Roy Hargrove Quintet to perform December 17-20 at Jazz at the Bistro

Jazz St. Louis has announced that trumpeter Roy Hargrove's quintet will perform Wednesday, December 17 through Saturday, December 20 at Jazz at the Bistro. Hargrove's group will fill the dates originally scheduled for pianist Joe Sample, who died on September 12.

"We were all saddened by the passing of legendary pianist/keyboardist Joe Sample. His music, both with The Jazz Crusaders and after, touched many lives and left a lasting impression on the jazz world and beyond," said a statement released by Jazz St. Louis. "We will always remember his amazing week of shows at Jazz at the Bistro in March 2013 and wish we could see him perform once again this December."

It's been a while since Hargrove (pictured) has been in St. Louis - he was here with Herbie Hancock's Headhunters in 2005 at The Pageant, and according to Jazz St. Louis, he last played at the Bistro way back in August, 1999. The trumpeter's most recent albums as a leader are 2008's Earfood with his quintet and Emergence, a big band date that came out in 2009, though since then he also has guested on recordings by Jimmy Cobb, Marcus Miller, Angelique Kidjo, and Cyrille Aimée.

Ticket holders for Joe Sample can use their tickets for the corresponding day and time for the Hargrove quintet, or return them for a full refund by calling the Jazz St. Louis box office at 314-289-4030 between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Tickets for the Roy Hargrove Quintet go on sale to Jazz St. Louis subscribers starting at 10:00 a.m. this Wednesday, October 29 and to the general public at 10:00 a.m. this Friday, October 31.

Joe Sample cancels shows at Jazz at the Bistro

Due to medical issues, pianist Joe Sample (pictured) has cancelled his shows scheduled for Wednesday, May 28 through Saturday, May 31 at Jazz at the Bistro.

"We are working with Mr. Sample’s management on a new set of dates for the 2014-2015 season," said a statement issued by Jazz St. Louis. "We will not be booking a replacement performer for May 28-31, 2014 at the Bistro."

Refunds will be processed automatically using the original form of payment, with no further action required. Subscribers and anyone who paid via check or cash will receive a refund check for your tickets within the next two weeks.

In lieu of a refund, ticket buyers who wish to donate the value of their tickets to Jazz St. Louis can get a tax-deductible donation receipt. To donate, please respond by 5:00 p.m Monday, March 31 by calling the JSL box office at 314-289-4030 or emailing Jessie@jazzstl.org.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jazz this week: Joe Sample Trio, Eric Marienthal & Bach to the Future, NIU Rosebud Foundation Jazztet, and more

With last weekend's record snowfall melted, and more seasonable weather forecast for this weekend, it should be a good time in St. Louis to get out and hear some live jazz and creative music. Let's see what's coming up over the next few days...

Tonight, Joe Sample (pictured) and his trio begin a four-night engagement continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Though perhaps still best known as the pianist for the Crusaders (nee Jazz Crusaders), Sample also has had a thriving solo career since the late 1970s, mixing the Crusaders' trademark funk with more straight-ahead, Latin and smooth R&B-influenced sounds. For more about that, and some video samples of his trio in action, check out this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

Also tonight, trumpeter Jim Manley is at Sasha's Wine Bar in Clayton; and guitarist John Farrar and Park Avenue Jazz play at Hammerstone's. 

Tomorrow night, singer Joe Mancuso leads a quartet in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; Samba Bom is playing for a "Bossa Nova Dinner" at Yemanja Brasil; and the Tavern of Fine Arts will be presenting live improvised music from pianist Jim Hegarty, flute player Fred Tompkins and others at its monthly "Avant Garde Arts Night."

On Friday, saxophonist Eric Marienthal and Bach to the Future will headline a multi-band bill at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The Autumn Hill Jazz Festival, named after BTTF keyboardist and event organizer Mike Silverman's indie label, also will feature music from trumpeter and singer Dawn Weber, pianist Ptah Williams, and guitarist Tom Byrne. For more about the show, check out this article by Stef Russell of St. Louis magazine.

Also on Friday, Northern Illinois University's Rosebud Foundation Jazztet, a group of undergraduate and graduate scholarship students from the program directed by saxophonist Ron Carter, will open a two-night stand at Robbie's House of Jazz; and singer Zena Bott-Goins aka Zena Star and her band will play at the Cigar Inn.

On Saturday, the Klezmer Conspiracy will perform at the Tavern of Fine Arts; and multi-instrumentalist Sandy Weltman and pianist Carolbeth True are doing a duo gig at Oceano Bistro in Chesterfield. 

