Sunday Session: July 26, 2020

Charles Tolliver

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

* After The All-Stars: Live At The Lighthouse 1960-1972 (WFIU)
* Of “St. James Infirmary” and COVID-19 (Jazz Times)
* Wynton Marsalis On The Future Of New York City (Gothamist.com)
* Emitt Rhodes, RIP (BrooklynVegan.com)
* Soft Machine today (TheBlueMoment.com)
* Charles Tolliver: Blowing Down The Walls Of Trump’s Jericho (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Electric Sitars of the Psychedelic Era (Reverb.com)
* Setbacks Are Not Defeats For James Carter, Regina Carter (DownBeat)
* The Force Is Still Strong with John Williams (The New Yorker)
* The Man They Called ‘Trane’, Remembering A Jazz Giant (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Muddy Waters’ Former Chicago Home to Be Converted Into Museum (Rolling Stone)
* Q magazine's demise signals the end of the old music press (The Guardian)
* The Shifting Technique Of Kurt Rosenwinkel (DownBeat)
* Vocalist Annie Ross Dies At 89 (DownBeat)
* Sing into the funnel please: inside the Covid-19 lab hoping to declare singing safe (The Guardian)
* A Genre of Myths: A Jazz Reading List (Longreads.com)
* Annie Ross 1930–2020 (Jazz Times)
* Back To Square One, Uh, Phase Two (Offbeat)
* Lift Every Voice And Sing: Twenty Rousing #BlackLivesMatter Albums (AllAboutJazz.com)
* From a funk band to The Rex to Downbeat magazine. Jazz pianist Kris Davis won’t be pigeonholed (Toronto Star)
* Trane of No-Thought: How Meditation Inspired Jazz Great John Coltrane (LionsRoar.com)
* Gregory Porter To Perform For Launch Of NASA’S Mars 2020 Mission (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Annie Ross, Mid-Century Jazz Icon, Dead At 89 (NPR)
* The Newport Rebels and Jazz as Protest (JStor.org)
* The Golden Age: A Newport Jazz Festival Special (NPR)
* Composer Maria Schneider Returns, With A Reckoning, On 'Data Lords' (WBGO)
* Self-Determined, Then and Now: A Focus on Charles Tolliver (WBGO)
* In Conversation: Kamasi Washington, Robert Glasper, 9th Wonder, and Terrace Martin Invite You to Their Dinner Party (FloodMagazine.com)
* We Bet You Miss Weddings. America's Greatest Wedding Band Does Too (GQ)
* ‘Sex Machine’ at 50: Bootsy Collins Recalls ‘Twilight Zone’ Origins of Funky James Brown Hit (Rolling Stone)
* How Long Can New Orleans Survive Without Live Music? (Slate.com)

Items re-ordered 8/1/20 to fix a display issue.

Sunday Session: April 5, 2020

Wallace Roney

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

* Out of the Blues: Reflections on the 1960s Revival (Acoustic Guitar)
* What Bob Dylan Is Doing in “Murder Most Foul” (The New Yorker)
* The making of King Crimson's Starless And Bible Black (LouderSound.com)
* Mahler versus Slowthai! - what happened when our pop and classical critics traded jobs? (The Guardian)
* What happens to musicians when all the gigs stop? (The Undefeated.com)
* Robert Glasper On Nu Deco Collab, Crossing Over, Blue Note NYC, Surprise Sets With Dave Chappelle & More [Interview] (LiveForLiveMusic.com)
* Stefon Harris — Vibraphonist, Educator, Thinker — Teaches Empathy From The Bandstand (NPR)
* Van Morrison in lockdown: ‘I am trying to get back into writing songs’ (The Independent)
* Why Astrud Gilberto Is So Much More Than ‘The Girl From Ipanema’ (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Wallace Roney, Intrepid Jazz Trumpeter, Dies From COVID-19 Complications At 59 (NPR)
* The blistering cosmic music of The Black Unity Trio (The Wire)
* Reinventing the Sound of Protest (The Nation)
* Jazz and the Vinyl Renaissance (Jazz Times)
* Here’s Every Painstaking Step That Goes Into Making a Steinway & Sons Grand Piano (RobbReport.com)
* More Jazz Added to National Recording Registry (Jazz Times)
* In Memoriam: Ellis Marsalis (1934–2020) (DownBeat)
* Ellis Marsalis, New Orleans Jazz Patriarch, Dies at 85 (Billboard)
* Pianist and Educator Ellis Marsalis Dies at 85 (Keyboard)
* Branford Marsalis Pays Tribute to His Late Father, Ellis Marsalis Jr. (Billboard)
* Legendary guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli dies at 94 (NJArts.net)
* Bucky Pizzarelli, Jazz Guitarist And Prolific Session Musician, Dead At 94 (NPR)
* Remembering Bucky Pizzarelli (DownBeat)
* From Big Pink to Whitney’s Dream House: Here’s What It’s Like to Live in a Pop Star’s Former Home (Rolling Stone)
* Lakecia Benjamin Pursues a Spiritual Quest (DownBeat)
* Downsizing Is Good at Winter NAMM 2020 (Jazz Times)
* The Revolutionary Free Jazz of Irreversible Entanglements (Bandcamp.com)
* ‘Lean On Me,’ ‘Lovely Day’ singer Bill Withers dies at 81 (Associated Press)
* A Moment to Rethink How We Support Music (The New Yorker)

