StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, part 3

This week, let's take one more trip into the video vault of NYC's Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. While the two previous posts here featuring JaLCO have emphasized their capabilities as a repertory ensemble, this week's selection of videos is more of a grab bag, with three shows offering interpretations of familiar material and and three spotlighting original works by the orchestra's members.

To get things started, the first video up above, "Lush Life: Celebrating Billy Strayhorn," was recorded in June 2016 and surveys the sometimes-underappreciated career of the composer and arranger who served as Duke Ellington's right-hand man and rehearsal pianist, and also wrote many significant pieces of music for the Ellington band, including the signature song, "Take The A Train."

After the jump, you can see "Jazz in the Key of Life," a program from January 2016 in which the orchestra presents arrangements of popular music from the 1960s to today, including songs by Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, The Beatles, Elton John, and more.

That's followed by, as the old saying goes, something completely different in the form of "Nursery Song Swing," which features JaLCO's original arrangements of various folk, traditional, and contemporary songs for children as recorded in March, 2018.

Next, it's "The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Songbook," a sampler of various original compositions and arrangements from Marsalis and other members of the orchestra, recorded in October 2017.

The fifth video, titled "Spiritual Sounds & The Jazz Age," features extended works from two longtime JaLCO members, saxophonist/clarinetist Victor Goines and trombonist Chris Crenshaw. Both Goines' "Untamed Elegance" and Crenshaw’s "God’s Trombones" were recorded as part of the same program in January of this year.

The final video, which documents Marsalis' original suite "The Abyssinian Mass," was recorded in November 2019 and featuring the Chorale Le Chateau along with the orchestra.

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

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: More from Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra

This week, let's go back into the video vaults of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra to look at more examples of their work as a repertory ensemble. (Last week's post, which featured JaLCO's interpretations of music associated with six different jazz greats, can be seen here.)

Today's spotlight is on performances that dig into jazz repertory from the angles of era and genre, starting with the first video up above, which features works from two of the essential jazz big bands. The concert, recorded in April 2018 at JaLCO's home venue, the Rose Theater in their New York headquarters, starts with "The Best of Basie," which, as the name implies, is something of a live "greatest hits" presentation of music from Count Basie, followed by a performance of one of Duke Ellington's most celebrated extended works, "Black, Brown & Beige."

After the jump, you can see more interpretations of vintage music from big bands in the next two videos. A program called "Birth of the American Orchestra," recorded in January 2015, revisits the roots of the big band sound as developed by Don Redman, Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Benny Carter, Eddie Durham, and others.

Then "The Swing Era—Revolution in Rhythm" from November 2016 follows those developments into the 1930s with more from Ellington, Henderson and Benny Goodman, plus a new work inspired by the era that was composed by JaLCO trumpeter Marcus Printup.

Next up, "Handful of Keys: A Century of Jazz Piano" from September 2016 features guest pianists Helen Sung, Joey Alexander, Isaiah Thompson, Myra Melford, Larry Willis and Dick Hyman along with JaLCO's own Dan Nimmer presenting new arrangements of music associated with some of the greatest keyboardists in jazz.

The last two videos find the orchestra going beyond straight-ahead jazz to show how the music can mix with allied genres. In "The Music of Puente, Machito, and Henriquez" from June 2015, bassist Carlos Henriquez leads the orchestra through Latin jazz classics and a new work of his own, aided by guest percussionists Johnny Rodriguez, Jose Madera Jr., and George Delgado and vocalists Marco Bermudez and Nilsa Rodriguez.

The final video "South African Songbook" was recorded in September 2019, and features South African guest musicians who have chosen "essential" songs from their country to perform in new arrangements with the JaLCO.

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

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra celebrates the greats

As part of StLJN's continuing quest to bring you some sort of jazz-related content here each week (without being able to rely on this feature's primary raison d'etre of previewing upcoming shows in St. Louis), today let's take a look in the video vault of Jazz at Lincoln Center, the New York City-based presenter and producing organization headed by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.

The organization's Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, formed 32 years ago and still directed by Marsalis, takes on as one part of its artistic mission the role of a repertory group, performing new and classic arrangements of music by some of the most important innovators in jazz.

This post includes a half-dozen examples of the JaLCO's celebrations of jazz greats, starting up above with their tribute to the music of Miles Davis, recorded in November 2018 at the Rose Theater in the JaLC HQ in New York.

Along with Marsalis conducting and playing trumpet, the band at this juncture included longtime members such as saxophonists Sherman Irby, Ted Nash and Victor Goines, trumpeters Ryan Kisor, Kenny Rampton, and Marcus Printup, and trombonist Vincent Gardner, plus rising star Camille Thurman on tenor sax, with the lineup rounded out by more top NYC players.

Most of those same musicians also were part of the ensemble for the first video after the jump, which documents the orchestra's tribute to pianist and composer Thelonious Monk, as performed in October 2018 at the Rose Theater.

Next, you can see a recording of a program called "Celebrating Ella: The First Lady of Jazz," recorded in April 2017 and featuring guest vocalists Kenny Washington and Roberta Gambarini plus tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano.

Given Marsalis' known musical conservatism, things take a somewhat unexpected turn in the next video, as JaLCO ofers big band arrangements of the music of Ornette Coleman, recorded in May 2018.

The orchestra is back on more familiar ground in the fifth video, which documents their tribute to the music of Dizzy Gillespie in January 2017.

Last but not least, JaLCO takes on a different kind of challenge in the form of the odd meters of the music of pianist and composer Dave Brubeck, in a program recorded back in April 2014 at Rose Theater.

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

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The Jazz Journalists Association has named Gene Dobbs Bradford of Jazz St. Louis (pictured) as one of 27 local "Jazz Heroes" for 2020. The awards are given annually to "activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz" in different cities across the USA.

* Keyboardist Mo Egeston was the featured guest on last Friday's episode of "St. Louis In The Know" with Ray Hartmann on KTRS.

* St. Louis Public Radio reporter Chad Davis has the scoop on the Red and Black Brass Band, the impromptu ensemble who have been playing music during the shutdown while walking the streets of the Tower Grove neighborhood in south St. Louis. The band members also were interviewed by KMOX's Debbie Monterrey.  

