Jazz this week: Cory Henry, The Bosman Twins, Doc Severinsen, Fred Wesley, Linda Presgrave, and more

It's a busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with several headliners of interest passing through the metro area for performances that, alas, may be a bit off the beaten track - unless you know just where to look.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, 
March 9
The Lindenwood University Jazz Band performs at Jazz at the Bistro, and multi-intrumentalist Chris Smentkowski and friends play at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

Thursday, March 10
Keyboardist Cory Henry of the fast-rising jazz/funk band Snarky Puppy will lead his own group, Revival, in a show at the Old Rock House, while local favorites The Bosman Twins (pictured, top left) return to Jazz at the Bistro for the first evening of a three-night stand continuing through Saturday.

Also on Thursday, trumpeter Sean Jones will be back in eastern Missouri, albeit a bit south of St. Louis proper, to perform with  his band (pianist Orrin Evans, bassist Luques Curtis, and drummer Mark Whitfield Jr.) at the Jefferson College Spring Jazz Showcase.

That same evening, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents a free concert spotlighting the talents of the university's oldest acapella group, Mosaic Whispers, along with the jazz vocal ensemble Java Jived.

Friday, March 11
The Gaslight Cabaret Festival's spring series continues with singers KT Sullivan and Jeff Harnar presenting the first of two performances of their show "Another Hundred People: A Sondheim Montage" at the Gaslight Theater.

Also on Friday, singer Wendy L. Gordon and and pianist Carolbeth True team up to play at the Tavern of Fine Arts, and the St. Louis Big Band plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, March 12
Local trumpet fans can head south again, this time to St. Francois County, to catch former Tonight Show bandleader Doc Severinsen (pictured, center left), still going strong at age 88.

Severinsen will be performing with the Mineral Area College Kicks Band for the Mineral Area College Jazz Festival at the Centene Center in Farmington.

Also on Saturday, California-based pianist Carl Sonny Leyland will be in town to play boogie-woogie, stride, ragtime, and more in a solo show at Yaqui's; singer Eve Seltzer celebrates the release of her first CD with a performance at Tavern of Fine Arts; and Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at Casa Loma Ballroom.

Sunday, March 13
The St. Louis Jazz Club presents the St. Louis Stompers playing traditional jazz and swing in a matinee performance at the Moolah Temple in West County, while the Jim Widner Big Band will play music associated with several famous big bands in a matinee concert at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

Also on Sunday afternoon, trombonist Fred Wesley, famed as a progenitor of funk for his work with James Brown and George Clinton, will present a master class sponsored by the St. Louis Low Brass Collective. The class will be followed that evening by a concert featuring Wesley (pictured, bottom left) and the StLLBC, with both events taking place at Kirkwood High School's Keating Center.

Monday, March 14
Speaking of master classes, pianist and former St. Louisan Linda Presgrave will be back in town on Monday to lead a jazz master class at the Community Music School of Webster University in the afternoon. Presgrave and her band then will headline the university's annual "Suzy Shepard and Donald O. Davis Scholarships Concert" that evening at Winifred Moore Auditorium.

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.)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Guitarist Mary Halvorson was interviewed for an article on the New Music Circle website. NMC is presenting Thumbscrew, featuring Halvorson, bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Tomas Fujiwara, in concert tonight at Joe's Cafe.

* Saxophonist David Sanborn has sold his NYC townhouse for $11 million. The property has been on the market since 2009 as part of a reported effort by Sanborn to downsize to slightly more modest quarters.

* Pianist and St. Louis expat Linda Presgrave (pictured) and her husband, saxophonist Stan Chovnick, have posted online a video of their duo concert recorded last week at Michiko Studios in NYC. The complete show can be seen for free until October 5.

* The reissue of composer/flute player Fred Tompkins' Fanfare 8: The Early Works was reviewed by blogger Grego Applegate Edwards of the blog Gapplegate Music Review, who called Tompkins "one of the greatest, if lesser known, of the so-called "third-stream" composers."

* Last weekend's LouFest set by Trombone Shorty was discussed in reviews of the event from the Riverfront Times and KDHX's Kevin Korinek.

* The Cherokee Street music and art venue Blank Space is expanding, as detailed in this story by the RFT's Joseph Hess.

* St. Louis Volunteer Attorneys and Accountants for the Arts and Missouri Arts Council have put online a video of their "Copyright Basics" workshop.

* The St. Louis swing dance community this week is mourning the death of veteran dancer Tommy Russo, who passed away last week at age 98.

* As part of their 65th anniversary promotion, Prestige Records has released online a short video interview with producer Ira Gitler, who describes what really happened during one of the Miles Davis sessions included among the label's recent reissues.

* Writing for the St. Louis American, James Ingram (not the singer, but rather a columnist for the paper) wonders why Don Cheadle couldn't have filmed his Miles Davis movie in East St. Louis rather than Cincinnati.

(Actually, I think I know the answer to this one. Presumably, one big reason is because ESL lacks sufficient locations that could double for NYC in the 1970s, which was cited as a key reason Cheadle chose Cincinnati. Ingram's essay mentions having room in ESL to construct sets and facades, but the modest budget of Miles Ahead would have precluded that option no matter where it was shot. The film also reportedly received tax incentives from the city and from the state of Ohio, which Illinois and/or ESL may have been unwilling or unable to match.)

