Freedonia Music releases three new albums

The St. Louis-based indie label Freedonia Music, which documents free improv, experimental, and creative music from the city's past and present, has three new releases out this month, all featuring pianist Greg Mills.

Mosaique is a solo effort from Mills described as "improvised classical music" that was "created in the spirit and practice of free improv utilizing a language of musical possibilities based in Modern Classical," with each of the nine improvised compositions dedicated to a different 20th century composer.

Duets features the pianist in a series of improvised partnerships with musicians including cellist Tracy Andreotti, saxophonist/clarinetist Dave Stone, percussionist Henry Claude, and flute player Fred Tompkins.

Circle pairs Mills once again with multi-instrumentalist and Freedonia Music proprietor Jay Zelenka. The two worked together in the 1980s as the duo Exiles, and this album features studio recordings from that period, originally released on various cassette projects and now remastered for CD, plus an unreleased live performance from a 1997 New Music Circle concert featuring Mills, Zelenka, Dave Stone, and bassist Eric Markowitz.

All three albums are available now from download and streaming sites, and in CD format from the Freedonia Music website.

Freedonia Music issues three new albums; CD release event set for Tuesday, December 20

Freedonia Music, the St. Louis based independent label specializing in adventurous jazz, free improv, and related sounds, has released three new albums this month:

Described as "a celebratory cycle of free improvisations deriving and departing from the euro-classical avant-garde," A Day at the Circus! is the new release from pianist Greg Mills' Perhelion Quartet, which also includes cellist Tracy Andreotti, percussionist Henry Claude, and saxophonist Dave Stone.

Mills and the group will celebrate the release of the CD (pictured) with a performance and "avant garde holiday party" starting at 8:00 p.m. this Tuesday, December 20 at Jackson Pianos. The event is free and open to the public.

The Free Jazz Posse's CONSPIRE features saxophonist and label founder Jay Zelenka, trombonist Jeremy Melsha, and saxophonist Dave Stone, plus "a changing line-up of guitar and synth players" and wordless vocals on three tunes by singer Lika Shubitidze.

Illumination by the James Marshall Human Arts Trio is a remastered recording from 1980 now including an additional, never-before-released 18-minute bonus track. Marshall, a co-founder of the Human Arts Ensemble who died last winter, is featured on alto, tenor and soprano saxophones with drum set and percussion accompaniment. Marshall also was a visual artist, cartoonist and poet, and his artwork is used on the covers of both CONSPIRE and Illumination.

You can hear sample tracks from all three albums and purchase them directly from Freedonia Music's website.

"New Music/Free Improv" CD release event reset for Tuesday, July 12 at Jackson Pianos

The release party for New Music/Free Improv Live at the Tavern of Fine Arts, a new CD collecting improvised performances by 14 different St. Louis musicians, has been rescheduled for 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, July 12 at Jackson Pianos, 4354 Olive St in the Central West End.

(The event originally was scheduled to take place at the album's titular Tavern of Fine Arts, but had to be moved after that venue closed on Saturday, June 25.)

Produced by flute player/composer Fred Tompkins and pianist Greg Mills, the album (pictured) contains ten tracks recorded at a half-dozen different events held between March 2014 and March 2016 at the now-shuttered tavern. Performers include Tompkins, Mills, cellist Tracy Andreotti, poet Michael Castro, percussionist Henry Claude, violinist Alex Cunningham, keyboardist James Hegarty, clarinetist Eric Mandat, trombonist Jeremy Melsha, guitarist Lee Scott Price, trumpeter George Sams, saxophonist Dave Stone, bassist Josh Weinstein, and percussionist Thomas Zirkle.

Pressed in a limited edition of 100 CDs, the album will be available to buy for $10 at the CD release event, and also is now on sale at local retailers Euclid Records and Vintage Vinyl.

The CD release event is free and open to the public, and will feature performances from most of the musicians who appear on the album, plus "free drinks and snacks."

New CD release showcases St. Louis free improvisors

A loosely organized collective of St. Louis improvising musicians is releasing a CD documenting their live performances over the past two years.

New Music/Free Improv Live at the Tavern of Fine Arts contains ten tracks recorded at a half-dozen different events held between March 2014 and March 2016 at the Central West End restaurant and bar referenced in the album's title.

With production overseen by flute player/composer Fred Tompkins and pianist Greg Mills (both of whom also perform on some of the tracks), the album compiles music from monthly jam sessions at the ToFA; last fall's "3 Nights In September" festival; and more, all recorded live to two-track by Tompkins.

