Jazz this week: Freddy Cole & Houston Person, Arturo Sandoval & Jane Monheit, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes two shows featuring two visiting headliners for the price of one, plus a Middle Eastern instrumental virtuoso and the usual assortment of performances in various styles from our hometown's own.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, October 23
Pianist and singer Freddy Cole and his quintet with special guest saxophonist Houston Person (pictured, top left) will perform for the first of five nights continuing through Sunday at Jazz St. Louis.

Cole, the brother of the legendary Nat "King" Cole, shares his late sibling's general air of suavity and his good taste in songs and musicians, but has established his own identity as a performer, as defiantly noted in his original song "I'm Not My Brother, I'm Me." Person, a veteran steeped in bebop, blues and ballads, seems a fine match for Cole, as both not only are of the same generation but share an old-school musical sensibility.

Also in Grand Center, this week's "Wednesday Night Jazz Crawl" includes pianist Ethan Leinwand at The Stage at KDHX, the jam session hosted by bassist Bob DeBoo, and singer Erika Johnson, debuting her new organ trio at The Dark Room.

Thursday, October 24
Guitarist Brian Vaccaro leads a quartet in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, and keyboardist Andrew Stephen returns to The Dark Room.

Friday, October 25
Guitarist Dave Black, recovered from a serious cycling accident this summer that took him out of action for a couple of month, plays solo at The Dark Room; and Iraqi-American oud player Rahim Al Haj brings his trio, plus guest pianist Adaron "Pops" Jackson, to the Kranzberg Arts Center.

Also on Friday, the Ambassadors of Swing play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and the Oîkos Ensemble teams up with SkyStone Conservatory Dance Ensemble and the Logos Readers for "Earth Walk Returns," a multi-disciplinary performance at the First Congregational Church of Webster Groves.

Saturday, 
October 26
The annual "Friends of the Sheldon Benefit" features trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, his band, and guest singer Jane Monheit (pictured, bottom left) in a performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Sandoval, the Cuban-born protege of Dizzy Gillespie turned multiple Grammy Award winner, certainly can bring the pyrotechnics on trumpet when the situation calls for it, while Monheit belongs in any discussion of the top women jazz singers working today.

Both usually headline their own shows, though they have done some select gigs in this configuration, and so it should be interesting to hear what musical ground brings them together, and how they choose to navigate it.  You can see some recent performances by Sandoval on video in this post from last Saturday.

Also on Saturday, The Gaslight Squares return to the Frisco Barroom.

Sunday, October 27
Miss Jubilee performs for jazz brunch at Evangeline's; and bassist Ben Wheeler’s Sketchbook plays an evening concert at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

Monday, October 28
Dizzy Atmosphere plays vintage swing and Gypsy jazz at The Shaved Duck, and pianist Kim Portnoy leads a big band playing original works in a concert at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster University campus.

Elsewhere around town, the Folk School of KDHX has moved their Traditional Jazz Jam Session to Monday nights, and made it a weekly event.

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.)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Record megalabel Columbia/Legacy last week announced the release of a sixth volume in their "Bootleg Series" of Miles Davis live recordings.

Miles Davis & John Coltrane - The Final Tour is a four-CD set (pictured) documenting five shows from Davis' 1960 tour of Europe, and is set for release on Friday, March 23, 2018.

* A story in UMSL Daily details the upcoming travels of the UMSL Big Band directed by Jim Widner, including a trip next week to Chicago for the annual Midwest Clinic and appearances in January at the Jazz Education Network convention in Dallas and the Missouri Music Educators Association conference at the Lake of the Ozarks.

* Singer, actor and Belleville native Lea DeLaria was the subject of a feature story on the website OutInStL.com. DeLaria, who's starred on Broadway and in cabaret, TV, and film, will make her debut at Jazz at the Bistro with shows on Wednesday, December 27 and Thursday, December 28 that also will feature singer Janis Siegel of Manhattan Transfer as a guest performer.

* The STL Free Jazz Collective has posted to YouTube a video of their complete performance with multi-instrumentalist Douglas Ewart earlier this month at the 14th St. Artist Community. 

* Also on YouTube, saxophonist Eric Person has posted a video from his show with fellow saxophonist Houston Person in March of this year at Dizzy's Club in NYC.

* The Sheldon has posted to Facebook a photo album from the Spanish Harlem Orchestra's performance there last week.

* Guitarist Dave Black's upcoming album, a collaboration with blues guitarists Tom Hall and Brian Curran, is previewed in a Riverfront Times story by Thomas Crone.

* Also in the RFT, the Funky Butt Brass Band's "Holiday Brasstravaganza" and their new Christmas album are the subjects of a brief feature story by Christian Schaeffer.

* Right Up On, saxophonist/composer Oliver Lake's recent recording in collaboration with the FLUX Quartet, made the New York Times' recently published list of "The 25 Best Classical Music Recordings of 2017."

* Singer Debby Lennon's latest theatrical role, as tone-deaf diva Florence Foster Jenkins in Max and Louis Productions' upcoming staging of the musical Souvenir, is the subject of a short feature by St. Louis Post-Dispatch theater critic Judith Newmark.

* Percussionist Moacyr Marchini of Samba Bom will lead a series of eight Brazilian percussion workshops for adult students beginning Wednesday, January 10 at Lucha in Grand Center. For more info about the workshops and how to sign up, go here.

* The venerable Edwardsville drinking spot Laurie's Place, which in recent months has featured a jazz jam session on Tuesday nights, will close at the end of this year.

