So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The new Miles Davis album The Lost Septet, a live recording featuring the trumpeter's 1971 band that made no studio albums, was reviewed by London Jazz News.

* In related news, a previously unheard bootleg audio recording of Davis' 1970 band, made in August of that year in Nassau, Bahamas, has surfaced on the Internet via the blog The Heat Wraps.

* Two gospel-influenced releases by the late guitarist and St. Louis native Grant Green (pictured) were briefly reviewed by Jazzwax blogger Marc Myers at AllAboutJazz.com.

* The annual Record Store Day, usually held in April, this year was one of many events postponed or canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. To make up for the postponement, independent record stores including our town's Euclid Records and Vintage Vinyl are taking part in three days of "RSD Drops" spotlighting special releases originally intended for Record Store Day, the first of which will take place tomorrow (Saturday, August 29). Additional "RSD Drops" will take place at participating stores on Saturday, September 26 and Saturday, October 24.

* Saxophonist Amos Brewer, who's played with various R&B and jazz performers and bands around the St. Louis area, is ill, and friends have created a GoFundMe to raise money for his medical and personal expenses.

* Drummer Rob Silverman was the guest on the latest episode of the Hybrid Jazz podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: The Grant Green Story

This week, let's take a look at the legacy of another notable jazz musician from St. Louis, as seen in the documentary film The Grant Green Story.

Born in St. Louis in 1931, Grant Green was a popular jazz guitarist in the 1960s and '70s, recording for Blue Note and other labels and playing most of the major venues of the era. He was just 43 years old when he died of a heart attack in 1979, leaving behind six children and a discography that included more than 100 sessions just for Blue Note alone, plus numerous other recordings.

Though Green's musical legacy was underappreciated for some time after his death, he was rediscovered in the 1990s, thanks in part to the short-lived "acid jazz" phenomenon, and, more importantly, from his work being sampled by hip-hop artists and producers including A Tribe Called Quest, Cypress Hill, Public Enemy, Eric B & Rakim, and most recently, Kendrick Lamar.

Directed by Charles F. Cirgenski and Sharony Green, who's the ex-wife of one of Green's sons, The Grant Green Story reveals details of Green's biography while it "follows the story of a son's search for his father," incorporating interviews with the likes of George Benson (who once called Green his favorite guitarist), Lou Donaldson, Blue Note recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder, St. Louis drummer Kenny Rice, and others.

The film was an official selection for the 2016 Harlem Film Festival, and also was shown at a selection of film festivals that year. Now that it's been released to YouTube, you can see it right here, starting with part one up above and continuing after the jump with parts two and three.

After that, you can see what seems to be the only footage of Green performing that's available online, recorded in October 1969 in Paris, France. Specifically, the fourth video is a set of music featuring Green in a trio setting, backed by bassist Larry Ridley and drummer Don Lamond. In the fifth video, recorded as part of the same session, the trio is joined by guitarists Kenny Burrell and Barney Kessel for another short set.

For more about Grant Green, check out his page at the Blue Note Records site, and this 1972 interview with Green, unearthed and republished in 2015.

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

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The Baylor Project, led by drummer and St. Louis native Marcus Baylor and singer Jean Baylor, has released a new single, “Sit On Down,” which is now available for download and for listening on the major streaming services.

* Trumpeter, composer and educator Prince Wells was interviewed on a recent episode of UMSL's  "University World View" podcast.

* Trombonist and St. Louis native Charlie Halloran, now residing in New Orleans, also has a new album out. Titled Shake the Rum, it offers Halloran's take on calypso music, and is available now for download or in CD format via his Bandcamp page.

* Grantstand, a two-CD set reissuing four albums by guitarist and St. Louis native Grant Green (pictured), was reviewed by Jazz Journal.

* Pianist Kara Baldus-Mehrmann is the latest Wash U faculty member featured in a "musical postcard" from the university's music department with her version of Carole King's "You've Got A Friend."

* After years of research by multi-instrumentalist and U. City native Marty Ehrlich, the papers of saxophonist, composer and Black Artists Group member Julius Hemphill now are available to researchers as part of New York University's Special Collections & Archives.

* With this year's event postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, National Record Store Day has announced a plan to move forward later in the year, with special releases hitting participating stores on August 29, September 26 & October 24.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Saxophonist Harvey Lockhart (pictured) has been chosen as one of 25 semi-finalists this year for the national Music Educator Award given annually by the Recording Academy and Grammy Awards.

As reported by the Post-Dispatch's Sarah Bryan Miller, Lockhart was recognized for his work as band director for Riverview Gardens High School - he subsequently joined the faculty at Cardinal Ritter this summer - and for his not-for-profit organization HEAL Center for the Arts. Ten finalists for the award will be named in December, with one winner selected to attend the Grammy Awards ceremony next year.

* Open Studio has posted to YouTube a video of last Saturday's concert by pianist Geoffrey Keezer.

* Musical instrument retailer and service center Saxquest will present their 2019 Woodwind Instrument Expo on Saturday, November 16 at St. Charles Community College. The event will offer musicians the opportunity to try instruments and accessories from a variety of manufacturers. Admission is free, but attendees who would like access to private rooms are encouraged to register in advance.

* An article by Charles Waring at UDiscoverMusic.com offers a reappraisal of guitarist Grant Green's Blue Note album Born to Be Blue, which recently was re-released as part of the label's "Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl" reissue series.

