So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* To benefit their youth education programs, Jazz St. Louis is selling Legends Club tickets to the St. Louis Cardinals game against the Washington Nationals on Tuesday, April 19. The tickets include outdoor reserved seating, access to an air-conditioned indoor area, buffet, beer and soft drinks. These tickets usually are priced at $102 by the Cardinals, but JSL is selling them for $75. A total of 24 seats are available; call Jazz St. Louis at 314-289-4030 during normal business hours for more information or to purchase tickets.

* Vintage Vinyl co-owner and KDHX DJ Tom Ray was profiled this week by the Post-Dispatch's Deb Peterson.

* The blog Africlassical has a post on composer Fred Onovwerosuoke, whose work "24 Studies in African Rhythms" is being performed tomorrow night by pianist Peter Henderson in a concert for New Music Circle at Christ Church Cathedral.

* St. Louis magazine's Readers Choice poll for the Culture, Media, Sports, and Amusements categories is open now through April 21. The choices for best Blues/Jazz Music Venue include BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups; Beale on Broadway; Broadway Oyster Bar; Jazz at the Bistro; and The Gramophone, along with a write-in option.

Jazz this week: Ann Hampton Callaway, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Peter Henderson and more

This week's calendar of jazz and creative music events in St. Louis offers another varied selection of styles, from swinging jazz in a mainstream groove to eccentric, electric fusion to cabaret to contemporary avant-garde concert music. Let's go the highlights, presented as usual in chronological order:

Tonight, singer, songwriter and pianist Ann Hampton Callaway (pictured) opens a four-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro. Callaway has performed in St. Louis many times, most recently in 2009 for a benefit at the Contemporary Art Museum. According to this interview she did with the P-D's Calvin Wilson, this time out she'll be singing material from her most recent CD and also performing some new arrangements.

Tomorrow night, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey returns to St. Louis for the first time in a decade to play at Cicero's. For more about this eclectic quartet from Tulsa, see this post from last Saturday. (I also spoke last week with JFJO keyboardist and founding member Brian Haas for an interview that will go up soon on the RFT's A to Z music blog, and will add a link here to that post once it's online.)

Also on Thursday, pianist Carobeth True and Two Times True (which she co-leads with her son, drummer David True) will play a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; and Erin Bode will perform at Cyrano's in Webster Groves.

On Friday, singer Katie McGrath will start a two night run at the Kranzberg Arts Center under the auspices of the Presenters Dolan. McGrath's show "The Underside of Love" includes songs composers such as Stephen Sondheim, Judy Collins, Peter Gabriel, Cole Porter and Leon Redbone, and was directed by Tim Schall, with Rick Jensen as music director.

Also on Friday, pianist Curt Landes leads his trio, with featured guest singer Mary Dyson, at Robbie's House of Jazz.

On Saturday, pianist Peter Henderson will perform at Christ Church Cathedral in a concert sponsored by New Music Circle. Henderson, who specializes in performing contemporary works, will play Frederic Rzewski's "The People United Will Never Be Defeated!" and "24 Studies in African Rhythms" by Fred Onovwerosuoke, founder of the St. Louis African Chorus. Onovwerosuoke, who was raised in Ghana and Nigeria and moved to St. Louis in 1994, will be on hand to introduce his piece.

If you're in the mood from something more straight ahead on Saturday, the fine trumpeter Randy Holmes and his quartet will be returning that evening to Robbie's.

On Sunday, there's the April edition of the monthly jam session with saxophonist Jason Swagler and guitarist Eric Slaughter's trio at Bossanova Restaurant & Lounge in Alton. Also on Sunday, BB's Jazz Blues and Soups has funk and R&B-infused sounds from Good 4 The Soul in the early evening and Latin jazz from Ritmo Caliente later on.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Tuesday bassist Bob Deboo will lead a quartet with saxophonist Willie Akins, pianist Ptah Williams and drummer DeMarius Hicks in a a couple of early evening sets. They'll be there from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Tuesdays for an open-ended run, and Deboo tells StLJN that they're also doing some live recording.

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.)

A sneak peek at New Music Circle's 2010-11 season schedule

If you've visited the New Music Circle website recently, you may have noticed what's labeled a "preview" of the presenting organization's 2010-11 season. While some of NMC's events for the coming year still are yet to be confirmed, NMC board member Jim Hegarty last week was able to provide a few additional details about the season for StLJN's readers.

For jazz fans, the biggest news probably is that NMC will present the Golden Quartet on Saturday, November 13 at the 560 Music Center in University City. Led by trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith (pictured), the Golden Quartet is a sort of avant-jazz supergroup featuring pianist Vijay Iyer, bassist John Lindberg, and drummer Pheeroan AkLaff. While Iyer performed here with his trio in January at Jazz at the Bistro and Lindberg has played St. Louis before with the New York String Trio, it appears that this show will be the first St. Louis appearance ever for Smith and AkLaff, both of whom have had long careers of some significance in jazz and improvised music.

Also on tap for the fall: "Visual Music Improv," a performance on Saturday, October 23 at the Mildred E. Bastian Performing Arts Center at St. Louis Community College - Forest Park featuring work from video artist Zlatko Cosic and musicians John Consiglio and Brad Decker; and
a "New Music Circle Showcase" (date and venue TBA) featuring Ron Coulter (percussion, electronics, voice, and self-built instruments), Lauri des Marais (sound designer and choreographer), BaBa Mike Nelson (percussion, vocals), and Eric Hall (electronics and processed instruments).

The new year will bring a concert from the Bloom Project, with pianist Thollem McDonas and saxophonist Rent Romus, on Saturday, January 22nd at the Kranzberg Arts Center. McDonas has has played a number of St. Louis gigs in recent years, including at least one show with the Bloom Project, which features "free improvisations as well as interpretations of numerous textual and graphical scores ...combining disparate and divergent stylistic histories with a sense of immediacy, intensity, and spontaneous inventiveness."

Also returning in 2011 are the duo of violist LaDonna Smith and guitarist Davey Williams, both veteran free-improvising musicians based in Birmingham, AL who have played here before under NMC's auspices. Smith and Williams will be in St. Louis in February, venue TBA, while cellist and fellow Birminghamian Craig Hultgren also will be back next year for a performance in April at the Kranzberg.

New to NMC next spring will be Trio Kinsella, a Kansas City–based ensemble featuring pianist Brendan Kinsella, cellist Ben Gitter and flute player Jonathan Borja. They'll perform original compositions on a date and at a venue TBA.

St. Louis-based pianist Peter Henderson, who's earned a reputation as a compelling interpreter of 20th century and contemporary composers, also will do a concert for NMC next spring, date and venue TBA, performing Frederic Rzewski's "The People United Will Never Be Defeated", and Fred Onovwerosuoke's "24 Studies In African Rhythm."

Also still awaiting a date and venue is Hegarty's own Laptop Orchestra Project, "a performance by a laptop computer ensemble consisting of originally composed works created by the participants and featuring soloists on acoustic instrument or voice in a large, open venue." The project also will include "an education component that provides interested participants and auditors instruction in the laptop orchestra software/hardware system, building of speaker systems, and the special considerations of composing for this ensemble."

Tickets for most New Music Circle shows are $15 regular admission, $7 for students/artists with a valid ID, and NMC also offers season memberships that include tickets to all concerts. StLJN will have more on New Music Circle's 2010-11 season as shows are confirmed and further announcements are made, and of course you also can visit NMC's website for more information.