* Also on St. Louis Public Radio, Christian Frommelt, dance teacher and co-organizer of the Nevermore Jazz Ball, was the subject of a feature story about how local swing dancers are still pursuing their hobby during the COVID-19 shutdown.

* As many cultural organizations dig into their vaults for video and audio material to share during the shutdown, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis has posted to YouTube a full concert performance "The Music of Miles Davis," recorded in November 2018 at the Rose Theater inside Lincoln Center in NYC.

* Also on the Miles Davis beat, LiveForLiveMusic.com has an article looking back at the night 50 years ago when Davis shared a bill with the Grateful Dead at the Fillmore West in San Francisco.

Jazz this week: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Alicia Olatuja, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes a return visit from one of the top big bands working today and homecoming shows from a couple of St. Louis natives, plus a bunch of holiday-themed performances and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, December 4
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis will be getting in the seasonal spirit with a program called "Big Band Holidays" at Powell Hall.

Also on Wednesday, singer and St. Louis native Alicia Olatuja performs for the first of five nights at Jazz St. Louis.

Olatuja (pictured, top left) earlier this year released her second album, Intuition: Songs from the Minds of Women, which features original material and songs from female composers including Joni Mitchell, Tracy Chapman, Kate Bush and more. For more about that, plus some videos of recent live performances by Olatuja, check out this post from Saturday before last.

Thursday, December 5
Pianist Kim Portnoy and guitarist William Lenihan will lead a quartet in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

Also on Thursday, singer Debby Lennon presents her cabaret show "My Favorite Christmas" at Blue Strawberry, and the Funky Butt Brass Band will be "warming up" for their annual Holiday Brasstravaganza later this month with a performance at Joe's Cafe.

Friday, December 6
Singer and St. Louis native Craig Pomranz (pictured, bottom left) will be back home for a visit from his current digs in NYC to perform his cabaret show “The Power of Song!” for one night only at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

Also on Friday, singer and impressionist Dean Christopher brings his "A Rat Pack Christmas"  show to Blue Strawberry, and Miss Jubilee returns to the Frisco Barroom.

Saturday, December 7
Singer Anita Jackson will perform for brunch at The Dark Room, and singer Wendy L. Gordon and friends return for a matinee at Hwy 67 BBQ.

Saturday evening, Wright's Project will play funk and fusion at Troy's Listening Room, and keyboardist Mo Egeston and company are back at The Dark Room.

Sunday, December 8
The St. Louis Jazz Club's annual Christmas party will feature traditional jazz and swing from Cornet Chop Suey at the Moolah Shrine Center, and the UMSL Jazz Orchestra, Vocal Point and Wind Ensemble will present their free, annual "Jazz for the Holidays" concert at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

Also on Sunday, the students of the City of Music All-Star Chorus and North County Big Band will perform in a free concert at The Sheldon, and The 442s make a special appearance at Thurman's in Shaw

Monday, December 9
Dizzy Atmosphere returns to the The Shaved Duck.

Tuesday, December 10
The Jazz St. Louis Big Band will perform Duke Ellington's arrangements of Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker" plus additional Ellingtonia for the first of three nights at Jazz St. Louis; and guitarist Vincent Varvel and bassist Ben Wheeler will play a duo concert at the Gaslight Theater.

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.)

Jazz this week: Ghost Note, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Joey Alexander, Lettuce, Cornet Chop Suey, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features a nice mix of headlining performers, offering styles from funk to big band to vintage jazz to mainstream and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, October 10
Ghost Note, the instrumental funk band founded by Snarky Puppy percussionists Robert “Sput” Searight and Nate Werth (pictured, top left), will perform at the Old Rock House.

Incorporating influences from Afrobeat, hip-hop, and more, they're touring in support of their second album Swagism, which was released in April of this year.

Also on Wednesday, Jazz St. Louis' "Whitaker Jazz Speaks" series of free lecture/discussions with music continues with Marc Myers, who writes about jazz for the Wall Street Journal and other publications, expounding on "1950: The Year Jazz Changed on Two Coasts."

Myers' presentation will be paired with performances of music associated with Dave Brubeck, the Modern Jazz Quartet, and Gerry Mulligan, plus Miles Davis’s complete Birth of the Cool.

Thursday, October 11
Saxophonist Paul DeMarinis leads a trio in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, and the Jim Widner Big Band will play a one-nighter at Jazz St. Louis. 

Also on Thursday, singer Joe Mancuso continues his weekly gig featuring different special guests at  50/Fifty Kitchen, and guitarist Dave Black performs at The Pat Connolly Tavern.

Friday, October 12
Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (pictured, bottom left) to provide the music for the annual fundraiser at the Sheldon Concert Hall. (Some concert-only tickets still may be available; contact the Sheldon's box office for the latest information.)

This year marks the 30th anniversary of JaLCO's founding, and they've released two recordings in 2018 - one documenting various guest star performances with the orchestra over the years, and the other capturing an evening backing singer/actor Ruben Blades. While those guest stars won't be at the Sheldon, the band's deep catalog of original and historic arrangements, developed over the last three decades, should offer the gala-goers ample possibilities for enjoyable listening.

Also on Friday, Grammy-nominated, teenage piano phenom Joey Alexander returns for the first of two nights of performances at Jazz St. Louis; funk/jazz band Lettuce is in town to play at the Atomic Cowboy Pavilion; and singer Anita Jackson will do the late show at The Dark Room

Saturday, October 13
Singer Wendy Gordon and friends, including singer Renee Smith and singer/bassist Eugene Johnson will present a matinee performance of "Different Shades Of The Blues" at the Ozark Theatre.

Later that night, keyboardist Mo Egeston will be at The Dark Room leading his trio, which will be joined this week by guest vocalist Chrissy Renick.

Sunday, October 14
Singer and bassist Janet Evra plays for brunch at The Dark Room, while Miss Jubilee will entertain at Evangeline's.

Also on Sunday, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents Cornet Chop Suey playing traditional jazz and swing in a matinee concert at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel St. Louis - Westport

Tuesday, October 16
Trumpeter Jim Manley and guitarist Rick Haydon play at Evangeline's.

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.)

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Wynton Marsalis returning Friday, October 12 for benefit concert at The Sheldon

Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra are returning to St. Louis to perform at 8:00 p.m. Friday, October 12 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Marsalis and the JaLCO (pictured) were here most recently in May of this year to perform the trumpeter's "Swing Symphony" with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra at Powell Hall.

