So What: Local, News & Notes

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

* Saxophonist David Sanborn (pictured) has released a new episode of his "Sanborn Sessions" online video series with bassist Marcus Miller as his featured guest, plus drummer Billy Kilson and pianist Geoffrey Keezer.

* Jazz St. Louis is one of 16 independent music venues across the country that this week received a grant from the Live Music Society. The grants, which range from $10,000 to $50,000, are intended to help smaller venues stay financially viable as the music industry attempts a post-pandemic restart.

* STLtoday has posted an album of photos from the Galactic shows last weekend at The Big Top.

* St. Louis Public Radio's Jeremy Goodwin has written a story reporting on the reopening plans of local concert venues including The Sheldon, The Pageant, The Big Top, and others.

* Mikie Sellers, the impresario behind the new "Jazz and Cars" outdoor concert series on the grounds of Gateway Classic Cars in O'Fallon, IL, was interviewed on FOX 2's morning newscast.

* An article by Mark Beckford on TheGrio.com looks at the ultimately unsuccessful effort to preserve St. Louis native Josephine Baker's famed cabaret in Paris.

* DePaul William "Willy" Smith, who played saxophone with the Original Knights of Swing, the Meramec Jazz Lab Band, and other groups around town, has died at age 90.

* JAZZIZ magazine's "The Week in Jazz" column for this week has a couple of St. Louis mentions, noting the announcement of the "Music at the Intersection" festival and previewing a track from keyboardist Michael Silverman's forthcoming album.

* Radio station Classic 107.3 will raise funds next month with "Classical Cocktails," an online event to be held on Sunday, June 13. The festivities will include dinner and cocktails from Salt + Smoke, plus music from pianists Orli Shaham and Dominic Cheli, the Pro Arte Quartet, the Arianna String Quartet, and violinist David Perry. For more info or to make a reservation, visit https://classic1073.org/classical-cocktails/.

* As reported by the Post-Dispatch's Steph Kukuljan, a company called Gateway Studios LLC has announced plans to acquire 32 acres of land just north of the Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield to build an $88 million facilty for music, video and film production. Gateway Studios, which currently operates in Pennsylvania, will seek both tax incentives and publically financed bonds to help pay for the project.

Sunday Session: February 28, 2021

Archie Shepp

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

* The music world’s awakening to women and Black composers will be game-changing (Philadelphia Inquirer)
* Elliot Mazer, Legendary Producer/Engineer, Dead at 79 (Pro Sound News)
* Stevie Wonder explains why he’s moving to Ghana permanently (RollingOut.com)
* Dave Liebman: Placing Free Jazz and the Avant Garde in Musical and Historical Perspective (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Impulse! Records Makes Plans for 60th Anniversary (Jazz Times)
* No drone unturned: tracing the sound that unites ancient and modern (The Guardian)
* Bands rally to help as jobless roadies turn to food banks (The Guardian)
* Wallace Roney: The Man with the Horn (Jazz Times)
* Fay Victor’s Improvisational ‘Survival Toolkit’ (DownBeat)
* “Thankful for Everything”: A Conversation With Sergio Mendes (Tidal.com)
* Will Matthews: Keepin’ Freddie’s Legacy Alive with The Basie Orchestra (JazzGuitarToday.com)
* Exclusive interview: John Williams on composing for film, his concert work – and the Vienna Philharmonic (Classical-Music.com)
* From John Lennon to The Rolling Stones: Andy Warhol’s 20 greatest album covers (FarOutMagazine.co.uk)
* Archie Shepp on jazz, race and freedom: 'Institutions continue to abuse power' (The Guardian)
* Paula West's "Great American politic" (SFJAZZ.org)
* On Being Black: How Gamble & Huff Turned a Dream into Destiny (Billboard)
* The 50 Greatest Philadelphia International Songs (Billboard)
* Take A Look At The Jazz Legacy Of South Central LA (LAist.com)
* Loss and Grief in the Jazz Community (Jazz Times)
* How the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians Shaped Jazz in the Bay Area (San Francisco Classical Voice)
* A Further Exploration of the Many Sun Ra Albums on Bandcamp (Bandcamp.com)
* JazzTimes 10: Best Ghost Performances by Jazz Musicians in Films (Jazz Times)
* Moving Foward: A Conversation with Marcus Miller (Part One) (PostGenre.org)
* Captain Beefheart: a guide to his best albums (LouderSound.com)
* Vijay Iyer And A New Trio Reflect On The 'Uneasy' Past And Present (NPR)
* Influential: Charles McPherson’s Playlist (KPBS)
* Mapping Jah Wobble’s Interdimensional Dub (Bandcamp.com)
* On a Positive Note, Pandemic Piano Sales Are Booming (KQED)
* ‘Record companies have me on a dartboard’: the man making millions buying classic hits (The Guardian)

Jazz this week: "Double Vision Revisited," Emily Wallace & Adam Maness Trio, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features a homecoming gig for one of the most famous jazz musicians ever to come from this area, plus a number of noteworthy performances from local players and singers. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, August 7
Singer and multi-instrumentalist Tonina Saputo performs in a free concert to close out this year's Whitaker Music Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden, making up for her date that was rained out earlier this summer.

Also on Wednesday, the weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" includes trumpeter TJ Muller and friends at The Stage at KDHX, the jam session led by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and Farshid Etniko at The Dark Room.