* Jazz radio update: This Saturday on Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis' “Somethin’ Else,” host Calvin Wilson will feature tracks from saxophonist Sonny Rollins' recent series of “Road Shows” recordings. The program can be heard 8:00 p.m. on 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.

A bit farther down the dial, this week's edition of "St. Louis Jazz Talk" at 11:00 a.m. Sunday on WSIE (88.7 FM) will feature an interview with drummer Steve Davis.

Linda Presgrave makes fourth appearance at Italian "Women In Jazz" festival

Linda Presgrave and Stan Chovnick in Frascati, Italy

Pianist, composer and St. Louis expat Linda Presgrave last month performed a concert in Frascati, Italy as part of the annual series Donne in Jazz (Women in Jazz), presented by the Italian cultural organization Fondazione Adkins Chiti.

The concert on November 4 was Presgrave's fourth appearance in Frascati. She first played there in 2003 as part of a five-woman ensemble affiliated with International Women in Jazz, and was asked to return to headline her own concert the following year. She and her quartet - which includes her husband, soprano saxophonist Stan Chovnick - returned onve again in 2007.

This year's gig, however, presented some new challenges, starting with just getting out of New York City, where Presgrave has lived since 1998. "We were lucky to make it out of New York since our flight to Rome was only a few days after Hurricane Sandy," she said.

In addition, the series' organizers had some new budget limitations this time around. "In the past I have played there with my whole quartet, but because of economic constraints in Italy we were fortunate to even go as a duo, and then needed to add a bassist in Italy."

That bassist turned out to be Euphemia Mascolo, who already was working with the presenting organization. "Euphemia was a wonderful bassist," said Presgrave. "The only problem was that she did not speak any English, and my Italian is very very very limited."

"I did not know until I arrived that (she) did not speak English but I was prepared in case she did not. I had emailed the lead sheets to Euphemia, which, as they are bass parts, they are not that much help until you actually play together," she said. "Also, with jazz of course the lead sheet is basically a guide - a vehicle for you to play over. And the pieces were not "standards" - (they were) all original and unfamiliar music written by women jazz artists."

Though the producers had a translator standing by, as it turned out, all Presgrave, Chovnick and Mascolo really needed to pull the music together was a little extra rehearsal time. "Of course musical terms being in Italian - that helps, and then what little bits of Italian I could put together from my Italian/English dictionary - we made it," said Presgrave.

In keeping with the theme of the festival, Presgrave performed a program of music all written by women composers. "One of the highlights was performing my composition "Rome" for an Italian audience," she said. The trio also performed Presgrave's "Place Picasso," "Colors of Collioure," and "Asakusa View (for Japan)," as well as works by Anat Cohen, Allison Miller, Gloria Cooper, Andrea Brachfeld and Renee Rosnes.

"The one great thing about music is that it is a truly universal language all of its own," said Presgrave. "We played to a packed house and sold out all the CDs that we brought to Italy, which is terrific considering that the music we performed is not that familiar to American audiences, much less European audiences."

Jazz this week: Boney James, Linda Presgrave, Good 4 the Soul, Mardra & Reggie Thomas, and more

It's summer, a time when not only is the livin' purported to be "easy," but also a time when smooth jazz musicians take to the road and free concert series in local parks and elsewhere are in full swing. Here's what's going on this weekend with jazz and creative music in St. Louis:

Tonight, the Mardra and Reggie Thomas Quartet open this summer's series of free concerts at O'Fallon Park on the North Side.

On Thursday, saxophonist Boney James (pictured) continues his "comeback tour" at Ameristar Casino's Bottleneck Blues Bar. For more about James (who's recovering from a serious auto accident that happened in May) plus some video samples of him in action, check out this post from last Saturday.

Also on Thursday, pianist, composer and St. Louis expat Linda Presgrave returns to her hometown to lead a quintet and kick off the summer Jazz at Holmes series of free concerts at Washington University; and the Funky Butt Brass Band will do a free concert at St. Louis Place Park for the Whitaker Urban Evenings series.

On Friday, the jazz/funk/R&B ensemble Good 4 The Soul returns to Jazz at the Bistro to begin a two-night stand, while the Terry Green Quartet plays at Robbie's House of Jazz.

On Saturday afternoon, trumpeter and vibes player Joe Bozzi will lead his quintet in the latest in a series of twice-monthly matinees at The Sands, a neighborhood spot in Shrewsbury just outside the city limits; and the Nu-Art Series will present the second in a summer series of concerts spotlighting vocal jazz, with singer Felicia Ezell doing the music of Ella Fitzgerald in a matinee at the Metropolitan Gallery, 2936 Locust St. downtown.

For more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, 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.)

Jazz at Holmes series announces summer schedule

The Jazz at Holmes series of free concerts at Washington University has announced the lineup for this summer's series, which has been dubbed "Jazz in July."

The series will feature four shows, starting with the concert by pianist Linda Presgrave and her quintet on Thursday, July 9 that we told you about here a couple of weeks ago.

