Sunday Session: July 12, 2020

Jason Moran

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

* Buddy Guy on Weathering the COVID Storm and the Road Ahead (Rolling Stone)
* Watch Exclusive uDiscover Music Interview With Jazz Saxophonist Azar Lawrence (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* The Story of Louis Armstrong’s Final Tape (LouisArmstrongHouse.org)
* Terri Lyne Carrington Tops 2020 DownBeat Critics Poll (DownBeat)
* Talking Heads Drummer Chris Frantz on His New Memoir and the Last Time He Saw David Byrne (Rolling Stone)
* Ennio Morricone: 10 of his greatest compositions (The Guardian)
* How Ennio Morricone Changed the Way Movies Sound (Pitchfork.com)
* Remembering Ennio Morricone: His 10 most mind-blowing film scores (Los Angeles Times)
* The Great Reformatting (TheAmericanScholar.org)
* The Pedal Steel Guitar Slides Into Jazz (Jazz Times)
* Gearhead: Ralph Towner’s Acoustic Arsenal (Jazz Times)
* Empire at 40 | How Ben Burtt Turned a Bathtub of Raccoons and Industrial Noise into a Star Wars Soundscape (StarWars.com)
* 50 years ago Hendrix, the Allman Brothers and B.B. King played the Byron Pop Festival (Macon Telegraph)
* Krautrock, communism and chaos: the anarchic story of Can (LouderSound.com)
* Joni Mitchell, Isle of Wight 1970: the day the music nearly died (The Guardian)
* The Mid-Atlantic’s Flourishing Jazz, Funk And R&B Scene Spotlit By Black Fire Records (DownBeat)
* Lady A, Formerly Lady Antebellum, Sue Seattle Blues Singer Lady A (Pitchfork.com)
* Anita ‘Lady A’ White Will Not Be Erased (Vulture.com)
* Pop music is getting faster (and happier) (BBC)
* Jason Moran Journeys to the Dawn of Jazz Cinema (Criterion.com)
* France’s Future Jazz Revival Is Built on House and Hip-Hop Grooves (Bandcamp.com)
* Music Maven Steve Stoute’s Pitch for Artists: Keep All the Money (Bloomberg.com)
* Wire Playlist: Musician-Owned Record Labels in Jazz in the 1940s–60s (The Wire)
* ‘I Don’t Think Anybody Alive Can Tell Me What to Do’ Willie Nelson at his most Willie Nelson (Vulture.com)
* The Many Electronic Surprises To Be Found In The Nation's Vast Archive Of Folk Music (NPR)
* Cleve Eaton 1939–2020 (Jazz Times)
* Just for Us (Chamber-Music.org)

Jazz this week: Ralph Towner, MarchFourth, Oliver Lake, Bonerama, Michael Bublé, Oz Noy, Dave Weckl & Jimmy Haslip, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis is jam-packed with so many noteworthy shows that it defies easy summary, so in the interest of getting to the good stuff as soon as possible, let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, 
March 20
Guitarist Ralph Towner returns to play a solo concert at Graham Chapel on the Washington University campus. (For more about Towner and some video samples of his work, see this post from before his last appearance here in 2017.)

Also on Wednesday, the eclectic mutant-marching-band MarchFourth returns for a performance at the Old Rock House; Cabaret Project St. Louis presents their monthly "Singers Open Mic" at Sophie's Artist Lounge; and pianist Reggie Thomas and the Jazz St. Louis Big Band celebrate the "Nat "King" Cole Centennial" with a free performance as part of the the "Whitaker Jazz Speaks" series at Jazz St. Louis.

Thursday, March 21
The 442s play original instrumental music at Joe's Cafe, and guitarist Billy Barnett will perform in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

Friday, March 22
The Nu-Art Series and St. Louis University  present saxophonist Oliver Lake (pictured, top left) in concert at Xavier Hall on the SLU campus.

