So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Saxophonist Eric Person has released a new CD, DuoScope, which features duet performances with drummer Shinnosuke Takahashi. The album (pictured) is available now via CD Baby.

* St. Louis Public Radio has added a jazz channel to their online and HD offerings. Jazz KWMU-2 is streaming syndicated programming produced by Jazz Works, which offers a mix of mainstream modern jazz, Latin jazz, vocals, and more. You can see some sample playlists from the JazzWorks service here.

* In this week's St. Louis American, staff writer Kenya Vaughn reviews the latest album from singer Cecile McLorin Salvant.

* Saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett will celebrate his 75th birthday next week with a concert on Sunday, September 20 at the Chicago Academy of Music.

* A video excerpt showing saxophonist Willie Akins playing the blues at his own benefit concert last Friday at the Kranzberg Arts Center has been posted to YouTube.

* The band Soul Cafe won the fourth annual "Old Webster's Got Talent" contest last week, and will open the 2015 Old Webster Jazz & Blues Festival at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, September 19 on the Allen Avenue stage.

* Saxophonist, composer and onetime Webster University undergraduate John Zorn was the subject of a feature story in the Wall Street Journal.

* In what a cynic would say has the appearance of a classic holiday weekend newsdump, Grand Center announced last Friday evening that there will be no First Night celebration this year. There's no word yet as to whether venues in the district, which includes Jazz at the Bistro, the Sheldon, and the Kranzberg Arts Center, will be putting on any New Year's Eve programming of their own. Stay tuned...

Jazz this week: New Year's Eve and more

While the usual holiday-season dearth of touring jazz acts continues, St. Louis' own jazz and creative musicians nevertheless will be taking to local stages this week to celebrate New Year's Eve and subsequently usher in the first weekend of 2015. Here's what's on the schedule...

Wednesday, December 31
The annual First Night St. Louis will feature several bands and musicians of interest to StLJN readers, including both trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's quartet and pianist/singer Jesse Gannon at the Kranzberg Arts Center; the Funky Butt Brass Band at Sheldon Concert Hall; bassist Bob DeBoo & Friends at St. Xavier College Church (at Grand and Lindell); and The People's Key playing music from their "Jazz Memories of Michael Jackson" show at Third Baptist Church.

Unfortunately, these sets are timed and spaced so that it will be difficult to catch more than two of them during the evening, but of course, First Night also offers a variety of other performances and activities as part of the package. For details, see the event program on their website.

Elsewhere around town on New Year's Eve, singer Tony Viviano will return to the Four Seasons Wine House in Chesterfield; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will play the "1920s Bootlegger's VooDoo Ball" at Evangeline's in the Central West End; and singer Erin Bode will do two shows at Cyrano's in Webster Groves.

Also, the St. Louis Big Band will perform for a dinner and dance at St. Matthias the Apostle Catholic Church, 800 Buckley Rd in South County; trumpeter Randy Holmes' quintet will share a bill with singers Ron Wilkinson and Mary Dyson and their band at Voce downtown; and trumpeter Jim Manley and keyboardist Arthur Toney will duet at Riverbend, which recently relocated to the space formerly occupied by Harvest at 1059 S. Big Bend Blvd in Richmond Heights.

Friday, January 2
Though perhaps still nursing hangovers, assessing damage, and/or attempting to settle assorted legal disputes and moral conundrums arising in the aftermath of their annual "Holiday Brasstravanganza," the Funky Butt Brass Band, showbiz troopers that they are, will check in for the first of two nights of semi-organized revelry at Jazz at the Bistro.

Also on Friday, singer Wendy Gordon will perform her last monthly gig at DeLeo's Cafe & Deli, which is closing at the end of January; and Lindy Hop St. Louis will present their monthly "West End Stomp" swing dance at the Mahler Ballroom.

Saturday, January 3
The Sidemen will play swing and hot jazz at Evangeline's, while keyboardist Matt Villinger will enlist some old friends including vibraphonist Peter Schlamb for a "Cool Jazz Party" at Thurman Grill.

Also on Saturday, David Parker and Greg Mills' Society for Creative Survival presents "T 4 tú," an evening of duo performances at the Tavern of Fine Arts featuring Mills, Parker, Tracy Andreotti, Henry Claude, Ajay Khanna, Dave Stone, Fred Tompkins, and Joshua Weinstein.

Sunday, January 4
Singer and guitarist Tommy Halloran takes over the musical duties for the weekly Sunday brunch at Jazz at the Bistrountil further notice; and then later in the day, the Dave Dickey Big Band will return for the second gig in their new monthly series at the Bistro, with the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars student ensemble performing at intermission.

With both month-end and year-end fast approaching, StLJN HQ still is receiving info from musicians and venues about upcoming gigs in January, so for more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, please check back and visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. You also can keep up with all the latest news by following St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes or clicking the "Like" icon on the StLJN Facebook page.

(If you have calendar items, band schedule information, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)

Jazz this week: The Brothers Peterson, Good 4 The Soul, New Year's Eve jazz in St. Louis, and more

With Santa Claus' labors complete and his flying reindeer out to pasture for another year, there are just a few days of live jazz and creative music left in 2013. Let's see what's coming up in and around St. Louis...