* The Sheldon has posted to Facebook an album of photos from saxophonist David Sanborn's concert last Friday night.

* And speaking of The Sheldon, HEC-TV has produced a feature story about the hall's new outdoor plaza.

* The impending opening next week of the new Central West End cabaret venue Blue Strawberry was the subject of a short feature story from Riverfront Times writer Ella Faust.

* Also in the RFT, the building that currently houses Vintage Vinyl is the subject of a "Then and Now" feature by Jaime Lees.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Due to the state's ongoing budget crisis, radio station WSIE has lost all funding from the state of Illinois, and is seeking donations from individuals as well as underwriting support from local businesses.

New general manager Jason Church tells StLJN that additional fund-raising efforts are in the works, but anyone who'd like to make a contribution right now can do so here.

* Speaking of raising money, Radio Arts Foundation will present a fundraising event called "An Evening of Wine and Jazz Under The Stars," featuring live music from Miss Jubilee, on Friday, September 14 at the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House in Faust Park in Chesterfield.

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold is the featured guest on the latest episode of WBGO's "The Checkout," which also airs on various NPR affiliates around the country.

* On a related note, Harrold's "Wayfaring Traveler," from his most recent album The Mugician, was Jazziz magazine's "Song of the Day" on Wednesday.

* Jazz Times has put online the cover story from their August issue about guitarist and St. Louis native Grant Green.

* Veteran St. Louis trumpeter and arranger Frank Goessler Jr. has died. He was 63 years old and lived in St. Charles. Goessler was a long-time member of the Bob Kuban Band who taught music at several local schools, most recently Academy of Sacred Heart and St. Monica School.

A graduate of what's now known as Berklee College of Music, Goessler also performed with and wrote charts for the Sessions Big Band, St. Louis Jazz Orchestra (aka Jim Widner Big Band), the Dave Dickey Big Band, and others. Visitation will be from noon to 4:00 p.m. this Sunday, August 5 at Baue Funeral and Memorial Center in St. Charles, with a funeral service scheduled at 4:00 p.m. Sunday in the Baue chapel.

So What: Local News, Notes & LInks

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

* St. Louis Public Radio will honor broadcaster, author and photographer Dennis Owsley (pictured) for 35 years of service to the station and the local music community with a celebration to be held at 7:00 p.m. next Thursday, July 19 at UMSL at Grand Center, 3651 Olive St.

The event is free and open to the public, and will include live music from saxophonist Paul DeMarinis, guitarist Eric Slaughter, bassist Jeff Anderson, and drummer Steve Davis.

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold's recent gig at Ronnie Scott's in London was reviewed by Jazz in Europe.

* Harrold also was profiled briefly as one of "18 New Artists in the SFJAZZ 2018-19 Season."

* Multi-instrumentalist and singer Tonina Saputo was the subject of a feature story by St. Louis Public Radio's Jeremy Goodwin.

* Saxophonist, clarinetist and U City native Marty Ehrlich was interviewed in DownBeat on the occasion of the release of latest album, Trio Exaltation.

* A recent performance by Grant Green’s Evolution of Funk at the Jazz Standard in New York was reviewed by Jazz Times. The group, which features Green's son Grant Green, Jr on guitar, was formed in part to promote Resonance Records' recent release of previously unheard live recordings by the elder Green.

* Multi-instrumentalist Sandy Weltman has just released a new album titled Ukulele Nuthouse.  The recording features Weltman on ukuleles and harmonica with various accompanists, performing a mix of originals and covers,  and is available now from the usual digital outlets and from CD Baby.

* Keyboardist Ryan Marquez did a brief Q&A about jazz/funk band The People's Key's new album Unlocking Doors with the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson.

* The Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis has announced its grants for the coming presenting season, and some local arts organizations are upset about a new evaluation system that has resulted in 40 groups that previously had received money from RAC getting no funding at all for 2018-19.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Two new releases of previously unheard live recordings helped guitarist and St. Louis native Grant Green make the cover (pictured) of the July/August 2018 issue of Jazz Times nearly 40 years after his death.

Though the article about Green isn't online (yet), the magazine is on sale now, and they're also conducting an online poll asking readers to name their favorite Grant Green album.

* St. Louis native Mark Colenburg is profiled in the August 2018 issue of Modern Drummer magazine.

* Colenburg also will be one of the featured clinicians at the Australia Ultimate Drummer's Weekend, held August 25 & 26 in Victoria, Australia.

* Singer Denise Thimes, who recently moved from St. Louis to Chicago, is the subject of a brief profile by the Chicago Tribune's Howard Reich. 

* Here's a review of trumpeter Keyon Harrold's performance at last weekend's Love Supreme festival in England.

* The Arts and Education Council of Greater St. Louis has posted to YouTube a video of a performance by violinist Regina Carter and pianist Peter Martin at the 2018 St. Louis Arts Awards.

* Bassist Darin Gray has collaborated with Japanese singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Eiko Ishibashi on a new album, Ichida, which will be released on Friday, July 20 by the Black Truffle label.

