So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The second episode of saxophonist David Sanborn's new online video series "Sanborn Sessions" went "live" this week on YouTube and elsewhere.

The episode is an all-St. Louis affair with singers Michael McDonald and Brian Owens (pictured, with Sanborn) as the featured guests, and you can see it in the video embed at the bottom of this post.

* Bryan Cather, a ragtime historian and president of the Friends of Scott Joplin, has died. He was 53 years old, and was found Sunday by friends at his south St. Louis home after he apparently suffered a heart attack.

Cather came to St. Louis in 2004 from Arlington, TX, and subsequently played a major role as a volunteer with the Friends and the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site, as detailed in this obituary in Syncopated Times. Funeral arrangements are pending, but the article says that "a memorial service is likely to be held at Bryan’s John’s Episcopal Church in the Tower Grove Neighborhood of St. Louis and his cremains will be interred in Oklahoma."

* Treasure Shields Redmond, daughter of East St. Louis Poet Laureate Eugene Redmond, was a guest Thursday on St. Louis Public Radio's "St. Louis On The Air" to talk about the "Historic Jazz & Poetry Excursion" tour of East St. Louis, in which trumpeter Miles Davis and his now-restored childhood home play a major role.

* Also on the Davis beat, the recent biographical documentary Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, directed by Stanley Nelson, has been nominated for a 2020 NAACP Image Award as "Outstanding Documentary (Film)."

* In a related story, Davis' son Erin and nephew Vincent Wilburn Jr. recently appeared on the program California Live on KNBC in Los Angeles to promote the film.

* And last but not least regarding Davis, a feature out this week from Jazzwise magazine looks at "How Miles Davis put together ‘the greatest rock ’n’ roll band you ever heard’."

* Pianist, singer and songwriter Rick Jensen's cabaret show last week at Blue Strawberry was reviewed by KDHX's Chuck Lavazzi.

* A story in the St. Louis American offers a brief preview of the "34th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Statewide Celebration Kick-Off Program for Missouri," which takes place tomorrow night at Harris-Stowe State University and will include appearances by saxophonist Kirk Whalum and singer Denise Thimes.

* Bassist Sam AuBuchon, a senior at West County High School in Park Hills, MO and a member of the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars student ensemble, was the subject of a feature story in the St. Francois County Daily Journal.

Jazz this week: Jim Manley's birthday bash, "60 years of Giant Steps," and more

While this weekend feels like a bit of a post-holiday lull, thanks to the way the calendar lined up this year, there still are some noteworthy jazz and creative music performances happening around St. Louis over the next few days to get 2020 started. Let's go to the highlights...

Thursday, 
January 2
Pianist and singer Rick Jensen presents his cabaret show "With A Little Help From My Friends," featuring guest vocalists Beverly Brennan, Robert Breig, Dionna Raedeke and Angie Nicholson, at Blue Strawberry.

Also on Thursday, The Dark Room has guitarist Dave Black playing at the dinner hour and saxophonist Scooter Brown for late night sets; and saxophonist Vince Sala returns to The Pat Connolly Tavern.

Friday, January 3
Pianist Ptah Williams plays for dinner at The Dark Room; saxophonist Kendrick Smith continues his weekly gig at Thurman's in Shaw; and bassist Darrell Mixon leads a trio at Cigar Inn.

Saturday, January 4
Trumpeter Jim Manley (pictured, top left) celebrates his birthday with a performance at Evangeline's, and trombonist John Covelli and friends pay tribute to "60 Years of Giant Steps" at The Dark Room.

Also on Saturday, "Out Sounds," a new experimental music series affiliated with New Music Circle, will present Austin, TX-based improvising percussionist and instrument inventor Lisa Cameron in a performance at Flood Plain.

Sunday, January 5
Miss Jubilee performs for brunch at Evangeline's, with Dizzy Atmosphere returning to The Dark Room. Also on Sunday, the St. Louis Record Show presents their first event of the year at the American Czech Center.

Monday, January 6
The Folk School of KDHX hosts their first Traditional Jazz Jam Session of the year.

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.)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Saxophonist Ben Reece, keyboardist Mo Egeston, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor were interviewed on a recent episode of Rock Paper Podcast. 

* Bassist and singer Janet Evra appeared Tuesday on KTVI/Fox 2's morning newscast.

* In advance of his debut later this month at SFJAZZ in San Francisco, trumpeter Keyon Harrold's past collaborations are the subject of an article on SFJAZZ.org's website. 

* Cabaret singer and pianist Rick Jensen's performance last Saturday at the Kranzberg Arts Center was reviewed by KDHX's Chuck Lavazzi.

* The family of the late Hamiet Bluiett (pictured) is trying to raise money via crowd-funding for burial and memorial expenses, as the baritone sax great died last week without life insurance. If you'd like to contribute, go to https://www.gofundme.com/683jk7k. (You also can help by sharing the GoFundMe page URL on social media and elsewhere.)

