Sunday Session: February 10, 2019

Archie Shepp

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:

* Alice Coltrane - Journey in Satchidananda (Pitchfork.com)
* 'Holy relic' blues guitar could sell for £120k (Gazette and Herald)
* Wadada Leo Smith Reflects on Civil Rights and Large-Scale Works (DownBeat)
* 'Green Book' doesn't do justice to Don Shirley's brilliant musicianship (Los Angeles Times)
* Roomful of Teeth Is Revolutionizing Choral Music (The New Yorker)
* SFJAZZ Honors Chucho Valdés at Annual Gala (DownBeat)
* 'American Pie' isn't a song about Buddy Holly, Don McLean says: 'It's about America' (Des Moines Register)
* "A Great Day In Harlem": Remembering the iconic 1958 photo of legendary musicians (CBS News)
* The One That’s Got the Mojo: The Ric and Ron Records legacy (Offbeat)
* Loop History: Skull Snaps’ “It’s A New Day” (RedBullMusicAcademy.com)
* Malaco Records: A soul survivor celebrates 50 years (MississippiToday.org)
* Bobbie Gentry's Box of Surprises (PopMatters.com)
* When Jazz Was a Public Health Crisis (JStor.org)
* The Divine Madness of Bill Laswell (JazzDaGama.com)
* How Did They Do That? The Extraordinary Story of Tomorrow’s Warriors. (Jazz in Europe)
* Lost in the woods with James Brown’s ghost (CNN)
* Musicians Attempt Class-Action Lawsuits Against UMG & Sony to Reclaim Rights to Recordings (Billboard)
* Andy Statman: Practical Mystic (BrooklynRail.org)
* Restoration of Nina Simone’s childhood home to begin this spring (GoUpstate.com)
* How Saxophone Player Jean-Baptiste Jacquet Integrated Houston Audiences (Houstonia)
* Prospectus Feature: Baseball and Jazz (BaseballProspectus.com)
* Joseph Jarman (1937–2019) (Art Forum)
* Folklore as a political act: William Ferris on preserving Mississippi Delta blues (CBC)
* Travels with Joni Mitchell - An oeuvre inaugurated by disavowal (NPlusOneMag.com)
* Marvin Gaye's Unreleased Album 'You're The Man' To See The Light Of Day (NPR)
* The Anger Inside Gary Clark, Jr. (Rolling Stone)
* Did academia kill jazz? (TheConversation.com)
* Trumpeter Marquis Hill Has a Message (DownBeat)
* At 81, jazz titan Archie Shepp’s legacy comes into clear focus (Washington Post)
* The New Cool: Ben Wendel talks about his album that's not an album, until now (KNKX)

Jazz this week: Roomful of Teeth, "Jazz Heaven: They Paved The Way" and more

While the fall presenting season isn't quite in full swing yet, the activity level of jazz and creative music in St. Louis definitely is picking up this first weekend after Labor Day. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, guitarist Dave Black and Friends, including singer Feyza Eren, play at Nathalie's.

Tomorrow night, the new music vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth will perform at 560 Music Center. Founded in 2009, the eight-member group is best known for having premiered composer Caroline Shaw's Pulitzer Prize-winning work "Partita for Eight Voices" and for winning the 2014 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. With a mission to "mine the expressive potential of the human voice," they incorporate a variety of musical traditions and extended vocal techniques into their sound.

Elsewhere around town on Friday, trumpeter Randy Holmes' quintet kicks off the new jazz series at the Ozark Theatre in Webster Groves with a concert featuring the music of Horace Silver.

Friday also is the opening night for a couple of weekend festivals of note. The entertainment at Schlafly Bottleworks' "Art Outside" event on Friday will include sets from Miss Jubilee and Dawn Weber, while the St. Louis Art Fair, which runs from Friday through Sunday, includes jazz acts such as drummer Bensid Thigpen's Le Jazz Hot, singer Joe Mancuso, the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars student ensemble, and others among its varied musical offerings.