Sunday Session: September 29, 2019

Kenny Barron

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

* Paul Simon Has 50 Ways to Charm an Audience (Smithsonian)
* Celebrating John Coltrane with Cultural Documentarian Steve Rowland (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Fred Anderson (BurningAmbulance.com)
* Robert Glasper previews his two-week residency at the Kennedy Center (CapitalBop.com)
* Kenny Barron on Compatibility, Writing and Mulgrew Miller (DownBeat)
* Deep Dive: The Presence of the Past in John Coltrane's Expressive and Searching Music (WBGO)
* Standard Deviation (Art Forum)
* 1 of B.B. King’s ‘Lucille’ guitars sold for $280K at auction (Associated Press)
* Berry Gordy announces retirement; Motown founder bows out after 6 decades in showbiz (Detroit Free Press)
* To Understand The Company Of The Future, Head To A Jazz Club (Forbes.com)
* Lydia Pense & Cold Blood: The Endless Summer of Love (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Got any Horrific Child? Discover the list of the world's 291 weirdest bands (The Guardian)
* A Renewed Spotlight on Anthony Braxton (DownBeat)
* Harry Connick Jr. Performs Cole Porter Tribute Ahead of Show’s Broadway Debut (DownBeat)
* How Composer John Cage Transformed the Piano—With the Help of Some Household Objects (Smithsonian)
* The Music Business Wants to Blow Up Copyright—and the Trump Administration Is On Board (Bloomberg.com)
* Hitting the right note: Jazz legend Roland Wiggins reflects on a lifetime of musical expression (C-ville.com)
* Benny Golson: in the maternity ward (Jazz Journal)
* The Unsolved Case of the Most Mysterious Song on the Internet (Rolling Stone)
* Artist’s Choice: David Amram and the French Horn in Jazz (Jazz Times)
* Carl Stone: Plugging into the sounds of the changing city (Japan Times)
* A Thing Of Beauty, A Crime Scene: Matana Roberts Interviewed (TheQuietus.com)
* Mary Halvorson Wins MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant (Jazz Times)
* An L.A. jazz legend pays homage to Jackie Robinson, with a pitch from a library assistant (Los Angeles Times)
* The Day After #MeToo at Monterey Jazz (San Francisco Classical Voice)
* How One Of Music's Biggest Stars Almost Disappeared, And How Her Legacy Was Saved (NPR)
* Exclusive premiere: Sun Ra Arkestra "Children of the Sun" Live in Kalisz 1986 (MusicIsMySanctuary.com)
* Jane Bunnett: Cuban Music's Canadian Connection (NPR)
* How a Newspaper Article Saved Thousands of Black Gospel Records From Obscurity (AtlasObscura.com)
* The Record Industry Gave Everything Away to Spotify. Could It Change Its Mind? (Rolling Stone)

Sunday Session: September 22, 2019

Harold Mabern

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

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

Jazz this week: Robert Glasper, Geoffrey Keezer, Kirk Whalum's "Gospel According to Jazz Christmas," and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features performances from two top-shelf piano players, plus a whole lineup of holiday performances and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, December 12
Pianist Robert Glasper will perform with his trio for the first of five nights at Jazz St. Louis.

Glasper (pictured, top left), has spent the past year working on a variety of projects, including dates with the electrified "supergroup" R+R=NOW, production work for several other artists, and a month-long residency in October at the Blue Note in NYC, so a week's worth of shows with his trio should be a prime opportunity for some back-to-basics music-making for the versatile pianist.

Also on Wednesday, the "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features the Beto Jazz Trio at The Stage at KDHX, the weekly jam session at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's quartet at The Dark Room.

Thursday, December 13
Pianist Geoffrey Keezer (pictured, center left) leads a trio in a one-night-only concert at pianist Peter Martin's Open Studio, located inside the Centene Center for the Arts, 3547 Olive St. in the Grand Center district.

Starting as an 18-year-old phenom with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Keezer over the last three decades has compiled an impressive list of credits and recordings, working with current stars like Christian McBride and Chris Botti as well as elders like Blakey, bassist Ray Brown and Benny Golson. You can check out some samples of his playing on video in this post from two Saturdays ago.

Also on Thursday, singer Erin Bode returns to Edwardsville for her annual show at the Wildey Theatre, and saxophonist Ben Reece's trio Threebird is back at The Dark Room.

