Sunday Session: March 14, 2021

Roy Haynes

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest:

* Guelph Jazz Festival offering 'hyper intimate' live music with One-on-One Concert Series (Guelph Today)
* Theo Bleckmann & the Westerlies: This Land Is Their Land (Jazz Times)
* PRS for Music says that more women are registering as professional songwriters, but they’re still underrepresented and earn less than their male counterparts (MusicRadar.com)
* zaynnah conversation....with Sonny Rollins (Zayannah)
* “Judas and the Black Messiah”: Revolutionary Down to the Tunes (TheCorsairOnline.com)
* Best Charles Mingus Pieces: 20 Essentials By Jazz’s Fiery Iconoclast (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Space Oddity: the weird history of the Soviet ANS synthesizer (5Mag.net)
* The Baddest Man in Town (TheAmericanScholar.org)
* 'Swingin’ the Blues' book encapsulates life, legacy of San Marcos jazz legend (UniversityStar.com)
* Family Record (Style Weekly)
* ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ Composer Tom Holkenborg Says They Created a Drum So Big It Wouldn’t Fit Through His Door (Collider.com)
* With Just One Full-Time Jazz Club Left In The District, Local Musicians Contemplate Their Future (DCist.com)
* UConn celebrating 50th anniversary of Joni Mitchell’s ‘Blue’ with international conference open to academics and music lovers (Hartford Courant)
* Jazz clarinetist Dr. Michael White takes a break from songwriting marathon for Snug Harbor gig (NOLA.com)
* With yet another Grammy nomination, Pat Metheny talks music, COVID, his KC upbringing (Kansas City Star)
* How Many Movies About Billie Holiday Does it Take… (The Nation)
* Tribune photos of the famous Mister Kelly's (Chicago Tribune)
* On Roy Haynes’ 96th Birthday Today, a Collective Card From More Than 20 Jazz Giants (Mother Jones)
* Inside the ‘Black Market’ Where Artists Can Pay for Millions of Streams (Rolling Stone)
* Audio cassette tape inventor Lou Ottens dies aged 94 (BBC)
* Country Music Is Changing, in Spite of Itself (Pitchfork.com)
* “The Most Beautiful Sound Next to Silence” (City-Journal.org)
* Jane Monheit Talks New Album Come What May And Her Love Of Musical Theatre (IHeartRadioBroadway.com)
* Considering Chick Corea's Grammys Success And The Kitchen Sink Of Genre (NPR)

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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Arturo Sandoval

This week, let's take a look at some videos featuring trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, who will perform with his band and vocalist Jane Monheit for the annual "Friends of the Sheldon" benefit next Saturday, October 26 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. It will be Sandoval's first local appearance since a weekend in October 2017 at Jazz St. Louis; Monheit last performed here in November of that year, also at Jazz St. Louis.

Born in Cuba, the 69-year-old Sandoval first gained recognition in the USA in the late 1970s as a member of Cuban jazz-fusion band Irakere. Around that same time, he met fellow trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, who became a friend, mentor, and eventually, employer of Sandoval via Diz's United Nations Orchestra.

Thanks in part to Gillespie's mentorship, Sandoval's solo career took off, resulting in offers to record in the USA and tour around the world. He eventually defected to the United States in 1990 while touring with Gillespie, and became a naturalized American citizen in 1998.

In all, Sandoval has released more than 30 recordings as a bandleader, and continues to tour regularly, playing jazz and occasional symphonic gigs, as well as scoring films. He's won a total of ten Grammy Awards to date, plus a Presidential Medal of Freedom and many other honors.

You can see and hear various aspects of the trumpeter's musical personality in today's collection of videos, starting up top with a version of the venerable standard "Peanut Vendor" recorded in 2017 at the Java Jazz Festival in Indonesia.

After the jump, there are two clips recorded in November 2017 at the studios of KNKX radio in Tacoma, WA, as Sandoval performs "Here's That Rainy Day" and "Soca Beat."

Next, you can see two videos of Sandoval last year at the Jazz Trumpet Festival in Brazil, performing his mentor Gillespie's signature song "A Night In Tunisia" and "Funky Cha-Cha" with the Speaking Jazz Big Band.

The final video shows Sandoval in June of this year performing his second original trumpet concerto with the Prague National Orchestra.

For more about Arturo Sandoval, read his May 2019 interview with AllAboutJazz.com, and listen to his 2018 interview with KIOS radio in Omaha, and his September 2019 interview on the "Get Happy with Dr. Marissa" podcast.

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

Jazz this week: Jane Monheit, Douglas Ewart and the STL Free Jazz Collective, Battle Trance, holiday jazz begins, and more

This week's busy calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes a return engagement from one of the most popular female vocalists in jazz; a couple of shows featuring adventurous woodwind players; the first few of what will be many holiday-themed concerts for the season; and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, November 29
Singer Jane Monheit returns to St. Louis for the first of four nights at Jazz at the Bistro. Monheit (pictured, top left) last performed here in 2015 with singer and guitarist John Pizzarelli at the Sheldon's annual benefit gala, and before that in 2014 at the Bistro.

