Sunday Session: August 16, 2020

Nubya Garcia

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

* Billy Childs Reveals the Influences on His Album Acceptance (Jazz Times)
* Orchestras are totally safe. Just stay away from the flute player (Wired)
* Ben Sidran: The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma (Nardis) (Jazz Times)
* Jazz Showcase founder Joe Segal dies: Chicago’s longest-running jazz impresario presented Charlie Parker and other greats (Chicago Tribune)
* 2020 NEA Jazz Masters: A Q&A with Dorthaan Kirk (SFJAZZ.org)
* David Crosby Remembers Jerry Garcia: ‘He Did Not Play for Money — He Was Chasing the Notes’ (Variety)
* The Alchemical Brothers: Brian Eno & Roger Eno Interviewed (TheQuietus.com)
* Bill Frisell On His New Trio Album, Missing Hal Willner & How COVID-19 Robbed Jazz Of Its Rapport (Grammy.com)
* Is Singing Together Safe In The Era Of Coronavirus? Not Really, Experts Say (NPR)
* Nubya Garcia On Identity, Accessibility And Independence (DownBeat)
* The Radical Legacy of Erroll Garner (Jazz Times)
* Austin leads the way to policies for reopening music venues (Offbeat)
* Venues and crew signal 'red alert' for live music and theatre (BBC)
* The Road to Dollywood (Jezebel.com)
* Sun Ra Shines Over Cafe Nine (New Haven Independent)
* Could Aloha be the low-latency app that finally makes virtual band rehearsals a reality? (MusicRadar.com)
* Ranking the best and worst years in music history (NewsChannelNebraska.com)
* Artists Clobbered By COVID-19, With 2.7 Million Creative Job Losses In The United States, Study Finds (Forbes.com)
* Fridays at Five A Talk with Snarky Puppy's Michael League (SFJAZZ.org)
* Craig Taborn by Camille Norment (BombMagazine.org)
* Film Review: “Jazz on a Summer’s Day” — A Contrarian View (ArtsFuse.org)
* RZA Wrote a New Jingle for Ice Cream Trucks to Replace ‘Turkey in the Straw’ (Rolling Stone)
* Dolly Parton Steers Her Empire Through the Pandemic — and Keeps It Growing (Billboard)
* Joey DeFrancesco Expands His Skill Set (DownBeat)
* Are Livestreams Now Music’s Primary Format and Artist Revenue Stream? (Hypebot.com)
* Joe Segal, Owner Of Chicago’s Jazz Showcase, Dies At 94 (DownBeat)
* Sonic Politics - Sound is Power (TheBattleground.eu)
* A Guide to the Music of Cecil Taylor, the Pianist Who Helped Invent Avant-Garde Jazz (Bandcamp.com)
* The year the music might die: British clubs face closure (Associated Press)
* Remembering Helen Jones Woods (1923–2020) (Jazz Times)
* How a Movie Score Is Really Made — According to a Top Hollywood Director (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* 'I feel like I'm failing at life': the terrible plight of music event staff (The Guardian)
* Kamasi Washington Breaks Down His Process to Score ‘Becoming’ (Variety)

Jazz this week: Marco Benevento, Ken Page, Joey DeFrancesco, Adrian Legg, Damon Smith & Friends, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes a couple of inventive keyboardists, an internationally acclaimed guitarist, a multi-national group of free improvisers, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, November 13
Keyboardist Marco Benevento (pictured, top left) will perform at the Old Rock House, with the jazz duo of twin brothers The Mattson 2 opening.

Benevento has gone through some changes since the last time he played in St. Louis nearly five years ago, steering his expansive sound toward danceable beats and pop song forms. You can find out more about that, and see some videos from recent performances in this post from last Saturday.

Elsewhere around town, singer and St. Louis native Ken Page will perform for the first of two nights at Jazz St. Louis as part of their series co-presented with Cabaret Project of St. Louis; and journalist and author Nate Chinen will give a talk for JSL's "Whitaker Jazz Speaks" series, based on his recent book Playing Changes: Jazz for the New Century, at the St Louis Public Library's Schlafly branch in the Central West End. For a preview of the latter, read Chinen's interview with the Post-Dispatch's Daniel Duchholz.

Thursday, November 14
Washington University's Jazz at Holmes series moves for one night to the 560 Music Center for  "The Bridge #2.2," a free concert teaming Chicago saxophonist Mai Sugimoto and Wash U faculty member Paul Steinbeck on electric bass with two French musicians, guitarist Raymond Boni and acoustic bassist Paul Rogers.

Also on Thursday, guitarist Dave Black will team up with singer Wendy Gordon at The Pat Connolly Tavern; and singer Cheri Evans and CEEJazzSoul return to the Chase Club.

Friday, November 15
Organist Joey DeFrancesco (pictured, center left) will perform with the Jazz St. Louis Big Band for the first of two nights at Jazz St. Louis.

DeFrancesco, who also plays trumpet and recently has taken up tenor sax as well, reportedly will play big band arrangements of music from his latest album In The Key Of The Universe, which was released in March on Mack Avenue Records.

Elsewhere around town, British guitarist Adrian Legg will perform at Focal Point. Cited for his “astonishing virtuosity" by Q magazine and called “simply the best acoustic guitar player I’ve ever heard” by guitarist Joe Satriani, Legg also has been described as “kind of cross between Robert Fripp and Garrison Keillor” for his combination of expert musicianship and sly storytelling.

Also on Friday, Dizzy Atmosphere plays swing and Gypsy jazz at Urban Chestnut Midtown Brewery and Biergarten, and keyboardist Mark Harris II returns to The Dark Room.

Saturday, November 16
Saxquest presents their free, all-day Woodwind Musical Instrument Expo at St. Charles Community College's Donald D Shook Fine Arts Bldg, with instruments and accessories from many different manufacturers, educational programs, and more.