Thursday, August 8
Singer Cheri Evans and CEEJazzSoul return to the Chase Club in the Chase Park Plaza Hotel, and saxophonist Kendrick Smith brings his trio to The Dark Room.

Friday, August 9
Singer Emily Wallace (pictured, bottom left) teams up with pianist Adam Maness' trio for the first of two nights at Jazz St. Louis; the Midwest Jazz-tette plays West Coast-style "cool" jazz at Evangeline's; and drummer Steve Davis' band, featuring singer Feyza Eren, performs at the Ozark Theatre.

Elsewhere around town, percussionist Herman Semidey and Son Montuno play salsa, Latin jazz and more at The Dark Room; and the Schlafly Tap Room presents a three-band bill of improvising musicians, featuring the duo of guitarists Shane Parish and Wendy Eisenberg, Apathist! with guitarist Chris Trull and violinist Alex Cunningham, and bassist Darin Gray.

Saturday, August 10
The St. Louis Jazz Club presents their monthly jam session matinee, hosted by pianist Bob Row and drummer John Gillick at J P's Corner; singer Wendy Gordon and friends will perform in a matinee at Hwy 67 BBQ; and keyboardist Andrew Stephen's Texturz will play the late show at The Dark Room.

Sunday, August 11
Music choices with brunch this Sunday include Miss Jubilee at Evangeline's and Janet Evra at The Dark Room. Later that afternoon, guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran plays at Alpha Brewing Company, and singer Chuck Flowers returns to BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

Monday, August 12
Dizzy Atmosphere plays vintage swing and Gypsy jazz at The Shaved Duck, and singer-impressionist Dean Christopher and his "Rat Pack and More" show return to One 19 North Tapas & Wine Bar.

Tuesday, August 13
The "Double Vision Revisited" tour, featuring saxophonist and former St. Louisan David Sanborn, pianist Bob James and bassist Marcus Miller (pictured, top left), comes to the Sheldon Concert Hall.

For more about Sanborn, who just celebrated his 74th birthday last week, plus some videos of live performances of music from the Double Vision album,  check out this post from last Saturday.

Also on Tuesday, mandolinist Knez Jakovac and his quartet plus guest vocalist Janet Evra will perform at the Gaslight Theater.

For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. You also can keep up with all the latest news by following St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes or clicking the "Like" icon on the StLJN Facebook page.

(If you have calendar items, band schedule information, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Celebrating David Sanborn

This week, our video spotlight shines on alto saxophonist and former St. Louisan David Sanborn, who celebrated his 74th birthday this past Tuesday, July 30 and will be coming back home to perform on Tuesday, August 13 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

The date is part of the "Double Vision Revisited" tour, for which Sanborn is being joined by keyboardist Bob James and bassist Marcus Miller, his two collaborators on the 1986 album of the same name, for a series of gigs performing Double Vision in its entirety. (Drummer Billy Kilson and guest vocalist Larry Braggs will complete the ensemble.)

And so, to celebrate both Sanborn's birthday and his upcoming visit, this post collects live versions of some of the music from Double Vision, starting up above with "Maputo," the Marcus Miller song that leads off the album and has been a staple of Sanborn's live sets ever since.

This version was recorded in 2013 at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Netherlands, when Sanborn and James were touring in support of their Quartette Humaine album with bassist James Genus and drummer Steve Gadd.

After the jump, you can see a version of "More Than Friends," another Marcus Miller tune that's the second track on Double Vision, recorded during another Quartette Humaine show in 2013, with Scott Colley subbing on bass for Genus.

Next, you can see Sanborn and the late Al Jarreau performing the standard "Since I Fell For You," using what's basically the Double Vision arrangement, on an episode of Showtime at the Apollo that looks to be from the mid-80s around the time the album was released.

That's followed by a version of Sanborn's tune "It's You," recorded in the late '80s at the Soul Train Awards Show by an all-star band featuring Sanborn, James, George Duke, and George Benson.

Then it's back to the current century for "You Don't Know Me," the last track on Double Vision, seen here in a version recorded at the 2008 Tokyo Jazz Festival by a band including Sanborn, James, Harvey Mason on drums, Ricky Peterson on keyboards, Larry Carlton on guitarm and Nathan East on bass.

Lastly, since there seem to be no videos of live versions of "Moon Tune" and "Never Enough" - the remaining two tracks on Double Vision - available online, today's sixth and final video is a complete Sanborn show recorded in April, 2015 in Budapest, with a band including Peterson, guitarist Nicky Moroch, bassist Andre Berry, drummer Chris Coleman, and guest saxophonist Jan Prax.

You can hear Sanborn talking about the "Double Vision Revisited" tour in this interview broadcast last week on Los Angeles radio station 94.7 The Wave, and you can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

David Sanborn, Bob James and Marcus Miller to perform Tuesday, August 13 at The Sheldon

Saxophonist and former St. Louisan David Sanborn, keyboardist Bob James and bassist/multi-instrumentalist Marcus Miller (pictured) are joining forces for a summer tour that will include a stop on Tuesday, August 13 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

The "Double Vision Revisited" tour is named after Sanborn and James' 1986 album Double Vision, which also featured Miller on bass. The album sold more than a million copies and won the 1987 Grammy Award for "Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental," with the performance of "Since I Fell for You" also earning a nomination for guest vocalist Al Jarreau in the category "Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male."