Jazz this week: Houston Person, Nevermore Jazz Ball, Eric Marienthal, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes one of the most popular swing dance festivals in the Midwest, a couple of stellar saxophonists, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, November 1
Veteran tenor saxophonist Houston Person (pictured, top left) returns to lead a quartet for the first of four nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

Person, who will turn 83 in November, remains a canny master of bop, blues and ballads, and still works as a single in the old-school style, using local rhythm sections in each city he visits. He'll be accompanied for his four nights here in St. Louis by pianist Adaron "Pops" Jackson, bassist Bob DeBoo, and drummer Montez Coleman.

Also on Wednesday, the weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features the Jazz Troubadours at KDHX's Magnolia Café; a jam session at the Kranzberg Arts Center (minus its usual host Bob DeBoo, since he's playing bass with Houston Person at the Bistro); and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor at The Dark Room.

Thursday, November 2
Singer Denise Thimes will headline her annual show benefiting pancreatic cancer research in the name of her late mother, Mildred Thimes, at the Sheldon Concert Hall. 

Also on Thursday, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University will present "Voices of Freedom, Songs of Social Justice," a free concert featuring singer/guitarist Rick Schuler, multi-instrumentalists R. Scott Bryan and William Lenihan and pianist Jay Oliver performing music by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone, John Coltrane, and more.

Elsewhere around town, the annual Nevermore Jazz Ball - four days and nights of swing dancing and live music at various venues around town - gets underway with two performances by New Orleans' Shake Em Up Jazz Band (pictured, center left) featuring clarinetist and former St. Louisan Chloe Feoranzo.

They'll play a dinner-hour show at the Blues City Deli that's not officially part of the NJB schedule, followed by a ticketed dance at Treffpunkt, a recently opened event space at 3453 S Jefferson Ave on the south side. (While this post notes some of the highlights, you'll need to see the NJB website. linked above, for a complete schedule of the weekend's events.)

Friday, November 3
The Gaslight Cabaret Festival presents singers Farah Alvin and William Michals performing "Broadway's Greatest Hits of All Time" for the first of two nights at the Gaslight Theater.

Also on Friday, guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran begins a Friday residency that will continue through February at Das Bevo Underground, a new live music space that, as the name implies, is located in the basement of the venerable Bevo Mill, now re-opened under new management.

Elsewhere around town, the Nevermore Jazz Ball continues with a dance featuring Miss Jubilee at the Casa Loma Ballroom,  percussionist Herman Semidey and Son Montuno play salsa and Latin jazz at the Webster Groves Concert Hall; and The People's Key will offer their soul-jazz take on the music of Jimi Hendrix at The Stage at KDHX

Saturday, November 4
The Nevermore Jazz Ball has a full day and night of events, including the Cherokee Street Jazz Crawl, an afternoon of live music, from a half-dozen different local bands free and open to the public at various venues along Cherokee St.  and Jefferson Ave, and an evening dance with music by Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenaders at the Casa Loma. 

Also on Saturday, saxophonist Eric Marienthal (pictured, bottom left), who made his reputation in the 1990s as part of Chick Corea's Elektric Band and has gone on to a busy solo career, will team up with St. Louis' own Bach to the Future to perform in a benefit for the Dillon International adoption agency at Mandarin House Banquet Hall.

Sunday, November 5
The St. Louis Record and CD Collector's Show presents their last event of 2017 at the American Czech Educational Center, and the Friends of Scott Joplin will host their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's Rosebud Cafe.

Also on Sunday, the Coleman Hughes Project plays an early evening show at Troy's Jazz Gallery;
and the St. Louis International Film Festival presents a screening of the documentary "Mr. Handy's Blues," at The Stage at KDHX, followed immediately by a live performance by singer Valerie "Miss Jubilee" Kirchoff, pianist Ethan Leinwand and cornetist TJ Muller.

Monday, November 6
Traditional jazz band Annie and the Fur Trappers will play at Das Bevo Underground.

Tuesday, November 7
Bassist Igor Saavedra, who's known for his prowess on extended-range bass guitar, will play a solo show at  Stringbean Coffee in Brentwood.

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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Fall 2017 jazz preview, part three

Welcome to part three of StLJN's Fall 2017 jazz preview, presenting videos featuring noteworthy jazz and creative music performers who will be visiting St. Louis over the next few months. (You can see part one here, and part two here.)

Continuing in chronological order from where part two left off, today's first clip features singer and pianist Eric Comstock and singer Barbara Fasano, whose show "Downton Abbey Road: The Best of Britain" will be presented as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival on Friday, October 27 at the Gaslight Theater.

Although no excerpts of that show are available on video, you can see them up above performing "When In Rome (I Do As The Romans Do)" as recorded in April 2015 during the weekly "Cast Party" event at Birdland in NYC.

After the jump, there's a clip featuring guitarist, singer and St. Louis favorite John Pizzarelli, who's returning to headline the annual "ArtSounds" benefit on Saturday, October 28 at Sheldon Concert Hall.

Recorded last month at KNKX in Tacoma, WA, it features Pizzarelli and Daniel Jobim, the grandson of Brazilian music legend Antonio Carlos Jobim, performing "The Girl From Ipanema" from Pizzarelli's latest album Sinatra & Jobim @ 50.

The third video features saxophonist Houston Person, who will be back in town to perform Wednesday, November 1 through Saturday, November 4 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Person, who usually works with local rhythm sections on gigs like the one he's doing at the Bistro, is seen here in a video from March of this year that documents his team-up with fellow saxophonist and St. Louis native Eric Person for a gig at Dizzy's Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center in NYC. Along with the two Persons, the band includes pianist Zaccai Curtis, bassist Kenny Davis, and drummer McClenty Hunter.

Next, it's singers Farah Alvin and William Michals, who will join forces to present "Broadway's Greatest Hits of All Time" for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival on Friday, November 3 and Saturday, November 4 at the Gaslight Theater.

In their individual clips, Michals is performing "This Nearly Was Mine" from South Pacific, recorded last month at Feinstein's/54 Below in NYC, while Alvin is singing "Infinite Joy" as part of a show last month at the the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, MA.