Then on Saturday evening, saxophonist Tim Cunningham will play at Troy's Listening Room; singer and actor KT Sullivan presents her cabaret show "I Can Cook" at Blue Strawberry; and the Funky Butt Brass Band returns to the Broadway Oyster Bar.

Sunday, November 17
Your jazz brunch music options for Sunday include Miss Jubilee at Evangeline's and guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran at The Dark Room.

Later in the afternoon, singer and impressionist Dean Christopher brings his "Rat Pack and More" show to the Hatheway Cultural Center on the campus of Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey.

Monday, November 18
Bassist Damon Smith, a recent transplant to St. Louis, will be joined by an ensemble of improvisers including Chicago trombonist Jeb Bishop (pictured, bottom left), Dutch composer and performance artist Jaap Blonk, and drummer Weasel Walter of Flying Luttenbachers fame for a show at the Cherokee Street art gallery Flood Plain.

Also on Monday, the Webster University Jazz Collective, featuring members of the university's jazz faculty, will perform in a concert at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus.

Tuesday, November 19
Cabaret Project St. Louis presents their monthly "Singers Open Mic" at Sophie's Artist Lounge, and singer Joe Mancuso plus guest vocalists Kim Fuller-Barnes and Robert Nelson will perform music from "The Great American Songbook" 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.)

Sunday Session: June 9, 2019

Mac "Dr. John" Rebennack

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

* Joey DeFrancesco: From Musical Prodigy to Jazz Icon (AllAboutJazz.com)
* John Coltrane Wanted To Be A Saint. The Coltrane Church Honors His Religious Legacy (OkayPlayer.com)
* John Coltrane at the Age of 32 (DownBeat)
* For jazz man, nine years of practice led to one electric, life-changing moment (Newport News Daily Press)
* Weasel Walter on Getting The Flying Luttenbachers Together Again (DownBeat)
* Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes Coming to U.S. Theaters (Jazz Times)
* Sheet Happens: One of Music's Oldest Businesses Is Growing in the Digital Age (Billboard)
* Carlos Santana Reflects On 50 Years Of Making Music And His New Africa Speaks (Stereogum.com)
* The Enduring Passion of Leo Feigin, Leo Records Founder (DownBeat)
* Branford Marsalis: Listening with Sonic Ears (Stereophile)
* Effort underway to restore iconic Detroit club that once hosted jazz legends like Miles Davis (MichiganRadio.org)
* Singer Sheila Jordan going strong at 90 (Chicago Tribune)
* Branford Marsalis’ Secret (Jazz Times)
* ‘Creativity is a muscle. It must be worked out. It must be pushed.’ (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Lawrence “Lo” Leathers 1981-2019 (Jazz Times)
* Planned demolition of Cab Calloway's former Baltimore home stirs conservation critiques (Baltimore Sun)
* Searching For Disco's Cro-Magnon (NPR)
* Brian Wilson Postpones Tour, Citing “Mental Insecurity” (Pitchfork.com)
* Several Directions at Once: Listening With Myra Melford, Before a Residency at The Stone (WBGO)
* CD Baby Guest Post: The 5 Most Important Things to Know about Music Distribution in the Streaming Era (Berklee.edu)
* Exclusive: Chick Corea Revisits His Own Past with His Spanish Heart Band on “My Spanish Heart” (Paste)
* Dr. John, iconic New Orleans musician, has died at age 77 (New Orleans Advocate)
* Remembering Dr. John (Keyboard)
* Singer-songwriter Todd Rundgren shares his journey Sunday in Great Barrington (Berkshire Eagle)
* 'We fell like cosmic rain': how the Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices became global stars (The Guardian)
* The Man Who Made His Computer Sing: Max Mathews & the Invention of Digital Music (5Mag.net)
* Joshua Redman Finds ‘Founts of Inspiration’ (DownBeat)
* Videos: Those times Dr. John lit it up (Offbeat)
* How the Moers Festival became a celebration of avant-garde change (DW.com)

Sunday Session: May 12, 2019

Pharoah Sanders

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

* The Resurrection of Buddy Bolden (DownBeat)
* Music Sermon: The Quiet Storm Is Still Brewing (Vibe.com)
* Frank Zappa: making a jazz noise (Jazz Journal)
* Bill Frisell is on the hunt for the next musical epiphany (Guitar.com)
* Preserving The House Of A Pioneering Musician — Who We Will Never Hear (NPR)
* The Blues Trail Is A Soulful Sojourn Into Mississippi’s Past (Uproxx.com)
* Wynton Marsalis Chooses His Top 50 Essential Jazz Recordings (Jazz.org)
* ‘New Bottle Old Wine’: The Gil Evans Classic That Gets Better With Age (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* There’s a Musician’s Union. Many Musicians Are Unaware — or Unable to Join (Rolling Stone)
* Herbie Hancock Aims Jazz Day All-Star Concert Towards A World In 'Turmoil' (NPR)
* David Crosby Doubles Down (Shepherd Express)
* Sly and The Family Stone’s ‘Stand!’ Turns 50 | Anniversary Retrospective (Albumism.com)
* Tucked away in Southwest Baltimore: The low-key cool jazz club of your dreams (BaltimoreBrew.com)
* Drummer Terri Lyne Carrington Talks Berklee Institute of Jazz, Gender Justice: 'Gender Equity Is Everybody's Work' (Billboard)
* Barkan, Wiedmaier Team for Keystone Korner Baltimore (DownBeat)
* Joey DeFrancesco and Pharoah Sanders: Meeting of the Spirits (Jazz Times)
* After 50 Years, Inclusive, Locally Focused Spirit of NOLA Festival Persists (DownBeat)
* New Study Finds 73% of Independent Musicians Suffer From Symptoms of Mental Illness (Billboard)
* Before & After: Lewis Porter (Jazz Times)
* Hearing the “Bo Diddley Beat” in Everything (Soundfly.com)
* 50 Years of Jazz Fest: Mickey Hart’s Ghosts of Congo Square (Relix)
* My father recorded young Bob Dylan: How the historic "Minneapolis Party Tape" was made (Salon.com)