* St. Louis photographer Tiffany Sutton last week launched a crowd-funding campaign for "Black, Brown and Beige," a series of portraits inspired by the Duke Ellington suite of the same name. Her plans also include an exhibition of the photos with a choir performing Ellington's music for the exhibit's opening. Find out more and, if you wish, donate at the project's GoFundMe page.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: The Grant Green Story

This week, we take a brief respite from previewing upcoming performances for a look at the recent documentary film The Grant Green Story.

Born in St. Louis in 1931, Green was a popular jazz guitarist in the 1960s and '70s, recording for Blue Note and other labels and playing most of the major venues of the era. He was just 43 years old when he died of a heart attack in 1979, leaving behind six children and a discography that included more than 100 sessions for Blue Note alone plus numerous other recordings.

Though Green's musical legacy was underappreciated for some time after his death, he was "rediscovered" in the 1990s, thanks in part to the short-lived "acid jazz" phenomenon, and, more importantly, from his work being sampled by hip-hop artists and producers including A Tribe Called Quest, Cypress Hill, Public Enemy, Eric B & Rakim, and most recently, Kendrick Lamar.

Directed by Charles F. Cirgenski and Sharony Green, who's the ex-wife of one of Green's sons, The Grant Green Story reveals details of Green's biography while it "follows the story of a son's search for his father," incorporating interviews with the likes of George Benson (who once called Green his favorite guitarist), Lou Donaldson, Blue Note recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder, St. Louis drummer Kenny Rice, and others.

The film was an official selection for the 2016 Harlem Film Festival, and also was shown at a selection of film festivals that year. Now that it's been released to YouTube, you can see it right here, starting with part one up above and continuing after the jump with parts two and three.

After that, you can see what seems to be the only footage of Green performing that's available online, recorded in October 1969 in Paris, France. Specifically, the fourth video is a set of music featuring Green in a trio setting, backed by bassist Larry Ridley and Don Lamond. In the fifth video, recorded as part of the same session, the trio is joined by guitarists Kenny Burrell and Barney Kessel for another short set.

These two clips document some of the music released for the first time earlier this year by Resonance Records on Funk In France: From Paris to Antibes (1969-1970), a 2 CD/3 LP set that also includes concert recordings Green at the 1970 Antibes Jazz Festival with a different band. At the same time, the label also released Slick! - Live at Oil Can Harry’s, another live recording of Green performing in 1975 at a popular club in Vancouver, BC Canada.

The final video is a promotional film put together by Resonance Records, which tells the story of how the masters were acquired and includes samples from the albums, plus some brief audio excerpts from an interview with Green.

For more about Grant Green, check out his page at the Blue Note Records site, the recent article about the Resonance albums from The New Yorker's Richard Brody, and this 1972 interview with Green, unearthed and republished in 2015.

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

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* A feature story by the Alton Telegraph's Jill Moon offers an update on the House of Miles East St. Louis, a not-for-profit organization that has renovated Miles Davis' childhood home (pictured) and will officially open it to the public with the inaugural "Miles Fest" on Saturday, June 2.

* Demonstrating Davis' influence from coast to coast, Curbed.com offers a look at "12 iconic landmarks from Miles Davis’s New York," while SFJAZZ.org has published a playlist of favorite Davis tracks in advance of their Miles Davis Festival this weekend in San Francisco.

* Two newly released live recordings of guitarist and St. Louis native Grant Green were reviewed by The New Yorker's Richard Brody.

* The National Saxophone Museum at Saxquest was the subject of a feature story by St. Louis Public Radio's new arts reporter Jeremy Goodwin.

* The St. Louis Post-Dispatch/STLtoday has published a set of photos from trumpeter Terence Blanchard's concert last Sunday at the Grandel Theatre.

* Saxophonist Oliver Lake's Big Band will headline the grand finale of this year's Vision Festival, which wraps up on Monday at Roulette in NYC.

* The Dark Room is now open and featuring live music seven days a week, and recently added a new patio seating area. Hours are 4:00 p.m to midnight Monday through Thursday; 4:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. Friday; 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. Saturday; and 10:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Sunday.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Metrotix and the Grandel Theatre are offering a "buy one, get one free" discount on tickets to the concert by trumpeter Terence Blanchard (pictured) on Sunday, May 20 at the Grandel. To take advantage of the offer, go here and use the discount code TBLIVE.

* St. Louis County Library once again is inviting local musicians to participate in "Listen Up STL," which makes original recordings from St. Louis bands and solo performers available for streaming to library patrons. Submissions are being accepted from May 1 through May 31; for details on the program and how to submit, visit the library's website.

* Trumpeter Jim Manley was interviewed last week by KSDK's Art Holliday for a story about Record Store Day.

* On a semi-related note, you can hear tracks from the two new Grant Green recordings released on Record Store Day via last week's episode of WBGO's "The Checkout."

* Pianist and St. Louis native Lawrence Fields can be seen in a new music video for "Libra," a track from the new album by Sound Prints, the quintet co-led by trumpeter Dave Douglas and saxophonist Joe Lovano that also includes Linda May Han Oh on bass and Joey Baron on drums.

* Drummer Dave Weckl will lead a a group of Drum Fantasy Camp students on a tour of Cuba in January of next year. You can see a promotional video for the trip here.

* Singer Chuck Flowers was interviewed on the online radio program "Jazz in the AM."