Guitarist Tom Byrne and his quartet will perform on Thursday, July 15, followed by drummer Maurice Carnes and friends on Thursday, July 22. Guitarist Chris Burchett (pictured) and his quartet will wrap up the summer series on Thursday, July 29.

All concerts are free and open to the public, and begin at 8:00 p.m. in Holmes Lounge, which is located in Ridgley Hall, on the west side of Brookings Quadrangle near the intersection of Brookings and Hoyt drives.

Linda Presgrave to open Jazz at Holmes summer series on Thursday, July 8

Pianist, composer and St. Louis expat Linda Presgrave (pictured) sends word that she'll be returning home to play a free concert kicking off the summer Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University on Thursday, July 8.

Presgrave, who now lives in NYC, will be joined by her husband Stan Chovnick on soprano sax, along with trumpeter Randy Holmes, bassist Dave Troncoso and drummer Jim Guglielmo.

The Jazz at Holmes concerts take place from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. most Thursdays while school is in session. Holmes Lounge is located in Ridgley Hall on the west side of Brookings Quadrangle, near the intersection of Brookings and Hoyt drives. The concerts are free and open to the public.

Presgrave's missive is the first info StLJN has gotten on this summer's Jazz at Holmes series, but when the complete schedule is announced, we'll have it for you right here.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Linda Presgrave plays "Rome," plus Danita Mumphard and Trio Trés Bien's "A House Is Not A Home"

Since this weekly feature is often used to preview touring artists who will be performing soon in St. Louis, it's been a while since we've presented any videos from musicians with more substantive local connections.

Let's address that situation today, starting up above with a video from pianist, composer, and St. Louisan-turned New Yorker Linda Presgrave. This performance of her composiion "Rome" was recorded on February 25 of this year at the NYC jazz club Iridium. Presgrave is on piano, with Harvie S on bass, Allison Miller on drums, Stan Chovnick (who's also Presgrave's husband) on soprano sax and Todd Herbert on tenor sax. Although she's now based in NYC, Presgrave gets back to St. Louis a couple of times a year; her most recent performance here was last week for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington Unviersity.

Down below, we have a clip of singer Danita Mumphard and longtime St. Louis favorites Trio Trés Bien with their take on "A House Is Not A Home" from a performance in October 2007 at the Missouri History Museum. The connection between Mumphard and Trio Trés Bien is familial as well as musical; she's the daughter of bassist Harold Thompson, and the niece of drummer Howard Thompson and pianist Jeter Thompson. They can be heard performing at various spots around town, including the St. Louis Jazz Cafe.

Jazz this week: Peter Brötzmann, St. Louis Stompers, Linda Presgrave, "Simply Sinatra," Adaron "Pops" Jackson, and more

Whether you like your jazz to be old-school, modern or free-form, there's something for you this weekend somewhere around the St. Louis area. Here's a brief look at the local jazz and creative music highlights for the next several days:

Tonight, the St. Louis Stompers will perform traditional New Orleans-style jazz in a free concert for the Whitaker Music Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Tomorrow night, the summer Jazz at Holmes series gets underway with a free concert by pianist, composer and St. Louis expat Linda Presgrave, who will perform with a quintet including her husband, saxophonist Stan Chovnick, and trumpeter Randy Holmes.

Friday brings the Jazz to the Wall Festival to the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center, featuring the Full Blast Trio with legendary German free jazz saxophonist Peter Brötzmann (pictured), drummer Marino Pliakas and electric bassist Michael Wertmueller. Brötzmann and Full Blast will perform at 7:00 p.m., with a separate show featuring Yowie, Aleuchetistas and Upsilon Acrux at 9:00 p.m. This week's Riverfront Times has a brief preview story by Paul Friswold on the Brötzmann show, which you can read online here. For some video samples of Brötzmann's work, see this previous post.

Also on Friday, pianist Adaron "Pops" Jackson of Good 4 The Soul opens a two-night run at Jazz at the Bistro. Though G4TS is known for mixing jazz with funk, R&B and other genres, word is that Jackson's gig this weekend will feature a quartet playing straight-ahead jazz. Friday is also when the Sheldon Art Galleries will host a free opening reception for its summer exhibits, including the extension of the "Visions of Sound" exhibit of musical instruments.

On Saturday, singer Steve Lippia will perform his tribute show "Simply Sinatra" with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra at Powell Symphony Hall.

Then on Sunday, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents pianist Michael Lacey and his New Orleans Swing at the Bel-Air Bowl in Belleville, and singer Erin Bode and her band will perform in a free outdoor concert at Sunset Park in Festus.

As usual, time and space constraints mean that these are just some of the notable performances happening over the next few days; for more listings of jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar.

(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.)

Jazz at Holmes annnounces summer schedule

The Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University has announced its schedule of free concerts for summer 2009.

Pianist and former St. Louisan Linda Presgrave and her quintet will kick off the series at 8:00 p.m., Thursday, June 11, with concerts to follow on subsequent Thursdays through July 23 (except July 2). .

