Sunday Session: June 27, 2021

Kurt Elling

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

* Her Kind Of Blue: Joni Mitchell's Masterpiece At 50 (NPR)
* 5 Albums I Can’t Live Without: Pat Metheny (SPIN)
* Jen Shyu Blends Just About Everything with Zero Grasses (Jazz Times)
* “A Message To My Fans And Friends From All Over The World”: Louis Armstrong’s “Open Letter to Fans” (LouisArmstrongHouse.org)
* Senior's Week: 96-year-old Eve Duke still entertaining music fans (Vancouver Sun)
* Shuttered SideBar in New Orleans Continues To Provide Creative Outlets (DownBeat)
* Julius Eastman, A Misunderstood Composer, Returns To The Light (NPR)
* The Doors’ greatest songs – ranked! (The Guardian)
* 'The Big Blind': Kurt Elling's Jazz Radio Drama In 1950s Chicago (NPR)
* This Orchestra Just Made History As The First All-Black Orchestra To Feature At Carnegie Hall In Its 130-Year-History (BecauseOfThemWeCan.com)
* A Peek Inside the World’s Greatest Record Store (Smithsonian)
* Hannah Peel: "Delia Derbyshire would be completely in awe of all the synthesizers and recording technology we have now" (MusicRadar.com)
* The Beatles: Get Back—An Exclusive Deep Dive Into Peter Jackson’s Revelatory New Movie (Vanity Fair)
* Matthew Whitaker Confronts Racial Injustice on the First Single From His Sweeping New Album, 'Connections' (WBGO)
* Are we headed for a shortage of vinyl records? It looks like it. (AJournalOfMusicalThings.com)
* Jefferson Airplane’s ‘Surrealistic Pillow’: The LP That Fed Your Head (BestClassicBands.com)
* Dream comes true for man who bought his favorite record shop, St. Augustine's Music Matters (St. Augustine Record)

Sunday Session: May 2, 2021

Osibisa

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

* “Make Something Out Of This”: Drumbo On The Making Of Trout Mask Replica (TheQuietus.com)
* JazzTimes 10: Classic New Orleans Recordings (Jazz Times)
* Bodies and Souls, Sophisticated Ladies, and Plucked Strings (TheSmartSet.com)
* Bob Dylan and Charlie Watts will soon turn 80. More music legends are rocking out long past retirement age (San Diego Union Tribune)
* "The Greatest Improviser I've Ever Known": A Mini Oral History of Diana Ross in 'Lady Sings the Blues (Hollywood Reporter)
* Jimmy Giuffre at 100: A Centennial Tribute in Take Five (WBGO)
* New York City's Influence On Latin Music (NPR)
* Pat Metheny Talks Composition with John Pizzarelli (Jazz Times)
* Meet the Experimental Musicians Who Built Their Own Streaming Service (Pitchfork.com)
* Surrounded By Moving Air: 6 Big-Band Composers Pushing The Format Forward (Grammy.com)
* Robert Wyatt – The Saddest Voice in Modern Music (LivingLifeFearless.co)
* George Benson: My Career in Five Songs (Guitar Player)
* Evocation: Jimmy Giuffre @ 100 (Tidal.com)
* Al Schmitt, legendary recording engineer and producer, reported to have died aged 91 (MusicRadar.com)
* Visit The Oldest Steinway Piano Dealer In The World (Boston.CBSLocal.com)
* Guitar Legends: Television’s Tom Verlaine & Richard Lloyd – the punk guitar heroes who weren’t punk at all (Guitar)
* Where to Begin With Important Records’ Genre-Defying Soundscapes (Bandcamp,com)
* ‘Our ethos was happy music and good vibes’: genre-busting Black British band Osibisa (The Guardian)
* The Women’s Vocal Jazz Supergroup That’s Redefining The Rules (Forbes)

Sunday Session: March 14, 2021

Roy Haynes

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

* Guelph Jazz Festival offering 'hyper intimate' live music with One-on-One Concert Series (Guelph Today)
* Theo Bleckmann & the Westerlies: This Land Is Their Land (Jazz Times)
* PRS for Music says that more women are registering as professional songwriters, but they’re still underrepresented and earn less than their male counterparts (MusicRadar.com)
* zaynnah conversation....with Sonny Rollins (Zayannah)
* “Judas and the Black Messiah”: Revolutionary Down to the Tunes (TheCorsairOnline.com)
* Best Charles Mingus Pieces: 20 Essentials By Jazz’s Fiery Iconoclast (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Space Oddity: the weird history of the Soviet ANS synthesizer (5Mag.net)
* The Baddest Man in Town (TheAmericanScholar.org)
* 'Swingin’ the Blues' book encapsulates life, legacy of San Marcos jazz legend (UniversityStar.com)
* Family Record (Style Weekly)
* ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ Composer Tom Holkenborg Says They Created a Drum So Big It Wouldn’t Fit Through His Door (Collider.com)
* With Just One Full-Time Jazz Club Left In The District, Local Musicians Contemplate Their Future (DCist.com)
* UConn celebrating 50th anniversary of Joni Mitchell’s ‘Blue’ with international conference open to academics and music lovers (Hartford Courant)
* Jazz clarinetist Dr. Michael White takes a break from songwriting marathon for Snug Harbor gig (NOLA.com)
* With yet another Grammy nomination, Pat Metheny talks music, COVID, his KC upbringing (Kansas City Star)
* How Many Movies About Billie Holiday Does it Take… (The Nation)
* Tribune photos of the famous Mister Kelly's (Chicago Tribune)
* On Roy Haynes’ 96th Birthday Today, a Collective Card From More Than 20 Jazz Giants (Mother Jones)
* Inside the ‘Black Market’ Where Artists Can Pay for Millions of Streams (Rolling Stone)
* Audio cassette tape inventor Lou Ottens dies aged 94 (BBC)
* Country Music Is Changing, in Spite of Itself (Pitchfork.com)
* “The Most Beautiful Sound Next to Silence” (City-Journal.org)
* Jane Monheit Talks New Album Come What May And Her Love Of Musical Theatre (IHeartRadioBroadway.com)
* Considering Chick Corea's Grammys Success And The Kitchen Sink Of Genre (NPR)

