Sunday Session: December 2, 2018

Arturo O'Farrill

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:

* Grammy Winning Saxophonist Frank Catalano On Alternative Revenue Streams And Trio Of New Live Albums (Forbes)
* When you're smiling: Louis Armstrong museum shares digitized pictures of jazz legend (New York Daily News)
* How The 'New World' Symphony Introduced American Music To Itself (NPR)
* One-Hit Wonders Who Deserve a Second Chance (MelMagazine.com)
* William Hooker Interview (InTheTrove.com)
* Green Book: The Real-Life Story of Dr. Don Shirley (Vanity Fair)
* Arturo O’Farrill’s ‘Fandango’ Spans Border to Unify Cultures, Musics (DownBeat)
* Tony Williams Gets the Deluxe Treatment in 'Blue Note Review: Volume Two – Spirit & Time' (WBGO)
* Singer-songwriter John Prine: Still alive and kickin' (CBS News)
* Beneath the Surface of Bruce Springsteen (Esquire)
* The rise of Africa’s most exciting new dance music scenes (DazedDigital.com)
* A Burst of Reissues from the Catalog of Frank Zappa (DownBeat)
* Art Ensemble Chronicled in Massive ECM Box Set (DownBeat)
* Local archaeologist shares discovery about early music (Left Hand Valley Courier)
* Everything on Social Media Is for Sale (The Atlantic)
* Mick Jagger Talks New Rolling Stones Tour, Aretha Franklin and Grammys (Billboard)
* Nina Is Everywhere I Go (Oxford American)
* A Moment in Time - An Interview with Terence Blanchard (ScoreIt.org)
* 'Conserve the Sound' hopes to save sounds of old tech before they're gone (CBC)
* Cyrille Aimée Pushes Herself into New Terrain with 'Move On: A Sondheim Adventure' (WBGO)
* Keith Richards on Rolling Stones’ Stadium Tour: ‘Maybe This Will Be the Last One’ (Rolling Stone)
* Iconic 1958 photo - which featured the biggest names in jazz - is brought to life by never-before-seen frames from legendary photographer Art Kane's shoot (Daily Mail)
* The Place of the Drum Solo in Jazz (Jazz Times)
* Farewell Mary Jane: Grieving for a lost jazz hideout (Japan Times)
* If you think you know who Philip Glass is, you probably don’t (Washington Post)
* Meet Skull Snaps, a Forgotten Funk Band That Soundtracked Hip-Hop (Bandcamp.com)
* Library of Congress Acquires Billy Strayhorn Archive (Jazz Times)
* Jazz icon Wayne Shorter can play anything. He’s still trying to say everything (Washington Post)
* Funk was the black answer to “Star Wars”: Take the trip with “Tales From the Tour Bus” (Salon.com)
* "For the sake of a couple of bucks, they deserted us": Vancouver's last classical record store to close (CBC)
* Expansive Martinelli Book Examines European Jazz History (DownBeat)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Saxquest has posted to their Facebook page a photo album from last Saturday's workshop and performance featuring saxophonist Frank Catalano.

* The Schlafly St. Louis Brewery and Tap Room downtown has expanded its performing space and likely will be presenting more live music, according to this article from the RFT's Mabel Suen.

* Writing for the St. Louis Beacon, Terry Perkins previews this Sunday's performance by the Tony Suggs/Montez Coleman quartet at the Bistro at Grand Center. 

* This week's performance by saxophonist David Sanborn and keyboardist Bob James (pictured) at the London Jazz Festival was reviewed by London Jazz News.

* Seven of saxophonist Oliver Lake's albums for the Black Saint and Soul Note labels have been remastered and reissued as a new CD box set.

* There's still time to vote in Jazz Times' magazine's annual readers poll; balloting ends on Tuesday, December 3.

* Jazz radio update: For this Saturday's edition of "Somethin' Else" on Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis, host Calvin Wilson will spin tracks featuring collaborations between Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane, including a live recording from a Thanksgiving weekend concert in the 1950s. The program can be heard at 8:00 p.m. Saturdays via 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2 and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.

(Edited after posting to add the St. Louis Beacon link.)