Today's sixth video features a full set from singer Cécile McLorin Salvant, recorded in December 2016 at Dizzy's with a band including pianist Aaron Diehl, bassist Paul Sikivie, drummer Lawrence Leathers, and guest star Anat Cohen on clarinet.

Salvant has a new album called Dreams and Daggers coming out at the end of this month, and her tour in support of the record will include a performance on Saturday, November 11 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

That same evening, electronic musician John Wiese will be headlining an event for New Music Circle at St. Louis University's Xavier Hall.

Billed as "a site-specific composition that includes over 20 local musicians, utilizing both traditional and non-traditional instrumentation," the performance can't really be previewed here, but you can get an idea of the sort of thing Wiese does in today's penultimate video, which documents a performance in August 2016 at the Artifex Guild in Bloomington, IN.

The final video features actress and singer Emily Skinner, who will perform "Broadway Her Way" for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival on Saturday, November 11 at the Gaslight Theater.

Word came down this week that Skinner already has sold out this single performance, but since this post was mostly written by the time that news reached StLJN HQ, you might as well enjoy a clip of her performing "Could I Leave You" last fall in the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis' production of Follies.

Look for part four of StLJN's Fall 2017 jazz preview next week in this space. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Jazz this week: St. Louis Cabaret Festival, Houston Person & Montez Coleman, New Orleans Jazz Vipers, and more

As yr. humble StLJN editor this week has been both swamped with paying-gig-type work and plagued by various equipment malfunctions, and this post is already late, this intro will be both mercifully brief and without embellishment.

Here are some of the more noteworthy jazz and creative music performances happening in and around St. Louis over the next few days: 

Wednesday, July 20
Saxophonist and East St. Louis native Andre Delano, now based on the West Coast, is back in town for a visit and will perform with Good 4 The Soul at The Lux.

Also tonight, the St. Louis Cabaret Festival gets underway with Broadway star Faith Prince and actor/singer Jason Graae performing at the Sheldon Concert Hall. For more about the festival and video samples of the headling performers, see this Saturday video post from a couple of weeks ago.

Elsewhere around town, singer Erin Bode will perform a free concert (weather permitting) for the Whitaker Music Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden; the Liberation Organ Trio plays at Evangeline's; and the New Orleans Jazz Vipers, featuring former St. Louisans Charlie Halloran on trombone and Chloe Feoranzo on clarinet will perform on a double-bill with Feoranzo's old band, the Sidney Street Shakers, at Foam.

The Vipers' gig is the first of four this week in St. Louis for the band, with shows to follow on Thursday at Joe's Cafe, Friday at Focal Point, and Saturday afternoon at the Blues City Deli. For more about that, see Terry Perkins' article about Halloran, Feorenzo and the band posted yesterday on the website of Alive! magazine.

Thursday, July 21
The St. Louis Cabaret Festival continues with singer Marilyn Maye (pictured, top left), her special guest Ann Hampton Callaway, and pianists Billy Stritch and Tedd Firth at the Sheldon Concert Hall. For more on  what the four of them have planned, listen to Maye and Callaway's interview from yesterday on St. Louis Public Radio.

Also on Thursday, trumpeter Danny Campbell leads a quartet in a free "Jazz in July" show for the Jazz at Holmes series at the Tisch Commons of Danforth University Center on the Washington University campus; and guitarist Brian Vaccaro and his trio will play at The Pat Connolly Tavern.

Friday, July 22
The St. Louis Cabaret Festival continues with pianist and singer Tony DeSare at the Sheldon, while over on the other side of Grand Ave, the veteran tenor saxophonist Houston Person (pictured, lower left) will be in town as a special guest soloist with drummer Montez Coleman's band as they undertake two nights of performances at Jazz at the Bistro. You can find out more about Coleman's shows in a preview story written by the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson

Also on Friday, Second Generation Swing will play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and trumpeter and singer Dawn Weber performs in a free outdoor concert as part of the summer series at 370 Lakeside Park in St. Peters.

Saturday, July 23
Singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black will celebrate the release of their new duo CD with a performance at the Kranzberg Arts Center; bassist Bob DeBoo brings his trio to The Dark Room; saxophonist Tim Cunningham will be playing soul jazz and R&B at @Nesby's; and Miss Jubilee will offer up danceable swing, jump blues and more at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Sunday, July 24
The Coleman Hughes Project will play an early evening show at The Rustic Goat; the Ambassadors of Swing return to Kirkwood Station Brewing Company; and the St. Louis Cabaret Festival wraps up with a final celebration and showcase of students from the coterminous St. Louis Cabaret Conference at the Ferring Jazz Bistro.

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.)

