* Julius Hemphill: The Boyé Multi-National Crusade for Harmony, a new seven-CD box set featuring previously unheard recordings by the late saxophonist, former St. Louisan and Black Artists Group co-founder Julius Hemphill (pictured), has been released by New World Records
* Jazziz magazine is promoting the new music streaming service Qobuz.com with a specially compiled Miles Davis playlist, "Miles After Dark," which "features 50 laid-back, chilled-out Miles tracks that are sure to ease you into a state of absolute relaxation."
* As the centennial of Clark Terry’s birth approaches - the trumpeter was born here in St. Louis on December 14, 1920 - IMDb's online video channel is streaming Keep On Keepin’ On, the 2014 documentary about Terry and his protege Justin Kauflin. The film can be seen for free (with registration) on IMDb's website and via the IMDB channel on Amazon Prime video.
* The St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes the death a couple of weeks ago of pianist Herb Drury at age 92 with an unbylined obituary.
* Also from the Post, Dead Wax Records has moved to a new, larger location on the south side and is spinning off a sibling store called Weirdo Records, as reported by Kevin Johnson.
Here's StLJN's latest wrap-up of assorted links and short news items of local interest:
* Miles Davis is one of five musicians to be featured in "Space Is The Place," a radio series on the UK's JazzFM presenting "specially commissioned dramas...based on five pivotal moments in the lives of some of Jazz FM’s legendary artists." The other featured artists will include Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Louis Armstrong and Sun Ra; the Davis episode will air on Monday, December 7.
* Nominees for the 2021 Grammy Awards were announced this week, and the list includes St. Louis' own Marcus Baylor, whose group The Baylor Project (co-led with his wife, singer Jean Baylor) was nominated for "Best Traditional R&B Performance" for their song "Sit on Down."
In addition, three more St. Louisans - bassist Jahmal Nichols, drummer Emanuel Harrold, and trumpeter Keyon Harrold - performed on singer Gregory Porter's All Rise, which was nominated in the "Best R&B Album" category.
* Saxophonist David Sanborn has released another short video as part of his "Sanborn Sessions" web series, in which he teams up with various musical friends for some performances recorded in his home studio. The latest episode features Sanborn with his longtime collaborator, organist Joey DeFrancesco.
This week, let's continue with another in our occasional series of posts featuring the work of St. Louis' best-known jazz musicians, this time with some videos featuring the late trumpeter Lester Bowie.
Bowie, who died from liver cancer in 1999, would have turned 79 this month. He was born in Maryland, but spent most of his childhood and young adult years and first learned to play the trumpet here in St. Louis. He also met his first wife, the singer Fontella Bass, here while both were working with saxophonist and producer Oliver Sain's band, and atill has relatives, including a couple of his children with Bass, living in the area.
He first gained wide attention in the late 1960s as a member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, and as a result, many jazz listeners thought of him primarily as an avant-garde musician. But Bowies's musical approach also was shaped by his time in St. Louis, especially his work as a sideman with blues musicians including Sain, Little Milton, Albert King and others, and by his sense of humor. Those influences were prominent in his best-known solo project, the band Brass Fantasy, which used instrumentation similar to a New Orleans brass band and frequently performed arrangements of pop, rock, and R&B songs. Bowie sometimes referred to the band's approach as "serious fun," which wound up as the title of one of their albums (and this post.)
Those diverse influences also are evident in today's first video up above, which documents a 1983 performance by a Bowie project called "From The Roots To The Source" that featured Bass and her brother, singer David Peaston. As the name suggests, the group had an eclectic repertoire including songs from a number of different styles and eras of Black music.
After the jump you can see a show by Bowie and The Brazz Brothers - basically an alternate version of Brass Fantasy with mostly European musicians - recorded in May, 1996 during the Jazz Ost-West Festival at the Großer Saal der Meistersingerhalle in Nürnberg, Germany. For this gig, Bowie brought organist Amina Claudine Myers and the Art Ensemble's percussionist Famoudou Don Moye along from the USA to provide the foundation for the ensemble, which also included trumpeters Jarle Forde and Jan Magne Forde, French horn player Runar Tafjörd, trombonist Helge Forde, tuba player Stein Erik Tafjörd and drummer Egil "Bop" Johansen.
The third video features Bowie's Brass & Steel Band, another variation on the Brass Fantasy concept featuring the addition of steel drummers Anthony Trebuse, Denzil Botus, and Wilfred Kieal, recorded in 1996 at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy.
After that, you can see a set from Bowie's New York Organ Ensemble, recorded in 1992 at the Jazzaldia festival in San Sebastian, Spain.
The group could be considered as Bowie's take on a hard-bop type of sound, and along with the leader, features fellow St. Louisan Kelvyn Bell on guitar, Myers on organ, and Moye on drums, plus the veteran trombonist Julian Priester and, in an early high-profile gig that helped make his reputation in the jazz world, a young James Carter on tenor sax.