The former St. Louisan and co-founder of the Black Artists Group and the World Saxophone Quartet will be reciting some of his poetry as well as playing music, with some help from pianist Greg Mills, trumpeter and Nu-Art Series impresario George Sams, and dancers Antonio Douthis-Boyd and Kirven Douthis-Boyd.

For more about Lake and his artistic pursuits in music, poetry, and painting, see this post from last Saturday. 

Also on Friday, Bonerama (pictured, center left) presents their Led Zeppelin tribute show at The Bootleg at Atomic Cowboy; pop-jazz crooner Michael Bublé will perform at the Enterprise Center; and the Funky Butt Brass Band plays for the first of two nights at Jazz St. Louis.

Saturday, March 23
NYC-based band The Bailsmen will play vintage swing and Gypsy jazz at Focal Point, and a series of shows celebrating the release of the new book St. Louis Sound kicks off with "St. Louis Sound: Experience Jazz," featuring sets from Tonina, the Adam Maness Trio, and trumpeter Danny Campbell with guest vocalist Anita Jackson, at the Grandel Theatre.

Also on Saturday, pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True return to the Parkside Grille, and trumpeter Jim Manley leads a quartet at Evangeline's.

Sunday, March 24
Israeli-born jazz-fusion guitarist Oz Noy wraps up his current tour with drummer and St. Charles native Dave Weckl (pictured, bottom left) and bassist Jimmy Haslip with two shows at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Monday, March 25
Singer and impressionist Dean Christopher returns with his "Rat Pack and More" show to One 19 North Tapas & Wine Bar; and Webster University's Student Jazz Combos perform at Webster's Community Music School.

Tuesday, March 26
Nashville-based ensemble The Cosmic Collective plays 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.)

Ralph Towner returning to perform Wednesday, March 20 at Graham Chapel

Guitarist Ralph Towner is returning to St. Louis to perform in a solo concert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 20 at Graham Chapel on the Washington University campus.

Towner (pictured) has recorded more than two dozen albums as a solo artist on ECM records, going back to the early 1970s, and also is one of the co-founders of the long-running band Oregon.

A capable pianist as well as a guitarist, Towner  was an original member of the pioneering world-fusion group Paul Winter Consort and early in his career recorded with the likes of Weather Report, Larry Coryell, and Jan Garbarek, but these days may be best known for his solo shows playing acoustic guitar.

His most recent recordings, a solo album called My Foolish Heart on ECM, and Oregon's latest, Lantern, on the Italian label CAM Jazz, both were released in 2017. Towner last played in St. Louis in February 2017 at the 560 Music Center.

Tickets for Ralph Towner at Graham Chapel are $25 for general admission; $20 for seniors and Wash U faculty and staff; $10 for students with ID; and go on sale online at 10:00 a.m. Monday, November 19 via Vendini.com.

