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)

Jazz this week: Poncho Sanchez; Cooper-Moore, Abrams & Drake; Glendale Jazz Festival; Willie Akins Jazz Festival; and more

The busy Memorial Day weekend schedule of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes the return of a leading light of Latin jazz; an all-star assembly of creative improvisors; a benefit raising funds for scholarships in the name of the late St. Louis saxophonist Willie Akins, and more.

Let's go the highlights....

Wednesday, May 23
Percussionist Poncho Sanchez (pictured, top left) and his band, who are pretty much the gold standard these days for small combo Latin jazz, perform for the first of four nights at Jazz St. Louis. 

For some samples of what you might expect to hear, check out Sanchez and company in action via video in this post from 2014.

Also on Wednesday, this week's "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features the St. Louis Steady Grinders at The Stage at KDHX, the jam session led by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's quartet at The Dark Room.

Elsewhere around town, the Ambassadors of Swing return for another "Shake and Shout Wednesday" at Tin Roof St. Louis; and The 442s and Erin Bode will perform for the monthly concert series at the World Chess Hall of Fame.

Thursday, May 24
Percussionist Joe Pastor's trio returns to The Dark Room; pianist Adam Maness' trio is back at Thurman's in Shaw; and bassist Willem von Hombracht duets with violinist Abbie Steiling at The Pat Connolly Tavern.

Friday, May 25
The Glendale Jazzfest, now in its 19th year, has moved from City Hall to Glendale Lutheran Church, but still is free and open to the public. This year's fest will feature trumpeter Randy Holmes and his Hard Bop 7 playing music by Horace Silver, plus Chicago saxophonist Shawn Maxwell and singers Anita Rosamond and Coco Soul.

Elsewhere around town, the Funky Butt Brass Band performs for the the St. Louis Zoo's free "Jungle Boogie" event; and Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, May 26
New Music Circle closes out their 2017-18 presenting season with a show featuring a collaboration among multi-instrumentalists Cooper-Moore, Joshua Abrams, and Hamid Drake (pictured, bottom left) at Off Broadway.

All three are veterans of the international creative music scene, performing together for the first time here in St. Louis. You can find out more about them and see videos of all three in action (albeit individually) in this post from last Saturday.

Also on Saturday, singers Jeanne Trevor and Joe Mancuso will be backed by guitarist Dave Black and bassist Willem von Hombracht for a show at Focal Point; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to the Venice Cafe; and singer Tony Viviano performs at One 19 North Tapas & Wine Bar.

Sunday, May 27
The second annual Willie Akins Jazz Festival will take place at the Grandel Theatre, with a post-concert jam session at The Dark Room. 

The event, which is raising money for scholarships in Akins' name at Webster University, will feature music from Ben Reece's Unity Quartet; trumpeter Danny Campbell's quartet; a specially assembled band fronted by saxophonists Freddie Washington, Paul DeMarinis, and Kendrick Smith; singers Erika Johnson and Joe Mancuso; and more.

Monday, May 28
Dizzy Atmosphere plays Swing and Gypsy jazz at The Shaved Duck, and singer and guitarist Tommy Halloran is back at Yaquis on Cherokee.

Tuesday, May 29
"Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective return to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups, and pianist Pat Joyce will play at Evangeline's.

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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Winter/spring 2018 jazz preview, part six

Today, it's the sixth and final part of StLJN's winter/spring 2018 jazz preview, featuring videos of jazz and creative music performers who will be coming to St. Louis in the first few months of the new year. (If you missed the previous installments, you can see part one here, part two here, part three here, part four here, and part five here.)

Resuming in chronological order where we left off last week, today's first video features the John Scofield - Joe Lovano Quartet, who will be returning to St. Louis to perform starting Wednesday, April 25 through Saturday, April 28 at Jazz at the Bistro. They're seen here performing a full set at the 2015 Leverkusener Jazztage festival in Leverkusene, Germany.

The next weekend, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will be in town for three performances of Marsalis' “Swing Symphony” with the St. Louis Symphony on Friday, May 4; Saturday, May 5; and Sunday, May 6 at Powell Hall.

Unfortunately, though "Swing Symphony" has been performed a number of times in the USA and Europe, the only good video of the work is stuck behind a paywall. So instead, after the jump, you can see a clip of Marsalis discussing "Swing Symphony" with conductor Simon Rattle, recorded at the Berlin Philharmonie in June 2010.

A couple of days after Marsalis and company leave town, guitarist Dweezil Zappa will be back for a performance on Tuesday, May 8 at The Ready Room.

Given his ongoing legal dispute with the Zappa Family Trust, it's unclear at this time what material DZ will be performing on this year's tour. However, the next clip, a full show recorded in July 2016 at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY, features material spanning several decades of his dad Frank Zappa's career, and though the video (shot by an audience member) is a bit shaky, the audio is solid and serves as a good demonstration of his touring ensemble's capabilities.

That same week, trumpeter Terell Stafford will be here with his quintet to play Wednesday, May 9 through Saturday, May 12 at the Bistro. Stafford, who at one time recorded for the St. Louis based MAXJAZZ label and has performed frequently here over the last decade, probably needs to introduction to local audiences.