Sunday Session: March 10, 2019

Dave Burrell

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:

* Kenny Garrett Interview (Jazz in Europe)
* This North Philly bar near Temple hosted legends like Coltrane and Patti LaBelle, but its owner refuses to sell (Philly.com)
* The Complex Sounds of Caspar Brötzmann (DownBeat)
* Buddy Guy Is Keeping the Blues Alive (The New Yorker)
* Song You Need to Know: Joey DeFrancesco and Pharoah Sanders, ‘The Creator Has a Master Plan’ (Rolling Stone)
* Celebrating Pianist and Composer Dave Burrell at the Vision Festival — and on The Checkout (WBGO)
* Rebirth of the Cool (TheLAndMag.com)
* Smithsonian Folkways Details Massive New Orleans Jazz Fest Box Set (Rolling Stone)
* Is the album format irrelevant in the digital age? Let's investigate (Beat.com)
* World’s Largest Music Publishers Offer ‘Full Support of Warner/Chappell’ Against Spotify — Here’s Their Statement (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* When Jerry Lee Lewis Was Accused of Planning to Shoot Elvis Presley (UltimateClassicRock.com)
* Wadada Leo Smith Pays Tribute to Rosa Parks in New Album (Qwest.tv)
* City to Honor ‘Lady Day’ with Statue at Queens Borough Hall (Queens Daily Eagle)
* The Sound of Evil (The American Scholar)
* Producer of ‘Coltrane ’58: The Prestige Recordings’ Discusses Project in New Video (DownBeat)
* Eliane Elias: The Soul of Brazil (SFJAZZ.org)
* Revisit 50 years of Jazz Fest with comprehensive box set of live performances (Offbeat)
* A two-dimensional matrix: Carl Stone speaks to Emily Bick (The Wire)
* International Women’s Day: Meet the women shaping the future of music (Pro Sound News Europe)
* Spotify and Amazon ‘sue songwriters’ with appeal against 44% royalty rise in the United States (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Got $100k? Steinway’s iPad-capable piano turns you into a classical mixmaster (Syfy.com)
* Janis Joplin’s producer John Simon, a Norwalk native, has musical tastes that might surprise fan (Connecticut Post)
* Sandy Jordan: Keeping the Legacies Alive (Jazz Times)
* Laurie Anderson Interview: The Nature of the Mind (Atavist.com)
* Biamp PDX Jazz Festival Tastefully Pays Tribute to the Past (DownBeat)
* Take note – why do women composers still take up less musical space? (The Guardian)
* An interview with Bill Folwell (Point of Departure)
* In Memoriam: Ira Gitler (1928–2019) (DownBeat)

Sunday Session: July 22, 2018

Chucho Valdés

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:

* Major Labels Are Upset That They Aren’t Getting More Songs Onto Spotify Playlists, Deutsche Bank Says (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Classical Composers Have Been Inspired For Centuries By Insects (NPR)
* Montreal Jazz Fest Shapes Surrounding City—and Vice Versa (DownBeat)
* The Stone: An Oral History - Musicians and scenesters recount their experiences at John Zorn's storied NYC venue (Jazz Times)
* Guru’s ‘Jazzmatazz’ Uniquely Tied Together Jazz and Hip-Hop (DownBeat)
* In Tandem, the Morans Expand Notions of Art (DownBeat)
* Mary Halvorson: Reinventing the Identity of the Jazz Guitarist (Jazz Times)
* Joey DeFrancesco on Working With Van Morrison (Jazz Times)
* Vijay Iyer: 'We're all improvisers and we're all creative people making choices every step of the way.' (List.co.uk)
* Sound Matters: A History Of Legendary Recording Studios (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* The Perils Of A Cruise Ship Musician (FYIMusicNews.ca)
* Universal Music Group Is Making a Huge Move Into Nigeria (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Billie Holiday: A Complex Woman, A Jazz Legend (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Copenhagen Festival Spans Poetic Swing, Hard-Bop Themes (DownBeat)
* The Charles Lloyd Interview: Life of a Song (Jazz Times)
* George Wein: A Life and Legend in Jazz (AllAboutJazz.com)
* The scam industry: How the hip-hop boom sets hopefuls up for failure (AV Club)
* Asante Drum Language (Afropop.org)
* Chucho Valdés and Irakere: A Musical Revolution (SFJAZZ.org)
* Sun Ra in Sin City The origins of an outer-space empire (Lapham's Quarterly)
* The Music of Fred Rogers’ Neighborhood (Jazz Times)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Saxophonist & singer Grace Kelly to make St. Louis debut

This week, let's get acquainted via video with saxophonist and singer Grace Kelly, who will make her St. Louis debut with shows starting Wednesday, October 4 through Saturday, October 7 at Jazz at the Bistro.

While these will be her first performances in St. Louis, Kelly, 25, already is a music business veteran. She's performed in North America, South America, Europe and Asia, at venues including Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland, the Kennedy Center, Boston Symphony Hall, Jazz Standard, and Blues Alley in the USA, and at Ronnie Scott's, Duc des Lombard, Porgy & Bess, and more overseas, as well as major jazz festivals in Detroit, Newport, Montreal, Toronto, and elsewhere.

Born and raised in the Boston area, Kelly was something of a prodigy, releasing her first CD at age 12. During her teen years, she jammed with and befriended respected jazz elders like Phil Woods and Lee Konitz, both of whom wound up recording with her. Kelly earned her GED at 16 and went on to attend Berklee College of Music, graduating in 2011 when she was just 19. In all, she has recorded a total of ten albums as a leader, the most recent being 2016's Trying To Figure It Out, which finished second in the "Jazz Album of the Year" category in DownBeat's 2016 Readers Poll.