Then on Sunday, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will play the Sunday matinee at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups, filling in for Miss Jubilee, who's gigging in Chicago this weekend.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Webster University Student Jazz Combos will perform at Webster's Community Music School. Then on Tuesday morning, singer Dean Christopher will perform his "Tribute to Frank Sinatra" for a Coffee Concert at the Sheldon, repeating the same program on Wednesday. 

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: A taste of Joe Sample

This week, we check in on pianist Joe Sample, who's coming to St. Louis to perform with his trio starting Wednesday, March 27 through Saturday, March 30 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Now 74, the Houston native first gained fame in the early 1960s, blending jazz with soul, R&B and pop influences as a founding member of the Jazz Crusaders. Sample began developing his solo career beginning in the late 1970s, enjoying considerable commercial success with albums such as Rainbow Seeker and Carmel. He's continued to work as a solo act through the various subsequent reformations and breakups of the Crusaders, sometimes recording with vocalists such as Randi Crawford, who sang on the Crusaders' "Street Life," and Lalah Hathaway, daughter of R&B great and former St. Louisan Donny Hathaway.

Sample's most recent CD is a live album released in 2012, recorded with Crawford, his son Nick Sample on bass, and Steve Gadd on drums. He was in St. Louis most recently when the reunited Crusaders (minus original drummer Stix Hooper) performed in June 2011 at the Touhill.

Today's clips include several of Sample's most popular compositions, starting up above with a trio version of "Freedom Sound" - the title track to the Jazz Crusaders' 1961 debut album - recorded in 2009 at Anthology in San Diego.

Down below, you can hear Sample improvise an intro going into "Melodies of Love," recorded in 1985 in Japan, followed by a version of the title track from his 1989 album Spellbound, recorded shortly after the album's release for the David Sanborn-hosted NBC program Night Music.

Below that, there's a version of "Ashes to Ashes," recorded in 2000 with bassist Jay Anderson and drummer Larry Aberman, and two tracks from a late-1990s gig with drummer Buddy Williams, percussionist Lenny Castro, and bassist Mike Manson: the Latin-flavored "Hippies On A Corner" and the concert staple  "Carmel."

For more about Joe Sample, check out this 2010 conversation with UrbanMusicScene.com; and this audio interview from 2012.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Winter/spring 2013 jazz preview, part 3

Today, it's part 3 of our video preview offering samples of some of the touring jazz and creative musicians who will be coming to St. Louis during the first part of 2013. (Part 1 of the preview is here and part 2 is here.)

Most of the musicians spotlighted in this week's installment may need little introduction to St. Louis jazz fans, as they've all played here at some point in the recent past, some multiple times.

For example, the bassist John Clayton and his son, pianist Gerald Clayton played here as part of the Clayton Brothers Quintet (co-fronted by John's saxophone-playing brother Jeff Clayton) in April 2010 at  Jazz at the Bistro and again in October 2011 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

They're coming back to play as a duo from Wednesday, March 13 through Saturday, March 16 at the Bistro, and though online footage of just the two of them is scarce, we did manage to find the undated clip embedded up above, which features them together playing a medium-slow blues at the 2009 Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy.

The second clip, embedded just below the text, features another duo, pianist Chick Corea and banjo player Béla Fleck. Corea was here most recently with Return to Forever in August 2011 at the Fox Theatre, while Fleck appeared with the reunited original Flecktones lineup in March of this year at the Sheldon.

They'll be playing together in a concert presented by Jazz St. Louis on Saturday, March 23 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. Here you can see them in a clip from 2008, performing "Sunset Road" from their 2007 collaborative album The Enchantment. (It was shot by an audience member, so the video quality is a bit shaky, but the audio is good enough.)

Next, it's pianist Joe Sample, who will lead a trio starting Wednesday March 27 through Saturday, March 30 at Jazz at the Bistro. Sample and singer Randy Crawford performed in 2008 at the now-defunct St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival, and Sample also was here with the reunited Jazz Crusaders in June 2011 at the Touhill. This clip shows him playing "Old Places, Old Faces" with Jay Anderson on bass and Lenny Castro on drums

Trumpet fans and players should relish the combination of Jon Faddis, Terell Stafford and Sean Jones, who will join forces to play on Friday, April 5 and Saturday, April 6 at Jazz at the Bistro. It'll be a rare chance to see these three top trumpeters together on one stage, and all three have headlined their own gigs here in the past few years.