Jazz this week: Block, Gibson & Recoder, Jim Manley, Frank Catalano, Tom McDermott, Cornet Chop Suey, and more

It's potentially another very busy weekend for fans for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with so many performances, workshops and film screenings going on that yr. humble StLJN editor got a bit behind schedule and worn out just assembling the basic info for all the events of interest. So, assuming you're willing to forgive this week's relative lack of description and/or commentary, let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents "Freedom Jazz Dance," a free concert featuring dancers from choreographer Ashley Tate's Ashleyliane Dance Company performing with live music.

Also tonight, Good 4 The Soul checks in for their monthly gig at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups; Dizzy Atmosphere plays at The Shaved Duck; the Dixie Dudes perform at Jazz on Broadway; and The 442s are at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

On Friday, New Music Circle and the St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF) will present a "live cinema" performance of music and film by Olivia Block, Sandra Gibson and Luis Recoder at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. For more about that, check out Stef Russell's interview with the artists published on St. Louis magazine's Look/Listen blog.

Also on Friday, trumpeter Jim Manley (pictured) opens a two-night engagement with his Mad Brass and Rhythm ensemble at Jazz at the Bistro. For more about Manley's latest CD release, and why you won't be hearing any of the tunes from it this weekend, check out this post from last week. And for still more about about the CD and this weekend's shows, see Terry Perkins' article about Manley for the St. Louis Beacon.

Elsewhere around town on Friday, guitarist Rick Haydon will lead a quartet in concert at the Wildey Theatre; guitarist Tom Byrne plays solo at the Big Sky Cafe; singer Tony Viviano returns to Talayna's in Chesterfield; and singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Randy Bahr play the first of two nights this weekend at Chaser's Lounge in the Chase Park Plaza Hotel.

On Saturday afternoon, the fine Chicago saxophonist Frank Catalano will be in town to present a free clinic and performance at Saxquest.

Then on Saturday evening, SLIFF will present a screening of Bayou Maharaja: The Tragic Genius of James Booker, a biography of the New Orleans pianist, at Winifred Moore Auditorium at Webster University. The screening will be accompanied by a Booker-inspired piano performance by former St. Louisan Tom McDermott.

Also on Saturday, electronic music legend Morton Subotnick will be at the Kranzberg Arts Center; the Chicago-based piano/drums duo The Claudettes, aka Johnny Iguana and Michael Caskey, perform at Pop's Blue Moon; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes trio play at The Wine Press; and guitarist Farshid Soltanshahi and pianist/singer Curt Landes are doing a duo show at the house concert venue KindaBlue, 6101½ Idaho.

On Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents the traditional jazz and swing sounds of Cornet Chop Suey at the Doubletree Hotel-Westport; and SLIFF will offer a screening of The Pleasures of Being Out of Step, which looks at the life and work of journalist, author and jazz critic Nat Hentoff, at the new KDHX headquarters on Washington Ave. in Grand Center. Hentoff's daughter Jessica Hentoff, who lives in St. Louis, will be present for the screening. 

Later on Sunday, the Funky Butt Brass Band will team up with members of the St. Louis Low Brass Collective for a free concert and jam session at the J.C. Penney Auditorium on the UMSL campus.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday members of the Webster University jazz faculty, performing as the Webster Jazz Collective, will play a concert at Winifred Moore Auditorium; and trumpeter Keith Moyer's quartet returns to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

On Tuesday morning, the St. Louis Ragtimers will play the first of two "Coffee Concerts" this week at the Sheldon Concert Hall, with a repeat performance on Wednesday morning.

Then on Tuesday night, the SIUE Concert Jazz Band - featuring alumni of school's jazz program and the return of former director Brett Stamps, who retired last year - will play at Jazz at the Bistro; Lindy Hop St. Louis presents their Tuesday night swing dance at the Grandel Theatre with music from Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes; and Robbie's House of Jazz will pre-empt their usual weekly jam session for an evening of blues from Nashville-based Andy T and the Nick Nixon Band.  

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: Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ann Hampton Callaway, Eric Person, Frank Catalano, Frank Rosaly, and more

You might say this week's menu of jazz and creative music events in St. Louis has a sort of Noah's Ark vibe to it. The performances are coming in pairs, including two female vocalists, two versatile saxophonists, and two shows with an experimental/free improv bent.