Friday, 
December 14
Saxophonist Kirk Whalum (pictured, bottom left) brings this year's edition of his "Gospel According to Jazz Christmas" show, with guest stars including percussionist Sheila E, and singers Lynn Mabry, John Stoddart and  Kevin Whalum, to Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church.

This is the seventh annual outing for Whalum's holiday show, and you can find out more about it and see some video samples of the saxophonist in action in this post from last Saturday.

Also on Friday, the Funky Butt Brass Band present the first of five "Holiday Brasstravaganza" shows this year at Off Broadway. Though the family-friendly matinees already are sold out, some tickets may remain for the evening shows; call ahead or check Off Broadway's website for availability.

Elsewhere around town, the Second Generation Swing Band plays for dancers at Casa Loma Ballroom, and guitarists Farshid Soltanshahi and Dave Black and multi-instrumentalist Sandy Weltman team up for a show at The Focal Point.

Saturday, December 15
The Oikos Ensemble, featuring saxophonist Rev. Cliff Aerie, pianist Carolbeth True and more, will welcome vocal ensemble Java Jived as special guests for their annual "Jazz Noel" concert at Parkway United Church of Christ. (They'll present the same program again on Sunday afternoon at the First Congregational Church in Webster Groves.)

Also on Saturday, keyboardist Mo Egeston and friends will be serving up late night grooves at The Dark Room.

Sunday, December 16
Miss Jubilee performs for brunch at Evangeline's.

Monday, December 17
The 442s and various friends. including singers Erin Bode and Brian Owens, pianist Peter Martin, and more, present the first of two performances of their "Holiday Spectacular" at 560 Music Center, with a second show set for Tuesday night. Both performances were close to selling out at publication time, so if you don't already have tickets, be sure to call ahead regarding availability.

Tuesday, December 18
The Jazz St. Louis Big Band will perform Duke Ellington's arrangements of music from Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker", plus additional Ellingtonia, for the first of three nights at Jazz St. Louis.

Also on Tuesday, trumpeter Jim Manley and guitarist Rick Haydon 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.)

Sunday Session: November 25, 2018

Ambrose Akinmusire

Here's a roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* Billy Harper charges up Church Of Sound (Jazzwise)
* REVIEW: Ethan and the British Composers at Kings Place (2018 EFG LJF) (London Jazz News)
* Alice Coltrane’s Ashram Lost in California Wildfires (Pitchfork.com)
* Why the Hideout is vital to Chicago’s music scene (Chicago Tribune)
* Blood on the Tracks: Canonizing Bob Dylan’s Human Opus (ConsequenceOfSound.net)
* Joshua Redman keeps Old and New Dreams alive (Vancouver Sun)
* Spinal Tap to reunite, will presumably be billed above puppet show this time (AV Club)
* Jazz great 'Sweet Papa’ Lou Donaldson’s has sports memories to treasure (New York Daily News)
* This Tiny Record Player Plays Oreo Cookies…Kinda (Food and Wine)
* More Evidence That Trained Musicians Are Superior Thinkers (Pacific Standard)
* This is the story of how Africa and slavery have influenced Brazilian music (RedBull.com)
* How Brainfeeder Leads The Charge For Esoteric Funk, Hip-Hop, Pop, & Jazz (Bandcamp.com)
* How a small Philadelphia record company gave an Oscar contender its sound (Philadelphia Inquirer)
* Live Review: 2018 JazzMi Jazz Festival (Jazz Times)
* Laurin Talese Wins Sarah Vaughan Vocal Competition (Jazz Times)
* Ambrose Akinmusire’s Jazz of Pure Possibility (The Nation)
* The Largest Sun Ra Retrospective Yet is Hidden on the Top Floor of the Portland Art Musuem (Willamette Week)
* What is All the Fuss About? Kenny Barron Takes Years of Experience and Plays in the Moment (VoiceOfOC.org)
* Robert Glasper On How To Get More Young People Into Jazz (NPR)
* Legendary Jazz Guitarist Explains Why ‘The Beatles’ Are Better Than ‘Rolling Stones’ (MetalheadZone.com)
* The Invisible Hit Parade: How Unofficial Recordings Have Flowered in the 21st Century (Wired)
* The History of Play-A-Long (and More) (Jazz Times)