Sunday Session: December 6, 2020

Wes Montgomery

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

* Adrift in Cosmic Quarantine: Randy Newman Turns 77 (Los Angeles Review of Books)
* Don't go breaking my art: it's time to axe the mood-ruining, bar-scrambling interval (The Guardian)
* Joni Mitchell’s Youthful Artistry (The New Yorker)
* Nadine Shah Says She Can’t Pay Rent Despite Having More Than 100,000 Spotify Monthly Listeners (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Kassa Overall: A Different Kind of Fusion (Jazz Times)
* JT 50: The History of JazzTimes (Jazz Times)
* Peter Guralnick Is 'Looking To Get Lost' In The Stories Of American Music Icons (NPR)
* John Coltrane's favorite composition was the love song he wrote for his first wife, Naima (Daily Kos)
* Halsey Accuses the Recording Academy of Demanding Bribes for Grammy Nominations and Awards (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Holiday Gift Guide 2020: Sparkling Sounds and Bright Ideas For the Jazz Lover in Your Life (WBGO)
* New York’s Jazz Standard Announces Permanent Closure (DownBeat)
* The Cultural Impact of the Technics SL-1200 Turntable, Then and Now (Discogs.com)
* How Prince Built a Madhouse (Jazz Times)
* New Documentary 'Billie' Explores Mysteries Of Billie Holiday And Her Biographer (WBGO)
* I Remember the Jazz Standard (Medium.com)
* Spotify could be working on an AI ‘plagiarism detector’ that tells you if your songs are original (MusicRadar.com)
* ‘The music business isn’t really a place for truth-tellers’ (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Strictly dropped us after we asked to be paid, say musicians (The Guardian)
* Musicians reimagine Ray Charles’ “Georgia On My Mind” to Encourage Voters (Offbeat)
* Wes Montgomery documentary will include the guitarist's unearthed home movies (Indianapolis Star)
* Musicians from every country form Earth Orchestra to record unique song (Reuters)
* When Sun Ra Went to Egypt in 1971: See Film & Hear Recordings from the Legendary Afrofuturist’s First Visit to Cairo (OpenCulture.com)
* Pat Metheny’s Cinematic Vision (DownBeat)
* Billie Holiday Documentary Chronicles Two Lives (DownBeat)
* What Do We Overlook About Dave Brubeck on His 100th Birthday? Authors, Musicians, and Family Members Reflect (Discogs.com)
* Gary Lucas and Nona Hendryx on the World of Captain Beefheart (PopMatters.com)
* And in the End (Rolling Stone)
* Behind the Overdog: Jazz United Takes a Closer Look at the 2021 Grammy Nominations (WBGO)
* #Wrapped and Sold (TheBaffler.com)

Sunday Session: March 15, 2020

Roy Haynes

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

* Long-Overdue Love for Louie (Premier Guitar)
* Word crimes? 'Weird Al Seriously' takes academic look at beloved parody musician (Bakersfield Californian)
* “An Evening with Branford Marsalis” at the Patchogue Theatre (Long Island Advance)
* In Praise of Roy Haynes: A Take Five Tribute to the Peerless Jazz Drummer, As He Turns 95 (WBGO)
* Interview: South Africa's Nduduzo Makhathini On His Upcoming Blue Note Records Debut (OkayAfrica.com)
* Trad-Jazz Revivalist Bria Skonberg Explores New Territory (Jazz Times)
* Growth, Change Apparent at PDX Festival (DownBeat)
* Jon Hassell :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview (AquariumDrunkard.com)
* How Explaining Copyright Broke the YouTube Copyright System (NYU.edu)
* Co-Producer Of PBS Chuck Berry Show Talks Star-Studded Guest List (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* For Jeff “Tain” Watts, it’s all about the purity in music (Jazz.fm)
* The confounding career of Pat Metheny (New Zealand Listener)
* Cold Fusion: The Search for the Jazz/Rock Unicorn, Part 1 (AllAboutJazz.com)
* McCoy Tyner: essential albums (Jazzwise)
* James Taylor & John Pizzarelli: Setting a Standard (Jazz Times)
* Kassa Overall Unpacks His “Backpack Jazz” Approach (Bandcamp.com)
* ‘Everything Is in Chaos’: The Concert Business Stands to Lose Billions From Coronavirus (Rolling Stone)
* Why Cancel Concerts? A Doctor Explains Coronavirus’ Spread (Rolling Stone)
* Bassist Linda May Han Oh Is A Musician Rooted In Curiosity (NPR)
* Musicians Were Depending On Those Jazz Nights And Senior Living Gigs (NPR)
* Pat Metheny Expands His Vision on ‘From This Place’ (DownBeat)
* Bird land: Jaimie Branch takes jazz to new heights (Columbia Daily Tribune)
* Sound Of Silence Banishes Music Across The Land (ClassicalVoiceAmerica.org)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* In a ceremony this past Monday at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel, pianist, guitarist and composer Adam Maness (pictured) received a St. Louis Arts Award from the Arts and Education Council of Greater St. Louis.