Sunday Session: June 5, 2016

Billy Hart

Some interesting music-related items that have landed in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Gary Numan Thinks The Music Industry's Collapse Is A Beautiful Thing (Fast Company)
* TV is the new radio: 'Empire,' 'Vinyl' and late night talk shows provide wall-to-wall music (Los Angeles Times)
* The British pop talent crash: where have all the new acts gone? (The Guardian UK)
* Lost in Time: The Forgotten Bill Evans Trio Album (Jazz Times)
* On Music and Torture (Van Magazine)
* Exclusive Interview: Cameron Graves talks new record ‘Planetary Prince’ (Revive-Music.com)
* Carla Bley: The Girl Who Cried Champagne (Keyboard)
* The Epic - Kamasi Washington’s brand of ecstatic jazz is bringing a whole new audience to the genre. How’d he do it? (RedBullMusicAcademy.com)
* Interview with Houston Person (Do The Math)
* Kraftwerk Lose Copyright Case in German High Court (Rolling Stone)
* Prophets of Rage: Inside New RATM, Public Enemy, Cypress Hill Supergroup (Rolling Stone)
* Zorn Recruits Star Collaborators for Eclectic FIMAV Showcase (DownBeat)
* Controversy: A Recap of the copyright issues surrounding Prince’s estate (CreativeCommons.org)
* Rahsaan Roland Kirk Is the Blind Jazz Great You've Never Heard Of (Esquire)
* Billy Hart, Honored in Healdsburg, Picks His Five Most Important Recordings (KQED)
* The True Story Of The Fake Zombies, The Strangest Con In Rock History (Buzzfeed.com)
* Jeremy Steig, Jazz Flutist, Dies at 73 (New York Times)
* All Music Can Be Categorized by Just Three Attributes (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* It Sounds Like YouTube Is Changing the Way People Listen to Music (New York)
* Sell, Stream, Syndicate Or Sing: How The World’s Top Pop Stars Make Their Money (ValueWalk.com)
* Sara Gazarek and Josh Nelson open up for new duo album ‘Dream In The Blue’ (AXS.com)
* Stephon Alexander Explores Intersection of Jazz & Physics (DownBeat)
* Roger Daltrey: There's no music industry anymore, why would we make an album? (TeamRock.com)
* All You Need Is Love review: a glorious reminder of how pop docs used to be (The Guardian UK)
* Boomers, youngsters fuel surging vinyl record sales (USA Today)
* The Soulful Crossover of Kamasi Washington (Jazz Times)
* How Tyondai Braxton Subverts and Destroys His Own Music (The Atlantic)
* Women guitar makers scratched from Gibson history (MichiganRadio.org)
* The Ken Peplowski Interview (Jazz Times)
* Interview with Sonny Rollins, Musical and Spiritual Autodidact (Ethnomusicology Review)
* Whatever happened to Bobbie Gentry? In search of country music’s great vanished star (Washington Post)
* What is shop music doing to your brain? (BBC)
* Bergamo Jazz Fest Highlights Collective Artistry on a Global Scale (DownBeat)

Jazz this week: Kat Edmondson, Houston Person, Dave Dickey Big Band, and more

While goblins, ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and zombies may rule the upcoming Halloween weekend, there's also plenty of live jazz and creative music to be found in and around St. Louis over the next few days.

Here's a brief look at some of the most noteworthy shows...

Wednesday, October 28
Multi-instrumentalist Lamar Harris and singer Anita Jackson will team up for the first of two nights of what's billed as a tribute to Nina Simone at Jazz at the Bistro.

Thursday, October 29
The Gaslight Cabaret Festival resumes with singer Kat Edmonson performing music from her new album The Big Picture for the first of two nights at the Gaslight Theater. (While Friday's show is sold out, as of this writing some tickets remain for Thursday.) For more about Edmondson (pictured, top left), check out this interview she did to promote her new release last month with NPR.

Also on Thursday, Stephen Koch, a writer and musician from Little Rock, Ar who penned a biography of saxophonist Louis Jordan, will present "Roll, Jordan, Roll: The Legacy of Louis Jordan, Father of R&B" at The Stage at KDHX;  and the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents "Bernstein and Sondheim: Musical Theatre and the Jazz Vernacular," a free concert featuring vocalist Katie Greenberg, pianist Kara Baldus, guitarist William Lenihan, drummer Steve Davis, and a string section.

Friday, October 30
Saxophonist Houston Person (pictured, bottom left) returns for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro. The veteran tenor man, who excels equally at blues, bop and ballads, will be backed by a rhythm section of St. Louis musicians including pianist Adaron "Pops" Jackson, bassist Jahmal Nichols and drummer Montez Coleman.

Also on Friday, Miss Jubilee will play a Halloween-themed swing dance at the Casa Loma Ballroom; saxophonist Tim Cunningham is back at Troy's Jazz Gallery; and singer Erika Johnson and guitarist Tom Byrne will perform at Montrey's Cigar Lounge.


Saturday, October 31
Dizzy Atmosphere will play Gypsy jazz as part of SIUE's "International Night" at the Meridian Ballroom in Morris University Center on the SIUE campus; and Elsie Parker & the Poor People of Paris will perform at Nathalie's.

Sunday, November 1
The Dave Dickey Big Band will play their monthly gig at Jazz at the Bistro, with an intermission performance from the Lindbergh HS Jazz Ensemble directed by David Wyss; and drummer Montez Coleman will lead his trio plus guest vocalist Brian Owens in a concert at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

Monday, November 2
Pianist Greg Mills and friends will play improvised music at the Tavern of Fine Arts; and some of Webster University's student jazz combos will show off what they've learned so far this semester in a performance at Webster's Community Music School.

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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Fall 2015 jazz preview, part 3

Today, it's the third part of StLJN's video preview of jazz and creative music performers coming to St. Louis this fall. (You can see part 1 here, and part 2 here.)

Continuing from last time in chronological order, we resume in mid-October with the New Mastersounds, who will be here Tuesday, October 20 to play at the Old Rock House. You can see them at the top of this post jamming on the tune "Dusty Groove" in a video recorded in June of this year at a gig in Oakland, CA.

After the jump, there's a video featuring guitarist Kevin Eubanks, who will perform with his trio Wednesday, October 21 through Saturday, October 24 at Jazz at the Bistro. It's an episode of the Voice of America's program "Beyond Category" that features footage of Eubanks playing with his trio as well as an interview with former "Tonight Show" bandleader.

Next up is singer Banu Gibson, who will perform a program of Randy Newman songs in a matinee on Sunday, October 25 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The video shows Gibson singing "It's A Jungle Out There" - written by Newman as the theme for the TV show "Monk" - earlier this year at The Mint, in New Orleans, accompanied by former St. Louisan Tom McDermott on piano and Matt Perrine on sousaphone.