Nevertheless, he and his band can be seen in today's fourth video, performing a tribute to the late Lee Morgan in October 2016 at Dizzy's Club in New York City. Along with the leader on trumpet and his fellow Philadelphian Tim Warfield on tenor sax, this edition of Stafford's group featured another MAXJAZZ alumnus, pianist Bruce Barth, along with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Billy Williams.

Next up, it's multi-instrumentalist Brian Culbertson, who will visit St. Louis on Saturday, May 12 for a show at The Pageant. He's seen here performing "Been Around The World" in October 2016 at the Aliante Casino in Las Vegas.

The following week, trumpeter Terence Blanchard will return for a concert on Sunday, May 20 at the Grandel Theatre. Blanchard will be accompanied by his band The E-Collective, which includes Charles Altura (guitar), Fabian Almazan (keyboards), Donald Ramsey (bass), and Oscar Seaton (drums). They're seen here performing a full set at the 2015 North Sea Jazz Fest in Rotterfam, Netherlands.

Today's final video features another familiar face, percussionist Poncho Sanchez, who's developed a following here over the years and will return for a four-night engagement from Wednesday, May 23 through Saturday, May 26 at the Bistro. The clip shows Sanchez and his band playing what he calls the "Poncho Sanchez Medley" at a show in December 2017 in Las Vegas.

That wraps up StLJN's winter/spring 2018 jazz preview, although if/when any other performers of interest are booked for concerts here in St. Louis, you'll find the latest news here. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Sunday Session: June 11, 2017

Roscoe Mitchell

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

* Jazz Pioneer Roscoe Mitchell Marked for Dismissal at Mills College (KQED)
* Aretha Franklin Says Detroit Music Weekend May Mark Last Concert (Patch.com)
* Rodney Bingenheimer says farewell to 'Rodney on the ROQ' after 40 years — but he certainly isn't retiring (Los Angeles Times)
* In $43 Million Settlement, Spotify Forced To Confront A Persistent Problem (NPR)
* The Beatles 'A Day In The Life' Is A Landmark In Sound Engineering 50 Years After It Was Recorded (Forbes)
* How Gregg Allman and Cher stunned Canisius High 'assembly' in 1976 (Buffalo News)
* Edison vs. Scott (LaphamsQuarterly.org)
* How to Destroy YouTube & Save the Music Industry (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Jimmy Webb on Auto-Tune, lying to keep John Lennon from being deported and how cocaine changed music (Los Angeles Times)
* The Bird in my hand: my journey to Charlie Parker (The Guardian)
* Sony Merges RED Into The Orchard: What the Music Giant's Latest Consolidation Means for Indie Labels (Billboard)
* Chops: The Art of the Slap - Poncho Sanchez and Adam Rudolph on transitioning from the drum kit to the conga (Jazz Times)
* Ambrose Akinmusire: Upholding Tradition & Breaking Decorum (Jazz Times)
* NYPL’s Schomburg Center Acquires Sonny Rollins Archive (Jazz Times)
* The Beatles’ iconic Sgt Pepper album returns to the top on its 50th birthday (OfficialCharts.com)
* New Album Narrates Charlie Parker’s Life in Song - Peyroux, Porter, Elling and others create vocal versions of Bird classics to tell his story (Jazz Times)
* The Earth Harp turns an L.A. skyscraper into world's longest stringed instrument (Los Angeles Times)
* Hear Bob Dylan Recite His Nobel Prize in Literature Lecture (Rolling Stone)
* ‘The value of creative assets is systematically being taken away from artists and music companies’ (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Ken Vandermark’s Indefatigable Drive and Avant-Garde Vision (Bandcamp.com)
* FMP Records’ Free Jazz Legacy is Alive and Well at Destination: OUT (Bandcamp.com)
* Why Are Frenchmen Street Musicians Undervalued? (Offbeat)
* “In Search of the Lost Chord”: Danny Goldberg’s new book on 1967 and the “Hippie Idea” (NightFlight.com)
* Vision Festival Promotes Message of Freedom through Creative Music (DownBeat)
* Woodstock Festival Location Becomes Official Historic Site (Rolling Stone)
* Gary Burton: Retiring The Mallets (NPR)
* This Is What Extinction Sounds Like (Vice.com)
* Inside the Making of 'Sgt. Pepper' (Rolling Stone)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The Whitaker Music Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden has announced its schedule for 2017, with ten free concerts in total, including performances from the trad jazz band Gaslight Squares on Wednesday, June 14 and pianist Ptah Williams on Wednesday, July 12.

* Kneebody keyboardist Adam Benjamin was interviewed for a brief article by St. Louis magazine's Erin Williams. The group continues their run at Jazz at the Bistro through Saturday night.

* Riverbend Restaurant and Bar, the Richmond Heights spot that featured live jazz from trumpeter Jim Manley every Tuesday night alongside its creole and Cajun cuisine, has closed permanently.

* An album of pictures from percussionist Poncho Sanchez' shows last week at Jazz at the Bistro has been posted to Facebook by St. Louis trombonist Dave Dickey, who's friends with Sanchez and several members of his group and sat in with them at the Bistro.

* Electronic musician Nathan Cook (aka NNN Cook) was interviewed about his Rhizomatic series of recordings featuring St. Louis experimental musicians by Willis Ryder Arnold of St. Louis Public Radio.

* The website St. Louis Musicians Unite has a short feature about this weekend's events celebrating composer Scott Joplin, and also has put together a Spotify playlist collecting recordings by St. Louis jazz musicians.