Their most recent recording United We Swing: Best of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Galas, which came out earlier this year, compiles performances by the band with a variety of guest musicians at various JALC events between 2003 and 2007.

The upcoming concert here in St. Louis will benefit education programs at The Sheldon, which serve more than 30,000 local students per year. Patron tickets, which include a pre-concert reception, complimentary parking, preferred seating and a tax deduction, are $150 each and can be purchased now by calling The Sheldon at 314-533-9900.

Concert-only tickets will be priced at $65 orchestra, $55 balcony, and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Saturday August 11 via Metrotix and the Sheldon box office.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Wynton Marsalis' "Swing Symphony"

This week, let's take a look at Wynton Marsalis' "Swing Symphony," which will be performed here in St. Louis by the composer, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra on Friday, May 4; Saturday, May 5; and Sunday, May 6 at Powell Hall. The performances will be conducted by David Robertson in his final weekend as music director of the SLSO.

The third symphonic work written by Marsalis, "Swing Symphony" was commissioned jointly by the New York Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and London’s Barbican Center and was premiered in June, 2010 by the Berlin Philharmonic. It received its US premiere in September 2010 in a performance by the New York Philharmonic in conjunction with Jazz at Lincoln Center that was televised live on PBS.

In the first video up above, you can see Marsalis talking about the process of composition for "Swing Symphony" in a brief interview recorded for the New York Philharmonic at the time of the US premiere in 2010.

After the jump, you can see a more extensive interview with the composer about the work, recorded a few months later by Jazz at Lincoln Center in March 2011, and divided into four parts.

The final two videos are performances of "Swing Symphony," the first recorded by Marsalis, the JaLCO, and the Ceska Philhamonic with Wayne Marshall conducting in July of last year in Prague, Czech Republic. The second was recorded earlier this month by the Frankfurt (Germany) Radio Symphony and Frankfurt Radio Big Band, with Andrés Orozco-Estrada conducting.

While both performances no doubt have some differences in interpretation and feel from what the audience at Powell Hall will hear next weekend, the two versions - one with the composer and his hand-picked band, the other an interpretation by musicians with no prior connection to the work - should provide some good opportunities for comparing and contrasting.

You can read some reviews of past performances of "Swing Symphony" on Wynton Marsalis' website, including those published by the Sydney Morning Herald and London's The Telegraph. Other noteworthy reviews include one by The New Republic in 2010; the Los Angeles Times in 2011; and London Jazz News in 2012;

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

Jazz this week: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Evan Parker & Peter Evans, Ronnie Burrage's RoBu Big Band, and more

This week's schedule of jazz and creative music in St. Louis is jam-packed, with three notable big band performances, two shows benefiting an ailing elder statesman of the local jazz scene, an evening of free-form music from two intriguing improvisors, and much, much more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, September 30
The eclectic acoustic ensemble The 442s perform for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro, and pianist Greg Mills plays free improv and contemporary compositions at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

Thursday, October 1
Guitarist Tom Byrne will lead a quartet in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, serving up "original compositions, some Pat Metheny tunes, some Jobim" and more.

Elsewhere on Thursday night, there are a couple of opportunities for some short-distance road-tripping for those so inclined. In DeSoto, MO, the fourth annual Mel Bay Jazz Festival begins with a show from guitarist Larry Bay and Sugar Moon at the Fountain City Grille on Main St.

The festival continues for two more nights with music from singer Joe Mancuso, guitarists Eric Slaughter and Dave Black, singer Lena Seikaly, and pianist Chris Grasso on Friday at the Fountain City Grille and on Saturday at The Arlington Inn event space, also on Main St.

At the same time across the river in Lebanon, IL, the Count Basie Orchestra will be performing for the first of two nights at McKendree College's Hettenhausen Center for the Arts. Friday's show is sold out, but some tickets apparently still remain available for Thursday's concert.

Friday, October 2
New Music Circle opens their 2015-16 season with  an evening of free improvisation from saxophonist Evan Parker and trumpeter Peter Evans (pictured, center left) at Joe’s Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave.

For more about Parker and Evans, see this video post from last Saturday. (While they're here, both men also will take part in a free workshop and Q&A session on Saturday morning at Foam on South Jefferson.)

Also on Friday, the Italian pianist Roberto Magris will be in town to lead a quartet in a performance at Ozark Theatre; the New Orleans Suspects return to St. Louis to play at Broadway Oyster Bar; and Feyza Eren offers a "Tribute to Billie Holiday" at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

And as if all that weren't enough for one evening, Jazz St. Louis education director Phil Dunlap will bring his quintet to Jazz at the Bistro for the first of two nights showcasing material from his forthcoming album. Along with the leader on piano, Dunlap's group features trumpeter Danny Campbell, saxophonist Ben Reece, bassist Nathan Pence, and drummer Montez Coleman.

Saturday, October 3
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, led by famed famed trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, return to serve as the featured performers at the "Friends of the Sheldon Benefit Gala" at Sheldon Concert Hall. (For availability of concert-only tickets, check with the Sheldon's box office.)

Marsalis and JaLCO (pictured, top left) have just released Live in Cuba, a two-disc set recorded earlier this year, and the first album on Jazz at Lincoln Center's new in-house imprint Blue Engine Records.

Also on Saturday, drummer/multi-instrumentalist and U City native Ronnie Burrage will be back home from his current residence in Pennsylvania to reactivate his RoBu Big Band (pictured, lower left) for the first of two performances at Voce, 212 S. Tucker.

The group will include Burrage and fellow St. Louis expat, guitarist Kelvyn Bell, plus saxophonists Jeff Anderson, Stanley Coleman, Chad Evans, and Jerome "JDubz" Williams; trumpeter Khamali Cuffie-Moore; bassist Darrell Mixon; pianist Ptah Williams; percussionist Henry Claude; and vocalist Charisse Swan.

The RoBu Big Band also will play a matinee on Sunday afternoon, and both gigs will be recorded on video for what promo material for the shows describes as "a larger film documentary initiative to explore the rich cultural history of St. Louis and to tell the stories of numerous artists that have come from the region." You can read more about that at the GoFundMe page that Burrage has set up for the film project.