On the "Revisited" tour, Sanborn, James and Miller will perform the Double Vision album in its entirety, with former Tower of Power singer Larry Braggs on hand to do the vocals and drummer Billy Kilson completing the ensemble.

Tickets for "Double Vision Revisited" at The Sheldon will be priced from $44 to $80 and will go on sale this Friday, May 17 via Metrotix and the Sheldon box office.

Edited 5/9/19 to correct the ticket on-sale date.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* In their ongoing series of features about the best record stores in every state, VinylMePlease.com has named Vintage Vinyl (pictured) as the "Best Record Store in Missouri."

* As part of a group of "in memoriam" articles in the March issue of Jazz Times, saxophonist Oliver Lake offered a poetic tribute to his late friend and bandmate Hamiet Bluiett. Lake performs tonight at Xavier Hall on the St. Louis University campus.

* Trumpeter Terence Blanchard, in town last weekend for a series of events promoting the premiere of his opera Fire Shut Up In My Bones later this year at Opera Theatre of St. Louis, was interviewed by Don Marsh of St. Louis Public Radio.

* Also on St. Louis Public Radio, singer Beverly Brennan was interviewed about her cabaret show "Love and Marriage," which she'll perform tonight at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

* Pianist Peter Martin's Open Studio has posted to YouTube a full-length video of last week's concert featuring guitarist Romero Lubambo, pianist Helio Alves, drummer Edu Ribeiro, and bassist Bob DeBoo.

* Voting in St. Louis magazine's annual "A-List" poll is now open, and while there are no jazz-specific categories, you can cast a ballot for your favorite music venues, festivals, and more here.

* Two former Miles Davis sidemen are getting attention for new projects paying tribute to their old boss, as saxophonist Dave Liebman was interviewed in DownBeat about his new album re-visiting Davis' music from On The Corner, while multi-instrumentalist/producer Marcus Miller was featured in Parade magazine for two Davis-related concerts this month at Jazz at Lincoln Center..

* Phil Dunlap, who has run education and community outreach programs for Jazz St. Louis for the past 12 years, is leaving the organization to take a new job as director of cultural affairs for Broward County, FL, running that county's equivalent to the Regional Arts Commission. Dunlap will depart JSL at the end of April; there's been no announcement yet about a successor.

Sunday Session: May 13, 2018

Professor Longhair

Here's a roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* How Avant-Garde Legend Cecil Taylor Inspired Idris Ackamoor’s Psychedelic Jazz (Bandcamp.com)
* Q&A: Former Times critic Robert Hilburn on writing about Paul Simon and the struggle to protect artistry (Los Angeles Times)
* The art of writing the perfect lullaby (QZ.com)
* 1920s to Now: Comparing Tonal Balance in Popular Music (Izotope.com)
* Healdsburg Fest ‘Spiritually’ Important for California  (DownBeat)
* Benny Golson, Matt Wilson, Maria Schneider Are Among the Winners of the JJA Awards (WBGO)
* 'It is a significant moment in the history of the music industry': Air Studios up for sale (Music Week)
* Jazz Giants Take The Stage At The NEA Jazz Masters Listening Party (NPR)
* Pipa Virtuoso Wu Man Brings Ancient Chinese Music To The Present (NPR)
* Johnny Cash's 'At Folsom Prison' at 50: An Oral History (Rolling Stone)
* Why Spotify Will Never Make Money (Fortune)
* TIDAL accused of deliberately faking Kanye West and Beyoncé streaming numbers (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Jazz Conversations — Azar Lawrence (WGBH)
* Do the major labels know something about Spotify that Wall Street doesn’t? (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Outsiders Festival a Showcase for Tacuma (DownBeat)
* Blue Note Documentary Screens at Tribeca Film Fest (DownBeat)
* Digital Jukeboxes Are Eroding the Dive-Bar Experience (The Atlantic)
* The Bad Plus: The Band That Never Stops (NPR)
* Bright Moments with Bassist Ron Carter (Jazz Times)
* Kinetic Improvisation - The guitarist Mary Halvorson’s music is exhilarating, unapologetically smart, and unspoiled by phoniness or pretense (The Nation)
* The Still-Burning Piano Genius of Professor Longhair (The New Yorker)
* Whole lotta debt: can Gibson guitars strike a chord again? (The Guardian)
* In Buffalo, hip-hop and jazz have formed a beautiful union (Buffalo News)
* Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival Builds on the City’s History (DownBeat)
* [Photo Essay] Jazz Fest 2018: Late Night Ventures (Offbeat)
* Marcus Miller Hosts ASCAP Panel at ‘I Create Music’ Expo (DownBeat)
* iHeartMedia Still Owes Artists $16.4 Million. Now, It Wants to Pay Itself $108 Million in Bonuses (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* R+R=NOW to Release Debut Album in June - All-star sextet led by Robert Glasper blends multiple genres on "Collagically Speaking" (Jazz Times)