In conjunction with the award recognizing Maness as 2020's top "Arts Collaborator," the Council produced a brief video about him, which you can see here.

* Writing in Syncopated Times, Friends of Scott Joplin board member Magdalene Linck ponders the organization's future after the recent death of board president Bryan Cather.

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold was interviewed on the online video series PopkillerTV Plus.

* In an article for American Songwriter magazine, guitarist Pat Metheny tells "Why A Miles Davis Album Changed His Life Forever."

* Rhino Records and the Miles Davis estate have released an official music video for "So Emotional," a track from Davis' "lost" album Rubberband that was released late last year. The track and the video both feature vocalist Lalah Hathaway (daughter of the late singer, pianist and former St. Louisan Donny Hathaway), and you can see the video online here.

Sunday Session: November 24, 2019

Hazel Scott

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

* Who’s Fighting for Racial Equity in Classical Music? (21cm.org)
* Asleep at the Wheel Plot 50th Anniversary Album, Reunion Shows (Rolling Stone)
* Pat Metheny back with epic new album From This Place - Track Preview (Jazzwise)
* Above the World: Manhattan in June with Lee (AzureMilesRecords.com)
* Flying teapots and electric Camembert: the story of Gong, prog's trippiest band (The Guardian)
* Why You’ve Never Heard of One Of the Jazz Industry’s Royalty — Hazel Scott (Medium.com)
* Roy DeCarava: The Sounds He Saw (Jazz Times)
* In Praise of the Greatest Trombone Part in Broadway History (Slate)
* Guimarães Jazz Fest Doesn’t Play It Safe (DownBeat)
* A Deluxe Reissue of the Band’s Cozy Self-Titled LP (Has Surely Come) (Rolling Stone)
* Bossa Nova for the World - Sergio Mendes interview (SFJazz.com)
* Is there a Blackout at WBGO? (NJ.com)
* Grammy Awards Nominations: The Complete List (Variety)
* Artist in Residence (GuernicaMag.com)
* Dave Douglas Refines His Political Message with ‘ENGAGE’ (DownBeat)
* Learning from greats, teaching others, Kenny Barron is a guardian of jazz (Charleston Post and Courier)
* What happens to the brain when jazz musicians improvise? (Futurity.org)
* Why I Didn’t Give My Music to the Oxford American (Oxford American)
* The Flute In Jazz: Window On World Music (Jazz Journal)
* Leonard Cohen And Harry Nilsson Are Releasing New Albums, Whether They Like It Or Not (NPR)
* A Toast To 'My Way,' America's Anthem Of Self-Determination (NPR)
* The True Story of Erroll Garner, the First Artist to Sue a Major Label and Win (Variety)
* Gregg Rolie Looks Back on His Days With Santana, Journey, and Ringo Starr (Rolling Stone)

Sunday Session: September 22, 2019

Harold Mabern

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

* California Senate Passes Gig Economy Bill That Could 'Gut the Music Industry' (Billboard)
* The World Of Celia Cruz: A Turning The Tables Playlist (NPR)
* Steve Dalachinsky, Poet Who Chronicled and Championed the Jazz Avant-Garde, Dies at 72 (WBGO)
* Steve Dalachinsky, Poet and Pillar of NYC Jazz Scene, Dies at 72 (Jazz Times)
* In Memory of the Critic’s Trade (21CM.org)
* The Village Vanguard: NYC's Bright Red Shrine To Jazz (Patch.com)
* Martin, Medeski & Wood to Premiere New Documentary (Jazz Times)
* Everybody forgets Creedence Clearwater Revival headlined Woodstock in 1969. A new live recording will change that (Chicago Tribune)
* Celia Cruz: The Voice Of Experience (NPR)
* Apple Sued for Copyright Infringement, Pirating Musical Works Recorded by some of the Greatest Jazz & Popular Artists of all Time (PatentlyApple.com)
* Creepy Whitney Houston Hologram Tour Is Officially Happening (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* The Hardest Song I Ever Chased (Vulture.com)
* Keyboardist Robert Glasper to Play 56 Shows at New York’s Blue Note (DownBeat)
* The Incomparable Django (Commentary)
* Spotify: ‘Owning’ discovery of music will lead to improved gross margin (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* A Century Ago, This Eerie-Sounding Instrument Ushered in Electronic Music (Smithsonian)
* We’ve Got A File On You: Jeff Tweedy (Stereogum.com)
* As jazz elder statesman, Pat Metheny embraces band of up-and-comers (Columbus Dispatch)
* Johnathan Blake: Fascinated by Rhythm (Jazz Times)
* Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash Session Unearthed for Bootleg Series (Pitchfork)
* Memphis jazz great Harold Mabern has died (Memphis Commercial Appeal)
* Poncho Sanchez Provides the Percussive Punctuation (DownBeat)
* Why Is American Classical Music So White? (NPR)
* Watch Bassist Linda May Han Oh Perform Her Dynamic New Project, 'Aventurine' (NPR)
* With The Emmys Around The Corner, A Look At What Makes Good TV Theme Music (WBUR)
* How composer Terence Blanchard wove history into the score for “Harriet” (Fast Company)
* Jazz Pioneer Bennie Maupin’s Next Chapter (Good Times)
* Sunshine Superman: The Transformation of Donovan Leitch (PleaseKillMe.com)