Other performers for summer 2009 will include pianist Curt Landes, the Legacy Jazz Quintet, trumpeter and singer Dawn Weber (pictured), trombonist Wayne Coniglio and pianist Nathan Jatcko. Here's the complete schedule:

Thursday, June 11: Linda Presgrave Quintet
Thursday, June 18: Curt Landes
Thursday, June 25: Legacy Jazz Quintet
Thursday, July 9: Dawn Weber
Thursday, July 16: Wayne Coniglio
Thursday, July 23: Nathan Jatcko Quartet

All Jazz at Holmes concerts are free and open to the public. Holmes Lounge is located in Ridgley Hall, on the west side of Brookings Quadrangle, near the intersection of Brookings and Hoyt drives. For more information, call Sue Taylor at 314-862-0874 or send email to staylor@wustl.edu.

Linda Presgrave featured on "The Jazz Room"

This just in: Pianist, composer and St. Louis expat Linda Presgrave (pictured) will be the featured artist on the Internet radio program "The Jazz Room" starting at 6:00 p.m. EDT tonight, Wednesday, May 27. Among other topics, Presgrave will discuss her interest in women jazz composers and her most recent CD Inspiration.

"The Jazz Room" is a weekly program that presents the music of independent jazz artists through the Web site www.cyberstationusa.com. Programs are archived on their site for two weeks after the initial airing. To listen, follow the link, then click on the tab "The Shows". Scroll down the page, and you'll see a listing for "The Jazz Room" that lets you choose "This Week" or "Last Week" to stream the program.

Notes from the Net: Miles' sartorial style, the "Purdie Shuffle" celebrated, Bennett and Evans re-released, plus news, reviews and more

Here's the latest 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:

* As longtime StLJN readers know, whenever possible we like to start these news roundups with something about Miles Davis, and this week brings a couple of items indicating Davis' celebrity beyond the musical world.

Specifically, the trumpeter and East St. Louis native was just named a "Style Icon" by AskMen.com: "In 1965, the legendary jazz critic and Esquire style writer George Frazier dubbed Davis "The Warlord of the Weejuns" in the liner notes of a greatest hits collection. A hell of a nickname, even if no one knew what it meant."

Also, Davis' most famous album Kind of Blue apparently turned up last week on the British TV drama Coronation Street, during a scene in which one character lauds the album's timeless quality.

* A track from pianist, composer and St. Louis expat Linda Presgrave's latest CD Inspiration was featured this week on Jazz.com's "Song of the Day".

* Via Blogcritics.com, here's a review of John Zorn: Tradition And Transgression by John Brackett, the new book analyzing the music and ideas of the saxophonist, composer and conceptualist (who once studied at Webster University here in St. Louis).

* Opening the "coming attractions" file, the New York Times had a review of a recent duet performance by John Pizzarelli and his wife, singer Jessica Molasky, at NYC's Birdland. Pizzarelli will be here in St. Louis in two weeks as one of the guest artists for the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival.

* The Concord Music Group will release the Complete Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Recordings on April 14th. The two-CD collection includes all of the music originally issued on the two albums Bennett and Evans recorded together, plus two bonus tracks and alternate takes from both sessions. Bennett will return to St. Louis to perform at the Fox Theatre on Friday, May 8.

* From PopMatters.com, another review of Returns, the live CD from Return to Forever's 2008 reunion tour, which stopped at the Fox in June.

* An article in the New York Times celebrates Bernard Purdie's signature groove the "Purdie Shuffle" on the occasion of Purdie (pictured) joining the pit band of the revival of the Broadway musical Hair. St. Louis listeners (and drum fanboys) got a rare chance to scope out Purdie in person when he played here last fall at Jazz at the Bistro with the Godfathers of Groove.

* Illness forced Dave Brubeck to bow out of an historic concert performance scheduled for Friday night at his alma mater, the University of the Pacific, in Stockton, CA. Brubeck, 88, was hospitalized with a viral infection and was unable to travel for a scheduled performance of his classic 1959 album Time Out at UOP. The concert went on, with Brubeck's eldest son Darius Brubeck filling in for his father. Brubeck, who played the Sheldon last fall, is under observation at a hospital in Connecticut, but is expected to make a full recovery.

* Finally, a couple items of more general interest, starting with Wynton Marsalis, who was one of several well-known musicians who went to Washington D.C. last week to lobby Congress for more arts funding: "Marsalis said it's critical for the nation to reevaluate its priorities during the financial crisis to ensure the best aspects of U.S. culture aren't lost to younger generations because of scarce funding. The acclaimed trumpet player said he learned key lessons about jazz when he was young by playing with some of the original members of Duke Ellington's band."

* And, last but not least from Marsalis' home town, a hopeful but still cautious report on the state of jazz in New Orleans in 2009.

Notes from the Net: Ian Carr mourned, Linda Presgrave reviewed, Eric Person on the road, plus news, reviews and more

Here's this week's compilation of news and links related to jazz, improvisation, and creative music in St. Louis, including musicians from the Gateway City, recent visitors, and coming attractions - now with even more boldfacing!