And still on Friday night, the Ambassadors of Swing play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; vibraphonist Tom Rickard leads a trio at Cigar Inn; saxophonist Tim Cunningham plays smooth jazz and R&B at Troy's Jazz Gallery; the Funky Butt Brass Band return to the Broadway Oyster Bar; and singer Tony Viviano joins forces with his namesake, pianist Tony Viviano, for what might be termed "a tale of two Tonys" at Fortel’s in Creve Coeur.

On Saturday, pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True, with saxophonist Larry Johnson as special guest, will perform at the Ozark Theatre; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will play swing and jump blues at Evangeline's; and trumpeter Jim Manley and guitarist Randy Bahr will duet at The Wine Press.

On Sunday afternoon, you've got time to stop by the early fall edition of the St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show at the American Czech Hall on the south side before heading out to Clayton, where singer Wendy Gordon will be presenting her latest production, "Jazz Heaven: They Paved The Way," at the Ethical Society.

In addition to Gordon (pictured), the cast includes singers Jeanne Trevor, Dean Christopher, Erika Johnson, Chuck Flowers, Tish Haynes, and more, performing in the styles of vocal greats such as Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, Betty Carter, Etta James, Frank Sinatra and Lou Rawls, plus tap dancer Ryan Johnson as Sammy Davis Jr.; Linda Kennedy as narrator; and a band featuring Arthur Toney (piano), Jeffrey Anderson (bass), Eric Slaughter (guitar), Alfred Barnes (drums), Kendrick Smith (alto sax) and Adrian Bowers (trumpet).

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday Webster University begins their fall series of concerts featuring members of their jazz faculty with "A Celebration of ECM Records"; and percussionist Joe Pastor brings his group back to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

And lastly, we'd be remiss if we didn't note that bassist Bob DeBoo's briefly dormant weekly gig and jam session at the Kranzberg Arts Center has been re-started this month on Wednesday nights, while trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's weekly Wednesday session just down the block at The Dark Room now has been moved to a later time so that the two don't conflict.

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 2014 jazz preview, part 1

This week, StLJN presents the first part of our video preview of the fall 2014 season of jazz and creative music in St. Louis. Today's installment covers the touring bands and musicians visiting during the month of September.

First up is a clip featuring Roomful of Teeth, the Grammy winning new music vocal ensemble, performing Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw's "Passacaglia" in June 2009 at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. They'll be in St. Louis for a concert next Friday, September 5 at 560 Music Center.

After the jump, you'll find a video of the trio Thumbscrew performing bassist Michael Formanek's "Still...Doesn't Swing" at a gig in April 2012 at Sycamore in Brooklyn, NYC. Formanek, drummer Tomas Fujiwara and guitarist Mary Halvorson will play here on Friday, September 12 at Joe's Cafe in a concert presented by New Music Circle.

Below that, it's Pieces Of A Dream jamming out on their "Mount Airy Groove" in January of this year at the Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival. The group, which in this clip includes original members Curtis Harmon (drums) and James Lloyd (keyboards) plus Tony Watson Jr. (saxophone, keyboard), Rohn Lawrence (guitar), and David Dyson (bass), will be the headlining act at the free outdoor U City Jazz Festival on Saturday, September 13 in Heman Park.

In the fourth slot, you can see a full set by saxophonist Joe McPhee, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and percussionist Michael Zerang, aka Survival Unit III, recorded in December 2013 at the Jazzhouse in Copenhagen, Denmark. The trio will be in St. Louis on Friday, September 19 to play at Joe's Cafe.

Next up, it's a full set from the eclectic groove band Snarky Puppy recorded live at the 2014 Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta, Indonesia. They'll return here to perform on Sunday, September 21 at the Old Rock House.

The next clip features singer Storm Large, who will kick off the fall edition of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival on Saturday, September 27 at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups. Large is seen here singing "Angels In Gas Stations" in June of this year at the Faculty Club of the University of California - Berkeley.

Today's final video features percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani and a performance of his Gong Orchestra project in 2013 in Baltimore, Maryland. Nakatani will return on Tuesday, September 30 to Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center for another performance of the Gong Orchestra, for which he recruits a cast of musicians in each city where the work is performed.

Look for part two of the 2014 fall jazz preview next week. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...