Sunday Session: February 9, 2020

Albert Ayler

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

* Interview with Colin Stetson (FilmMusicMag.com)
* The 10 most groundbreaking avant-garde albums of all time (HappyMag.tv)
* 58 Minutes With the Omnivorous Composer Caroline Shaw (Vulture.com)
* Rodney Whitaker Explores Ellingtonia on Latest Disc (DownBeat)
* Michel Camilo: Teller of Tales (Jazz Times)
* Appeals Court Gives Drake a "Fair Use" Win in Sampling Case (Hollywood Reporter)
* Beatles, Rolling Stones Appear in New Chuck Berry Tribute Program (Rolling Stone)
* Myra Melford on Jazz’s Cutting Edge and Improvisation (San Francisco Classical Voice)
* Battle for the bass: the story of Fender and Gibson's fight for low-end supremacy (Guitar World)
* Why are pop songs getting sadder than they used to be? (Aeon.co)
* Jimmy Haslip: Amperes Beyond The BASSics, Part One (AllAboutJazz.com)
* The Overlooked Activist Power Of Marlena Shaw (NPR)
* One Company Now Owns The Only Record Store Chains Left In US, UK and Canada (Hypebot.com)
* Ballaké Sissoko's Kora Dismantled by American TSA (Afropop.org)
* Nights in Brazil: Dianne Reeves & Ivan Lins (SFJAZZ.org)
* Roscoe Mitchell Remembers Joseph Jarman (Jazz Times)
* “Round and Round and Round You Go” (WUSTL.edu)
* A Chronological Roadmap to Albert Ayler’s Almighty Free Jazz (Bandcamp.com)
* John McLaughlin Heads Out on the Road Again (DownBeat)
* Five Questions with Kermit Ruffins on His New 9th Ward Juke Joint (Offbeat)
* “Devastating” Manufacturing Plant Fire Threatens Worldwide Vinyl Record Supply (Pitchfork.com)
* New Company and Video Aim to Keep the Spirit of Roy Hargrove Alive (Jazz Times)
* We'll Soon Be Able To Stream Nina Simone's Late-Career Rarity 'Fodder On My Wings' (NPR)
* Ever-evolving guitar hero Mary Halvorson brings two distinct bands to Minneapolis (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
* This guy now owns Murfie’s nearly 1 million abandoned CDs (TheVerge.com)
* At 91, Charlie Parker protege Sheila Jordan still dedicating her life to the jazz music she loves (Calgary Herald)
* Take one: lost Dave Brubeck tapes reveal jazz hit originally sounded like ‘a bad student band’ (The Guardian)
* Ahmad Jamal on having a ‘spiritual anchor,’ remembering Jimmy Heath and the world beyond the piano (CapitalBop.com)

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.

Jazz this week: Marlena Shaw, Four In One, Cornet Chop Suey, Oikos Ensemble, and more

It's finally spring in St. Louis, and it's Jazz Appreciation Month all over the world, so it's a good week to get out and hear some live jazz and creative music. Here's a look at what's going on around town over the next few days...

Tonight, singer Marlena Shaw (pictured) returns to Jazz at the Bistro for the first evening of a four-night engagement. Known for signature songs such as "Go Away Little Boy" and "California Soul," Shaw performed in St. Louis most recently in 2010, and had been scheduled to appear at the Bistro last spring but had to cancel.

Given those circumstances, it seems likely that there's some pent-up demand among Shaw's local fan base, and so advance reservations are recommended. For more about Shaw and some video of her performing, check out this post that ran before her last set of shows here at the Bistro.

Also tonight, singer Joe Mancuso leads a quartet at Frontenac Grill, and trumpeter Jim Manley plays at Sasha's Wine Bar.

Tomorrow night, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University wraps up for the spring semester with a free concert from Four In One, featuring guitarist Steve Schenkel, saxophonist Paul DeMarinis, bassist Ric Vice and drummer Kevin Gianino engaging in electrified explorations of the compositions of Thelonious Monk. 

