Stanley Clarke, Hiromi reschedule postponed sets for Monday, February 28

Although bassist Stanley Clarke and pianist Hiromi did manage to make it to St. Louis to perform this weekend at Jazz at the Bistro, they weren't able to play as scheduled on Wednesday after the inclement weather caused their original flight to be canceled.

Jazz St. Louis today announced that those Wednesday sets have been rescheduled for Monday, February 28. Tickets for the Wednesday performances will be valid for the same set on the new date, or can be returned to their original point of purchase for a refund. Tickets that were exchanged for another show in the run will not be valid for the new dates.

If you have questions, you can call the Jazz St. Louis box office at 314-289-4030.

Jazz this week: Stanley Clarke and Hiromi, Sister Swing, "O That Jazz," Hard Bop Heritage, and more

While the worst of this week's winter storm seems to have missed the immediate St. Louis area, it has caused travel problems throughout the region, with many businesses closing and a number of events canceled, postponed or rescheduled.

Most notably for local jazz fans, bassist Stanley Clarke and keyboardist Hiromi were scheduled to begin a series of duo shows tonight at Jazz at the Bistro, but the inclement weather prevented them from flying in on schedule. That forced them to cancel a performance scheduled last night in Columbia, MO as well as tonight's sets at the Bistro.

The latest word from Jazz St. Louis is that Clarke and Hiromi still are coming to St. Louis, and their performances on Thursday, Friday and Saturday will go on as scheduled. However, at this writing, all shows except for the 10:15 set on Thursday are sold out. There may be some tickets available on the resale market, or, if you're feeling lucky, I suppose you could go down to the Bistro, wait, and see if anyone cancels their reservations, but frankly, that seems like a long shot, so caveat emptor.

For more about Clarke and Hiromi, see this video showcase post from last Saturday; this interview the bassist did with the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson, published earlier this week; and this piece by Chris King from last week's St. Louis American

(Jazz St. Louis has said they'll try to reschedule Wednesday's shows; Clarke and Hiromi already have reset their gig in Columbia for Sunday, February 27, so perhaps they'll be able to get here right after that. More details on that as they become available...)

Elsewhere around town, the majority of this weekend's events involve local musicians, most of whom ought to be able to get back to work as the roads are cleared and the area finishes digging out. The exception would be the California-based vocal trio Sister Swing, who are scheduled to perform Sunday at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey; one would hope things will be back to normal at the airport well before then.

Still, given the week's events, it can't hurt to check the local weather conditions, and to call ahead to your venue of choice before heading out in this frigid weather, OK?

Also on Thursday, the sextet Hard Bop Heritage, led by trumpeter Randy Holmes, plays a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; and the jazz bands from Webster Groves High School and Middle School will raise money for their band program with their "Cool Nights, Hot Jazz" concert at The Pageant.

On Friday, there's another benefit, as parents and friends of the school music programs in O'Fallon, IL will present "O That Jazz," a fundraising event for the district's student bands. The evening will feature dinner, dancing, and swing music from Wack-A-Doo, and takes place at The Fountains Hotel & Conference Center in Fairview Heights.

Also on Friday, saxophonist Willie Akins will be at Robbie's House of Jazz, accompanied by pianist Simon Rowe, bassist Willem vom Hombracht and drummer Montez Coleman, who back in the early 90s helped him record Alima, his only CD as a bandleader. Akins and the band also will do a free performance and workshop at 11:00 a.m. this Saturday at Saxquest.

On Saturday evening, pianist Heather Bosshardt will lead a trio at Robbie's in celebration of her debut CD release.

On Sunday, the Bossa Nova Restaurant and Lounge in Alton presents their monthly jam session hosted by a band including saxophonist Jason Swagler, guitarist Eric Slaughter, bassist Nick Jost and drummer Marty Morrison.

Looking beyond the weekend, the Sessions Big Band will play on Monday at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups, and on Tuesday, Robbie's will host their weekly open jam session.

For more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, 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.)

(Updated after posting to add the WGHS event at the Pageant.)

Stanley Clarke, Hiromi postpone Wednesday night shows at Jazz at the Bistro

This just in, from Jazz St. Louis director of operations and artistic administration Bob Bennett:

"Due to flights being canceled coming into Lambert Airport on Wednesday, February 2, 2011, Stanley Clarke and Hiromi will not be able to begin their engagement at Jazz at the Bistro until Thursday, February 3, 2011.

We are working on rescheduling Wednesday's performances for a later date and will announce the new date as soon as possible.

Tickets for Wednesday night's shows may be returned to the point of purchase for a refund, or can be used for the new date once announced. All other dates of the engagement will proceed as scheduled."