* Alas, the only significant Miles Davis-related link this week is to the sad news that the British jazz trumpeter and writer Ian Carr died this past Wednesday at age 75. Long considered one of the top trumpet players on the British scene, Carr wrote a well-regarded biography of Miles and was influenced significantly by Davis' music. His band Nucleus made some fine electric jazz/fusion recordings that still hold up well today. R.I.P., Mr. Carr.

* On a much happier note, here's a review of pianist and St. Louis expat Linda Presgrave's new CD Inspiration, via AllAboutJazz.com, which says, in part: "Whether performing original compositions or a cover, Presgrave and her accompanists are in top form...Inspiration doesn't just honor musicians "who happen to be women"; it is music for its own sake."

* Saxophonist and St. Louis native Eric Person (pictured) and his band Meta-Four will be in the Quad Cities on March 15 to play the Third Sunday Jazz Matinee & Workshop Series at the Redstone Room in Davenport, IA, and they got a nice writeup in the local paper, which you can see online here.

* The Ars Nova Workshop in Philadelphia just presented the second part of their tribute to alto saxophonist, composer and former St. Louisan Julius Hemphill at Philly's World Cafe. The concert featured Hemphill's music for big band and sax sextet, as performed by a big band including multi-reedman and St. Louis native Marty Ehrlich.

* DJ and blogger LeRoy "The JazzCat" Downs was one of the hosts of the recent Playboy Jazz Cruise, produced by St. Louis-based Jazz Cruises LLC. You can read his account of the voyage, which included St. Louis' own Peter Martin and Montez Coleman among the many musicians on board, and see lots of photos - all rated "SFW - Safe For Work," in case you were concerned about the potential presence of scantily clad Bunnies - here.

* Turning to the "coming attractions" file: Percussionist Gino Robair will be in St. Louis on Saturday to perform at Forest Park Community College - see this post for details - but before he gets here, he'll be visiting Detroit on Tuesday to play a gig with Marko Novachcoff, Joel Peterson, Piotr Michalowski, Mike Khoury and James Cornish at the Kerrytown Concert House.

* Guitarist Mike Stern, who will be in St. Louis from April 29 to May 2 with the Yellowjackets to play at Jazz at the Bistro, recently co-led a gig at NYC's Iridium with saxophonist Kenny Garrett, who, like Stern, worked with Miles Davis in the latter part of the trumpeter's career. You can read a review of the Stern/Garrett show here.

* Catching up with news of recent visitors, it seems that Martino Unstrung, the documentary about guitarist Pat Martino that was shown here in St. Louis last November during the St. Louis International Film Festival, is finally getting a New York premiere on March 15 at the Rubin Museum of Art, Martino himself was in St. Louis last month to play at Jazz at the Bistro.

* And while still on the subject of musicians that have recently played at the Bistro, veteran pianist Cedar Walton, who played the club last fall, just did a sextet concert at the Kumble Theater on Long Island University's Brooklyn campus, which was reviewed for the New York Times by Nate Chinen here.

* Chinen and the NYT this past week also did an article on pianist Jason Moran (who did a concert at the Missouri Museum here in St. Louis last October) and his participation in this weekend's 50th anniversary tribute to Thelonious Monk's landmark Town Hall concert. For more on the Monk tribute concert, see this post from Doug Ramsey's Rifftides.

* Last but not least, many of those who caught Return to Forever's reunion tour when they played the Fox Theatre last June may be glad to know many of the shows on the tour were recorded, resulting in a new RFT live album called Returns that will released on March 17.

Notes from the Net: Gary Bartz on Miles Davis; more on Kind of Blue's 50th anniversary; plus news, reviews, and more.

It's time for this week's compilation of news and links related to jazz in St. Louis, including musicians from the Gateway City, recent visitors and coming attractions - plus assorted other items of interest:

* Here's another review of the deluxe 50th Anniversary edition of Miles Davis' landmark album Kind of Blue, from AllAboutJazz.com's Jeff Stockton, and, from Blogcritics, a review of the two-CD "Legacy" edition of KoB, which includes two discs of music but omits the 12" box and the fancy book.

* Ben Ratliff of the New York Times reviews a Jazz at Lincoln Center concert paying tribute to KoB and John Coltrane's Giant Steps, another jazz milestone that's also 50 years old in 2009: "The albums don’t need respectful glosses, performances that harden them into the status of luxury goods; they need challenging and taking apart. And Thursday night’s concert at Rose Theater, built around the albums (and repeated on Friday), did that rather elegantly."

* On another Davis-related note, the Jazz Video Guy (a.k.a. Bret Primack) recently posted an interview with Gary Bartz in which the veteran saxophonist talks about his time as a member of Miles' ground-breaking electric ensemble. You can see it in the embedded video window at the bottom of this post.

* Pianist and St. Louisan-turned-New Yorker Linda Presgrave (pictured) has a new CD, Inspiration, which features interpretations of songs from female jazz composers. Read a review here.

* St. Louis native, singer, dancer and actress Josephine Baker figures prominently in "The Jazz Century," a major exhibition opening next month in Paris that examines the influence of jazz on artists ranging from Baker to the Dutch modernist painter Piet Mondriaan.