Sunday Session: October 21, 2018

Maria Schneider

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:

* Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell and John Scofield, guitar greats all, discuss their mutual admiration society (San Diego Union-Tribune)
* Review: Dave Holland and Chris Potter (Jazz Journal)
* Paul Simon: Fathers, Sons, Troubled Water (New York Review of Books)
* Jaimie Branch on “Brass Chillers” (Jazz Times)
* Zorn to Secrecy (ArtAndMusicMagazine.com)
* Experts aim to finally solve plane war mystery of famed big band leader Glenn Miller (South China Morning Post)
* Maria Schneider: The star of the show (Irish Examiner)
* Alan Broadbent: Intimate Reflections on a Passion for Jazz (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Jazznojazz Fest Celebrates 20 Years (DownBeat)
* A Mingus discovery (TheBlueMoment.com)
* New Music by Five Composers Behind the Drums, From Tyshawn Sorey to Allison Miller (WBGO)
* Four Electronic Artists Reflect on the Influence of Composer Laurie Spiegel (Bandcamp.com)
* Ben Wendel Takes ‘The Seasons’ from Video Project to Album (DownBeat)
* Loss of small music venues is handing control of culture to robots, MPs told (ArtsProfessional.co.uk)
* Big Bands Reign Supreme at Angrajazz (DownBeat)
* Esperanza Spalding announces ’12 Little Spells’ tour, shares 10th track (Brooklyn Vegan)
* Copyright and the Jazz Musician (Jazz Times)
* New Stax Box Set Details a Fraught 1968 (DownBeat)
* To Hat and To Hold (ArtForum.com)
* The Horace Silver Quintet drummer Roger Humphries reflects on his storied life in jazz (WaxPoetics.com)
* Rubén Blades Swings Big Band Jazz And Rumba On New Album (NPR)
* Naxos Joins eMusic Exodus Over Non-Payment (Hypebot.com)
* Joshua Abrams Discusses Solo Bass and the Spirit of Music (DownBeat)
* What Small, Diverse Music Venues Mean to New York City (CityLab.com)
* Ambassadors for Motown sound seek more of it in hometown (Associated Press)
* Tiny Desk Concert: Alfredo Rodríguez (NPR)
* Is the Cover Making a Recovery? (Slate.com)
* The New American Songbook (Slate.com)
* Lou Reed's Archive Holds Six Hundred Hours Of Mostly Unreleased Audio, And Other Revelations From His Archivist (PleaseKillMe.com)
* Q&A with Ingrid Jensen: Leading from Within (Jazziz)

Sunday Session: November 12, 2017

John McLaughlin

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

* Let's face the facts: Facebook controls classical music (OvergrownPath.com)
* Arts Critics Are Disappearing From Newspapers. Or, Wait, Is That The Good News? (ArtAndSeek.org)
* A Hard Day's Night: Solving a Beatles mystery with mathematics (ABC.net.au)
* Essential Solos: 40 Great Improvisations (Jazz Times)
* Van Morrison Announces New Album 'Versatile' (Rolling Stone)
* Field Notes: John McLaughlin & Jimmy Herring in NYC - Thinking about a jazz-guitar icon’s U.S. farewell tour (Jazz Times)
* Joni Mitchell Talks Exes, Addictions and Music in Candid, All-Access Biography (Rolling Stone)
* The demons and obsessions of jazz genius Thelonious Monk (The Guardian)
* Critic bashing - Defending the Music Media (Atavist.com)
* Blue Note Records Unveils a New Subscription Boxed Set Series, Blue Note Review (WBGO)
* The Strange World Of... Linda Sharrock (TheQuietus.com)
* The rise of ‘three-car garage rock’ (Curbed.com)
* Why the indie band never dies: fake breakups, permanent adolescence and cash comebacks (The Guardian)
* Bill Frisell Receives Honorary Degree and Is Subject of Film (Jazz Times)
* I went to see La Monte Young playing in his New York loft, and you should do the same (Medium.com)
* 'Only 17th-century industrial bluegrass will do': your favourite weird records (The Guardian)
* 'Their DNA is forever ingrained in the keys' - Roman Rabinovich on playing composers' own pianos (TheArtsDesk.com)
* After Six Decades in the Vault, 'Ella at Zardi's' Brings New Shine to Ella Fitzgerald's Centennial (WBGO)
* Malleable Structures: An Interview with Tyshawn Sorey (Atavist.com)
* How Concert Ticket Prices Vary Across the U.S. (Wanderu.com)
* The Many Faces of Jazz Today: The Big Picture (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Return of the Top 40 Troubadour: How Singer-Songwriters Reclaimed Pop Radio (Billboard)
* Pat Metheny: Driving Forces (AllAboutJazz.com)
* ‘In five seconds my life changed. I was worse than the worst jazz snob’ (Irish Times)
* A Jazz Centennial of a Seamier Sort: The End of Storyville, As Remembered Through the Ages (WBGO)
* Paul Buckmaster, Essential Arranger for David Bowie and Elton John, Dead at 71 (Rolling Stone)
* Meet Rufus Harley, the First Jazz Bagpiper (AtlasObscura.com)
* Herbie Hancock: ‘I like to discover new rules so I can break them’ (The Guardian)