* Trumpeter and St. Louis native Ally Hany has won second place in the jazz division of the 2017 National Trumpet Competition, held earlier this month at Metropolitan State University in Denver, CO. Hany, a graduate of Webster Groves High School and University of North Texas, currently is living in NYC, working on a master's degree at Manhattan School of Music and performing with ensembles including the MSM Jazz Orchestra and Sherrie Maricle and the DIVA Jazz Orchestra.

* Pianist Makini Morrison, a senior at University City High School, is one of 17 finalists in the Fox Performing Arts Charitable Foundation's 2017 St. Louis Teen Talent Competition. Morrison (pictured) has been part of Jazz St. Louis' JazzU program and also has played with the North County Big Band. The competition finals will take place Saturday, April 8 at the Fox Theatre.

* Jack Snelling, a senior at Webster Groves High School, has won first place in the high school jazz division of the Mizzou New Music Initiative's 2017 Creating Original Music Project (COMP), a statewide competition for Missouri student composers in grades K-12. Snelling's winning work "Lovesick" will be performed along with this year's other winning compositions as part of the COMP Festival on Saturday, April 15 on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia.

* Worship Jazz, the St. Louis-based publisher of jazz arrangements of sacred music, has added a collection of 12 "jazz liturgies" to the five volumes of jazz hymns already in their catalog. The liturgical resources are "intended to help church musicians create their own jazz worship services, with each focused on a specific liturgical theme with a complete worship format."

* The Wildey Theatre in Edwardsville is looking for a new production manager. If you're interested, you can find more information about the job and how to apply at http://www.cityofedwardsville.com/.

Jazz this week: Ann Hampton Callaway, Erik Friedlander's Black Phebe Trio, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes the return of a popular singer, the local debut of a challenging trio of improvisors, a tribute to a beloved big band trumpeter and bandleader, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, March 15
Longtime St. Louis favorite Ann Hampton Callaway returns for the first time for the first of four nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

Callaway (pictured, top left) was here most recently last summer to do a one-nighter for the St. Louis Cabaret Festival. As a bonus for local fans, her engagement this time will feature former St. Louisan Reggie Thomas, now head of the jazz program at Northern Illinois University, accompanying her on piano.

In addition to her evening performances, she'll also be doing a coffee concert on Thursday morning, and a free, informal lunchtime "conversation" at noon on Friday at the Bistro.

Also on Wednesday, the weekly jam session at @Nesby's in South County hosted by pianist Curt Landes, bassist Glen Smith and drummer Chuck Kennedy, gets a new, later starting time (7:00 p.m.); and Cabaret St. Louis will present their final "Open Mic Night" at the current location, The Emerald Room at The Monocle. The group hopes to continue the monthly series at a new venue yet to be determined.

Thursday, March 16
Cellist Erik Friedlander's Black Phebe Trio (pictured, center left) will play a concert presented by New Music Circle at The Stage at KDHX.

The group features Friedlander, keyboardist Shoko Nagai, and percussionist Satoshi Takeishi, and you can find out more about them and see some video in this post from last Saturday.

Also on Thursday, 1990s swing revivalists Big Bad Voodoo Daddy play at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and pianist Adam Maness' trio will be back at Thurman's in Shaw.

Friday, March 17
Drummer Marty Morrison will be back in town to lead a trio at Cigar Inn; percussionist Herman Semidey and Orquesta Son Montuno will play salsa, Latin jazz and more at Club Viva; and saxophonist Tim Cunningham performs at Troy's Jazz Gallery.

Saturday, March 18
Pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True with saxophonist Larry Johnson will play at the house concert venue Kinda Blue Club, and trumpeter/vibraphonist Joe Bozzi will perform at Evangeline's.

Sunday, March 19
The Jim Widner Big Band will present a "Tribute to Maynard Ferguson" at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

Monday, March 20
Jazz St. Louis doesn't often book touring headliners early in the week, but next week will be an exception, as percussionist Poncho Sanchez (pictured, bottom left) will check in on Monday for the first of two nights at the Bistro.

The popular Latin jazz performer, who last played here in November 2015, was a late addition to the previously announced spring schedule at the Bistro, so tickets still may be available for all shows, but in any case, advance reservations are suggested.  

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.)

Pollstar: Poncho Sanchez to perform Monday, March 20 & Tuesday, March 21 at Jazz at the Bistro

This just in: Two online sources are reporting that master conguero Poncho Sanchez and his Latin jazz band will be returning to St. Louis to perform on Monday, March 20 and Tuesday, March 21 at Jazz at the Bistro.

While these dates have not been announced officially yet by Jazz St. Louis, as of early Tuesday morning they're now listed by the online tour information provider Pollstar and as part of the tour schedule on Sanchez' website.

Given Pollstar's general near-100% reliability plus confirmation from Sanchez, presumably there will be an announcement from JSL any time now confirming the shows, with information on ticket prices and an on-sale date. If and when that announcement comes, this post will be updated.

Sanchez (pictured) last performed in St. Louis in November 2015, doing a four-night run at the Bistro. His most recent album Live in Hollywood was released in 2012.

UPDATE, 2:00 p.m., 3/1/17: Sanchez' show was announced officially in the Jazz St. Louis marketing email that went out today. Tickets are $40, $10 for students, and are on sale now.