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold will join pianist Abdullah Ibrahim and Ekaya for their tribute to Ibrahim's ground-breaking Jazz Epistles this Sunday, April 29 at the Annenberg Center in Philadelphia. Harrold will play the parts originally intended for the late Hugh Masekela, a role that has been filled on Ibrahim's other recent dates by trumpeters Terence Blanchard, Wadada Leo Smith, and, in their show last week here in St. Louis, Freddie Hendrix.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Saxophonist and former St. Louisan Oliver Lake is featured in a new instructional video for Jazz at Lincoln Center's "Jazz Academy."

* Trumpeter/singer and U City native Jeremy Davenport's song "One Way Ticket to New Orleans," written to commemorate the city's tricentennial, was the subject of a feature story in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

* Grant Green Jr. will take his father Grant Green's music on the road this summer to help promote Resonance Records' release of two previously unheard albums by the guitarist and St. Louis native (pictured).

In addition to Green Jr, who is Green's eldest son and also a guitarist, the band billed as "Grant Green's Evolution of Funk" will include saxophonist Donald Harrison, keyboardist Marc Cary and drummer Mike Clark, and will make their debut with performances from June 28 to July 1 at NYC's Jazz Standard.

* On a related note, London Jazz News has reviewed Green's two new Resonance albums, Live at Oil Can Harry's and Funk in France, which will be released officially this Saturday, April 21 for Record Store Day.  You can find much more on this year's RSD jazz releases in this article from DownBeat.

* Drummer Kevin Bowers was interviewed about his shows this weekend at Jazz at the Bistro by the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson.

* Multi-instrumentalist Adam Maness has composed and produced music for a new video honoring the St. Louis Cardinals' Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson on the 50th anniversary of his historic performance in 1968, aka "The Year of the Pitcher."

With some coaching from Maness and singer Brian Owens, kids from the not-for-profit LIFE Arts, Inc wrote and performed the lyrics for the video, which can be seen on Major League Baseball's site MLB.com.

* Speaking of baseball, the Cardinals' Ernie Hayes was among the MLB ballpark organists featured in a recent post by JazzWax's Marc Myers.

* The Sheldon Concert Hall has posted to Facebook an album of photos from Ramsey Lewis' performance at last Friday night's benefit gala and an album from last Saturday's performance by pianist Abdullah Ibrahim and Ekaya.

* Singer Denise Thimes' Mothers Day show raising money to fight pancreatic cancer, which will be held this year at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, was previewed in an article by Ladue News' Emma Dent.

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold has been on tour in the UK and Europe, and his show last week at Jazz Cafe in London got a rave review from Jazzwise magazine.

* Miles Davis was the subject this week of a BBC program hosted by Adrian Utley of the British "trip-hop" band Portishead. Also on the Miles beat, the recently released box set Miles Davis & John Coltrane — The Final Tour: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 6 was reviewed by the Village Voice's Michael J. Agovino.

* HEC-TV has produced a video featuring testimonials from two local students, Kendall Blumenthal and Brittany O'Reilly, who have benefited from music scholarships awarded by Jazz St. Louis.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* This year for Record Store Day on Saturday, April 21, Resonance Records will release on vinyl two previously unheard albums by guitarist and St. Louis native Grant Green.

The two-LP set Slick! Live at Oil Can Harry's (pictured) was recorded on September 5, 1975 at the titular club in Vancouver, BC, while Funk in France: From Paris to Antibes (1969-1970) is a three-LP set compiling recordings from ORTF studios in Paris and the Antibes Jazz Festival.

* The Route 66 Jazz Orchestra has posted to Facebook a photo album from their performance last week at The Sheldon.

* And speaking of the Sheldon, they've posted to Facebook some photos from last Saturday night's performance by trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra.

* Thurman's in Shaw has hired Denise Mueller, formerly of The Dark Room, as its new general manager.

* Music educator, author, and STL Free Jazz Collective bassist Paul Steinbeck has been promoted to associate professor with tenure at Washington University.

* Episodes of the podcast "You'll Hear It," featuring pianists Peter Martin and Adam Maness, are now available on Spotify.

* Martin also has a couple of new blog posts up on his Open Studio Network website, offering his take on "7 Essential Jazz Piano Albums" and a "7 Step Guide to Learning Jazz Piano."

* Saxophonist and former St. Louisan Oliver Lake last week was part of an all-star ensemble assembled for "The Sonic Universe Project" at Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, along with multi-instrumentalists Douglas R. Ewart and Roscoe Mitchell, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, bassist Antony Cox, and percussionist Hamid Drake.

* Bassist and singer Tonina Saputo was profiled by the Riverfront Times' Christian Schaeffer. 

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The Tavern of Fine Arts (pictured), the Central West End restaurant and bar that has presented numerous jazz, free improv, cabaret, and classical music performances over the past five years, will close permanently at the end of service next Saturday, June 25.

In a message posted on the venue's website, proprietors Aaron Johnson and Matt Daniels wrote, "While the performances have often attracted large audiences, and we have always paid the bills, the business is not profitable." Next week's performances will go on as scheduled, but the closing means the cancellation of a CD release party planned by local free improvisors for next month, as well the loss of the venue for recurring events including poetry readings, a monthly free improv jam session, and Cabaret Project St. Louis' monthly "open mic."

* KDHX has posted online photo albums from Genesis Jazz Project's concert last Thursday at Chesterfield Amphitheater; the New Orleans Suspects' show on Friday at the Broadway Oyster Bar; and Saturday's "Summer Gras" at Old Rock House.

