.

* And as long as we're speaking of the new Bistro, the St. Louis American's Kenya Vaughn has weighed in with a few thoughts on the new venue.

* Jazz radio update: This Saturday on Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis' “Somethin’ Else,”  host Calvin Wilson gets into the music of pianist Keith Jarrett's 1970s quartets. Listen in at 8:00 p.m. on 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.

Meanwhile, on this week's edition on WSIE's "Jazz Talk," hosts Dick Ulett, Mike Silverman and Rob Silverman will talk with drummer Kaleb Kirby. The program is broadcast from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Sundays on 88.7 FM and also can be heard online.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Saxophonist David Sanborn's shows last week at Ronnie Scott's in London were reviewed by London Jazz News and The Guardian.

* Keep On Keepin' On, the new documentary featuring trumpeter and St. Louis native Clark Terry and his student, the young pianist Justin Kauflin, opened last weekend in NYC and LA to favorable notices.

Meanwhile, Quincy Jones, whose company produced the film, talked about it with the hip-hop magazine The Source, and the New York Times published an interview with Kauflin.

* Representatives of the Miles Davis estate, including Davis' son Erin Davis and nephew Vince Wilburn, Jr. will appear on October 10 at the Helen Mills Event Space & Theater in NYC for “CBGB Talks,” a Q&A that "will offer a rare glimpse into the psyche of an iconic, music legend."

* Also on the Davis front, trumpeter Wallace Roney talked with Down Beat about a recent concert in which he performed some re-discovered Wayne Shorter music originally composed for Davis.

* Saxophonist and St. Louis native Eric Person (pictured) has announced that his big band will return to NYC's Blue Note Jazz Club for a show on Monday, November 3.

* From Point of Departure, here are reviews of two recent recordings, by the groups Tarbaby and Trio 3, featuring saxophonist Oliver Lake. Lake will be in residency for a week later this month at NYC's The Stone, playing with a different ensemble every night from Tuesday, October 21 through Sunday, October 26.

* The Route 66 Jazz Orchestra has posted on their Facebook a set of photos from their performance last week at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

* Music for Lifelong Achievement's fall musical instrument drive was the subject of a feature story on Fox 2 News.

* Speaking of Fox 2 News, they also had coverage this week of the re-opening of the renovated and expanded Jazz at the Bistro, as did St. Louis magazine's Stef Russell and the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson.

* St. Louis' Euclid Records made indie rocker Bob Pollard's list of the best record stores in the USA, as published in Playboy magazine, while another local music retailer, Cherokee Street's Apop Records, announced this week that they were closing for good as the store owner returns to college.

* Jazz radio update: On this Saturday's episode of Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis' “Somethin’ Else,” host Calvin Wilson will feature a jazz take on the music of oft-enigmatic singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, as offered by musicians including Mitchell herself, Herbie Hancock and Dave Douglas.

Then on "The Jazz Collective," host Jason Church will spin tracks from U-Nam, Mariea Antoinette, the JT Project, Doc Powell, Down To The Bone, Common Time, Jesse Gannon, the Silverman Brothers, Chris Hazelton's Boogaloo 7, Candy Dulfer, Brian Culbertson, Ramsey Lewis, George Benson, Side Effect, Pieces Of A Dream, and more.
 
Wilson's program can be heard at 8:00 p.m., followed by Church at 9:00 p.m., on 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* It's been an eventful week for Miles Ahead, Don Cheadle's movie about Miles Davis, as Cheadle and company began filming on Monday in Cincinnati and last night wrapped up a successful IndieGoGo campaign raising more than $340,000 in additional funding for the movie.

Meanwhile, Cheadle also was interviewed about the movie by Entertainment Weekly (which ran the photo of him as Davis-circa-1969 that accompanies this post), Okay Player, and Uprising Radio.

* In other Davis-related news, the trumpeter also showed up on a list recently published by WhoSampled.com of the top 10 most-sampled jazz artists of all time. Davis ranks number nine on the list, with 146 samples of his music used in hip-hop records that made the charts. (Incidentally, the musician ranked as "most sampled" is a Missouri native - keyboardist Bob James, who's originally from Marshall, MO and has had his jazz/funk tunes sampled 734 times to date.).