The next two clips feature performers from the Gaslight Cabaret Festival, starting with singer Lina Koutrakos and singer/pianist Rick Jensen, who will return to St. Louis to perform Sunday, October 25 at the Gaslight Theater. The first clip features Koutrakos singing "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" with Jensen on piano, and was recorded in 2013 at the Metropolitan Room in NYC.

Then it's singer Kat Edmonson, who's booked to appear on Thursday, October 29 and Friday, October 30 at the Gaslight Theater. This version of her singing "Rainy Day Woman" was recorded in March 2015 for radio station WNRN in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Last but certainly not least, it's the veteran tenor saxophonist Houston Person, who will be coming back to town for gigs on Friday, October 30 and Saturday, October 31 at Jazz at the Bistro. In this clip, Person and pianist Joe Alterman's trio, with James Cammack on bass and Gregory Hutchinson on drums, work out on "Kelly's Blues" at a gig back in August 2012 at Jazz At Lincoln Center's Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola.

Look for part 4 of StLJN's Fall 2015 jazz preview here next week. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Jazz this week: Bill Charlap & Houston Person, Alarm Will Sound, Peter Martin, So Percussion, Willie Pickens, and more

This week's menu of jazz and creative music around St. Louis includes performances by three top pianists representing NYC, Chicago and St. Louis, plus local stops for two acclaimed touring new music ensembles, and much more. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, pianist Bill Charlap (pictured) and guest tenor saxophonist Houston Person open an four-night engagement continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro.

Both men have played at the Bistro separately before, but this will be their first time joining forces here in St. Louis. Though of different generations, Charlap, a 47-year-old New Yorker, and Person, who's 79 and originally from South Carolina, have compatible musical values centered firmly in the jazz mainstream.

Given that, they also should have an extensive repertoire to draw upon, so part of the fun of a gig like this is seeing what tunes they'll end up picking to perform. For more about Person, and some video samples of him performing a half-dozen well-known tunes, check out this video post from last Saturday.

Update - 12:15 p.m., 2/5/14: Jazz St. Louis has announced that Charlap will play solo on Wednesday night, as bad weather has prevented the rest of the band from flying to St. Louis.

Also tonight, members of The 442s, singer Brian Owens, and others from the St. Louis Symphony will present a free Black History Month concert, "Someday We'll Be Free - Celebrating The Music of Donny Hathaway," at Powell Symphony Hall.

Tomorrow night, drummer Maurice Carnes and his trio, featuring saxophonist Freddie Washington, will play a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. Also on Thursday, the 20-member chamber orchestra Alarm Will Sound* returns to the Sheldon Concert Hall with a program of music from their next album, including compositions by Edgard Varese, the Beatles, Conlon Nancarrow, Charles Wuorinen, and more. 

On Friday, St. Louis' own Peter Martin will be back at Sheldon for the first concert of the year in his ongoing eponymous series there. The pianist's theme this time is "Chamber Jazz," and Martin will showcase some of his new compositions via an ensemble including Bjorn Ranheim on cello and Shawn Weil on violin, plus bassist Chris Thomas and drummer Rob Woodie.

Also on Friday, the much-talked-about new music group So Percussion performs at the Touhill Performing Arts Center as part of their tour this month of University of Missouri campuses; saxophonist Jim Stevens will team with Good 4 the Soul to present "The Music of David Sanborn" at the Wildey Theatre;  Miss Jubilee performs at the Moonshine Blues Bar in St. Charles; the Knights of Swing play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and Lindy Hop St. Louis' monthly  "West End Stomp" dance at the Mahler Ballroom will feature music from The Sidemen. 

On Saturday afternoon,;Saxquest will present another in their series of free performances and workshops, featuring saxophonist Randy Hamm with pianist Kyle Aho, plus a set by the Missouri Saxophone Quartet. 

Then on Saturday evening, trumpeter Randy Holmes' quintet will offer a Black History Month-themed performance at Robbie's House of Jazz.

On Sunday afternoon, veteran Chicago pianist Willie Pickens will be in town to play with drummer Jerome "Scrooge" Harris and friends in a jazz brunch performance benefiting Community Women Against Hardship at the Bistro at Grand Center. Later that afternoon, guitarist Steve Schenkel's quartet will play a free concert for the "Inner Jazz" series at Kirkwood United Church of Christ.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday pianist Kim Portnoy and his group will perform original music in a concert at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium; and the Sessions Big Band will play downtown at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups

Then on Tuesday, the St. Louis Jazz Orchestra, under the direction of bassist Jim Widner, will be back at the Touhill for a program of music from "A Night at the Movies"; and guitarist Vincent Varvel will lead a trio at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

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.)

* Disclaimer: As mentioned here before, for the last three years I've been compensated financially to assist Alarm Will Sound with promotional activities in St. Louis and Columbia. As also mentioned here before, I'd still recommend this concert to StLJN readers even if I weren't working with the band.  

(Edited after posting to correct the date of So Percussion.) 

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Standard time with Houston Person

Today, let's look at some video clips featuring the tenor sax stylings of Houston Person, who's coming to St. Louis next week to perform with pianist Bill Charlap's trio Wednesday, February 5 through Saturday, February 8 at Jazz at the Bistro.  

Person, who will turn 80 in November, grew up in Florence, South Carolina and studied at South Carolina State College before joining the Air Force. While stationed in Germany, he played in a service band with future pros including Don Ellis, Eddie Harris and Cedar Walton, and after his discharge, continued his studies at Hartt College of Music in Connecticut.

His first wide recognition came in the early 1960s as a result of work with organist Johnny "Hammond" Smith's band. Person then got his own contract with Smith's label, Prestige Records, and put out a series of albums that helped make his reputation as a successful bandleader in the soul-jazz genre. Later, he worked for many years touring and recording with vocalist Etta Jones, whom he met while both were with Smith.

