It's another week, another month, and StLJN has been slaving over a hot Internet, gathering, sifting and preparing these info-snacks for your edification and entertainment:* Let's start, as we so often do, with Miles Davis and, via the always interesting be.jazz, a complete track listing for the upcoming The Complete On The Corner Sessions box set.
*Blogcritics.com has a review of the new Miles remix CD, Evolution of the Groove : "A solid imagining of what Miles might sound like in 2007. More importantly, it’s a reminder of his continued influence. The only complaint I have with this little EP is it’s far too short."
* Catching up with some other St. Louis natives, we find that the New York Times reviewed Oliver Lake's Trio 3 gig last weekend at NYC's Iridium: "The collaboration pushed all parties toward new solutions, and for artists like these, that’s a clear sign of success."
* CD Reviews.com has a review of the recently issued Grant Green CD Live at Club Mozambique: "Jazz guitar fans are going to love this document of Green's guitar excellence... This gig captured Green at the top of his game and his playing here is, like always, a revelation. You have to get this."
* The San Francisco Chronicle has a brief review of the latest Cinematic Orchestra release, which features guest vocals from Fontella Bass.
* St. Louis music publisher Mel Bay's 60th anniversary was featured in an AP story that got picked up in many newspapers over the weekend; read the International Herald Tribune's version here.
* Turning to the 'coming attractions" file, Joel Frahm, tenor saxophonist with Waverly Seven, recently did a podcast interview with a site called The Jazz Session, while Blogcritics.com has a new interview with bassist Christian McBride (pictured). Waverly Seven will be at Jazz at the Bistro in November, while McBride will be part of the Ray Brown Tribute Band gig at the Bistro in April.
* From the "making beautiful music together" file: Renee Rosnes, who plays piano with the SFJAZZ Collective and was in St. Louis with them last spring to perform at the Bistro, just married fellow jazz pianist Bill Charlap. Best wishes to the happy couple, but what I really want to know is: Do they have two pianos at home, or, if not, who gets first dibs on the keyboard if both want to practice at the same time?
* Finally, NYC composer and blogger Darcy James Argue has what I thought was an interesting post on the lack of what he calls "rhythmic authority" displayed by many classical musicians, and one orchestra that nevertheless seems to have plenty of it:
"That's the Simón Bolívar National Youth Orchestra, who are basically ambassadors for Venezuela's El Sistema, a national music program that for 30 years has been providing free instruments and music education to kids we've taken to euphemistically calling "at risk."
...American orchestras, feeling the crunch of reduced ticket sales and an aging audience, have been wracking their brains trying to figure out how to turn things around, but many of the proposed changes are of the "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic" variety.
It seems to me that when you are getting your asses handed to you by a bunch of Venezuelan street kids, it's time for everyone involved to take a long hard look in the mirror. And then maybe reach for that tambor mina and start shedding."