Sunday Session: August 19, 2018

Aretha Franklin

Here's a roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* How Much Does It REALLY Cost To Be A Classical Musician? (Ludwig-Van.com)
* Live Review: 45th Umbria Jazz Festival (DownBeat)
* Review: Warsaw Summer Jazz Days (Jazz Journal)
* A Listener’s Guide to “Loud Jazz” (Jazz Times)
* Chicago Jazz Festival to Mark 40th Anniversary (DownBeat)
* Jazz In The 21st Century Is All About 'Playing Changes' (NPR)
* “You Haven’t Done Enough To Be The Way You Are.” Robert Glasper Speaks On Lauryn Hill’s Mistreatment of Artists (MadameNoire.com)
* Top 10 Moments of the 2018 Newport Jazz Festival (Jazz Times)
* The American guitar industry is making a serious comeback (Yahoo.com)
* Warner Music Buying Uproxx Is a Depressing Look Into the Music Industry’s Monolithic Future (SPIN)
* We Shall Overcome publisher handed $352,000 legal bill after song declared public domain (CompleteMusicUpdate.com)
* Ronnie Foster's "Mystic Brew" (SFJAZZ.org)
* Inhabiting Sound: Matana Roberts Speaks (JazzSpeaks.org)
* A Miraculous Field Recording: The Guitar Playing of Joseph Spence (The New Yorker)
* 'It's a code for living': Gregory Porter and José James on the music of their heroes (Los Angeles Times)
* Nate Chinen on ’70s and ’80s Jazz (Jazz Times)
* Jimmy Page and the Grouses of the Holy (GQ)
* When Music Was Bigger Than Life: Sonny Rollins in New York City (TownTopics.com)
* Why Are Record Companies Dumping Their Spotify Stock? (NoVA.edu)
* Thank god for the return of the generation gap in pop (The Spectator)
* In Memoriam: Aretha Franklin (DownBeat)
* Aretha Franklin Was America's Truest Voice (NPR)
* 'She doesn't just move you, she shakes you': all-star tributes to Aretha Franklin (The Guardian)
* Aretha Franklin, a 'performer without peers' (Detroit News)
* How Aretha Franklin’s Jazz Beginnings Predicted Her Genre-Transcending Career (Rolling Stone)
* Tyshawn Sorey Travels Further Out on New Works (DownBeat)
* "The Sleeping Bear" Awakens: The Revival of the Hammond B-3 Organ (SFJAZZ.org)
* Musicians only received 12% of the music industry’s $43 billion revenue in 2017 (ConsequenceOfSound.net)
* William Parker’s Late-Career Bloom (The Nation)
* Pop Songs in English, Written by Native Speakers of Swedish (The Paris Review)
* Ulysses Owens’ Delivers Poignant Messages on Freedom (DownBeat)
* Prince Estate and Sony Release 23 Long-Unavailable Albums Digitally (Variety)
* This Black Woman Was Once the Biggest Star in Jazz. Here’s Why You’ve Never Heard of Her (Narrative.ly)

Sunday Session: May 13, 2018

Professor Longhair

Here's a roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* How Avant-Garde Legend Cecil Taylor Inspired Idris Ackamoor’s Psychedelic Jazz (Bandcamp.com)
* Q&A: Former Times critic Robert Hilburn on writing about Paul Simon and the struggle to protect artistry (Los Angeles Times)
* The art of writing the perfect lullaby (QZ.com)
* 1920s to Now: Comparing Tonal Balance in Popular Music (Izotope.com)
* Healdsburg Fest ‘Spiritually’ Important for California  (DownBeat)
* Benny Golson, Matt Wilson, Maria Schneider Are Among the Winners of the JJA Awards (WBGO)
* 'It is a significant moment in the history of the music industry': Air Studios up for sale (Music Week)
* Jazz Giants Take The Stage At The NEA Jazz Masters Listening Party (NPR)
* Pipa Virtuoso Wu Man Brings Ancient Chinese Music To The Present (NPR)
* Johnny Cash's 'At Folsom Prison' at 50: An Oral History (Rolling Stone)
* Why Spotify Will Never Make Money (Fortune)
* TIDAL accused of deliberately faking Kanye West and Beyoncé streaming numbers (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Jazz Conversations — Azar Lawrence (WGBH)
* Do the major labels know something about Spotify that Wall Street doesn’t? (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Outsiders Festival a Showcase for Tacuma (DownBeat)
* Blue Note Documentary Screens at Tribeca Film Fest (DownBeat)
* Digital Jukeboxes Are Eroding the Dive-Bar Experience (The Atlantic)
* The Bad Plus: The Band That Never Stops (NPR)
* Bright Moments with Bassist Ron Carter (Jazz Times)
* Kinetic Improvisation - The guitarist Mary Halvorson’s music is exhilarating, unapologetically smart, and unspoiled by phoniness or pretense (The Nation)
* The Still-Burning Piano Genius of Professor Longhair (The New Yorker)
* Whole lotta debt: can Gibson guitars strike a chord again? (The Guardian)
* In Buffalo, hip-hop and jazz have formed a beautiful union (Buffalo News)
* Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival Builds on the City’s History (DownBeat)
* [Photo Essay] Jazz Fest 2018: Late Night Ventures (Offbeat)
* Marcus Miller Hosts ASCAP Panel at ‘I Create Music’ Expo (DownBeat)
* iHeartMedia Still Owes Artists $16.4 Million. Now, It Wants to Pay Itself $108 Million in Bonuses (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* R+R=NOW to Release Debut Album in June - All-star sextet led by Robert Glasper blends multiple genres on "Collagically Speaking" (Jazz Times)