Sunday Session: August 6, 2017

Jason Moran

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

* Concert Review: Umbria Jazz Festival (Jazz Times)
* SZA: ‘The record company took my hard drive from me’ (The Guardian)
* Did Meek Mill and TIDAL Just Scam the Billboard 200? (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Is Schlager Music The Most Embarrassing Thing Germany Has Ever Produced?
Deutschland über us. (TheAwl.com)
* Sax Greats Remember Coltrane on 50 Year Anniversary of His Death (Observer.com)
* July '67 altered the sound, sensibilities of Detroit musicians — and those yet to be born (Detroit Free Press)
* The Inside Story Of SoundCloud's Collapse (Buzzfeed)
* Kamasi Washington: An Opinion of Difference (Jazz Times)
* The Best Band Nobody Can Sign (TheFader.com)
* An Archive of Iconic Photos from the Golden Age of Jazz: William Gottlieb’s Portraits of Dizzy, Thelonious, Billie, Satchmo & More (OpenCulture.com)
* Concert Security's New Frontier (Rolling Stone)
* Seeing Aretha Franklin Sing For The Last Time (NPR)
* Meet The Kenyan Collective Bridging The Gap Between Traditional And Electronic Music (TheFader.com)
* Kamasi Washington Announces New Tour, Reveals 'Harmony of Difference' EP Release Date (OkayPlayer.com)
* BANFF | Q&A: 29 Questions For Vijay Iyer (MusicalToronto.org)
* Sad Songs, Artificial Intelligence and Gracenote’s Quest to Unlock the World’s Music (Variety)
* Who Was Bix? Beiderbecke Museum Has Answers (DownBeat)
* Why Are So Many Heritage Artists on the Road Again? This Explains Everything. (AJournalOfMusicalThings.com)
* Brian Wilson review – frail Beach Boy isn't made for these times (The Guardian)
* This music production tool is the reason why all new music sounds the same (Qz.com)
* Review: Warsaw Summer Jazz (Jazz Journal)
* The Problem with NPR's '150 Greatest Albums Made by Women' List (The Stranger)
* Satellites Are Spinning: Notes on a Sun Ra Poem (The Paris Review)
* Metheny Goes Nordic at Molde Fest (DownBeat)
* Time Machines: The Life and Music of Conlon Nancarrow (RedBullMusicAcademy.com)
* Jazz Pianist Jason Moran on Artistic Self-Determination (Bandcamp.com)
* Inside the Music Publishing World's Epic Struggle to Build a Single Song Database (Billboard)
* The Swampers return to their sweet home thanks to Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine (AlabamaNewsCenter.com)
* The Brief Career and Self-Imposed Exile of Jutta Hipp, Jazz Pianist (Longreads.com)
* This Map Shows The Top-Selling Musician Born In Each State (CraveOnline.com)

Sunday Session: March 19, 2017

Chuck Berry

Here are some interesting music-related items that have landed in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Hail and farewell: Rock legend Chuck Berry dies at 90 (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
* $7.5 million guitar sale questioned by professionals (USA Today)
* Play Paul Simon’s Piano or Croon Into Elvis’ Mic at These Seven Historic Recording Studios (Smithsonian)
* Paul Shaffer Releases ‘Most Dangerous’ Album (AmericanBluesScene.com)
* Metheny Celebrated at Alternative Guitar Summit (DownBeat)
* The Fate of the Critic in the Clickbait Age (The New Yorker)
* Last Call (About Last Night/ArtsJournal.com)
* SoundCloud’s Valuation Has Dropped 75% In Less Than a Year (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Cornelia Street Cafe Struggling With High Rent After 40 Years In Village (DNAInfo.com)
* Tommy LiPuma, Grammy-Winning Producer & Record Exec, Dies at 80 (Billboard)
* Ride the Feedback: A Brief History of Guitar Distortion (Vice.com)
* Ornette Coleman’s Inspired Soundtrack for “Who’s Crazy?” (The New Yorker)
* Return of the Composer-Performer: A Rough Guide to New Music by Virtuoso Musicians (San Francisco Classical Voice)
* Rock Band: An Electromechanical Sound Machine That Makes Music With Rocks (ThisIsColossal.com)
* Late musician Tony Conrad in the documentary 'Completely in the Present': 'I wanted to end composing — get rid of it' (Los Angeles Times)
* Kamasi Washington Follows ‘The Epic’ With a New Work in Whitney Biennial (New York Times)
* Alice Coltrane: Her Sound and Spirit (BBC)
* When East Meets West: Hear What Happened When Ravi Shankar & Philip Glass Composed Music Together (OpenCulture.com)
* In Oakland, Trombone Shorty & Chili Peppers Create Red Hot Groove (DownBeat)
* The UK jazz invasion: 'I’m sure that some purists wouldn’t even call it jazz' (The Guardian)
* The Francis Brothers: African Record Center (Afropop.com)
* REVIEW: John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension at Ronnie Scott's (LondonJazzNews.com)
* The Art of Tour Managing (Projection, Lights And Staging News)
* Enter the SoundBox: How the SF Symphony Turned a Dreadful Room Into Sonic Paradise (Wired)
* John Coltrane Documentary ‘Chasing Trane’ Gets Release Date (Variety)
* James Cotton Dies at 81 (DownBeat)
* The Real Cost of Abolishing the National Endowment for the Arts (The Atlantic)