In addition to the two producers/project managers, performers include cellist Tracy Andreotti, poet Michael Castro, percussionist Henry Claude, violinist Alex Cunningham, keyboardist James Hegarty, clarinetist Eric Mandat, trombonist Jeremy Melsha, guitarist Lee Scott Price, trumpeter George Sams, saxophonist Dave Stone, bassist Josh Weinstein, and percussionist Thomas Zirkle.

To help promote the album (pictured), the various musicians involved will stage a CD release event at 8:00 p.m. Wednesday, July 13 at the ToFA. Admission is free.

Update, 12:00 a.m., 6/17/16: The proprietors of the Tavern of Fine Arts announced late yesterday that they'll be closely permanently on Saturday, June 25, meaning that the CD release event on Wednesday, July 13 is canceled. If it is rescheduled at another venue, depending on the timing there will be either another update or a new post here on StLJN.

Pressed in a limited edition of 100 CDs, the album will be available to buy for $10 at the event on July 13, and also will be available for purchase from the participating musicians and soon, at local retailers Euclid Records and Vintage Vinyl. Plans for a digital release are pending, said Tompkins.

Ronnie Burrage to perform June 26, 27 & 28 at Voce

Drummer, multi-instrumentalist, and U. City native Ronnie Burrage is coming back home to perform on Friday, June 26; Saturday, June 27; and Sunday, June 28 at Voce, 212 South Tucker Blvd. downtown.

A 1978 graduate of University City High School, Burrage (pictured) worked local gigs with visiting luminaries such as Arthur Blythe, Jackie McLean, Andrew Hill, and McCoy Tyner while still a teenager living in St. Louis.

After moving to NYC, he played with trumpeter Woody Shaw's quintet in the mid-1980s; formed Third Kind of Blue with saxophonist John Purcell and bassist Anthony Cox in 1986; and gigged with an impressive roster of jazz greats, including Tyner, Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, and more.

During the 1990s, Burrage recorded with Courtney Pine, Sonny Fortune, Gunther Schuller, Hamiet Bluiett, the World Saxophone Quartet, and Billy Bang. More recently, he's been teaching at Penn State University while releasing a series of recordings as a leader, including Just Natural (2001), In It (2004), Blue Noise (2010), Spirit Guides (2011) and Heal (2013). Despite that busy schedule, Burrage has managed to make it home to perform most summers in recent years, including a weekend of gigs in 2013 supporting the release of Heal.

On this visit to St. Louis, he'll start by playing shows with a small band at 9:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. That ensemble will feature Burrage on drums and keyboards fronting two slightly different lineups of local musicians, with Eric Slaughter (guitar), Nathan Pence (bass), Kendra Mahr (vocals), and Danny Campbell (trumpet) on Friday, and then with Jeff Anderson (tenor sax) in for Campbell on Saturday.

To cap off the weekend, Sunday's matinee at 3:00 p.m. will feature the 10-piece-plus RoBu Big Band, with Campbell, Anderson, saxophonists Chad Evans, Jerome "JDubz" Williams, Stanley Coleman, and Willie Akins; pianist Ptah Williams; bassist Darrell Mixon; percussionist Henry Claude; singer Charisse Swan, and other special guests.

Tickets are $20 per set on Friday and Saturday, and $25 on Sunday, with a service fee of $1.49 per ticket for online purchases, and are on sale now.

Greg Mills' Esfoma to perform Wednesday, October 22 at Tavern of Fine Arts

From the late 1970s through the 1990s, pianist Greg Mills was a frequent public participant in the St. Louis creative music scene, performing and recording as a solo artist and as part of the duo Exiles with multi-instrumentalist Jay Zelenka.

More recently, Mills has been much less visible, but now he's scheduled a return to the stage as a leader with a gig at 7:30 p.m. next Wednesday, October 22 at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

Performing under the name Esfoma (after his 1984 solo release of the same name), Mills will be joined by saxophonist Dave Stone, cellist Tracy Andreotti, percussionist Henry Claude, poet Michael Castro, and fellow pianist David Parker.

You can hear samples from the album Esfoma and from Mills' other recordings, both solo and with Exiles, via the website of Zelenka's label Freedonia Music.

Admission to the performance on October 22 at Tavern of Fine Arts is free.

Tribute to Floyd LeFlore set for Monday, October 6 at Tavern of Fine Arts

Musical colleagues and friends of Floyd LeFlore will pay tribute to the late trumpeter with a performance at 7:00 p.m. next Monday, October 6 at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

LeFlore, a co-founder of St. Louis' Black Artists Group and a former board member of New Music Circle, died on September 6 at age 74.