It all gets started on Thursday, when Chicago percussionist Frank Rosaly does a solo show of music from his new recording Milkwork at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center. Rosaly uses both acoustic and electric instruments, touches on a wide variety of genres, and also incorporates free improvisation and unconventional techniques into his pieces. You can see a brief interview with Rosaly and hear some of his music in the embedded video window at the bottom of this post.

If you're in the mood for something a bit more mainstream, that same evening clarinetist Scott Alberici will perform some straight-ahead swing in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

On Friday, singer Ann Hampton Callaway headlines the "Queens of Jazz" event at the Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis, with St. Louis' own Denise Thimes opening the show. You can see some video samples of Callaway in action in this post from last Saturday.

Also on Friday, Chicago saxophonist Frank Catalano opens a two-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. Known as a high-energy player who can swing hard or go outside if the situation warrants it, Catalano played in St. Louis last September for the now-defunct Tuesday night jazz series at the Gramophone, and then was invited to make his Bistro debut this year. To see a couple of videos of Catalano, check out this post.

On Saturday evening, singer Dee Dee Bridgewater kicks off the 2009-10 jazz series at the Sheldon Concert Hall with a program paying tribute to Billie Holiday. (You can see a couple of videos of Bridgewater in the above noted "dueling divas" post here.

Also on Saturday, saxophonist and St. Louis native Eric Person (pictured) returns home for the first time since 2007 for a gig at the Ambassador. Person will be playing songs from his most recent CD Rhythm Edge as well as his upcoming release The Grand Illusion, backed by the Midwest edition of his band Meta-Four with Bryan Harrison (keyboards), John King (bass) and Kevin Kelley (drums).

That same evening, keyboardist and composer James Hegarty performs at the Kranzberg Arts Center in a concert presented by New Music Circle. Hegarty's performance, called "eXscapement," is a collaboration with his artist daughter Anna that was inspired by their recent trip to Japan.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Tuesday morning the Sheldon starts their season series of Coffee Concerts with a George Gershwin tribute by singer Debby Lennon and pianist Carolbeth True. (There's another performance on Wednesday morning, too.)

For more jazz and creative music events this weekend and beyond, check out the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, available for viewing on the left sidebar or by clicking here.

(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: Frank Catalano's "Funky Dunky" and "Mighty Burner"

This week, let's look at a couple of clips featuring Chicago saxophonist Frank Catalano, who will be in St. Louis to perform on September 30 at The Gramophone as part of the Tuesday night series the club is co-presenting with Jazz St. Louis.

The first video shows Catalano and his band doing his original composition "Funky Dunky" at the Cotton Club in Tokyo, Japan, while the second clip finds him back on home turf, playing "Mighty Burner" at the famous Chicago nightspot the Green Mill. No word yet as to who will be playing with Catalano on his St. Louis gig, but we can tell you that the Tuesday night shows at The Gramophone begin at 9:00 p.m., and that they're free, with no cover or admission charge.

Saxophonists Catalano, Richardson to play as part of The Gramophone's Tuesday night jazz series

Jazz St. Louis' director of education Phil Dunlap emails with news of two upcoming performances in the Tuesday night series that JSL is co-sponsoring at The Gramophone.

The first is a show by Chicago-based saxophonist Frank Catalano, who will play at The Gramophone on Tuesday, September 30 for an event hosted by the Young Friends of Jazz St. Louis. Catalano, who has performed with many well-known musicians including Louie Bellson, Charles Earland, Tony Bennett, Tito Puente, David Sanborn, Betty Carter, John Medeski and DJ Logic, also will do a clinic for Saxquest while he's in St. Louis, said Dunlap.

Then on Tuesday, October 7, it's a double bill featuring the Bennett Wood Quartet followed by saxophonist Logan Richardson (pictured). A Kansas City native now living in New York City, Richardson has released one CD, Cerebral Flow, on the Fresh Sound New Talent label, and has performed and recorded with Joe Chambers, Stefon Harris, Greg Tardy, Nashiet Waits, and many others. According to his bio, he's also been something of a protege of St. Louis native Greg Osby, studying sax with Osby and leading a group that performed in a jazz concert series curated by Osby.

Both performances begin at 9:00 p.m. at The Gramophone, and, as is customary for the Tuesday night series, both are free, with no admission charge.