Sunday, October 4
Tom Byrne and friends will present a "Tribute/Benefit Event for Willie Akins" at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups, raising funds for the veteran St. Louis saxophonist who's now ailing from heart disease and unable to work.

Along with Byrne on guitar, the list of prospective performers includes drummers Montez Coleman and Kyle Honeycutt, bassists Bob DeBoo, Ben Wheeler, and Willem von Hombracht; trumpeters Danny Campbell and Randy Holmes, saxophonist Paul DeMarinis, guitarist Eric Slaughter, singer Erika Johnson, and, crossing over from Ronnie Burrage's matinee gig, Jeffrey Anderson, plus sit-ins and/or special guests TBA.

Also on Sunday, the Dave Dickey Big Band returns for their monthly show at Jazz at the Bistro, with the Ft. Zumwalt North HS Jazz Band performing during intermission.

Monday, October 5
Dizzy Atmosphere plays Gypsy jazz and swing at The Shaved Duck.

Tuesday, October 6
In another fund-raiser for the saxophonist, singers Wendy Gordon, Jeanne Trevor and friends will offer "Music for Willie Akins"at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

In addition to Gordon and Trevor, the announced list of performers includes singers Marty Abdullah, Elaine Donahoe, Marsha Evans, Chuck Flowers, Linda Kennedy, Joe Mancuso, Diane Vaughn, and Ron Wilkinson, along with keyboardists Arthur Toney and Pauline Stark, bassists Jimmy Hinds and Willem Von Hombracht, saxophonist Kendrick Smith, trumpeter Adrian Bowers, guitarist Eric Slaughter, and drummer Alfred Barnes.

Also on Tuesday, the Spiritual Revolution Ensemble plays free jazz at Tavern of Fine Arts; and the First Tuesday Composers Club will have their monthly meeting at The Dark Room.

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 2

Today, it's part two of StLJN's fall 2015 video preview of touring jazz and creative music performers coming to town over the next several months. Part one last week covered the month of September, so today's installment picks up in the first week of October with a video featuring saxophonist Evan Parker and trumpeter Peter Evans.

Parker and Evans will kick off New Music Circle's 2015-16 season with a concert on Friday, October 2 at Joe’s Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave. The clip up above, recorded in September 2013 at the Stone in NYC, shows a full set of improvised music from the two of them, plus cellist Okkyung Lee, who did a solo concert here for NMC last year.

After the jump, you can see Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, who will be back in St. Louis to headline the "Friends of the Sheldon" benefit gala on Saturday, October 3 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The video shows a full set of Marsalis and JaLCO playing arrangements of material from the Blue Note catalog in a gig earlier this year at the Harrogate International Festival in England.

Next, there's a clip of the band Yellowjackets, who will be returning to St. Louis to play Wednesday, October 7 through Saturday October 10 at Jazz at the Bistro. For this visit, the group once again will have a new bass player, Dane Alderson, who hails originally from Australia.

Alderson replaces Felix Pastorius, who had a relatively short tenure in the band, having replaced founding member Jimmy Haislip back in 2012. In this clip, recorded in July at the North Sea Jazz Club in, you can hear Alderson's bass solo on "Dreamland." (For more Yellowjackets, see this video showcase post that ran before their appearance here last year.)

Today's fourth video clip features is Wendee Glick, the New Hampshire-based singer who will kick off the fall edition of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival on Thursday, October 8 at the Gaslight Theater. Unfortunately, there aren't many videos online of Glick performing, but this excerpt from her version of "No Moon At All," recorded at the Colonial Inn in Concord, MA, provides at least a small sample of her work.

Glick will be followed at the festival the next evening by singer Maxine Linehan, who will perform on Friday, October 9, also at the Gaslight Theater. Linehan is seen here singing "What'll I Do?" in 2014 at Metropolitan Room in NYC.

The sixth video is the electronic press kit for saxophonist Adam Larson's upcoming album "Selective Amnesia", which should be out by the time he arrives in St. Louis to perform Wednesday, October 14 and Thursday, October 15 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Today's final clip features MarchFourth!, who will perform on Monday, March 19 at the Old Rock House. They're seen here in an audience-shot video playing "The Limit" in a gig in April 2015 at The Funky Biscuit in Boca Raton, FL.

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

The Sheldon announces 2015-16 season

The Sheldon Concert Hall has announced their various series lineups for the 2015-16 season, with a jazz series featuring four piano players, plus various other events that may be of interest to jazz and creative music fans.

Brazilian-born pianist Eliane Elias (pictured, top left) will begin the jazz series on Saturday, November 21, followed by Billy Childs presenting his show "Re-Imagining Laura Nyro" on Saturday, January 30.

The Panamanian native Danilo Pérez (pictured, center left) is next, with a program called, appropriately enough, "Panama 500" on Saturday, February 27, and Cyrus Chestnut, who's quite familiar to St. Louis listeners from numerous previous appearances at Jazz at the Bistro and The Sheldon, wraps up the series with "African Reflections" on Saturday, May 7.

Two of the Sheldon's big fundraising events of the year also will feature jazz headliners, with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis (pictured, bottom left) booked to perform at the Friends of the Sheldon benefit gala on Saturday, October 3, and pianist Ramsey Lewis celebrating the 50th anniversary of his hit "The In Crowd" at the annual ArtSounds! event on Saturday, November 7.

(While the benefit gala ticket prices start at $150 for JaLCO and Marsalis, and $125 for Lewis, and go up from there, there also will be concert-only tickets sold for both, priced at $45 orchestra, $40 balcony for JaLCO and $65 orchestra, $55 balcony for Lewis.)

Also of potential interest to jazz fans, singer Banu Gibson will pay tribute to "40 Years of Randy Newman" in a special non-subscription matinee concert on Sunday, October 25.

Pianist Peter Martin turns up on three different programs - first, in a concert for his eponymous series, with a special guest TBA, on Saturday, October 10; then with St. Louis Symphony violinist David Halen and friends for a holiday program on Wednesday, December 2; and finally, with Halen and other St. Louis Symphony members playing classical music on Wednesday, April 6.

New music ensemble Alarm Will Sound also will be back for their fourth St. Louis season, with concerts scheduled for Tuesday, October 20; Friday, November 20; Friday, February 12; and Thursday, May 26.