Sunday Session: September 24, 2017

Trombone Shorty

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

* Not Just Jazz: Inside Concord Music's Buying Spree (Billboard)
* Forget Carnegie Hall. Musicians rush to rural Colorado to play the Tank (Los Angeles Times)
* Have we reached peak Hans Zimmer? (The Guardian)
* How Fela Kuti Drummer Tony Allen Rediscovered His Jazz Roots (Rolling Stone)
* Marcus Miller: The Multi-Faceted Musician (Jazz Times)
* Monterey Jazz Festival 2017: Story of Some Grooves (Jazz Times)
* ‘Cash Me Outside’ Girl Signing Marks The Official Split of the Music Industry (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* We Are Never Getting Back Together: How Avoiding a Reunion Can Secure a Band’s Legacy (ConsequenceOfSound.net)
* Ravi Coltrane brings ‘Love Supreme’ to SFJazz (San Jose Mercury News)
* Why the star of California Symphony’s next concert looks like vacuum cleaner (San Jose Mercury News)
* Mary Hallock Greenewalt’s Illuminated Music (RedBullMusicAcademy.com)
* Can Music Heal Trauma? Exploring the Therapeutic Powers of Sound (Pitchfork.com)
* Remembering Grant Hart, 1961-2017 (City Pages)
* Concord Music Buys Savoy Label Group, Adding Jazz Recordings From Coltrane, Davis And Parker: Exclusive (Billboard)
* Harmonies That Welcomed Imagination—Remembering John Abercrombie (1944-2017) (New Music Box)
* Songs Of Discomposure: Quietus Writers Pick Their Most Disturbing Pieces Of Music (TheQuietus.com)
* Ann Richards: Dreams Have a Way of Fading (Jazz Times)
* Trombone Shorty Is Big On New Orleans, Music Education & Rap (Grammy.com)
* The 50 Best Jazz Singers Of All Time (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* 'An All-Around Musician': Steely Dan Guitarists Share Their Experiences of Working With Walter Becker (Billboard)
* Genres Blur & Swirl in Monterey’s ‘Big Tent’ (DownBeat)
* The Song That Never Ends: Why Earth, Wind & Fire's 'September' Sustains (NPR)
* Notes from the Custerdome: A Jazz Appreciation of Steely Dan (New Music Box)
* Deep Dive with Lewis Porter: The Inspiration(s) Behind John Coltrane's "Impressions" (WBGO)
* A Frank Zappa Hologram Is Going on Tour (Guitar World)
* Esperanza Spalding Talks Recording an Album in 77 Hours, Sexism in Music & Nicki Minaj (Billboard)
* Ageless Corea & Gadd Dazzle at Blue Note in NYC (DownBeat)
* Pete Turner, Photographer with an Eye for Color and an Ear For Jazz, Dies at 83 (WBGO)
* Soul Singer Charles Bradley Dies at 68 (Billboard)
* Charles Bradley Remembered: A Great Soul Man Who Found the Light in Darkness (Billboard)

Miles on Monday: Thirty years of Tutu, Don Cheadle profiled, and more

This week in Miles Davis news:

* Citing his work on Miles Ahead, the feature film about Davis that will be released in April, Variety magazine last year named Don Cheadle one of 10 "directors to watch" in 2016, and now has followed up with a profile of Cheadle.

* Meanwhile, the imminent screening of Miles Ahead this month at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT prompted some personal reflections on Davis from a columnist for Park City's local paper, the Park Record.

* In two separate posts, Jazz Profiles' James Herrod republishes and comments on the liner notes of the reissued Davis album 'Round About Midnight Revisited and the box set The Complete Miles Davis and John Coltrane on Columbia, 1955-1961.

* This week in Miles Davis history: Thirty years ago this week on January 5, 1986, Davis went into the recording studio for the first session for what would become Tutu, the Marcus Miller-produced album (pictured) released in December of that year.

Jazz this week: Marcus Miller, Jonah Parzen-Johnson, Pamela Rose's "Wild Women of Song," Jazz Edge Big Band, and more

There's lots going on in jazz and creative music this week in St. Louis, and so you don't miss out, here's a special early edition of our weekly highlights post...

Tuesday, June 16
Tonight, bassist Marcus Miller and his band return to St. Louis to begin a three-night stand continuing through Thursday at Jazz at the Bistro.

Miller, also known for his production work on behalf of musicians including Miles Davis and David Sanborn, is on tour promoting a new album, Afrodeezia. As the title suggests, the recording adds some African and "world music" flavors to Miller's usual stew of funk and jazz elements.

For more about that, plus videos of performances of music from Afrodeezia, see this post from a week ago Saturday. And for even more, Miller (pictured, top left) talked with Calvin Wilson of the Post-Dispatch for a brief preview story about the gig.

Also tonight, baritone saxophonist Jonah Parzen-Johnson will be in town to perform at Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave. You can find out more about him and see some examples of his electronically augmented solo performances in this post from last Saturday.

Wednesday, June 17
Singer Joe Mancuso will be this week's featured performer for the Whitaker Music Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden; Cabaret Project St. Louis presents their monthly "Open Mic Night" at Tavern of Fine Arts; and guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran plays at Nathalie's.

Update - 1:30 p.m. 5/16/15: Due to rain saturating the grounds of the Missouri Botanical Garden, Joe Mancuso's concert has been postponed until next year. Instead, Mancuso and band will play a free show starting at 7:30 p.m. at Thurman Grill.

Thursday, June 18
Guitarist Dave Black and friends, including featured vocalist Feyza Eren, will perform at Nathalie’s; and pianist Brad Ellebrecht and singer Diane Vaughn will play a duo show at Tavern of Fine Arts.