She first won wide public attention shortly after the turn of the century, applying a plush vocal tone and a sure sense of swing to mostly standards from the Great American Songbook. Since then, Monheit has released a dozen albums as a leader, and also made guest appearances on record with a wide variety of performers, from fellow singers such as Sara Gazarek and Tony DeSare to instrumentalists including David Benoit, Ray Brown Jr., and many others.

After recording for five different labels, including Sony, Concord, and Decca/EmArcy. Monheit in 2016 started her own record company, Emerald City Records, inaugurating the imprint with the release of The Songbook Sessions, a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald. Listeners this week at the Bistro can expect an emphasis on that material, though the multi-night gig also should give Monheit a chance to dig into her back catalog as well.

Also on Wednesday, singer Joe Mancuso continues his weekly gig at Taha'a Twisted Tiki in The Grove; the Cary Colman Jazz Trio plays at Evangeline's; and this week's "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features Jacob Alspach at Squatters Cafe/The Stage at KDHX, the jam session led by bassist Bob DeBoo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's band at The Dark Room.

Thursday, November 30
Guitarist Vincent Varvel leads a quartet in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; the Liberation Organ Trio plays at Evangeline's; singer Feyza Eren and her quartet will perform at Joe's Cafe; and saxophonist Ben Reece's Unity Quartet returns to The Dark Room.

Friday, December 1
Pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True with guest vocalist Kim Fuller will perform at the Webster Groves Concert Hall; singer/guitarist Tommy Halloran continues his weekly residency at Das Bevo Underground; and saxophonist Tim Cunningham is at Troy's Jazz Gallery.

Saturday, 
December 2
Freddie Washington will be the latest local saxophonist to be featured in Saxquest's series of free Saturday matinee performances, while just down the street at Dead Wax Records, Battle Trance will be promoting their Saturday evening show for New Music Circle with a free in-store performance.

Then, as fate would have it, Saturday evening offers a tough choice for fans of woodwinds and/or creative music, with two shows of interest happening simultaneously.

Battle Trance (pictured, center left), who will be making their St. Louis debut in their Saturday evening concert at The Luminary, is an ensemble of four tenor saxophonists who use extended techniques to play music that's a mix of composition and improvisation, though it can be hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. You can find out more about them, and see videos of some sample live performances, in this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

Meanwhile, across town in the Old North neighborhood, multi-instrumentalist Douglas Ewart will be in town to join the STL Free Jazz Collective for a free concert at the 14th St. Artist Community.

Ewart (pictured, bottom left), who plays a whole arsenal of woodwinds, percussion, and self-made instruments, was one of early members of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, and has performed and/or recorded with many of the most important creative musicians of the past half-century. There's more about Ewart, including videos of some of his live performances, in this post from last Saturday.

Sunday, December 3
It's another day for matinees, as the St. Louis Jazz Club presents Cornet Chop Suey playing traditional jazz and swing at the Moolah Shrine Temple, while the Friends of Scott Joplin present their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's Rosebud Cafe.

Also on Sunday afternoon, the UMSL Jazz Ensemble directed by Jim Widner, Vocal Point, and University Orchestra will present their annual free concert, "UMSL's Jazz For The Holidays," at the Touhill Performing Arts Center; and trumpeter Randy Holmes, singer and impressionist Dean Christopher, and a mini-big band will pay tribute to Frank Sinatra and Hoagy Carmichael at the Webster Groves Concert Hall.

Monday, December 4
Trumpeter Jim Manley is back at Momo's Greek Restaurant, and Washington University's student jazz combos will show off what they've learned this semester in a free performance at the 560 Music Center.

Tuesday, December 5
Dean Christopher, having a busy week, headlines "A Vegas 'Rat Pack and More' Christmas" at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

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 four

Here's the fourth and final part of of StLJN's Fall 2017 jazz preview, featuring videos of jazz and creative music performers who will be visiting St. Louis in the next several months. (You can see part one here, part two here, and part three here.)

Picking up the chronology at the point when part three left off, today's first video features trumpeter and East St. Louis native Russell Gunn, who will be coming back home to perform Wednesday, November 15 through Saturday, November 18 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Gunn's "Blackhawk Revisited" band celebrates Miles Davis' sound at the turn of the 1960s, as exemplified by the box set In Person Friday and Saturday Night at the Blackhawk, recorded in 1961 at the Black Hawk nightclub in San Francisco.

On hand to lend authenticity to the proceedings will be Jimmy Cobb, the octogenarian drummer who played on the original Blackhawk dates and is the only musician from Davis' landmark album Kind of Blue still living. This video was recorded last October at Dizzy's in New York, and features Gunn, Cobb and bandmates Morgan Guerin (tenor sax), Kevin Bales (piano), and Corcoran Holt (bass) doing a full set of the Blackhawk material.

After the jump, it's singer Jane Monheit, who will perform Wednesday, November 29 though Saturday, December 2 at the Bistro. She's seen here singing "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" in May 2016 at the studios of KNKX Public Radio in Tacoma, WA.

The third clip features Battle Trance, the all-tenor-sax quartet who will be presented by New Music Circle on Saturday, December 2 at The Luminary. It's a video of the title track from their album Blade of Love, as performed in January at the Vandoren Studio in Los Angeles.

