Sunday Session: April 18, 2021

Albert "Tootie" Heath

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

* Invention Has A Sound: The story of Mark Twain, a Martin acoustic and the world’s first guitar effect (Guitar)
* The Rhymes And Reasons Behind Re-Recording Your Own Classics (NPR)
* Bob Porter, Eminent Producer, Broadcaster and Writer, and Pillar of WBGO, Has Died at 80 (WBGO)
* Steve Gadd: From Monroe County to Around the World (NYSMusic.com)
* A Guide to the Extensive Musical Legacy of Mills College (Bandcamp.com)
* The Glorious Exclamation Mark: Carla Bley Interviewed (TheQuietus.com)
* Sonny Simmons, Fiercely Independent Alto Saxophonist, Dies at 87 (NPR)
* Interview with Phil Schaap (MaxRaskin.com)
* A philosophy of sound (Aeon.co)
* Inescapable Progression: 10 Jazz Labels You Need To Know In 2021 (Grammy.com)
* 2021 NEA Jazz Masters: A Q&A with Albert "Tootie" Heath (SFJAZZ.org)
* Apple Greenlights Louis Armstrong Documentary From Imagine (Variety)
* Matters of Obsession - Brian Eno’s ambient music for times of thinking and healing (DailyMaverick.com)
* Mental Health Takes Center Stage As Pandemic Devastates Nashville's Live Music Scene (NPR)
* Meet the songwriters who told pop stars: 'Don't steal from us' (BBC)
* Is It Possible For an Opera Singer to Break Glass with Their Voice? (WKYC)
* 2021 NEA Jazz Masters: A Q&A with Henry Threadgill (SFJAZZ.org)
* Painting Music with Artificial Intelligence (Mathworks.com)
* Why It’s Misleading to Say ‘Apple Music Pays Twice as Much Per Stream as Spotify’ (Variety)
* Joe Lovano: Finding New Adventures (AllAboutJazz.com)

Sunday Session: October 27, 2019

Billy Cobham

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

* The strange revival of vinyl records (The Economist)
* A stroke of genius: Guitarist and Brookline native wins MacArthur fellowship (WickedLocal.com)
* Q&A: Herb Alpert (TheaterJones.com)
* Mingus’s Lost String Quartet (London Review of Books)
* In Reversal, WNYC Says New Sounds Will Stay On The Airwaves (Gothamist.com)
* Kinks 1969 epic chimes with Britain’s mood today, says singer Ray Davies (The Guardian)
* The Renaissance of Marilyn Crispell (DownBeat)
* The 2010s: Classical Music's Decade Of Reckoning (NPR)
* Adam Rudolph: The Matrix Reloaded (Jazz Times)
* When the Beatles Walked Offstage: Fifty Years of “Abbey Road” (The New Yorker)
* 'Fresh Air' Marks The Centenary Of The Birth Of Jazz Singer Anita O'Day (NPR)
* Shorter, Salvant and Benson Among DownBeat Readers Poll Winners (DownBeat)
* Come blow your horn: the glory days of Ronnie Scott's jazz club – in pictures (The Guardian)
* How Untitled Goose Game adapted Debussy for its dynamic soundtrack (TheVerge.com)
* The dorky recorder you had in school just got a futuristic remake (CDM.link)
* Billy Cobham: Blowin’ in the Crosswinds (Jazz Times)
* How ‘Moonlight Serenade’ Defined a Generation (Smithsonian)
* Uri Caine Pays Tribute to Octavius Catto (DownBeat)
* Summoning the ghosts of Record Row (Chicago Reader)
* Joe Lovano’s New Septet Echoes the Past, Looks to the Future (DownBeat)
* Jazz Foundation of America Honors Roy Haynes, Raises $475K at Annual Loft Party (DownBeat)
* The Long Journey of Charlie Parker’s Saxophone (Smithsonian)
* The Hissing of Vintage Tapes (Tedium.co)
* What Makes Music Enjoyable? It’s Complex, But Measurable (Forbes.com)
* Nubya Garcia in Full ‘Blume’ (DownBeat)
* How the Internet Archive is Digitizing LPs to Preserve Generations of Audio (Archive.org)
* The “cost of living” in Spotify streams (Alex.Leonard.ie)
* The Necessity of Musical Hallucinations (Nautil.us)
* The Rise and Fall of Hip-Hop's First Godmother: Sugar Hill Records' Sylvia Robinson (Billboard)

Sunday Session: May 19, 2019

Kenny Burrell

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest, drawn from StLJN's inboxes, newsfeeds, and assorted other sources:

* Rhiannon Giddens and What Folk Music Means (The New Yorker)
* The Japanese reissue phenomenon: a view from the inside (ResidentAdvisor.com)
* Payola 2.0: The native ad model for streaming music? (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Why Aldi Doesn’t Play Music (Southern Living)
* Playlist Malfeasance Will Create a Streaming Crisis (Music Industry Blog)
* Preserving The House Of A Pioneering Musician — Who We Will Never Hear (NPR)
* Brian May: Queen haven’t earned a penny from Bohemian Rhapsody (LouderSound.com)
* As A Crowdfunding Platform Implodes, A Legendary Composer Rebounds (NPR)
* Whose Is Bigger? ASCAP and BMI Are Holding Their Film & TV Awards Dinners on the Exact Same Night (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* New Orleans Jazz Fest at 50: Keep on Rolling (Without the Stones) (Jazz Times)
* Facing Homelessness And Crushing Medical Debt, A Renowned Jazz Guitarist Reaches Out (NPR)
* Matthew Shipp and Simplicity Itself (Jazz Times)
* Mulligan memories (Jazz Journal)
* Feature Doc to Chronicle Legendary London Jazz Club Ronnie Scott’s (Variety)
* New film seeks funds to realise Marshall Allen's dream (The Wire)
* Cleveland's Joe Lovano Comes Home (NPR)
* JazzTimes 10: Landmark ECM Albums (Jazz Times)
* Google I/O showcases a cross-platform future for music-makers (MusicTech.net)
* A Beginner’s Guide to the interstellar music of Sun Ra (TrebleZine.com)
* Brecker Bonds with Big Bands Over Fusion (DownBeat)
* The Apostle of Now-ness (New York Review of Books)
* Horror buffs, meet music nerds (TheOutline.com)
* Patitucci Juggles ‘All the Elements of Music’ (DownBeat)
* End to End: An Interview with Barre Phillips (NoTreble.com)

Sunday Session: March 3, 2019

Kurt Elling

Here's a roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* Ennio Morricone settles old scores with ‘simplistic’ directors (The Guardian)
* High Point Plans To Preserve John Coltrane's Childhood Home (WFDD)
* Cosmic jazz for modern times: an interview with Sun Ra Arkestra (Beat.com.au)
* Ira Gitler, Influential and Impassioned Jazz Critic, Historian and Advocate, Dies at 90 (WBGO)
* Worcester native Jaki Byard inspires as jazz artist, educator (Worcester Telegram & Gazette)
* Kurt Elling Talks About 'The Big Blind,' His New Jazz Melodrama, Coming to JALC (WBGO)
* Kurt Elling Readies The Big Blind for NYC Premiere (Jazz Times)
* Jamie Saft Delves into Rich Conversations on new RareNoise Disc (DownBeat)
* Tea at The St. Regis (GreenleafMusic.com)
* EXCLUSIVE TRAILER: Wynton Marsalis Brings Jazz Pioneer Buddy Bolden’s music to life in ‘Bolden’ (TheGrio.com)
* The So-Called 'Local Radio Freedom Act' Is Actually an Anti-Creator, Anti-Property-Rights Bill (Guest Column) (Billboard)
* Oscar Peterson Festival Highlights Canadian Talent (DownBeat)
* Cooper-Moore: Catharsis and Creation in Community Spirit (AllAboutJazz.com)
* The many faces of Bill Frisell in Berkeley residency (San Francisco Chronicle)
* Rhiannon Giddens’ 21st-Century Sound Has a Long History (Smithsonian)
* Neneh Cherry: ‘All that awkward stuff became a force’ (Yorkshire Post)
* The web is killing newspaper arts critics like me. Why that matters (Fast Company)
* WATCH: See Soul Singer Al Green Preach at His Church in Memphis (Southern Living)
* A Guide to Harry Nilsson, Who You've Loved Forever Without Knowing It (Vice.com)
* Gaffer Tape Inventor Ross Lowell Dead at 92 (UltimateClassicRock.com)
* Allison Miller’s Life of Juxtapositions (DownBeat)
* U.S. Music Industry Generated $9.8 Billion in 2018, Third Straight Year of Double-Digit Growth: RIAA (Billboard)
* André Previn, Musical Polymath, Has Died At Age 89 (NPR)
* Do the Rite thing: how Stravinsky's Rite of Spring changed music for ever (The Guardian)
* RIP, Ed Bickert (Ottawa Citizen)
* Yusuke Ogawa: The man in Japan giving jazz fans their rare record fix (Japan Times)
* Delving deep into the Kanto jazz bar scene (Japan Times)
* Joe Lovano Moves on to the Next Chapter (DownBeat)
* Sun Ra: “There’s a lot of strange stuff that goes on around the pyramids – why don’t you bring a tape?” (Uncut)
* New Orleans Music: From Mardi Gras To The Meters… And All That Jazz (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Has Spotify’s Warner bust-up spooked Wall Street? (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Ears Embiggened – 50 Years of Great Black Music: Ancient to the Future (ImmuneToBoredom.com)

