Sunday Session: May 9, 2021

Gary Bartz

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

* Why stars should think twice before calling out their critics (The Guardian)
* Vin Diesel, Arthur Russell and Me (PleaseKillMe.com)
* Earliest Jazz Fest tapes discovered after 20-year quest: Historic performances are heard again (NOLA.com)
* Freda Payne: Coming Back to Jazz (Jazz Times)
* T.S. Monk Talks Activism, Jazz, 80s Funk And Keeping His Father’s Legacy Alive (Black Enterprise)
* In the Groove with Joshua Redman: A Conversation With the Acclaimed Jazz Artist (BMI.com)
* Is CD-quality music streaming about to go mainstream? (TechHive.com)
* The Brilliant Stupidity of Robert Palmer’s 1986 No. 1 Hit, ‘Addicted to Love’ (Variety)
* The Song That Sold America to a Generation of Asian Immigrants (The Atlantic)
* How the Internet Archive Has Digitized More than 250,000 78 R.P.M. Records: See the Painstaking Process Up-Close (OpenCulture.com)
* Gary Bartz At 80: On Jazz Is Dead, Miles Davis And Why Improvisation Is A Dirty Word (AllAboutJazz.com)
* How Norman Granz Revolutionized Jazz for Social Justice (Smithsonian)
* Listening In: Leni Stern, High-Flying Bird (BrooklynRail.org)
* Los Lobos Detail New Covers Album ‘Native Sons’ & Share Singles (Jambase.com)
* The Case Against the Eagles (TheRinger.com)
* Gregory Porter Gets Cooking Beyond the Bandstand with a New Show, The PorterHouse (WBGO)
* Skerik Talks About the New Album From Garage A Trois, and the Hope of Post-Pandemic Touring (WBGO)
* Camille Thurman: Before & After (Jazz Times)
* Herbie Hancock reveals details of new album (PlanetRadio.co.uk)
* Aaron Neville announces official retirement (Offbeat)
* Live Nation Weathers Rough Quarter as Concert Business Slowly Rumbles Back to Life (Variety)
* Tower of Power Celebrates 50 Years Together (Jazz Times)
* Inside look: How the freewheeling Alex Chilton, Hi Rhythm collaboration happened (Memphis Commercial Appeal)
* How Billy Gibbons Wrote ZZ Top's “La Grange“ (Guitar Player)
* Mary Halvorson: Melt the Frame (Stereophile)
* Lloyd Price, R&B Pioneer Known as ‘Mr. Personality,’ Dies at 88 (Variety)
* The Lost Recordings Of Hasaan Ibn Ali Reveal A Legend Just Getting Started (NPR)

Sunday Session: August 9, 2020

Bobby Watson

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

* Give & Take with Musician Sonny Rollins (Tricycle.org)
* Kevin Whitehead: Play the Way You Feel: The Essential Guide to Jazz Stories on Film (Oxford University Press) (Jazz Times)
* All Hail King Shabaka! A Preternaturally Talented Artist Shifts Gears (Pollstar)
* Sheila Jordan: A Visit With the Jazz Child (Syncopated Times)
* Georgia Anne Muldrow Makes an Eddie Harris Playlist (Jazz Times)
* Looking for Jazz Uplift Under Lockdown (ZocaloPublicSquare.org)
* Steve Swallow, A little outside the ordinary (Jazz in Europe)
* The Changing Nature of Protest in Jazz (Jazz Times)
* 2020 NEA Jazz Masters: A Q&A with Reggie Workman (SFJAZZ.org)
* Sun Ra Shines Over Cafe Nine (New Haven Independent)
* An Unexpected Casualty of COVID-19? The Quality of Sound in Livestream Performances (Variety)
* Newport Jazz Festival Makes a Four-Pronged Pivot (Jazz Times)
* How Hawkwind's First Voyage Helped Spearhead Space Rock 50 Years Ago (PopMatters.com)
* Dame Shirley Bassey to release first new album in five years (BBC)
* Have sax, will travel: Joshua Redman talks jazz, pandemic, Boston then and now (Bay State Banner)
* Our Views: Congress shouldn't let the music die (New Orleans Advocate)
* John Coltrane’s Giant Steps Gets 60th Anniversary Reissue (Pitchfork)
* COVID-19 hit major labels much harder than it did Spotify (Music Industry Blog)
* The Modern All-Stars: A Newport Jazz Festival Special (NPR)
* Writer Don Marquis' jazz-loving life in New Orleans comes to a close, with one last dance (NOLA.com)
* A Majority of House Lawmakers Say Musicians Shouldn’t Get Paid for Radio Plays (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Bobby Watson Pins Down The Blues (DownBeat)
* Chops: Mark Dresser and Michael Dessen Play Telematic Music (Jazz Times)
* Elvis Presley’s Sessions With Nashville Cats Compiled on New ‘From Elvis in Nashville’ Set (Rolling Stone)
* Forgotten Heroes: Clarence White (Premier Guitar)
* Interview with William Hooker (The Free Jazz Collective)
* Midcentury Time Capsule: Inside Louis Armstrong’s Former Residence (Architizer.com)

Jazz this week: Joshua Redman Quartet, a benefit for Kwanae Johnson, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features the return of one of the top tenor saxophonists in modern jazz; a benefit concert to raise funds for a local musician in need of help; and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, September 25
Saxophonist Joshua Redman and his quartet return for the first of five nights of performances at Jazz St. Louis.