Sunday Session: July 9, 2017

Miguel Zenon

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

* The real motor of the performing arts isn’t vision. It’s the board, stupid. ​(Washington Post)
* Like it or not, we are in the midst of a second arts revolution (Chicago Tribune)
* Nora Holt - The pioneering African-American composer and critic left little trace of her work, making it – as Matthew Guerrieri writes – all the more important to celebrate her story (RedBullMusicAcademy.com)
* Jazz Greats in Paris (The New Yorker)
* A room where sound goes to die — and scientists go to study (Seattle Times)
* Redefining the rock god - the new breed of electric guitar heroes (TheConversation.com)
* Churches struggling to find organists (Baltimore Sun)
* Hats Off To The Hammond (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Assessing 'Queen of Bebop: The Musical Lives of Sarah Vaughan' (WBGO)
* Hudson’s Collective Groove Exceeds Expectations at Montreal Jazz Festival (DownBeat)
* INTERVIEW: Rhys Chatham On Tony Conrad (TheQuietus.com)
* Jazz fest: Robert Glasper takes teamwork cues from Miles Davis (Montreal Gazette)
* Brain Music: How 'Fly Me To The Moon' Can Explain Your Brain On Anesthesia (WBUR)
* The Music Industry's Still Off Key (Bloomberg.com)
* A 60-year run at Royal Studios in Memphis--recording hits with 1960s vacuum-tube technology (KCBX)
* Guitarists Explore Music of Monk in NYC Concert (DownBeat)
* Everything You Need to Know About Music Sales in 2017 (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Why prog rock still deserves your time (The Economist)
* Scrapbook from the Apple (Jazz Journal)
* How to Double Vinyl Record Sales In 2 Years or Less (Guaranteed!) (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* The final bar? How gentrification threatens America's music cities (The Guardian)
* Global Swing: Catching Up with Miguel Zenón in Spain (DownBeat)
* Jane Bunnett & Maqueque: 21st Century Women (Jazz Times)
* The Sound of Avant Garde Jazz: Stream 35 Hours of Experimental Jazz by Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane & More (OpenCulture.com)
* Ornette Coleman: A Jazz Visionary Ready for Prime Time (NBCNews.com)
* 'Baby Driver's' true theme song is 'B-A-B-Y' and Carla Thomas loves it (Memphis Commercial Appeal)
* Stars turning out for tribute to famed SF nightclub Keystone Korner (San Jose Mercury-News)

Sunday Session: April 23, 2017

Matana Roberts

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

* Philip Glass on Listening (and Composing) at 80 (Sonos.com)
* “It wasn’t until I experienced a great amount of pain at one time in my life that I really understood what the blues were about:” An Interview with Matana Roberts (WTJU)
* Forgotten audio formats: The flexi disc (ArsTechnica.com)
* Alice Coltrane’s Devotional Music (The New Yorker)
* A Year On, Few Answers From Probe Into Prince's Death (Billboard)
* Rejuvenating contemporary classical music (The Economist)
* Newest Two Time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee Greg Rolie (Santana/Journey) Talks Past & Present (INTERVIEW) (GlideMagazine.com)
* E Street Band Bassist Garry Tallent Gears Up for First Solo Tour, Talks Bruce Springsteen & Chuck Berry (Billboard)
* Allan Holdsworth, Guitarist Revered in Both Jazz and Prog-Rock Circles, Dies at 70 (WBGO)
* Jimmy Webb on John Lennon's Lost Weekend, Writing for Frank Sinatra (Rolling Stone)
* Online music is about to experience another MySpace moment (MusicXTechXFuture.com)
* Are Music Festival Lineups Getting Worse? (Pitchfork.com)
* Concert Review: 2017 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute - Is this the last one? Trump's FY2018 budget proposal eliminates the NEA (Jazz Times)
* 'Jazz Is The Mother Of Hip-Hop': How Sampling Connects Genres (NPR)
* Jazz singer Gregory Porter is an ex-lineman with a blues-infused soul (TheUndefeated.com)
* Shorter, Bridgewater, Kamasi To Headline Detroit Jazz Festival (DownBeat)
* Wayne Shorter, "The Newark Flash," Recalls His Formative Years in the Ironbound and Beyond (WBGO)
* Songwriters ‘More Heavily Regulated Than Pharmaceutical Companies’ and Other Takeaways From ASCAP Expo (Variety)
* How Music on TV Actually Works, According to ‘The Leftovers’ and ‘FNL’ Music Supervisor (Pitchfork.com)
* New Orleans Jazz: Expanding the Tradition (Wall Street Journal)
* Vinyl fantasy: Is the record boom bad for new music? (FactMag.com)
* History of Muzak: Where Did All The Elevator Music Go? (WQXR)
* Those Timeless Tunes of the 1940s, ’60s, and ’80s (PSmag.com)
* Surface Noise (The Paris Review)
* Sylvia Moy, Motown songwriter who wrote hits for Stevie Wonder, dies at 78 (Los Angeles Times)

