So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Lauren Parks, president of the House of Miles in East St. Louis, was interviewed for a Belleville News Democrat article about local culture in ESL.

* Asleep at the Wheel's concert last Friday at the Fox Theatre was reviewed by Dan Durchholz for the Post-Dispatch. The Post also published a gallery of photos from the gig.

* Also in the Post-Dispatch, Kevin Johnson reports on bassist Jahmal Nichols scoring a documentary that aired on PBS. There's also a brief video accompanying the story.

* Still in the Post, Kevin Johnson interviewed singer Robert Nelson about this Saturday's Juneteenth show at Blue Strawberry, and there's a video with that story, too.

* The Riverfront Times reports that the Way Out Club, a fixture of south city nightlife and alternative music for 27 years, will close permanently next month.

* A 1976 interview of saxophonist Julius Hemphill on the public radio program "Fresh Air" was resurfaced this week by pianist Ethan Iverson, who offered his commentary on the talk via Twitter.

* Marcus Baylor and Jean Baylor of the Baylor Project (pictured) were the featured guests this week on radio station WBGO's online video talk show "The Pulse."

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* With no new relief from the government this fall for businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic, St. Louis-area independent venues that are part of the Missouri Entertainment Alliance are asking music enthusiasts to contact Missouri legislators and urge them to provide industry-specific financial assistance at the state level.

Find more about the campaign and how to participate at https://www.missourientertainmentalliance.com/take-action.

* Singer Denise Thimes (pictured) led an online master class on "Interpretation of Performance Material" this past Tuesday for local students under the auspices of the Fox Performing Arts Charitable Foundation. You can see the class on YouTube in three parts here, here and here.

* Rhythm City, a new recording from pianist Ptah Williams, bassist Larry Kornfeld and drummer Rob Silverman on the Autumn Hill label, was reviewed by AllAboutJazz.com's Jim Worsley and by MakingAScene.org's Jim Hynes.

* St. Louis Post-Dispatch classical music critic Sarah Bryan Miller has died after a long battle with cancer. Miller was 68 years old and had been at the Post since 1999.

* A feature story in the latest issue of Jazz Times takes a look at Miles Davis' unreleased collaboration with singer-songwriter Prince.

* Also on the Miles Davis beat, Jo Gelbard, who was the trumpeter's "painting teacher, collaborator, and companion in the final seven years of his life" was interviewed about "The Paintings of Miles Davis" on the podcast "For Keeps."

* Bassist Jahmal Nichols talked about his new recording Black Frequencies in an interview with the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson.

* Nine Network is reporting on social media that veteran St. Louis pianist and teacher Herb Drury has died. Drury was 92 years old, and was active on the local scene from the Gaslight Square era in the late 1950s into the early 2000s. You can see a profile of Drury from a 2008 episode of Nine's program Living St. Louis here.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Bassist Jahmal Nichols (pictured) was interviewed by NoTreble.com.

* Drummer Dave Weckl and his wife, vocalist Clivia Tanisi, were featured on the latest episode of Jazziz magazine's "Last Call" web series.

* Guitarist Brian Vaccaro was the guest on the most recent episode of Shock City School of Music's "Coffee Conversations" podcast.

* Saxophonist Greg Osby shared his perspective on critics and readers polls and the ranking of  musicians in a recent blog post.

* Saxophonist David Sanborn has released the sixth and final season one episode of his web series "Sanborn Sessions," with pianist Bob James as the featured guest star.

* Bassist and singer Janet Evra was interviewed on the latest episode of St. Louis magazine's "SLM Live" webcast.

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's Heineken Jazzaldia Festival is using a stylized image of bassist Jahmal Nichols (pictured) in promotional materials for the fest, which happens this weekend in San Sebastian, Spain.
 
* In observance of the 50th anniversary of the event, the website Jazz Desk took a look back at "Miles Davis in the eye of the storm – Newport Jazz Festival 1969."

* In other Miles Davis news, Rolling Stone premiered "Paradise," a track from Davis' "lost" 1980s album Rubberband, which finally will be released in September.

* Tonina Saputo's new album St. Lost was reviewed by CollegeMediaNetwork.com.

* The Riverfront Times' Daniel Hill has written an article about at recent personnel controversies and ongoing financial issues at community radio station KDHX.