Redman (pictured, top left) and the quartet last performed here in January 2018 at the Bistro, but this time, they've got a new album to support.

Though they first played together more than 20 years ago, Redman's quartet with pianist Aaron Goldberg, bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Greg Hutchinson has had long stretches of inactivity while the leader pursued other projects, including in recent years tours with the cooperative band James Farm and with The Bad Plus.

As a result, the new album Come What May, released this spring on the Nonesuch label, actually is the quartet's first recording since 2001, and only their third overall.  Featuring seven new Redman originals, the album likely will provide the backbone of at least a few of their sets this week, although the extended run also should provide opportunities to get into the back catalog as well.

Also on Wednesday, the free "Wednesday Night Jazz Crawl" in Grand Center features Tommy Halloran and Rob Nugent at The Stage at KDHX, the jam session hosted by bassist Bob DeBoo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and guitarist Joe Park's trio at The Dark Room.

Thursday, September 26
The Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents a free concert from saxophonist Harvey Lockhart and his quintet; the French father-and-son guitar duo Paquito and Sandro Lorier (pictured, center left) play Gypsy jazz and swing at Joe's Cafe; and trumpeter Brady Lewis and his BLStet return to The Dark Room

Friday, September 27
Vincent Varvel presents a guitar recital at 560 Music Center; keyboardist Ryan Marquez and his trio with guest vocalist Lola return to Evangeline's; and jazz/funk collective Orchestrated 9th offers a tribute to the music of Herbie Hancock at Troy's.

Saturday, September 28
Singer and bassist Janet Evra teams up with Americana group The Main Street Remnants for a performance at The Monocle; singer Jan Shapiro and the Dave Venn Trio return to the Ozark Theater; and The Gaslight Squares are back at the Frisco Barroom

Sunday, 
September 29
On Sunday afternoon, "ONE LOVE: A Benefit For Kwanae Johnson & Family" at .ZACK will raise money for saxophonist Kwanae Johnson and his family, who earlier this year lost their home to a fire. The event will feature music from trumpeter Kasimu Taylor, singer and bassist Janet Evra, the Funky Butt Brass Band, R&B vocalist Roland Johnson, and more.

Also on Sunday, saxophonist Tim Cunningham returns to Mount Pleasant Estates, and the Ambassadors of Swing play a free outdoor concert at the Sunset Hills Community Center.

Then on Sunday evening, Dallas-based drummer Stefan Gonzalez (pictured, bottom left), who's the son of veteran free-jazz trumpeter Dennis Gonzalez, will team up with violinist Alex Cunningham and bassist Damon Smith, a recent transplant to St. Louis, for a performance of improvisational music at Foam.

Tuesday, October 1
Kicking off this year's "Whitaker Jazz Speaks" series, Jazz St. Louis presents "An Evening with Benny Golson," featuring a conversation with the veteran saxophonist and composer, plus a short performance. While the free event already is "sold out," it might be worth checking with the box office on the day of the event for cancellations or no-shows.

Also on Tuesday, the Tick Tock Jazz Band plays traditional jazz in their monthly gig at the Tick Tock Tavern.

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: Fall 2019 jazz preview, part two

Today, it's time for part two of StLJN's Fall 2019 jazz preview, presenting videos of the jazz and creative music artists who will be coming here to perform for the next four months. (You can see part one here.)

The chronology of upcoming shows resumes with Paa Kow and his Afro-Fusion Orchestra, who will be in St. Louis on Friday, September 6 for a performance at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups. The group, including St. Louis' own Weedie Braimah on percussion, can be seen in the first video up above, which is an excerpt from their performance in 2018 at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Festival.

After the jump, you can see a video of singer Cyrille Aimee, who will perform on Wednesday, September 18 and Thursday, September 19 at Jazz St. Louis. The clip shows Aimee singing "Down" in February of this year at the studios of WBGO radio in Newark, NJ.

Next up, it's saxophonist Joshua Redman, who's bringing his quartet for shows starting Wednesday, September 25 and continuing through Sunday, September 29 at Jazz St. Louis.The video shows a full set of music from Redman, bassist Reuben Rogers, drummer Greg Hutchinson, and pianist Aaron Goldberg recorded in 2013 at the Jazz sous les Pommiers festival in France.