* Saxophonist, composer and one-time Webster University student John Zorn is heading west in March for a run of shows at Yoshi's in San Francisco.

* The Bad Plus, who opened 2009 here at Jazz at the Bistro, recently were featured on the National Public Radio program "Jazz Set with Dee Dee Bridgewater." Also, from the Jazz and Blues Reviews blog, here's another review of their new CD For All I Care.

* With the St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival officially "on hiatus" for 2009, yr. humble editor's thoughts occasionally are wandering to the notion of how a resurrected St. Louis fest might be improved. Perhaps we could learn something from the Detroit jazz festival, a free event held every year over Labor Day weekend that will celebrate its 30th anniversary by commissioning a major new work about the city and its jazz legacy from its 2009 artist-in-residence, bassist and composer John Clayton. The Detroit fest is also making an effort to hire more local musicians and to involve other arts groups in town, two things I've repeatedly encouraged St. Louis' festival organizers to do. Read all about it here.

* Despite the efforts of Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) to bar any funding for the arts from the economic stimulus bill currently before the U.S. Congress, we learn via Alex Ross' The Rest is Noise that the final version of the legislation will indeed include $50 million in additional money to preserve jobs and programs at arts institutions that may be hurt by the economic downturn. As composer, bandleader and blogger Darcy James Argue notes here, score one for the good guys.

Jazz this week: Zappa Plays Zappa; Wine, Dine and Jazz Festival; Erin Bode; Trombone Shorty; Gary Dammer; Linda Presgrave; and more

It's a busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with concerts, a free festival, and club gigs that will offer something for musical tastes ranging from traditional jazz to mainstream to seriously warped.

Speaking of warped, for yr. humble editor, a confirmed Zappaphile since my teens, the highlight of the next few days will be the return of Zappa Plays Zappa to The Pageant on Monday evening. Based on the band's 2006 appearance at the same venue, I can heartily recommend the ZPZ show to anyone who enjoys, or just is curious about, Frank Zappa's music. Along with the core band led by Frank's eldest son Dweezil, the special guest on this year's tour is singer-guitarist Ray White, so expect at least a portion of the show to be devoted to FZ's output from the 1980s, when White was a mainstay of his touring ensemble. However, the 2006 tour successfully incorporated music from just about every period of Zappa's long and diverse career, and I'd look for a similarly varied mix this time around as well.

That said, there are plenty of other noteworthy shows happening this week, starting this evening when singer Erin Bode (pictured) opens the 2008 Whitaker Music Festival series of free concerts at the Missouri Botanical Garden. It's a busy week for Bode, whose new CD The Little Garden will be available for the first time anywhere at tonight's show. She's also appearing at the Cabaret at Savor on Thursday, and will be doing concerts on Friday and Saturday at the Innsbrook Music Institute with her band and members of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.

If your taste runs more toward straight-ahead swing, veteran St. Louis trumpeter Gary Dammer, best known for his long-running big band, will lead a small combo dubbed the I-70 Jazz Connection in performances on Friday and Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro .

To sample a varied musical menu in a single outing, check out the first-ever Wine, Dine and Jazz Festival, which will take place on Saturday in and around the square in downtown Belleville, IL. The free event starts at 11:00 a.m. and runs until 9:00 p.m., featuring performances by the Craig Russo Latin Jazz Project, Anita Rosamond, Good 4 The Soul, Brian Owens, the Nathan Jatcko Trio, Phil Dunlap's Legacy Jazz Quintet, Mary Dyson, John Farrar & Straight Eight, and the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars student ensemble.

Also on Saturday, New Orleans brass man Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews brings his funk band Orleans Avenue to the Broadway Oyster Bar, and pianist and St. Louis native Linda Presgrave returns home from her current base in NYC to lead her quartet in a performance at Cookie's Jazz and More.

Last but not least, on Sunday the St. Louis Jazz Club will present the traditional jazz sounds of pianist Jean Kittrell's Old St. Louis Levee Band in a show at the Moolah Shrine Center, 12545 Fee Fee Rd.

For more St. Louis jazz-related events this weekend and beyond, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar.

(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.)

Linda Presgrave returning to play at Cookie's on Saturday, June 7

Pianist Linda Presgrave, a St. Louis expatriate now living in NYC, will return to her hometown on Saturday, June 7 to perform at Cookie's Jazz and More. Presgrave will be joined on the gig by her husband Stan Chovnick on soprano sax, plus a St. Louis rhythm section comprised of Dave Troncoso on bass and Jim Guglielmo on drums.

Although she moved to New York in 1998, Presgrave has made regular return visits to St. Louis, including several previous appearances at Cookie's. Presgrave has a special interest in performing and promulgating the work of female composers, and she and her band recently were one of two American groups featured in an Italian concert series dedicated to women in jazz. Presgrave will have a new CD titled Inspiration on the Metropolitan Records label later this year.

Notes from the Net: More reviews of Miles Davis' On The Corner box set, a thankful Clark Terry, and more

Once again, it's been a while since our last compilation of St. Louis jazz-related news and assorted musical items of interest from all over the Internet. So, let's not waste any time...

* First, here's another extended analysis of Miles Davis' Complete On The Corner Sessions box set, plus more reviews here, here and here.