Next, it's pianist and singer Freddy Cole, seen here performing "Songs for Lovers" in February 2017 at Dizzy's. Cole and his band, with guest saxophonist Harry Allen, will be in St. Louis starting Wednesday, December 6 through Saturday, December 9 at Jazz at the Bistro.

That same weekend, the Spanish Harlem Orchestra will make their St. Louis debut with a holiday-themed show called "Salsa Navidad" on Friday, December 8 at Sheldon Concert Hall. The sixth video depicts highlights from that show, as performed last year at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles.

The penultimate video features vocal group Take 6, who will be back to perform starting Wednesday, December 13 through Saturday, December 16 at the Bistro. You can see them here singing "Stand By Me" and "Straighten Up and Fly Right," as recorded in August at the studios of Hawaii Public Radio. 

Last but not least, it's actor, singer, and Belleville native Lea DeLaria, who will perform her cabaret show on Wednesday, December 27 and Thursday, December 28 at Jazz at the Bistro. She's seen in the final video doing an impromptu version of "Since I Fell For You" last October at an NYC spot called the Duplex.

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

Sunday Session: July 31, 2016

Johnny Hodges

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

* Jane Monheit: Beyond Ella (Los Angeles Review of Books)
* Live: Famoudou Don Moye & Hartmut Geerken - A historic free-improv set in Berlin (Jazz Times)
* The Linguistics of My Next Band Name (JStor.org)
* Why is new classical music left to wither and die? (The Telegraph UK)
* New Ensembles, Inspired Pairings Animate Umbria Jazz Fest (DownBeat)
* Johnny Hodges - The Timeless Artistry of a Great Ellingtonian (New England Public Radio)
* Record Labels Need a Change of Culture in the ‘Dashboard Era’ of the Music Industry (Medium.com)
* The mystery of the phantom Billboard hit, “Ready ‘N’ Steady,” is finally solved (AV Club)
* Pitchfork Fest, a Bastion of Rock and Pop, Opens Doors to Jazz (DownBeat)
* Dave Douglas review – jolting backbeats and hip-hop highjinks (The Guardian UK)
* Born to Be Blue: Ethan Hawke on the fast life and mysterious death of Chet Baker (The Guardian UK)
* Inside The Playlist Factory (Buzzfeed.com)
* Free-Improv Players Soar During Astral Spirits Showcase (DownBeat)
* Why Beijing Is (Still) A Great City For Jazz Music (Forbes)
* How Being a Music Journalist Made Me Wind Up in a Psychiatric Hospital (Vice.com)
* Charles Davis obituary (The Guardian UK)
* Rock, racism and rebel music: 1970s Britain through a photographer’s lens (HuckMagazine.com)
* Brian Eno Explains the Loss of Humanity in Modern Music (OpenCulture.com)
* Remembering Marni Nixon, the Invisible Voice of ‘My Fair Lady,’ ‘West Side Story,’ and ‘The King and I’ (The Daily Beast)
* The leading manufacturer of music boxes for ice cream trucks calls Minnesota home (TheCurrent.org)
* THE BLURT JAZZ DESK: Sonny Rollins (BlurtOnline.com)
* Carla Bley: Shoe Leather, Mystery & Moxie (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Behind the Lens: A Deep Dive into the New Frank Zappa Doc ‘Eat That Question’ (Vice.com)
* How the pop video got weird again (The Guardian UK)
* David Bowie’s Blackstar Band Announces New Album, Shares “A Small Plot of Land” Cover (Pitchfork)
* This 1960 Jazz Film Shaped Concert Documentaries as We Know Them (Vice.com)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Winter/spring 2015 jazz preview, part 5

Today, it's the fifth and final part of StLJN's winter/spring 2015 jazz preview, offering a look at the touring bands and musicians who will be performing here during the first half of the year.

(Parts one through four can be found here, here, here, and here. And speaking of part four, last week in this space we were remiss in not mentioning tenor saxophonist Harry Allen, who will be performing with Freddy Cole from Wednesday, April 1 through Saturday, April 4 at Jazz at the Bistro. You can see and hear Allen in action in this post from before his last gig here with Cole in 2013.)

Resuming our preview chronology in mid-April, today's first video features singer Kurt Elling, who will be returning to St. Louis to perform Wednesday, April 15 through Saturday, April 18 at Jazz at the Bistro. Elling has been a frequent visitor here in recent years, appearing most recently in June of last year at the Sheldon. He's seen here in a full set from the 2013 Jazz TM Festival in Timișoara, Romania, accompanied by his former pianist and music director Laurence Hobgood, bassist Clark Sommers, guitarist John McLean and drummer Kendrick Scott.

After the jump, you can see a clip featuring guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli and singer Jane Monheit, who will be teaming up on Saturday, April 18 to play for the annual benefit gala for the Sheldon Concert Hall. This version of "They Can't Take that Away From Me" was recorded in 2006 for PBS' Legends Of Jazz program. (For more, read this review of Pizzarelli's show last November at the Bistro, and check out this video showcase post featuring Monheit that was posted before she played the club in May of last year.)