* Pianist and former Jazz St. Louis education director Phil Dunlap was the subject of a feature story about his new job as head of the Broward Cultural Division in Broward County, FL.

St. Louis jazz at the 2017 Grammys

Although the contributions of St. Louis jazz musicians may not have been explicitly acknowledged by name at the 2017 Grammy Awards, the city was represented by players on at least a couple of this year's winning recordings.

Trumpeter Keyon Harrold (pictured, top left) presumably will be getting a Grammy statue for his crucial contributions to the Robert Glasper-produced soundtrack for Don Cheadle's film Miles Ahead, which was the winner in the "Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media" category.

Also, his brother, drummer Emanuel Harrold, and bassist Jahmal Nichols, who's also from St. Louis, are the rhythm section for singer Gregory Porter, who won "Best Jazz Vocal Album" for his 2016 release Take Me To The Alley. Harrold performed on the Grammy-winning recording, and he and Nichols (pictured, center right) continue to tour around the world with Porter.

Finally, although there was no Grammy Award for "Best Stage Outfit Inspired By A 1970s Miles Davis Album Cover," if such an award existed, it surely would have gone to pop diva Beyonce, who (as you can see from the picture below) looked almost as if she stepped right out of the painting by artist Mati Klarwein that was used as the cover art for Davis' 1971 album Live-Evil. (Hat tip to @danieldurchholz for pointing out the resemblance.)

You can see a complete list of this year's Grammy Award winners here.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* This week's celebration of Miles Davis' 90th birthday in his birthplace of Alton, IL is the subject of a feature story by the Alton Telegraph's Kelsey Landis.

* Singer and pianist Freddy Cole was interviewed by Calvin Wilson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Cole and saxophonist Harry Allen are performing through Saturday night at Jazz at the Bistro.

* Pianist Robert Glasper was interviewed about Everything's Beautiful, his new album remixing and paying tribute to Miles Davis, by Kenya Vaughn of the St. Louis American.

* A news feature on St. Louis CBS affiliate KMOV spotlighted a music therapy program for children with neurofibromatosis developed by Jazz St. Louis in conjunction with the Washington University Neurofibromatosis Center.

* Drummer Emanuel Harrold and bassist Jahmal Nichols, the two St. Louis natives who are part of singer Gregory Porter's band, got some more time on national TV on Wednesday night as Porter performed on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live. You can see a video of their appearance here.

* Trumpeter and St. Louis native Lester Bowie (pictured) will be remembered with a performance of his music on Saturday, June 4 at the BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center in NYC. Tuba player Bob Stewart, who worked with Bowie on many occasions, will serve as music director for a brass ensemble featuring a number of alumni of Bowie's Brass Fantasy bands.

* The Pageant has teamed up with SoundGirls.org to offer a "Live Sound Camp for Girls" starting Monday, July 25 through Friday, July 29 at The Pageant. The week-long day camp is for girls ages 12-18 who are interested in learning about live music production. The curriculum includes hands-on sessions covering a variety of audio- and production-related topics, with campers producing and running a live show to end the week. For details, go to http://SoundGirls.org/stlouiscamp.

* The Riverfront Times has announced the lineup of performers for the annual RFT Music Showcase, which will be held Saturday, June 18 at various venues along Manchester Rd. in the Grove neighborhood.

Reflecting the paper's music coverage, the 80-act roster is heavy on alt-rock and hip-hop, but there also are some acts of potential interest to StLJN readers, including Animal Children, Tommy Halloran, Eric Hall, and the Vernacular String Trio. See the complete lineup of bands and venues at http://rftmusicshowcase.com/

* In other festival news, the just-announced lineup for the 2016 LouFest will include the Preservation Hall Jazz Band as a token jazz act, while the first-ever Murmuration Festival will feature a set from jazz- and electronica-influenced hip-hop producer Flying Lotus among its musical attractions.

The Murmuration fest, which will take place the weekend of September 23-25 on the Cortex Innovation Community campus in midtown, also will include "include new technologies and public art exhibitions, all-ages interactive exhibits, and local food trucks."

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Writing for DownBeat, Terry Perkins reported on last week's reunion of former members of the Black Artists Group for a discussion and performance at Jazz at the Bistro.