The following week, St. Louis will get a return visit from singer Cécile McLorin Salvant with pianist Aaron Diehl's trio, as they perform on Saturday, October 5 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. They can be seen in the next video, a full set recorded in 2016 at the Festival de Jazz de Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain.

Today's penultimate video features Chicago-based cornetist, composer, and vocalist Ben Lamar Gay, who will open New Music Circle's 61st season with a performance on Saturday, October 5 at Off Broadway. He's seen here with his quartet performing "More" at DJ Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Awards ceremony this past January in London.

The final clip features members of Artemis, the all-star, all-woman ensemble who will perform Wednesday, October 9 through Sunday, October 13 at Jazz St. Louis.

Since literally all the members of the group are busy bandleaders in their own right, Artemis hasn't done much extended touring. The only live videos of them online so far seem to be some shaky footage shot at last year's Newport Jazz Festival and posted online in two-minute chunks, which don't serve the music or musicians particularly well.

Fortunately, there is some good-quality video of a gig in July 2017 at New Morning in Paris, nominally billed as "Woman To Woman," but featuring all the members of Artemis except for drummer Allison Miller, and so, it's an extended excerpt from that show that is posted here for your viewing and listening enjoyment.

Look for part three of StLJN's Fall 2019 jazz preview next week in this space. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

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: November 25, 2018

Ambrose Akinmusire

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:

* Billy Harper charges up Church Of Sound (Jazzwise)
* REVIEW: Ethan and the British Composers at Kings Place (2018 EFG LJF) (London Jazz News)
* Alice Coltrane’s Ashram Lost in California Wildfires (Pitchfork.com)
* Why the Hideout is vital to Chicago’s music scene (Chicago Tribune)
* Blood on the Tracks: Canonizing Bob Dylan’s Human Opus (ConsequenceOfSound.net)
* Joshua Redman keeps Old and New Dreams alive (Vancouver Sun)
* Spinal Tap to reunite, will presumably be billed above puppet show this time (AV Club)
* Jazz great 'Sweet Papa’ Lou Donaldson’s has sports memories to treasure (New York Daily News)
* This Tiny Record Player Plays Oreo Cookies…Kinda (Food and Wine)
* More Evidence That Trained Musicians Are Superior Thinkers (Pacific Standard)
* This is the story of how Africa and slavery have influenced Brazilian music (RedBull.com)
* How Brainfeeder Leads The Charge For Esoteric Funk, Hip-Hop, Pop, & Jazz (Bandcamp.com)
* How a small Philadelphia record company gave an Oscar contender its sound (Philadelphia Inquirer)
* Live Review: 2018 JazzMi Jazz Festival (Jazz Times)
* Laurin Talese Wins Sarah Vaughan Vocal Competition (Jazz Times)
* Ambrose Akinmusire’s Jazz of Pure Possibility (The Nation)
* The Largest Sun Ra Retrospective Yet is Hidden on the Top Floor of the Portland Art Musuem (Willamette Week)
* What is All the Fuss About? Kenny Barron Takes Years of Experience and Plays in the Moment (VoiceOfOC.org)
* Robert Glasper On How To Get More Young People Into Jazz (NPR)
* Legendary Jazz Guitarist Explains Why ‘The Beatles’ Are Better Than ‘Rolling Stones’ (MetalheadZone.com)
* The Invisible Hit Parade: How Unofficial Recordings Have Flowered in the 21st Century (Wired)
* The History of Play-A-Long (and More) (Jazz Times)

Sunday Session: May 20, 2018

Shabaka Hutchings

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:

* New Orleans Celebrates Itself at Jazz Fest (Jazz Times)
* A Lifetime of Carla Bley (The New Yorker)
* Blanchard's trumpet sounds a call of protest (Minnesota Public Radio)
* Matt Marks, Versatile Composer And Musician, Dies At 38 (NPR)
* Guitarist & Composer Glenn Branca Dies at 69 (Billboard)
* Wynton Marsalis & Ethan Iverson: A Conversation on Jazz & Race (Jazz Times)
* Inside Cumbia's New Wave: How Raymix, Becky G Are Updating a Classic Genre (Rolling Stone)
* New Orleans Festival Hosts Generations (DownBeat)
* Spelman College Quietly Eliminates One Of The Country's Few Jazz Programs For Women (WBGO)
* 'The Jazz Ambassadors': When Dizzy and Satchmo Diplomacy Swung the Cold War (PopMatters.com)
* Checking In With Bob Ciano (NostalgiaKing.com)
* 'Isn't This Amazing?': Brian Eno's Boundless Curiosity (Rolling Stone)
* JazzFest Bonn Tinged by Air of Classical (DownBeat)
* The World of Cecil Taylor (New York Review of Books)
* Now TIDAL is accused of failing to pay record labels on time (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Interview \\ Shabaka Hutchings on taking up space and his account on an unjust police arrest (EZHMag.com)
* YouTube Expanding Music Credits on Videos (Pitchfork.com)
* Why Psychological Analysis Shows We're Right To Worry For Musicians' Mental Health (TheQuietus.com)
* Dweezil Zappa Shares ‘Good News’ Post About Resolving Family Issues (Jambase.com)
* What Artists Get Wrong With Their Vinyl Releases: A Conversation with Masterdisk’s Scott Hull (Reverb.com)
* First Listen: Joshua Redman, 'Still Dreaming' (NPR)
* Someone called 911, but this man’s maple instrument wasn’t a gun. It was a bassoon (Springfield News Sun)
* Mojos Working: A History Of Recorded Blues (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Cecil Taylor (1929-2018), Frank O’Hara, Amiri Baraka (Locus Solus: The New York School of Poets)
* Pianist Ahmad Jamal charted a new popularity for jazz (Wax Poetics)
* Reggie Lucas, Miles Davis Guitarist and Madonna Producer, Dead at 65 (Rolling Stone)

Jazz this week: Joshua Redman and more

With the area still in a post-holiday deep freeze, the calendar of live jazz and creative music this week in St. Louis unsurprisingly features just one significant touring performer, but there also will be the usual contingent of local musicians and singers braving the arctic-like conditions for your listening enjoyment.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, January 3
Saxophonist Joshua Redman returns with his quartet to perform for the first of five nights continuing through Sunday at Jazz at the Bistro.

Redman (pictured) last performed here in 2016 with The Bad Plus, and previously played at the Bistro with his trio in 2014 and 2010, but this will be the first time he's brought his long-running quartet to St. Louis in more than a decade. For more details about what Redman has been up to lately, read the preview story written by Dan Durchholz for the Post-Dispatch.

Also on Wednesday, this week's "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" includes bassist Glen Smith and guitarist Eric Slaughter at The Stage at KDHX as well as the weekly jam session led by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's band at The Dark Room.

Thursday, January 4
Pianist Adam Maness' trio returns to Thurman's in Shaw, and SpaceShip plays jazz fusion at The Dark Room.

Friday, January 5
Trumpeter Jim Manley will celebrate his birthday with a full-band performance at Evangeline's; guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran continues his Friday residency at Das Bevo; saxophonist Tim Cunningham is back at Troy's Jazz Gallery; and pianist and singer Jesse Gannon plays the late show at The Dark Room.

Saturday, January 6
Pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True with saxophonist Larry Johnson return to Parkside Grille.

Sunday, January 7
The St. Louis Record Collector & CD Show presents their first event of the year at the American Czech Educational Center, and pianist Dave Venn teams up with vocalist Jeanne Trevor for a rare appearance playing for brunch at The Dark Room.

Also on Sunday, the Friends of Scott Joplin present their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's Rosebud Cafe; the Genesis Jazz Project plays a late-afternoon gig at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups; and The Jazz Troubadours return to Evangeline's.

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: July 2, 2017

Geri Allen

Here's the weekly roundup of various music-related items of interest that have landed in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Rescuing the Treasures of a Dead Jazz Legend - Sun Ra, Alton Abraham, and the Taming of the Freak (LitHub.com)
* The Untold and Deeply Stoned Story of the First U.S. Rock Festival (Rolling Stone)
* How Japan’s Landscape Inspired a New Kind of Electronic Music (Bandcamp.com)
* A Ticket to Rock Royalty: Gregg Allman’s Midnight Ride through New Orleans (Offbeat)
* Dee Dee Bridgewater: Her Memphis Roots Are Showing (Jazz Times)
* Jazzfest review: Hudson raised the NAC Theatre's roof with its jazz-rock (Ottawa Citizen)
* Wadada Leo Smith, Mary Halvorson Among Winners in DownBeat Critics Poll (DownBeat)
* How Countries Around the World Fund Music—and Why It Matters (Pitchfork,com)
* Geri Allen, Brilliantly Expressive Pianist, Composer and Educator, Dies at 60 (WBGO)
* Geri Allen, Pianist Who Reconciled Jazz’s Far-Flung Styles, Dies at 60 (New York Times)
* Heartbroken Jazz Aficionados Agree: Geri Allen Brought ‘Spirit to the Music’ (DiverseEducation.com)
* Randy Weston: Music of The Earth (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Classical music's blurred boundaries (Gramophone)
* Still Dreaming: Joshua Redman's Tribute To A Tribute (NPR)
* A Brief History of Music That Doesn't Need to Be Listened To (Vice.com)
* Jazz great Branford Marsalis shares humble life lessons in Vancouver (Metro News)
* Boundaries - An Interview with George Lewis (Atavist.com)
* Sony Music to start manufacturing its own vinyl for the first time in nearly 30 years (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Will The Next Pop Culture Icon Be Augmented Reality? (HypeBot.com)
* Paul McCartney and Sony Settle Beatles Copyright Suit (UltimateClassicRock.com)
* Can Synthesizers Compose Music? Nearly 50 Years Ago, This One Could (LA Weekly)
* Video: Foley Artists – How Movie Sound Effects Are Made (ASoundEffect.com)
* In Stargoon’s Car (The Paris Review)
* Sustaining Americana - What do you get for the genre that has everything? (No Depression)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: The Bad Plus Joshua Redman