Next is pianist Benny Green, who will be leading his trio from Wednesday, April 29 through Saturday, May 2 at Jazz at the Bistro. This clip of Green playing "Taking a Chance on Love" with drummer Lewis Nash and bassist Christian McBride in 2013 at The Blue Note in New York City.

Today's fourth video features singer Cécile McLorin Salvant, one of the most talked-about new performers in jazz, who will be making her St. Louis debut on Saturday, May 2 at the Sheldon. She's seen here singing and playing Fats Waller's "Jitterbug Waltz" in 2014 at the Victoires du Jazz festival in Paris.

A couple of weeks later, violinist Regina Carter and her Southern Comfort project will be here for performances from Wednesday, May 13 through Saturday, May 16 at Jazz at the Bistro. Carter and company are seen here playing "I'm Going Home" in April, 2014 in the studios of WNYC radio.

After that, you can see saxophonist Tim Berne's Snakeoil, who will perform in a concert presented by New Music Circle on Friday, May 18 at The Stage at KDHX. This video shows the second half of a Snakeoil set recorded in 2013 at Firehouse 12 in New Haven, Connecticut.

The next two clips featuring organist Dr. Lonnie Smith and guitarist Lionel Loueke, who will be paired for a series of shows starting Wednesday, May 27 through Saturday, May 30 at Jazz at the Bistro. Clip #7 shows Smith and his trio in 2011 at the Lamantin Jazz Festival in Szombathely, Hungary, while clip #8 captures a brief solo number by Loueke in 2014 at the Asheville Percussion Festival in North Carolina.

Today's final video features trumpeter Terence Blanchard with his latest project, E- Collective, performing "Oscar Groove" on October 23, 2014 at the Blue Note Milano. Blanchard, who spent a good chunk of 2013 here working with Opera Theatre St. Louis on the premiere of his opera Champion, will be back to play Wednesday, June 10 through Saturday, June 13 at Jazz at the Bistro.

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

Jane Monheit, John Pizzarelli to perform for The Sheldon's 2015 gala

Singer Jane Monheit and singer-guitarist John Pizzarelli (pictured) will be the featured performers at the 2015 fundraising gala for the Sheldon Concert Hall and Art Galleries at 8:15 p.m., Saturday, April 18 at The Sheldon.

Both performers are familiar to St. Louis music fans, with Pizzarelli having just completed a four-night run at the new Jazz at the Bistro last month, and Monheit appearing at the Bistro most recently in May of this year. Their show for the Sheldon gala will be part of a joint tour beginning in December and continuing into next year under the banner "Singers Over Manhattan."

Proceeds from the event will benefit the Sheldon's concerts, gallery exhibitions and educational programs. Tickets for the gala can be purchased now by calling the Sheldon at 314-533-9900. Prices start at $500 per person, and include pre-concert cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, dinner, preferred concert seating, complimentary valet parking, and a tax deduction.

Concert-only tickets will be priced at $45 orchestra, $40 balcony, and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 14 via all MetroTix outlets and online at The Sheldon's website.

Pollstar adds listings for upcoming St. Louis gigs by Terence Blanchard, John Pizzarelli & Jane Monheit

With the time drawing near for Jazz St. Louis to announce the 2014-15 season at Jazz at the Bistro, it's no surprise that news of some of next year's bookings has begun to trickle out in various ways.

At last week's news conference promoting a $10 million plan to renovate and expand the Bistro, Jazz St. Louis announced that trumpeter Wynton Marsalis would be the first to play the newly refurbished venue when it reopens in October. The week before that, Pollstar added a listing showing guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli also playing at the Bistro October 22 - 25 of this year.

Now, Pollstar has added yet another listing for next season at the Bistro, showing trumpeter Terence Blanchard (pictured) returning there for a run of gigs starting Wednesday, June 10, 2015 and continuing through Saturday, June 13.

Blanchard coming back to St. Louis seems entirely plausible for, like Pizzarelli, he's played here numerous times - most recently premiering his opera Champion last year at Opera Theatre St. Louis - and in the process has established a local fan base. 

But the dates are notable, in that the Bistro's season of touring acts typically wraps up at the end of May. With a delayed start in the fall due to the renovations, it looks like next season will be extended a bit into summer 2015.

And speaking of John Pizzarelli, Pollstar also has added another listing showing him and singer Jane Monheit both performing at The Sheldon on April 18, 2015.

Since the Sheldon already has announced a 2014-15 season schedule that didn't include this show, one can presume that it's some sort of special event or benefit gala, perhaps even their own big fundraiser for the spring. (In fact, Pizzarelli has already played for that event once, back in 2011.) Whatever the purpose, putting two headliners together suggest something big in the works.

Note also that Pizzarelli and Monheit have appeared together before, notably performing a duet on the PBS show Legends of Jazz back in 2006, and, coincidentally, are scheduled to play a joint gig next week at Jazz at Lincoln Center in NYC.

As always, listings on Pollstar should be considered unconfirmed until officially announced by the presenter or venue. Jazz St. Louis usually announces the schedule for the Bistro at the end of May.

Jazz this week: Jane Monheit, Miles Davis Jazz Festival with Russell Gunn, New Music Circle Showcase, Tammy McCann, and more

This week's menu of jazz and creative music offerings in St. Louis includes a number of special events, most notably the annual Miles Davis Jazz Festival in Alton, plus the long-awaited return of one of the more popular female vocalists in jazz.