Sunday Session: December 23, 2018

Eric Dolphy

Here's a roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* Chicago blues at 90 (Jazz Beyond Jazz)
* Eric Dolphy: The ‘Prophet’ of Freedom (DownBeat)
* A Great Day in Harlem: behind Art Kane's classic 1958 jazz photograph (The Guardian)
* The Black Gay Man That Brought ‘Soul!’ To Television (Afropunk.com)
* Dr. Donald Shirley’s Brother Calls ‘Green Book’ Portrayal ‘A Symphony Of Lies’ (Essence)
* Perry Robinson 1938-2018 (Jazz Times)
* Zoe Keating Shares Spotify, Streaming Earnings 2018 (Hypebot.com)
* Mapping the Cosmic Discography of the Sun Ra Arkestra (Portland Mercury)
* I Analyzed 122 Hours of Holiday Radio (TowardDataScience.com)
* Big Band Holiday Cheer With The Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra (NPR)
* Myra Melford’s Snowy Egret Is Jazz’s Most Dynamic Quintet (The Nation)
* Stax Records stars Sam and Dave to be honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (Memphis Commercial Appeal)
* 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Bob Dylan’s Never Ending Tour (Vulture.com)
* How stereo was first sold to a skeptical public (TheConversation.com)
* Despite Growing Pains, L.A.’s Jazz Scene Continues to Blossom (DownBeat)
* Art Neville announces retirement from music after 60+ years (Offbeat)
* New Orleans Royalty Gathers To Celebrate Professor Longhair (Offbeat)
* For the First Time in More Than 20 Years, Copyrighted Works Will Enter the Public Domain (Smithsonian)
* Jazz Night In America Remembers Some of the Artists We Lost In 2018 (WBGO)
* That music in Clint Eastwood’s ‘The Mule’? It's jazz legend Arturo Sandoval in his film-scoring debut (Los Angeles Times)
* Joe Lovano’s Guide to ECM: Five Essential Albums (Jazziz)
* Jazz legend Wayne Shorter ill, pulls out of San Francisco residency (San Jose Mercury News)
* Why Is AI-Generated Music Still so Bad? (Vice.com)

Sunday Session: August 26, 2018

Mary Halvorson

Here's a roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* He read the news all day, oh boy: how Beatles ‘froze out’ George Martin on White Album (The Guardian)
* How a Jewish kid from the burbs helped launch Springsteen and make music history (Times of Israel)
* Nicole Johänntgen Channels the Vitality of New Orleans (DownBeat)
* The Sounds of Music in the Twenty-first Century (The New Yorker)
* When a Music Legend Dies, How Does Today’s Mostly Automated Radio React? (Variety)
* Joe Lovano Toasts Ben Webster, and Vocalist Emma Frank Visits 'Ocean Av,' on The Checkout (WBGO)
* Why does bass make you want to dance? (MedicalNewsToday.com)
* Lifetime Achievement: Joe McPhee’s Vast and Brilliant Improvisational Discography (Bandcamp.com)
* Unlocking the Secrets of Jazz Genius Bill Evans (Playbill.com)
* Regional, International Talent Meet at San Jose Jazz Summer Fest (DownBeat)
* Napster Proves That Streaming Music Can Be Profitable (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* "Just the Essential Thing": Bill Frisell and Mary Halvorson Honor Johnny Smith's Jazz Legacy (Reverb.com)
* My Journey with Jazz (The New Yorker)
* Eddie Willis, Original Motown Funk Brother, Dies At 82 (Billboard)
* Live Review: 2018 San Jose Jazz Summer Fest (Jazz Times)
* Will Ramsey Lewis retire after Jazz Fest? He’s having second thoughts (Chicago Tribune)
* Wynton Marsalis on Aretha Franklin's All-Caps Emails and 'Healing' Voice: She Was a 'Triumph Over the Blues' (Billboard)
* Vijay Iyer: A Moral Imperative to Speak for the Musical Margins (LitHub.com)
* Sony Confesses To Releasing Fake Michael Jackson Music (Vibe.com)
* For Chick Corea, Music is an Antidote to Life’s Dark Side (ShepherdExpress.com)
* The Dearth Of Musical Performances On Late Night TV Speaks To A Larger Cultural Shift (Uproxx.com)
* From Bowie's Blackstar to Restoring Lou Reed: The Death and Re-Birth of The Magic Shop Studio (Reverb.com)
* Beyond Genre: Taylor McFerrin Creates His Own Musical World (SFJAZZ.org)
* Meet the Company Preparing to Be the Last CD Distributor Standing (Billboard)
* Wayne Shorter to Release 3-Disc Set with Graphic Novel (Jazz Times)
* Can data reveal the saddest number one song ever? (BBC)
* Music is ‘fast becoming the birthright of the elite’, say leading conductors, performers and educators (ClassicFM.com)