* Bjorn Rannheim of The 442s was interviewed about the band's new release RELAY on Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis.

* Saxophonist Christopher Braig has started a podcast called, fittingly enough, Sax St. Louis Podcast, offering "an eclectic mix of music, jazz, saxophone history, interviews, performing and educational topics relating to the greater St. Louis music community." Episode 1 is online now, with a second installment promised soon.

* The culinary offerings at The Dark Room were the subject of features this past week in the Ladue News and on the morning newscast at KTVI/Fox 2.

* In a new entry on his blog Devil at the Confluence, author, historian, and illustrator Kevin Belford takes a deep dive into the question of how Jelly Roll Morton got credit for a recording of the song "Soap Suds" that actually was made by the St. Louis Levee Band.

* Belford also posted to Vimeo a 30-second clip from Blues for Charlie O'Brien, a "doc in progress" about the former St. Louis police detective who in the 1950s helped revive interest in the city's early blues and jazz performers.

* A new entry on Marc Myers' blog Jazzwax looks into the connection between guitarist Grant Green's 1965 album I Want to Hold Your Hand and the line of "Little LPs" produced for stereo jukeboxes by Blue Note records.

* Drummer Kimberly Thompson was honored for her work on NBC's Late Night with Seth Meyers at the SESAC Film & Television Composers Awards Dinner held on June 1 in Santa Monica, CA. The performing rights organization presented more than 100 awards to music composers in the categories of network TV, local TV, cable TV, film composing, jingles, and streaming media.

* Bassist and St. Louis native Dan Loomis will debut "Job's Trial's - Our Trials," a new jazz oratorio he composed for bass, guitar, drums, voices, and a narrator, in a performance next Friday, June 24 at IBeam Brooklyn in NYC.

* The website Boiler Room has posted online a video of trumpeter and St. Louis native Keyon Harrold's performance at Revive Music's 10th anniversary event last month in NYC.

* Saxophonist Eric Person and his band Meta-Four are booked to perform at the 2016 Hudson Valley Jazz Festival, which takes place August 11-14 in Peekskill, NY.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Clark Terry just got a birthday-week visit from the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, who detoured between scheduled stops on their current trek through the southern USA to perform for the legendary trumpeter at his bedside in a Little Rock hospital.

You can read JaLCO leader Wynton Marsalis' account of the visit here, and see more photos here. (In case you didn't know, Terry turns 94 on Sunday; StLJN will be paying tribute in this week's Saturday Video Showcase.)

* Speaking of photo albums, we've got links to several more today, starting with some shots from last week's New Music Circle concert featuring saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell and pianist Craig Taborn.

* Also from last week, the Dave Dickey Big Band has posted some pics to Facebook of their most recent gig at Jazz At the Bistro.

* Lastly, the Kevin Mitchell 4 is one of several local groups and musicians tapped during the holiday season to serenade Metrolink riders from inside their train car, and they've posted the photographic evidence on Facebook here.

* The Lindbergh High School jazz ensemble was featured on Fox 2's Thursday morning newscast. The band heads to Chicago next week to perform at the Midwest Clinic International Band, Orchestra and Music Conference, but first, they'll play for the hometown crowd in a free preview concert at 7;00 p.m. this coming Monday, December 15 at Lindbergh HS, 5000 S. Lindbergh Blvd.

* The recently rediscovered recording of singer and East St. Louisan Leon Thomas performing with the British jazz-fusion group Nucleus at the 1970 Montreux Jazz Festival has been reviewed again for AllAboutJazz.com, this time by AAJ's Bruce Lindsay.

* And speaking of "recently rediscovered," a 43-minute video of St. Louis-born guitarist Grant Green playing live in 1969 in Paris has been made available online as a paid download. (A copy of the show briefly posted to YouTube was removed after a take-down notice from Green's son.)

Given that up until now, any video of Green (pictured) has been scarcer than the proverbial hen's teeth, it's certainly a welcome find, though $19.99 for a download - no packaging, no extra materials, just a video file - seems a bit steep, even for something of this relative rarity.

* John Fornaszewski, longtime owner of Fornaszewski Music in Granite City, drummer, and father of drummer and bandleader Stan Fornaszewski, died this past Saturday at age 74 after suffering a heart attack. Our condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues...

* Jazz radio update: WSIE (88.7 FM) aka "The Jazz Station" is conducting another fund-raising drive today, tomorrow and Sunday. You can tune in to the broadcast or check out the live online stream for details on pledge premiums, and to listen throughout the weekend for special guests, interviews and more.

Meanwhile, this Saturday on Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis, Calvin Wilson's “Somethin’ Else” program will feature the songs of Harold Arlen (composer of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow," "Blues In The Night," and many more jazz and pop standards) as interpreted by Nicholas Payton, Max Roach, Dominique Eade, and others.

Right after that, Jason Church's The Jazz Collective will be in a holiday mood with season sounds from Harry Connick, Jr., Lynne Fiddmont, Candy Dulfer, Dave Koz, Vibraphonic, Manhattan Transfer, Mindi Abair, Al Hammerman, Dawn Weber, Funky Butt Brass Band, Jim Manley, 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:

* Today, we salute the memory of guitar great Grant Green (pictured), who was born in St. Louis on this day in 1935.