Friday, June 19
The trio of bassist Bob DeBoo, saxophonist Dave Stone, and drummer Montez Coleman will perform for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro; and the Jazz Edge Big Band presents "A Tribute to St. Louis Saxophonists" at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, with guest performances from Eric Person (pictured, center left) as well as the Bosman Twins, Willie Akins and Paul DeMarinis.

Also on Friday, the St. Louis Big Band will present "Tap + Jazz," featuring tap dancer Tommy Wasiuta performing with the band, at Casa Loma Ballroom; and Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to the Backstreet Jazz & Blues Club in Westport.

Saturday, June 20 
The Old Rock House presents their second annual "Summer Gras," an all-day event with music from New Orleans' Dumpstaphunk, with Ivan Neville on keyboards, plus Austin, TX funk band Mingo Fishtrap, singer-songwriter Marc Broussard, the Funky Butt Brass Band, and more. 

Elsewhere around town, trumpeter Jim Manley and friends - singer Charlie B, keyboardist Arthur Toney, guitarist Randy Bahr and drummer Joe Weber - return to Nathalie's; guitarist Todd Mosby and cellist Traci Andreotti will greet the summer solstice with a duo performance at Seedz Café; and Gypsy jazz band Franglais hosts a late-night jam session at Evangeline's.

Sunday, June 21
San Francisco-based singer Pamela Rose (pictured, lower left) makes her St. Louis debut with a benefit performance of her show "Wild Women of Song” at the Ferring Jazz Bistro.

Monday, June 22
Rose presents a free performance of "The Life and Music of Etta James" at the  Emerson Performance Center on the campus of Harris Stowe State University; and singer Dean Christopher reprises his "Rat Pack & More" show at One 19 Tapas and Wine Bar.

For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. You also can keep up with all the latest news by following St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes or clicking the "Like" icon on the StLJN Facebook page.

(If you have calendar items, band schedule information, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Marcus Miller's Afrodeezia

This week, we're spending a little screen time with the multi-talented Marcus Miller, who's coming to St. Louis to perform Tuesday, June 16 through Thursday, June 18 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Miller, generally regarded as one of the top electric bassists in jazz, hasn't played here that often as a bandleader - he previously performed at the Bistro in September 2012 - but local music fans certainly know his work, thanks in no small part to his credits as producer and composer on significant recordings by hometown jazz heroes Miles Davis and David Sanborn.

Of course, Miller is known just about everywhere for his work with a host of other major jazz, funk and R&B artists, which includes playing, writing and/or producing with Bob James, Herbie Hancock, Luther Vandross, Wayne Shorter, Chaka Khan, and many others. He's also done film scores, and had a hand a few pop hits for Vandross, Khan, and, perhaps most infamously, the go-go band E.U., for whom Miller wrote the distinctively funky number "Da Butt."

Miller and Sanborn recently reunited in the studio for the first time in 15 years to record the saxophonist's latest album, and the ever-prolific Miller also has a new recording of his own out this year. Afrodeezia was released in March as his debut for Blue Note, and today we've got some videos featuring some of the music from that album.

The first video up top is the performance part of a promotional film Miller recorded recently for the bass string-maker Dunlop, and features the tunes "Hylife" and "B's River" from Afrodeezia.

After the jump, there's a brief promotional trailer, with Miller talking about the album plus some brief snippets of music, followed by a full version of "Son Of Macbeth," also from Afrodeezia.

Next up is a full live set recorded in April of this year at the Olympia in Paris, featuring Miller and an expanded version of his band performing most of the material from the album. (The video was shot from the audience, resulting in some of the usual compromises to visual quality, but the audio is good and being able to see an entire set definitely gives a better sense of the overall flow.)

The final two videos today are full shows recorded since Miller was last here in St. Louis, but before the release of Afrodeezia. Both shows feature some of Miller's better-known tunes, but in different musical settings - first with his regular band in March 2013 at the Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival, and then with the Metropole Orkest during the Edison Jazz/World Awards 2013 Gala at the Frits Philips Music Centre in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

For more about Afrodeezia and Marcus Miller, check out this interview he did a couple of weeks ago on The Tavis Smiley Show.

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

Miles on Monday: Wayne Shorter speaks out, Amandla turns 26, and more

This week for "Miles on Monday," some recent news items related to the legendary trumpeter:

* In a new interview with Billboard magazine, saxophonist Wayne Shorter (pictured) discusses topics including his relationship with Davis as a member of the trumpeter's "second great quintet."

* With the 89th anniversary of Davis' birth coming up next Tuesday, saxophonist Gary Bartz and drummer Al Foster - both ex-sidemen of Davis' - will join trumpeter Eddie Henderson for a series of tribute gigs this weekend at the NYC club Smoke.

* Visual artists opening a new exhibit in London, citing the influence of Davis' album of the same name, have titled their show "In a Silent Way."

* Today is the 26th anniversary of the release of Davis' album Amandla, his third and final recording with bassist/composer Marcus Miller serving as producer. (The others were Tutu in 1986 and the soundtrack to the film Siesta, issued in 1987.) Amandla also features some keyboard work from the late George Duke and a very young Joey DeFrancesco, who had just turned 18 years old when the record came out.

You can listen to all the tracks from the album by clicking on the embedded YouTube playlist below.