Sunday Session: July 1, 2018

Don Cherry

Here's a roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* Catherine Russell: Queen of the Armstrong Blues (Jazz Times)
* Legendary Experimental Composer Jon Hassell Is Still Dreaming Up New Worlds (Vice.com)
* What happened to the blues? (Chicago Defender)
* DC Jazz Festival Reaches New Peak with Sanders, Carrington (DownBeat)
* Spotify Can Boost an Artist’s Royalties by $163,000 With One Playlist Add, Study Calculates (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* DownBeat Announces Winners of 2018 Critics Poll (DownBeat)
* Joe Lovano and Dave Douglas step up with Sound Prints at the Village Vanguard (Jazzwise)
* The Saxophone’s Unlikely Journey Out of Meme Hell (Vice.com)
* Thelonious Monk Inside Out: A Fresh Perspective On His Music (AllAboutJazz.com)
* The Story of Don Cherry’s Forgotten Classic “Home Boy (Sister Out)” (Bandcamp.com)
* Swedish Jazz, Excavated (DownBeat)
* How Did A Major Label Manage To Lose A John Coltrane Record? (TheQuietus.com)
* Composing Your Thoughts (Nautilus)
* WOULD SUIT MUSIC SCHOOL: How Total Refreshment Centre became the collaborative heart of London (TheVinylFactory.com)
* R+R=NOW’s Robert Glasper On Being Free AF For Juneteenth, ‘Collagically Speaking’ & More [Interview] (OkayPlayer.com)
* Kamasi Washington, the wisest man on Earth (TheFader.com)
* Jazz great Sheila Jordan's 70-year career was launched by a single song (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
* A Year After Geri Allen’s Death, A Tribute From Howard University (DownBeat)
* John Coltrane's 'Lost Album' Is A Window Into His Pursuit Of The Impossible (NPR)
* The Average Working Musician Makes Less Than an Uber Driver, Study Finds (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Antiquated copyright laws threaten aging musicians: Guest opinion (Portland Oregonian)
* A sound supreme: lost John Coltrane treasures rediscovered (Irish Times)
* When Miles Davis and Charlie Parker were in SF, this was the go-to club (San Francisco Chronicle)
* Deep Dive with Lewis Porter: Considering John Coltrane's 'Lost Album,' From All Directions (WBGO)
* This music is designed for extraterrestrials. Listen carefully (BigThink.com)
* Jon Hassell at 81: Visionary Composer-Trumpeter Reflects on a Half Century of Music on His Own Terms (Billboard)
* Angry George Benson fans BOO legendary star and demand refunds when he loses his voice and can't sing during Royal Albert Hall concert (Daily Mail)
* Raymond Scott, the musical genius you probably don't know, is getting his own L.A. festival (Los Angeles Times)
* 50th anniversary editions of The Band's 'Music From Big Pink' due Aug. 31 (Los Angeles Times)
* Ravi Coltrane On the State of Jazz & Why John Coltrane's Lost Album Couldn't Have Been Found at a Better Time (Billboard)

Jazz this week: John Scofield & Joe Lovano, Julian Vaughn, Eddie Gomez Trio, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes the reunion tour of two major jazz stars; a rare visit from a famed bassist; a couple of tributes to Duke Ellington; and plenty of other sounds ranging from vintage to experimental. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, April 25
Guitarist John Scofield and saxophonist Joe Lovano (pictured, top left) bring their quartet to Jazz at the Bistro for the first of four nights, continuing through Saturday.

Though their musical relationship goes back to the early 1990s, Scofield and Lovano both are so busy with their own projects that they've only been able to tour together occasionally, with their most recent reunion before this one coming in 2015. You can see some videos of performances from that tour and read more about them in this post from last Saturday.

Thursday, April 26
Pianist Ptah Williams, who usually plays on Fridays at The Dark Room, also will be there on Thursday this week, performing the music of George Gershwin and recording a promotional video for a prospective tour featuring Gershwin's songs.

Also on Thursday, the Bruxism experimental music series continues with a three-act bill of Popular Housing, Azaleas and Ron S. at the Schlafly Tap Room; and the Adam Maness Trio is back at Thurman's in Shaw.