The last two videos feature Bowie as part of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, with Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman on an assortment of reed instruments, Malachi Favors Maghostut on bass, Famoudou Don Moye on drums, and all the group's members doubling on percussion and "little instruments." The penultimate video was recorded in October 1991 at the venue Fabrik in Hamburg, Germany, and the final video is from July 1987 at the Jazzaldia festival in San Sebastian, Spain.
You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...
Here's StLJN's latest wrap-up of assorted links and short news items of local interest:
* A newly restored version of Say Amen Somebody, the award-winning 1982 documentary about gospel music that features St. Louisans including Willie Mae Ford Smith, Zella Jackson Price, and the O'Neal Twins, is being re-released in theaters this fall. The film will play locally from Friday, September 13 through Thursday, September 19 at the Chase Park Plaza Cinemas.
* St. Louis saxophonist Kwanae Johnson and his family recently lost their home to a fire, and friends are stepping up to help. A concert to raise funds for the Johnsons, with details still TBA, will be presented from noon to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 29 at .ZACK. For those who can't attend that day or prefer to give directly, there's a donation page on Facebook.
* Also in need of a hand right now is guitarist Dave Black(pictured), a mainstay of the St. Louis music scene for more than 30 years. Black last week was involved in a serious cycling accident, suffering injuries that will keep him from performing or teaching for several months.
* Jazz St. Louis has announced the selections for this year's edition of their book club, which once again will be led by Washington University professor Gerald Early. You can see the complete list of books and meeting dates here.
* The second annual St. Louis Drum Show will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 19 at the Koken Art Factory.
Here's StLJN's latest wrap-up of assorted links and short news items of local interest:
* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold was part of a panel with writer Nate Chinen and musicians Terence Blanchard and Camila Meza discussing the evolution of jazz at the BRIC JazzFest 2018 last month in Brooklyn, NY. You can see the entire discussion on video here.
* The St. Louis Gypsy Jazz Festival, organized by members of the band Franglais, announced that the 2016 edition of their event will be held October 21 through October 23 at Evangeline's, with further details TBA.
* Meanwhile, trumpeter and St. Louis native Keyon Harrold is in Chicago this weekend, headlining the Four Star Music Festival at the Goose Island Barrel Warehouse.
* Drummer Emanuel Harrold and bassist Jahmal Nichols, the two St. Louis natives who are part of singer Gregory Porter's band, got some more time on national TV on Wednesday night as Porter performed on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live. You can see a video of their appearance here.
* The Pageant has teamed up with SoundGirls.org to offer a "Live Sound Camp for Girls" starting Monday, July 25 through Friday, July 29 at The Pageant. The week-long day camp is for girls ages 12-18 who are interested in learning about live music production. The curriculum includes hands-on sessions covering a variety of audio- and production-related topics, with campers producing and running a live show to end the week. For details, go to http://SoundGirls.org/stlouiscamp.
* The Riverfront Times has announced the lineup of performers for the annual RFT Music Showcase, which will be held Saturday, June 18 at various venues along Manchester Rd. in the Grove neighborhood.
Reflecting the paper's music coverage, the 80-act roster is heavy on alt-rock and hip-hop, but there also are some acts of potential interest to StLJN readers, including Animal Children, Tommy Halloran, Eric Hall, and the Vernacular String Trio. See the complete lineup of bands and venues at http://rftmusicshowcase.com/
The Murmuration fest, which will take place the weekend of September 23-25 on the Cortex Innovation Community campus in midtown, also will include "include new technologies and public art exhibitions, all-ages interactive exhibits, and local food trucks."
Today, we remember the great St. Louis trumpeter Lester Bowie, who was born October 11, 1941.
Though Bowie (pictured) actually was born in Maryland, he grew up in St. Louis as part of a family that included two brothers who also became professional musicians: Joseph Bowie, a trombonist and leader of the funk-jazz band Defunkt; and Byron Bowie, a saxophonist and arranger/composer.
After developing his trumpet chops playing blues gigs around St. Louis with singers including Albert King and Little Milton and jazz wherever and whenever he could, Lester Bowie moved to Chicago in 1965, where he became a founding member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, the group with whom he is most closely associated.
In addition to the AEC, Bowie was involved in many different musical projects, recording in duo and trio settings with many of the musicians from BAG and Chicago's AACM, and leading a number of his own groups, notably Brass Fantasy and the Lester Bowie Organ Ensemble. His work incorporated many types of music, from free improv and knotty post-bop to gospel and doo-wop, and he stood out among trumpet players of his generation for his combination of deep concepts, a sense of humor, and use of extended techniques. Sadly, Lester Bowie died young, passing away from liver cancer on November 9, 1999 when he was just 58.
In the first video window below, you can see him in 1983 performing with From The Root To The Source, a multi-stylistic group reflecting Bowie's love of popular and church music as well as jazz that also was something of a family band, since it featured his ex-wife Fontella Bass and former in-laws Martha Bass and David Peaston.