For more about Green, and a previously unreleased album of his recorded here in his home town back in 1959, check out this article from NPR's Kevin Whitehead. You can see the only known video footage of Green, playing "Blue Mist" with fellow plectrists Kenny Burrell and Barney Kessell, here.

* Drummer Dave Weckl is headed next month to Europe, where he'll spend July teaching large group clinics and one-day intensive workshops with just 12 to a class. Weckl will be in Copenhagen, Denmark; Stockholm, Sweden; Oslo, Norway; Naples, Italy; Winterswijk, Norway; Treppendorf, Germany; Reykjavik, Iceland; and more.

For more about what Weckl's been up to lately, check out this new interview with the drum website The Black Page.

* Drummer Kimberly Thompson is featured in a new magazine ad for Gretsch drums.

* Saxophonist Eric Person has posted on Facebook an album of photos from his big band's gig last week at Dizzy's in NYC.

* Speaking of photo sets on Facebook, the Jazz Edge Big Band has posted an album of pictures from their show last Friday at the Touhill.

* And while he was in town last week to perform with Jazz Edge, trumpeter Keyon Harrold was the subject of a feature story on local NBC affiliate KSDK.

* Actor/director Don Cheadle this week talked with USA Today about Miles Ahead, his film about trumpeter Miles Davis that will shoot this summer in Cincinnati.

* In related news, Cheadle turned to crowdfunding via IndieGoGo to raise an additional $325,000 in funds for the film between now and July 6. As of Thursday night, the campaign had garnered $78,370 toward the total. For more, see the embedded video update from Cheadle below, or visit the campaign page on IndieGoGo.



* Jazz radio update: WSIE's spring fundraising drive begins today at 4:00 p.m. and continues, with some breaks, through 4:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon. As part of a procession of supporting appearances from people involved with the local jazz scene, yr. humble StLJN editor will be on the air to help stump for pledges for a few minutes around 1:30 p.m. tomorrow.

Meanwhile on Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis, this Saturday's episode of Calvin Wilson's “Somethin’ Else” will highlight musicians who have performed at NYC's forward-looking Vision Festival, including pianists Myra Melford and Matthew Shipp and saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell.

Following that on "The Jazz Collective,"  host Jason Church will spin music from Mindi Abair, Harvey Mason, The Ault Sisters, The Rippingtons, Cookin' on 3 Burners, Oscar Peterson, Bob James, John Klemmer, Ramsey Lewis, Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, Clave Sol, The LP Outsiders, Jim Manley and Erin Bode.

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. 

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* NPR last Friday had a feature on a newly released, previously unheard live recording of Grant Green (pictured) made here in the guitarist's home town of St. Louis.

* Tonight's performance by the electronic music duo Caboladies, presented by New Music Circle at the White Flag Projects gallery, is previewed by Terry Perkins for the St. Louis Beacon. Meanwhile, NMC's program coordinator Jeremy Kannapell was interviewed about the organization's plans for the remainder of the 2012-13 season by the Riverfront Times' Josh Levi.

* Metrobones have posted to their Facebook page an album of photos from the group's concert last Friday at The Pageant with the Webster Groves High School jazz bands and guest soloist, trombonist Michael Dease.

* Bassist Reid Anderson of The Bad Plus, who are playing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro, submitted to a Q&A with the Riverfront Times' Jessica Lussenhop that, alas, ends up mostly rehashing old info about the trio while ignoring their most recent work. On the other hand, for some Bad Plus-related content that at least has the virtue of being current, there's this review of one of their sets Wednesday night at the Bistro by KDHX's Wil Wander.

* The St. Louis Low Brass Collective's board secretary and bass trombonist Andy Schiefelbein talked with the Post-Dispatch's Sarah Bryan Miller for a brief article about the LBC's annual performance next Tuesday at the Sheldon

* The Route 66 Jazz Orchestra sends word that their director Bob Boedges has been named to the Missouri Music Educators Association Hall of Fame. Boedges will be inducted in a ceremony during MMEA's annual conference later this month held at Tan-Tar-A Resort at the Lake of the Ozarks.

* Lastly, congratulations to pianist Carolbeth True, who's being honored as Citizen of the Year for 2013 by the city of Rock Hill.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Miles Davis Online's Jeffrey Hyatt has a new post up looking at the current state of the Miles Davis biopic starring Don Cheadle.

* Meanwhile, Columbia Legacy has announced the January release of Miles Davis Quintet Live In Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 2.

* A short essay on the Blue Note Records site about guitarist Grant Green (pictured) spotlights some of the recordings the St. Louis native made for the Blue Note label.

* Electronic musician Joseph Raglani is all over the famed indie music site Pitchfork.com this week, with a review of his new album Real Colors of the Physical World and a music video of "Trampoline Dream."

* Jazz St. Louis has posted on their Facebook page some photos documenting saxophonist Chris Potter's second set on Wednesday at Jazz at the Bistro. Potter continues at the Bistro through tomorrow night.

* Music from flute player Fred Tompkins and pianist Jim Hegarty is featured on the latest installment of Taran Singh's Free Jazz Hour podcast.

* The city of Sedalia needs $4,000 to restore a mural commemorating pianist and composer Scott Joplin.