Sunday Session: May 28, 2017

Terrace Martin

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

* How the record industry crisis of 1925 shaped our musical world (The Guardian)
* Composer Angelo Badalamenti, Master Of Mood, Returns To 'Twin Peaks' (NPR)
* The Keys to Snarky Puppy's Success (Keyboard)
* Inside the Offices Where the Music Never Stops and Everyone Is DJ (Bloomberg.com)
* By Any Name, Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda Was A Force (NPR)
* 7 pieces of gear that helped shape Radiohead’s timeless OK Computer (FactMag.com)
* How Did Toby Keith Get To Do A Concert In Saudi Arabia? (NPR)
* Donny McCaslin: The David Bowie Connection (SFJAZZ.org)
* Watch: Alvin Lucier Talks Brain Waves, Marching Bands and John Cage (WQXR)
* Fela Kuti built his music around a distrust of Nigeria's elites. Now they're the audience for the musical about his life (Los Angeles Times)
* Cultural commissioner Mark Kelly moves to reshape Chicago Jazz Festival (Chicago Tribune)
* Yes, L.A. Has Lost Many of Its Jazz Clubs — but Other Venues Are Stepping In (LA Weekly)
* Q&A with Ronald Bruner Jr.: Squad Goals (DownBeat)
* At The Dawn Of Recorded Sound, No One Cared (NPR)
* How data is transforming the music industry (TheConversation.com)
* Night Time, My Time: The Pervasive Musical Influence Of Twin Peaks (ClashMusic.com)
* Confessions Of An MP3 Blogger (TheFader.com)
* Mickey Roker, Dynamic Hard-Bop Drummer and Philly Jazz Institution, Dies at 84 (WBGO)
* Why Remix 'Sgt. Pepper's'? Giles Martin, The Man Behind The Project, Explains (NPR)
* Reviving Alice Coltrane’s Ecstatic Music in New York City (DownBeat)
* Frankie & Johnny, Helen & Morgan (Jazz Times)
* Electronic pioneer Morton Subotnick subject of new documentary Subotnick (FactMag.com)
* Terrace Martin Talks New Jazz Supergroup, Producing for Herbie Hancock (Rolling Stone)
* We no longer know who the biggest pop star in the world is (QZ.com)
* Quincy Jones Reflects on Artists He Loves, Wished He'd Worked With During Intimate Launch of New Headphones (Billboard)
* Social Music: ‘Jam of the Week’ Builds Online Jazz Community (DownBeat)
* Everybody Digs Ralph Towner - The veteran guitarist on solo performance, Bill Evans and Oregon (Jazz Times)
* Kansas City's Oldest Jazz Institution Isn't Afraid Of New Beats — Or Other Challenges (KCUR)
* Joan La Barbara: Finding the Right Words to Inspire Sound (TheLogJournal.com)

Jazz this week: Mike Stern & Kimberly Thompson, George Sams, Ralph Towner, Ikue Mori & Nate Wooley, Russell Gunn, and more

As you might be able to deduce from looking at the headline for this post, it's very busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis.

Over the next few days, there will be a plethora of visiting performers on local stages, plus the opening of a play about one of the most famous jazz singers ever, free master classes from two guitar greats, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, February 15
Guitarist Mike Stern performs for the first of four nights continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro, joined by drummer Kimberly Thompson, saxophonist Bob Franceschini, and bassist Teymur Phell.

It's been nearly seven years since Stern (pictured, top left) last headlined a show at the Bistro, and with St. Louis native Thompson on the gig, demand for tickets should be brisk, so advance reservations are strongly recommended.

Also on Wednesday, Cabaret St. Louis presents their monthly "Open Mic Night" at The Emerald Room at The Monocle.

Thursday,
February 16
On Thursday afternoon, Mike Stern will present a free jazz guitar clinic sponsored by Mozingo Music at Lindenwood University's J. Scheidegger Center for the Arts.

Thursday evening, trumpeter George Sams (pictured, center left) will perform for the "Not So Quiet" concert series at the St. Louis Public Library's main location downtown with a group including poet Shirley LeFlore, percussionist Henry Claude, cellist Tracy Andreotti, and violinist Alyssa Avery.

Also on Thursday, singer Erin Bode returns to Cyrano's; and the first preview performance of Max and Louie Productions' staging of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, the Tony Award-winning play-with-music about Billie Holiday, will be presented at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

The show, which features Chicago-based actress and singer Alexis J. Roston reprising her award-winning performance as Holiday, opens officially on Friday night and continues through Saturday, March 4.

Friday, February 17
Friday afternoon, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents a "Symposium on the Music of Ralph Towner" with Towner, William Lenihan and Steve Schenkel at the Goldberg Formal Lounge in the Danforth University Center on the Wash U campus.

That evening, funk legends Tower of Power will perform at River City Casino. Although drummer David Garibaldi and substitute bassist Marc Van Wageningen are still recovering from serious injuries suffered in an accident before a gig last month in Oakland, TOP's current tour is continuing, with original bassist Francis "Rocco" Prestia back on the bandstand and former drummer Herman Matthews, who played with the group for several years in the 1990s, filling in for Garibaldi.