Marcus Miller to perform June 16-18 at Jazz at the Bistro

Bassist, multi-instrumentalist and producer Marcus Miller is coming to St. Louis to perform Tuesday, June 16 through Thursday, June 18 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Miller (pictured) will be touring in support of his latest album Afrodeezia, which is his first release in a new deal with the Blue Note label. He appeared in St. Louis most recently in September 2012 at the Bistro.

Miller will play two sets per evening, at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Tickets for the shows are priced at $45, $15 for students, and will go on sale to Jazz at the Bistro subscribers starting Wednesday, March 25, and to the general public starting at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, April 1.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The June episode of HEC-TV's I Love Jazz premiered last night on the St. Louis based cable network, featuring an interview with and performance by singer Marlena Shaw (pictured). The program airs at 8:00 p.m. Thursday and Sunday nights - see your TV provider's guide for channel information - and also can be seen online.

* Live at the Sunset, saxophonist Oliver Lake's new album with Trio 3, was reviewed by Jazz Times magazine's David Whiteis.

* In an interview with DownBeat magazine, Sony engineer Mark Wilder explained the process of remastering classic Miles Davis LPs for reissue.

* And on a related note, Davis' album Milestones was discussed by bassist Marcus Miller for a brief "One LP" feature at AllAboutJazz.com.

* Here are two different photo sets from the Funky Butt Brass Band's show on Wednesday at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

* Champion, the new work by trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard that premieres next week at Opera Theatre St. Louis, is previewed briefly by CultureKiosque.

* The late pianist Mulgrew Miller's St. Louis connections were the subject of a brief article by the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson. Also, NPR this week compiled a tribute to Miller, which can be heard online here. Funeral services for Miller, who died a week ago after suffering a stroke, will be held today near his home in Easton, PA.

* Speaking of Wilson, his radio program "Somethin' Else'" at 8:00 p.m. this Saturday on Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis will preview Sonny Rollins' concert on June 22 at the Touhill. (UPDATE: Jazz St. Louis this morning announced that Rollins' show was being cancelled due to the saxophonist's health issues. See this post for details.)

Right after that at 9:00 p.m., Jason Church's "The Jazz Collective" will feature tracks from the musicians playing at next weekend's Chesterfield Jazz Festvial, as well as music from Fourplay, Arturo Sandoval, Chieli Minucci, Nat King Cole, John Klemmer and Lou Donaldson. Both programs can be heard over the air at 107.3 FM, on HD radio at 96.3 HD2 and online at http://rafstl.org/listen/.

* Then on Sunday, just a short distance up the radio dial, the "Jazz Unlimited" program on KWMU (90.7 FM) will feature the 10th part of Dennis Owsley's audio documentary history of St. Louis jazz. This final segment covers the late 2000s to the present day, and will feature tracks from more than 30 current local St. Louis musicians and bands, plus interviews with Carolbeth True and Jim Widner.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Today is saxophonist Oliver Lake's 70th birthday, and Lake (pictured) is celebrating with a weekend of shows at NYC's Jazz Standard.

* Drummer Montez Coleman was profiled for the St. Louis Beacon by Terry Perkins.

* Saxquest has posted on their Facebook page a photo album from Sunday's performance and clinic by Bob Sheppard.

* And speaking of photo sets and Facebook, the St. Louis Big Band has posted some pictures from their gig last Saturday at Chesterfield Amphitheater.

* Are drummer Dave Weckl and keyboardist Jay Oliver, who first collaborated as up-and-coming musicians here in their hometown of St. Louis, getting ready for a new project together? Weckl this week teased the possibility by posting this photo to his Facebook page.

* Trumpeter, singer and U City native Jeremy Davenport was interviewed last week by News Orleans' WWNO radio. Davenport will be back in St. Louis at least twice during the 2012-13 presenting season - at Jazz at the Bistro for Thanksgiving weekend, and again in February at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

* While he was in town earlier this week to play two nights at Jazz at the Bistro, bassist Marcus Miller also stopped by the studios of local Fox affiliate KTVI for a short interview.

* And speaking of the Bistro, a recent article from the St. Louis Examiner on the website of CBS Radio affiliate KMOX named the club as one of the "Top Places for Rekindling Romance in St. Louis."

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* St. Louis' FOX affiliate KTVI had two jazz-related stories during this past Wednesday's local newscasts. The St. Louis Big Band (pictured) and singer Joe Mancuso were featured in a performance segment, and Jazz St. Louis executive director Gene Dobbs Bradford was interviewed about JSL's new season. The StLBB performs this Saturday evening at Chesterfield Amphitheater; Jazz St. Louis' season opens on Sunday with Marcus Miller at Jazz at the Bistro.

* And speaking of Marcus Miller, the bassist talked about picking cover songs for his new album Renaissance in an interview with the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson, which can be viewed online here.

* This also is the opening weekend for the Sheldon Art Galleries' new Al Hirschfeld exhibit, which focuses on the famed caricaturist and St. Louis native's interest in jazz and Broadway; see the stories by the St. Louis Beacon's Nancy Fowler and the P-D's Calvin Wilson for details.

* Also from the Post, Peter Martin shares some background about the piece he's writing for the Sheldon's 100th anniversary via what looks to be an email to Johnson; and book editor Jane Henderson has word that a 1962 Playboy magazine interview with Miles Davis is the first to be offered by the magazine for purchase in the Kindle ebook format.