Touted as a potential crossover success, Kelly has gained wider exposure as a recurring guest performer with keyboardist Jon Batiste and the house band for CBS' The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and as a member of the house band for the NBC variety show Maya & Marty. She also recently was featured in a second-season episode of Amazon's cop show Bosch, playing herself and performing a song in a scene filmed at the Catalina Jazz Club in Los Angeles.

You can see and hear some recent samples of Kelly's playing and singing in today's videos, starting up above with "Lemons Make Lemonade," recorded in April of this year at the studios of public radio station KNKX in Tacoma, WA.

In this clip, and in the one of her funked-up version of the hymn "Amazing Grace" immediately after the jump, she's backed by her working band, which includes keyboardist Julian Pollack, bassist Julia Pederson, and drummer Ross Pederson.

The third video is a full set of Kelly and band recorded in August 2017 at the Cape Cod Jazz Festival in Massachusetts. Given that this set happened just a few weeks ago, it would seem to be a reasonable facsimile of what St. Louis listeners might expect when she gets here.

Kelly shows off a different look and sound in the fourth video, in which she guest-stars with the high-concept cover band Postmodern Jukebox on what's described as a "retro jazz version" of vocal group Fifth Harmony's 2015 pop hit "Worth It." While this sort of thing may raise a few eyebrows among the stodgiest jazz purists, it's an entertaining showcase for (at least some of) her skills that potentially could reel in some new fans.

In the fifth video, Kelly guest-stars on a episode of the web series Studio Jams for a version of the standard "Georgia On My Mind," recorded back in March 2016.

The final clip offers a glimpse of Kelly from earlier in her career. Recorded in 2012, it shows her sitting in on a set at Scullers Jazz Club in Boston with St. Louis' own David Sanborn, organist Joey DeFrancesco and drummer Byron Landham, playing Hank Crawford's "The Peeper" and the blues standard "Let The Good Times Roll."

For more about Grace Kelly, you can check out her 2016 interview with WGBH in Boston; the 2014 episode of Voice of America's Beyond Category that features her, and recent interviews with Las Vegas magazine and AFM's magazine International Musician.

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

Jazz this week: Joey DeFrancesco, George Benson, Denise Thimes, and more

As the not-for-profit presenting season and the spring academic semester both approach their ends, this week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis nevertheless features performances from two major touring headliners, plus a number of other noteworthy shows.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, May 10
Organist Joey DeFrancesco returns to Jazz at the Bistro
for the first of four nights, continuing through Saturday.

DeFrancesco (pictured, top left) recently expanded his band from a trio to a quartet, and has just released an album, Project Freedom, featuring the new lineup. For more about that, and some recent videos of him in performance, see this post from Saturday before last.

Also on Wednesday, new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound closes out their St. Louis season with a performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall; and NOiSETTE 2017: Spring Edition! will present a slew of experimental, improvisational and/or noise performers, including Alex Cunningham, Bitchfit, Brain Transplant, Chelsea Gray, Corrigan Brothers, Dave Stone Ensemble, Eric Donte, Grain and NNN Cook, in a free show at Blank Space.

Thursday, May 11
Singer Jenna Bauer and guitarist Dave Black return to The Pat Connolly Tavern; percussionist David A. N. Jackson will be sitting in with the Ptah Williams/Eric Slaughter Quartet at The Dark Room; and pianist Adam Maness and his trio will be back at Thurman's in Shaw.

Friday, May 12
Guitarist and singer George Benson will headline the annual benefit gala raising funds for the Sheldon Concert Hall. 

It's been nearly six years since Benson (pictured, center left) last played here (in October 2011 at the Touhill), and judging from the more recent performances caught on video in this post from last Saturday, he's still delivering the goods both vocally and instrumentally. While the long gap since his last show here should spur the demand for seats, there may be some concert-only tickets still available; contact the Sheldon box office for the latest information.

Also on Friday, the City of Clayton's "Music in the City" event will feature free happy-hour performances at various restaurants and bars in the area, including Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes at Morton's and Tommy Halloran at Remy's Kitchen & Wine Bar.

Saturday, May 13
New Music Circle closes out their 2016-17 season with a bill of solo electronic-music performers from the Midwest, including Louisville's Robert Beatty, Matchess (aka Chicago's Whitney Johnson), Hylidae (St. Louis' Jon Burkhart), and Nadir Smith, aka Biggie Stardust (Thomas Olanrewaju Osunsami, also of St. Louis) at the William A Kerr Foundation on Laclede's Landing.

Sunday, May 14
Singer Denise Thimes (pictured, bottom left) presents her annual Mother's Day show raising money to fight pancreatic cancer at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

Thimes' guest performers this year will include St. Louis singer and pianist Theo Peoples, who formerly toured with latter-day versions of both the Temptations and the Four Tops, and New Jersey-born teenage phenom Matthew Whitaker, a blind multi-instrumentalist who's drawn comparisons to a young Stevie Wonder.

Also on Sunday, Israeli composer and improviser Ofir Klemperer will perform at Kismet Creative Center, with opening sets from Chelsea Gray and Alex Cunningham.

Monday, May 15
Trumpeter Jim Manley continues his weekly residency at Momo's Greek Restaurant.

Tuesday, May 16
Singer Wendy Gordon presents her latest production, "Remembering the Legends," at the Sheldon Concert Hall, with guest performers including Linda Kennedy, Jeanne Trevor, Rosemary Watts-Dreyer, Joe Mancuso, Jerome Davis and Marty Abdullah.

Also on Tuesday, the twice-monthly St. Louis Gypsy Jazz Jam, hosted by guitarist Paul Davis of Wack-A-Doo, has a new night of the week and a new home at Stone Spiral Coffee House & Gallery.

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 Joey DeFrancesco

This week, StLJN's video spotlight shines on organist Joey DeFrancesco, who's returning to St. Louis to perform Wednesday, May 10 through Saturday, May 13 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Back here for the first time since playing in December 2014 at the Bistro, DeFrancesco on this visit is supporting a new recording, Project Freedom, released in March by Mack Avenue Records.