Also on Friday, trumpeter Byron Stripling will be guest soloist with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra as they present their Black History Month program "Lift Every Voice and Sing," at Powell Symphony Hall.

Elsewhere around town, trumpeter Jim Manley returns to Evangeline's; trumpeter Kasimu Taylor and pianist Ptah Williams perform duets at Thurman's in Shaw; and Second Generation Swing plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, 
February 18
New Music Circle presents electronic musician Ikue Mori and trumpeter Nate Wooley at The Luminary.

For more about that, and some videos of Mori and Wooley (pictured, bottom left) in performance, see this post from last Saturday.

Also on Saturday, the Jazz at Holmes series presents a solo concert by Ralph Towner at 560 Music Center. Towner has just released a new album of solo guitar performances, and you can read more about that and see and hear some videos of him in this post from a couple of weeks ago.

Sunday, February 19
Trumpeter and East St. Louis native Russell Gunn, now living in Atlanta, will be back home to headline Community Women Against Hardship's "Black History Benefit" at Jazz at the Bistro, accompanied by pianist Adam Maness, singer Anita Jackson, bassist Jeff Anderson and drummer Montez Coleman.

Also on Sunday afternoon, St. Louis Jazz Club presents pianist Bob Row and friends at the Elks Lodge #9 in Creve Coeur.

Monday, February 20
Webster University Jazz Collective will perform at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the 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: Spotlight on Ralph Towner

This week, let's take a look at some videos featuring guitarist Ralph Towner, who's coming to St. Louis to perform in a concert presented by Washington University's Jazz at Holmes series on Saturday, February 18 at the 560 Music Center.

Towner this week released a new album of solo guitar, My Foolish Heart. It's his 29th recording for the ECM label, which has put out all of his solo material since 1973.

Recorded last Feburary in Lugano, Switzerland under the supervision of ECM founder Manfred Eicher, My Foolish Heart features a mix of new compositions and older material, including two tunes originally recorded by the band Oregon (which Towner co-founded back in the early 70s) and the title track, a staple of his repertoire that he began playing after being inspired years ago by pianist Bill Evans' version.

In the first clip up above, you can hear a version of "My Foolish Heart" from a show Towner did in 2014 in London. Recorded by an audience member who seems to have been sitting in the front row, the video swoops around a bit at the start but locks in on the guitarist after a few seconds.

You can see hear more solo performances from Towner after the jump, starting with a recording of "Solitary Woman" made in 2014 at the POA Jazz Festival in Brazil.

Below that, there's a video with Towner playing "Jamaica Stopover" and "Solitary Woman" (again) in a concert in 2009 at the International Guitar festival in Uppsala, Sweden.

Moving back in time chronologically, next is a full set recorded in May 1998 at the Open Strings Festival in Osunbruck, Germany.

The last two clips, undated but perhaps from the early 1990s, feature Towner playing the standard "I Fall in Love Too Easily" and his own "Silence of a Candle," originally recorded with Oregon on their 1972 debut album Music of Another Present Era.

For more about My Foolish Heart, check out the two reviews published this week by AllAboutJazz.com and the extended take offered by Ralph A. Miriello at the Huffington Post.

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

Ralph Towner performing Saturday, February 18 at 560 Music Center

Guitarist Ralph Towner is coming to St. Louis to present a solo performance at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 18 at the 560 Music Center.

Towner (pictured), who's known for his work with the groups Paul Winter Consort and Oregon and for his many recordings on the ECM label, will be touring a handful of cities in the U.S. in support of a new solo album, My Foolish Heart, which will be released February 3 on ECM.

He last played St. Louis in October 2011 in a solo show for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, which also is sponsoring this performance.

Tickets for Ralph Towner at 560 Music Center are $25 for general admission, $20 for seniors and Wash U faculty and staff, $10 for students, and are on sale now online.