In the window below that, you can see him performing "Summertime" in an undated clip with Brass Fantasy, and below that, in two parts, a complete Art Ensemble concert recorded in 1991 in Budapest.
Here's the latest wrap-up of assorted links and short local news items of interest:
* Happy birthday wishes go out to drummer and St. Louis native Marcus Baylor, who turns 37 today. The Baylor Project, his new band with his spouse, singer Jean Baylor, is set for NYC dates this month at Smoke and Zinc Bar.
* Today's also the anniversary of the birth of the legendary trumpeter and former St. Louisan Lester Bowie(pictured), who was born on this date in 1941. Bowie, who died in 1999, gained worldwide fame for his work with the Art Ensemble of Chicago and as a composer and bandleader in his own right. To celebrate his memory, check out this clip of a live show by his "From The Root to the Source" band, featuring his former wife Fontella Bass, her mother Martha Bass and brother David Peaston, posted last month to StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds.
* In an announcement posted last Saturday night on their Facebook page and website, organizers of St. Louis Jazz and Blues Vespers said they've ended the series and will produce no further concerts this year or in the future. The free concerts presented at Second Baptist Church in Richmond Heights began in the fall of 2008 under the church's former pastor, Rev. Dr. Stephen Jones.
* Jazz St. Louis has posted to their Facebook page an album of photos from saxophonist Lou Donaldson's opening night Wednesday at Jazz at the Bistro. Donaldson continues at the club through tomorrow night.
* Meanwhile, saxophonist and former St. Louisan Oliver Lake has posted online a video excerpt from his show last week at NYC's Roulette, which featured guest pianist Vijay Iyer and a string ensemble.
* As the tour of "Abyssinian: A Gospel Celebration" winds its way towards St. Louis, where trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and a 70-voice choir will perform the extended work next Friday at the Touhill, Marsalis has been posting updates fromthe tour to the JALC Facebook page.
* St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts is exhorting us to remind all area musicians that they're sponsoring a free workshop called "Navigating Health Care Reform" at 7:00 p.m. Monday, October 21 at the Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar.
The event is part of a campaign that VLAA is calling "Every Artist Insured." Ryan Barker, vice president of Health Policy at the Missouri Foundation for Health, will explain the Affordable Care Act; define terms and answer questions;, and provide strategies to help freelancers and the self-employed get quality and affordable health care coverage. This workshop is open to artists of all disciplines and their guests, but seating is limited, so you must register in advance here. The program will be repeated on Tuesday, November 19.
Singer Fontella Bass, the St. Louisan who had a huge soul and pop hit in 1965 with "Rescue Me" but also sang jazz while married to trumpeter Lester Bowie, died Wednesday night in St. Louis of complications from heart failure. She was 72.
"Rescue Me," which Bass co-wrote as well as sang, sold more than a million copies. The song was the No. 1 R&B hit for four weeks, also reached the pop Top 10, and stayed on the charts for a total of nineteen months. In the decades since, it's been used in dozens of TV shows, movies and commercials and inspired numerous cover version, but in all too typical fashion for the music business, it took years for Bass to see any royalties from those uses.
Though "Rescue Me" will remain her best known work, Bass (pictured) was in fact a multi-talented singer and pianist who was raised singing gospel and got her professional start playing the blues with Oliver Sain and Little Milton. Just before hitting with "Rescue Me," Bass teamed with singer Bobby McClure to record Sain's composition "Don't Mess Up a Good Thing," which became a Top 10 R&B hit early in 1965.
She also had a number of credits as a jazz vocalist. Bass made three recordings with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, including the critically acclaimed 1970 album Les Stances A Sophie, while married to Bowie, and also did sessions with David Murray, the World Saxophone Quartet, and others.
After taking time off in the 1970s and 80s to raise a family, Bass eventually began singing in public again and in 1995, her gospel album No Ways Tired was nominated for a Grammy. She continued to tour occasionally, mostly overseas, into the 21st century, and even had another hit, providing guest vocals for the British dance music group Cinematic Orchestra on their 2002 track "All That You Give."
In 2003, Bass performed at the Sheldon Concert Hall in a benefit for the St. Louis Blues Society's Blues Mission Fund, and before that show I interviewed her for a story published in the Riverfront Times, archived online here. In that interview, she alluded to her fight to get her rightful royalties for "Rescue Me," a battle that took more than 25 years, and talked about her musical activities at the time.
It also should be noted that even before her marriage to Bowie, Bass already was part of a distinguished musical family. She was the daughter of gospel singer Martha Bass of the Clara Ward Singers, and her brother David Peaston, who died in Feburary this year, also was a successful professional vocalist who recorded R&B and gospel. Among those carrying on the family's legacy are Bass' youngest son Bonhamous Bowie, a keyboard player, and her son-in-law Tracy Mitchell, a guitarist. Bass has made few public appearances since 2005; sources close to the family have said she was in poor health and had been residing at a local extended-care nursing facility for some time now.