That would be singer Jane Monheit, who's back in St. Louis to perform in a four-night engagement beginning this evening and continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro.

It's Monheit's first visit here since 2010 and this time, her show has a theme, "Celebrating the Jazz of Judy Garland." Though Garland wasn't known specifically as a jazz performer, the catalog of songs she recorded, ranging from uptempo numbers like "Get Happy" to ballads like "The Man That Got Away," certainly offers ample opportunities for Monheit and her trio to stretch out and explore emotional and musical nuances.

For more about what else Monheit has been up to since her last visit here, and some video samples from recent performances, see this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

Tomorrow, KDHX will present their annual "Midwest Mayhem" event at the City Museum, with music from the Funky Butt Brass Band, Wack-A-Doo, The People's Key, and 16 more bands and DJs representing a variety of musical genres. 

Also on Thursday, guitarist Dave Black, singer Joe Mancuso and band will perform at Nathalie’s; and the World Chess Hall of Fame in the Central West End will celebrate their current exhibit about composer John Cage with a free performance of Cage’s "Reunion" featuring Lemp Neighborhood Art Center's Mark Sarich, Nathan Cook, Greg Farough and, somewhat surprisingly, Good 4 The Soul keyboardist Adaron "Pops" Jackson.

On Friday, Chicago's Tammy McCann, an alumna of Ray Charles' Raelettes who's also been working recently with Kurt Elling's former pianist Laurence Hobgood, will perform at Robbie's House of Jazz. Hobgood won't be on this gig, though, as McCann will be backed by a quartet including Tom Vaitsas (piano), John Sutton (bass), Sam Jewel (drums), and St. Louis' own Eric Slaughter on guitar.

Also on Friday, the Ambassadors of Swing play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; singer Feyza Eren and pianist Nathan Jatcko will duet at The Wine Press; and guitarist Vincent Varvel leads a trio at Tavern of Fine Arts.

On Saturday, the 2014 edition of the annual Miles Davis Jazz Festival takes place at the Jacoby Arts Center in Davis' birthplace of Alton, Illinois. This year's headliner is trumpeter Russell Gunn (pictured), the former East St. Louisan whose variegated catalog of recordings includes one explicitly paying tribute to Davis, as well as several albums of electric music that reflect some of the spirit of Davis' later years. Saxophonist Fred Walker and prog-rock band Locrian Manor are the supporting acts.

Also on Saturday, pianist Peter Martin performs in a benefit event for New City School; the WirePilots, featuring guitarist Dan Rubright, bassist Ric Vice, and percussionist Ted Rubright, play at the Kranzberg Arts Center; and smooth jazz/fusion ensemble The Freedom will take the stage at Thurman Grill.

On Sunday, Russell Gunn will cross the Mississippi, serving as the "special guest" for a gig nominally headed by drummer Montez Coleman at the Bistro at Grand Center; while down on Cherokee St., the Sidney Street Shakers will be playing pre-WWII style hot jazz for the monthly "South City Shuffle" event at Van Ella Studios.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday New Music Circle will present a free improv session at Blank Space with saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, drummer Tom Rainey, and an assortment of St. Louis musicians.

Then on Tuesday, Laubrock, Rainey and drummer Tyler Damon will be the visiting performers taking part in NMC's final concert of the season, aka the "New Music Circle Showcase," at the William A Kerr Foundation, 21 O'Fallon St on Laclede's Landing. Also joining in will be St. Louis guitarist Chris Trull and electronic musicians Kevin Harris and NNN Cook. For a look at and listen to the visitors improvising in various situations, check out this video post from last Saturday.

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: The return of Jane Monheit

Today, let's check in on singer Jane Monheit, who will be back in St. Louis for the first time in several years to perform Wednesday, May 14 through Saturday, May 17 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Monheit last sang at the Bistro in December 2010, and she also visited this area in November 2011 to do a holiday concert at McKendree College in Lebanon, IL. Since then, she's put out one album, 2013's The Heart Of The Matter, and has continued to tour regularly, though perhaps at a slightly reduced pace than before she and her husband/drummer Rick Montalbano had their son Jack, who turns six this month.

A native of Long Island, the 36-year-old Monheit had a rather meteoric rise in her early career, enjoying favorable press attention from the start. She was the first runner-up in the 1998 Thelonious Monk Institute vocal competition while still a student at the Manhattan School of Music, and put out her first album Never Never Land just a year after graduating.

After two more albums for the Encoded Records label, she signed with Sony for her 2004 recording Taking A Chance On Love and the 2005 holiday-themed Season, then moved in 2008 to Concord Records, which has issued her last four recordings.

While while some of the material on those early albums may have been a stretch, thematically and emotionally, for a singer barely out of her teens, Monheit seems to have matured nicely in recent years, with time and experience adding a bit of gravitas to her current interpretations of those same songs and others.

Given that she's played St. Louis so many times - Monheit also performed here during the 2000s at The Sheldon and the now-defunct St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival - today we'll concentrate on videos that have come online since her last visit here, starting up top with a short promotional video for The Heart Of The Matter.