Faddis played St. Louis in 2009 at the Touhill for the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival and again with pianist Cyrus Chestnut in 2011 at the Bistro; Jones headlined at the Bistro in April 2009 and again May 2011, and also did a one-nighter there with Stefon Harris this April as part of the 2012 GSLJF. (You can check out StLJN's previous video features on Jones here and here.)

For his part, Stafford led his own quartet in a week of dates at the Bistro in October (and was the subject then of his own video showcase post). He also played the club in March of this year with drummer Matt Wilson's band Arts and Crafts.

Stafford is shown with Wilson below in today's final clip, but before we get to that, there's Faddis playing "Autumn Leaves" from a 2011 concert paying tribute to Miles Davis at the Prague Castle in the Czech Republic. Below that, you can see Jones working out on "I'll Remember April" in an undated video recorded at Gregory's Jazz in Rome, Italy.

Singer Marlena Shaw is next on the calendar, as she'll be in town the following week to perform Wednesday, April 10 through Saturday, April 13 at Jazz at the Bistro. Shaw last played the club in May 2010, and had been scheduled to return in the spring of 2012, but postponed and was rescheduled for 2013. Here, you can see her performing "Feel Like Making Love" in March 2010 at New Morning in Paris, France. 

We close out today's video preview with clips featuring clarinetist Anat Cohen and drummer Matt Wilson, who will be paired for a gig to open the 2013 Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival on Thursday, April 18 at Jazz at the Bistro. Cohen made her St. Louis debut as a leader in February of this year at the Bistro, and also played the club in 2007 with Waverly Seven; Wilson was here most recently in March for a week-long educational residency with Jazz St. Louis that culminated in a two-night stand with his band Arts and Crafts at the Bistro.

The video of Cohen shows her and her quartet - Jason Lindner on piano, Joe Martin on bass, and Daniel Freedman on drums - playing "As Rosas Nao Falam" from her most recent album Claroscuro. It was filmed in June 2012 at at the Sixth and I Synagogue in Washington D.C..

Today's final clip was recorded during Wilson's last visit to St. Louis, when he and Arts and Crafts (with Stafford on trumpet) also did an in-store performance and clinic at Saxquest. Here, you can see them at Saxquest playing "Beija-Flor" by Brazilian samba singer Nelson Cavaquinho, from their 2001 debut album. Then Wilson talks for a bit before they play his original composition "In Touch With Dewey", first recorded on the 2007 album The Scenic Route.

Next week in this space, the plan is to have more about singer Gregory Porter, who will open 2013 at Jazz at the Bistro, with the fourth and final part of StLJN's winter/spring 2013 jazz preview set for two weeks from today. Stay tuned...















(Edited 12/26/12 to fix a typo and a formatting problem.)

Jazz this week: St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival; a tribute to Miles Davis; Lamar Harris CD release party; and more

This weekend's major jazz event is the St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival, which will take place from 12:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in Clayton's Shaw Park. Singer Cassandra Wilson headlines, and the other mainstage performers are ex-Crusaders keyboardist Joe Sample (pictured) with singer Randy Crawford; Latin percussionist Tito Puente Jr.; and smooth jazz/fusion keyboardist Lao Tizer with guitarist Chieli Minucci and violinist Karen Briggs.

Local groups and musicians appearing on the festival's second stage will include pianist Ptah Williams, performing a tribute to Stevie Wonder; jam band singer-guitarist Teddy Presberg; the St. Louis Jazz Orchestra, directed by bassist Jim Widner; singer Brian Owens; and Two Times True featuring pianist Carolbeth True and her son, drummer David True.

UPDATE, 5/29/08, 1:30 a.m.: The Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson has an interview with Cassandra Wilson in today's paper, available online here.

Elsewhere around town, on Friday trombonist Lamar Harris will have a release party for his latest CD at The Gramophone, and trumpeter Randy Holmes and his Quintet will present a tribute to Miles Davis at Cookie's Jazz and More. Looking beyond the weekend, on Tuesday singer Jeanne Trevor will perform a free concert at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park as part of the "Twilight Tuesdays" series

For more St. Louis jazz-related events this weekend and beyond, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar.

(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 at the Movies: Cassandra Wilson's "'Round Midnight," plus Joe Sample with Randy Crawford

This week's videos feature two of the headlining acts for the upcoming St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival, which will be held Saturday, May 31 in Clayton's Shaw Park. I've already expressed my disappointment with many aspects of this year's Festival lineup, but grumbling aside, there's no denying that the two headliners are good at what they do, and so I figured now's as good a time as any to get a look at them.

