So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold was interviewed on St. Louis Public Radio's "St. Louis On The Air" about his new role as artistic advisor for Jazz St. Louis.

* The Post-Dispatch/STLToday has published an "iParty" gallery of photos from keyboardist Dave Grelle's show last Friday at City Foundry.

* A little-heard live audio recording of drummer Phillip Wilson (pictured) from March 1979 in Rome has surfaced on YouTube. The bootleg recording, nearly 2 1/2 hours long, features Wilson leading a trio with trumpeter Olu Dara and pianist/vocalist Donald Smith, joined on three tracks by trombonist Joseph Bowie, saxophonist Luther Thomas, and bassist Darrell Mixon.

* And speaking of archival material, a newly colorized version of footage of the Miles Davis Quintet performing at the Teatro dell'Arte in Milan, Italy in October 1964 has been uploaded to YouTube.

* Drummer Rob Silverman and keyboardist Ptah Williams were interviewed by St. Louis magazine's Amanda Woytus about Rhythm City, their recently released recording on Silverman's Autumn Hill label.

* Singer Anita Jackson was interviewed about upcoming gigs and the difficulties of the past year by the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson.

* St. Louis is one of the cities mentioned by Rolling Stone magazine in a newly published article about "7 Bucket List Destinations for Blues Lovers." The story namechecks BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups, the National Blues Museum, and, in an indication that the piece may have been in the works for a while, Beale on Broadway, which closed more than two years ago in January 2019.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Keyboardist David Garfield (pictured) next month is releasing a new single, "Hunting Heads," that pays tribute to Herbie Hancock.

* The St. Louis Post-Dispatch went into their archives to republish vintage photos and a story about St. louis' 1960s entertainment district Gaslight Square.

* Singer Erika Johnson was interviewed for a profile on the site of women's shoemaket Walking Cradles.

* A travel article in USA Today touting Midwest sites of interest for music fans mentions notable St. Louis locations including BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups, Broadway Oyster Bar, National Blues Museum, and Vintage Vinyl.

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold and the mother of his son Keyon Jr. have filed a racial profiling lawsuit against the Arlo Hotels chain and Miya Ponsetto, the woman who in a widely reported incident last year accosted Harrold and his son at the hotel's NYC location and accused the younger Harrold of stealing her iPhone.

* Jazz St. Louis will share in the prize for "Arts Collaboration" when the Arts and Education COuncil of Greater St. Louis presents the 2021 St. Louis Arts Awards in an event on Monday, May 24 at the Big Top in Grand Center. The award will be shared with St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, Nine Network of Public Media, and The Big Muddy Dance Company for the joint presentation of "Such Sweet Thunder" staged in October 2019 at the Nine Network's Public Media Commons.

* Multi-instrumentalist and singer Tonina Saputo is featured on the latest episode of "Classical:BTS", a web video series produced by Illinois Public Media.

* The Don and Heide Wolff Jazz Institute and the National Black Radio Hall of Fame at Harris-Stowe State University will present the induction of four musicians into the Wolff Institute's St. Louis Jazz Hall of Fame in a online ceremony at 3:00 p.m. this Saturday, March 27.

Trumpeter Clark Terry; pianist, singer and saxophonist Hugh 'Peanuts ' Whalum; and singer Kim Massie are the St. Louis performers scheduled to be honored, along with, for reasons that presently are obscure, saxophonist Kirk Whalum, a Memphis native and nephew of "Peanuts" Whalum. (No knock against Kirk Whalum, a fine player who has had a nice career, but apart from his uncle, he doesn't really have much to do with St. Louis.)

The event will be webcast from the National Blues Museum downtown, and can be viewed on the Facebook pages for the NBM or Harris-Stowe.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Tomorrow, Saturday, April 2, is the long-awaited official opening day for the National Blues Museum (pictured) in downtown St. Louis, and the museum has a full program of activities on tap, including live music from a number of St. Louis blues performers. You can get all the details of the grand opening weekend schedule via the museum's website.

* In more St. Louis blues news, "Moonshine & Mojo Hands," a new web video series from the creators of the documentaries M for Mississippi and We Juke Up in Here, will get its local premiere at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, April 20 at that very same National Blues Museum.

The event is free and open to the public, and will include a Q&A session with the film's creators, Jeff Konkel, a St. Louisan who also runs the blues label Broke & Hungry Records, and former St. Louisan Roger Stolle, the proprietor of Cat Head Delta Blues and Folk Art in Clarksdale, MS.

* Even as the National Blues Museum opens, an historic former musical attraction from the St. Louis riverfront has met its final demise, as St. Louis Public Radio reports that the remains of the Goldenrod Showboat have reached the scrapyard.

* Saturday's dedication ceremony for the new Clark Terry mural in south St. Louis was noted by the Post-Dispatch's Joe Holleman.