After the jump, there a clip of Monheit performing her medley of the Beatles tunes "Golden Slumbers" and "The Long and Winding Road," which she recorded for The Heart of the Matter.  This version is from December 2013 at the Catalina Jazz Club in Los Angeles.

Below that, you can see Monheit with a 16-piece piece big band from her alma mater Manhattan School of Music, performing "Lady Be Good" and "Hit The Road To Dreamland" during a gig last month at Birdland in NYC.

Next are two clips from a performance by Monheit and her trio last month at the club Nighttown in Cleveland. The videos of "There's A Small Hotel" and "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" were shot on a cell-phone camera, so you pretty much see just Monheit by herself, but the audio quality is surprisingly good, considering.

The final clip is an interview that Monheit recorded for the TV channel Russia Today while touring that country in September 2012. While her interlocutor may seem a bit eccentric compared to a typical Western TV personality, it's still a fairly interesting look at Monheit and the state of her career as she was preparing to release her last album.

For more about Jane Monheit, check out her April 2013 interview with NPR's "Tell Me More" and this interview she did with London Jazz News before some appearances in England last fall.

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

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Winter/spring 2014 jazz preview, part 5

This week, it's the fifth and final installment of StLJN's winter/spring 2014 jazz preview, giving you a chance to check out live performance videos of the various touring jazz and creative music performers coming to St. Louis in the next few months. (If you missed the earlier posts, or want to take another look, here are part one, part two, part three and part four.)

Today's first clip up above features singer Catherine Russell, who will make her St. Louis debut as a headliner on Saturday, April 19 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Russell, the daughter of musicians Luis Russell (who played with Louis Armstrong) and Carline Ray, is known for her interpretations of pre-WWII jazz and blues material.

She is seen here performing "Romance In The Dark," a Lil Green song from 1940 later covered by artists such as Dinah Washington and Nina Simone and recorded by Russell on her album Strictly Romancin'. This video was shot in February, 2012 at Wellfleet Preservation Hall in Wellfleet, MA; Russell's accompanists are Matt Munisteri (guitar), Mark Shane (piano), and Lee Hudson (bass).

Down below, you can see a video featuring trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, who will return to our town on Friday, April 25 to play at the Touhill Performing Arts Center as part of the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival. The Cuban-born brassman, a friend and protege of the late Dizzy Gillespie, is seen here in an extended jam on what perhaps is Diz' most famous composition, "A Night in Tunisia," recorded in February 2013 in Gleisdorf, Austria. (The video was shot by an audience member on a handheld camera, so the picture is a bit shaky at points, but the audio quality is good throughout.)

The third clip captures a recent performance by the Count Basie Orchestra, who will be the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival's featured attraction on Saturday, April 26 at the Touhill. Now under the direction of trumpeter Scotty Barnhart, with Bobby Floyd on piano and veteran drummer Butch Miles back behind the kit, the Basie band can be seen here performing "The Deacon" in September, 2013 at the Blue Note in Nagoya, Japan.

Our fourth video is a fairly slick-looking promotional clip for saxophonist Joe Lovano's two-drummer ensemble Us Five, who will be making their St. Louis debut with performances starting Wednesday, April 30 and continuing through Saturday, May 3 at Jazz at the Bistro. This version of "Blessings in May," from Lovano's 2013 album Cross Culture, was filmed live at the Mint in Los Angeles. (And in case you were wondering - yes, that's Esperanza Spalding on bass in this clip, and no, she's not scheduled to be part of the band's St. Louis gig.)

Below that, you can see singer Jane Monheit in a performance recorded in February 2013 at a venue called Bourbon Street in São Paulo, Brazil. The audience-shot video captures her up close and personal, singing the Carol Hall lyric for pianist Bill Evans' well-known composition "The Two Lonely People," which Monheit recorded on her album The Heart of The Matter. She'll be in St. Louis from Wednesday, May 14 through Saturday, May 17 to perform at Jazz at the Bistro.

In the sixth spot, there's an excerpt from a performance and workshop given by trumpeter Terell Stafford at Saxquest when he was here in St. Louis in November, 2012. Stafford will return to St. Louis to serve as guest soloist with Jazz St. Louis' JazzU student ensemble when they play their annual weekend at the Bistro on Friday, May 23 and Saturday, May 24.

Last but not least, today's seventh and final video shows off the solo piano talents and storytelling of Joe Sample, who will perform with his trio from Wednesday, May 28 through Saturday, May 31 at Jazz at the Bistro. Recorded with some sort of hand-held device in April 2013 at the Fairfield Theatre in Fairfield, CA, the clip has a tiny picture but some very nice audio of Sample getting down and dirty on "Gee, Baby Ain't I Good To You" and "How You Gonna Keep Them Down On The Farm (After They've Seen Paree)."