* And via eMusic, here's a review/essay by Kevin Whitehead about Miles' early 1960s quintet and the recently issued recording Live at Monterey Jazz Festival 1963 .

* In other Miles-related news, Toronto trumpeter Nick "Brownman" Ali recently produced a five-week series of Miles Davis tribute concerts exploring music from different periods of Miles' career.

* Another St. Louis trumpet great, the venerable Clark Terry (pictured), recently performed with the Jim Cullum Jazz Band on public radio's "Riverwalk" program as part of a Thanksgiving special.

* Ssxophonist and St. Louis native Greg Osby got some local press in Nashville as a result of his recent residency at Middle Tennessee State University.

* Pianist and composer Linda Presgrave, another St. Louisan turned New Yorker, was back in the Gateway City earlier this month to play at Cookie's Jazz and More, and she's now giving NYC audiences a preview of the same material, which she'll perform on an upcoming tour through Italy.

* Former Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra "creative conductor" Marin Alsop continues to make news as the new musical director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, with a feature in the New York Times and one in Baltimore's City Paper.

* Turning to coming attractions, the Bad Plus, who will be in St. Louis at Jazz at the Bistro during the first week of January2008, are pretty newsworthy themselves, with an interview and performance on NPR affiliate WBGO in Boston; from be.jazz, a review of a gig last month in Belgium; and, from Blogcritics, a review of the latest CD from side project Happy Apple.

* Saxophonist Javon Jackson recently played at NYC's Iridium with a band co-led by pianist Benny Green. Jackson is set to return to the Bistro in January with what's being billed as the "Superband," originally set to feature drummer Jimmy Cobb and pianist George Cables. However, it looks like Jackson, Cobb et al will have to find a replacement for Cables, who's just had double transplant surgery, getting a new liver and kidney. The good news is that the surgery went well and Cables is expected to recover; the bad news is that he'll be laid up for at least six months, whcih means no trip to St. Louis.

* Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, who will be in St. Louis in February to perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall, recently did a "Best of the Big Bands" repertory concert at NYC's Rose Theater, and soon will be performing Duke Ellington's "Nutcracker" at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. They'll offer more Ellingtonia on their Winter 2008 tour, spotlighting some of Duke's love songs.

* Trumpeter Chris Botti is also due in St. Louis early in 2008, with two performances scheduled in January at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. Botti recently did an interview with About.com hyping his new CD Italia, and also was the subject of a recent feature story in the Boston Herald.

* Pianist Michael Wolff, who's playing the Sheldon in February, recently did an interview with AllAboutJazz.com

* Pianist Cyrus Chestnut recently cut a CD of songs associated with Elvis Presley - reveiwed here by Bagatellen - and is doing a show based on the CD at Iridium. Chestnut returns to Jazz at the Bistro on March 7 and 8.

* Catching up with some recent visitors, we find that pianist Mulgrew Miller, who's played the Bistro several times and has recorded for the St. Louis based label MAXJAZZ, recently played Dizzy's Club Coca Cola in NYC and got a very nice review from the New York Sun.

* Bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding, just here last month as an artist-in-residence for Jazz St. Louis, has signed a new record deal with the Heads Up label.

* Saxophonist Josh Redman, who's played St. Louis with his trio and mosre recently with the SF JAZZ Collective, is now working in a trio format and has a new CD, Back East, featuring some of the last recorded performances from his dad, the late tenor saxophonist Dewey Redman.

* Finally, by way of link-dumping a few items of more general interest, my fellow Zappaphiles will be glad be to know that the Frank Zappa family is issuing a DVD of live performances from last year's Zappa Plays Zappa tour as well as a set of live recordings from the Grand Wazoo, Zappa's 1970s big band project.

* Veteran jazz journalist Howard Mandel recently had a nice post on his new blog recently on the influence and enduring importance of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).

* And, in a technological development that could cast many song titles and/or lyrical metaphors in a completely new light, Japanese engineers have come up with a way to build roads that play music as you drive over them. Maybe they can devise one to play Wes Montgomery's "Road Song," or Willie Nelson's "On The Road Again," or (fill in the road-related song title of your choice.)

Jazz this week: Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, Linda Presgrave, Wolfgang Seligo, Paul DeMarinis Group, and more

There's quite a variety of jazz and improvised music on tap in St. Louis this weekend, so let's go right to the highlights, presented in chronological order:

Thursday night offers at least three gigs of note, starting with Austrian pianist Wolfgang Seligo, who's doing a free concert at Washington University as part of the Jazz at Holmes series.

That same evening, pianist Carolbeth True and her son David True, a drummer, are performing at Finale Music and Dining to celebrate the release of their new collaborative CD, Two Times True. Haven't heard the record yet, but Carolbeth True is one of St. Louis' most reliable jazz pianists, and so I'd certainly expect something good from what must have been a labor of love for all concerned.

(As a parenthetical note, while there are plenty of familial collaborations in jazz, the mother-son variety seems relatively rare. I know Alice Coltrane and her son Ravi Coltrane worked together on occasion, but I'm hard pressed to think of any other examples; if you, dear reader, can think of any, please share your information in the comments.)