Jazz this week: Poncho Sanchez, Charlemagne Palestine, Ramsey Lewis, Nevermore Jazz Ball, Storm Large, and more

It's an extremely busy week for jazz and creative music in and around St. Louis, with major touring musicians in town offering Latin jazz, cabaret, soul jazz, and experimental music, plus a big event drawing swing dancers from around the country, and a varied assortment of shows from local musicians.

Here's a brief look at some of the most notable performances coming up:

Wednesday, November 4
Percussionist Poncho Sanchez and his Latin jazz band return to open a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro.

The popular conguero and his cohorts are one the busiest and best groups in the genre, performing here most recently in April of last year at the Bistro. You can see some video samples of Sanchez (pictured, top left) and the band in concert in this post published before that 2014 appearance.

As part of Jazz St. Louis' education and community outreach efforts, Sanchez also will present a free percussion workshop at 1:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon at the Bistro. There's no advance reservation required, and it's open to the general public. 

Thursday, November 5
The biggest swing dance event of the year in St. Louis, the weekend-long Nevermore Jazz Ball, gets underway with a "welcome party" featuring music from the the Sidney Street Shakers at the Mahler Ballroom.

The festival continues through Sunday night, and though all-event passes have been sold out for a number of weeks, there may be tickets available for some of the shows. Those will include dances featuring Miss Jubilee on Friday night and bassist Michael Gamble’s Rhythm Serenaders, from Asheville, NC, on Saturday and Sunday nights, plus after-parties on Friday and Saturday. For the latest on ticket availability, check the event website and/or Facebook page.

Also, Saturday's Cherokee Street Jazz Crawl has been expanded this year, and remains free and open to the public. The event starts at lunchtime and continues through the afternoon with 10 different acts performing at various venues and businesses starting in the 1900 block of Cherokee and going west to the 2700 block. For a complete list of performers and venues, check the link above.

Elsewhere on Thursday, the Gaslight Cabaret Festival's fall series resumes with a performance from indie rock duo Sleepy Kitty, aka singers and multi-instrumentalists Paige Brubeck and Evan Sult, at the Gaslight Theater. Brubeck and Sult also will repeat the show a week from Thursday at the same venue.

Friday, November 6
During the day on Friday, musician, composer and sound artist Charlemagne Palestine (pictured, center left), here under the auspices of New Music Circle for performances on Saturday and Sunday nights, will preface those shows with free, public artist's talks at Webster University and Washington University.

Elsewhere around town, the Gaslight Cabaret Festival continues with singer Storm Large in the first of two performances at the Gaslight Theater. Large played St. Louis most recently last September for the 2014 edition of the festival; for more about what she's been up to since then, check out check out this brief interview she did with Alive magazine.

Also on Friday, the experimental/noise duo Ahleuchatistas are back to headline a three-act bill at Foam; and the Genesis Jazz Project will be at St. Louis Union Station for "Fall In Love at Grand Hall - An Evening of Jazz, Comedy & Dancing" featuring a number of guest singers and performers including Dawn Weber and Anita Jackson.

Saturday, November 7
The veteran pianist Ramsey Lewis, celebrating 50 years since "The In Crowd" made his reputation as a popular crossover artist, returns to perform for the annual ArtSounds! benefit at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Lewis (pictured, lower left) has made a couple of St. Louis appearances in recent years, but his last stop in 2014 included just one public show at the Bistro, so look for his fans to turn out in force for this one. As of this writing, some concert-only tickets remain, but you should contact the Sheldon box office for the latest on what's available. For more about Lewis, see this video showcase post from Saturday before last, and this week's Music Education Monday post featuring a master class with him.

Meanwhile, just down the street in Grand Center, Charlemagne Palestine will perform on piano at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation. You can see performances from Palestine on both piano and organ and learn more about him in this video showcase post from last Saturday.

Elsewhere around town, The Wire Pilots will play original fusion music at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

Sunday, November 8
The fall edition of the St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show begins bright and early in the morning at the American Czech Hall, and later that afternoon, pianist Carol Schmidt and friends from the Webster University faculty will present a concert with the theme of "Music and Humor" at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus.

Sunday evening, singers Joe Mancuso and Charles Glenn will headline "Voices for the MS Cure," a benefit raising money for the fight against multiple sclerosis, at the Ferring Jazz Bistro; and Charlemagne Palestine will perform on the organ at Trinity Lutheran Church in Soulard.

Monday, November 9
"A Celebration of Gene Lynn," organized by the late singer's longtime companion Maria Vera, will begin mid-afternoon and continue through the evening at Bar Italia.

The event will feature performances from a long list of St. Louis singers and "more than 20" musicians who played with Lynn over the years, with proceeds benefiting a fund to be managed by the National Blues Museum "ensuring that students from public schools in underserved communities across the St Louis region continue to learn about Gene Lynn's life and songs."

Also on Monday, Webster University's Student Jazz Combos will perform at Webster's Community Music School.

Tuesday, November 10
The STL Free Jazz Collective will perform for the "Notes From Home" series at the Sheldon, while a couple of blocks away, the SIUE Concert & Alumni Jazz Bands will return to Jazz at the Bistro.