Local Fox affiliate KTVI has coverage of Bass' death here, while CBS Radio affiliate KMOX has a story here. We'll add other relevant links from local and national media to this post as they appear online.
Update, 12/31/12, 7:30 a.m.: A memorial service and tribute for Fontella Bass will be held at 7:00 p.m. this Friday, January 4, Shalom Church (City of Peace), 5491 North Highway 67, Florissant, MO 63034.
* The New York Times noted Fontella Bass' death here.
* The Post-Dispatch's story on Bass, written by Kevin Johnson, is here, and the obituary from the Associated Press is here.
* The Post's Johnson also has a story here with reactions from people involved in the St. Louis music scene.
* KDHX has re-posted Fontella Bass' version of Chuck Berry's "Brown-Eyed Hamdsome Man," recorded for one of the station's promotional compilations.
Here's the latest wrap-up of assorted links and short local news items of interest:
* The Sheldon Art Galleries will present a major retrospective exhibition of the work of St. Louis-born artist Al Hirschfeld starting Friday, September 7 as part of The Sheldon’s 100th anniversary celebration. From the news release: "Al Hirschfeld’s Jazz and Broadway Scrapbook, the first major retrospective of the artist to be mounted in his hometown, will feature more than 100 original drawings, paintings, prints, collages, posters and ephemera from his long and important career, and reveals a heretofore unexplored, lifelong fascination with jazz."
"In addition to his artwork, the installation will feature his specially-made stereo system, his extensive jazz record collection, and African drums and Balinese shadow puppets from his home...A separate section of the exhibit focuses on his work in jazz and includes luminaries such as Jelly Roll Morton, Johnny Mercer, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, among many others."
* Jazz St. Louis has mailed out a lavish season brochure for 2012-13 that's really more like a magazine - it's 56 pages, with edge-to-edge color photos throughout. If you didn't get one from from the postman, you can view it online here.
* And speaking of Jazz St. Louis, their Young Friends organization is throwing a patio party outside Jazz at the Bistro from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 28. Latin jazz group Musica Slesa (pictured) will playing inside the Bistro, with an audio feed going out to the patio in nearby Strauss Park so partygoers can hear them while enjoying drinks, snacks and socializing. Entry to the patio is free, but donations to Jazz St. Louis's education programs are suggested.
For this installment of the StLJN Audio Archive, we tune into Bugle Boy Bop, an album of duos recorded by drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw and trumpeter Lester Bowie issued on the Muse label in 1983.
The original LP (pictured) was recorded live at saxophonist Sam Rivers' NYC loft venue Studio Rivbea on February 5, 1977, with famed producer Michael Cuscuna overseeing the eventual release. Although Bugle Boy Bop never has been reissued on CD, you can still hear it via a free download from the music-sharing blog Nothing Is V2.0, which had this to say about the session:
"This is a trumpet & drum duet that will please fans of AEC & Human Arts Ensemble. If you are someone who loved Don Cherry & Eddie Blackwell's album Mu, you'll probably like this one.
The title track gets things off to a high-energy start. The second track ("Go Bo") is where Shaw cuts loose & Bowie lays low (at least somewhat). A barnburner. "Cootie's Caravan Fan" slows things down, but just barely, with a pulsating rhythm giving the tune a very trance-like feel. The title "Latin Recovery" is fairly self-explanatory, with Shaw going bossa nova as Bowie freaks out on the trumpet. The flipside starts with what amounts to a free improv ballad "The Girth of the Cool" - slow-tempo late night feel to it, but by mid-song builds in intensity and eventually the duo picks up the pace and the ferocity. "Chop'n Rock" is characterized by a choppy, rockish beat through much of the tune, seemingly nodding to an old AEC tune, "Rock Out". "Finito, Benito" ends the album on an entropic note. Be aware, the mp3s on this one are a bit dodgy, and the last tune seems to cut off in the middle. As the saying goes, better dodgy mp3s than no music at all.
I don't know if there ever will be a proper digital reissue of this album. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. In the meantime, these mp3 files help to document just a bit of what was going on during the late 1970s NY jazz loft scene."
To download a free copy of Charles "Bobo" Shaw and Lester Bowie's Bugle Boy Bop, go here, scroll down to the bottom of the post, and look for the link that says "Download Bugle Boy Bop," which will take you to a Rapidshare page. Look for the green button marked "Download," click it, and follow the instructions from there.
The StLJN Audio Archive links only to recordings that are out-of-print or that never have been commercially available. The purpose of the Audio Archive is encourage discussion, appreciation and knowledge of St. Louis jazz artists, and we encourage you to support them (or their estates) by purchasing authorized recordings and merchandise or, whenever possible, attending live performances.