Sunday Session: March 12, 2017

Terence Blanchard

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

* Recording with David Bowie left a mark on jazz sax player Donny McCaslin (Washington Post)
* How sound effects are really made (BBC)
* Was this Cambridge's greatest ever music gig? (Cambridge News)
* Are living room gigs the future of live music? (BBC)
* How Rock ‘n’ Roll History Was Made—and Nearly Forgotten—in Dallas (DMagazine.com)
* The Inspiration Behind ‘Roundabout,’ the 1972 Hit Song by Yes (Wall Street Journal)
* Eddie Palmieri: Celebrating 80 Years (DownBeat)
* Interview with Robert Glasper (EthanIverson.com)
* On Iverson on Glasper (Pause): Everyone Wants Everything, Even If It's Different (Nextbop.com)
* Sexism From Two Leading Jazz Artists Draws Anger — And Presents An Opportunity (NPR)
* The Strange World Of... Annette Peacock (TheQuietus.com)
* The Survivalists: Mosaic and Newvelle Records (Stereophile)
* Dave Valentin, Virtuoso Flutist with a Foundation in Latin-Jazz, Dies at 64 (WBGO)
* Owner of Wolfgang’s Vault in legal battle over streaming rights (The Guardian)
* The Queen of Soul Receives a Multi-Artist Tribute at Carnegie Hall With 'The Music of Aretha Franklin' (Billboard)
* An obituary: The National Endowment for the Arts, 52, of unnatural causes (The Hill)
* These '70s Avant-Garde Jazz Musicians Blew Freely, Fiercely, and Reverently (PopMatters.com)
* Blanchard’s Opera “Champion” Triumphs in East Coast Debut (DownBeat)
* How A Contract Clause Led To A Fight Between Musicians And Austin's Biggest Event (NPR)
* After Public Battle, SXSW Apologizes And Pledges To Change Its Artist Contract (NPR)
* Italian Band Soviet Soviet Denied Entry To The U.S., Jailed And Then Deported (NPR)
* How Weird Al Yankovic Removed the Misogyny of ‘Blurred Lines’ by Adding Grammar Lessons (Vulture.com)
* Forget High Fidelity: How women are reclaiming record stores (MixMag.net)

St. Louis jazz at the 2017 Grammys

Although the contributions of St. Louis jazz musicians may not have been explicitly acknowledged by name at the 2017 Grammy Awards, the city was represented by players on at least a couple of this year's winning recordings.

Trumpeter Keyon Harrold (pictured, top left) presumably will be getting a Grammy statue for his crucial contributions to the Robert Glasper-produced soundtrack for Don Cheadle's film Miles Ahead, which was the winner in the "Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media" category.

Also, his brother, drummer Emanuel Harrold, and bassist Jahmal Nichols, who's also from St. Louis, are the rhythm section for singer Gregory Porter, who won "Best Jazz Vocal Album" for his 2016 release Take Me To The Alley. Harrold performed on the Grammy-winning recording, and he and Nichols (pictured, center right) continue to tour around the world with Porter.

Finally, although there was no Grammy Award for "Best Stage Outfit Inspired By A 1970s Miles Davis Album Cover," if such an award existed, it surely would have gone to pop diva Beyonce, who (as you can see from the picture below) looked almost as if she stepped right out of the painting by artist Mati Klarwein that was used as the cover art for Davis' 1971 album Live-Evil. (Hat tip to @danieldurchholz for pointing out the resemblance.)

You can see a complete list of this year's Grammy Award winners here.

Sunday Session: December 25, 2016

Stevie Wonder

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

* The 84-Year-Old Grandmother Who Fronts D.C.'s Coolest House Band (NPR)
* Chops: Deft Poetry - Kurt Elling, Laurence Hobgood and Roy Nathanson on blending jazz with verse (Jazz Times)
* For Mavis Staples, The Music Of The Civil Rights Era Couldn't Be More Relevant Today (NPR)
* Discovering the Savory Collection (OpenSkyJazz.com)
* 'A True Legend': Bob Krasnow's Legacy Celebrated by Colleagues (Billboard)
* Nina Simone to Be Honored With the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award (Variety)
* Deep-Learning Machine Listens to Bach, Then Writes Its Own Music in the Same Style (Technology Review)
* 9 U.K. Artists Making Jazz Feel Brand New (TheFader.com)
* Motown’s True Visionaries (The New Yorker)
* Love’s in Need of Love Today - Introducing Wonder Week, a toast to Stevie’s greatness (Slate.com)
* Chuck Berry Invented the Idea of Rock and Roll (Vulture.com)
* Dispatches From The War On Marching Bands (Deadspin.com)
* 'Rogue One' Composer on Filling John Williams' Shoes, Pleasing Marvel Franchise Fans (Hollywood Reporter)
* How the Vince Guaraldi Trio's 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' Became the Soundtrack of the Holidays (Vice.com)
* Interview: Robert Glasper (Keyboard)
* Jazz Caliente: Teaching The Tradition (KNKX)
* The Mariachi Men of Yugoslavia (RoadsAndKingdoms.com)