This week, our video spotlight shines on The Bad Plus Joshua Redman, the collaborative project in which the critically acclaimed trio of the first part - pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson, and drummer Dave King, known collectively as The Bad Plus - joins forces with the highly esteemed saxophonist of the second part, Joshua Redman.

This all-star aggregation will be playing this coming Tuesday, April 19 and Wednesday, April 20 at Jazz at the Bistro, and while as of this writing some tickets may remain for the 9:30 p.m. sets, anyone interested in attending should make reservations now, as demand is sure to be high.

Both well-established as headliners on their own, Redman and The Bad Plus have been working together intermittently since 2011 whenever their respective busy schedules permitted, and last year documented the collaboration on an album, also titled The Bad Plus Joshua Redman. Although both TBP and Redman have played multiple times before at the Bistro, with the former making annual visits here in January for a decade now, this will be the first time they've performed in St. Louis together.

So to get caught up, today you can check out a video sampling of their collaborative efforts at various points over the past five years, starting up above with a performance of the Reid Anderson composition "As This Moment Slips Away" as recorded in July 2015 at the studios of radio station KPLU in Seattle.

After the jump, you can see a video of "Beauty Has It Hard", written by Dave King and recorded at the same KPLU session.

That's followed by two full sets, from the 2015 Detroit Jazz Festival and the 2014 Jazz a la Villette festival in Paris.

The last two clips, both recorded in 2012 at the Vitoria Jazz Festival in Araba, Spain, are versions of Anderson's "Silence is the Question" and "People Like You," another of Anderson's works first recorded by TBP on their 2010 album Never Stop.

For the latest on The Bad Plus Joshua Redman, read the interview that Redman did this week with Aarik Danielsen of the Daily Tribune in Columbia, MO, where they'll be on Sunday night before coming to St. Louis.

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

Jazz this week: David Sanborn, Nicole Johänntgen, Tyshawn Sorey, The Bad Plus Joshua Redman, and more

There's lots of jazz and creative music happening in St. Louis over the next week, including the return of a hometown hero, the local debut of a much-talked-about drummer and composer, and the first chance for audiences here to check out a critically acclaimed collaboration between two well-known jazz headliners.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, April 13
Saxophonist David Sanborn - who, as longtime StLJN readers no doubt know, grew up right here in Kirkwood - returns to St. Louis to begin a four-night engagement continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro.

Last time Sanborn (pictured, top left) was at the Bistro in October 2014, he employed an all-St. Louis rhythm section and drew mostly on material from his back catalog rather than from his most recent album at the time, which was Quartette Humaine, a 2013 reunion with keyboardist Bob James. You can read StLJN's review of one of his shows from 2014 here.

This time, Sanborn comes to town just over a year since the release of Time And The River, his 2015 album produced by Marcus Miller, and he'll apparently be bringing his road band featuring longtime keyboardist Ricky Petersen. But no matter who Sanborn is playing with or what material they're playing, he's sure to attract a crowd, so advance reservations are highly recommended.

Also on Wednesday night, vocal group Java Jived will perform in concert at UMSL's Grand Center building (aka the studios of St. Louis Public Radio) at 3651 Olive St.

Thursday, April 14
Saxophonist Nicole Johänntgen will play a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, with some help from guitarist/bassist William Lenihan, keyboardist Jay Oliver and drummer Steve Davis. Also on Thursday, bassist Willem von Hombracht returns to Thurman Grill, and Danbury Street performs at Nathalie's.

Friday, April 15
The Midwest Jazz-tette brings the cool sound of West Coast jazz to Evangeline's; singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black perform at Chaser's Lounge in the Chase Park Plaza Hotel; singer Erika Johnson and guitarist Tom Byrne will be back at Montrey's Cigar Lounge; and the Gateway City Big Band plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, April 16
New Music Circle presents percussionist Tyshawn Sorey’s Alloy Trio at The Stage at KDHX.