* Ragtime pianist and composer Scott Joplin, who once lived in St. Louis, and Kansas City's renowned saxophonist and bebop pioneer Charlie Parker are among the latest inductees into the Missouri Music Hall of Fame in St. Joseph.

Jazz this week: Marcus Miller, Bob Sheppard, tributes to Horace Silver and the Blue Note sound, and more

It looks to be a nice weekend in St. Louis, weather-wise, and there's also a nice selection of live jazz and creative music available in local venues as the fall presenting season begins.

And speaking of seasons, tonight Jazz St. Louis will have their first-ever public "season preview party" at Jazz at the Bistro. (They've had similar events before for subscribers, but this is designed to give even Bistro novices a chance to get a feel for the room and the music.) The free event will feature a multimedia presentation on the organization's schedule for 2012-13 at the Bistro and Touhill Performing Arts Center, along with complimentary hors d’oeuvres, water and tea, plus a cash bar. Though the RSVP deadline has passed, you can find out if there any spots still available by contacting JSL's Devin Rodino at 314-289-4030 or devin@jazzstl.org.

Also tonight, there are jazz jam sessions on both sides of the Mississippi River, with guitarist Tom Byrne hosting at Highway 61 Roadhouse in Webster Groves and drummer Paul Shaw taking the lead at the Cigar Inn in Belleville.

Tomorrow night, trumpeter Randy Holmes leads a tribute to Horace Silver at Robbie's House of Jazz; saxophonist Tim Cunningham will be back at Jazz on Broadway; and Shaw will front a quartet featuring saxophonist Kristian Baarsvik, bassist Bob DeBoo and vibraphonist Tom Rickard at Cigar Inn.

Also on Friday, Lindy Hop St. Louis presents the first in a series of monthly swing dances at the Mahler Ballroom in the Central West End, with lessons followed by live music for dancing from The Sidemen.

In addition, it's also is the first day of the St. Louis Art Fair in Clayton, which usually presents some musical acts of interest to jazz listeners, starting this year with a main-stage set on Friday from multi-instrumentalist Lamar Harris.

Saturday's lineup includes the student ensembles Jazz in Outer Space and the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars on the Forsyth stage, and smooth jazz/fusion band The Freedom on the main stage. The festival closes on Sunday with music including Wack A Doo and Le Jazz Hot on the Forsyth stage, and The Poor People of Paris and the Usual Suspects on the main stage.

Also on Saturday, the St. Louis Big Band with singer Joe Mancuso will play at the Chesterfield Amphitheater.

On Sunday afternoon, saxophonist Bob Sheppard will be at Saxquest for a free performance, demonstration and clinic. Sheppard, a Los Angeles-based studio veteran who also has toured and recorded with Steely Dan and many other major rock, jazz and pop acts, will perform an informal concert with bassist Chris Watrous and drummer Drew Weiss. The program also will showcase products from MACSAX, manufacturers of a line of saxophones and saxophone mouthpieces that includes Sheppard-endorsed mouthpieces for alto and tenor. MACSAX reps will be on hand to answer questions and offer mouthpiece consultation and re-facing work.

Then on Sunday evening, Jazz St. Louis kicks off their 2012-13 season with the first of two evenings featuring bassist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Marcus Miller (pictured) at Jazz at the Bistro. Though Miller was here in August 2011 with David Sanborn and George Duke at the Touhill, his gig at the Bistro is, so far as we can tell, his first small-club appearance here in St. Louis. Hardcore fans of the bassist - who, among his many accomplishments, wrote and produced what many listeners and critics consider to be Miles Davis' last great recordings - no doubt already are salivating at the chance to see him work up close in the intimate space of the Bistro instead of a theater or auditorium.

Miller's eighth studio album as a leader, Renaissance, was released last month on the Concord label. (You can hear some abbreviated samples from the album here.) For more on that, check out Miller's recent interview with the blog Alternate Takes. And for some video samples of the bassist and his band in action, see this StLJN post from a week ago Saturday. (A couple of the videos originally included in the post have since been removed from YouTube; I'll be trying to find replacement versions, and if successful, will update ASAP.)

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday, in addition to Miller's second night at the Bistro, the Webster University Faculty Jazz Ensemble will present their first concert of the season, "Cool Struttin': Soulful Sounds from Blue Note Records," at Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus; and the Sessions Big Band will play their monthly gig at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

On Tuesday, vocal octet Java Jived and pianist Carolbeth True's group Two Times True will team up to present a program called "All American Jazz in Remembrance of 9/11" at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Also on Tuesday, BB's has guitarist Dave Black and his band in the early evening slot, followed by saxophonist Jim Stevens' group.

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.)

(Edited after posting to add info on the Lindy Hop St. Louis event. Edited again to fix typos.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A Marcus Miller marathon

This week, we've got a whole lot of video featuring bassist Marcus Miller, who's coming to St. Louis to play Sunday, September 9 and Monday, September 10 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Miller, now 53, has been an in-demand player, producer and composer on the national and international music scene since his early twenties, working with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Luther Vandross, David Sanborn, and many others, as well as maintaining a solo career. He was in St. Louis most recently last August, performing with Sanborn and George Duke at the Touhill, and his eight studio album as a leader, Renaissance, was released last month on the Concord label. (You can hear samples from the album here.)

To help whet your appetite for Miller's gig at the Bistro - his first ever in a intimate club setting here - today we've got video of five different complete concerts and a master class featuring him, totaling more than eight and half hours worth of footage.