* The reunion of former BAG members included saxophonist Oliver Lake, who's now playing with bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille as Trio 3 at NYC's Village Vanguard through Saturday.  

Lake also was named this week as co-recipient of a $25,000 grant from the Multi-Arts Production (MAP) Fund to support the development and staging of Interruption!, a live performance piece for 14-piece ensemble with music by Rob Reddy and a libretto written and performed by Lake.

* Two St. Louis musicians, drummer Emanuel Harrold and bassist Jahmal Nichols, can be heard on the new album from singer Gregory Porter, which NPR made available online this week for a "First Listen."

* Guitarist Todd Mosby is featured on the latest episode of the podcast A Concert Pitch. Mosby will play music from his new album On Eagle Mountain on Saturday night at Focal Point.

* The Black Rep's production of Twisted Melodies, a play about singer/songwriter, pianist and former St. Louisan Donny Hathaway's battle with mental illness, was reviewed by Kenya Vaughn of the St. Louis American and by HEC-TV's Two On The Aisle. The one-man show by Kelvin Roston Jr. (pictured) closes this Sunday, May 1.

* A proposal from The 442s was one of three selected for Forest Park's new artist-is-residence program.

* The St. Louis Post-Dispatch's annual "Go List" issue has named Jazz St. Louis' Ferring Jazz Bistro as the "Best Place to Hear Jazz."

* Saxquest has posted to Facebook a photo album from saxophonist David Liebman's appearance there last Saturday.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: The return of Gregory Porter

This week, let's check out some videos featuring singer Gregory Porter, who's returning to St. Louis for the first time since January 2013 for a concert presented by Jazz St. Louis on Saturday, February 6 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

A lot has happened in Porter's career in the three years since he made his St. Louis debut at Jazz at the Bistro, including international touring, headlining gigs at major festivals, multiple appearances on US and UK television, and a Grammy Award for his album Liquid Spirit, which came out in the fall of 2013 and already has been reissued in a "deluxe" edition.

As a result of all this attention, Porter now is playing theaters like the 1600-seat Touhill instead of smaller, more intimate venues like the Bistro. But as you'll see in today's videos showcasing much of the material from Liquid Spirit, he's kept his concert presentation substantially the same, still backed by a four-piece band that currently includes two St. Louisans, drummer Emanuel Harrold and bassist Jahmal Nichols.

In the first clip up above, you can see Porter singing "Water Under Bridges" from Liquid Spirit at this past summer's Glastonbury Festival in England.

After the jump, there's a clip of him performing "No Love Dying" in 2013 on CBS This Morning, followed by a video of Porter and pianist Chip Crawford visiting the studios of the UK's Jazz FM in January 2014 to do "Hey Laura" and Donny Hathaway's "Someday We'll All Be Free".

The fourth clip is a full episode of the web video series "Live@Home" from 2014, featuring Porter and band doing four songs, plus some brief interview segments.

The fifth and sixth clips are both full shows from 2014, from Warsaw Summer Jazz Days in Poland and the Lowlands festival in the Netherlands.

For more about what Gregory Porter's been up to since his last visit to St. Louis, read his interview from March of last year with the UK newspaper The Telegraph; his interview with the BBC, done around the same time; and this feature from the UK magazine MOJO.

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

Victor Goines to perform benefit concert Sunday, December 6 at The Sheldon

Saxophonist and clarinetist Victor Goines is returning to St. Louis for a performance benefiting the North County Big Band at 7:00 p.m. Sunday, December 6 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Goines, a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra since 1993, also directs the jazz studies program at Northwestern University and is active as a solo artist, performing and recording with his own quartet as well as with Wynton Marsalis, Marcus Roberts, Diana Krall, Dianne Reeves, and more. He's played here in St. Louis several times over the past decade, both as a member of JaLCO and as a headliner at the Sheldon and Jazz at the Bistro.

For this performance, Goines (pictured) will accompanied by a rhythm section of St. Louis musicians including Adam Maness on piano, Jahmal Nichols on bass, and Montez Coleman on drums.