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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Fall 2015 jazz preview, part 4

We continue this week with part four of StLJN's video preview of jazz and creative music performers who are coming to St. Louis this fall. (You can see part one here, part two here, and part three here.)

Our first video today features percussionist Poncho Sanchez, who will be back in town to play Wednesday, November 4 through Saturday, November 7 at Jazz at the Bistro. The clip up top is an excerpt from an outdoor show Sanchez played in July of this year for the "Hollywood And Highland" series in Los Angeles.

The same week Sanchez hits town, singer Storm Large also will return to St. Louis to headline performances for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival on Friday, November 6 and Saturday, November 7 at the Gaslight Theater. Large can be seen in the first video after the jump performing "I've Got You Under My Skin" at a gig last year at the Triple Door in Seattle.

Also on Saturday, November 7, New Music Circle will present minimalist composer Charlemagne Palestine in a performance at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in Grand Center. Palestine is featured in the second video after the jump, giving a solo concert on piano and organ in March of this year at The Lab performance space in San Francisco.

And if all that weren't enough for one week, pianist Ramsey Lewis also will me making a return appearance here that same Saturday, November 7, headlining the annual "ArtSounds!" benefit at the Sheldon Concert Hall. You can catch Lewis in the third clip after the jump, playing "The In Crowd" this past May at Daley Plaza in Chicago during a TV appearance promoting his 80th birthday celebration.

Next up is singer Karrin Allyson, who's coming to St. Louis to perform Wednesday, November 11 and Thursday, November 12 at Jazz at the Bistro. Allyson will be presenting music from her latest album, Many A New Day: Karrin Allyson Sings Rodgers & Hammerstein, and the fourth video after the jump is the electronic press kit (EPK) for that album.

Today's final video features singer Karen Oberlin, who will perform her show "His Aim Is True - The Songs of Elvis Costello" for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival on Friday, November 13 and Saturday, November 14 at the Gaslight Theater. Oberlin is seen here with her frequent collaborator, guitarist Sean Harkness, singing "More Than You Know" at the Broadway World Cabaret Awards Show in February 2015 at Joe's Pub in NYC.

Look for the fifth and final part of StLJN's Fall 2015 jazz preview, covering the rest of November and December, next week. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Jazz this week: Poncho Sanchez, Catherine Russell, The Cunninghams, and more

As Jazz Appreciation Month 2014 continues past the halfway point, the live performance calendar this week in St. Louis includes several touring performers visiting our town, the return of a veteran of Gaslight Square, and the usual variety of activity from local musicians. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, percussionist Poncho Sanchez and his band (pictured) open a four-night engagement continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. One of the standard-bearers for mainstream Latin jazz, Sanchez' group over the years has consistently offered satisfying grooves topped with engaging solos, and the current edition is no exception. You can check out some relatively recent Sanchez performances on video in this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

Also tonight, the Route 66 Jazz Orchestra returns to Kirkwood Station Brewing Company; Cabaret Project St. Louis presents their monthly "open stage" event at the Tavern of Fine Arts; and Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center presents a double-bill featuring free improvisation by Joe Hess, Nick Horn, Alex Cunningham and Dave Stone, plus some more structured jazz sounds from the newish band Boysiac, with Mason Baran, Matt Villinger, Joe Hibbs, and Nathan Pence.

Tomorrow night, Miss Jubilee will being doing double duty, with a happy hour performance at Magpie's in St. Charles and a late night session downtown at Thaxton Speakeasy; and guitarist Dave Black and Friends, including singer Joe Mancuso, will be at Nathalie’s.

On Friday, the Twin Cities jump blues and swing band Davina and the Vagabonds will be back in town for a show at The Gramophone, with singer/guitarist Tommy Halloran's Guerilla Swing as opening act. That same evening, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will perform at the Highway 61 Roadhouse; singer Feyza Eren will lead a quartet in concert at the Kranzberg Arts Center; and guitarist Tom Byrne's trio plays at Cigar Inn.

On Saturday evening, singer and multi-instrumentalist Don Cunningham and his wife, singer-pianist Alicia Cunningham - better known as The Cunninghams - will be visiting from their home in Las Vegas to perform at 560 Music Center, accompanied by a local rhythm section including pianist Carolbeth True, Jeff Anderson on bass, and Gary Sykes on drums. You can read more about Don Cunningham's days performing in Gaslight Square, his first meeting with Alicia, the couple's subsequent popularity as a touring act in Asia, and more in this short feature about them that I wrote a few years back for the Riverfront Times.

If the Cunninghams' close harmony and occasional forays into exotica aren't your bag, you might want to check out singer Catherine Russell, who will be making her St. Louis debut as a headliner on Saturday at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Russell is sometimes referred to as "the daughter of jazz royalty," and you can find out more about that and see some video samples of her performing in this post from last Saturday. And if that piques your interest, you also should know that The Sheldon and Metrotix now are offering a discount on tickets to the concert.

Elsewhere around town on Saturday, saxophonist Jason Swagler, guitarist Eric Slaughter, bassist Nick Jost, and drummer Marty Morrison will take the stage at Robbie's House of Jazz; singer Tony Viviano returns to Talayna's of Chesterfield; and the Funky Butt Brass Band will play at the Old Rock House.