Over the course of his career, Person has made more than 75 albums as a bandleader, and also has recorded with Bill Charlap, Charles Brown, Charles Earland, Lena Horne, Lou Rawls, Horace Silver, Dakota Staton, Billy Butler, Richard "Groove" Holmes, and others. Since Etta Jones died in 2001, Person has continued to lead his own groups, but also works frequently as a guest soloist and a single, allying himself with other bandleaders, local house bands, and festival rhythm sections as the occasion warrants.

Those kind of gigs tend to rely on a standard repertoire shared among the musicians, and though Person made his rep in the soul-jazz genre, over the years he's also shown his skill at playing swing, ballads, and selections from the "Great American Songbook," some examples of which are featured today.

First up is a version of "Fools Rush In," recorded in October 2011 at the Lockerbie Jazz Festival in Scotland along with baritone saxophonist Alan Barnes and the Paul Harrison Trio.

Down below, it's "Star Eyes," from the Norwich (CT) Jazz Party in May 2012, which also features Warren Vache (cornet), John Pearce (piano), Nicki Parrott (bass), and Bobby Worth (drums). 

The third clip, recorded in June of last year at the Blue Note in NYC, features Person accompanying singer Tony Middleton on "Time After Time" with pianist Joe Alterman, bassist James Cammack, and drummer Alex Raderman. Below that, Alterman, Cammack and drummer Justin Chesarek are backing up Person in the fourth video, a version of "It Could Happen To You" recorded in June 2011 at Iridium in NYC.

The fifth and sixth videos both feature Person as a guest soloist with guitarist Peter Hand's big band in a 2011 concert at Centenary Theatre, Hackettstown, NJ. Thematically related though several decades apart in origin, the versions of "Stormy Weather" and "Sunny" both feature solos from Person, Hand and pianist James Weidman.

For more about Houston Person, check out this interview he did for a Jazz St. Louis podcast back in 2009, and this video interview with "The Pace Report" from 2010.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Winter/spring 2014 jazz preview, part 2

This week, it's part two of our winter/spring 2014 preview taking a look at some of the touring jazz and creative music performers who will be visiting St. Louis next year.

Part one, published last week, covered the month of January. Today, we pick up the timeline at the start of the following month for our first clip, featuring Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, who will be returning here on Saturday, February 1 to perform at The Demo.

They're seen here performing "The Burning" in a gig last August at Jazzfestival Saalfelden in Germany. Written for their album The Race Riot Suite, this piece (and the whole record) features the core JFJO band - pianist Brian Haas,bassist Jeff Harshbarger lap steel guitarist Chris Combs, and drummer Josh Raymer - augmented by a five-piece horn section, comprised of Steven Bernstein (trumpet, slide trumpet), Peter Apfelbaum (tenor and baritone saxophone), Mark Southerland (tenor saxophone), Skerik (saxophones) and Matt Leland (trombone).

Down below, you can see pianist Bill Charlap who will be in St. Louis to team up with saxophonist Houston Person to play Wednesday, February 5 through Saturday, February 8 at Jazz at the Bistro. The video, recorded in October 2013 at KPLU radio in Seattle, features Charlap doing brief solo interpretations of "All The Things You Are" and "Sophisticated Lady."

Meanwhile, Person can be seen in the third clip, playing Fats Waller's "Ain't Misbehavin'" in June of this year at the Blue Note in NYC, accompanied by pianist Joe Alterman, bassist James Cammack and drummer Alex Raderman.

The following weekend, the Cuban-born pianist Chucho Valdés and his quintet will perform on Saturday, February 15 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The fourth video features their complete set from this year's Barcelona Jazz Festival.

A few days later, bassist Christian McBride checks into Jazz at the Bistro, where he'll play with his new trio from Wednesday, February 19 through Saturday, February 22. The group, which features pianist Christian Sands and drummer Ulysses Owens Jr., is featured on McBride's latest album Out Here. They're seen here playing "My Favorite Things" in November 2013 at the Teatro Verdi in Padova, Italy.

The sixth and final video features bassist Josh Abrams’ Natural Information Society, who will be here to play in a concert presented by New Music Circle on Saturday, February 22 at Joe’s Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave. Although Abrams is known primarily for playing the standard acoustic bass, the Natural Information Society is premised on his use of the guimbri, "a three-stringed animal hide bass traditionally used by the Gnawa of north Africa in healing ceremonies," which you can see him play in this undated clip.

Next week, we'll present part three of StLJN's winter/spring 2014 jazz preview...

Jazz this week: Bill Frisell, Houston Person, Tower of Power, Steve Tyrell, Marvin Horne, Reptet, St. Louis Jazz Club picnic, and more

It's going to be a busy few days for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, and time is short, so let's go to the highlights without further preamble...

Tonight, tenor saxophonist Houston Person is back to open a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. Equally adept at blues, bop and ballads, Person has played in St. Louis several times in recent years, most recently at Jazz St. Louis' benefit gala in February 2010, and before that, at the Bistro and at Harris-Stowe State University in 2009. In conjunction with those 2009 gigs, Person did an interview for Jazz St. Louis' now-defunct podcast series, which you can still listen to online here. (.MP3 file)

Tomorrow night, guitarist Bill Frisell makes a rare St. Louis appearance at Old Rock House. He'll be playing with a quartet including bassist Tony Scherr, drummer Kenny Wollesen, and trumpeter Ron Miles. You can read more about Frisell and see some video clips of him in this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

On Friday, drummer Paul Shaw's trio with pianist Ptah Williams and bassist Bob Deboo will play at the Cigar Inn in Belleville, while yr. humble StLJN editor will be playing some blues piano at Robbie's House of Jazz with drummer Stan Hale's band, featuring singer Renee Smith and bassist Phil Burton.