Friday, April 27
Bassist Julian Vaughn, a Kansas City native who works mostly in smooth jazz and R&B styles, will perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall, with St. Louis' Tim Cunningham opening.

Also on Friday, trumpeter Randy Holmes convenes a quintet and a ten-piece band for his  "2nd Annual Duke Ellington Birthday Tribute" at the Ozark Theatre (which seems to have abandoned, at least for the time being, its attempt to re-brand as the "Webster Groves Concert Hall").

Elsewhere around town, the Hard Bop Messengers spread the gospel of Blakey, Silver et al at Evangeline's; saxophonist Harvey Lockhart returns to The Dark Room; and saxophonist Ben Reece's Unity Quartet is substituting this week for Dave Stone on his long-running gig at Mangia Italiano.

Saturday, April 28
The People's Key will play a mid-day matinee at the Sheldon Concert Hall; and drummer Kyle Honeycutt leads a trio at Thurman's in Shaw.

Sunday, April 29
Bassist Eddie Gomez (pictured, bottom left) will lead a trio with pianist and drummer Rodrigo Villanueva at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

Now 73 years old, Gomez still may be best known for spending more than a decade near the start of his career with the late pianist Bill Evans' trio. Over the ensuing years, he's also released more than dozen albums as a leader and has performed and recorded with many other notable jazz musicians, including Chick Corea, JoAnne Brackeen, Jeremy Steig, Steps Ahead, and many more.

Given that it's a chance to see a musician of Gomez' stature in an intimate venue (and the fact that, as best as can be determined, he's never played here before as a bandleader), this definitely is StLJN's pick for the "sleeper" show of the week.

Also on Sunday, pianist Christopher Parrish leads an octet for "Duke Ellington’s 119th Birthday Celebration" at Focal Point, and the students in Jazz St. Louis' JazzU Big Band will perform at Jazz at the Bistro.

Monday, April 30
Kosi, an NYC-based singer who cites Abbey Lincoln and Nina Simone as influences, will perform at Evangeline's; "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective return to BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups and guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran is back at Yaquis on Cherokee.

Tuesday, May 1
Drummer Montez Coleman and saxophonist Eric Slaughter host "The Tuesday Night Hit" jam session 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: Spotlight on the John Scofield Joe Lovano Quartet

Today, StLJN's video spotlight shines on the John Scofield Joe Lovano Quartet, who will be in St. Louis to perform starting next Wednesday, April 25 through Saturday, April 28 at Jazz at the Bistro.

In terms of both popularity and musical accomplishments, both Scofield and Lovano rank in the upper echelon of current jazz players on their respective instruments, and their musical relationship dates back to the early 1990s, when they put together the first version of the quartet.

However, since both are involved in multiple musical projects, their gigs together in recent years have been comparatively rare, with their most recent quartet tour coming back in 2015, and that's the time from which most of today's videos are drawn.

The best-produced documentation from that tour probably is the recording of Scofield, Lovano, bassist Ben Street and drummer Bill Stewart in November at the Leverkusener Jazztage festival in Germany, and you can see a version of Scofield's "Chariots" from that show in the first embedded video up above.

After the jump, there are three more performances from that same Leverkusener Jazztage show: "Slinky," "Hangover," and "Chap Dance."

The fifth clip is an audience-shot video that catches them a little earlier in the same tour, playing "Cymbolism" in late October at the Republic Theater in Salzburg, Germany.

Next, you can see a nearly hour-long interview with both men, recorded in October 2015 at the Blue Note in New York City for NYU's Steinhardt Interview Series.

Last but not least, there's a blast from the past that documents the long duration of the Lovano/Scofield partnership, in the form of a full set of the two of them with Stewart and the late bassist Dennis Irwin in 1993 at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy.

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

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Winter/spring 2018 jazz preview, part six

Today, it's the sixth and final part of StLJN's winter/spring 2018 jazz preview, featuring videos of jazz and creative music performers who will be coming to St. Louis in the first few months of the new year. (If you missed the previous installments, you can see part one here, part two here, part three here, part four here, and part five here.)

Resuming in chronological order where we left off last week, today's first video features the John Scofield - Joe Lovano Quartet, who will be returning to St. Louis to perform starting Wednesday, April 25 through Saturday, April 28 at Jazz at the Bistro. They're seen here performing a full set at the 2015 Leverkusener Jazztage festival in Leverkusene, Germany.

The next weekend, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will be in town for three performances of Marsalis' “Swing Symphony” with the St. Louis Symphony on Friday, May 4; Saturday, May 5; and Sunday, May 6 at Powell Hall.