Jazz this week: Ramsey Lewis, Jane Monheit, Tony Conrad, "The Music of Bluiett," Bonerama, Cornet Chop Suey, and more

From traditional jazz to contemporary grooves to experimental minimalism, this week's menu of jazz and creative music in St. Louis has offerings for a wide variety of tastes. Let's go to the highlights:

Tonight, pianist Ramsey Lewis (pictured) brings his Electric Band for the first time to Jazz at the Bistro, where he'll be performing through Saturday. As chronicled in this video retrospective from a couple of weeks ago, Lewis has been a significant figure on the international jazz scene for nearly 50 years now, and the Electric Band seems set up specifically to present many of his most popular tunes in a crowd-pleasing format. At last word, there still were some tickets available, but advance reservations definitely are suggested for this one.

Also tonight, the Meramec Jazz Lab Band, with Valerie Tichacek on vocals, continues its ongoing series of monthly performances at Black Cat Theatre in Maplewood.

Tomorrow evening, the New Orleans based Bonerama will perform at the Old Rock House. This will be the third St. Louis appearance this year for the trombone-centric ensemble, following shows at The Gramophone in January and the Sheldon Concert Hall's ballroom in June.

Also on Thursday, singer Jane Monheit, who was here last December to play Jazz at the Bistro, visits the Hettenhausen Center for the Arts at McKendree College in Lebanon, IL for a holiday themed concert.

On Friday, singer Danita Mumphard will perform at the Halls Ferry Inn Jazz Cafe, and pianist Tim Garcia leads a trio with bassist Willem von Hombracht and drummer Clancy Newell at the Cigar Inn in Belleville. That same evening, Jazz on Broadway in Alton has an early show with traditional jazz from the Dixie Dudes, and Robbie's House of Jazz will present blues singer Barbara Carr.

Saturday afternoon, the Nu-Art Series presents "The Music of Bluiett" at Metropolitan Gallery, featuring saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett directing performances of his compositions by several different ensembles from the East St. Louis High School music department.

Then on Saturday evening, musician, composer and multi-media artist Tony Conrad will perform at White Flag Projects under the auspices of New Music Circle. For more about Conrad, including extensive video footage and links to several in-depth interviews, check out this post from last Saturday.

Also Saturday evening, saxophonist Rod Tate returns to Halls Ferry Inn Jazz Cafe, and Robbie's will present the group Cammie & Carnivale, featuring singer Cammie Middleton-Helmsing and guitarist Wayne Kimler.

Sunday afternoon, Cornet Chop Suey plays traditional jazz and swing in a matinee concert presented by the St. Louis Jazz Club at the Doubletree Hotel at Westport. On Sunday evening, BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups has a double bill featuring jazz, funk & R&B from Good 4 The Soul in the early evening slot and Latin jazz from Clave Sol later on.

Monday night, the Webster University Jazz Singers perform their semester-end concert at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus, and guitarist Tom Byrne's Pat Metheny inspired band Have You Heard? plays at BB's.

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.)

Notes from the Net: Miles biopic moves ahead, Oliver Lake's solo set, 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 recent Miles Davis-related news, Miles Davis Online looks at what's ahead for the trumpeter's legacy in 2011, and the proposed feature film biography of Davis now has a script and appears to be moving closer to reality. Meanwhile, Miles' producer Teo Macero was the subject of a roundtable discussion among contemporary DJs published by The Revivialist.

* Saxophonist and former St. Louisan Oliver Lake (pictured) did a solo show last month in San Diego; via Avant Music News, here's a feature on Lake from the local paper, and here's a review from Robert Bush of AllAboutJazz.com.

* Speaking of AAJ, here's a review from that site's Clifford Allen of The Blue Mountain's Sun Drummer, the recently issued CD of a 1986 duet performance by trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and drummer Ed Blackwell. Smith's Golden Quartet performed in St. Louis in November at 560 Music Center.

* In related news, Golden Quartet pianist Vijay Iyer has a new project, a trio called Tirtha that blends jazz and Indian music.

* Guitarist John McLaughlin, who played the Sheldon Concert Hall in November, recently talked to NPR about John Coltrane and spirituality in music.

* Singer Jane Monheit, who performed last month at Jazz at the Bistro, recently did an extended interview with AllAboutJazz.com's Esther Berlanga-Ryan.

* The Bad Plus just wrapped up their annual visit to St. Louis on Saturday to general acclaim, but the Chicago Tribune's Howard Reich felt their recent performance in Chicago, which preceded their gig here, could have been better.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Should have linked to it on Wednesday, but singer Jane Monheit was interviewed for an article by the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson published earlier this week. Monheit continues at Jazz at the Bistro through tomorrow night.

* DJ and historian Dennis Owsley muses about holiday themed jazz for his December post on St. Louis magazine's arts blog Look/Listen.

* And speaking of holiday jazz, Don Wolff just posted word that he's showcasing a sleigh-full of seasonal songs in the current edition of his Internet radio program "I Love Jazz."

* Singer Erin Bode's most recent CD Photograph was reviewed for AllAboutJazz.com by Dan Bilawsky.

* Supporters of the current effort to purchase and restore the Goldenrod Showboat have produced a short video on the history of the boat, which spent 53 years on the St. Louis riverfront and served as the site of many traditional jazz and ragtime performances. You can see the video in the embedded window below.