The popular Coffee Concert series of mid-week morning performances will include Alan Ox doing “Songs of Great American Crooners” on Tuesday, October 6 and Wednesday, October 7; actor/singer Ben Nordstrom on Tuesday, February 16 and Wednesday, February 17; Wack-A-Doo on Tuesday, April 5 and Wednesday, April 6; and cabaret singer Tim Schall in a tribute to music of the Gaslight Square era, “The Gaslight Generation,” on Tuesday May 10 and Wednesday, May 11. Last (from a jazz perspective) but not least, trumpeter and singer Dawn Weber will play a Saturday matinee on Saturday, April 2.

So what's the "hot take" on this lineup? Longtime readers may recall that in the past, yr. humble StLJN editor has taken the Sheldon's management to task for being too risk-averse when booking the jazz series, and the phrase "talented, but safe" once again could be used to describe pretty much all this year's choices. Consider also that, although some of the individual programs presented might have been different, the entire jazz series  could have been booked with these exact same artists 10 years ago, and the dimensions of the challenge become more apparent.

Of course, there's always potential for additional individual concerts to be added as the fall approaches, and if past years are any guide, there likely will be at least a couple more shows of interest to jazz fans. But given that this year's lineup contained some arguably riskier choices, such as the Spokfrevo Orquestra and Cécile McLorin Salvant, the 2015-16 slate seems like a bit of an artistic retrenchment.

Subscriptions for the four-concert jazz series are $150 for orchestra seating, $135 balcony, with prices for other shows varying according the specific event. New subscriptions go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Monday, May 11, with sales will continuing through the first concert in each series, via phone at 314-533-9900 and online at http://www.thesheldon.org/. Single tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. August 8 at 10 a.m. via MetroTix or the Sheldon website.

New Jazz St. Louis HQ makes national news

Thanks to an Associated Press story that's getting picked up by media outlets across the country, this weekend's opening of Jazz St. Louis' newly renovated performance space and headquarters is making national news.

The AP story has been run by dozens of newspapers and websites over the past couple of days, even serving as the basis for a brief mention in the New York Times.

Here in St. Louis, the two evenings of performances featuring trumpeter Wynton Marsalis (pictured) and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra that will open the refurbished and expanded Jazz at the Bistro space already are sold out. So, for the benefit of those who don't have tickets, Jazz St. Louis has made arrangements to offer live video coverage of the shows on both Thursday and Friday.

On Thursday, you can watch the evening's events unfold via an online video stream that will run on the websites of both Jazz St. Louis and HEC-TV, as well as that of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Marsalis' and JaLCO's home venue in NYC. Coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. with interviews and a dedication ceremony, with music scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.

Friday's show will be streamed live to the giant outdoor video screens at the new Public Media Commons, located in Grand Center at 3655 Olive between the offices of St. Louis Public Radio and the Nine Network. A live performance by the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars student ensemble will open the evening at 7:00 p.m., followed by video of Marsalis and JaLCO from the Bistro at 7:30 p.m.. Admission is free, but to attend you must reserve a ticket, which can be done online here.

Update, 5:00 p.m., Thursday 10/3/14: Friday's show also will be streamed live online at the Jazz St. Louis, HEC-TV and Jazz at Lincoln Center websites.

Also, the Bistro shows won't be only the performances by Marsalis and the band while they're in town, as on Friday morning, they'll be at Normandy High School to perform in concert with the Normandy HS Jazz Band.

The concert begins at 10:30 a.m. in the school's Viking Hall, and is free and open to "anyone living within the boundaries of the Normandy School Collective." No tickets are required, but since seating and parking are limited, Jazz St. Louis is requesting that anyone who'd like to attend make a reservation by calling 314-289-4071.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Fall 2014 jazz preview, part 2

Today, it's part two of StLJN's video preview of the touring jazz and creative music performers who will be playing in St. Louis this fall. You can find part 1, which covered the month of September, here.

The first videos up above feature trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, who will be returning here on Thursday, October 2 and Friday, October 3 to re-open the newly renovated and expanded Jazz at the Bistro. These two clips represent a complete show from the 2013 Jazz San Javier festival.

(For more footage of Marsalis and JaLCO, see this post about their touring production "Abyssynian," which played here last October; this one, about Marsalis' "Swing Symphony," which they performed here in 2012 with the St. Louis Symphony; and the video showcase posts previewing their appearances here in 2008 and 2010.)

(Update, 9/7/14: The Thursday performance by Marsalis and JaLCO is for Jazz St. Louis donors only, and Friday's is now sold out. Contrary to the info in the original version of this post, there is no performance scheduled on Saturday. StLJN regrets the error.)

After the jump, you can see fluegelhornist Hugh Masekela, who will team with singer Vusi Mahlasela to perform their show "20 Years of Freedom" on Saturday, October 4 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. This video shows Masekela and his band performing a show titled "Celebrate Mama Africa" for the 2011 Estival Jazz Lugano in Switzerland.

Next, it's alto saxophonist (and Kirkwood's own) David Sanborn, peforming "Comin' Home Baby" in 2012 at the Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta, Indonesia. Sanborn will be back home again to play with an all-St. Louis rhythm section of Peter Martin (piano), Chris Thomas (bass), and Montez Coleman (drums) starting Wednesday, October 8 through Saturday, October 11 at Jazz at the Bistro.

(For more Sanborn on video, you can check out the showcase posts that preceded his appearances here in 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2008, as well as this post about Quartette Humaine, his 2013 album with Bob James.)

That same week, the Rebirth Brass Band will return to St. Louis to perform on Thursday, October 9 at The Gramophone. They're seen here in a video of a full set recorded in 2012 at the club Howlin' Wolf in their hometown of New Orleans.

On Friday, October 11, pianist Chick Corea will be in town for a solo performance at The Sheldon. Corea, who has performed here in recent years with banjo player Bela Fleck and with Return to Forever, is seen in a clip from 2009 playing his composition "Alegria" at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr in Dortmund, Germany.

A few days later, bassist Stanley Clarke will be here with the latest version of his electric band to play on Tuesday, October 14 at The Pageant. The video here shows Clarke's touring band from last year, with keyboardists John Beasley and Nick Smith, drummer Ronald Bruner Jr., and violinist Zach Brock, performing in August 2013 at the Telluride Jazz Festival in Colorado.