The first video up above was released on DVD in 2010 under the title Marcus Miller - Power Of Soul, and captures a complete performance from 2007. Down below, you can see video of Miller's set from 2008 at the jazz festival in Lugano, Italy.

After that, there's a concert Miller recorded for the German TV program Ohne Filter, which is undated on YouTube but appears to be from the early or mid-2000s.

Below that is a set recorded in 2007 in Amsterdam, and then a concert from the Knitting Factory in Los Angeles that was released on a DVD called Marcus Miller - Master of all Trades.

Last but not least, there's a master class that Miller presented as part of the Bass Day 2011 celebration in the UK, in which the bassist he does some playing, answers questions from the audience, and muses about his career to date.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Jazz St. Louis has put online an album of photos from the concert by George Duke, Marcus Milles and David Sanborn on August 7 at the Touhill.

* Writing for the Chesterfield edition of Patch.com, John Hoffman has more about tonight's jazz benefit show for the children of the late police dispatcher Lisa O'Brien.

* Guitarist Todd Mosby (pictured) has just published some new instructional books, Acoustic Guitar Techniques for Songwriters, Volumes 1 and 2, and Classical Guitar for Contemporary Players. For details and ordering information, see Mosby's website.

* Rapper Nelly and local trade school Vatterott College are starting a music recording school in the Laclede's Landing building that formerly housed Nelly's Skybox Sports Bar & Grill.

* A couple of weeks ago in this space, we mentioned that StLJN was one of a number of local blogs with headlines now being aggregated on STLtoday. In addition to listing blogs on the relevant section pages (music, sports, etc.), it turns out there's also a page that displays all the external blog content at http://www.stltoday.com/news/special-reports/blogger-network/.

Review: DMS at the Touhill Performing Arts Center

Much like blockbuster action films and mystery thrillers suitable for beach reading, summer tours by big-name musicians tend to be geared toward providing popular entertainment, not profound artistic statements.

Such was the case with the concert by the jazz "supergroup" DMS on Sunday at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, as George Duke, Marcus Miller and former St. Louisan David Sanborn put on an entertaining, crisply paced two-hour show offering a sampling of familiar material from their respective catalogs, delivered with the expected first-rate musicianship but few real surprises.

The concert, which was presented by Jazz St. Louis, opened with second keyboardist Federico Pena and drummer Louis Cato taking the stage first and starting a stripped-down funk groove. Miller, Sanborn and Duke then made individual entrances, and the groove turned into a version of Sanborn’s “Run For Cover” that featured Duke (pictured) wailing on a guitar-style strap-on keyboard as well as some gritty riffing from Sanborn.

The saxophonist then took the lead for most of the rest of the first half of the show, playing tunes from his songbook including “Straight From The Heart,” “Lisa” and “Maputo,” which Miller wrote for Sanborn and pianist Bob James. Sanborn’s solos were typically concise, but also full of his characteristic verve and blues feel. The band, after a few minor sound adjustments, supplied tight and sympathetic accompaniment, with Duke adding more synth flash to “Straight From the Heart” and Miller soloing effectively on “Maputo” as well.

After an energetic “Chicago Song” that hewed closely to the recorded arrangement, the band stretched out a bit more on a medley of “Cobra,” written by Duke for Miles Davis’ album Amandla, and “Tutu,” penned by Miller as the title track for another Davis album. The latter included the evening’s only brief glimpse of straight-ahead swing, as Miller and Cato played with time feels during an extended solo by the bassist.

Duke followed that by showcasing his falsetto vocals on the slow-jam hits “Sweet Baby” and “No Rhyme, No Reason.” Then it was Miller’s turn once again, as he demonstrated his slapping-and-popping technique on his composition “Blast.” DMS kept the funk going for both the official closing number, Duke’s 1970s hit “Reach For It” and the encore, a version of E.U.’s “Da Butt,” which was written for them by Miller for use in Spike Lee’s movie School Days. At this point, it seemed a little bit like DMS had morphed from a collection of jazz greats into The World’s Most Over-Qualified Funk Cover Band, but most of the audience was having too good of a time to protest.

Random Notes:
* All three of DMS’ principals seemed in a jocular mood, with Duke drawing laughs from the moment he came onstage, just for his facial expressions and body language. While introducing “Lisa,” Sanborn wisecracked that it was finally safe to play the song again, since the statute of limitations on resentment had expired; Duke then turned that around on him during the intro to “Sweet Baby,” noting that at least he’d had the good sense not to name his love song after a specific woman.

* The audience did witness what very well may have been one genuine first, as Miller managed to goad Sanborn into singing a verse of “Da Butt” not once, but twice, to the delight of the hometown crowd and the band alike. However, while Sanborn and the song both escaped relatively unscathed, don’t look for him to cut a vocal album anytime soon.

* Sanborn mentioned that his 91-year-old mother was in the wings watching the show, and after the end of the concert, Mrs. Sanborn came to edge of the stage, peeked out around the curtains for a moment, then walked out a couple of steps on stage and waved, to cheers and applause from the remaining audience members.

Set list:
Run For Cover
Straight To The Heart
Brazilian Love Affair
Lisa
Maputo
Chicago Song
Cobra
Tutu
Sweet Baby
No Rhyme, No Reason
Blast
Reach For It
Encore: Da Butt