This week's Audio Archive entry comes via the blog Inconstant Sol, and features a commercially unissued live recording of trumpeter and St. Louis native Lester Bowie (pictured) performing with his quintet on April 4, 1978 at Teatro Tenda in Padua, Italy.
The set is described by the blogger as "One of the best groups led by Lester playing some Gospels, some Spirituals, some Rhythm & Blues and some Free-Jazz: from the Ancient to the Future!" There are three tracks, labeled simply "Track #1" (31:30), "Track #2" (39:00) and "Encore" (03:25).
Bowie is joined by fellow St. Louisan Phillip Wilson on drums, as well as alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe, pianist Amina Claudine Myers and bassist Malachi Favors Maghostut.
To download a free copy, go here, scroll down to the first comment, click the link for the version of your choice (mp3 or flac), and follow the instructions from there.
The StLJN Audio Archive links only to recordings that are out-of-print or that never have been commercially available. The purpose of the Audio Archive is encourage discussion, appreciation and knowledge of St. Louis jazz artists, and we encourage you to support them (or their estates) by purchasing authorized recordings and merchandise or, whenever possible, attending live performances.
Here's the latest compilation of assorted news briefs and links related to jazz, improvisation, and creative music in St. Louis, including news of musicians originally from the Gateway City, recent visitors, and coming attractions, plus assorted other items of interest.
Starting off, as we usually do, with a couple of items about Miles Davis, it seems that Kind of Blue drummer Jimmy Cobb's So What band played last week at the Gem Theater in Kansas City, and the show was reviewed for the Kansas City Star by Bill "Plastic Sax" Brownleehere, for Pitch Weekly by Jason Harperhere, and by local music blogger Joel Francishere.
In other Davis-related news, Monster, the company that makes premium-priced audio cables and similar products, is coming out with Miles Davis special edition headphones. The 'phones, which feature a silhouetted image of the trumpeter, have a "pre-sale price" of $399 (!) and go on sale in November.
* Turning to news of other St. Louis natives and former denizens, the late trumpeter Lester Bowie's first recordings as a leader, made in 1967 for the Nessa label, have been reissued on a two-CD set. All The Numbers: Complete Numbers 1 & 2 Sessions features Bowie, saxophonists Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman, and bassist Malachi Favors in the first documentation of what would soon become the Art Ensemble of Chicago, and includes everything from the original LP plus much previously unreleased material and outtakes.
* Baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett performed with percussionist Kahil El’Zabarlast weekend at Sista’s Place in Brooklyn, NY.
* Meanwhile, multi-instrumentalist Marty Ehrlich's Rites Quartet with James Zollar on trumpet, Erik Friedlander on cello and Pheeroan akLaff on drums, just played a concert at NYC's Miller Theater.
* Saxophonist Greg Osby (pictured) will lead a group of Berklee College of Music students on Monday for a gig in NYC at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola as part of the Lincoln Center Upstarts! program, where up-and-comers and veteran musicians jam together on one bandstand. Osby also is blogging now for the Web site Indaba Music, and his recent entry on the sartorial choices and mistakes of jazz musicians has attracted some attention and sparked some conversations among musicians and fans.
* Here's a review of saxophonist John Zorn's new Masada CD, which feature tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano.
* Electronic/experimental/noise composer and former St. Louisan Andy Ortmann is now doing a podcast called "The Eternal Now" for NYC's eclectic public radio station WFMU. Get more info, subscribe to the podcast feed, or listen online here.
* New photos from DowntownMusic.net include shots of a recent concert by Larry Ochs Sax & Drumming Core at NYC's Roulette. The pics were taken just four days after their St. Louis performance, presented by New Music Circle at the Sheldon Concert Hall. And here's a review of Och's show, written for AllAboutJazz.com by Martin Longley and bundled with three other live reviews, including one of a Kenny Garrett set two weeks ago at NYC's Iridium. Garrett was in St. Louis this weekend to play at Jazz at the Bistro.
* Catching up with the "coming attractions" file: From the Huffington Post, here's an interview with Nellie McKay about her new CD, which is a tribute to singer and actress Doris Day. McKay will be St. Louis on November 18 and 19 to perform for Cabaret St. Louis at the Kranzberg Arts Center.
* Here's a review by the New York Times' Stephen Holden of the new duet show featuring singer/guitarist John Pizzarelli and his wife, singer Jessica Molaskey, at the Carlyle in NYC. Pizzarelli will be back in St. Louis in April to play at the Bistro.
* Also from the NYT, here's a feature story about bassist John Patitucci, who will follow Pizzarelli at the Bistro next spring.
*Singer Kurt Elling and pianist Bill Charlap were among the musicians featured on the recent 30th anniversary celebration of NPR's "Piano Jazz" program, hosted by Marian McPartland. Elling will be in St. Louis the first week in December to perform at Jazz at the Bistro, while Charlap comes to town the following week for four nights at the Kranzberg backing singer Sandy Stewart (who's also his mom).