Tonight, it's the final "Avant-Garde Arts Night" of the year at the Tavern of Fine Arts, featuring live improvised sounds from musicians mostly associated with New Music Circle; and trumpeter Jim Manley plays his weekly gig at Joyia Tapas in the Grove neighborhood.

Tomorrow night, bassist Mark Peterson and guitarist Anthony Michael "Tru" Peterson, brothers and St. Louis natives, will team up as The Brothers Peterson for a homecoming performance at The Engine Room, a new live music venue at 7700 Ivory on the south side.

Also tomorrow night, in what's become a year-end tradition for the group, the jazz/funk/R&B quartet Good 4 The Soul (pictured) checks into Jazz at the Bistro for the first of two nights. Elsewhere around town, the Funky Butt Brass Band will play the Broadway Oyster Bar; the multi-talented trio of Curt Landes, Alan Ox and Vince Martin will join forces for a performance at Robbie's House of Jazz; and Wack-A-Doo will be at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

On Saturday evening, drummer Montez Coleman will lead a trio with keyboardist Matt Villinger and bassist Bob DeBoo in a live recording session at the Kranzberg Arts Center. Also on Saturday, singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black are back at Chaser's Lounge in the Chase Park Plaza Hotel; the Dixie Dudes play at Jazz on Broadway; the Kevin Mitchell 4 perform at Robbie's House of Jazz; and Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Then on Sunday, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will perform at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups, and Dizzy Atmosphere plays the Schlafly Tap Room.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday The 442s return to Cyrano's, and saxophonist "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective play their monthly gig at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

On Tuesday, if you're looking to hear some jazz on New Year's Eve, there are a few options to consider, though once again the city's best-known venue, Jazz at the Bistro, will be closed due to the annual First Night celebration in the surrounding Grand Center district.

As compensation, First Night includes some musical performances of potential interest among its family friendly offerings; this year's lineup features cabaret duo Joe Dreyer and Rosemary Watts, singers Brian Owens and Kim Massie, and electronic musician Eric Hall,  plus swing and Gypsy jazz from Dizzy Atmosphere and the Latin/jazz/world music of Farshid Etniko.

Elsewhere on New Year's Eve, singer Erin Bode and her band will perform for two seatings at Cyrano's, and singer Tony Viviano will headline the evening at Four Seasons Winery in Chesterfield.

Meanwhile, Robbie's House of Jazz will present a "New Year Eve Variety Show" with drummer Maurice Carnes' band, comedian Don Clair, Jeff Stewart's Broadway Show, Belly Dancing to the Blues and Nicholas Gates Dancers; and Miss Jubilee will provide the live music for a "Roaring 20s" event at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel.

(If you're looking for tickets for the sold-out New Years Eve Speakeasy Ball with Sarah Jane and The Blue Notes at The Deco Fortress, your best bet would seem to be to check the event's Facebook page for possible cancellations, returns, etc.)

For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. You also can keep up with all the latest news by following St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes or clicking the "Like" icon on the StLJN Facebook page.

(If you have calendar items, band schedule information, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)

Jazz this week: New Year's Eve jazz in St. Louis, and more

While New Year's Eve isn't usually a particularly big night for live jazz in St. Louis, there seem to be slightly more than the usual number of jazz-related options out there this year.

Among the more noteworthy revels occurring this Thursday evening:

* Singer Erin Bode (pictured) and her band will be doing two performances at the Joe Buck Show Room, which is part of the sportscaster's JBuck's restaurant downtown on Clark St.;
* The Robert Edwards Big Band will play at Robbie's House of Jazz;
* Singer Kim Massie will be at Brandt's;
* Singer Cherilyn Evans & CEE JazzSoul are performing at Smoking Joe's Bar-Be-Que downtown on Washington Ave;
* Singer/pianist Anita Rosamond teams up with guitarist Grant Krener at Chandler Hill Wineries in Defiance.

As has been the case for the last few years, the city's premiere jazz room, Jazz at the Bistro, will be dark on New Year's Eve, yielding the streets in the immediate neighborhood to Grand Center's annual First Night event, which usually features a variety of music in addition to dance, theater, visual arts and family oriented activities.

Acts scheduled to perform at this year's First Night include singers Wendy Gordon and Jeannie Trevor; multi-instrumentalist Sandy Weltman's gypsy-jazz band Hot Club Caravan; singer Brian Owens; Le Jazz Hot (with pianist Ptah Williams, saxophonist Chad Evans, bassist Daryl Mixon and drummer Bensid Thigpen); Wackadoo (with singer Valerie Tichacek); and Jazz St. Louis executive director Gene Dobbs Bradford's blues band, the Blues Inquisition. For a complete schedule of performances, visit the First Night website.

Beyond New Year's Eve, it looks to be a relatively uneventful few days for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, save for some regular weekly standing gigs carrying over into the new year. That's not unusual - the first couple of weeks of the year are usually a slow time for live music, and with many people still on holiday, a lot of January schedule information from musicians and clubs has yet to arrive here at StLJN HQ.

As that info comes in, I'll be updating the the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar - which can be found on the left sidebar, or by clicking here - with the latest information on more jazz and creative music events this weekend and beyond. 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.)