Sunday Session: September 25, 2016

Kenny Barron

Some interesting music-related items that have landed in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Don't mention the J-word: how Spotify gifted my jazz tune two million hits (The Guardian UK)
* Brainfeeder Showcase Fuses Enlightened Funk, Innovative Jazz (DownBeat)
* Words and Music: Why Liner Notes Matter (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Metheny Leads New Quartet on Nostalgic Trip at Lobero Theatre (DownBeat)
* Building a better electronic trumpet (Phys.org)
* The 'Fifth Beatle', an unpublished will and a family being torn apart (The Telegraph UK)
* T Bone Burnett: Treading on Hallowed Ground – Google, the Ryman, and The Future of Nashville Music (Nashville Tennessean)
* Rock'n'roll suicide: is TV's bromance with rock nostalgia finally over? (The Guardian UK)
* In 'Latin American Songbook,' Edward Simon Rethinks The American Jazz Standard (NPR)
* 'The Jazz Loft' Is a Fleeting, Marvelous Look at Lost Bohemia (Village Voice)
* A Tribe Called Quest Sparked Hip-Hop’s Love Affair With Jazz on ‘Low End Theory’ (Observer.com)
* The New Classical: how the next generation of composers and labels is challenging classical music’s status quo (The Independent UK)
* A Tribute to Bernie Worrell in Words and Images (Keyboard)
* Monterey Jazz Festival Offers Bounty of Youthful Talent (DownBeat)
* Massive digital archiving project means these unique musical recordings will live forever (DigitalTrends.com)
* Interview: Kenny Barron (Keyboard)
* Fish recorded singing dawn chorus on reefs just like birds (New Scientist)
* Why Marvel and Other Hollywood Films Have Such Bland Music: Every Frame a Painting Explains the Perils of the “Temp Score” (OpenCulture.com)
* Q&A: Vocalist Al Jarreau - A no-holds-barred conversation (Jazz Times)

Jazz this week: Dr. Lonnie Smith's Evolution, Pat Metheny Quartet, and more

With the official start of fall this week, the local presenting season is kicking into gear with two major jazz headliners bringing new ensembles to town this week to perform, plus a variety of shows from St. Louis' own musicians. Let's go to the highlights....

Wednesday, September 21
Dr. Lonnie Smith's Evolution, an augmented version of the organist's usual trio, opens a four-night engagement to begin the fall season at Jazz at the Bistro.

Smith, the current eminence grise of jazz organ, reliably delivers the funky goods, and although the touring version of Evolution doesn't include the intriguing two-drummer configuration featured on several tracks on Smith's album of the same name, it does feature saxophonist John Ellis, plus a trumpeter whose identity still had not been revealed at press time, to help realize the album's arrangements in a live setting.

Also on Wednesday, Cabaret Project St. Louis has revived their open mic night, formerly presented at the now-closed Tavern of Fine Arts, as a weekly event at The Emerald Room at The Monocle; and the Big Little Big Band will play a free concert at Alton Senior HS Performing Arts Center.

Thursday, September 22
The Jazz at Holmes series presents three free events in a row, starting with guitarist and bassist William Lenihan and pianist Jay Oliver's quartet performing a late-afternoon concert at the Missouri History Museum.

That's followed by a presentation on "History of the Piano Trio and St. Louis Pianists" by educator and drummer Henry Ettman at Goldberg Formal Lounge in the Danforth University Center on campus, and a performance by pianist Dave Venn's trio at Holmes Lounge.

Friday, September 23
Singer Jonathan Karrant performs at the Kranzberg Arts Center; singer Joe Mancuso and his quartet return to Nathalie's; and dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom will be swinging to a double bill featuring St. Louis' own Miss Jubilee plus Chicago's Bailey Dee and the Late Night Bait.

Saturday, September 24
Singer Danita Mumphard will offer "A Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald" at the Jacoby Arts Center in Alton; trumpeter/vibraphonist Joe Bozzi and band return to Evangeline's; and trumpeter Jim Manley and keyboardist Arthur Toney will play at Thurman's in Shaw.

Sunday, 
September 25
Guitarist Pat Metheny will perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall as part of his fall tour with a new quartet, featuring drummer Antonio Sanchez, bassist Linda Oh, and British pianist Gwilym Symcock.

Though they've not yet recorded, reviews of early shows are promising, with the group playing music ranging from Metheny's "earliest days all the way up through the 2014 Unity Group album."