The album marks the addition of saxophonist Troy Roberts to DeFrancesco's band, which already included drummer Jason Brown and guitarist Dan Wilson. As the name suggests, Project Freedom also features DeFrancesco stretching out a bit in terms of material, moods and interpretations.

You can find out more in the first video up above, a promotional clip from Mack Avenue offering a brief "behind-the-scenes" look at the recording process for the album.

After the jump, you can see and hear the new version of the band, now officially named Joey DeFrancesco and The People, performing earlier this month at The Tin Pan in Richmond, VA.

That's followed by three full sets of music from DeFrancesco, Brown, and Wilson, recorded in August 2016 at Dizzy's in New York; at the 2016 Springfield (MA) Jazz and Roots Festival; and at the 2015 Toronto Sky Festival.

Finally, there's an interview with DeFrancesco from last month, in which he talks with Brian Pace of the Pace Report about the new band lineup and latest recording. The clip also features some musical excerpts from their recent gig at Birdland in NYC.

For more about Project Freedom, read the reviews from London Jazz News and the Ottawa Citizen.

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

Jazz this week: Roscoe Mitchell & Craig Taborn, Joey DeFrancesco Trio, Matt Wilson's Christmas Tree-O, and more

As 2014 marches inexorably toward its conclusion, it's shaping up to be  another busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis.

This week's noteworthy performances include a visit from one of the top jazz organists in the business; the long-awaited return of a major jazz innovator, in duo with one of today's most in-demand keyboardists; plus a whole lot of holiday-themed jazz, and more. Let's go to the highlights....

Tonight, organist Joey DeFrancesco and his trio return to Jazz at the Bistro for the first evening of a four-night engagement continuing through Saturday. DeFrancesco is touring in support of a new seasonal album, Home For The Holidays, and word from Jazz St. Louis is that he'll be playing a vintage 1958 Hammond belonging to the late Richard McDonnell that's being used for the first time in the new Bistro space.

On Thursday, there's the first of three events this week featuring Roscoe Mitchell, as the composer and multi-instrumentalist will sit down with KWMU's Dennis Owsley and Wash U's Paul Steinbeck for a Q&A session at the Tavern of Fine Arts. The event is free and open to the public.

Also Thursday, Wash U's student jazz combos will wrap up the fall season with a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series on campus at Ridgely Hall; and singer Feyza Eren, pianist Curt Landes and bassist Ric Vice will play at Joe's Cafe.

On Friday afternoon, Mitchell will give another free public presentation, "NONAAH: From Solo to Full Orchestra," at Wash U's Music Classroom Building, Room 102. The lecture will track the evolution of one of Mitchell's best-known compositions over four-plus decades.

Then that evening, he'll team up with keyboardist Craig Taborn (pictured) for a much-anticipated duo concert presented by New Music Circle at The Stage at KDHX. For much more about Mitchell and why this show is a big deal, check out this video showcase post from last Saturday.

Also on Friday, the Funky Butt Brass Band returns for their monthly gig at Broadway Oyster Bar; guitarist John Farrar will play at Evangeline's; saxophonist Kendrick Smith leads a trio at Cigar Inn; and keyboardists Ptah Williams and Matt Villinger will team up for a performance at Thurman Grill.

Meanwhile, Friday evening options for dancers include Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes at the Venice Cafe; Miss Jubilee at the newly refurbished Boo Cat Club, and the Ambassadors of Swing at the venerable Casa Loma Ballroom.

On Saturday afternoon, the Oikos Ensemble will present "What Child is This? A Jazz Nativity" at the First Congregational Church in Webster Groves, the first of three performances of the show this holiday season. (For a guide to all the holiday jazz going on around town this month, see this post.)

Saturday evening, trumpeter/vibraphonist Joe Bozzi's band will be at Evangeline's; Wack-A-Doo will take the stage at Tavern of Fine Arts; the Ann Dueren Trio bids adieu to Il Bel Lago, as the West County restaurant is revamping its live music policy; and trumpeter Jim Manley and guitarist Randy Bahr will duet at Thurman Grill.

Sunday morning, pianist and Jazz St. Louis education director Phil Dunlap's trio will be taking over the live music duties for brunch at the Bistro through the end of December.

Later on Sunday, holiday jazz proliferates, as the Oikos Ensemble reprises "What Child is This? A Jazz Nativity" at Parkway United Church of Christ; and the Funky Butt Brass Band joins forces with St. Louis Community College - Meramec's orchestra, symphonic band and concert choir for a free concert at the Meramec Theatre on campus.

Also on the seasonal tip, jazz-fusion band Common Time and guest singers will present a holiday show at Blueberry Hill; and the Dave Dickey Big Band will tackle some original arrangements of Christmas tunes for their monthly gig at Jazz at the Bistro, with the Webster Groves HS Jazz Band performing at intermission. 

And also of note on Sunday night, veteran bassist and former St. Louisan Steve Kirby, who now teaches at the University of Manitoba in Canada, will be back in town to lead a quartet at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday drummer Matt Wilson's Christmas Tree-O will kick off a week-long educational residency for the Webster Groves school district with a public concert at Joe's Cafe; the Webster U jazz singers will perform at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus; and trumpeter Keith Moyer's group returns to BB's.

Then on Tuesday, singer Joe Mancuso and bassist Willem von Hombracht will play at 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.)

A guide to holiday jazz in St. Louis

Along with parties and presents, the holidays always include plenty of seasonal music, and if you're the sort who likes some jazz with your jingle bells, you'll have plenty of choices this month in St. Louis.

Here's a quick look at some noteworthy holiday shows from local and visiting jazz musicians, listed in chronological order:

Wednesday, December 3 - Saturday, December 6
Joey DeFrancesco Trio - "Home for the Holidays"
7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., Jazz at the Bistro
$35 Wednesday & Thursday, $40 Friday & Saturday
The organist's return to the Bistro coincides with the release of Home For The Holidays, a new album of seasonal material, and he'll be incorporating selections from it into his show.