* Fundrasising for the proposed National Blues Museum in downtown St. Louis got a jumpstart this week with the announcement of a $6 million gift from Pinnacle Entertainment Inc., which operates the Lumière Place casino downtown and River City casino in Lemay. The gift, part of more than $11 million given to organizations in the the city, fulfills part of the redevelopment agreement between Pinnacle and St. Louis. Coverage from local media included stories from the Post-Dispatch and St. Louis Business Journal.

* The December episode of HEC-TV's I Love Jazz, featuring music from saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett recorded live this past summer at the Missouri Botanical Garden, is airing now on the cable network (check the program guide for your TV provider) and also is available for viewing online.

StLJN Audio Archive: Grant Green - Visions

Fortunately for fans of jazz guitar, much of Grant Green's output for the Blue Note label in the 1960s and 1970s remains in print today. One exception, though, seems to be Visions, a 1971 session that featured the St. Louis native's versions of some then-current pop hits along with a couple of originals and one classical piece.

Vinyl copies are scarce, as you'd expect for a 40-year old recording that probably got just one pressing back then. There apparently was a CD reissue a few years back that now is out of print too, with used copies fetching as much $85 online as of this writing. And so far, the powers-that-be don't seem even to have made the album available as a digital download.

That scarcity, plus the renewed interest in Green's music in recent years, would seem to make Visions (pictured) a good candidate for the network of music sharing blogs - and once again, fortune has smiled on guitar fans, for the proprietor of a site called Lost In Tyme has preserved the session online for all to enjoy.

Stylistically, the laid-back Visions definitely is a departure from Green's usual tendencies toward hard bop, blues and funk but, accompanied by a band featuring Chuck Rainey on bass and Idris Muhammad on drums, he manages to find something interesting in most of the tunes. The track listing includes "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" "Maybe Tomorrow," "Mozart Symphony #40 In G Minor, K550, 1st Movement," "Love On A Two Way Street," "Cantaloupe Woman," "We've Only Just Begun," "Never Can Say Goodbye" and "Blues For Abraham."

To download a free copy of Grant Green's Visions, go to the original blog post referenced above and scroll down to where it says "Get It Here." Click on one of the links immediately below that and follow the instructions. (For more on .rar files and how to use them, see this.)

The StLJN Audio Archive links only to recordings that are out-of-print or that never have been commercially available. The purpose of the Audio Archive is to encourage discussion, appreciation and knowledge of St. Louis jazz artists, and we urge you to support them (or their estates) by purchasing authorized recordings and merchandise and, whenever possible, attending live performances.

(Edited 1/29/12 to add the disclaimer paragraph.)

Notes from the Net: Still more Miles to cover; Brubeck on the mend; plus news, reviews, interviews, and more

Here's the latest compilation of assorted news briefs and links related to jazz, improvisation, and creative music in St. Louis, including news of musicians originally from the Gateway City, recent visitors, and coming attractions, plus assorted other items of interest:

* Starting with some Miles Davis news, here's a recent article by PopMatters.com's Will Layman that asks, "How much Miles Davis is enough?" Well, for us, not just one item, that's for sure - so here's a review of the deluxe 40th anniversary collectors' edition of Bitches Brew, written for AllAboutJazz.com by Chris M. Slawecki. Meanwhile, yet another Davis-related book, Miles: The Companion Guide to the Autobiography, is currently scheduled for a February 2011 release date.

Also, via Miles Davis Online, there's news that hip-hop star/actor Q-Tip is working on a play about Davis (pictured) with author and filmmaker Nelson George. Also, there's another documentary film about Davis in the works, and the magazine The Revivalist just ran several stories on the Bitches Brew anniversary in their inaugural issue. The package includes interviews with saxophonist Bennie Maupin and drummer Lenny White, who played on the sessions for the album, and Davis' nephew Vince Wilburn, as well as a never-before-released live recording of “Directions.”

* Turning to news of other former St. Louisans, saxophonist Oliver Lake has just opened a show of his visual art in the galleries of radio station WBGO in Newark. The exhibit runs through January 28.

* Here's a review of guitarist Grant Green's CD Retrospective from Tim Niland of Music and More.

* In news of recent visitors, guitarist Russell Malone, who played Jazz at the Bistro in October and has a new CD on the St. Louis-based label MAXJAZZ, just did an interview on WBGO's The Checkout.

* And here's a review of drummer/keyboardist Gary Husband's latest, Dirty and Beautiful Volume 1, from AAJ.com's Ian Patterson. Husband was in St. Louis last month at The Sheldon with guitarist John McLaughlin's band 4th Dimension.

* The Rebirth Brass Band, who played at The Gramophone in October, have just released Rebirth Revisited, a collection of remixes by the band and various contributing producers. You can check out a sample track, "Do Whatcha Wanna (Jazzhouse SPD Remix)," by clicking on the embedded audio player below.



* Dave Brubeck is on the mend from the health difficulties that forced him to cancel his appearance here in October at the Sheldon. Here's a review of Brubeck's return to the stage at the Blue Note in NYC, courtesy of the Times' Nate Chinen, and a recent feature story on the venerable pianist and composer written by Marc Myers for the Wall Street Journal.

* Wrapping up with some items of more general interest, a recent story from the New York Times' Daniel J. Wakin chronicles the shrinking amount of work available to NYC freelance classical musicians, while another recent Times piece from A.G. Sulzberger looks at the ambivalent relationship that many working musicians have with holiday music.