Also on Sunday, the student musicians from the Webster Groves High School Jazz I and Jazz II Bands will show their stuff in a fundraising concert at Jazz at the Bistro.

Monday, September 26
Guitarist Dave Black, violinist Asako Kuboki, saxophonist Paul DeMarinis and bassist Ben Wheeler will play original compositions in a concert at Webster University's 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.)

Sunday Session: September 18, 2016

George Coleman

Some interesting music-related items that have landed in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Jazz pioneer Buddy Bolden and the Louisiana mental asylum band (NOLA.com)
* Record Bin: How Muddy Waters fused folk music and the blues on "Folk Singer" (Nooga.com)
* TIFF Review: ‘I Called Him Morgan’ is a Moody, Melancholic Study of the Late Trumpeter, Lee Morgan (ShadowAndAct.com)
* From 'Stairway to Heaven' to 'Damn Girl': 'Raging Bull' Remains Center Stage in Copyright Fights (Billboard)
* Metheny Quartet Plays SFJAZZ, Extends Guitarist’s Reach (DownBeat)
* Defeating The Jazz Zombies: America’s Music Is Alive & Well — These 7 Artists Are Proof (Stereogum.com)
* Interview: Sun Ra Commander Marshall Allen (Austin Chronicle)
* How Afrobeats Became Pop Music’s Next Big Thing (Buzzfeed)
* Artifact / Diagramming: An Interview with Mark Fell (Avant.org)
* Music with a Capital "M" - An Interview with Ethan Iverson of the Bad Plus (PopMatters.com)
* Donny McCaslin Takes 'Blackstar' Collaborators Beyond Bowie on New Album 'Beyond Now' (Billboard)
* Steve Buscemi and Elliott Sharp Talk William S. Burroughs, the 80s New York Scene, and the Creative Influence of Exhaustion (BlouinArtInfo.com)
* Fresh Pairings, Familiar Faces Delight at Chicago Jazz Fest (DownBeat)
* The Link Between Whitney Houston and the Rise of Auto-Tune in North Africa (Pitchfork.com)
* Why Apple is anything but the future of music (EricGarland.co)
* Heath, Weston, DeJohnette Shine in NYC Salute to Keepnews (DownBeat)
* The Summer in Jazz Releases (Bandcamp.com)
* Harmolodics: the truth at last (TheBlueMoment.com)
* ‘Play something they can enjoy,’ says jazz saxophone great George Coleman (Memphis Commercial Appeal)
* Q&A: Nels Cline - The guitarist and sonic provocateur invents a new brand of mood music on his Blue Note Records debut (Jazz Times)
* Hidden in plain sight: a global underground dance music scene with millions of fans (Medium.com)
* How Blockchain Startups Are Disrupting The $15 Billion Music Industry (Forbes)
* 8 Artists Exploding the Concept of Native American Music (Paste)
* Don Buchla, modular synthesizer pioneer, dies aged 79 (The Guardian UK)

Pat Metheny to perform Sunday, September 25 at The Sheldon

Guitarist Pat Metheny is returning to St. Louis this fall to perform at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, September 25 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Metheny (pictured) will play with a quartet including drummer Antonio Sanchez, bassist Linda Oh, and pianist Gwilym Simcock, and according to the tour announcement on his website, will perform "a range of music from throughout his career."

He last played in St. Louis with his Unity Group (Sanchez, saxophonist Chris Potter, bassist Ben Williams, and multi-instrumentalist Giulio Carmassi) in March 2014 at The Pageant. Metheny's most recent album releases, The Unity Sessions and Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny, both came out in May of this year.

Tickets for Pat Metheny at The Sheldon are priced at $100 and $75 for orchestra seating, $65 and $55 for the balcony, and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Friday, July 8 via MetroTix and The Sheldon's box office.

Sunday Session: March 20, 2016

Marquis Hill

For your Sunday reading, some interesting music-related items that have turned up recently in StLJN's inbox:

* Jimmy Heath Stuns with 90th Birthday Celebration at New York’s Blue Note (DownBeat)
* Afterword: George Martin (Pitchfork)
* A Song-by-Song Look at What Made George Martin the Fifth Beatle (New York Times)
* The Most Played Piano in the World? (Keyboard)
* Finding a new voice: how throat singers are making music for a new generation (CBC)
* Marquis Hill still trumpets the Chicago sound (Chicago Tribune)
* ‘Sync’ Revenues Quietly Earning Millions for Indie Artists (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Are the Sounds of Regional Hip-Hop Going Extinct? (New York Observer)
* Sonny Rollins Dips Into Archive for New Road Shows Album (DownBeat)
* Frank Sinatra Jr. Dies at 72 (DownBeat)
* Last of the Bohemian (Washington City Paper)
* The Studio that made Rock and Roll History is Rotting Away on a Caribbean Island (MessyNessyChic.com)
* Bowie producer offers bleak vision of music future (USA Today)
* Pat Metheny to Release Two New Albums May 6 - “The Unity Sessions” and “Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny” (Jazz Times)
* Brian Wilson Takes 'Pet Sounds' on Tour: Embracing an Unexpected Career as a Live Artist (Billboard)
* Why Vinyl Records and Other ‘Old’ Technologies Die Hard (New York Times)
* What's Behind the Surge in U.K. Brick-and-Mortar Stores Selling Music? (Billboard)
* Exclusive: Patents Filed for ‘High Definition Vinyl’ Technology (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Lead Me Home (Oxford American)
* Q&A: Guitar great Mundell Lowe on jazz (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Music Education Monday: Pat Metheny and John Scofield on improvisation

Pat Metheny and John Scofield (pictured) are two of the top guitarists and bandleaders in contemporary jazz, and today's Music Education Monday post features video sessions with each of them talking about their personal approaches to improvisation.