Also on Thursday night, Good 4 The Soul will be back serving up jazz, funk and R&B during their monthly gig at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups

On Friday, guitarist Tom Byrne will perform at the Tavern of Fine Arts; the St. Louis Big Band plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will bring swing and jump blues to Voce, and guitarist Dave Black will lead a trio at Cigar Inn.

On Saturday, singer Wendy Gordon and her band will perform for a jazz brunch at Ace's Bar & Grill, 9600 Natural Bridge Rd (inside the Comfort Inn). That evening, Miss Jubilee will endeavor to get the joint jumping at Schlafly Bottleworks, while guitarists Brian Vaccaro and Randy Bahr team up to play at Wolf Public House.

On Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents a matinee performance of traditional jazz and swing from Cornet Chop Suey at Bel Air Bowl, 200 South Belt West in Belleville.

Also on Sunday, just as Cornet Chop Suey is wrapping up, the Oikos Ensemble will be starting a late afternoon performance at Kirkwood United Church of Christ, 1603 Dougherty Ferry Rd. With the group's leader, saxophonist Rev. Cliff Aerie, now based in St. Louis, this is the first of what's projected as a series of "Inner Jazz" concerts sponsored by the church's Ministry of Imagination, Creativity and the Arts. Aerie will be joined for this concert by pianist Carolbeth True, bassist Dave Troncoso, trumpeter Danny Campbell, and drummer Kevin Gianino.

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,) 

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Winter/spring 2013 jazz preview, part 3

Today, it's part 3 of our video preview offering samples of some of the touring jazz and creative musicians who will be coming to St. Louis during the first part of 2013. (Part 1 of the preview is here and part 2 is here.)

Most of the musicians spotlighted in this week's installment may need little introduction to St. Louis jazz fans, as they've all played here at some point in the recent past, some multiple times.

For example, the bassist John Clayton and his son, pianist Gerald Clayton played here as part of the Clayton Brothers Quintet (co-fronted by John's saxophone-playing brother Jeff Clayton) in April 2010 at  Jazz at the Bistro and again in October 2011 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

They're coming back to play as a duo from Wednesday, March 13 through Saturday, March 16 at the Bistro, and though online footage of just the two of them is scarce, we did manage to find the undated clip embedded up above, which features them together playing a medium-slow blues at the 2009 Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy.

The second clip, embedded just below the text, features another duo, pianist Chick Corea and banjo player Béla Fleck. Corea was here most recently with Return to Forever in August 2011 at the Fox Theatre, while Fleck appeared with the reunited original Flecktones lineup in March of this year at the Sheldon.

They'll be playing together in a concert presented by Jazz St. Louis on Saturday, March 23 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. Here you can see them in a clip from 2008, performing "Sunset Road" from their 2007 collaborative album The Enchantment. (It was shot by an audience member, so the video quality is a bit shaky, but the audio is good enough.)

Next, it's pianist Joe Sample, who will lead a trio starting Wednesday March 27 through Saturday, March 30 at Jazz at the Bistro. Sample and singer Randy Crawford performed in 2008 at the now-defunct St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival, and Sample also was here with the reunited Jazz Crusaders in June 2011 at the Touhill. This clip shows him playing "Old Places, Old Faces" with Jay Anderson on bass and Lenny Castro on drums

Trumpet fans and players should relish the combination of Jon Faddis, Terell Stafford and Sean Jones, who will join forces to play on Friday, April 5 and Saturday, April 6 at Jazz at the Bistro. It'll be a rare chance to see these three top trumpeters together on one stage, and all three have headlined their own gigs here in the past few years.

Faddis played St. Louis in 2009 at the Touhill for the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival and again with pianist Cyrus Chestnut in 2011 at the Bistro; Jones headlined at the Bistro in April 2009 and again May 2011, and also did a one-nighter there with Stefon Harris this April as part of the 2012 GSLJF. (You can check out StLJN's previous video features on Jones here and here.)