The 35-year-old native of New Jersey has generated buzz in the jazz and new music worlds for both his writing and his playing in settings ranging from free improvisation to fully notated compositions. You can find out more about Sorey (pictured, center left) and see videos of him in this post from a couple of weeks ago.

Elsewhere on Saturday, saxophonist Tim Cunningham plays at Nesby's, a relatively new spot in Sunset Hills; singer Ann Dueren's trio returns to Il Bel Lago; and percussionist Herman Semidey and Orquestra son Montuno will play salsa and Latin jazz at Club Viva.

Sunday, April 17
The St. Louis Jazz Club presents clarinetist and saxophonist Jerry Epperson and Sax Appeal at the Doubletree Hotel St. Louis at Westport.

Monday, April 18
The Stan Kenton Legacy Orchestra, led by trumpeter Mike Vax and featuring music from Kenton's catalog of challenging, sometimes controversial arrangements, will perform at Fort Zumwalt North High School in St. Charles, and the SIUE Concert and Alumni Jazz Bands will take the stage at Jazz at the Bistro.

Tuesday, April 19
The Bad Plus and saxophonist Joshua Redman (pictured, bottom left) will perform for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

TBP already has been to St. Louis once this year, playing their annual gig in January at the Bistro, but this will be the first time that local listeners have had a chance to catch one of their collaborative shows with Redman, who is, of course, a headliner in his own right.

Redman and TBP first played together back in 2011, did some shows as schedules permitted over the next several years, and in 2015 released an album titled simply The Bad Plus Joshua Redman, which NPR called "a series of knotty, deeply challenging compositions that explore (and usually exhaust) groove frontiers far from the spang-a-lang swing and the businessman's bounce."

While that may sound a bit daunting to casual fans, given the star power of the participants, plus pent-up demand resulting from several years of interest in this particular project, these performances should draw big crowds even in the middle of the week, so plan accordingly.

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.)

Music Education Monday: A workshop with saxophonist Dewey Redman

Today for Music Education Monday, you can take in a workshop with saxophonist Dewey Redman, the late Texas tenor man known for his big, bluesy tone, his associations with Ornette Coleman and Keith Jarrett, and these days, for being the father of saxophonist Joshua Redman.

The elder Redman, who died in 2006, was born in 1931 in Fort Worth and went to high school with Ornette Coleman, forming a friendship that would last a lifetime. He played in Coleman's band from 1968 to 1972, and later started the group Old And New Dreams with fellow Coleman alumni Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, and Ed Blackwell, releasing four albums of music influenced by their former employer.

Redman was much more than just a Coleman disciple, though, putting out a dozen albums under his own name, and a dozen more with Jarrett, recorded during the 1970s when he was a member of the pianist's "American Quartet." He also also performed and recorded with Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra, Paul Motian, Pat Metheny, and numerous other jazz musicians active during the 1980s and 1990s.

In 1993, Redman went back to Texas to conduct a workshop with students at Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and fortunately, someone had the presence of mind to record the event on video. You can see that video of Redman's workshop, presented in three parts, after the jump.

And if you're curious to know more about Dewey Redman, he was the subject of an award-winning documentary film, Dewey Time: The Sound of A Giant, released in 2001. You can see that film in its entirety in the fourth video embed below...

The Bad Plus Joshua Redman to perform April 19 & 20 at Jazz at the Bistro

Having just completed their tenth annual four-night run at Jazz at the Bistro this past Saturday night, The Bad Plus already have booked a return trip to St. Louis later this year, as Jazz St. Louis today announced that the trio will be back along with saxophonist Joshua Redman to perform on Tuesday, April 19 and Wednesday, April 20 at the Bistro.

The Bad Plus Joshua Redman, as the configuration (pictured) is billed, released a self-titled album last May on Nonesuch Records, and then spent a good portion of 2015 touring in support of it. Redman last played here in St. Louis with his trio in November 2014 at the Bistro.

Tickets for both evenings of The Bad Plus Joshua Redman are available now to Jazz at the Bistro subscribers, and will go on sale to the general public starting at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, Wednesday, January 13 via phone at 314-571-6000 and through the Jazz St. Louis box office.

Jazz this week: Joshua Redman Trio, Nevermore Jazz Ball, Eli Keszler & Rashad Becker, Marco Benevento, and more

There's a jam-packed schedule of jazz and creative music over the next few days in St. Louis, with a variety of musical styles and sensibilities on offer. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, saxophonist Joshua Redman and his long-running trio will open a four-night stand continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Redman last played the Bistro with bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Greg Hutchinson back in 2010, and for a look at some of what they've been up to since then, check out this video post from last Saturday.

Also tonight, the eclectic instrumental quartet The 442s will play at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Tomorrow night, Lindy Hop St. Louis' weekend-long event the Nevermore Jazz Ball gets underway with an opening dance at The Gramophone featuring music provided by the Mound City Mamas, a new St. Louis group led by banjo player Kellie Everett.