Sunday Session: November 20, 2016

Mose Allison

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

* Leon Russell Dies; Southern-Rock Legend Was 74 (NPR)
* The Verdict on Stravinsky (Jazz Journal UK)
* London jazz festival review – a dazzling display all across the musical spectrum (The Guardian UK)
* Behind the Scenes With Janis Joplin and Big Brother, Rehearsing for the Summer of Love (Collector's Weekly)
* At 75, Chick Corea Still Has That Magic Touch (NPR)
* Identifying the Musical Tastes of Birds (Hyperallergic.com)
* Jazzman John Thomson's guide to jazz: 'If you can’t swing, you’ve got no soul' (The Guardian UK)
* In Memoriam: DownBeat Bids Farewell to Four Great Artists (DownBeat)
* The Design + Music Industries are BFFs—They Just Don’t Know it Yet (AIGA.org)
* Intersections: 8 Classical Musicians Killing It Right Now Using Live Electronics (Soundfly.com)
* Micro-ritmos turns bacteria and machine learning into spatialized sound (CDM.link)
* How the Hidden Sounds of Horror Movie Soundtracks Freak You Out (Atlas Obscura)
* 10 addictive browser instruments for making music on your lunch break (FactMag.com)
* Harpsi-Gourd Gets You Into Thanksgiving Spirit (HackADay.com)
* Composing An Otherworldly And Intimate Soundtrack To 'Arrival' (NPR)
* Pianist/Vocalist Mose Allison Dies at 89 (DownBeat)
* Ireland's oldest blues/jazz venue J.J. Smyths to close (RTE.ie)
* Robert Glasper: Battling 'the jazz police' (BBC)
* Amazon files its first-ever lawsuits against alleged sellers of counterfeit goods (GeekWire.com)
* The Death Of A Disco Host (NPR)
* A History of Music Bootlegs, Told Through 25 of the Most Significant Recordings (Vulture.com)
* Sharon Jones, Soul and Funk Singer With Dap-Kings, Dead at 60 (Rolling Stone)

Sunday Session: August 14, 2016

"A Great Day In Harlem"

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

* We’ve Passed Peak Vinyl – Here Comes The Collapse (Stereogum)
* What It Takes for an Independent Record Store to Survive Now (Pitchfork)
* Twang Time: Scofield Explores Country Music on New Album (DownBeat)
* A Conversation With ... Norah Jones (FYIMusicNews.ca)
* Norah Jones Teams with Jazz Icons for Day Breaks (DownBeat)
* Kittens, Kisses, And Razorblades: Behind Star Trek's Iconic Sounds (AudibleRange.com)
* 5 Musicians Pick Their Favorite Herbie Hancock Recordings (NPR)
* The Collapse of Music Dealers and Music Licensing’s “Race to the Bottom” (ConsequenceOfSound.net)
* Harry Connick Jr. joining daytime talk world and all that jazz (Fresno Bee)
* Herman Leonard’s intimate portraits of jazz greats draw viewers into smoky clubs (Washington Post)
* Paul McCartney Looks Back: The Rolling Stone Interview (Rolling Stone)
* SoundGirls Go To Camp (Pro Sound News)
* Bonerama Sends Love to Roswell Rudd (MySpiltMilk.com)
* Reviving a Detroit jazz legacy: Terry Jean Pollard was queen of the vibes (Detroit Metro Times)
* Tunisia’s Dying Jazz (Foreign Policy)
* From Gladiators to Bog Bodies: How inventive, evocative museum sound design is created today (ASoundEffect.com)
* Epic Records Whips Up Hit Album Out of Thin Air (and Online Streams)(New York Times)
* Tony Bennett's Season of Celebration: At 90, the Singer Reflects On A Life Rich with Collaborations, from Frank Sinatra to Lady Gaga (Billboard)
* Randy Weston Archive Provides Glimpse Into the History of Jazz in America and Africa (Harvard.edu)
* A visual chronicle of Tokyo’s disappearing jazz bars (TheVinylFactory.com)
* 12 Sound Artists Changing Your Perception of Art (Artnet.com)
* Cruisin’: Vintage photos of cars tricked out with record players (DangerousMinds.com)
* Stoop Summit - How a Harlem brownstone was immortalized when the living legends of jazz assembled there for an iconic photograph (New York Daily News)
* Inside Elvis Presley's Legendary Man-Cave Studio (Rolling Stone)
* Review: Herbie Hancock, Basking in a Boundless Legacy of Fusion (New York Times)
* Saving American Music: Heather West (ElmoreMagazine.com)
* Robert Glasper Experiment Returns with Eclectic ArtScience (DownBeat)

Miles on Monday: Big Fun getting vinyl reissue, plus reviews and more

This week in Miles Davis news:

* In an essay about the re-release of Louis Malle’s 1959 film Elevator to the Gallows, the New Yorker's film critic Richard Brody calls Davis' score for the film "worth hearing entirely on its own" and "better than the film itself, by far, and there are better ways to hear it than in the movie—namely, by listening to a CD that features the entire studio sessions from which the score was edited." The movie's revival continues at the Film Forum in NYC through Thursday.