On Sunday, saxophonist Jim Stevens and band will perform in a matinee by the Mississippi at The Loading Dock in Grafton; and pianist Dave Venn will be holding forth at Pomme Café & Wine Bar.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the student jazz singers from Webster University will cap their semester with a performance at Winifred Moore Auditorium on campus.

Then on Tuesday, this spring's series of "Twilight Tuesday" concerts at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park gets underway with saxophonist Michael Fitzgerald offering "A Tribute to Miles Davis and David Sanborn"; and the SIUE Concert Jazz Band & Alumni, directed by Brett Stamps, will be back for another evening at Jazz at the Bistro.

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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Six from Poncho Sanchez

Today, let's check out some videos of percussionist Poncho Sanchez, who will be bringing his band to St. Louis to perform Wednesday, April 16 through Saturday, April 19 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Last seen here in 2012 at the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, Sanchez and his band could be considered the standard-bearers for small-group, mainstream Latin jazz. Though the personnel has changed over the years, the group's instrumentation - three percussionists, bass, keyboards, and a three- or four-member horn section - and their basic approach and sound have remained remarkably consistent.

Sanchez, who's now 63, was born the son of Mexican immigrants in Texas and raised in California. At first a guitarist and singer, he switched to the conga drums while in high school and got his big break in his early twenties with vibraphonist Cal Tjader, staying with Tjader's band for nearly seven years.

Before his death in 1982, Tjader urged his label Concord Records to sign Sanchez as a solo act. They did, simultaneously helping to launch his career as a bandleader, and Sanchez went on to release 19 albums for the label, including in 1999 the Grammy Award-winning Latin Soul. Since moving to the Universal label shortly after that, Sanchez has released a dozen more albums, the most recent being 2012's Live in Hollywood.

Given that Sanchez has performed here in St. Louis several times in the last few years, today's selection of clips concentrates on material that's just come online in the last 12 months, although at least a couple of the videos are from a while back.

First up, though, is a relatively recent selection, an audience-made video of Sanchez and band playing "El Conguero" last July at the Laguna Beach Festival of the Arts in California. While it takes a minute for the music to start, and the camera work is a bit uneven in spots, the audio is quite nice, and it's a good example of how Sanchez uses what amounts to a personal theme song ("Yo soy el conguero") to kick off and establish a tone for his set.

Down below, you can see Sanchez and band perform "Ven Pa Bailar" in March, 2012 at the Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival, and below that, there are a couple of undated clips recorded at B.B. King's in NYC. The first features the tune "Keeper of the Flame," while the second is a medley of songs associated with the famed Latin-jazz percussionist Willie Bobo.

The fifth clip, labeled simply "Descarga," is from an undated TV appearance and features tasty solos from Sanchez and former pianist/music director David Torres.

And in the sixth and final spot, there's a complete show from 1991, apparently released on home video as "A Night at Kimball's East." While the band's personnel and the song list certainly have changed, Sanchez' musical consistency means that what you see and hear in this show isn't all that different that what you likely can expect to hear at the Bistro later this month.

For more about Poncho Sanchez, check out this older interview with JustSalsa.com; this conversation with LatinJazzNet.com from 2010; and the podcast interview Sanchez recorded for Jazz St. Louis before appearing at the Bistro in 2008.

You can see and hear the rest of today's videos after the jump...

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Winter/spring 2014 jazz preview, part 4

This week, we continue with part four of StLJN's winter/spring 2014 jazz preview, featuring bands and musicians who will be coming to our town in the first few months of this year. (Here are part one, part two and part three.)

Today's first clip features guitarist Pat Metheny and his Unity Band, with saxophonist Chris Potter, bassist Ben Williams and drummer Antonio Sanchez, performing "Breakdealer" at a show in July 2012 in Rome, Italy. Metheny and the ensemble, now known as the Unity Group with the addition of multi-instrumentalist Giulio Carmassi, will be touring in support of a new album this year and will play St. Louis on Sunday, March 9 at The Pageant.

Down below, you can see pianist Cyrus Chestnut who will be here with his trio and special guest guitarist Russell Malone to perform Wednesday, April 2 through Saturday, April 5 at Jazz at the Bistro.

In this clip, Chestnut, bassist Darryl Hall and drummer Willie Jones III are playing his adaptation of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake," recorded in 2011 for his album Moonlight Sonata, an import-only release from Japan. Below that, you can see a video of Malone playing "There Will Never Be Another You" with pianist Billy Taylor's trio.

The fourth clip shows flute player and composer Claire Chase, who will perform here in a concert presented by New Music Circle on Friday, April 4 at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts. This video is an excerpt from a performance by Chase and her ensemble last January at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC.

Next up are The Wee Trio, featuring St. Louis native Dan Loomis on bass, who will be returning to St. Louis to perform on Friday, April 11 and Saturday, April 12 at Jazz at the Bistro. In this clip, you can see them in a 2012 show at MiraCosta College in California, performing the arrangement of "Queen Bitch" originally conceived for Ashes to Ashes, their album of David Bowie music, and then revisited on Live at the Bistro, recorded here in St. Louis last February.

The sixth clip features singer Storm Large, who's performing Friday, April 11 and Saturday, April 12 at the Gaslight Theater as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival. Large, whose career in entertainment has ranged from rock singer to reality TV to cabaret, is heard here in a 2011 recording singing the standard "Brasil" with Pink Martini, the retro-style dance band for which she is co-lead vocalist.