The North County Big Band, which will play an opening set before Goines, is made up of students from several St. Louis area high schools, including Riverview Gardens, Normandy, Hazelwood Central, Central Visual and Performing Arts, and University City. The group is led by saxophonist Harvey Lockhart, band director for Riverview Gardens HS, and has performed several times at the Sheldon and at community events since its inception earlier this year.

Tickets are $35 for general admission orchestra seats, $30 general admission balcony, and $15 for students, and are on sale now via MetroTix at 314-534-1111 and online.

Jazz St. Louis announces changes to 2015-16 Jazz at the Bistro schedule

The vagaries of scheduling and musicians' lives being what they are, Jazz St. Louis has made some alterations to the previously announced 2015-16 season schedule for Jazz at the Bistro.

In the most significant change, the shows from Wednesday, October 21 through Saturday, October 24 originally scheduled for bassist Dave Holland's PRISM with guitarist Kevin Eubanks (pictured) and drummer Eric Harland now will be filled by Eubanks' own trio, sans Holland and Harland. Subscription tickets already purchased for PRISM will be valid for the Eubanks trio.

Also, the tribute to Clark Terry with trumpeter and singer Byron Stripling and the Jazz St. Louis Big Band originally set for Friday, October 16 and Saturday, October 17 has been moved to Friday, March 25 and Saturday, March 26 of next year. Subscribers who bought tickets already have had them exchanged for the new dates, based on the original day and set time. The October dates left open will be filled by the Coleman Hughes Project featuring Adrianne Felton.

Lastly, bassist Jahmal Nichols' performance on Saturday, September 12 has been cancelled, due to Nichols being on tour with singer Gregory Porter. No replacement show will be booked for that date, and there's no indication as to when Nichols might be rescheduled.

Suubscribers who have questions about any of this can contact the Jazz St. Louis box office at 314-571-6000.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Multi-instrumentalist and former U. Citian Marty Ehrlich's latest album A Trumpet In The Morning was reviewed in the Irish Times.

* Jazz St. Louis has posted to Facebook an album of photos from The Bad Plus' performances last week at Jazz at the Bistro.

* Meanwhile, while the group was in St. Louis, TBP pianist Ethan Iverson (pictured) visited the offices of the St. Louis independent label MAXJAZZ, and blogged about it, with photos, here.

* And speaking of photo albums, Saxquest has posted to their Facebook page a collection of pictures from last week's Jazz Education Network (JEN) conference in Dallas.

* Thirty-five years after the death of singer, pianist, songwriter and former St. Louisan Donny Hathaway, Duke University professor of African and African-American studies Mark Anthony Neal muses on Hathaway's legacy and what might have been.

* A track from singer/guitarist Tommy Halloran was featured as KDHX's "Song of the Day" download, while the album got an advance review from the Riverfront Times.

* Also in the RFT, music editor Daniel Hill takes a look at KDHX's new headquarters in Grand Center.

* And speaking of new albums, bassist Jahmal Nichols has a few words about his with the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson.

* Saxophonist and St. Louis native Greg Osby is the guest on the latest "A Noise From The Deep Podcast" on trumpeter Dave Douglas' Greenleaf Music site, in which he chats with Douglas and co-host Michael Bates about generating creative ideas, finding new musicians, and more.

* Jazz radio update: On this Saturday's edition of Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis' "Somethin' Else," host Calvin Wilson will rewind back to the 1950s to feature music from Miles Davis' storied quintet with John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones.

After that, "The Jazz Collective" host Jason Church will feature music from Jeff Golub, Gabriel Mark Hasselbach, Keiko Matsui, Juris, Pieces of a Dream, Hilton Feldon, John Coltrane, Donald Byrd, Jack McDuff, Larry Barker, Ron Goff, Elliott Ranney, and Tommy Halloran's Guerrilla Swing.

Wilson's program can be heard at 8:00 p.m. Saturdays, followed by Church at 9:00 p.m., via 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.  

Jazz this week: Jon Batiste and Stay Human, Jahmal Nichols CD release, and more

If you're looking to shake the mid-winter doldrums this weekend, your options for live jazz and creative music in St. Louis include the local debut of an up-and-coming New Orleans performer; an album release event featuring the first recording as a leader from one of our town's busiest bassists, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, saxophonist Lew Winer III leads a trio at The Engine Room, while singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black play at Nathalie's, a new restaurant on Lindell in the building that formerly housed Salt, and before that, Savor and the Cabaret at Savor.