Saturday, December 6
Oikos Ensemble - "What Child is This? A Jazz Nativity"
3:00 p.m., First Congregational Church, 10 W Lockwood Ave., 63119
Free
This year's holiday program from saxophonist Rev. Cliff Aerie and friends will be performed at three different locations over two weekends.

Sunday, December 7
Funky Butt Brass Band - "A Funky Butt Holiday Concert" with the St. Louis Community College-Meramec Orchestra, Symphonic Band and Concert Choir
3:00 p.m., Meramec Theatre, St Louis Community College-Meramec
Free
St. Louis' favorite New Orleans-style brass band teams up with three different ensembles from StLCC-Meramec.

Oikos Ensemble - "What Child is This? A Jazz Nativity"
3:00 p.m., Parkway United Church of Christ, 2841 N Ballas Rd, 63131
Free

UMSL's Jazz for the Holidays with the UMSL Jazz Ensemble, Vocal Point and University Orchestra
3:00 p.m., Touhill Performing Arts Center
Free
This annual presentation showcases three of UMSL's student ensembles.

"A Common Time Christmas" with Joe Mancuso, Michelle Knollhoff, and more
5:00 p.m., The Duck Room at Blueberry Hill
$15
Jazz-fusion band with guest vocalists offers their take on holiday songs.

Dave Dickey Big Band and Webster Groves H.S. Jazz Band 1 - "Big Band Christmas"
6:00 p.m., Jazz at the Bistro
$15 adults, $5 students
This month's gig by the DDBB features original big band arrangements of holiday favorites

Erin Bode - "Christmas Jazz and Dessert Concert"
6:00 p.m., Third Baptist Church, 620 N. Grand
$18
Bode and her band will perform holiday favorites, both traditional and original. Admission price includes beverage and dessert.

Monday, December 8
Matt Wilson's Christmas Tree-O
7:30 p.m., Joe's Cafe
$20 adults, $8 students and "struggling music supporters"
The versatile drummer and friends reprise some of the music from their 2010 holiday album.

Friday, December 12
Matt Wilson's Christmas Tree-O with Webster Groves HS Jazz Big Bands
7:00 p.m., Webster Groves HS Auditorium, 100 Selma Ave, 63119
$10 general admission
Culminating a week-long residency, Wilson and the Tree-O this time will be supported by big band arrangements performed by student musicians from WGHS.

Friday December 12 & Saturday, December 13
Jim Manley’s Mad Brass & Rhythm - "A Very Manley Christmas"
7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., Jazz at the Bistro
$25 adults, $10 students
One of St. Louis' favorite trumpeters and his seven-piece band "bring you holiday cheer."

Saturday, December 13
Oikos Ensemble - "What Child is This? A Jazz Nativity"
3:00 p.m., St. Paul United Church of Christ, 115 West B Street, Belleville, 62220
Free

Kevin Mitchell 4 Christmas Show
7:00 p.m., Evangeline's
No cover charge
Jazz-pop combo serves up "martini music" with a sprig of mistletoe.

Thursday, December 18
Tony Viviano - "Christmas in St. Louis"
6:30 p.m., Four Seasons Wine House
$50 (includes buffet dinner and show)
Sinatra-inspired singer celebrates the holidays Italian-American style.

Friday, December 19 and Saturday, December 20
Funky Butt Brass Band Holiday Brasstravaganza
9:00 p.m., Off Broadway
General admission $15 advance, $18 DOS; reserved balcony seating $25 advance, $28 DOS; plus $3 surcharge for minors
Now in its sixth year, the FBBB's annual holiday show has grown too popular to be contained in just one night.

Monday, December 22 and Tuesday, December 23
Jazz St. Louis Big Band plays Duke Ellington’s “Nutcracker”
7:30 p.m., Jazz at the Bistro
$25 adults, $10 students
A big band featuring mostly SIUE grads turned local pros performs Ellington's re-imagining of Tchaikovsky's classic, plus favorites from the Duke's vast catalog.

Do you know of any holiday jazz shows in St. Louis that we missed? If so, please share the relevant info in the comments.

(Edited 12/5/14 to add the Erin Bode event.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Fall 2014 jazz preview, part 5

This week, we finally wrap up StLJN's multi-part video preview of visiting jazz and creative music performers coming to St. Louis this fall. (You can see parts one through four here, here, here and here.)

As the Christmas and New Year's holidays approach, the month of December here in St. Louis usually has relatively few shows from touring jazz musicians, and this year is no exception. Sadly, the number was further reduced earlier this month with the death of pianist Joe Sample, who had been scheduled to play at Jazz at the Bistro the week before Christmas. Jazz St. Louis has not yet named a replacement performer for that week, though some sort of announcement should be coming soon. So, to fill out this week's post, we're going to offer some additional videos related to what should be one of the most noteworthy concerts of the entire season.

First though, up top we get things started with a clip featuring organist Joey DeFrancesco, who will be returning to perform Wednesday, December 3 through Saturday, December 6 at the Bistro. DeFrancesco has been a frequent visitor to the venue in recent years, both as the leader of his own group and in support of David Sanborn. Given that he's releasing his first Christmas album, Home For The Holidays, next month, it seems likely that some of that material will be featured during his St. Louis dates.

Here, though, he's seen playing "At Long Last Love" earlier this year at the Java Jazz Festival in Indonesia, assisted by drummer George Fludas and, interestingly, Chicago guitarist Jeff Parker (who's known more for experimental and "post-rock" music with his own band Tortoise and others than as a player in the typical organ-trio style.) Though there's been no mention yet of who will be playing with DeFrancesco here this time around, both Fludas and Parker are featured on the holiday album, too, so perhaps they'll end up being part of the subsequent live dates supporting it.