Jazz this week: Ralph Towner, STO Jazz Orchestra, Sherman Irby, Clayton Brothers Quintet, Rebirth Brass Band, and more

Along with Halloween and the conclusion of baseball's World Series, there's a whole lot of jazz and creative music happening in St. Louis over the next few days. So, without further ado, let's go straight to the highlights:

On Thursday, Ralph Towner, known for his work with the Paul Winter Consort and Oregon as well as his own recordings, will perform a free solo guitar concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

Also on Thursday, Robbie's House of Jazz will present the STO Jazz Orchestra, a student big band from the Czech Republic that's currently touring the USA; and jazz radio host and historian Dennis Owsley begins his workshop on "Miles Davis: Jazzman" at the Ethical Society.

On Friday, after spending the week working with student musicians from the area and giving school performances for Jazz St. Louis, alto saxophonist Sherman Irby wraps up his stay fronting his quartet for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro. For more about Irby, a modern exponenet of the alto tradition of Charlie Parker, Sonny Stitt and Cannonball Adderley, plus some videos of him in action, see this post from last Saturday.

That same evening and just around the corner, New Music Circle will present a concert of the music of James Mobberley and Paul Rudy at the Kranzberg Arts Center. Both composers are affiliated with the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and their work will be performed by Rudy (various instruments, voice and electronics), Keith Benjamin (trumpet), John Leisenring (trombone) and Carter Enyeart (cello).

Also on Friday, saxophonist Jim Stevens will be at Jazz on Broadway in Alton; guitarist Dave Black will lead a trio with bassist Willem von Hombracht and drummer Kevin Gianino at the Cigar Inn in Belleville; and saxophonist Willie Akins and his band will play at Robbie's.

On Saturday, the Clayton Brothers Quintet (pictured) comes to town for a performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Headed by John Clayton on bass and Jeff Clayton on saxophone, the group also includes the fine trumpeter Terell Stafford, John's son Gerald Clayton on piano, and drummer Obed Calvaire. As demonstrated on their Grammy nominated album Brother to Brother, the Claytons offer a swinging, straight-ahead sound with occasional tinges of hard bop and Latin jazz.

Also on Saturday, the Alton Landing Jazz Quartet plays at Jazz on Broadway; saxophonist Rod Tate is at the Halls Ferry Inn Jazz Cafe; and Robbie's has two separate shows: a late afternoon set featuring Dave Black and saxophonist Christopher Braig, followed by an evening performance from a sextet of young musicians led by saxophonist Matt Leininger.

On Sunday, New Orleans' Rebirth Brass Band returns to town for a late afternoon show at The Gramophone, with St. Louis' own Funky Butt Brass Band opening (and perhaps even joining forces at some point with the headliners).

Looking beyond the weekend, on Tuesday keyboardist Brock Walker performs at the Sheldon to promote the release of his new CD 25th & State.

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.)

Jazz at Holmes to present free concert by Ralph Towner on Thursday, October 27

Washington University's Jazz at Holmes series today announced that they will present a free solo concert by guitarist Ralph Towner (pictured) at 8:00 p.m. Thursday, October 27 in Holmes Lounge in Ridgley Hall on the Wash U campus. The concert by Towner replaces the previously announced performance by guitarist Scott Jones.

Towner is known mainly as an acoustic guitarist, but also plays trumpet, synthesizer and percussion and is a conservatory trained pianist. He first gained wide public attention in the 1960s as a member of the pioneering "world music" group Paul Winter Consort. He went on to co-found the eclectic ensemble Oregon, an influential group that mixed, jazz, folk, Indian music, free improvisation and more. Towner also is known for his extensive catalog of recordings as a leader for the ECM label, which has released virtually all of his non-Oregon work since 1972.

In addition to his solo guitar concert on Thursday night, Towner will present a symposium on the music of the ECM label at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 26 at Graham Chapel on the Washington University campus. Both the symposium and the concert are free and open to the public.