* Our fave avant-jazz blog Destination: Out just featured a guest post from pianist Vijay Iyer with two tracks from his new CD. Iyer also recently performed live on the radio program "Studio Session," broadcast by WBGO radio in Newark NJ and available online here. And here's a review of Iyer's latest CD from Music and More's Tim Niland. Iyer will be here in January to play at the Bistro.
* In an interesting little review/essay, Popmatters' Will Laymanmuses about virtuosity in jazz as it applies to saxophonists Chris Potter and James Carter. Carter returns to St. Louis in May, bringing his organ trio to Jazz at the Bistro.
* Singer/pianist John Proulx, who has a new CD on the St. Louis-based MAXJAZZ label, just kicked off a new "After Hours" series at Feinstein's at Loews Regeny is NYC. performance Sunday, October 18 at 10:00PM. Meanwhile, another MAXJAZZ artist, singer and pianist Dena DeRose, was among the performers at the just-concluded Seasons Festival in Seattle.
*And finally, last week's "Hearing Voices" program on NPR featured excerpts from “The Bushy Wushy Rag,” a new composition by Phillip Kent Bimstein that combines sounds from a St. Louis Cardinals’ baseball game, motifs from Scott Joplin’s "Maple Leaf Rag," and the distinctive calls of veteran Busch Stadium beer vendor Robert Logan, a.k.a. "Bushy Wushy the Beer Man." Bimstein's piece was performed by the Equinox Chamber Players, who premiered the work here in St. Louis. Although "Hearing Voices" isn't broadcast over the air here - it runs on KWMU-2, a digital subchannel of the local NPR affiliate - you can hear the broadcast with "The Bushy Wushy Rag" online at the program's Web site.
(Updated on 10/26/09 to correct the price of the Miles Davis headphones.)
Here's the latest compilation of assorted news briefs and links related to jazz, improvisation, and creative music in St. Louis, including news of musicians originally from the Gateway City, recent visitors, and coming attractions, plus assorted other items of interest:
* Starting with some Miles Davis-related items, it seems that the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Davis' Kind of Blue continues without pause, as KoB drummer Jimmy Cobb's all-star So What band played at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, NY this past weekend as part of an extensive touring schedule.
Also, here's a review of the new reissue of Davis' Sketches of Spain, written for PopMatters.com by Sean Murphy. For more Miles-related news and links, as always we exhort you to visit Jeffrey Hyatt's fine site Miles Davis Online, which recently has spotlighted some rarely-seen photos of the trumpeter alongside interviews with the photographers who shot the pics.
* The late trumpeter and St. Louis native Lester Bowie's 1981 album The Great Pretender was the subject of a recent "Listening Party" post on NPR's A Blog Supreme.
* Here's a recent feature story from the Las Vegas Sun about St. Louis native, trombonist and bandleader Jimmy Wilkins (pictured), a veteran of the Count Basie Orchestra who now lives in Vegas.
* And here's a rediscovered vintage 1999 audio interview of saxophonist, composer and one-time Webster University student John Zorn by Chris Comer.
* Former St. Louisan Bob Koester was profiled last week in the New York Times on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of his Delmark Records label. Koester also owns Chicago's Jazz Record Mart.
* Turning to news of recent visitors to St. Louis, it took Jazz St. Louis three tries to get trumpeter Terence Blanchardhere to St. Louis this past season - Blanchard's twice-rescheduled week at Jazz at the Bistro finally happened in May - but the trumpeter isn't always quite so hard to get. Thanks to a gap in their tour schedule, he and his band were able to travel to Canada to play a last minute gig at the Ottawa Jazz Festival on just two days' notice after promoters secured a last-minute grant from the Canadian government.
* Turning to news of coming attractions, saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins is playing this week at the Vancouver Jazz Festival. Rollins will be in St. Louis in September to play a Jazz St. Louis-sponsored show at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.
* Singer Kurt Elling also is north of the border this week, performing at the Edmonton International Jazz Festival. For a limited time AOL Music is streaming Elling's new CD Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman for free. Released June 23 on Concord Jazz, it features saxophonist Ernie Watts, The Laurence Hobgood Trio and the string quartet ETHEL accompanying Elling. You can stream the album here. Elling will perform the Hartman/Coltrane material here in December at Jazz at the Bistro, with St. Louis' own Willie Akins taking Watts' part.
* Finally, from the "general interest" files, no doubt there's been plenty of gloomy news in the jazz world recently, from the cancellation of festivals this year in New York, St. Louis, and lots of other places to Jazz Times magazine's recent suspension of publication. However, veteran critic Josef Woodard, writing in the Santa Barbara Independent, remains optimistic about the resiliency of the music and the people who play and listen to it: "Jazz retains its status as America’s greatest indigenous art form and the 20th century’s great musical invention, but the music and its facilitating institutions are facing ominous forces...(snip)...The bright side of this sobering downturn is that jazz is a survivor...Jazz will out, but those of us who need it may have to go some extra miles to satisfy our needs. It won’t be the first time."