On Saturday afternoon, guitarist and St. Louis native Marvin Horne returns home to wrap up this spring's schedule of concerts from the Nu-Art Series, performing the music of Grant Green at Metropolitan Gallery.

Also on Saturday, the St. Louis Jazz Club will hold their annual picnic at the Concord Farmers Club, with music from Red Lehr & the St. Louis Rivermen in the afternoon and the Michael Lacey Band in the evening.

That same night, a little bit of Oakland comes to downtown St. Louis, as the legendary funk band Tower of Power is back here for the first time in five years to play at Lumiere Place Casino. (I've got a Critic's Pick on the TOP show in this week's Riverfront Times; look for the link here as soon as it's online.)

Meanwhile, for those in the mood from something a bit more intimate on Saturday evening, Robbie's will present pianist Carolbeth True's trio with singer Christi John Bye.

Last but not least on Saturday, Trio Kinsella, featuring flute player Jonathan Borja, cellist Ben Gitter and pianist Brendan Kinsella, performs at the Kranzberg Arts Center for New Music Circle. The program will include music by George Crumb, John Corigliano, Thailand’s Narong Prangcharoen and former St. Louis Symphony composer in residence Joseph Schwantner, as well as the world premiere of “Falling Through Infinity” by Nicholas Omiccioli.

UPDATE - 5/14/11: Terry Perkins previews the Trio Kinsella concert for the St. Louis Beacon here.

On Sunday, singer Steve Tyrell returns to the Sheldon Concert Hall for a performance benefiting education programs at the Sheldon. Tyrell's previous show at the same venue sold out, and at last word tickets for this one were almost gone, but if you're interested in going it may be worth a call to the Sheldon to see if any seats are released at the last minute.

Also on Sunday, the clever, eclectic Seattle sextet known as Reptet (pictured) will be here to play at 2720 Cherokee. I've enjoyed their most recent CD At The Cabin and was prompted to write more about them in this video post from last Saturday.

That same evening, there will be a benefit for bassist Gus Thornton at Beale on Broadway. Thornton is an East St. Louis native who's best known for playing blues with Albert King, Katie Webster and others, but also has done his share of local jazz gigs. He recently had a heart transplant and although his prognosis is said to be good, the operation has left him with huge medical bills and no income while he recovers.

Sunday's event will help raise some cash to assist the universally well-liked Thornton with those bills and living expenses. There's been no information released on the lineup of performers, but given that Thornton seems to have played with at least half the musicians in town at some point, I'm sure it'll be well worth the $10 requested donation at the door.

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.)

Houston Person to perform Sunday, April 11 at Jazz St. Louis gala

Saxophonist Houston Person (pictured) will be the featured performer at Jazz St. Louis' 2010 gala fundraiser, which will be held at 5:00 p.m. Sunday, April 11 at the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark, 1 South Broadway (at Market).

Person will be supported by the band Good 4 The Soul, who play frequently at JSL's main venue Jazz at the Bistro. The Funky Butt Brass Band and the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars, a select group of student musicians, also will perform at the event, which will raise money to support JSL's education programs.

Individual tickets are $500 (for "patrons") and $250; a table for 10 is $2,500; and a "patron" table for 10, which includes an exclusive after-party, is $5,000. For more information, or to purchase tickets or a sponsorship, call 314-289-4037.

Jazz this week: Houston Person; "Rapology" with Troupe, Bell and Burrage; Larry Ochs; "A Jazz Heaven"; and more

It's another busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, so let's go right to the highlights:

Tonight, saxophonist Houston Person (pictured) opens a four-night stand that continues through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. A seasoned veteran who's had a lifetime of experience wrapping blues, bop and ballads into a crowd-pleasing package, Person was in St. Louis most recently at the end of August to perform in a benefit concert at Harris Stowe State University for the Wolff Jazz Institute.

You can see a video sample of his playing in a post previewing that show here, and hear a podcast interview with Person here. Note also that tickets for some of Person's sets will be available at half price if purchased in advance via Metrotix.

Also tonight, the Washington University Music Department presents its "Chance Aesthetics" concert at the 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity in University City. The free event will feature performances of music by John Cage and Terry Riley, plus an improvised piece.

On Thursday, guitarist William Lenihan leads a tribute to Miles Davis' classic album Birth of the Cool in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University

There are three noteworthy shows on Friday, starting with the first of two nights of the Quincy Troupe/Kelvyn Bell/Ronnie Burrage collaboration "Rapology" at Robbie's House of Jazz. For more about Troupe, Bell and Burrage plus some video samples of all three in action, see this post.

Also on Friday, New Music Circle presents saxophonist Larry Ochs' Sax and Drumming Core at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Ochs, who's known for his work with the Rova Saxophone Quartet, will be joined by drummers Donald Robinson and Scott Amendola, Natsuki Tamura on trumpet, and Satoko Fujii on synthesizer and piano to perform a mix of original compositions and collective improvisations.

That same evening, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra presents "Swing, Swing, Swing" a program of swing music including songs made famous by Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller, just around the corner from the Sheldon at Powell Symphony Hall.

On Saturday night, the Chicago Afrobeat Project returns to The Gramophone.

Then on Sunday, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents clarinetist Bud Shultz and the You Can't Beat Experience Jazz Band in a matinee performance of traditional New Orleans style jazz and swing at the Doubletree Hotel in Chesterfield.

Also on Sunday afternoon, singer Wendy Gordon and a cast of musicians and singers including longtime local favorite Jeanne Trevor will perform Gordon's cabaret musical A Jazz Heaven at the Kranzberg Arts Center. For more about the production, which pays tribute to jazz icons including Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Miles Davis, see these two posts.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Chicago-based guitarists Andreas Kapsalis and Goran Ivanovic will perform a duo show at The Gramophone.

