Bode and Martin have worked together before several times, most recently at Martin's performance in December at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Bassist Chris Thomas, like Martin a native of University City, was part of that concert and also will join Bode and Martin at the Roberts Orpheum.
Tickets for the Design Week performance by Erin Bode and Peter Martin are $100 for VIP seats, $25 for general admission, and can be purchased online via Ticketmaster.
This week, let's take a look at three clips featuring pianist and singer Jamie Cullum, who will be in St. Louis next Sunday, March 14 to perform at the Roberts Orpheum Theatre.
Though he writes a lot of his own material, Cullum's performances and recordings also incorporate cover versions of standards and contemporary songs, and that's the theme uniting today's videos.
Up above, you'll see him doing a fairly straightforward take on "What A Difference A Day Made," a song famously recorded by Dinah Washington and subsequently cut by many others in a variety of styles, including a Tex-Mex version from Freddy Fender and a disco remake that was a hit record for Esther Phillips.
Down below, the second clip features Cullum's version of pop/rock/hip-hop producer Pharrell Williams' song "Frontin'". It's definitely a departure from the original, and it's interesting to hear and contemplate what elements are common to both and what's been added and subtracted.
The third and final clip is brand new online, having been recorded just this past Wednesday, March 3 at Joe's Pub in New York. It shows Cullum venturing out into the audience to sing "I Get A Kick Out Of You" without a mic and accompanied only by bassist Chris Hill. It's a nervy move, and, to his credit, Cullum pulls it off nicely, even tossing in a bit of scat singing near the end. The video's a little dark, but the audio quality is surprisingly good, and it's always fun to see these sort of spontaneous moments show up online.
Here's the latest compilation of assorted news briefs and links related to jazz, improvisation, and creative music in St. Louis, including news of musicians originally from the Gateway City, recent visitors, and coming attractions, plus assorted other items of interest:
* In this week's Miles Davis-related news, the museum exhibit in Paris devoted to the trumpeter is closing, but will be reborn on this side of the Atlantic in April as "We Want Miles" at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The multimedia retrospective includes musical excerpts; film and documentary clips; paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Mati Klarwein; and photographs by Annie Leibovitz and Irving Penn, plus Davis' own drawings, costumes, musical instruments and scores, on loan from the Davis family, and more. Though the History Museum mounted a Davis exhibit of its own here a few years ago, it sure would be nice to see this new one here in St. Louis, too...
* Here's a review from Jeff Simon of the Philadelphia Inquirer of Only Everything, the new CD saxophonist and former St. Louisan David Sanborn (pictured).
* Jason Crane's The Jazz Session recently featured a new podcast interview with multi-instrumentalist and St. Louis native Marty Ehrlich.
* Moving on to news of recent visitors to our town, here's a review by AllAboutJazz.com's Martin Longley of some recent NYC shows, including The Bad Plus week at the Village Vanguard between Christmas and New Year's. TBP were in St. Louis the following week to kick off 2010 at Jazz at the Bistro.
* The Juilliard School will present the New York premiere of bassist Christian McBride's "The Movement Revisited" on Tuesday, February 2. McBride's musical tribute to the civil rights movement blends spoken texts from Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with music to be performed by the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra and Choir, under the direction of McBride and Brandon Lee. The bassist's group Inside Straight played the Bistro in December.
* Opening the "coming attractions" file, actress and singer Tyne Daly has just opened her new cabaret show in New York, and the Times' Stephen Holden has a favorable review here. Daly and her pianist and music director, St. Louis native John McDaniel, will perform February 10-13 at the Kranzberg Arts Center under the auspices of Cabaret St. Louis.
* Pianist, singer and newlywedJamie Cullum recently let photographers have a peek inside his London recording studio, and you can see the pix here. Cullum will play St. Louis' Roberts Orpheum Theater on Sunday, March 14.
* Here's a review of Pat Metheny's new CD Orchestrion from AllAboutJazz.com's John Kelman. Metheny's label also has released an "electronic press kit" for the CD, which you can see in the embedded video window at the bottom of this post. The guitarist and the roadie's-worst-nightmare setup that is the Orchestrion are coming to St. Louis on May 8 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.