* And, in a demonstration of Woodard's point about jazz representing the very best of the United States of America, Jazz at Lincoln Center is now accepting band applications for the 2009-2010 Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad program. American music groups specializing in jazz, urban/hip hop and other American roots music including bluegrass, blues, Cajun, country, gospel and zydeco are invited to apply. Over the past four years, 108 musicians from 28 ensembles have toured with the program, visiting 97 countries on five continents. The program, now in its fifth year, is a collaboration with The U.S. Department of States Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Applications are due by Aug. 10.
Here's our weekly compilation of news and links related to jazz, improvisation, and creative music in St. Louis, including news of musicians originally from the Gateway City, recent visitors, and coming attractions, plus assorted other items of interest:
* It's something of a tradition here to start this recurring feature with something Miles Davis-related, and this week there's just one such link, to a podcast tribute to Davis and Kind of Blue, hosted by Errington Thompson.
* However, one of StLJN's fave jazz/music sharing blogs, Destination: Out, currently has a post devoted to another St. Louis trumpeter, the great Lester Bowie (pictured), and his time working with famed African bandleader, saxophonist and vocalist Fela Kuti. As a bonus, one of the MP3s included in the post also features St. Louis' own Phillip Wilson on drums. If you're interested, we suggest you download immediately, as D:O's files only stay online for a short time. For more on Lester Bowie's stint with Fela Kuti, go here.
* Saxophonist and St. Louis native Eric Person was in the Quad Cities on the Iowa/Illinois border last week for a concert with his band Meta-Four and a workshop with local student musicians; read more about it here.
* Another former St. Louisan, saxophonist David Sanborn, will be one of the headliners at this year's Vancouver Jazz Festival, which takes place from June 26 to July 5. Also performing at the fest: the Monterey Quartet, featuring Dave Holland, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Chris Potter and Eric Harland; guitarists Al DiMeola and Derek Trucks; and pianists Fred Hersch, Kenny Werner and Chucho Valdés.
* The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article by Larry Blumenfeld about "Astronome: A Night at the Opera," the collaboration between avant garde theater director Richard Foreman and saxophonist/composer John Zorn, who once studied at our town's Webster University. "Astronome..." is running now through April 5 at Foreman's Ontological-Hysteric Theater in NYC.
* Last week's New York premiere of Martino Unstrung, the documentary about guitarist Pat Martino's comeback from a life-threatening brain injury, drew an overflow crowd. The movie played in St. Louis last November during the St. Louis International Film Festival, and Martino was here in February to perform at Jazz at the Bistro.
* Next up, a few items of general interest to jazz and creative music, starting with some bad news out of Detroit, as the famed Motor City jazz club Baker's Keyboard Lounge may have to close due to financial problems.
* Closer to home, and on a happier note, the School of Music at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale will host the third annual Outside The Box festival of new music from March 25 through April 11. The eclectic festival will include more than two dozen concerts and workshops, including performances of works by guest composers Bernard Rands and Olly Wilson, plus programs featuring theremin music, a sonic tribute to Buckminster Fuller, a concert by Carbondale's own New Arts Jazztet, and even "Mazurka Mania," a celebration of the Polish folk dance and the music that goes with it.
* Last but not least, the first annual Guthman Musical Instrument Competition held recently at Georgia Tech saw more than 60 musicians, inventors and hobbyists submit musical instruments of their own design to try to win a cash prize of $10,000. Wired magazine has the rundown on the competition and a photo gallery of some of the instruments here.
It may be cold outside, but baby, yr. humble editor has been burning up the Internets seeking out news for your edification and entertainment, including items about jazz musicians from St. Louis, jazz musicians coming to St. Louis, and jazz musicians who have recently played St. Louis, as well as other relevant content:
* Let's start, as we almost always do, with Miles Davis, who's one of the featured subjects in Jazz Beyond Jazz, the new book from longtime jazz journalist Howard Mandel.
* Trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum, perhaps best known as an associate of adventurous multi-reedman and composer Anthony Braxton, has a nice blog post up in which he shares his appreciation of the music of trumpeter and St. Louis native Lester Bowie (pictured).
* Speaking of St. Louis trumpet greats, Concord Music Group's video podcast series recently offered a segment in which veteran jazz producer Orrin Keepnews tells the story of a recording date with Clark Terry that produced the Riverside session Serenade to a Bus Seat. You can see the clip, officially titled "Mr. Pulled Together - Clark Terry," in the embedded video window below.
* When saxophonist/flutist Eric Person toured the West Coast late last year, DJ and blogger Leroy "The Jazzcat" Downscaught his show and posted a review/interview, along with some performance photos, here.