Unfortunately, though "Swing Symphony" has been performed a number of times in the USA and Europe, the only good video of the work is stuck behind a paywall. So instead, after the jump, you can see a clip of Marsalis discussing "Swing Symphony" with conductor Simon Rattle, recorded at the Berlin Philharmonie in June 2010.

A couple of days after Marsalis and company leave town, guitarist Dweezil Zappa will be back for a performance on Tuesday, May 8 at The Ready Room.

Given his ongoing legal dispute with the Zappa Family Trust, it's unclear at this time what material DZ will be performing on this year's tour. However, the next clip, a full show recorded in July 2016 at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY, features material spanning several decades of his dad Frank Zappa's career, and though the video (shot by an audience member) is a bit shaky, the audio is solid and serves as a good demonstration of his touring ensemble's capabilities.

That same week, trumpeter Terell Stafford will be here with his quintet to play Wednesday, May 9 through Saturday, May 12 at the Bistro. Stafford, who at one time recorded for the St. Louis based MAXJAZZ label and has performed frequently here over the last decade, probably needs to introduction to local audiences.

Nevertheless, he and his band can be seen in today's fourth video, performing a tribute to the late Lee Morgan in October 2016 at Dizzy's Club in New York City. Along with the leader on trumpet and his fellow Philadelphian Tim Warfield on tenor sax, this edition of Stafford's group featured another MAXJAZZ alumnus, pianist Bruce Barth, along with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Billy Williams.

Next up, it's multi-instrumentalist Brian Culbertson, who will visit St. Louis on Saturday, May 12 for a show at The Pageant. He's seen here performing "Been Around The World" in October 2016 at the Aliante Casino in Las Vegas.

The following week, trumpeter Terence Blanchard will return for a concert on Sunday, May 20 at the Grandel Theatre. Blanchard will be accompanied by his band The E-Collective, which includes Charles Altura (guitar), Fabian Almazan (keyboards), Donald Ramsey (bass), and Oscar Seaton (drums). They're seen here performing a full set at the 2015 North Sea Jazz Fest in Rotterfam, Netherlands.

Today's final video features another familiar face, percussionist Poncho Sanchez, who's developed a following here over the years and will return for a four-night engagement from Wednesday, May 23 through Saturday, May 26 at the Bistro. The clip shows Sanchez and his band playing what he calls the "Poncho Sanchez Medley" at a show in December 2017 in Las Vegas.

That wraps up StLJN's winter/spring 2018 jazz preview, although if/when any other performers of interest are booked for concerts here in St. Louis, you'll find the latest news here. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Jazz this week: Chucho Valdés & Joe Lovano, Jen Shyu, "Jazz Explosion," and more

Here's what's happening with live jazz and creative music over the next few days in St. Louis...

Wednesday, November 9
Keyboardist Adaron “Pops” Jackson takes a seat behind the Hammond organ as he and guitarist Eric Slaughter co-headline a two-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro themed "To B3 or Not To B3."  Saxophonist Jason Swagler and drummer Miles Vandiver will complete the ensemble.

Also on Wednesday, The 442s will perform in a public concert at St. Vincent Home for Children.

Thursday, November 10
Composer and multi-instrumentalist Jen Shyu (pictured, top left) will present a free, public artist's talk and workshop at the Lewis Center, the Washington University School of Art building located off-campus at 721 Kingsland Ave in U City. (For info on Shyu's New Music Circle concert, see Friday's listing.)

Also on Thursday, Native American flute player Mark Holland and his band will play a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; singer Joe Mancuso performs at The Monocle; and fusion band Spaceship and the Liberation Organ Trio sill share a double bill at the Old Rock House.

Friday, November 11
Jen Shyu performs in a concert presented by New Music Circle at Kranzberg Arts Center. For more about Shyu and some video samples of her work, see this post from last Saturday. 

Also on Friday, trumpeter and singer Dawn Weber performs for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro; and the Gaslight Cabaret Festival resumes with stride and ragtime pianist Judy Carmichael. Carmichael,  who's also an engaging storyteller thanks to her experience hosting radio programs for NPR and Sirius XM, will play for one night only at the Gaslight Theater.

Elsewhere around town, the Gateway City Big Band plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and trumpeter Jim Manley returns to Thurman's in Shaw

Saturday, November 12
Pianist Chucho Valdés and saxophonist Joe Lovano (pictured, bottom left), who are collaborating this year for a series of dates, will play the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Based on the reviews of the tour so far, this has the potential to be one of the top shows of the fall. Lovano, last seen here in 2014 at the Bistro with his band Us Five, is one of the top tenor players working today, while Valdés has helped shape Afro-Cuban music and Latin jazz for decades as a founding member of Irakere and a solo artist and bandleader.

