Sunday Session: February 7, 2021

Femi Kuti

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

* The Autobiography of Phil Woods: April in Paris 1968 (Jazz Times)
* Spotify’s latest invention monitors your speech, determines your emotional state… and suggests music based on it (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* YouTube says music artists' income could fall if it must pay more for streams (The Guardian)
* Tony Bennett's Battle With Alzheimer's (AARP.org)
* Mississippi Delta: The root of the blues in photos (Nashville Tennessean)
* Playlist: Haitian Rhythms And The Music Of New Orleans (NPR)
* The Velvet Mafia: the gay men who helped shape music in the 60s (The Guardian)
* Different beat: how Fela Kuti’s son and grandson are modernising the dynasty (The Guardian)
* A Time For The Blues (DownBeat)
* The Greatest and Yacht-iest of the Doobie Brothers, According to Michael McDonald (Vulture.com)
* Got the blues? Listen to these 25 essential Mississippi Delta blues songs (Beauregard Daily News)
* Revisiting the Tender Sounds of Dusty Springfield (The New Yorker)
* Mozart did not consider himself a tortured genius (Christian Science Monitor)
* Ben Sidran: The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma (Nardis) (Jazz Times)
* Here’s Where You Can Donate to Help Struggling Music Industry Workers (Rolling Stone)
* How pianist Jason Moran is exploring art and Black influences to get through the pandemic (NBC News)
* The Last Remaining Juke Joints in America (SPIN)
* Planning for the Future of Van Gelder Studio (Jazz Times)
* Danny Ray, James Brown’s Longtime ‘Cape Man’ and Emcee, Dead at 85 (Rolling Stone)
* STEAL THIS PLAN (AntiGravityMagazine.com)
* Ma Rainey’s Blues Power (Tidal.com)
* Hermosa Beach’s Lighthouse Cafe plans to reopen in March under new ownership (Hermosa Beach Daily Breeze)
* Music Venue Owners And Artists Reflect On How The Pandemic Changed Their Industry (NPR)
* How Black Composers Shaped the Sound of American Classical Music (NPR)
* You might know the Bakersfield Sound, but how well do you know the Lakeview Sound? (KGET)
* Béla Fleck’s Journey To Find Truth In Origins Of The Banjo (WBUR)
* How the US Civil War Influenced Music (History.com)
* While Hollywood Had the Sunset Strip, East L.A. Had the ‘Latin Strip’ (LATaco.com)

Sunday Session: May 31, 2020

Jimmy Cobb

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

* Jimmy Cobb, The Pulse Of 'Kind Of Blue,' Dies At 91 (NPR)
* Drummer Jimmy Cobb Dies at 91 (DownBeat)
* Anthony Davis’s Revolutionary Opera: “X” (The New Yorker)
* Superb-Lee: A JazzTimes Tribute to Lee Konitz (1927–2020) (Jazz Times)
* From Germany to Detroit and back: how Kraftwerk forged an industrial exchange (The Guardian)
* Little Richard statue to be built outside musician’s childhood home (NME.com)
* 'Like a tap being turned off': music magazines fight for survival in UK (The Guardian)
* The Many Faces Of Housekeeping: How Wealth & Privilege Are Distorting Underground Music (TheQuietus.com)
* 'Milli Violini': I was a fake violinist in a world-class miming orchestra (The Guardian)
* A Guide to the Mind-Bending Jazz of François Tusques (Bandcamp.com)
* Add some township jive! How London's jazz scene set itself apart (The Guardian)
* John Medeski Demonstrates Startling Adaptability (DownBeat)
* How Rahsaan Roland Kirk Modified Jazz (Jazz Times)
* Covid Confidential: Ben Goldberg’s Notes From a Pandemic (San Francisco Classical Voice)
* Amazon, Facebook, and Instagram Are Each Launching Music-Tech Projects (Rolling Stone)
* Premiere: Watch A Video For ‘Desert Song,’ The Debut Single By Vocal Group säje (DownBeat)
* ‘Those Were Memorable Times. But I Don’t Want to Live There.’ Reggie Workman played with John Coltrane, won a Guggenheim at 82, and is tired of Zoom (Vulture.com)
* CM von Hausswolff curates seven sound installations for the web (The Wire)
* Why Public Musicology Matters (21cm.org)
* Michael McDonald: A Conversation in Lockdown Times (American Songwriter)
* Utility player (Rochester City Paper)
* The fast life of Buddy Featherstonhaugh (TheBlueMoment.com)
* Jimmy Cobb 1929–2020 (Jazz Times)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Jazz St. Louis announced this week that they'll be live-streaming online video of selected performances this season at Jazz at the Bistro.

According to a news release, "the series will highlight four artists from the 2017-18 performance season through pre-recorded videos hosted by local jazz pianist Peter Martin and live-streaming activities of the programs which will be available on the Jazz St. Louis website, Facebook page and Ustream".

Featured performances to be streamed include Yellowjackets (pictured) on Friday, September 22; Sammy Miller and the Congregation on Friday, October 27; The Bad Plus on Friday, January 19; and Sean Jones Quartet on Friday, March 2.

* The Alton Jazz and Wine Festival, set for tomorrow at the Riverfront Amphitheater in Alton, is the subject of a preview story in St. Louis magazine.

* Former St. Louisan Mark Deutsch, now living in California, has released The Picasso Tunings, a set of four related albums featuring the Bazantar,  the instrument he invented that combines acoustic bass and sitar. You can hear the new recordings, plus a newly remastered version of Deutsch's first solo album Fool, on his BandCamp page.

* The Gaslight Cabaret Festival was previewed by the West End Word.

* Applications for the latest round of Regional Arts Commission's Artist Support Grants are open now through Thursday, October 12. Grants are available from $500 to $3,000 to artists from all disciplines for a variety of purposes. For more info or to apply, go to https://racstl.org/grant/artists-support-grants/.

* Megan Kirk's cabaret show "Out of My Head," performed last week at The Stage at KDHX, was reviewed for the station by Chuck Lavazzi.

* Wide Open, the forthcoming album from singer, keyboardist and St. Louis native Michael McDonald, features guest performances from several well-known jazz musicians including Robben Ford, Marcus Miller and Branford Marsalis.

It's McDonald's first record of original material since 2000's Blue Obsession and is scheduled for release next Friday, September 15, but you can hear the whole thing now via an online stream from NPR Music’s “First Listen.” McDonald will support the release with a fall tour than includes a stop here on Friday, November 3 at Peabody Opera House.