Tuesday evening brings the monthly meeting of Jazz St. Louis' CD Listening Club at Borders bookstore, 1519 S. Brentwood Blvd. in Brentwood. This month's featured CD, Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage, will be discussed by JSL executive director Gene Dobbs Bradford and Dr. Gerald Early of Washington University.

Then on Wednesday evening, Jazz St. Louis will present a free concert of Hancock's music by keyboardist Adaron "Pops" Jackson and his group at the Community Music School of Webster University, 535 Garden Avenue in Webster Groves.

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.)

(Edited after posting to fix a formatting problem. Edited again to add a couple of Houston person-related links.)

Jazz St. Louis offering half-price tickets for Houston Person

Via the latest Metrotix email newsletter, Jazz St. Louis is offering tickets at half price for selected sets of saxophonist Houston Person's gig next Wednesday through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro.

The regular ticket price for Wednesday and Thursday is $25, but with the discount you can get tickets for both the 8:30 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. shows for just $12.50. The regular ticket price for Friday and Saturday is $30, with tickets for the 10:15 p.m. show discounted to $15. The discount is NOT available for the 8:30 p.m. shows on Friday and Saturday.

To get the discount when you order, go here and enter the promotional code PERSON09.

Jazz St. Louis podcast features interview with Houston Person

Jazz St. Louis has put online another installment in their ongoing series of podcast interviews. The latest podcast features a conversation with saxophonist Houston Person, who will be in St. Louis from October 7 - 10 to perform at Jazz at the Bistro. You can hear an audio stream of the podcast or download it as an .mp3 file here.

Robert Glasper cancels shows at Jazz at the Bistro; Houston Person booked to perform October 7-10

Jazz St. Louis has announced another change in the fall schedule for Jazz at the Bistro. Pianist Robert Glasper, who had been scheduled to perform at the Bistro Wednesday, October 7 through Saturday, October 10, has canceled.

Saxophonist Houston Person (pictured), who was in town this past weekend to perform at Harris-Stowe State University as part of the fundraising event "A Night of Jazz Greats," has been booked to fill the dates vacated by Glasper. Person has played the Bistro several times before, and over the years, his old-school blend of blues, bop and ballads has proved quite popular with St. Louis listeners.

Tickets for Houston Person will be $25 for Wednesday and Thursday, and $30 for Friday and Saturday, and go on sale at 10:00 a.m. next Tuesday, September 8. Tickets can purchased in person at all Metrotix locations, online at www.metrotix.com, by phone at 314-534-1111, or by calling the Jazz St. Louis box office at 314-289-4030.

Subscribers with tickets for Robert Glasper may use the same tickets for the shows by Houston Person (same set/evening). Single ticket buyers may use them for the same show with Person, or return them to the point of purchase for a full refund.

This is the second time in two seasons that Glasper has bowed out of scheduled dates at the Bistro. Although the official announcement from Jazz St. Louis referred only to "circumstances beyond our control," it's no secret that Glasper has been on tour this year with R&B singer Maxwell - a tour that started in June and, according to the latest from Pollstar, is now running through mid-October. In fact, Glasper will actually be in St. Louis, performing with Maxwell at the Scottrade Center, on October 9, a date that was part of his scheduled run at the Bistro.

So why didn't the keyboardist, or his representatives, catch the conflict before now? This sort of thing is very preventable as long as someone is paying attention. On one hand, you can't blame Glasper for wanting to take advantage of a good-paying gig such as the one with Maxwell - but waiting to cancel until after season brochures have been printed, tickets have been sold, and so on, certainly puts Jazz St. Louis in a bad spot. Under the circumstances, it seems unlikely that Glasper will invited to return to the Bistro any time soon. And given all this, the name of the pianist's latest CD, released last month on Blue Note, seems very appropriate: it's called Double Booked.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Previewing "A Night of Jazz Greats"

This week, let's look at video clips featuring some of the musicians who will be in St. Louis next Saturday, August 29 to perform in "A Night of Jazz Greats" at Harris-Stowe State University.

The concert, a benefit for the Wolff Jazz Institute at Harris-Stowe, will be headlined by St. Louis native Clark Terry and emceed by Don Wolff, for whom the Wolff Jazz Institute is named. Joining Terry on stage will be an all-star group of musicians from all around the country, plus St. Louis' own Jim Widner on bass and Denise Thimes on vocals.

Fittingly, given his stature as hometown hero and elder statesman of the group, Terry was featured solo in this space last week. Today's parade of clips will give you looks at all but one of the visitors who will be joining him on stage next Saturday. From the top, you can see:

* Trombonist Wycliffe Gordon soloing on the Ellington/Tizol standard "Caravan", in a performance at the "Trombone Summit" in 2007 at the Dakota in Minneapolis;

* Tenor saxophonist Houston Person, performing "Since I Fell For You' with the David Leonhardt Trio in a outdoor concert recorded in August, 2008;

* Trumpeter Randy Sandke, performing with the New York All Stars and showing his trad chops and authentic feel on "My Pretty Girl" at the 2008 Bix Beiderbecke Jazz Festival in Davenport, IA;

* Drummer and vibes player Chuck Redd, playing with his pianist brother Robert Redd and bassist Tommy Cecil at the Montpelier Arts Center in Vermont;

* Pianist Rossano Sportiello, with a hyper-caffeinated rendition of "After You've Gone" from the 2007 Jazz Ascona Festival;

* And bassist and singer Nicki Parrott performing "I Don't Know Enough About You" with drummer Chuck Braman's trio (featuring Art Hirahara on piano) at Sweet Rhythm in NYC.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any performance footage featuring drummer Eddie Locke, though you can see a short clip of him talking about some of the influences on his drumming here.