And if you need more incentive, the Sheldon and Metrotix yesterday announced a "buy one, get one free" offer for online purchases of the remaining tickets for the show. To access the offer, go here and enter the promo code CHUCHO16.

Also on Saturday, trumpeter Randy Holmes and his quintet will present a "Tribute to Clifford Brown" at the Ozark Theatre.

Sunday, November 13
The St. Louis Jazz Club hosts a matinee performance by the Funky Butt Brass Band at the Moolah Temple.

Sunday evening, "Jazz Explosion" with Pieces of A Dream, saxophonist Marion Meadows, and keyboardist Mark Harris II, comes to the Emerson Theater at Harris Stowe State University.

For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. You also can keep up with all the latest news by following St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes or clicking the "Like" icon on the StLJN Facebook page.

(If you have calendar items, band schedule information, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)

Sunday Session: June 12, 2016

Kidd Jordan

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

* Rhino to Release Coltrane “Atlantic Years - In Mono” Box - Set includes “Giant Steps,” “The Avant-Garde” and other classic LPs (Jazz Times)
* Prince: death by ignorance and fear (Boing Boing)
* What It’s Like to Be a Children’s Rap Lyricist (The Atlantic)
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Sheldon Concert Hall announces 2016-17 season

The Sheldon Concert Hall today announced their 2016-17 season schedule, including the four concerts making up their jazz subscription series for next year plus some other events of potential interest to StLJN readers.

Percussionist Jason Marsalis' Vibes Quartet will be first up for the jazz series on Saturday, October 1. Marsalis, the youngest brother of the famous New Orleans family of musicians that also includes his siblings Wynton, Branford, and Delfeayo and their dad Ellis, leads his own band as a vibraphonist when not behind the drum set in the trio of pianist Marcus Roberts.

Next will be a quintet co-led by Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés and NYC saxophonist Joe Lovano (pictured) on Saturday, November 12. Valdés, a founding member of the Cuban jazz-fusion band Irakere, played with his own group at the Sheldon in 2012, while Lovano was in St. Louis most recently with his band Us Five in 2014 at Jazz at the Bistro, but this performance will be their first here together.

Clarinetist and saxophonist Anat Cohen and her quartet will return to bring in the New Year with a concert on Saturday, January 14, and New Orleans trumpeter Etienne Charles will close out the 2016-17 jazz series with some “Creole Soul” on Saturday, March 11.

The Sheldon's 2016-17 "Coffee Concerts" series will include performances of traditional jazz and swing by Cornet Chop Suey (Tuesday, September 27 and Wednesday, September 28) and The Gaslight Squares (Tuesday, November 1 & Wednesday, November 2); a tribute to Nancy Wilson by singer Kim Fuller (Tuesday, April 4 and Wednesday, April 5); and two non-subscription shows by Miss Jubilee (Tuesday, May 2 and Wednesday, May 3).

Also of interest, new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound will return to the Sheldon for the fourth year with concerts on Thursday, December 1 and Thursday, June 1. You can see the complete schedule for all the 2016-17 concert series at the Sheldon's website.

Single tickets for the jazz series shows will be priced at $25 and $40 for Marsalis, Cohen, and Charles, and $30 and $45 for Valdés & Lovano, or you can purchase a series subscription for $135 or $150. Single tickets for the "Coffee Concerts" are $15 and $18, with subscriptions priced at $60 and $70. Single tickets for Alarm Will Sound will be $10 and $20.

Subscriptions for The Sheldon's 2016-17 jazz series and the venue's other concert series will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Monday, May 16. Single tickets will be available starting at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, August 13 via MetroTix.

Jazz this week: Joe Lovano & Us Five, Cornet Chop Suey, Jeff Anderson & Chad Evans, Sarah Jane & the Blue Notes, and more

Though it's the last day of Jazz Appreciation Month and some local not-for-profit presenters already have wound down their seasons, there's still some interesting jazz and creative music to be heard in St. Louis this week, including the long-awaited return of one of the top tenor saxophonists working today.

That would be Joe Lovano, who will be back in St. Louis for the first time since the year 2000 with his band Us Five for a four-night stand opening this evening at Jazz at the Bistro.

While Lovano may not have quite the level of name recognition accorded elder statesmen like Sonny Rollins and Wayne Shorter or heavily touted younger saxophonists like Ravi Coltrane, Branford Marsalis and Josh Redman, he's a powerful and inventive player on tenor and soprano saxes and a resourceful composer and bandleader who definitely deserves to be considered part of the saxophone elite.