Also tomorrow, the Gaslight Cabaret Festival resumes with St. Louisans Joe Dreyer and Rosemary Watts presenting their show "Mixing It Up" at the Gaslight Theater; and the Mike Buerck Orchestra, featuring a number of musicians who have worked in the pit bands at the Muny and/or Fox Theatre, will play a free concert of big band swing for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

On Friday, pianist/singer Jesse Gannon will perform at the Ozark Theatre, while Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to the Venice Cafe.

That same evening, the Gaslight Cabaret Festival will feature two Chicago performers, pianist and singer Beckie Menzie and singer Tom Michael, presenting "That '60s Show" at the Gaslight Theater.

Meanwhile, the Nevermore Jazz Ball will continue with a sextet led by guitarist/banjoist Jake Sanders providing the music for dancers at the Franklin Room, a venue at 816 Allen Ave in Soulard that's usually used for wedding receptions and private parties.

On Saturday afternoon, the NJB will present the annual Cherokee Street Jazz Crawl, a free, public event that will feature Tommy Halloran, Miss Jubilee, Wack-A-Doo, Swing Deville, The Sidemen, the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars student ensemble and more performing at various venues and businesses located along a stretch of Cherokee St. from the 2100 to the 2800 blocks. The Ball continues Saturday evening with Sanders’ Arcadian Serenaders, an expanded version of his band from Friday night, playing for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Also on Saturday night, percussionist and installation artist Eli Keszler (pictured) and electronic musician Rashad Becker will perform separate sets in a concert presented by New Music Circle at the new location of The Luminary, 2701 Cherokee St. For more about both men, plus some performance videos, see this post from a couple of weeks ago.

Elsewhere around town, Chicago's Joan Curto will keep the Gaslight Cabaret Festival going with a performance of Cole Porter songs at the Gaslight Theater; singer Feyza Eren will bring her quartet to house-concert venue the KindaBlue Club; and singers Mary Dyson and Diane Vaughn will team up for a return appearance at Troy's Jazz Gallery.

On Sunday, keyboardist (and now singer!) Marco Benevento will be in town to play at 2720 Cherokee, likely showcasing much of the material from his most recent album Swift, for which he vocalized on record for the very first time.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday more of Webster University's student jazz combos will be performing at the Community Music School on the Webster campus; and percussionist Joe Pastor's group returns to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

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: Joshua Redman Trio

Today, let's take a look at saxophonist Joshua Redman and his trio, who are coming to St. Louis to perform next Wednesday, November 5 through Saturday, November 8 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Though Redman leads several different ensembles and also is a member of the cooperative band James Farm, his trio with bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Gregory Hutchinson remains one of his staple formats - so much so that the last time he came to St. Louis back in 2010, it was with the very same musicians at the same venue.

In addition, earlier this year Redman released Trios Live, an album documenting his collaborations with Hutchinson, Rogers, and Matt Penman, who handles the bass duties when Rogers is not available.

That recording received mostly glowing reviews, and serves as a succinct introduction to the trio's style. But for those who haven't heard it, who may have missed Redman's previous gigs here, or simply are coming in late, here are some glimpses of them in action.

We get started up top with an episode of the Voice of America program Beyond Category with Eric Felten from 2013 that features an interview with Redman plus versions of “Mack the Knife,” “Soul Dance,” and, with Felten sitting in, Thelonious Monk’s “Misterioso.”

After the jump, you can see five more clips of Redman, Rogers and Hutchinson, recorded during various European tours over the last three years. The first is a version of "Riddle Me This," a song by pianist Aaron Parks, that was recorded at a gig in February 2012 in Norway.

That's followed by another clip from the same tour showing them playing "Odd Man In" at a concert in Germany. The next video, recorded in 2013 in Stockholm, starts off as a version of "Stardust" and morphs from there into a considerably different groove.

We close out with two songs recorded at a 2011 show in Moscow, "East of the Sun and West of the Moon" and "Hide & Seek."

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 news items of local interest:

* Keep On Keepin' On, the new documentary about trumpeter and St. Louis native Clark Terry that's playing for the next week at the Tivoli Theater, was reviewed for the Post-Dispatch by Calvin Wilson. (To find out how to get free tickets to selected screenings of the film tonight, tomorrow and Sunday, read this post.)

* Also here this weekend, Brazilian big band SpokFrevo Orquestra wraps up their US tour with a performance on Sunday night at The Sheldon. You can read a review of their shows last week at NYC's Lincoln Center here, courtesy of AllAboutJazz.com's Nick Catalano.

* And via Nate Chinen of the New York Times, here's a review of saxophonist Joshua Redman's just-completed gig at NYC's Village Vanguard. Redman's trio will open a four-night stand this coming Wednesday at Jazz at the Bistro.

