Music Education Monday: New Orleans piano with Jon Cleary and Tom McDermott

Given that old adage about converts being the most zealous believers, perhaps it should come as no surprise that two of the most prominent current custodians of the New Orleans piano tradition are transplants to the city.

Jon Cleary originally from is England, while Tom McDermott is from right here in St. Louis, but both have made New Orleans their home and have immersed themselves in the history and practice of the city's indigenous music. For today's Music Education Monday, we've got master classes on video from each of them in which they share their knowledge of and perspective on New Orleans piano styles.

Cleary (pictured, top left) has worked as a sideman with John Scofield, Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal, B.B. King, Ryan Adams, and Eric Burdon, and also leads his own group, the Absolute Monster Gentlemen. His video was produced by Artists House Music, and features Cleary discussing important New Orleans pianists such as James Booker, Professor Longhair and Jelly Roll Morton, and addressing a variety of other topics including songwriting technique and collaborating in the studio,

Tom McDermott (pictured, top right) has lived in New Orleans since 1984. In addition to recording 10 albums as a leader and numerous appearances in film and on TV and national radio, he has performed with the Dukes of Dixieland, arranged music for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and co-founded the New Orleans Nightcrawlers and the the Danza Quartet. His video "New Orleans Piano Traditions" was recorded in 2012 at Tulane University.

You can see both videos after the jump...

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Gettin' dirty with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band

This week, we shine our video spotlight on New Orleans' Dirty Dozen Brass Band, who will be back in St. Louis to perform next Saturday, February 26 on a double bill with singer/pianist Jon Cleary at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The DDBB have played here numerous times in recent years, with their last visit coming in November 2009 at the Broadway Oyster Bar.

The four clips featured today are all of fairly recent vintage, starting up above with a version of "John The Revelator" recorded in 2008 at a festival in Burghausen, Germany. Down below is another clip from the same gig, the DDBB staple "Dirty Old Man," in which baritone saxophonist Roger Lewis gets to rap about spankin' somebody.

Below that, we've got the Dirty Dozen's take on a couple of New Orleans classics, an undated-but-looks-to-be-fairly-recent version of "Junko Partner," and "When The Saints Go Marching In," from a 2010 show at the Wolftrap performing arts center in Virginia that roused the audience to get up on their feet and second-line around the perimeter. For more DDBB performances on video, check out this post that ran here before their last appearance in St. Louis.

Sheldon Concert Hall announces 2010-2011 season series

The Sheldon Concert Hall has announced its 2010-11 season series, and the news for St. Louis jazz fans is, at best, mixed.

Those who were hoping to hear new and exciting music at the Sheldon next year likely will be disappointed, as most of the acts booked for the jazz series, Coffee Concerts and "special concerts" series already have played here in town in the very recent past.

Specifically, the Sheldon's 2010-11 jazz series will include four concerts (that's one fewer than this year's series), and all of the musicians - singer Tierney Sutton (October 9), saxophonist Victor Goines (November 13), the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and pianist Jon Cleary (February 26), and singer/pianist Tony DeSare with guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli (April 30) - have been to St. Louis recently. Sutton played the Sheldon in 2006; Goines was there in 2007; and the DDBB, Cleary, DeSare and Pizzarelli have all performed at other local venues within the last two years.

Similarly, the Coffee Concerts series of mid-morning weekday performances will feature a familiar lineup of local bands, with shows from Cornet Chop Suey (October 19 & 20), Elsie Parker and the Poor People of Paris (November 16 & 17), Swing DeVille (April 12 & 13) and the Sheldon Jazz Quintet (May 10 & 11) of interest to jazz listeners.

This year, there also will be a handful of Saturday matinees featuring local musicians, including pianist Carolbeth True with singer Christi John Bye on January 22, and singer Brian Owens doing a Sam Cooke tribute on February 12. Like their Coffee Concert colleagues, True, Bye and Owens all were featured at events at the Sheldon during this current season.

The "special concerts" series will feature return appearances at the Sheldon by pianist Dave Brubeck (October 17) and singer Banu Gibson (November 7). Brubeck played the hall in 2007 and 2008, while Gibson was there in 2005.

Two other "special concerts" will feature acts that are new to St. Louis and of alleged potential interest to jazz fans. Guitarist John McLaughlin (pictured) will bring his electric quartet 4th Dimension to the Sheldon on November 19, which should be a genuine treat for local fusion fans. On the other hand, pianist David Lanz and the Liverpool Trio will appear on February 11 doing something called “Re-Imagining the Beatles," which, as described, strikes yr. humble editor as a tasteless, pandering schlockfest likely unfit for human consumption.

To be fair, the Sheldon remains a very enjoyable place to see and hear a concert. The production staff headed by Dale Benz does a consistently good job, and all sorts of musicians like playing there. Here's the thing, though: it's not that the musicians booked for 2010-11 are bad (with the exception of Lanz, whose stuff really is nearly unlistenable); the problem is that we've seen and heard just about all of this before, in some cases multiple times.

(Parenthetically, I'm also uneasy about the fact that of all the artists mentioned above, the only African-Americans are Goines, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Owens, and Mardra and Reggie Thomas of the Sheldon Jazz Quintet. There's no reason to think that this mostly-white lineup of musicians is a result of overt racism, but given the music's origins, it still is unsettling to have so relatively few black artists involved in jazz performances at one of our city's most prestigious venues.)

Ultimately, with so many interesting things happening in jazz and creative music these days, it's a shame that the Sheldon's booking policy for jazz is so unimaginative and retrograde. While the need to sell tickets and pay the bills is understandable, their current approach seems almost absurdly risk-averse. There's a sophisticated audience for music in St. Louis, and as one of the most significant concert halls in town, the Sheldon could, and should, do a much better job of exposing that audience to a wider variety of jazz artists.

For more details and ticket prices for all of the Sheldon's season series, please consult their website, where further information on the 2010-11 schedule will be posted on Monday.