* And last, but not least, from the "general interest" file: Science may have disprovne many of the claims made by manufacturers of high-end audio equipment, but that doesn't stop them from continuing to engage in what one professional audio engineer and writer calls "audiophoolery." Let the buyer beware, indeed.
This just in: British singer/songwriter/pianist Jamie Cullum (pictured) will return to St. Louis on Sunday, March 14 to perform at the Roberts Orpheum Theater downtown.
As of right now, tickets are available only as premiums from local PBS affiliate KETC (Channel 9), which is airing Cullum's special Live at Blenheim during its current pledge drive. Cullum's last appearance here in March 2006 also was welcomed by KETC.
A $120 contribution to KETC will get you two tickets to the March 14 show, with additional tickets available for another $60 each. Members pledging at the $60 level get a copy of Cullum's CD The Pursuit, while an $80 pledge gets you the Live at Blenheim DVD. (You can see a clip from the special of Cullum perfoming his song "Twentysomething" in the embdedded video window below.)
Members pledging $120 or more also get a KETC/Channel 9 MemberCard, which gets you discounts from participating merchants. Ticket vouchers are guaranteed for holiday delivery, but KETC will not guarantee delivery of the CD or DVD.
If you'd rather just buy tickets to the show without contributing to KETC, you'll have to wait and see if any are made available for sale to the general public after the current pledge drive wraps up. Tickets for shows at the Roberts Orpheum Theater are handled by Ticketmaster.
With five very different touring headliners in town for performances between now and Sunday, the St. Louis jazz scene has shows to suit a variety of musical tastes this weekend.
Let's go in chronological order, starting with Delfeayo Marsalis, who's performing at Jazz at the Bistro from Wednesday through Saturday. Delfeayo is the third-youngest Marsalis brother, and is known for his work as a producer of other artists as well as a musician in his own right. What little I've heard of his own stuff seems mostly inclined toward well-executed hard bop and post-1960s modernism, with occasional New Orleans-style trimmings, and, as one might expect from a Marsalis, he's definitely got skills on his chosen instrument. For more about his live show, check out this review of a January 2007 performance at NYC's Blue Note.
Next up is singer and pianist Diane Schuur, who returns to Finale Music and Dining to perform on Thursday and Friday. Schuur's brassy style has always seemed a bit overbearing to me, but there's no questioning her chops. If you're a fan, this seems like a great chance to see her in a very intimate setting.
On Saturday, singer and guiitarist John Pizzarelli (pictured) kicks off the Sheldon Concert Hall's jazz series for 2007-08. By now, Pizzarelli's a familiar figure around these parts, and seems to have built a substantial fan base here thanks to past performances at the Bistro, the Sheldon and elsewhere. He's an able entertainer as well as a fine guitar player, and I'd expect him to draw a big crowd at the Sheldon.
Speaking of entertainers, on Sunday afternoon Frank Sinatra Jr. will play the Touhill Performing Arts Center. His current show pays explicit tribute to his famous father, and, according to his publicity materials, features a 38-piece orchestra to recreate the arrangements used on some of Old Blue Eyes' most famous recordings.
Other noteworthy jazz performances this weekend include trombonist Brett Stamps, who plays a free concert at Washington University on Thursday night as part of the Jazz at Holmes series, and smooth jazz/R&B saxophonist Rod Tate, who will be at Finale on Saturday.
Looking beyond the weekend, the Sessions Big Band is at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups on Monday night; singer Anita Rosamond will do a couple of 10 a.m. "Coffee Concerts" at the Sheldon on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings; and singer Brian Owens performs in a "Notes From Home" concert at the Sheldon on Tuesday night.
(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.)
Singer Erin Bode (pictured) and pianist Peter Martin will help kick off St. Louis' Design Week 2011 with a performance at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, April 18 at the Roberts Orpheum Theater. The event will raise funds for pancreatic cancer research, and also will include a performance from members of Circus Flora and the Zoppe Family; a video presentation on "St. Louis Design Legends”; an auction of artist-made jewelry; and more.