* The St. Louis-based blues label Broke & Hungry Records will celebrate its fifth anniversary early next year with the release of a two-CD collection called Mistakes Were Made: Five Years of Raw Blues, Damaged Livers & Questionable Business Decisions. The 30-song compilation will feature 15 tracks drawn from the label's catalog, plus 15 previously unreleased cuts from rural Mississippi performers such as Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, Wesley Jefferson, Pat Thomas, Terry "Big T" Williams, Bill Abel, The Mississippi Marvel and Terry "Harmonica" Bean.

(Edited after posting.)

Jazz this week: Jane Monheit, Kenny G, and more

As the winter break begins for local universities and we head toward the holidays, the amount of jazz and creative music activity here in St. Louis tends to drop rather precipitously for a couple of weeks and then pick up again in the new year.

That said, there are several noteworthy events happening this week, starting with singer Jane Monheit (pictured), who this evening will open a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. Monheit's got a considerable fan base here in St. Louis, and word is that the early shows are already sold out. So if you're interested in going, advance reservations would seem to be a must.

Tomorrow night, saxophonist Kenny G brings his holiday show at the Family Arena in St. Charles. While the popular performer certainly has plenty of detractors, he's got his share of fans, too. (In fact, the stats show info on Mr. G's St. Louis performance has been one of the most-searched-for items here on StLJN over the last month.) If you're one of those fans, it appears that as of this writing, some tickets remain on sale.

Elsewhere around town, the Funky Butt Brass Band will present their second annual "Holiday Brasstravaganza" on Saturday at the south side rock club Off Broadway, and Robbie's House of Jazz has blues from singer/guitarist and teenage phenom Marquise Knox on Friday and Latin jazz from pianist Phil Gomez and Clave Sol on Saturday. On Sunday afternoon, Robbie's will host a jazz brunch and CD release event for trumpeter Randy Holmes.

That same afternoon and just around the corner, Webster Records will present free in-store performances from singer/pianist Anita Rosamond, guitarist Steve Schenkel and vocalist Kiersten Rose, and trumpeter Jim Manley. All the musicians will donate a portion of sales of their CDs that day to Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital, and Webster Records will kick a donation based on CD sales as well.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Sessions Big Band returns to BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups for their final performance of the year.

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.)

(Edited after posting.)

Notes from the Net: A Miles Davis interview rediscovered; fall CD releases; plus news, reviews, interviews and more

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

* Starting once again with some Miles Davis news, via Miles Davis Online we learn that Soulandjazz.com has posted a radio interview with Davis originally done in the mid-1980s for musician/broadcaster/author Ben Sidran's NPR program "Sidran on Record." Also via MDO, netmag The Quietus asks rock stars to name their favorite Miles Davis albums, and the news that the list price of the recent box-set-of-box-sets The Genius of Miles Davis has been reduced from $1,199 to $749.

Meanwhile, over at AllAboutJazz.com, Victor L. Schermer considers "Miles: The Autobiography... Two Decades Later", while Warner Jazz in the UK has issued Perfect Way – The Warner Bros. Years, a compilation album drawn from Davis' late-career output that also includes some previously unreleased tracks.

* Trumpeter, singer and St. louis native Clark Terry is the subject of an interview at Marc Myers' JazzWax blog; check out part one here, and part two here.

* The Wall Street Journal reports that saxophonist and former St. Louisan David Sanborn, who was back home in August to play Jazz at the Bistro, is selling his NYC townhouse for $9 million.

* From the "coming attractions" file, the New York Times' Nate Chinen reviews The Bad Plus' new CD Never Stop here. Also, TBP finally made their Kansas City debut last month at the Folly Theater, and Bill Brownlee of the KC jazz blog Plastic Sax was there to review the show for the Kansas City Star. The Bad Plus return to St. Louis in January to play at the Bistro.

* Singer Jane Monheit (pictured), who will perform at the Bistro in December, also has a new CD, Home, on sale now.

* Guitarist John McLaughlin and his band 4th Dimension are set to play NYC's Town Hall on November 13, six days before they come to St. Louis to play the Sheldon Concert Hall.

* JazzHouston has an interview with pianist Vijay Iyer, who will be back in St. Louis next month with Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet for a New Music Circle-sponsored concert at the 560 Music Center.

* In news of some recent visitors, saxophonist Kirk Whalum has released his new CD paying tribute to singer, songwriter, pianist and St. Louis native Donny Hathaway. Special guests on the disc include Hathaway's daughter, R&B singer Lalah Hathaway; bassist Christian McBride; and guitarist Jeff Golub. Whalum and Golub were in St. Louis with the Guitars and Saxes tour at the Pageant in August , while McBride has played here this year with his band Inside Straight at the Bistro and in a duo concert with pianist Peter Martin at the Sheldon.

* Meanwhile, guitarist Kevin Eubanks, who was here in July to play at the Casino Queen, will release a new CD called Zen Food on Mack Avenue Records on November 23.

* Finally, a few more notes of general interest: The MU Concert Jazz Band from the University of Missouri has released their debut CD Vertigo, featuring a guest appearance by vibraphonist Mike Manieri;

* AllAboutJazz.com has revamped their free services for jazz musicians as part of an overall site redesign;

* And "early bird" registration for the next Jazz Education Network conference, to be held in January in New Orleans, ends this Friday.