A funeral service for Bluiett will be held at 10:00 a.m. today (Friday, October 12) at Lovejoy Temple Church of God, 511 Canal Street in Brooklyn, IL, followed by burial at 12:30 p.m. at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Fall 2015 jazz preview, part 3

Today, it's the third part of StLJN's video preview of jazz and creative music performers coming to St. Louis this fall. (You can see part 1 here, and part 2 here.)

Continuing from last time in chronological order, we resume in mid-October with the New Mastersounds, who will be here Tuesday, October 20 to play at the Old Rock House. You can see them at the top of this post jamming on the tune "Dusty Groove" in a video recorded in June of this year at a gig in Oakland, CA.

After the jump, there's a video featuring guitarist Kevin Eubanks, who will perform with his trio Wednesday, October 21 through Saturday, October 24 at Jazz at the Bistro. It's an episode of the Voice of America's program "Beyond Category" that features footage of Eubanks playing with his trio as well as an interview with former "Tonight Show" bandleader.

Next up is singer Banu Gibson, who will perform a program of Randy Newman songs in a matinee on Sunday, October 25 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The video shows Gibson singing "It's A Jungle Out There" - written by Newman as the theme for the TV show "Monk" - earlier this year at The Mint, in New Orleans, accompanied by former St. Louisan Tom McDermott on piano and Matt Perrine on sousaphone.

The next two clips feature performers from the Gaslight Cabaret Festival, starting with singer Lina Koutrakos and singer/pianist Rick Jensen, who will return to St. Louis to perform Sunday, October 25 at the Gaslight Theater. The first clip features Koutrakos singing "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" with Jensen on piano, and was recorded in 2013 at the Metropolitan Room in NYC.

Then it's singer Kat Edmonson, who's booked to appear on Thursday, October 29 and Friday, October 30 at the Gaslight Theater. This version of her singing "Rainy Day Woman" was recorded in March 2015 for radio station WNRN in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Last but certainly not least, it's the veteran tenor saxophonist Houston Person, who will be coming back to town for gigs on Friday, October 30 and Saturday, October 31 at Jazz at the Bistro. In this clip, Person and pianist Joe Alterman's trio, with James Cammack on bass and Gregory Hutchinson on drums, work out on "Kelly's Blues" at a gig back in August 2012 at Jazz At Lincoln Center's Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola.

Look for part 4 of StLJN's Fall 2015 jazz preview here next week. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Presenters Dolan set fall schedule of cabaret shows at Gaslight Theater

The Presenters Dolan have announced their fall schedule of cabaret shows, featuring 15 different acts performing over seven weekends in October and November at the Gaslight Theater, 358 Boyle Ave in the Central West End.

Though apparently without the "Gaslight Cabaret Festival" branding used recently, the series will welcome several new performers, including Wendee Glick, the New Hampshire-based jazz singer who gave the final performance in June 2014 at Robbie's House of Jazz; folk-influenced singer-songwriter Susan Werner; and Kat Edmondson (pictured), a one-time American Idol contestant who has sung with Lyle Lovett and toured as opening act for Jamie Cullum.

There also will be encores from several acts featured previously, including Lina Joutrakos and Rick Jensen, Storm Large, Jeffrey Wright, and Ken Haller, as well as cabaret debuts from the acappella group One Too Many, rock duo Sleepy Kitty, and more.

Here's the complete schedule in chronological order:

Thursday, October 8: Wendee Glick - "Moon Over The Mississippi"
Friday, October 9: Maxine Linehan - "An Immigrant’s Journey From Ireland To America"
Thursday, October 15: Shanara Gabrielle - "Rated SG"
Friday, October 16: One Too Many
Saturday, October 17: Chuck Flowers - "Popping In"
Thursday, October 22: Dean Christopher - "Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime: A Tribute to Dean Martin"
Friday, October 23: Ken Haller - "Mama's Boy"
Saturday, October 24: Jeffrey M. Wright
Sunday, October 25: Lina Koutrakos and Rick Jensen - "Two For The Road"
Thursday, October 29 & Friday, October 30: Kat Edmonson - "The Big Picture"

Thursday, November 5: Sleepy Kitty (Paige Brubeck and Evan Sult)
Friday, November 6 & Saturday, November 7: Storm Large
Thursday, November 12: Sleepy Kitty (Paige Brubeck and Evan Sult)
Friday, November 13 & Saturday, November 14: Karen Oberlin - "His Aim Is True - The Songs of Elvis Costello"
Thursday, November 19: Brian Owens - "The Soul of Cash - Johnny Cash"
Friday, November 20 & Saturday, November 21: Susan Werner

All shows start at 8:00 p.m.. Prices for most performances range from $25 to $35, except for Storm Large, which is priced at $45 and $40. Tickets are on sale now via LicketyTix.com.