Next up, it's the new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound, who will begin their third St. Louis season by taking part in the "250 Years of St. Louis Music" concert on Friday, October 17 at The Sheldon.

Along with performances from Denise Thimes, Kim Massie, Billy Peek, the St. Louis Ragtimers, and other St. Louis jazz and blues favorites, AWS* will play a set including a new work composed by Peter Martin specifically for the occasion. In this clip, you can see them in 2013 giving the world premiere performance of a very different sort of piece, composer Jason Thorpe Buchanan's "Asymptotic Flux Second Study in Entropy," at the Mizzou International Composers Festival in Columbia.

Also on Friday, October 17, singer Karen Mason will be in town for the first of two performances for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival at the Gaslight Theater. Mason, who will do her show "Secrets of the Ancient Divas" again on Saturday, October 18, is seen here singing a medley of "My Favorite Things" and "Count Your Blessings" from a performance last December in Norwalk, CT.

Below that, you can see guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli playing a solo version of "The Way You Look Tonight" recorded in August of this year in the offices of Fretboard Journal magazine. Pizzarelli will be back in St. Louis to perform Wednesday, October 22 through Saturday, October 25 at Jazz at the Bistro. You can see more of him on video in previous posts from 2012 and 2013.

Closing out our jazz preview of October in St. Louis is singer and pianist Steve Ross, who will return to perform as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival on Friday, October 24 and Saturday, October 25. Although Ross has been a fixture on the cabaret scene for decades, oddly there's almost no video online of him performing, so a very brief clip of him singing "You Were Never Lovelier" by Johnny Mercer and Jerome Kern will have to suffice for now.

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump. Look for part three of the fall 2014 jazz preview here next week.

Jazz this week: Bill Watrous, Wynton Marsalis & Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, William Cepeda, "Jazz Heaven," and more

This week's menu of jazz and creative music in St. Louis features visits from two very different touring trombonists, plus a traveling extravaganza featuring Wynton Marsalis fronting a cast of 85 musicians and singers, and as usual, plenty of homegrown talent, too.

Let's go the highlights...

Tonight, trombonist Bill Watrous will be at Mineral Area College in Park Hills for a concert at the college's Fine Arts Theater, backed by the MAC Kicks Band. Watrous performed early in his career with the likes of Woody Herman, Roy Eldridge and Count Basie, later going on to be a featured guest soloist on recordings by Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Arturo Sandoval and many others. He was voted best trombonist seven times in the DownBeat reader's poll, and his Manhattan Wildlife Refuge big band was a touchstone of the 1970s, showing off Watrous' virtuoso technique in a way analogous to how Maynard Ferguson's band displayed its leader's skills as a high-note specialist.

And speaking of Maynard Ferguson, his friend and fellow trumpeter Jim Manley also is playing tonight, at Joyia Tapas in the Grove neighborhood; while further downtown, Miss Jubilee will play jump blues and swing at the Thaxton Speakeasy.

Tomorrow night, Jazz St. Louis presents the touring production of "Abyssinian: A Gospel Celebration" at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. The extended work by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis was created in 2008 for the 200th anniversary of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, and now is getting a touring production (pictured) featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the 70-voice Chorale de Chateau.

For much more about "Abyssinian," including interviews with Marsalis and choir director Damien Sneed and some video footage shot during the current tour, see this post from last Saturday.

Also on Friday night, trombonist William Cepeda, who combines Latin jazz with traditional music from his home territory of Puerto Rico, will be in town to play at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Cepeda's colorful show includes folk dancers as well as musicians, so you can bet they'll be using every square inch of the Sheldon's stage, and maybe a bit more besides.

Elsewhere around town on Friday, singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black will duet at Chaser's Lounge in the Chase Park Plaza Hotel; singer/pianist Anita Rosamond and her band will be at Robbie's House of Jazz; singer Feyza Eren performs at the the Wine Press; and guitarist Tom Byrne will lead a trio at Thurman Grill.

On Saturday night, pianist Dave Venn will be featured in a one-nighter at Jazz at the Bistro; singer Tony Viviano performs at Talayna's in Chesterfield; and the Dixie Dudes will play traditional New Orleans style and swing at Jazz on Broadway. Also on Saturday, pianist Tim Garcia leads a quartet at Robbie's; and Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes perform at Venice Cafe.

On Sunday, singer Wendy Gordon will present the latest show in her "Jazz Heaven" series at the Ethical Society, featuring a dozen musicians and singers performing songs made famous by various legends of jazz and blues. Also on Sunday, singer/guitarist Elliott Ranney will support the release of his new CD Bellevue Shuffle with a performance at Kirkwood Station Brewing Company.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the SIUE Concert Jazz Band performs at Dunham Hall on the SIUE campus; and trumpeter Keith Moyer brings his quartet back to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Then on Tuesday, the Route 66 Jazz Orchestra will play a "Notes From Home" concert at the Sheldon, while keyboardist Jim Hegarty will lead a trio in some experimental sounds 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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: "Abyssinian: A Gospel Celebration"

This week, let's take a look at "Abyssinian: A Gospel Celebration," the extended work composed by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis that currently is on tour and scheduled for a St. Louis stop next Friday, October 18 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

Premiered in 2008 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church, "Abyssinian" incorporates a range of musical styles, from spirituals to hard bop, and has been re-staged this year as a traveling production featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Chorale Le Chateau, a 70-voice gospel choir.

The production's stop here, presented by Jazz St. Louis, is part of a tour that began October 3 in North Carolina and will conclude on October 27 in Boston. The touring version of "Abyssinian" reportedly is costing an estimated $2 million to mount and requires four buses just to transport the cast, plus a separate truck for equipment.

With so much at stake, it's no surprise that Jazz at Lincoln Center is putting considerable effort and resources into promoting the tour, including the creation of a short promotional video, which you can see in the first embedded window up above.

Down below, there's an interview with Marsalis and choir director Damien Sneed, in which they discuss the tour and the musical and historical significance of "Abysssinian." Below that, there's another short clip featuring Sneed, one of several he made explaining some of the gospel traditions and tropes incorporated into the work. (You can view all the clips in a playlist on Jazz at Lincoln Center's YouTube page.)