* Turning to the "coming attractions" file: Preservation Hall Records, the label operated by the New Orleans based organization that oversees the Hall and its associated musical ensembles, has a new series of CDs spotlighting the individual members of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The series will debut in March with albums from the band's drummer, Joe Lastie Jr., and its banjoist, Carl Leblanc. CDs will be available at the Hall, on tour, at the band's Web site and at selected retailers. The PHJB will be in the St. Louis area to play at the Argosy Alton Casino on Friday, January 25 and Saturday, January 26.
* Pianist Michael Wolff, who's performing at the Sheldon Concert Hall on February 23 has added some dates to his current tour. The news release also says that tabla player Badal Roy, who has recorded and performed with Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, John McLaughlin and many others, will be a special guest for Wolff's St. Louis performance.
* Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra drummer and Detroit native Ali Jacksontalked with his hometown paper about the JaLCO's tour stop in the Motor City., giving a preview of what we might expect in St. Louis: "Wednesday's program is being billed as "The Love Songs of Duke Ellington,'' but Jackson says that "about half the show will probably be Ellington's love songs and half will be a potpourri of all kinds of jazz, from different eras." The JaLCO performs at the Sheldon on February 9. Meanwhile, JaLCO's director, trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis, recently did an interview with MSN Music, and has posted some videos from a recent master class for young students on his Web site.
* Catching up with some former visitors to St. Louis, we see that the aforementioned Leroy "The Jazzcat" Downs also recently interviewed saxophonist Joshua Redman, who's been seen in St. Louis the last couple of years performing at Jazz at the Bistro with his own group and with the SF JAZZ Collective.
* Guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli, whose most recent St. Louis appearance was last fall at the Sheldon, will be one of the featured entertainers for the Nightlife Awards at NYC's Town Hall on Monday, January 28.
* Also performing at that event will be clarineist/saxophonist Anat Cohen, who played at the Bistro in November with her Quartet and Waverly Seven. Cohen also recently was a guest on Marian McPartland's NPR program Piano Jazz. You can listen to the episode online here.
* When Jazz St. Louis announced its 2007-08 season, the fine pianist George Cables was scheduled to be part of saxophonist Javon Jackson's Superband, which is playing this weekend at the Bistro. However, the pianist had to cancel all his performances after undergoing a double-transplant operation, in which he received a new liver and kidney. News accounts say Cables' recovery appears to be on track, but it will be at least six months before he can begin working again. To help with his expenses, a group of fellow musicians have organized an all-star benefit tribute for Cables in NYC next weekend. Those who cannot attend but would like to send a donation can do so at georgecables.com.
* Finally, a few miscellaneous items of interest, starting with the new edition of Bill Shoemaker's monthly music journal, Point of Departure, which is now online, and as always, worth a look.
* Elsewhere on the Web, a new site has been launched at the easy-to-remember address Jazz.com that looks to be a serious effort to compete with the popular and oft-visited AllAboutJazz.com as a one-stop online resource for jazz fans. Bagatellen has an interview with Jazz.com editor Ted Gioiahere.
* And anyone who wants to understand the realities of the music business in the era of digital technology definitely should check out David Byrne's recent article for Wired magazine on "survival strategies for emerging artists & megastars." The musician, songwriter, filmmaker and former Talking Heads frontman breaks down the 21st century music biz and explores possible business models for different types of musical careers in an entertaining and easy-to-grasp style.
This week's videos showcase the late trumpet great Lester Bowie, who grew up in St. Louis but is perhaps best known as a member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago. In addition to his work with AECO, Bowie led many different bands of his own, served as a key point of contact between Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and St. Louis' Black Artists Group, and for a time was married to another St. Louis music legend, singer Fontella Bass.
These two clips are from a 1992 performance by Bowie and the New York Organ Ensemble, most likely their show at the Jazzaldia Festival in San Sebastien, Spain. The NYOE was built around around the B-3 playing of Amina Claudia Myers, and gave Bowie a chance to give voice to the influences of gospel, soul, funk and blues found in many of the St. Louis avant-garde musicians of his generation.
One certainly can hear echoes of the church and a bit of New Orleans in this piece, which, in addition to Bowie and Myers, features St. Louis native Kelvyn Bell on guitar; Julian Priester on trombone; a young and skinny looking James Carter on tenor sax; and, although he's not credited onscreen, I'm pretty sure that's Bowie's Art Ensemble bandmate Famoudou Don Moye on drums.
The cool cats who run the avant-jazz music sharing blog Destination: Out are celebrating their first blogiversary this week. To commemorate the occasion, they've reposted the very first piece of music put up on the site a year ago, an early track from the Art Ensemble (before they added "of Chicago" to their name) called "Warm Up" that features St. Louis native Lester Bowie - not on trumpet, but on kelp horn.
Now, I'm sure what a kelp horn is, but the track is an interesting listen. You can download it here, and while you're at it, you may also want to leave a comment congratulating the proprietors and urging them to keep up the good work. D:O has posted a lot of St. Louis-related music in the last year; here's hoping for much more to come.