Today's seventh video features percussionist Poncho Sanchez, who was here in 2012 to perform at the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival and will return this year to play Wednesday, April 16 through Saturday, April 19 at the Bistro. Sanchez and his band are seen here performing their complete set from the 2012 Montreux Jazz Festival.

Look for the fifth part of the winter/spring 2014 jazz preview next week.

Jazz this week: Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, Oikos Ensemble, Lauren Sevian, Freddie Washington, Cornet Chop Suey, and more

It's another busy weekend for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with a number of touring musicians in town for the ninth annual Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival and an extensive menu of shows featuring St. Louis musicians, too. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, baritone saxophonist Lauren Sevian will present an early evening performance and master class at Saxquest. Sevian is in town to serve as a clinician/adjudicator for the daytime, educational portion of the GSLJF, which involves a competition for student jazz big bands and combos from around the area. She'll also be a guest with the UMSL Big Band during their festival performances, opening the show for Friday and Saturday's headliners.

Right around the time Sevian is wrapping up, vibraphonist Stefon Harris and trumpeter Sean Jones will be teaming up for the first of two sets at Jazz at the Bistro. Harris and Jones also have been serving as clinician/adjudicators for the student combo portion of the GSLJF, and from what I can tell, it sounds like they're using Harris' band as the rhythm section for their gig at the Bistro. (You can read a review of Harris' show last week in Kansas City here.)

Update, 4:30 p.m., 4/19/12: The latest word now is that Harris, in fact, did not bring his band with him, and he and Jones will be backed by Ken Kehner (piano), Marty Morrison (drums) and Jahmal Nichols (bass). The latest tweet from Jazz St. Louis also indicates they'll be playing familiar material including "Soul Eyes," "Resolution," "Dolphin Dance," and "Giant Steps,"

For more about the GSLJF, check out this video preview post from last Saturday, and this post over at St. Louis magazine's Look/Listen blog based on an interview with Jim Widner, director of the UMSL jazz program and the GSLJF.

Also on Thursday night, saxophonist Freddie Washington will play a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. Washington's gig is the final Jazz at Holmes show of the semester, and the email announcement for it also stated that, unlike the past couple of years, there will be no summer Jazz at Holmes series this year. So, looks like this week's JaH concert will be the last one until September, which seems like a long time away.

On Friday, the GSLJF continues with percussionist Poncho Sanchez and his band with guest trumpeter Terence Blanchard (pictured) at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. They'll be playing music from Chano y Dizzy!, their 2011 CD paying tribute to conga drummer/composer Chano Pozo and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. The UMSL Big Band will open the show.

Also on Friday, guitarist Matthew Von Doran will be the featured performer in the second installment of the new Friday night series at City Music; Three Central will bring their smooth jazz sound to Robbie's House of Jazz; the St. Louis Big Band plays a concert at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, 4029 Blow St.; and guitarist Eric Slaughter and his trio are playing at the Cigar Inn.

On Saturday, there are a couple of notable daytime events, as trad jazz and swing band Cornet Chop Suey plays a mid-day show at the Sheldon Concert Hall, and Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra clarinetist Diana Haskell presents a workshop and performance at Saxquest.

Then on Saturday night, the GSLJF concludes with the St. Louis debut of bassist Christian McBride's big band at the Touhill. Again, the UMSL Big Band is scheduled to open the show.

Also on Saturday night, the Funky Butt Brass Band will perform at the newish Midtown venue Plush; and saxophonist Matt McKeever's trio plays at Robbie's.

On Sunday afternoon, the Oikos Ensemble, featuring saxophonist Clifford Aerie, will present a performance at First Congregational Church in Webster Groves to benefit the Sunshine Cultural Arts Center in East St. Louis.

Also on Sunday afternoon, Cornet Chop Suey will play a matinee concert at Lewis & Clark Community College; and a bit later on, the Dave Dickey Big Band will take the stage for their monthly gig at Kirkwood Station Brewing Company, with Metrobones as the intermission act.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Webster University Jazz Singers will give their final performance of the semester at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the main Webster campus.

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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Previewing the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival

This week, let's take a look at the musicians who will be performing at next week's Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival.

The GSLJF actually will begin on Wednesday with a series of performances and adjudications of local high school jazz combos at Jazz at the Bistro. That continues on Thursday, followed by a similar program of performances and adjudications for student big bands at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on Friday and Saturday. The festival schedule (.pdf file) says these events are free and open to the public, but there's no specific information there or anywhere on the GSLJF site about starting or ending times, or which bands might be playing when.

The festival's headlining performances begin on Thursday evening, when vibraphonist Stefon Harris and trumpeter Sean Jones will play two sets at the Bistro. You can see Harris in the embedded video window up above, performing "The Afterthought" with bassist Ben Williams, pianist Sullivan Fortner, and drummer (and East St. Louis's own) Terreon Gully. Down below, you can see Jones perform the song "Transitions" in a clip from the 2010 Detroit Jazz Festival.

On Friday night, percussionist Poncho Sanchez and his band plus special guest trumpeter Terence Blanchard will be at the Touhill. They'll be playing material from Chano y Dizzy!, their 2011 CD paying tribute to conga drummer/composer Chano Pozo and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, whose pioneering collaboration in the 1940s laid the groundwork for today's Latin jazz.