Both first came to prominence in the late 1970s, and both share a connection to Berklee School of Music, where Scofield studied as an undergraduate and Metheny once served as a teaching assistant to his mentor, vibraphonist Gary Burton.

Scofield first became widely known in the heyday of fusion as a member of the Billy Cobham/George Duke Band, and made a couple of recordings as a leader before joining Miles Davis' band for three years in the 1980s. That gig helped raise his profile significantly, and his subsequent mid-80s electric albums like Blue Matter and Loud Jazz cemented his status as a significant and popular voice on his instrument. More recently, Scofield has emphasized his funk and gospel influences on record and in concert, also forming a recurring partnership with the jam band trio Medeski, Martin & Wood.

Metheny, who grew up in Lee's Summit, MO near Kansas City, got his first significant exposure playing in Burton's quartet. After a couple of early solo recordings, he joined with keyboardist Lyle Mays to form the first edition of the Pat Metheny Group in 1978, enjoying immediate success with both jazz and rock audiences. That band continues, albeit with different personnel, into the present day, though Metheny also has been involved in many other projects, from the free-jazz influenced Song X project with Ornette Coleman in the 1980s to his solo Orchestrion tours of recent years.

You can see both videos after the jump...

Jazz this week: Sean Jones, Galactic, Pat Metheny Unity Group, Andre Delano, a tribute to Eddie Lang, and more

As the city wakes up the morning after Fat Tuesday, there's no post-Mardi Gras slump in the schedule of jazz and creative music in St. Louis. This week includes shows from several noteworthy touring musicians, plus a homecoming performance from a well-known expat, and much more. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, Sean Jones returns to Jazz at the Bistro to open a four-night engagement continuing through Saturday. The former lead trumpeter with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Jones (pictured) has been a frequent visitor to St. Louis on his own in recent years, most recently performing at the Bistro in 2013 with both the "Triumph of Trumpets" show and as guest soloist with the student JazzU ensembles. For this visit, he'll be accompanied by a top-notch group including pianist Orrin Evans, bassist Luques Curtis and drummer Obed Calvaire.

Tomorrow night, another group of frequent visitors returns, as New Orleans' funk/jazz/hip-hop band Galactic checks in for their annual appearance at The Pageant, this time with singer Maggie Koerner as special guest and the Mike Dillon Band as opening act. For more about Galactic, plus some recent performances of theirs on video, check out this post from a couple of Saturday ago.

Elsewhere around town on Thursday, saxophonist/clarinetist Elsie Parker's group featuring pianist Ken Kehner will play a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; singer Feyza Eren and pianist Scott Shepard will star in "Colored Sky: An Evening of St. Louis Jazz," a benefit for the Diversity Awareness Partnership presented at the Sheldon Concert Hall; and the Gaslight Cabaret Festival continues with a performance of Ken Haller's "The TV Show" at the Gaslight Theater.

On Friday, the husband-and-wife team of pianist Joe Dreyer and singer Rosemary Watts continue the Gaslight Cabaret Festival with their show "Swing Into Spring"; singer Wendy L. Gordon returns to DeLeo's Cafe & Deli; vibraphonist Tom Rickard leads a trio at Cigar Inn; and the Ambassadors of Swing play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom

Then on Saturday, Connie Fairchild, the soulful singer best known for the long-running local rock band bearing her last name, will make her debut as a cabaret performer with a show called "Down By The River" at the Gaslight Theater.

Also on Saturday, Wack-A-Doo will be at the Tavern of Fine Arts; saxophonist Jay Hutson and Da Wolvez play R&B-inflected tunes at Robbie's House of Jazz; jazz-fusion band The Freedom make their debut at Thurman Grill; and Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to the Venice Cafe.

On Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents a tribute to guitarist Eddie Lang at the Sheraton Westport, featuring guitarist Rick Haydon, trombonist Brett Stamps, clarinetist Scott Alberici, drummer Miles Vandiver, and bassist Zeb Briskovich.

Sunday evening offers dueling headliners, as saxophonist and East St. Louis native Andre Delano will be back home to play two shows at the Bistro at Grand Center, while guitarist Pat Metheny brings his Unity Group to town for a highly anticipated performance at The Pageant. For more about the Pat Metheny Unity Group and their brand new album Kin, see this post from last Saturday.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday percussionist Joe Pastor and his group are back at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Then on Tuesday, the jazz-fusion group Common Time (formerly known as Steizuello) will be joined by a string quartet for a "Notes From Home" performance at the Sheldon; and Boisyiac, a new quartet including guitarist Mason Baran, bassist Nathan Pence, drummer Joe Winstein-Hibbs, and keyboardist Matt Villinger, will play at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

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 3/6/13 to add some links and clean up typos.)