Thursday is also the night for big band fans to get their fix at the St. Louis Jazz Orchestra's monthly show at Jazz at the Bistro. Here's hoping the SLJO will continue to draw a crowd sufficient to warrant extending their run into 2008.

On Friday and Saturday, the Bistro will host saxophonist Paul DeMarinis' group, who reportedly will be doing a bunch of new music written by DeMarinis. The band includes Debby Lennon on vocals, Dave Black on guitar, Nick Schlueter on piano, bassist Ben Wheeler and Kyle Honeycutt on drums, and though I haven't heard this particular configuration yet, a trusted source tells me they're sounding very good.

Saturday night also brings a couple of touring acts to St. Louis. Singer Lavay Smith (pictured) and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers will perform traditional jazz and swing in a concert at the Sheldon, and pianist Linda Presgrave, a former St. Louisan now based in NYC, returns home for a quartet gig at Cookie's Jazz and More.

Also on Saturday evening, New Music Circle and the St. Louis International Film Festival are presenting a screening of the classic Japanese silent film Jujiro with a live improvised musical soundtrack at the St. Louis Art Mueseum Auditorium.

Then on Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents pianist Jean Kittrell and the St. Louis Rivermen in a concert of traditional jazz at the Moolah Shrine Center in Maryland Heights.

Those are just some of the highlights of a very busy weekend; to see more local jazz-related events, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar.

(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.)

Linda Presgrave returning to Cookie's on November 10

Also from today's mailbag, pianist/composer and former St. Louisan Linda Presgrave droppped a note to say she'll be returning to St. Louis to perform at Cookie's Jazz and More on Saturday, Novmber 10. Presgrave, who left St. Louis in 1998 to move to NYC, will be previewing material that she'll perform on an upcoming Italian tour in conjunction with the "Donne in Jazz" ("Women in jazz") concert series in the cities of Frascati and Rome.

For her St. Louis gig, Presgrave will be joined by her husband Stan Chovnick on soprano sax, Dave Troncoso on bass and drummer Jim Guglielmo, drawing on her own compositions as well as the music of Joanne Brackeen, Bertha Hope, Billie Holiday, Melba Liston and Allison Miller.

Notes from the Net: Nelson and Moran reviewed, Krall interviewed, and more

* Mosaic Records has a new box set compiling big band sessions led by the late saxophonist, composer and arranger Oliver Nelson, and AllAboutJazz.com has a review here.

* Pianist, composer and St. Louis native Linda Presgrave recently performed at the NYC club Iridium as part of a showcase for her label, Metropolitan Records.

* Pianist Jason Moran (pictured), who will appear at Jazz at the Bistro from January 30 - February 2, 2008, recently performed at NYC's Jazz Standard. Read the New York Times' review of Moran's gig here.

* Diana Krall is coming to St. Louis' Fox Theatre on August 29 as part of her first tour since the birth of her twins last year, and the Boston Globe recently interviewed her about music, motherhood and assorted other topics. Read the article here.

Jazz this week: Norah Jones, Linda Presgrave, Erin Bode, St. Louis Jazz Orchestra, and more

While last week's calendar was dominated by distinguished gentlemen such as Ahmad Jamal and Freddie Cole, this week's lineup of jazz-related events in St. Louis finds the spotlight shining on some talented female musicians.

It all starts this evening, when pop-jazz-country vocalist and pianist Norah Jones (pictured) and the Handsome Band take the stage at the Fox Theatre in Grand Center. If you're a big fan of Jones, you've probably already got your tickets, but if not, it appears as if Metrotix still has at least a few seats available.

Just across Grand Avenue, Jazz at the Bistro is featuring some homegrown musicians this week, starting with the monthly appearance by Saint Louis Jazz Orchestra directed by Jim Widner and featuring vocalist Mardra Thomas on Thursday night. Then on Friday and Saturday, the seemingly ever-more-popular Erin Bode returns to the Bistro once again for two shows each night.

But not all the musical action is in Midtown this weekend, as pianist, composer and St. Louisan-turned New Yorker Linda Presgrave returns to her hometown to perform on Saturday night at Cookie's Jazz and More in Webster Groves. Over in University City, Brandt's has Gaslight Square veterans Hugh "Peanuts' Whalum on Thursday and Mae Wheeler on Sunday, plus the R&B-flavored duo of vocalist Anita Jackson and keyboardist Jeremiah Allen (a fine singer in his own right) on Saturday.

Beyond the weekend, saxophonist Tim Cunningham will play next week's Twilight Tuesday show at the History Museum in Forest Park. (No word yet as to when Denise Thimes' Twilight Tuesday show, originally set for yesterday but postponed due to rain, will be rescheduled. Watch this space for further updates.)

As usual, you can see a more extensive list of the week's jazz-related events by visiting the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar. And, as is also usual during the first week of the month, schedule information is still coming in from various bands and venues, so the calendar likely will be getting several updates over the next few days. If you don't see a current listing for your favorite venue or musician, you'll find direct links to dozens of local jazz-related sites over on the sidebar.

(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. No attachments, please.)