You can check out some examples of Lovano in action and see Us Five's distinctive two-drummer lineup in this video post from last week. Lovano also talked with the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson for a preview story about this week's gigs, which you can read here.

Tomorrow night, guitarist Dave Black and singer Feyza Eren will play at Nathalie's, and Miss Jubilee will bring an eight-piece ensemble to the Central West End house concert venue Joe's Cafe.

On Friday, Lindy Hop St. Louis presents their monthly "West End Stomp" swing dance at the Mahler Ballroom with music from the Sidney Street Shakers, while Second Generation Swing will be laying it down for the dancers at Casa Loma Ballroom.

Elsewhere on Friday, Terry Thompson & Swing Alive will play a Kentucky Derby-themed show at Robbie's House of Jazz; saxophonist Kendrick Smith leads a trio at Cigar Inn; singer Wendy Gordon and pianist Arthur Toney return to DeLeo's Cafe & Deli; and Jazz St. Louis' Phil Dunlap will be at the piano, along with  trumpeter Danny Campbell, for the first of two nights at the Cheshire Inn's Fox and Hounds Tavern.

On Saturday, there are a couple more Derby-themed events with live jazz, as the Sidney Street Shakers will headline a three-band bill at The Royale, and Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes play at Thurman Grill.

Also on Saturday, the Coleman Hughes Project with singer Adrienne Felton will perform at Troy's Jazz Gallery; and pianist Curt Landes, multi-instrumentalist Alan Ox and guitarist Vince Martin will team up for a show at Robbie's House of Jazz.

On Sunday, the St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show will hold their second event of the year at the  American Czech Hall, 4690 Lansdowne at Kingshighway in south St. Louis; and guitarist Dave Black starts a weekly Sunday brunch gig at Corvid's Cafe, also on the south side.

Also on Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club will present the traditional jazz and swing of Cornet Chop Suey at Concord Farmers Club, and the Friends of Scott Joplin will hold their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site.

Then on Sunday night, multi-instrumentalists Jeff Anderson and Chad Evans will join forces to stage a "Sax Attack" at the Bistro at Grand Center, assisted by drummer Montez Coleman, bassist Bob DeBoo, keyboardist Matt Villinger and trumpeter Danny Campbell.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday guitarist Tom Byrne will play at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Then on Tuesday, singer Tony Viviano will be the featured entertainment at "Martinis with a P.A.L.L.," a fundraiser being put on by Professionals Against Leukemia & Lymphoma at Brio Tuscan Grille to benefit the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.

Also on Tuesday, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will endeavor to put the heat into "hot jazz" with a performance of their "Risque & Torch Song Revue" as part of the Notes from Home series 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: Joe Lovano and Us Five

This week, let's take a look at some videos of saxophonist Joe Lovano and Us Five, who will be performing Wednesday, April 30 through Saturday, May 3 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Born and raised in Cleveland and educated at Berklee, the 61-year-old Lovano first gained professional experience performing with organists "Brother" Jack McDuff and Dr. Lonnie Smith. He then went on to play with the big bands of Woody Herman and Mel Lewis, and then worked with guitarist John Scofield and drummer Paul Motian, two musical relationships that would continue well beyond Lovano's first album as a leader in 1985.

Since lauching his solo career, Lovano has led bands ranging from a quartet to a nonet, and also has been part of some high-profile collaborations, notably the Saxophone Summit group with Dave Liebman, the late Michael Brecker, and, after Brecker's untimely death in 2007, Ravi Coltrane.

Us Five was formed in 2009, with the group's most obvious distinction being the presence of two trap drummers, Otis Brown and Francisco Mela, whose contrasting approaches yield plenty of rhythmic density while still generally avoiding clutter. Pianist James Weidman also has been part of all three Us Five albums, while bassist Esperanza Spalding, who played on the group's first two recordings, these days has mostly ceded the chair to Peter Slavov as her own career has taken off.

Today's first video shows the current US Five lineup in 2011 playing "Barbados," from their album Bird Songs, live in the Studios of Seattle NPR affiliate KPLU.

After the jump, there are two songs recorded in July, 2009 during the band's gig for the Heinecken Jazzaldia at Plaza de la Trinidad in San Sebastian, Spain. First up is "Folk Art," which is split into two parts, followed by "Us Five," both from their first, self-titled album, and both with Spalding on bass.

Next up are two songs, "Viva Caruso" and "Spiritual," recorded in 2011 at Jazzwoche Burghausen in Germany, again with the current lineup of musicians.

Last but not least, check out an interview Lovano did with video reporter Lee Pace in which the saxophonist talks about Us Five and Bird Songs.

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)."