* On a related note, while trumpeter Byron Stripling was in St. Louis last week paying tribute to Clark Terry with two nights of big band performances at Jazz at the Bistro, he also was interviewed about Terry and their long personal relationship by Steve Potter of St. Louis Public Radio's "St. Louis On The Air" program.

* The regional edition of Broadway World has reviewed the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis' current production Satchel Paige and the Kansas City Swing, which includes saxophonist Eric Person in an onstage role. The play continues through April 10 at The Rep.

* The Tritone Guitar Expo, happening Saturday and Sunday at the Cortex complex in the Central West End, got some more coverage this week from Fox 2 news. The Expo's organizers also have published an online "Family Guide" to the event, which will include kid-friendly activities on both days.

* The Route 66 Jazz Orchestra was the subject of a feature story written by Bill Motchan for the KDHX website.

* The 2nd Annual Arts Vibrancy Index by the National Center for Arts Research at Southern Methodist University has ranked St. Louis as 13th and Kansas City 19th among national "hotbeds" of arts and culture.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* As part of their New Year's Eve "Toast of the Nation" program last week, NPR rebroadcast and put online a set of music recorded by Clark Terry on NYE 1989 at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago. 

* In a new post on Medium.com, Peter Martin offers "5 New Year’s Resolutions For Jazz Pianists."

* Martin (pictured) also was the subject last week of a profile in Alive magazine.

* St. Louis Public Radio has a story with the latest on volunteer efforts to save historic artifacts from what's left of the Goldenrod Showboat.

* The Funky Butt Brass Band announced over the weekend that Cody Henry is replacing founding member Matt Brinkman as the group's tuba player, effective with the start of the new year.

* Jimmy's on the Park, the long-running restaurant and bar in the DeMun neighborhood of Clayton, has closed. Trumpeter Jim Manley was the featured musical entertainment for the spot's Sunday jazz brunch for more than a decade.

* A short feature in this week's Riverfront Times notes The Bad Plus' ten-year string of January gigs at Jazz at the Bistro.

* Meanwhile, Jazz St. Louis' Gene Dobbs Bradford went on Fox 2 News to discuss JSL's four-star rating from Charity Navigator.

* The RFT also recently put online an album of vintage photos from Gaslight Square, drawn from the collection of the State Historical Society of Missouri.

* Blues historian, author, and illustrator Kevin Belford has a new post on his blog about providing research assistance for American Epic, an upcoming music documentary being produced by PBS and the BBC.

* The St. Louis Business Journal put online a photo album offering readers a peek inside the new National Blues Museum, which opens downtown in April.

* A post last week on the travel blog of the airline Virgin Atlantic spotlighted the St. Louis swing dance scene.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Singer Tony Viviano visited the podcast A Concert Pitch to talk about his show celebrating the 100th birthday of Frank Sinatra next Friday, December 11 at Patrick's Westport Grill.

* Miss Jubilee's show tonight at the Wildey Theatre was previewed by EdGlen.com.

* A featured by Tim Bryant in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch looks at what the National Blues Museum will offer to visitors when it opens downtown in April.

* Saxophonist Jim Stevens (pictured) will be playing with some big names this Sunday in southern California, as keyboardist and Metro East native David Garfield has invited him to take part in the 18th annual memorial concert for drummer Carlos Vega at Alvas Showroom in San Pedro, CA. The lineup for the show features a number of nationally and internationally known musicians, including bassist Will Lee, drummer Steve Ferrone, ex-Steely Dan guitarist Denny Dias, singer Alex Ligertwood, and more.

* In a story that broke last week just after this column went online, the city of St. Louis has canceled its contract with Los Angeles-based production company International Creative Management granting exclusive rights for up to ten years to oversee a series of outdoor rock, pop, and country concerts in downtown St. Louis. The city now is seeking potential local producers for new events in 2016 and beyond.

* Genesis Jazz Project reports that their performance last week benefiting the local food bank Circle of Concern raised more than $350 in cash and collected nearly 400 food items for the charity.

* The Baylor Project, featuring drummer and St. Louis native Marcus Baylor and his wife, singer Jean Baylor, will make their Boston debut next Thursday, December 10 at Sculler's Jazz Club. The band also features pianist Sullivan Fortner, bassist Eric Wheeler, and saxophonist Keith Loftis.

* Former bandleader and broadcaster Carlos "Buddy" Moreno has died. He was 103 years old, and lived at Delmar Gardens North assisted living facility. A native of Los Angeles, Moreno began his career during the Great Depression, working with bands led by Griff Williams, Dick Jurgens (with whom he recorded "one Dozen Roses," a number one hit in 1942) and Harry James before forming his own big band in 1944.

Moreno moved to St. Louis in the 1950s to lead the house band at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel, and also directed orchestras at the Fox Theatre and the Muny. He subsequently got into broadcasting, hosting The Buddy Moreno Show on local CBS affiliate KMOX-TV (now KMOV) and appearing on radio stations WIL-FM, WEW, and WSIE, where he hosted a weekly program playing big band music until 2005.