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A Stanley Clarke sampler

Today, we shine our video spotlight on bassist Stanley Clarke, who will be back in St. Louis to play a duo gig with pianist Hiromi Uehara starting Wednesday, February 2 through Saturday, February 5 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Clarke has been in St. Louis a couple of times recently, teaming up with keyboardist George Duke in 2006 at the St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival, and during Return to Forever's reunion tour, which played the Fox Theatre in 2009. Both of these shows featured Clarke playing electric bass, an instrument he helped re-define during his rise to fame in the 1970s.

The first video up top features a recent performance of Clarke's signature song "School Days," which served as the title track to the 1976 album that cemented Clarke's status as a trendsetter. This version, from the Northsea Jazz Festival, is undated, but probably comes from the mid-2000s. Down below, though, we go all the way back in the day with our second clip, which features a bushy-haired Clarke working out on his song "Hot Fun" at the 1977 Montreux Jazz Festival.

As much fun as it is to watch Clarke do his electrified thing on those well-known tunes, the gig at the Bistro will feature Clarke's acoustic bass playing, not his electric work. So, our third clip is an excerpt from a duo gig Clarke did with Hiromi - who customarily goes by her first name only - in June 2010 at the Dakota in Minneapolis, and features both players showing off their considerable chops without amplification. While this performance feels somewhat overstuffed for my taste, I suspect that it's a fairly representative example of what they'll be doing at the Bistro in a couple of weeks.

To balance the scales a bit, the fourth video features a Hiromi/Clarke performance that I liked a bit more. It's from a 2009 acoustic trio gig at the Dakota with Clarke and drummer Lenny White, and features the pianist delivering a relatively concise, hard-boppish solo on "Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise" as Clarke supports her with fast walking lines underneath. Personally, I doubt if I'll ever become a big fan of Hiromi's "more is more" style of pianism, but as always, dear readers, your mileage may vary. For more on the Clarke/Hiromi collaboration, check out this 2009 interview with the bassist.

Notes from the Net: John Zorn's Montreal controversy, Kevin Eubanks unbound, 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:

* In the latest Miles Davis-related news, Michael Bourne reviewed the "We Want Miles" exhibit in Montreal for DownBeat magazine. Coincidentally enough, there's a new live DVD just out of a 1985 Davis concert at the Montreal Jazz Festival.

Elsewhere in North America, Austin, Texas trumpeter Jeff Lofton's Electric Thang recently mounted a tribute to Davis' album Bitches Brew; and bassist Michael Henderson, who anchored Davis' funk-oriented early 1970s bands, is suing rapper Snoop Dogg over music samples.

* Speaking of Montreal, saxophonist (and one-time Webster University student) John Zorn recently led a retrospective of his various Masada ensembles at the Montreal Jazz Festival, then found himself at the center of a controversy after audience members walked out of his subsequent festival concert with Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson. One local journalist even compared the audience response to the premiere of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, a famously contentious event back in 1913.

Coming up for Zorn in August: A three-night stand at Yoshi's in Oakland, featuring a duo concert with Terry Riley, a performance of the improv game "Cobra" with Bay Area improvisors, and more.

* Turning to news of coming attractions, guitarist Kevin Eubanks recently talked with NPR's "Tell Me More" about life after The Tonight Show, while a recent Eubanks gig at LA's Baked Potato is reviewed here by Tony Gieske of the International Review of Music. Eubanks will play at the Casino Queen in East St. Louis on Thursday. July 29.

* Bassist Stanley Clarke's latest CD, featuring the single-named keyboardist Hiromi as part of the band, is reviewed here by AllAboutJazz.com's Jeff Winbush, while AAJ's Ernest Barteldes has a review of a double bill last month at NYC's Carefusion Jazz Fest featuring Clarke's band and the McCoy Tyner Quartet. Clarke and Hiromi will be in St. Louis in February to perform at Jazz at the Bistro.

* Meanwhile, the reunited Jazz Crusaders and Al Jarreau, both set to perform next season at the Touhill under the auspices of Jazz St. Louis, are among the headliners of this year's Long Beach Jazz Festival

* Guitarist John McLaughlin is the subject of Jazz Times' cover story for the July/August issue. You can read an excerpt of the article by Geoffrey Himes here. McLaughlin will be in St. Louis in November to play at Sheldon Concert Hall.

* The Bad Plus' upcoming album Never Stop is set for release on September 14, and will be their first disc to feature all original material (and their eighth release overall). TBP will be the first touring act to play the Bistro in 2011, which will be the fifth consecutive year they've opened at the club.

* Lastly, let's wrap up this installment with links to two pairs of articles of more general interest to jazz fans. First up, PopMatters.com's Will Layman has yet another take on the long-forecast "death" of jazz, while Fred Kaplan, writing for Stereophile magazine, asks "Is Jazz a Young Person's Music After All?" And in another pair of synchronicitous items, the website The Root looks at the economics of being a working jazz musician, while the New York Times' Nate Chinen blogs about jazz and music publishing rights.