Today's clip of them is excerpted from a performance in February 2011 at Yoshi's in Oakland, and features a cover of Mongo Santamaria's "Besame Mama" in which Blanchard and Sanchez' regular trumpeter Ron Blake trade eight-bar breaks. For more about the Sanchez/Blanchard alliance, check out this review of a show of theirs from earlier this year in Virginia.

The GSLJF wraps up on Saturday night with a performance by bassist Christian McBride's big band at the Touhill. McBride won the 2012 Grammy Award for "Best Large Jazz Ensemble Recording" for the band's debut release The Good Feeling, but there's not really any performance video of them online, except for an electronic press kit created to support the CD's initial release.

To fill in some of the back story, I had hoped to interview McBride for a piece to run next week on the RFT Music Blog, but alas, his "people" turned down the request for an interview. (Whether this was out of general disdain for the press, St. Louis, or the GSLJF, or a more specific disdain for the RFT or yours truly, is anyone's guess. Said "people" implied that interviews were granted to others here in St. Louis, so I suspect the latter, but we'll have to wait and see what sort of coverage turns up elsewhere in the next few days. )

Until then, all that's left to do is put up a couple more clips, the first of which shows McBride and the Detroit Jazz Festival Orchestra in 2011 playing "Shake and Blake," the leadoff track from the Good Feeling CD. While next Saturday's concert at the Touhill no doubt will feature a completely different lineup of musicians, this video and the one below it of the song "Broadway," also from The Good Feeling and recorded at the same Detroit gig, at least provide some examples of McBride's approach and arranging style.

Jazz this week: Poncho Sanchez, Paula West, Morton Subotnick, and more

There's lots going on this week with jazz and creative music in St. Louis, so let's get right to the highlights, starting with three touring performers who are playing in the Gateway City over the next few days.

Tonight, Latin-jazz percussionist Poncho Sanchez begins a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. You can see a couple of videos featuring Sanchez and his band in this post from last Saturday, and Jazz St. Louis also has a podcast interview with Sanchez here.

On Saturday, singer Paula West performs at the Sheldon Concert Hall. You can see and hear West in a couple of video clips here; also, note that the Sheldon is offering online buyers a $10 discount on tickets to West's concert.

Also on Saturday, New Music Circle and St. Louis Community College-Forest Park will present pioneering electronic musician and composer Morton Subotnick (pictured) in concert at the college's Mildred E. Bastian Performing Arts Center. Subotnick will perform "Until Spring Revisited," a remaking of an electronic music/video composition originally created for solo synthesizer in 1975.

In addition to these three headliners, there are a number of other noteworthy shows this week. On Thursday, the mysterious FO(U)R PEACE BAND does a free show for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. I call them "mysterious" because I haven't been able to find out anything about them on the 'Net, nor have Wash U or the Jazz at Holmes series released anything about who they are or what sort of music they play. Still, given the series' deserved reputation for presenting good stuff, the show seemed worth a mention here, but caveat lector.

Also on Thursday, world music fans may want to check out the UMSL University Percussion Ensemble and Afro-Cuban Ensemble and their special guest Adam Rugo, who will perform percussion music from Africa, Cuba, Japan and the United States in a free concert at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

Moving on to Saturday, the Kemper Museum presents a free concert by guitarist Teddy Presberg and his band the Red Note Revivalists as part of the series of live performances accompanying the museum's current "Birth of the Cool" exhibit.

On Sunday, the Nu Art Series presents the Tayammum Falah Art Orchestra in concert at the Metropolitan Gallery, 2936 Locust St. The group features the leader on drums and percussion, plus bassist Raymond Eldridge, pianist Christopher Evans, and an intriguing front line of veterans Floyd LeFlore on trumpet and Willie Akins on saxophones.

That same afternoon, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra presents its annual "Explosions" percussion concert at the TouPAC. And that evening, BAG II sponsors a free performance at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site featuring poets Marsha Cann, Joyce Blue and Deborah Mashibini and music from bassist/mbira player Zimbabwe Nkenya.

Looking beyond the weekend, the first part of next week offers a couple of shows of particular interest to big band fans. On Monday, the Sessions Big Band continues its ongoing series of gigs at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups, and on Tuesday, the Genesis Jazz Project does one of its semi-annual free concerts at the TouPAC.

You can find more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond by visiting the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar.

(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: Poncho Sanchez plays "El Conguero" and "Baila Mi Gente"

Today's video clips feature master Latin/jazz percussionist Poncho Sanchez, who will be in St. Louis next week to perform Wednesday, November 19 through Saturday, November 22 at Jazz at the Bistro. Sanchez' band is considered one of the top Latin/jazz groups working today, and the majority of their gigs are at concerts and festivals. They rarely play clubs, which is why Jazz St. Louis director of operations Bob Bennett tells me that the organization feels they've scored quite a coup by enticing Sanchez to the Gateway City for a four-night stand.

These two clips will provide a brief introduction to Sanchez's energetic, extroverted approach to music. Up top, you can see him and his band working out on "El Conguero," which translates (as if you couldn't guess) as "the conga player." Down below, they're playing a tune called "Baila Mi Gente," which Babelfish tells me means "my people dance." I'm not quite sure about the Spanish syntax there - it could be "dance, my people" - but the music comes through loud and clear.