* The first season of the HBO series Treme will be released on DVD in March. Pianist and former St. Louisan Tom McDermott is just one of many jazz and blues musicians who appeared earlier this year in the HBO series about New Orleans residents recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding of the city.

* Nominees for the 2001 Grammy Awards were announced last week, and though no St. Louis jazz musicians were nominated this year, a number of the jazz nominees have played here recently, as you can see if you check out the complete list here.

Notes from the Net: Another Miles Davis book; riding the "A" train with the Ellington Orchestra; plus news, reviews, interviews, and more

Brought to you a day late, courtesy of this spring's proliferation of pollen and the deleterious effects of same on yr. humble editor's sinuses, here's this week's compilation of assorted news briefs and links related to jazz, improvisation, and creative music in St. Louis, including news of musicians originally from the Gateway City, recent visitors, and coming attractions, plus assorted other items of interest:

* We've got several Miles Davis-related items this week, starting with the news that the album Sketches of Spain, one of the trumpeter's classic collaborations with arranger Gil Evans, is getting the deluxe 2-CD reissue treatment from Columbia/Legacy, along with Charles Mingus' Mingus Ah Um and Dave Brubeck's Time Out.

Also: Jazz.com's Jared Pauley recently attended a symposium at Columbia University on Davis' electric music, and wrote about it in a blog post titled "Reassessing Miles's Bitches Brew" which notes that "academic discourse and electric fusion don't always mix."

Drummer Jimmy Cobb (pictured), the sole survivor of the recording sessions that produced Miles' Kind of Blue, led a 50th anniversary tribute to KoB and Davis this past weekend at the at New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

And Kind of Blue also will be the central topic of yet another Davis-related book coming out this summer. The Blue Moment: Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue and the Remaking of Modern Music was written by the UK newspaper The Guardian’s chief sports writer and former Melody Maker editor Richard Williams, and will be published by Faber and Faber.

(This last item comes to StLJN via Miles Davis Online, a new blog started by Jeffery Hyatt, who also writes the Miles Davis Movie site that we linked to a couple of weeks ago. MDO has a bit of everything Miles-related, from artwork inspired by the trumpeter to a post linking to a video stream of Davis' guest-starring role in an episode of the 1980s TV series Miami Vice. While StLJN no doubt will be linking to MDO in the future, hard-core Miles fans are hereby advised to bookmark it for future reference.)

* In other news of natives of former denizens of the Gateway City, The Jazz Session series of podcasts produced by Jason Crane just did an interview with The Wee Trio, which includes former St. Louisan Dan Loomis on bass along with vibraphonist James Westfall and drummer Jared Schonig.

* The blog Art Decade recently posted a free downloadable .mp3 of guitarist and St. Louis native Grant's Green's verion of "I Can't Stop Loving You," recorded back in 1969.

* Turning to news of coming attractions, singer Tony Bennett, who will be in St. Louis this Thursday to perform at the Fox Theatre, was just in New Orleans, where he donated "dozens of new instruments Thursday to students at a charter school founded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, hoping the tubas, trumpets and trombones would be used to carry on New Orleans' vibrant musical tradition." An accomplished visual artist, too, Bennett also recently donated a portrait he painted of Duke Ellington to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.

* Speaking of the Duke, last week's celebration of his birthday in New York included an event that saw the present-day Ellington Orchestra riding and performing on the fabled "A" train to Harlem. You can read the New York Times' account of the trip here. The Ellington Orchestra played at the Touhill Performing Arts Center earlier this year.

* Catching up with news of other recent visitors to St. Louis, via Doug Ramsey's blog Rifftides, we learned that "Leonard Lopate of WNYC radio in New York invited Bill Charlap to drop by the studio where Lopate does his Please Explain program and talk about how jazz improvisation works. Seated at the piano, Charlap spoke clearly about the raw materials of music and showed what jazz players do with them in the act of creation." You can check out the archived broadcast here. Charlap was in St. Louis in February, performing with the Blue Note 7 at the Sheldon Concert Hall .

* From JamBase.com, here's a review by Will Nissen of a recent Medeski, Martin and Wood performance at Trocadero's in Minneapolis. MMW were in the STL a couple of weeks ago for the Loyal Earth Festival at the Old Rock House downtown.

* And from JazzPolice.com, here's a review by Pamela Espeland of a recent performance in the Twin Cities by The Bad Plus and singer Wendy Lewis. The Bad Plus played Jazz at the Bistro back in January..

* From the "general interest" folder, and following up on an item posted here a while back, it seems that business may be improving at Baker's Keyboard Lounge in Detroit as the venerable yet financially beleaguered jazz club celebrates 75 years in business. Or, depending on your point of view, maybe not.

* Finally, a recent article from BBC.com addressed something that's bugged yr. humble editor for a good long while now: "Why should we find modern music so difficult to appreciate - but not modern art? David Stubbs, author of Fear of Music - Why People Get Rothko But Don't Get Stockhausen, points out that the Tate Modern is one of the most popular galleries in Europe - but that an audience presented with the equivalent in music tends to screech." For more on why this is so - Stubbs suggests it's because music is time-based, and therefore harder to escape than a painting you're not enjoying - read the whole article here.