* Davis' 1974 double album Big Fun, which collected previously unreleased material from the bands that recorded Bitches Brew, On The Corner, and Jack Johnson, will be reissued on vinyl in September.

* Saxophonist Jim Snidero's upcoming album MD66 will pay tribute to Davis' "second great quintet," the group that from 1966 to 1968 included pianist Herbie Hancock, saxophonist Wayne Shorter, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams.

* Keyboardist Robert Glasper talked about his work on Don Cheadle's film Miles Ahead and his Davis-remix album Everything's Beautiful in an interview with the website Nerdtorious.com, and the film was reviewed by Heed magazine.

* The recently released album, The Columbia Sessions, produced by Davis in 1969 for his wife at the time, singer Betty Davis, was reviewed by the website Headstuff.org.

* The website Jazz Music Archives offers brief reviews looking back at the 1956 album Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet and the 1959 landmark Kind of Blue.

Miles on Monday: Miles Ahead released on DVD and Blu-Ray, and more

This week in Miles Davis news:

* Don Cheadle's film Miles Ahead, which tells the trumpeter's story beginning with a fictionalized incident set during his late-1970s career hiatus, is being released tomorrow on DVD (pictured) and Blu-Ray.

* Speaking of Miles Ahead, an article published last week in Hollywood Reporter mentions Cheadle's performance in the film as one that "merit(ed) attention" for a potential Academy Award nomination.

* Everything's Beautiful, the tribute/remix album by pianist Robert Glasper issued in conjunction with the theatrical release of Miles Ahead, was reviewed by Croco magazine and by AllAboutJazz.com's Asher Wolf.

* An article by AllAboutJazz.com's Mark Werlin evaluates the remastered SACD reissues of several albums from Miles Davis "Second Great Quintet"

* Somewhat unsurprisingly, given that it's the best-selling jazz album of all time, Davis' landmark recording Kind of Blue figures prominently in Paste magazine's list of "10 Jazz Albums for People Who Don’t Like Jazz."

* The London revival of Robert LePage's Needles and Opium, a performance piece about Miles Davis, Jean Cocteau and various forms of addition, was reviewed by The Telegraph.

Miles on Monday: Betty Davis' lost sessions released, reissue news, and more

With no post here last Monday due to the Independence Day holiday, here's an extra-large serving of Miles Davis news from the last two weeks:

* Perhaps the biggest story of the fortnight involving the trumpeter was the news that a set of previously unreleased recording sessions he produced for his ex-wife, singer Betty Davis, has been issued as Betty Davis: The Columbia Years 1968-1969 by the label Light In The Attic Records.

Co-produced by Davis and his longtime collaborator Teo Macero, the album (pictured) features much of the band that would appear a couple of years later on Davis' album Bitches Brew, including guitarist John McLaughlin, keyboardist Herbie Hancock, bassist Harvey Brooks, saxophonist Wayne Shorter, and organist Larry Young, plus two of Jimi Hendrix' musical associates, drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Billy Cox.

Press coverage of the release has been extensive, with stories and reviews appearing everywhere from NPR to the alt-rock magazine Pitchfork to AllAboutJazz.com.

* Meanwhile, a box set of Davis' own music, Miles Davis At Newport 1955–1975: The Bootleg Series Vol. 4, was named the winner in the Historical Album category of the 2016 DownBeat Critics Poll.

* The recent reissue of Davis' album Agharta on LP by the label Music on Vinyl was reviewed by London Jazz News.

* Also in London, theater artist Robert Lepage's performance piece Needles and Opium, a surreal meditation from 1991 about Miles Davis, Jean Cocteau and various types of addiction, was revived for a production at the Barbican that featured actor Wellesley Robertson III as Davis.

* Also revived is Elevator to the Gallows, the 1958 Louis Malle film that features a soundtrack by Davis, as a newly restored version will be shown next month at Film Forum in New York City in advance of a potential wider release.

* In other Davis-on-film news, Elmore magazine reviewed Everything's Beautiful, keyboardist Robert Glasper's tribute to Davis that serves as a companion piece to his work on the score for Don Cheadle's movie Miles Ahead; and the Massillon, OH Independent ran a feature story about the experiences of an local Davis fan who worked as an extra on the film, which was shot in Cincinnati. Miles Ahead comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray on Tuesday, July 19.

* Last but not least, "Miles in May," an episode of All Music Television's program The Jazz Creative recorded earlier this year in Los Angeles and featuring Glasper and multi-instrumentalist Terrace Martin, has been posted online, and can been seen in the embedded video window below.