The remaining three videos offer a sneak peek at the actual touring production of "Abyssinian." Totaling slightly more than 14 minutes running time, they were recorded by an audience member on October 6 at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and posted to YouTube.

While there's a noticeable lack of bass that renders the audio in these clips somewhat compromised, the fidelity otherwise is reasonably good, and they're the best examples of actual performances from the tour currently available online.

For more about "Abyssinian: A Gospel Celebration," check out the interview that Marsalis and Jazz St. Louis' Gene Dobbs Bradford did this past Friday on KWMU's program "Cityscape," which can be heard online here.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Happy birthday wishes go out to drummer and St. Louis native Marcus Baylor, who turns 37 today. The Baylor Project, his new band with his spouse, singer Jean Baylor, is set for NYC dates this month at Smoke and Zinc Bar.

* Today's also the anniversary of the birth of the legendary trumpeter and former St. Louisan Lester Bowie (pictured), who was born on this date in 1941. Bowie, who died in 1999, gained worldwide fame for his work with the Art Ensemble of Chicago and as a composer and bandleader in his own right. To celebrate his memory, check out this clip of a live show by his "From The Root to the Source" band, featuring his former wife Fontella Bass, her mother Martha Bass and brother David Peaston, posted last month to StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds.

* In an announcement posted last Saturday night on their Facebook page and website, organizers of St. Louis Jazz and Blues Vespers said they've ended the series and will produce no further concerts this year or in the future. The free concerts presented at Second Baptist Church in Richmond Heights began in the fall of 2008 under the church's former pastor, Rev. Dr. Stephen Jones.

* Jazz St. Louis has posted to their Facebook page an album of photos from saxophonist Lou Donaldson's opening night Wednesday at Jazz at the Bistro. Donaldson continues at the club through tomorrow night.

* Meanwhile, saxophonist and former St. Louisan Oliver Lake has posted online a video excerpt from his show last week at NYC's Roulette, which featured guest pianist Vijay Iyer and a string ensemble.

* As the tour of "Abyssinian: A Gospel Celebration" winds its way towards St. Louis, where trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and a 70-voice choir will perform the extended work next Friday at the Touhill, Marsalis has been posting updates from the tour to the JALC Facebook page.

* St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts is exhorting us to remind all area musicians that they're sponsoring a free workshop called "Navigating Health Care Reform" at 7:00 p.m. Monday, October 21 at the Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar.

The event is part of a campaign that VLAA is calling "Every Artist Insured."  Ryan Barker, vice president of Health Policy at the Missouri Foundation for Health, will explain the Affordable Care Act; define terms and answer questions;, and provide strategies to help freelancers and the self-employed get quality and affordable health care coverage. This workshop is open to artists of all disciplines and their guests, but seating is limited, so you must register in advance here. The program will be repeated on Tuesday, November 19.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Fall 2013 jazz preview, part 3

Today's, it's part three of StLJN's preview of jazz and creative music concerts coming to St. Louis this fall. Previously in this space, part one and part two covered shows that are happening through the first week of October, which is where today's installment picks up.

Our first clip features the new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound*, who will kick off their second St. Louis season on Wednesday, October 9 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.  They'll be performing a program called "Permanent Collection," which covers 150 years of music written for their instrumentation, the sinfonietta (a small orchestra that has one of every instrument found in a full-sized symphony). The concert will include AWS' version of Aphex Twin's "Cock/Ver 10," first recorded for their 2005 album Acoustica and seen here in a rather rough-quality video shot from the audience in 2009 at NYC's Le Poisson Rouge.

That same week, saxophonist Lou Donaldson will return to St. Louis for a four-night engagement beginning Wednesday, October 9 and continuing through Saturday, October 12 at Jazz at the Bistro. Donaldson, who turns 87 (!) in November, plays blues, bop and ballads in the old-school manner, and by all accounts continues to be an very engaging performer, age notwithstanding. He's seen here with his frequent collaborator, organist Dr. Lonnie Smith - who, alas, will not be on the upcoming St. Louis dates - performing one of his signature songs, "Alligator Boogaloo."

The following week, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will return to St. Louis, this time to perform Marsalis' extended work "Abyssinian" with Chorale Le Chateau in a concert presented by Jazz St. Louis on Friday, October 18 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. Written to celebrate the 200th anniversary of NYC's Abyssinian Baptist Church, the work was premiered in 2008. Today's second video contains some short excerpts from that premiere performance with Dr. Rev. Calvin Butts III and the Abyssinian Church Choir at Rose Hall in NYC.

Also on Friday, October 18, trombonist William Cepeda will perform at the Sheldon. Originally from Puerto Rico, Cepeda is known for mixing jazz and urban Latin sounds with folk elements from Puerto Rican music, and today's fourth video clip shows off some of that in an excerpt from his performance at this year's Heineken Jazz Festival in San Juan.

The following week, New Orleans saxophonist Donald Harrison will bring his "A Night In Treme" tour here to play Wednesday, October 23 through Saturday, October 26 at Jazz at the Bistro. After establishing himself as a skilled hard bop player with Art Blakey and on own recordings, Harrison in recent years has incorporated more direct references to traditional New Orleans music into his sound, which seems fitting for someone who's also the Big Chief of The Congo Square Nation. The fifth video clip shows Harrison and trombonist Glen David Andrews dueting on "When The Saints Go Marching In" and was recorded in 2011 at the studios of KPLU in Tacoma, WA.

The sixth video features bassist William Parker's In Order To Survive Quintet, who will perform here in a concert presented by New Music Circle on Friday, October 25 at Mad Art Gallery. Parker, drummer Hamid Drake, pianist Cooper-Moore, alto saxophonist Rob Brown and trumpeter Lewis Barnes are seen here in an excerpt from their set at the 2012 Vision Festival in NYC.

Wrapping up today's post is a video of pianist and singer Harry Connick Jr., who wil be back in St. Louis for the first time in several years to perform on Sunday, October 27 at the Fox Theatre. Connick is touring in support of his latest album, Every Man Should Know, and is seen here playing the title song on ABC's daytime talk show The View.

Look for the fourth and final part of StLJN Fall 2013 jazz preview next week.