For his part, Stafford led his own quartet in a week of dates at the Bistro in October (and was the subject then of his own video showcase post). He also played the club in March of this year with drummer Matt Wilson's band Arts and Crafts.

Stafford is shown with Wilson below in today's final clip, but before we get to that, there's Faddis playing "Autumn Leaves" from a 2011 concert paying tribute to Miles Davis at the Prague Castle in the Czech Republic. Below that, you can see Jones working out on "I'll Remember April" in an undated video recorded at Gregory's Jazz in Rome, Italy.

Singer Marlena Shaw is next on the calendar, as she'll be in town the following week to perform Wednesday, April 10 through Saturday, April 13 at Jazz at the Bistro. Shaw last played the club in May 2010, and had been scheduled to return in the spring of 2012, but postponed and was rescheduled for 2013. Here, you can see her performing "Feel Like Making Love" in March 2010 at New Morning in Paris, France. 

We close out today's video preview with clips featuring clarinetist Anat Cohen and drummer Matt Wilson, who will be paired for a gig to open the 2013 Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival on Thursday, April 18 at Jazz at the Bistro. Cohen made her St. Louis debut as a leader in February of this year at the Bistro, and also played the club in 2007 with Waverly Seven; Wilson was here most recently in March for a week-long educational residency with Jazz St. Louis that culminated in a two-night stand with his band Arts and Crafts at the Bistro.

The video of Cohen shows her and her quartet - Jason Lindner on piano, Joe Martin on bass, and Daniel Freedman on drums - playing "As Rosas Nao Falam" from her most recent album Claroscuro. It was filmed in June 2012 at at the Sixth and I Synagogue in Washington D.C..

Today's final clip was recorded during Wilson's last visit to St. Louis, when he and Arts and Crafts (with Stafford on trumpet) also did an in-store performance and clinic at Saxquest. Here, you can see them at Saxquest playing "Beija-Flor" by Brazilian samba singer Nelson Cavaquinho, from their 2001 debut album. Then Wilson talks for a bit before they play his original composition "In Touch With Dewey", first recorded on the 2007 album The Scenic Route.

Next week in this space, the plan is to have more about singer Gregory Porter, who will open 2013 at Jazz at the Bistro, with the fourth and final part of StLJN's winter/spring 2013 jazz preview set for two weeks from today. Stay tuned...















(Edited 12/26/12 to fix a typo and a formatting problem.)

Jazz at the Bistro: Marlena Shaw postponed, Russell Malone & Cyrus Chestnut added

This just in: Jazz St. Louis has announced that due to "circumstances beyond their control," singer Marlena Shaw's upcoming engagement at Jazz at the Bistro, scheduled for Wednesday, April 11 through Saturday, April 14, has been postponed. JSL director of operations and artistic administration Bob Bennett says they're working with Shaw's representatives to reschedule for next season.

Shaw's place on the calendar will be taken by guitarist Russell Malone (pictured) and pianist Cyrus Chestnut's trio. Both have played the Bistro as headliners several times before - Malone most recently in October 2010, Chestnut in April 2011 - but this will be the first time they've teamed up for joint performances there.

Bennett added that "those who purchased tickets for Marlena Shaw may use them for the new shows with Russell Malone and the Cyrus Chestnut Trio (same night/set) or return them to the point of purchase for a refund.”

Tickets for Russell Malone and the Cyrus Chestnut Trio are $30 for Wednesday and Thursday, $35 for Friday and Saturday, $15 for students. Sets are at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

Jazz this week: Marlena Shaw, Will Matthews, Glendale Jazz Festival, and more

If you'd like to hear some jazz as part of your Memorial Day weekend, there are a number of noteworthy shows coming up over the next few days in and around St. Louis. Let's go to the highlights:

The week's best-known headliner is singer Marlena Shaw (pictured), who's in town to perform tonight through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Shaw's music encompasses jazz, soul, R&B, gospel, pop and many other influences; for more on her, and some performance videos, see this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

(Jazz St. Louis is offering a two-for-one special on tickets for Shaw's sets tonight and Thursday, which have a non-discounted price of $30 each. To get the two-for-one discount, call the Jazz St. Louis office at 314-289-4030 and use the coupon code "FC0526.")