* Speaking of the Bistro, while he was here last week to play at the club, guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli also visited KWMU's program "CityScape" for an interview and brief performance.

* And in a semi-related bit of news, Jazz St. Louis announced this week that the Bistro will begin serving a weekly jazz brunch, complete with live music, from 10:00 a.m to 2:00 p.m. Sundays starting November 16. Singer-guitarist Tommy Halloran's Guerrilla Swing will provide the sounds for the first three weeks, with pianist and Jazz St. Louis education director Phil Dunlap's trio taking over for the month of December. You can see the menu devised by Catering St. Louis and more details here.

* Saxophonist Oliver Lake has posted on SoundCloud a preview track, "6 & 3," from the new release by his Organ Quartet.

* And speaking of new albums, the Funky Butt Brass Band (pictured) have posted on Facebook a video "teaser" for their next recording, scheduled for release in November.

* Electronic musician Eric Hall has posted on Bandcamp a recording of his recent performance at the Public Media Commons in Grand Center.

* Singer/pianist Steve Ross' show last weekend for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival was reviewed by KDHX's Chuck Lavazzi.

* Down Beat magazine has announced the results of their 2014 Readers Poll, which include a win in the "Historical Album" category for Miles Davis' Miles At The Fillmore—Miles Davis 1970: The Bootleg Series Vol. 3. You can see the complete results of the poll here.

* Meanwhile, Blue, the note-for-note remake of Davis' Kind of Blue by the band Mostly Other People Do The Killing, continues to incite controversy and commentary, the most recent examples being pianist George Colligan's blog post about the album and Ottawa Citizen jazz writer Peter Hum's list of "50 Records To Listen To Before Checking Out That Kind Of Blue Remake."

* Following a meeting between the St. Louis Police Department and representatives of downtown music venues, police say they have "strong leads" for finding the group of thieves who have been robbing the vehicles of touring bands. Read more on the story from the Riverfront Times and KWMU/St. Louis Public Radio.

* Jazz radio update: This Saturday on Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis' “Somethin’ Else,” DJ Calvin Wilson will delve into compositions associated with Miles Davis that have become jazz standards, as performed by Davis, Donald Harrison, Don Byron, and others. The program can be heard at 8:00 p.m., on 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen. 

On Sunday, this week's guest on WSIE's "Jazz Talk" will be singer Tony Viviano.The program airs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on 88.7 FM, and also can be heard online.

Then Sunday night on St. Louis Public Radio's "Jazz Unlimited," host Dennis Owsley will feature the music of Chick Corea. Listen in from 9:00 p.m. to midnight over the air at 90.7 FM or online.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Fall 2014 jazz preview, part 3

It's the third chapter of our Fall 2014 video preview of jazz and creative music performers coming to St. Louis, and today we'll cover the touring acts that will be in town during the first part of November. (You can find part one of the fall jazz preview here, and part two here.) 

Today's first video features the SpokFrevo Orquestra, a 17-piece Brazilian big band who will make their St. Louis debut on Sunday, November 2 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Seen here performing a full set in 2011, the group blends jazz with frevo, a high-energy Brazilian musical genre associated with Carnival time.

After the jump, you can see saxophonist Joshua Redman, who will return to lead a trio with bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Greg Hutchinson starting Wednesday, November 5 through Saturday, November 7 at Jazz at the Bistro. Redman is seen here playing two songs - his own composition "I'll Go Mine" and Gil Evans' "Barracudas" - in March of this year at the Visioninmusica festival in Terni Italy, accompanied by pianist Aaron Goldberg, Rogers, and Hutchinson.

That same weekend, the Gaslight Cabaret Festival will be spotlighting three performers from Chicago. Beckie Menzie and Tom Michael, who will perform "That '60s Show" on Friday, November 7, are seen in the next clip dueting on "You and the Night and the Music" at the Chicago Cabaret Professionals 2011 annual gala. After that, it's Joan Curto, who will perform the music of Cole Porter on Saturday, November 8, singing "Change Partners" in a clip recorded at the 2013 Chicago Humanities Festival.

That same weekend, New Music Circle will present a double-bill concert on Saturday, November 8, at the new location of The Luminary, 2701 Cherokee St. The concert will feature separate sets from improvising percussionist Eli Keszler and electronic musician Rashad Becker. Both men are seen here in videos recorded earlier this year (in May and March, respectively) at Cave 12 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Closing out our preview of the first half of November is singer Sheri Sanders with a rendition of the song "Pieces" from the musical Salvage, recorded last year in NYC. Sanders is coming to St. Louis on Thursday, November 13 to do her show "Rock It" as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival.

Look for part four of StLJN's Fall 2014 jazz preview next week, and you can see the rest of today's videos after the jump.