(*Full disclosure: Yr. StLJN editor has worked with Alarm Will Sound for the past four years in conjunction with the Mizzou International Composers Festival in Columbia, where they are the resident ensemble, and I'm still working with the PR firm that assists them with publicity in the region. That said, I'd still be highlighting this show even if I were not associated with them.)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Cornetist and composer Taylor Ho Bynum had a few words with the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson for a concert preview story now published online. Bynum also answered a few questions about his music during another interview that's now posted on New Music Circle's website. NMC will present Bynum and his sextet in a performance tomorrow night at the Luminary Center for the Arts.

* Nevermore Jazz Ball has added another public event to this weekend's menu of happenings: a happy hour meet-and-greet with some of the festival's dance instructors, dancers, and musicians, held today at Rue Lafayette.

* Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra's recent visit to St. Louis included some time mentoring and performing with students from the East St. Louis High School jazz band in a concert at Washington University's 560 Music Center. Wash U's news service has a short article about the visit, along with a YouTube video, here.

* Electronic musician and composer Eric Hall has posted online his set from last weekend's Noisefest at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center.

* When he comes to town at the end of this month to play at Jazz at the Bistro, guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli (pictured) also will plug his new book World on a String: A Musical Memoir on the airwaves of KMOX radio. Pizzarelli's tome is the November selection for the KMOX/Fontbonne University Book of the Month Club, and he'll visit in person with the station's Charlie Brennan and listeners at an event at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, November 27 at the Heagney Theatre on the campus of Nerinx Hall, 530 East Lockwood in Webster Groves. There's no charge to attend, but reservations are required, and can be made by calling 314-444-1827. The interview also will be taped for airing on Brennan's program in December.

* The Metropolitan Artists Lofts in Grand Center will have a grand opening ceremony next Thursday, November 8. The building, just a short walk from Jazz at the Bistro, the Sheldon Concert Hall, Powell Symphony Hall and other venues in the district, has 72 units specifically designed as affordable housing for artists and musicians.

* Down Beat magazine has published their list of 2012 Reader's Poll winners, and as it turns out, a substantial number of them have played in St. Louis during the last couple of years. However, the only local actually to win an award this year was the late Miles Davis, who copped the "Historical Album" trophy for Miles Davis Quintet, Live In Europe 1967: The Bootleg Series Vol. 1 (Columbia/Legacy). See the complete results of the poll here.

Jazz this week: Christian Scott, Alarm Will Sound, Wynton Marsalis' "Swing Symphony," Jazz in Pink, Mike Metheny, and more

If you're a fan of jazz trumpet, it's a good week to be in St. Louis, as the calendar of live jazz and creative music performances for the next several days includes visits from three stellar trumpeters. Other concerts this weekend offer a variety of musical textures and styles, ranging from the intimate to the orchestral and from traditional to ultramodern. Let's go to the highlights....

Tonight, trumpeter Christian Scott (pictured) opens a four-night gig with his band at Jazz at the Bistro, with two sets each evening continuing through Saturday. The 29-year-old New Orleans native recently released the most ambitious recording of his still-young career, the 2-CD set Christian aTunde Adjuah, which offers a sprawling 23 tracks worth of varied moods and grooves. For more about Scott and the album, plus video clips of him performing some of the music from it, check out this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

Tomorrow night, the contemporary chamber ensemble Alarm Will Sound kicks off its first-ever St. Louis season at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The group, whose 20 members live all around the USA, has performed regularly in NYC for a decade and toured across the country and in Europe. They'll play three concerts here this year, starting with a program featuring music by John Adams, Aphex Twin, Conlon Nancarrow, Edgard Varèse, and Charles Wuorinen, plus pieces written specifically for them by Israeli composer Yotam Haber and AWS cellist Stefan Freund. For more, see this interview with the group's artistic director Alan Pierson by the Post-Dispatch's Sarah Bryan Miller.

Then on Friday, the annual Wine, Dine and Jazz Festival in Belleville will get underway with a lineup including the Yard Dawgs Jazz Quartet, the Usual Suspects, and Musica Slesa. The free outdoor festival continues on Saturday with guitarist Tom Byrne and singer Ralph Butler in the Pat Metheny inspired ensemble Have You Heard?, along with singer Zena Bott-Goins, Milwaukee blues guitarist Alex Wilson, and Santana tribute act Stantana.

Also on Friday, guitarist Dave Black leads a trio at the Cigar Inn, just a short distance from the festival site in Belleville; saxophonist Michael Anthony Fitzgerald is at Jazz on Broadway in Alton; and saxophonist Sammy Hag will play at Robbie's House of Jazz.

On Saturday afternoon, saxophonist/clarinetist Victor Goines will do a free workshop and performance at Saxquest. Goines will be in town to play Saturday night with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, who are teaming with the St. Louis Symphony for a performance of Marsalis' "Swing Symphony" at Powell Hall.  You can hear "Swing Symphony" in its entirety and see Marsalis talk at length about the project in this post from last Saturday. For more, check out Marsalis' brief interview with the P-D's Miller here. 

Also on Saturday, singer Feyza Eren performs at Robbie's House of Jazz; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes are at the Wine Press; and the Funky Butt Brass Band returns to the Broadway Oyster Bar.

On Sunday, the St. Louis Jazz Club will present the St. Louis Stompers at the Doubletree Hotel at Westport; the Los Angeles-based, all-female group Jazz In Pink will be at the Sheldon Concert Hall in a benefit performance for Community Women Against Hardship (CWAH); and the St. Louis Jazz and Blues Vespers series at Second Baptist Church begins its 2012-13 season with a free concert featuring saxophonist Ray Vollmar and singer Deborah Sharn.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday trumpeter and Electronic Valve Instrument (EVI) player Mike Metheny will make the trip over from Kansas City to perform at Webster University. Metheny is a talented composer and player who sometimes doesn't quite get his due, perhaps simply because his guitarist brother Pat happens to be one of the most famous jazz musicians in the world. For this concert, he'll be backed by a local rhythm section including Kim Portnoy (piano), Nick Savage (drums), Willem von Hombracht (bass), and Steve Schenkel (guitar). Schenkel tells StLJN that the program will include one of Metheny's original tunes as well as interpretations of compositions by Bill Evans, Jimmy Smith, Duke Ellington, Benny Golson, Charlie Parker and more.

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.)