Tomorrow night, bassist Jahmal Nichols will make his Jazz at the Bistro debut as a bandleader for the first of two nights promoting the release of his first album, 2 Worlds 1 Mind.

The band for the gig will include saxophonist Kendrick Smith, guitarist Eric Slaughter, keyboardists Cory James and Andre Thomas, and drummer Andrew Exum, plus "special guests," but advance information about the record is scarce, other than a YouTube video that lists the musicians who played on the CD over an excerpt of a unnamed track evoking  early Stanley Clarke. (In a coincidence of particularly unfortunate timing, Nichols' website appears either to have been recently domain-jacked or gone 404, so no help there, either.)

Also on Friday, the Gateway City Big Band plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; singer Feyza Eren fronts a quartet at Robbie's House of Jazz; percussionist Kaleb Kirby's Animal Children perform at The Engine Room; vibraphonist Tom Rickard leads a trio at Cigar Inn; and the Webster Groves High School jazz ensembles will present their annual fund-raising concert at The Pageant. 

On Saturday, the Joe Bozzi Band will play a lunchtime matinee at Talayna's of Chesterfield.

That evening, New Orleans pianist and singer Jon Batiste (pictured) and his band Stay Human will make their St. Louis debut at the Sheldon Concert Hall. You can hear an interview with Batiste, recorded in December for NPR's "Weekend Edition," and some samples of  his music here.

Elsewhere on Saturday, pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True will play at Robbie's House of Jazz, and the Funky Butt Brass Band returns for their monthly show at the Broadway Oyster Bar.

On Sunday, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents Miss Jubilee at the Doubletree Hotel at Westport.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday guitarist John Farrar's Park Avenue Jazz trio now are doing a regular weekly gig at Evangeline's Bistro and Music House; and fellow six-stringers Tom Byrne and Eric Slaughter will take the stage at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

On Tuesday, the Miles Davis Memorial Project will hold a mixer and informational meeting at Bossanova Martini Lounge and Restaurant in Alton.

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.)

Tickets on sale Monday for new shows at Jazz at the Bistro

Although there's been no announcement yet from Jazz St. Louis, Metrotix today sent out an email including on-sale dates for a number of new shows in 2014 at Jazz at the Bistro.

According to said email, The Wee Trio, with St. Louis native Dan Loomis on bass, will be coming back to town in April to celebrate the release of their album recorded earlier this year at the Bistro, and trumpeter Terell Stafford (pictured) will close out the 2013-14 season in May by serving as special guest for a weekend of perofrmances with students from Jazz St. Louis' JazzU program.

As for local players, bassist Jahmal Nichols and singer/guitarist Tommy Halloran have been booked to make their Bistro debuts as bandleaders, and several other hometown favorites will make return appearances there during the winter and spring. Here's the schedule of additional concerts as currently listed by Metrotix.

Friday, January 17 & Saturday, January 18:  Jahmal Nichols CD Release
Saturday, March 1:  Willie Akins & Dave Venn
Friday, March 14 & Saturday, March 15:  Phil Dunlap Quintet plays the music of Miles Davis
Friday, March 28 & Saturday, March 29:  Jim Stevens & Good 4 the Soul play the music of David Sanborn
Friday, April 11 & Saturday, April 12:  The Wee Trio CD Release Event celebrating Live at the Bistro
Tuesday, April 22:  SIUE Concert Jazz Band/Alumni
Friday, April 25 & Saturday, April 26:  Tommy Halloran's Guerilla Swing
Friday, May 9 & Saturday, May 10:  "Great Guitars 2014" with Shaun Robinson & Eric Slaughter
Friday, May 23 & Saturday, May 24:  JazzU with Terrell Stafford

All the performers will play sets at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., except for the SIUE Concert Jazz Band, who will play one show at 7:30 p.m. 

Ticket prices are $5 for Terell Stafford and JazzU; $15 for the SIUE Concert Jazz Band; $25 for The Wee Trio, Akins & Venn, and Jim Stevens' Sanborn tribute; and $20 for all other performances. Tickets for all shows go on sale at 10:00 a.m. next Monday, December 2 via Metrotix.