Singer Cassandra Wilson does write some of her own material, but she's really made a name for herself over the last decade by giving makeovers - sometimes extreme ones - to well-known songs written by others in a variety of genres, including jazz, pop, rock and blues.

Today's first clip, seen up top, showcases Wilson's version of the jazz standard "'Round Midnight." She doesn't rework this tune quite as radically as she does some others, but given the familiarity of the Thelonious Monk composition, I'm thinking this clip provides a sort of benchmark that conveys at least a general idea of her style and approach.

Today's second video features pianist Joe Sample and singer Randy Crawford performing "Street Life," which was a fairly big hit for the Crusaders back in the day and remains a favorite for many fans.

Crawford is, for me, a bit of an acquired taste, best enjoyed in small portions. As for Sample, I've always liked his playing a lot, but my favorite stuff of his remains the 1960s acoustic Jazz Crusaders recordings and the first few albums the band made after going electric in the 1970s.

After that, Sample got a bit too smoothed out for me. He sounds good on his own, but for my money, Joe Sample, Stix Hooper, Wilton Felder and Wayne Henderson really did have a special chemistry that they can't replicate while working with others. Anyway, I take this clip, recorded last year in London for the British TV program Live at Abbey Road, to be fairly representative of how Sample and Crawford are doing "Street Life" these days, and hereby submit it for your enjoyment and/or edification.

St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival announces 2008 lineup

The St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival has announced that singer Cassandra Wilson (pictured) will headline the 2008 edition of the event, which will take place in Clayton's Shaw Park on Saturday, May 31. Other touring acts on the bill will include ex-Crusaders keyboardist Joe Sample with singer Randy Crawford, Latin percussionist Tito Puente Jr., and smooth jazz/fusion keyboardist Lao Tizer with guitarist Chieli Minucci and violinist Karen Briggs.

Local groups and musicians appearing at the festival will include pianist Ptah Williams, doing a set of music composed by Stevie Wonder; jam band singer-guitarist Teddy Presberg; the St. Louis Jazz Orchestra; singer Brian Owens; and Two Times True featuring pianist Carolbeth True and her son, drummer David True.

At the risk of sounding repetitive to long-time StLJN readers, once again I am underwhelmed by the festival lineup. Wilson is a fine singer with a distinctive approach to interpreting contemporary songwriters, but she relies quite a bit on quiet, downtempo material and thus seems an odd choice for a show closer. Sample and Crawford are capable performers who may pull in some older smooth-jazz fans, but given that their one radio hit was 30 years ago, they won't do much to draw younger listeners.

As for the others, although Puente certainly comes from good stock, he has yet to create any truly memorable music on his own, and seems mostly to be trading on his family name. There are many other Latin jazz acts out there making better, more interesting, and more original music, and I doubt if they're all more expensive to book than is Puente Jr. And while I'm not familiar enough with the music of Lao Tizer to offer any intelligent commentary, the presence of Briggs, whose usual gig is working for easy listening schlockmeister Yanni, inspires fear and loathing rather than confidence or interest.

The lineup of local acts seems better balanced, though I'm puzzled by the selection of Presberg, whose music, from what little I've heard of it, bears only a vaguely tangential relationship to jazz. With only five slots open for local musicians, it's a curious choice.

Overall, I'm struck once again by the lack of any headliners playing mainstream straight-ahead jazz, bebop, or hard bop. Older, pre-war jazz styles and any music that might plausibly be called avant-garde, experimental or even adventurous are also noticeably absent. Other than Williams' tribute set, there's no thematic programming, and no programming created especially for the event. It adds up to a stylistically incoherent "festival" with no discernible artistic direction or point-of-view, no unique programming, and no real connection to the institutions, music history or traditions of the city it purports to celebrate.

At $25 for a general admission ticket, the StLJ&HF does offer an entire day of music at a bargain price, but it's only a bargain if you're actually interested in seeing any of the acts being presented. As a pleasant day of diversion in the park, the event may succeed in drawing enough paying customers to ensure its continued existence, but based on the booking choices they've made over the past couple of years, it would seem that the organizers are not really trying for much beyond that. The StLJ&HF's 2008 lineup might be acceptable for a town with no existing or historic ties to jazz, but given St. Louis' rich musical history, its knowledgeable jazz fans, and the many fine musicians who have called the area home over the years, our city deserves better.

So, dear readers, what do you think? Are you excited about the chance to see Wilson, Sample or any of the others? Is St. Louis getting the jazz festival it deserves? Am I being a big meanie by insisting that festival organizers could do better? Feel free to use the comments to express your thoughts and opinions...