On Friday, guitarist Will Matthews, who currently tours with the Count Basie Orchestra, will play at Robbie's House of Jazz, accompanied by Reggie Thomas on organ and Marty Morrison on drums. Matthews has played on numerous recordings with the Basie band, including two Grammy Award winners, and also has performed with many other jazz artists, including Joe Williams, Frank Foster, Benny Carter, Milt Jackson, George Benson, Kenny Burrell, Nancy Wilson, Patti Austin, Tony Bennett, Dianne Reeves, Jimmy Cobb, Hank Jones and Nnenna Freelon.

Also on Friday, the NYC-based blues and boogie-woogie pianist Arthur Migliazza performs at the Foundry Art Centre in St. Charles; and the city of Glendale will present the eleventh annual Glendale Jazz Festival at the Glendale City Hall complex, 424 N. Sappington Rd. Performers at the free event include the St. Louis Stompers and Terry Thompson's Swing Alive Band, with Don Wolff serving as MC.

On Saturday, the Bosman Twins will headline "An Evening of Jazz and Poetry" in the Des Lee Auditorium at the Missouri History Museum, and the Robert Edwards Ensemble celebrates their trombonist/leader's birthday at Robbie's House of Jazz.

Also on Saturday, saxophonist Greg Lewis and Press Play will perform at an outdoor concert dubbed "Jazz On The Lake" at the Grand Marais Lighthouse in Frank Holton State Park, 4500 Pocket Rd. in East St. Louis. Tickets are $10 general admission, $5 for students; call 618-581-6337 for more info.

On Sunday afternoon, singer Denise Thimes will perform and author Ruth-Miriam Garnett will speak as part of "St. Louis as Matrix: Dubois, Garvey and early 20th Century Racial Theory," a free event at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site. Then on Sunday evening, The Nu-Element, which includes trumpeter Keith Moyer, pianist Dave Becherer, bassist Rich Mendoza, and drummer Joe Pastor, plays at Riddle's.

Looking beyond the weekend, Denise Thimes also will be the featured performer at the first Whitaker Music Festival concert of the year next Wednesday at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Marlena Shaw

This week, let's take a look at some clips featuring singer Marlena Shaw, who will be in St. Louis from Wednesday, May 26 through Saturday, May 29 to perform at Jazz at the Bistro.

Shaw first came to wide public attention in the mid-1960s, when she cut her first album for the Cadet label. She's recorded a wide range of material over the years, encompassing everything from jazz, R&B and pop to soul, disco, blues and gospel, and has scored a few hits along the way, including "California Soul," written by Motown hitmakers Ashford and Simpson, and "Go Away Little Boy."

The first female vocalist ever signed to Blue Note Records, where she made five albums and several singles, Shaw also has performed and recorded with the Count Basie Orchestra, Frank Foster’s Loud Minority Band, the Cologne Big Band, the Smithsonian and Seattle Repertory Orchestras, Ray Brown, Benny Carter, Joe Williams and many others.

Today's first clip shows Shaw singing "Go Away Little Boy" at a 2007 performance in Roterdam, The Netherlands. Down below, you can see and hear three clips from Shaw's UK tour earlier this year: "California Soul," from a show in Manchester, England; "Feel Like Makin' Love," from the Birmingham show at the Hare & Hounds; and "Woman of The Ghetto," from a performance at The Caves in Edinburgh. (Note that all of these clips were shot by audience members, so the sound and video quality is variable.)

Last but not least, there's a video interview of Shaw, recorded in Ireland in conjunction with her appearance at the 2007 Electric Picnic music festival. For a more recent interview, check out the latest Jazz St. Louis podcast, which features a chat with Shaw.