The tribute will feature the improvising ensemble Numbers, whose pianist David Parker and drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw both performed and recorded with LeFlore - Parker during the 1980s and 1990s, and Shaw at various times going all the way back to the founding of BAG in the 1960s. Numbers trumpeter George Sams also has history with LeFlore, from occasional gigs to presenting him in concert as part of the Nu-Art Series to serving together on the New Music Circle board.

Also performing will be poet Shirley Bradley LeFlore, percussionist Henry Claude, cellist Tracy Andreotti, and pianist Greg Mills.

Admission to the Floyd LeFlore tribute is free, but donations will be accepted for the performers (who also get a portion of the Tavern's food & drink sales during the show.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A look at outside St. Louis

It's been too hot here for the last week and a half in St. Louis to spend much time outside physically, so today we've got some videos for you that go outside in a musical sense. This sampling of live performance clips from area musicians whose work might be called experimental, free-form, or avant garde includes:

* Electronic musician Eric Hall, seen up above in a solo set recorded at Washington University's Steinberg Auditorium in December 2010;

* Flute player and composer Fred Tompkins and keyboardist/composer Jim Hegarty, seen in the first clip down below joining forces to perform Tompkins' piece "My Changes." The performance, recorded in January 2011 at the St. Charles Coffee House, starts with what Tompkins calls "certain points of reference - tonalities, a general idea of style and overall form" while leaving the exact note choices and length of each section open;

* An excerpt from one of the "Drum Line" concerts presented in 2011 by the Nu-Art Series, featuring drummers Charles "Bobo" Shaw, Gary Sykes, Jerome "Scrooge" Harris and Johnny Johnson;

* Part of an electronic music performance from Joe Raglani and Jeremy Kannapell, recorded last year at the music and art venue Floating Laboratories;

* An improvisation by percussionists Thomas Zirkle and Matt Henry, who sometimes perform together under the name HaZmaT;

* More improv from the Off-Topic Collective, a project that included Hegarty, bassist Willem von Hombracht, percussionist Henry Claude, and saxophonist Dave Stone. The clip was shot in February 2009 at the Kranzberg Arts Center;

* And finally, yet another live improv featuring Stone and friends (the clip is too dark to identify most of the players) recorded last August at El Leñador.

Obligatory disclaimer: Due to the nature of free improvisation, what you see in these clips may or may not resemble what any of these musicians may do on their next live gig. Also, the players seen here certainly aren't the only people in town doing this sort of thing. Think of this post as being merely a representative sample of some names to watch for...

Washington University concert to explore chance via music from Cage, Riley

Musicians and dancers affiliated with Washington University will explore the use of chance in contemporary music in a concert at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, October 7 at the 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity Ave. in University City.

The concert program will begin with "Music of Changes Book IV: New York, December 13," a piece for solo piano composed by John Cage by consulting the I Ching, as performed by pianist Peter Henderson. Next on the program will be "The Oracle," an improvisation featuring guitarist William Lenihan, percussionist Henry Claude, cellist Tracy Andreotti and dancers Mary-Jean Cowell, David Marchant and Ting Ting Chang.

The program will conclude with a performance of Terry Riley's "In C" by an ensemble including Claude, Lenihan and Andreotti, plus cellist Elizabeth Macdonald, guitarist Vince Varvel, pianist Amanda Kirkpatrick, saxophonist Adrianne Honnold, violist Laura Reycraft, and clarinetist Dana Hotle.

The performance is held in conjunction with the current "Chance Aesthetics" exhibit at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, and will preceded by introductory remarks by Meredith Malone, assistant curator of the Kemper Art Museum, who organized the Chance Aesthetics exhibition; and Bruce Durazzi, assistant professor of music theory.

Admission is free and open to the public. A reception will immediately follow the concert in the Music Center's Ballroom Theatre. For more information, call 314-935-5566.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Introducing the Off-Topic Collective

This week, we've got some video featuring the Off-Topic Collective, a relatively new group on the St. Louis scene. OTC is a free improv/experimental quartet that includes veteran local musicians Dave Stone (reeds), Jim Hegarty (piano and synth), Willem von Hombracht (bass) and Henry Claude (percussion).

Their most recent performance was in February at a show presented by New Music Circle at the Kranzberg Arts Center in St. Louis. You can see three excerpts from that concert here, starting with the ending of the first half of the concert in the embedded video window above. Down below, you'll see the opening of the second half of the concert, and then a drum solo by Henry Claude. For more about Off Topic Collective, visit Hegarty's Web site or www.noisereductionsociety.com.





(Edited 4/19/09 to remove borders from the video clips, and again on 4/29/09 to fix a typo.)