After the jump, the rest of today's videos are related to the previously-touted-as-noteworthy concert, a duo performance by multi-instrumentalist Roscoe Mitchell and keyboardist Craig Taborn that will be presented by New Music Circle on Friday, December 5 at The Stage at KDHX.

As a founding member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, Mitchell was a key player in the "free jazz" movement of the 1960s, and since then has continued both to refine his craft and expand his musical landscape, drawing on compositional ideas and techniques associated with classical and new music as well as improvisation.

Taborn, who's from Minneapolis, is one of the most critically acclaimed keyboard players of his generation, working with major musicians like Dave Holland and Chris Potter and deploying distinct styles on acoustic piano and Rhodes electric piano.

Taborn has played here a couple of times recently, with Potter and Danish saxophonist Lotte Anker, but Mitchell - a musician of major importance in jazz history - hasn't played publicly here in a very long time. (There was at least one Art Ensemble gig here in the mid-1980s, and more recently, in 1996 Mitchell did some work with the St. Louis Public Schools, though I don't recall any public performances being advertised and an online search turns up nothing.) Suffice it to say, then, that while two top improvisers working together should offer plenty of sonic rewards, the relative rarity of Mitchell gigs here should make the evening even more special. 

Unfortunately, although Mitchell and Taborn have collaborated a few times before, there seems to be no video available available online, so instead we'll take a look at each man playing solo.

You can see Mitchell, first on alto saxophone and then on soprano, in two videos recorded in 2010 at the Nickelsdorf Konfrontationen festival in Austria. That's followed by a video interview with Mitchell, who currently serves as the Darius Milhaud Chair of Composition at Mills College in Oakland, CA.

As for Taborn, you can check him out in two solo piano sets, the first recorded in 2013 at the Jazz Jantar festival in Gdansk, Poland and the second in 2010 at a concert in Spain.

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

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Organizers of the annual Record Store Day celebration, held in April at indie record stores across the nation, now have enlisted many of the same retailers in a promotion for "Black Friday."  It's a smaller-scale event, mostly about selling limited edition releases which this year include vinyl reissues of Miles Davis' Miles Ahead, Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain. You can see the complete list of today's specials here, and find a list of the closest participating stores here.

* And speaking of Black Friday, if you've got musicians or music students on your holiday gift list, know that Mel Bay, the famed St. Louis based purveyor of fine music instructional materials, today is offering 30% off your entire purchase and free shipping to online customers who use the promo code "pie" when ordering.

* Jazz St. Louis announced this week that due to "circumstances beyond our control," Hip Grease will not be appearing as originally scheduled the weekend of December 7 and 8 at Jazz at the Bistro. Stepping in will be Andy Coco's Rhythm Section Road Show, a soul-jazz ensemble led by the KDHX DJ & bassist for Hip Grease, Gumbohead and others. Tickets originally purchased for Hip Grease can be used for the same evening/set of the Rhythm Section Road Show, or returned to the original point of purchase for a refund at face value.

* In other Jazz St. Louis news, they've posted to Facebook a photo set from organist Joey DeFrancesco's appearance last week before students at Crossroads College Prep.

* Also on Facebook, organizers of the Nevermore Jazz Ball, held earlier this month at several venues in the city, have posted a recap of the event's four days of live music and swing dancing.

* Want to win a free copy of World On A String, the new book from John Pizzarelli? JazzTimes magazine is doing a online giveaway of the "musical memoir" from the singer/guitarist, who will be in St. Louis to play Jazz at the Bistro next Wednesday through Saturday. You can enter to win the book here.

* The London Jazz blog has a review of the new book Miles Davis: The Complete Illustrated History and a review of pianist Marcus Roberts' performance last week in London. Roberts (pictured) will be in St. Louis next Saturday to play at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

* The performance venue/gallery Blank Space, now occupying the Cherokee St. building once home to retailer & DIY music venue Cranky Yellow, is the subject of a feature story from the Riverfront Times' Brian Heffernan.

Jazz this week: Joey DeFrancesco, Dan Thomas, Harry Miller, Montez Coleman, Genesis Jazz Project, and more

This week's lineup of jazz and creative music performances in St. Louis is headed by organist Joey DeFrancesco (pictured), who this evening will open a four-night gig continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. DeFrancesco, considered by many to be the reigning champ of the blues-drenched jazz organ style pioneered by the late Jimmy Smith, has played in St. Louis numerous times in recent years, and thus likely needs no further introduction to most local jazz fans.

That said, if you're interested in finding out more about Joey D., and seeing some recent video samples demonstrating his always-impressive skills on the B-3, check out this video showcase post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

Tomorrow night, Washington University's Jazz at Holmes series had been scheduled to present a program called "Freedom Jazz Dance" with dancer and choreographer Ashley Tate and the St. Louis Creative Artists Jazz Ensemble. According to an email sent out on Tuesday, that event has been canceled, but there will be a free concert at the usual time featuring a "surprise" artist TBA.

On Friday, saxophonist Dan Thomas, who co-leads the jazz program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, will present a free concert and clinic at Saxquest. Also on Friday, guitarist Tom Byrne will lead a trio with bassist Chris Watrous and drummer Fred Spencer at Cigar Inn; and singer Brad Carlson will front a quartet at Robbie's House of Jazz

On Saturday evening, pianist Harry Miller, who grew up in University City but now lives in New York, will be returning home for his first-ever headlining gig here at Robbie's. Among his many other credits, Miller spent a couple of years on the road with Maynard Ferguson as keyboardist for the trumpeter's band Big Bop Nouveau. For this date, he'll be backed by the highly capable local rhythm team of bassist Darrell Mixon and drummer Gary Sykes.

Also Saturday, guitarist Dave Black will play an early evening solo set at the Schlafly St. Louis Brewery and Tap Room downtown. Later that night, a new cabaret performance called "Women Under the Influence," produced by singer Robert Breig’s Mariposa Artists, will be presented in the showroom at Joe Buck’s Restaurant, 10th and Clark downtown. The ensemble show offers a cabaret-style take on songs from the girl-group era of the 1960s up to the present day, and reunites pianist and singer Carol Schmidt and singer/multi-instrumentalist Michele Isam - who had a long, successful run working together in the pop/folk/jazz duo Jasmine - along with singers Katie McGrath and Debbie Schuster.