* Drummer Dave Weckl has announced a tour and forthcoming album by his new group, the Dave Weckl Acoustic Band, which features St. Louis native Tom Kennedy on bass along with saxophonist Gary Meek and pianist Makoto Ozone. Though the tour schedule for this summer doesn't include a St. Louis date, you can see a brief preview video of the band, recorded earlier this year at the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood, here.

* In conjunction with other merchants in the Old Webster business district, Euclid Records will hold a sidewalk sale next Saturday, July 19, with thousands of LPs, CDs and DVDs for sale at marked-down prices in front, in back, and inside the store, which is located at 19 North Gore in downtown Webster Groves.

* Tavern of Fine Arts co-owner Aaron Johnson got married over the Fourth of July weekend to Melissa Brooks, cellist with the St. Louis Symphony. Congratulations to the happy couple!

* Historian and former St. Louisan Benjamin Cawthra, who wrote the book Blue Notes in Black and White about the history of jazz photography, has a few thoughts about recent developments here concerning Jazz St. Louis and the Palladium, and how the presentation of live jazz continues to evolve.

* Keyboardist Jim Hegarty has published a new ebook, Guts & Soul: Looking for Street Music and Finding Inspiration, which is available now for free on Smashwords and soon via iTunes and other outlets. "Street music has always inspired me and I went looking for more," explained Hegarty in an email touting the book, which contains photos of and conversations with street musicians in New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New Orleans.

* Jazz radio update: Coming up this week on Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis' “Somethin’ Else,”  host Calvin Wilson explores the compositions of saxophonist Ornette Coleman, as recorded by the composer himself, bassist Christian McBride, drummer John Hollenbeck and others.

Following that, on "The Jazz Collective," host Jason Church will offer up tracks from Morgan James, Omar Hakim, Cookin on 3 Burners, Down To The Bone, Ragan Whiteside, Mindi Abair, Lou Donaldson, Wes Montgomery, Junior Walker, Wilton Felder, and Donald Byrd as well as locals including Dawn Webert, Soul Cafe, and Jim Manley.

"Somethin' Else" can be heard at 8:00 p.m. Saturdays, followed by "The Jazz Collective" at 9:00 p.m., on 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* It's been a busy week for Miles Davis news, as on what would have been his 88th birthday Monday, New York City unveiled "Miles Davis Way" as the new name for the stretch of West 77th St. (pictured) where the trumpeter resided in NYC.

The ceremony got extensive media coverage, with stories in outlets ranging from USA Today and Billboard to NY1 and Broadway World. Meanwhile, Davis’ son Erin and nephew Vince Wilburn were interviewed about the occasion by, oddly enough, Parade magazine.

* It also was announced this week that Davis' album Bitches Brew will be the subject of a new volume in the "33 1/3" series of books.

* And last but not least on the Davis front, NPR's Kevin Whitehead reviewed Davis' new Live at the Fillmore box set, while actor/director Don Cheadle was talking more about the pending start of filming of his movie about Davis.

* In a short essay published on Medium.com, pianist Peter Martin asks the musical question, "Did Oscar Peterson swing?" and answers in the affirmative.

* Saxquest proprietor Mark Overton was interviewed by KDHX's Kevin Korinek.

* Tonight's Jazz Edge Big Band concert with trumpeters Keyon Harrold and Russell Gunn at the Touhill was previewed in stories by Calvin Wilson of the Post-Dispatch and Kenya Vaughn of the St. Louis American.

* St. Louis' Euclid Records is one of a select group of stores across the nation selling special limited edition titles on vinyl from Blue Note records as part of the label's 75th anniversary celebration.

* Jazz radio update: Coming up Saturday on Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis, Calvin Wilson's “Somethin’ Else,” will feature jazz versions of music from the John Lennon-Paul McCartney songbook, including interpretations from singer Paula West, clarinetist Don Byron, and pianist Fred Hersch.

After that, "The Jazz Collective" host Jason Church will be doubling down on local music with a two-hour, all-St. Louis program featuring tracks from Erin Bode, Farshid Etniko, Joe Mancuso, Groove Thang, Common Time, Sarah Jane & The Blue Notes, Jim Manley, Dawn Weber, Vincent Varvel, Jim Stevens, Jesse Gannon, Anthony Hines, Funky Butt Brass Band, Elliott Ranney, Tim Cunningham, Tommy Halloran, Brian Vaccaro, Carolbeth True, Dreaming In Colour, Michael and Robert Silverman, Dizzy Atmosphere, "Peanuts" Whalum, and Soul Cafe.

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