On Sunday, drummer Montez Coleman's group will play a free concert for the St. Louis Jazz and Blues Vespers series at Second Baptist Church. Also on Sunday, singer Erika Johnson has taken on an organizing role in the weekly jam session at Blank Space, the new name for the performance space/gallery that to be known as Cranky Yellow, at 2847 Cherokee. Johnson is touting the event as a combination of "Hit Session-Cutting Contest-Networking," and cautions that it's NOT a jam for those seeking "to get your feet wet."

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday drummer Joe Pastor's trio will play at BB's Jazz Blues & Soups. Then on Tuesday, the Genesis Jazz Project will perform at Midwest Music Conservatory, 15977 Clayton Rd in Ballwin. Admission to the concert is free when you bring one canned good for Circle of Concern.

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: Six from Joey DeFrancesco

Today, we're checking in once again with organist Joey DeFrancesco, who will be back in St. Louis to perform Wednesday, November 14 through Saturday, November 17 at Jazz at the Bistro.

At this point, most St. Louis jazz fans likely are familiar with DeFrancesco, who's played here numerous times over the years, most recently in August 2011 as part of an extended tour backing David Sanborn. His more recent local gig as a leader was back in March 2010, when he played the Bistro with his trio.

The son and grandson of professional musicians, DeFrancesco, 41, grew up near Philadelphia and got his his first big break - a chance to perform and record with Miles Davis - when he was just 17. He's gone on to play with Sanborn, guitarists John McLaughlin and Pat Martino, and numerous others as well as touring and recording frequently with his own group.

DeFrancesco was featured in this space a couple of years ago before his last gig at the Bistro, so for this post we'll concentrate on showing some performances recorded since that visit. The first clip up above features DeFrancesco, drummer Jeremy Thomas and guitarist Steve Cotter playing Ray Charles' "I Got A Woman" in August of this year at Dazzle nightclub in Denver.

Down below, in a clip recorded just a few days later at the Oakville Jazz Festival in Canada, you can hear DeFrancesco play the head and solo on an excerpt of "Wonderful, Wonderful," which is the title track of his most recent album, released earlier this year.

Next, Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" gets re-imagined with a swing rhythm in a clip recorded in 2011 at Chris' Jazz Cafe in Philadelphia. Below that, you can see DeFrancesco in a more informal setting, playing an uptempo blues to demonstrate some new gear at the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) show in 2011.

In the fifth clip, recorded in March of this year at the Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival, DeFrancesco pulls out his other instrument, the trumpet - something he does at regular intervals, though not necessarily every single night - for a rendition of "Old Folks."

The sixth and final clip takes DeFrancesco out of his usual trio setting for a gig with Miles Smiles, a Miles Davis tribute project that performed some dates this past summer in Europe. This version of Davis' "All Blues" was recorded in July 2012 at the San Sebastián jazz festival in Donosti, Spain. In addition to DeFrancesco, it features Wallace Roney (trumpet), Rick Margitza (tenor sax), Robben Ford (guitar), Darryl Jones (bass), and Omar Hakim (drums). DeFrancesco's solo starts at around 7:20.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Fall 2012 jazz preview, part 3

This week, it's part three of StLJN's fall jazz preview, with video clips featuring some of the bands and musicians who will be coming to St. Louis to perform between now and the end of the year. (You can see part one of the preview here, and part two here.)

The first clip up above shows New Orleans' Meschiya Lake & Dem Little Big Horns performing "Electric Chair Blues" at a house concert in February of this year. Lake and company will be in St. Louis on Saturday, November 3 at Casa Loma Ballroom as part of the Nevermore Jazz Ball 2012.

Down below, it's organist Joey DeFrancesco, offering his interpretation of James Ingram's pop/R&B hit "One Hundred Ways" at this year's Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival. DeFrancesco will be back in St. Louis to perform with his trio from Wednesday, November 14 through Saturday, November 17 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Next, it's U. City native Jeremy Davenport, caught on video at Louisiana Music Factory during the 2010 JazzFest performing "Almost Never," an original tune from his 2009 album We'll Dance Til Dawn, plus a bit of "Sweet Georgia Brown." Davenport will take a weekend off from his house-band gig at New Orleans' Ritz-Carlton to come home for performances on Friday, November 23 and Saturday November 24 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Today's fourth video features singer and guitarist John Pizzarelli, seen here playing "Oh Lady Be Good" at the 2012 Tbilisi Jazz Festival in Georgia (the country that formerly was part of the Soviet Union, not the state in the southeastern part of U.S.). Pizzarelli will return to St. Louis to play Wednesday, November 28 through Saturday, December 1 at Jazz at the Bistro.

After that, it's pianist Marcus Roberts playing his composition "Country By Choice" at the 2009 Jazz in Marciac festival in France, accompanied by Roland Guerin on bass and Jason Marsalis on drums. Roberts is coming to St. Louis on Saturday, December 1 to perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

The following week, on Sunday, December 9, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band will bring their "Creole Christmas" show to the Sheldon. While there don't seem to be any good quality videos online of PHJB playing holiday material, the clip of "Tailgate Ramble," recorded at Preservation Hall in 2009, offers a taste of their sound.

Saxophonist Chris Potter is featured in the next video, an excerpt from a performance of Thelonious Monk's "Ask Me Now" recorded last December at the NYC club Smoke. Potter, who played St. Louis last year with his electric group Underground, this year will bring his acoustic trio to town to play Wednesday, December 12 through Saturday, December 15 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Today's final video features an electronic music piece from George Lewis and Marina Rosenfeld called "Sour Mash," which they'll perform here in a concert sponsored by New Music Circle on Saturday, December 15 at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis.