Jazz this week: The Baylor Project, Don Dietrich & Ben Hall, "Essentially Ellington" festival, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features the local debut of a Grammy-nominated act featuring one of the city's own; a rare local appearance from a founder of one of the most uncompromising free jazz/noise bands of all time; several student ensembles showing off what they've learned this year, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, March 28
The Baylor Project makes their St. Louis debut with the first of four nights of performances at Jazz at the Bistro.

Led by singer Jean Baylor and her husband, drummer and St. Louis native Marcus Baylor (pictured), they were nominated this year for Grammy awards in both jazz and R&B categories. You can find out more about them and see some videos of live performances in this post from last week.

Also on Wednesday, singer Joe Mancuso performs for the last night of his winter residency at Taha'a Twisted Tiki, and the "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features the St. Louis Steady Grinders at The Stage at KDHX, the weekly jam session hosted by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center; and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's quartet at The Dark Room.

Thursday, March 29
The Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents a free concert featuring Washington University Jazz Studies Students; guitarist Dave Black leads a trio at The Dark Room; and saxophonist Andy Ament plays at The Pat Connolly Tavern.

Friday, March 30
The closing concert of the annual "Essentially Ellington" festival at SIU Edwardsville's Dunham Hall will feature the participating student bands, plus the SIUE Concert Jazz Band and jazz faculty and visiting clinicians including trumpeter Terell Stafford, pianist Reggie Thomas, bassists Rodney Whitaker and Jeff Campbell, and drummer Dennis Mackrel.

Also on Friday, Oikos Ensemble presents "Good Friday Blues - A Jazz Lamentation" at the First Congregational Church of Webster Groves; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to Evangeline's; and guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran wraps up his winter residency at Das Bevo Underground.

Saturday, March 31
Traditional jazz bands including the Riff Raff Jazz Band, Annie and the Fur Trappers, and Roya and the High Timers will perform in a benefit for clarinetist and sculptor Rudy Torrini at Yaquis on Cherokee;

Also on Saturday, keyboardist Ryan Marquez celebrates the release of his album Moving Forward In Time with a show at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and singer Feyza Eren and bassist Willem von Hombracht will duet at the KindaBlue Club.

Sunday, April 1
Saxophonist Don Dietrich, best known as one of the founding members of the apocalyptic free-jazz group Borbetomagus, teams with composer/sculptor Ben Hall for a performance at The Sinkhole; Tim Cunningham headlines a bill featuring fellow saxophonists Antoine Washington, Terry Grohman and Kendrick Smith at Troy's Jazz Gallery; and the The Jazz Troubadours return to Evangeline's.

Monday, April 2
Webster University Student Jazz Combos perform at Webster's Community Music School.

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.)

Jazz this week: Arturo Sandoval, Moon Hooch, Paula West, Hudson, The Wee Trio, and more

It's a big week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with a half-dozen noteworthy headliners performing in various styles visiting the area over the next few days.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, October 11
The weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features Mark Wallace at KDHX's Magnolia Cafe, a jam session with bassist Bob Deboo and friends at Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor at The Dark Room.

Also on Wednesday, the students of Washington University's Monday Night Jazz Band will present a free concert at the 560 Music Center's Pillsbury Theatre.

Thursday, October 12
If  you're up for a short road trip, trumpeter Serafin Aguilar, best known for his work in Maynard Ferguson's band, will be just down the road in Flat River on Thursday, performing with the MAC Kicks Band and MAC Jazz Ensemble at the Mineral Area College Theater in Flat River.

Also on Thursday, guitarist Dave Black plays at The Pat Connolly Tavern, and singer Erin Bode returns to Cyrano's.

Friday, October 13
The saxophones-and-drums trio Moon Hooch (pictured, bottom left) returns, bringing their distinctive "acoustic techno" sound to the Old Rock House.

For more about them and some video samples of recent performances, see this post from last Saturday.

Also on Friday, the Cuban-born trumpeter Arturo Sandoval is back for the first of two nights paying tribute to his mentor Dizzy Gillespie at Jazz at the Bistro; and singer Paula West kicks off the fall series of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival with the first of two nights at the Gaslight Theater.

Saturday, October 14
The "supergroup" Hudson (pictured, top left), featuring drummer Jack DeJohnette, guitarist John Scofield, keyboard player John Medeski and bassist Larry Grenadier, brings their first-ever nationwide tour to the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Elsewhere around town, the New Orleans Suspects return to the Broadway Oyster Bar, and The Gaslight Squares and Miss Jubilee will perform on a double bill at Das Bevo Biergarten.

Sunday, October 15
The St. Louis Jazz Club presents pianist Pat Joyce and clarinetist Scott Alberici at the Webster Groves Concert Hall; and singer Mary Dyson performs at Troy's Jazz Gallery.

Monday, October 16
Trumpeter Jim Manley plays for diners and drinkers at Momo's Greek Restaurant.

Tuesday, October 17
The Wee Trio, featuring bassist and St. Louis native Dan Loomis, will be back in the area for a performance at SIU Edwardsville's Dunham Hall, augmented by members of the university's jazz faculty for select numbers from their most recent album Wee +3 .

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.)

The Wee Trio to play Tuesday, October 17 at SIU Edwardsville's Dunham Hall

The Wee Trio, featuring bassist and St. Louis native Dan Loomis, will return to the St. Louis area to perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 17 at SIU Edwardsville's Dunham Hall.

The performance is part of SIUE's "Arts & Issues" serie, and the SIU Edwardsville jazz faculty ensemble will open the show.

The Wee Trio (pictured) last appeared in St. Louis in November 2016 in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, supporting the release of their most recent album Wee + 3.

Tickets for The Wee Trio at SIU Edwardsville are $20 for the general public; $18 for seniors age 65 or older and for SIUE staff, faculty, retirees, and alumni; $15 for students with ID; and are on sale now.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Bassist and St. Louis native Tom Kennedy has released a new album titled Points of View, available now via CD Baby and various digital music services.

The album (pictured) includes eight tracks - including one with a titular shout-out to St. Louis, "Gaslight Square Blues" - performed by a stellar cast of musicians including drummer and St. Charles native Dave Weckl; singer and former St. Louisan Karla Harris; trumpeter Randy Brecker; saxophonists Bill Evans, Bob Franceschini and Bob Malach; guitarists Mike Stern, Lee Ritenour and Chuck Loeb; drummers Obed Calvaire and Richie Morales; and more.

* Singer Chuck Flowers performed this week on the morning newscast of KTVI/Fox 2, promoting his upcoming gig on Sunday, April 23 at BB's Jazz Blues & Soups.

* Last week's homecoming performance by trumpeter Keyon Harrold, drummer Kimberly Thompson and pianist Lawrence Fields at Jazz at the Bistro got a shout-out from the St. Louis American's Delores Shante.

* Singer Brian Owens has released an animated music video for his song "For You," featuring additional vocals by fellow Ferguson native Michael McDonald, the singer known for his work as a Grammy winning solo artist and with classic rock bands The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan.

The video, which includes animated renderings of several St. Louisi landmarks, supports the release of Owens' latest album Soul of Ferguson, and can be seen on YouTube and on Owens' Facebook page and website.

* Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Alan Ox will provide the musical entertainment for "A Night In The Stacks," an event benefiting SIUE's Lovejoy Library to be held from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 13 at the Library on the SIUE campus.

Jazz this week: Emmet Cohen, Madeleine Peyroux, Victor Wooten, and more

This week's calendar of jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes the local debut of a promising young pianist, a festival of student big bands, return appearances from a jazz-influenced singer and a virtuoso electric bassist, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, March 22
The NYC-based pianist Emmet Cohen will perform at the Curtain Call Lounge with his trio, which customarily features bassist Russell Hall, of the house band on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and drummer Kyle Poole.

Praised by DownBeat for his “kaleidoscopic sense of musical narrative,” Cohen (pictured, top left) has played at jazz festivals including Monterey, Newport, North Sea, Bern, and Edinburgh, and performed, recorded or collaborated with Christian McBride, Herlin Riley, Kurt Elling, Billy Hart, Jimmy Heath, Brian Lynch, Lea DeLaria, and many others. His most recent album Masters Legacy Series, Vol. 1 features legendary drummer Jimmy Cobb, the only surviving musician from Miles Davis' Kind of Blue.

Note also that in addition to his free gig Wednesday as part of the Grand Center Jazz Crawl, Cohen and his trio also will perform in a ticketed concert on Thursday night at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

Also on Wednesday, pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True with saxophonist Larry Johnson will open a two-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro.

Thursday, March 23
With Washington University students back on campus after spring break, the Jazz at Holmes series will present a free concert featuring pianist Ken Kehner, accompanied by William Lenihan on bass and Montez Coleman on drums.

Friday, March 24
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville will host the "Essentially Ellington" Regional Festival at Dunham Hall on the SIUE campus. Affiliate with the similarly named annual event at NYC's Jazz at Lincoln Center. The day-long festival will culminate in a public concert featuring performances from the participating high school bands; clinicians Zeb Briskovich, Rick Haydon, Adaron Jackson, Garrett Schmidt, Jason Swagler, and Miles Vandiver; and the SIUE Concert Jazz Band.

Also on Friday, the Funky Butt Brass Band will open a two-night gig at Jazz at the Bistro; the Midwest Jazz-tette returns to Evangeline's; and singer and impressionist Dean Christopher brings his "Rat Pack & More" show to the Kinda Blue Club.

Saturday, March 25
Pianist James Matthews plays an early-evening show at the Palomino Lounge, and singer Joe Mancuso, guitarist Dave Black and multi-instrumentalist R. Scott Bryan will team up for a concert at Focal Point.

Sunday, March 26
Miss Jubilee plays for brunch at Evangeline's, and the Folk School of KDHX will present their monthly matinee Traditional Jazz Jam Session.

Then on Sunday evening, singer and guitarist Madeleine Peyroux returns for two shows at the Old Rock House.

Squeezing this date into a brief break in her joint tour with singer Rickie Lee Jones, Peyroux (pictured, center left) will be accompanied by Steely Dan guitarist Jon Herington and Israeli-born bassist Barak Mori, performing a variety of music from her catalog including songs from her most recent release, 2016's Secular Hymns.

Also on Sunday evening, the Williams Brothers - trumpeter Joshua, saxophonist Jo-e’l, and pianist Jaydon - will perform together for a one-nighter at Jazz at the Bistro.

Monday, March 27
Dizzy Atmosphere plays Gypsy jazz and swing for diners at The Shaved Duck, and Webster University's student jazz combos will show off what they've learned so far this year in a free concert at Webster's Community Music School.

Tuesday, March 28
Bassist Victor Wooten (pictured, bottom left) returns for a performance with his trio, featuring the great drummer Dennis Chambers and saxophonist Bob Franceschini, at the Old Rock House.

The bass virtuoso, who made his name as a member of banjo player Bela Fleck's band the Flecktones, has been touring with this lineup since the end of last year, so they should be in fine form by the time they reach St. Louis.

Also on Tuesday, the Washington University Jazz Band, directed by Chris Becker, performs at Jazz at the Bistro; and BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups has a jazz double-header, with percussionist Joe Pastor's Legacy Jazz Ensemble playing in the early evening, followed by saxophonist "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective.

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.)

Jazz this week: Kurt Elling, Zappa Plays Zappa, SIUE big bands, and more

As Jazz Appreciation Month 2015 reaches the halfway point, St. Louis gets a visit from one of the top male singers in jazz, a tribute to a memorable moment in 1970s jazz/fusion, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, April 15
Tonight, singer Kurt Elling returns to St. Louis to begin a four-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro

A regular visitor here for the past decade-plus, Elling (pictured, top left) has won the DownBeat Critics Poll for male vocalist each year for the last fourteen years; has been named “Male Singer of the Year” by the Jazz Journalists Association eight times during that same period, and had had every one of his ten albums nominated for a GRAMMY.

Since parting with longtime pianist and music director Laurence Hobgood a couple of years ago, Elling has gigged with several different keyboardists, including the German pianist Mads Baerentzen and Gary Versace, known for his work with Carla Bley, John Scofield and many others. This week, his ensemble will feature the 24-year-old NYC pianist Emmet Cohen, along with longtime guitarist John McLean, bassist Clark Sommers and drummer Bryan Carter.

While listeners at the Bistro over the course of the week may hear some selections from Elling's last album, 1916 Broadway: The Brill Building Project, and from his recently developed touring show, "Elling Swings Sinatra," the word from other recent tour stops suggests that there also will be a lot of music from his forthcoming album Passion World, which features "ballads of love and loss from across the globe" and is scheduled for release at the end of May.

Elsewhere around town, trumpeter Keith Moyer brings his group back to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups; Cabaret Project St. Louis presents their monthly open mic night at Tavern of Fine Arts; and keyboardist Bob Werner and singer Ellen Martinez are hosting a new weekly open mic night at Shakers, which took over the former location of Jazz on Broadway at 554 W. Broadway in Alton.

Thursday, April 16
Guitarist Dave Black, singer Feyza Eren (pictured, center left) and friends perform at Nathalie’s, and guitarist Tom Byrne and his Pat Metheny-inspired project Have U Heard will play a concert at Lewis and Clark Community College.

Friday, April 17
The Gateway City Big Band plays for dancers at Casa Loma Ballroom, and Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will play swing, hot jazz and blues at the Backstreet Jazz & Blues Club in Westport.

Saturday, April 18
Trumpeter Jim Manley leads a band including singer Charlie B, keyboardist Arthur Toney, guitarist Randy Bahr and trumpeter Joe Weber in a gig at Nathalie's, while Wack-A-Doo plays swing and Americana at Evangeline's.

Also on Saturday, singer Joe Mancuso and Dave Black will duet at Element STL; bassist David Certain will celebrate his birthday with an afternoon jam session and an evening gig with his CertainBeat WorldBop, both at Thurman Grill; and Miss Jubilee performs at Casa Loma Ballroom.

Sunday, April 19
Drummers Montez Coleman and Brandon Jones will co-lead a quintet with keyboardist Adam Maness, saxophonist Kendrick Smith and bassist Jahmal Nichols at Troy's Jazz Gallery

Monday, April 20
Repertory band Zappa Plays Zappa, led by Dweezil Zappa, guitarist and son of Frank, will play at The Ready Room, at 4195 Manchester Ave in the Grove district.

For this show, relocated from the now-closed Plush STL, ZPZ will mark the 40th anniversary of Frank Zappa's 1975 album One Size Fits All by performing the entire record, as they did last year with Apostrophe (').

Also on Monday, the Webster University Jazz Collective and student jazz singers will play at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus, and drummer/percussionist Joe Pastor and band will perform at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Tuesday, April 21
The SIUE Concert Jazz Band and SIUE Alumni Jazz Band will return for another one-show-only evening at  Jazz at the Bistro.

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.)

Jazz this week: Matthew Shipp & Michael Bisio, Shades of Jade, T. Oliver Reid, Koplant No, Essentially Ellington Festival, and more

It's another busy weekend of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with a number of noteworthy shows from both touring and local performers, including a new variation on the usual booking formulas from Jazz St. Louis, as Jazz at the Bistro will for the first time in recent memory feature three different acts on three consecutive weekend nights.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday March 25
The Funky Butt Brass Band performs in concert for the monthly music series at the World Chess Hall of Fame; singer Erin Bode emerges for a rare gig at Nathalie's; and the new music duo Patchwork will deliver a program of contemporary compositions at 560 Music Center.

Thursday March 26
If you're a Francophile or Francophone, you're doubly in luck this evening, as The Poor People of Paris play a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, while Gypsy jazz group Franglais returns to Evangeline's.

Elsewhere around town, singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black will duet at Thurman Grill, and the Tavern of Fine Arts will present their monthly "Experimental Arts Open Improv Night" with live improvised music.

Friday March 27
Singer and actor T. Oliver Reid (pictured, top left) will draw on jazz classics from the 1930s and 40s for the first of two performances of his Gaslight Cabaret Festival show "Drop Me Off In Harlem" at the Gaslight Theater.

Also on Friday, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville hosts the Essentially Ellington Regional Festival at Dunham Hall on campus, with performances from participating high school bands, the SIUE Concert Jazz Band and visiting clinicians including saxophonist Ron Carter, former Count Basie Orchestra drummer Dennis Mackrel, trumpeter Derrick Gardner; tuba player Bob Stewart; and bassist Jeff Campbell, plus various members of the SIUE jazz faculty.

Elsewhere around town, singer Denise Thimes will play a one-nighter at Jazz at the Bistro; singer Feyza Eren and pianist Curt Landes return to The Wine Press; and the Ambassadors of Swing play for dancers at Casa Loma Ballroom.

And if all that's not enough, saxophonists Tim Cunningham and Willie Akins will be making a rare joint appearance at Troy's Jazz Gallery; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will perform at Venice Cafe; and percussionist Herman Semidey and Orquesta Son Montuno will offer up a variety of Latin sounds at Club Viva.

Saturday, March 28
Pianist Matthew Shipp and bassist Michael Bisio (pictured, center left) will play a concert sponsored by New Music Circle at The Stage at KDHX. 

Shipp, who last performed here in 2011, is widely thought to be one of the most important improvising pianists of his generation, and Bisio is the bassist in his long-running trio. Their music as a duo, while obviously related to the sounds they make with drummer Whit Dickey, seems both more intimate but also potentially more raucous, as the absence of percussion forces a recalibration of relationships and a reallocation of sonic space. For more about Shipp, and video samples of his playing, check out this video post from last week.

Also on Saturday, Koplant No, who mix jazz-fusion, contemporary composition, and electronic music with a grab-bag of other influences, will present their first-ever performance at Jazz at the Bistro; and trumpeter Jim Manley, singer Charlie B. and pianist Arthur Toney will team up to play at the house concert venue KindaBlue.

Sunday March 29
The ever-evolving menu of Sunday jazz brunches has another new entry, as Mokabe's in the South Grand neighborhood now is featuring live music weekly from bassist David Certain and CertainBeat World Bop.

Sunday evening, the young Kansas City based band Shades of Jade, offering a neo-soul/hip-hop-influenced take on contemporary jazz and featuring former St. Louisan and Jazz St. Louis All-Star Joshua Williams (pictured), will make their debut at Jazz at the Bistro.

Monday, March 30
Animal Children will celebrate the release of their first (apparently self-titled?) CD at Foam Coffee And Beer, with The 442s opening the show.

Also on Monday, Dean Christopher returns with his "Rat Pack & More" show to One 19 Tapas & Wine Bar; "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective will play their monthly date at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups; and Webster University's student jazz combos will show off what they've learned this semester in a performance at the Community Music School 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.)

SIUE, St. Louis Jazz Club to present Essentially Ellington Regional Festival on Friday, March 27

The jazz studies program at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville and the St. Louis Jazz Club are teaming up to present the Essentially Ellington Regional Festival on Friday, March 27 at Dunham Hall on the SIUE campus.

Funded by a grant from the Jazz Club and co-produced by NYC's Jazz at Lincoln Center, the festival includes a full day of performances and workshops involving high school jazz ensembles from around the St. Louis metro area, culminating in a public concert at 7:30 p.m. featuring the participating bands, clinicians, and the SIUE Concert Jazz Band.

The visiting clinicians for the event will include saxophonist Ron Carter (pictured), former director of jazz studies at NIU, as well as former Count Basie Orchestra drummer Dennis Mackrel, trumpeter Derrick Gardner; tuba player Bob Stewart; and bassist Jeff Campbell. Participating musicians from the SIUE jazz faculty will include guitarist and jazz studies director Rick Haydon, trombonist Brett Stamps, saxophonist Jason Swagler, trumpeter Garrett Schmidt, pianist Adaron "Pops" Jackson, and drummer Miles Vandiver.

Tickets for the concert are $12 for general admission, $9 for seniors and under 18, and free to SIUE students with valid student ID.

Tickets on sale Monday for new shows at Jazz at the Bistro

Although there's been no announcement yet from Jazz St. Louis, Metrotix today sent out an email including on-sale dates for a number of new shows in 2014 at Jazz at the Bistro.

According to said email, The Wee Trio, with St. Louis native Dan Loomis on bass, will be coming back to town in April to celebrate the release of their album recorded earlier this year at the Bistro, and trumpeter Terell Stafford (pictured) will close out the 2013-14 season in May by serving as special guest for a weekend of perofrmances with students from Jazz St. Louis' JazzU program.

As for local players, bassist Jahmal Nichols and singer/guitarist Tommy Halloran have been booked to make their Bistro debuts as bandleaders, and several other hometown favorites will make return appearances there during the winter and spring. Here's the schedule of additional concerts as currently listed by Metrotix.

Friday, January 17 & Saturday, January 18:  Jahmal Nichols CD Release
Saturday, March 1:  Willie Akins & Dave Venn
Friday, March 14 & Saturday, March 15:  Phil Dunlap Quintet plays the music of Miles Davis
Friday, March 28 & Saturday, March 29:  Jim Stevens & Good 4 the Soul play the music of David Sanborn
Friday, April 11 & Saturday, April 12:  The Wee Trio CD Release Event celebrating Live at the Bistro
Tuesday, April 22:  SIUE Concert Jazz Band/Alumni
Friday, April 25 & Saturday, April 26:  Tommy Halloran's Guerilla Swing
Friday, May 9 & Saturday, May 10:  "Great Guitars 2014" with Shaun Robinson & Eric Slaughter
Friday, May 23 & Saturday, May 24:  JazzU with Terrell Stafford

All the performers will play sets at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., except for the SIUE Concert Jazz Band, who will play one show at 7:30 p.m. 

Ticket prices are $5 for Terell Stafford and JazzU; $15 for the SIUE Concert Jazz Band; $25 for The Wee Trio, Akins & Venn, and Jim Stevens' Sanborn tribute; and $20 for all other performances. Tickets for all shows go on sale at 10:00 a.m. next Monday, December 2 via Metrotix.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Drummer Dave Weckl and keyboardist Jay Oliver talk more about their new crowd-funded recording project in a new interview published on PledgeMusic.com.

* In the latest news from Clark Terry's blog, the trumpeter's autobiography published last year has won the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers' (ASCAP) Deems Taylor Award, and the and Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research.

* John Pizzarelli, in town to play at Jazz at the Bistro through Saturday night, had a few words about the gig and his current with the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson.

While he's here, the singer-guitarist also has been doing some school performances and educational events for Jazz St. Louis. He'll be playing with his quartet this afternoon for students at Fort Zumwalt High School, and did a workshop yesterday with Rick Haydon's guitar students at SIU-Edwardsville (pictured). Publicist Madeline Dames, who kindly provided the above photo of Pizzarelli's visit to SIUE, reports that he's doing record-breaking business at the Bistro, with "standing room only three deep upstairs" for Thursday night's first set.

* Trumpeter and singer Jeremy Davenport, who was back home last week to play at the Bistro, also dropped by local NPR affiliate KWMU for an interview, which has been archived online here.

* Vintage Vinyl co-owner Lew Prince was one of a dozen small business owners from across the nation who this week met with President Barack Obama to discuss economic and tax policy. Local coverage of the event included pieces from NBC affiliate KSDK and the U. City edition of Patch.com. Prince later went on MSNBC's The Ed Show to talk about his views and his visit with the President. Meanwhile, Prince and VV's other co-owner Tom Ray also recently were the subjects of a profile in the Journal at Webster University, where both are alumni.

* The Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis will be presenting a Grant Writing Workshop at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, December 11 at RAC's HQ, 6128 Delmar Blvd. The workshop is free, but advance reservations are required; you can RSVP with an email to carol @ stlrac.org.

"Da-Dum-Dun" festival on Friday, May 25 in East St. Louis to honor Miles Davis, Henry Dumas, and Katherine Dunham

"Da-Dum-Dun," a multi-arts festival in honor of musician Miles Davis, writer Henry Dumas, and dancer and choreographer Katherine Dunham, will be held at 6:00 p.m. Friday, May 25 in Room 2083-84 of Bldg. “B” on the SIUE-ESL Higher Education Campus, 601 J.R. Thompson Dr. in East St. Louis.

The free event will include music from the Bosman Twins; dance and percussion from the Sunshine Cultural Arts Center's Community Performance Ensemble; and "literary expression" from Drumvoices writers including Pacia Anderson, Michael Castro, Roscoe “Ros” Crenshaw, Angela Cureton, Byron Lee, Susan “Spit-Fire” Lively, Charlois Lumpkin, Patricia Merritt, Treasure Shields Redmond, Mary Z. Rose, Darlene Roy, Cheryl D. S. Walker, Dr. Lena Weathers, and Jaye P. Willis. The three honorees also will be the subjects of a "multimodal exhibit" from the Eugene B. Redmond/SIUE Collection.

All three of the honorees are renowned creative figures associated in some way with the city of East St. Louis, and the event takes place the day before what would have been the 86th birthday of Davis. The trumpeter was born in Alton, but grew up in East St. Louis and graduated from Lincoln High School. Dunham, originally from Chicago, moved to East St. Louis in 1967 after an illustrious career and founded the performing arts school and museum bearing her name. Dumas, born in Arkansas and raised in Harlem, taught at SIUE-ESL’s Experiment in Higher Education in 1967 and '68.

The celebration also will be a book release party for Drumvoices Revue, a 700-page volume co-published by the Eugene B. Redmond Writers Club and SIUE, co-sponsors of the event. Drumvoices Revue includes contributions from more than 200 writers, including Maya Angelou, Derek Walcott, Amiri Baraka, Andrea Wren, Gwendolyn Brooks and Richard Wright. Book sales and autographing will open and follow the event.

Jazz this week: Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, Yellowjackets, Preservation Hall Jazz Band with Del McCoury Band, Vanessa Rubin, and more

It's another busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with a number of touring musicians and groups performing here over the next several days in styles ranging from traditional New Orleans jazz to big band to fusion to free improv. Let's go to the highlights:

Tonight, the electric jazz/fusion group Yellowjackets returns to St. Louis to open a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. The 'Jackets have been regular visitors to St. Louis, though this will be their first time here since former drummer Will Kennedy returned to the fold last year to replace St. Louis native Marcus Baylor, who spent ten years with them. Given their substantial local fan base, they should draw a good-sized crowd even with everything else going on this week, so advance reservations definitely are recommended.

Also tonight, the highly anticipated tour featuring the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and bluegrass star Del McCoury's band comes to the Family Arena. (The show originally was scheduled for last fall, then postponed until this week.) If you're curious as to what this combination of roots music talent sounds like, the collaborative CD American Legacies featuring both groups has just been released this week, and you can listen to it stream online for free here. Local music freelancer Dan Duchholz also wrote a nice preview story about the show for the Post-Dispatch, and you can read that online here.

Rounding out tonight's musical offerings is percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani, who will organize and perform with a "Gong Orchestra" comprised of local improvising musicians at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center. Nakatani also will teach a free master class on improvisation and extended percussion techniques at 4:00 p.m. this afternoon at LNAC.

Tomorrow night, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University wraps up its spring 2011 series with the music of the Crusaders performed by a group billed as Scratch (which is the title of one of the Crusaders 1970s recordings.) Oddly, JaH has released no information about the specific lineup of players, other than the so-vague-as-to-be-useless description of "some of St. Louis' best musicians," so there's not much more to say about this show.

Update, 10:50 a.m., 4/14/11 - Just got a Facebook invite to the Scratch gig from one of the musicians involved, and it looks like the band is made up mostly of musicians associated in some way with SIUE: Ben Reece (tenor sax), Cody Henry (trombone), Phil Ring (guitar), Adaron "Pops" Jackson (keyboards), Nick Jost (bass) and Miles Vandiver (drums).

Also on Thursday, Simon Shaheen will play at SIUE's Meridian Ballroom. Shaheen, a Palestinian-American oud and violin player and composer who mixes Arabic music with Western sounds and has performed with Bill Laswell, Henry Threadgill and the Klezmatics, is appearing as part of SIUE's Arts and Issues series.

On Friday, the public portion of the 2011 Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival begins with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra playing at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. Descended from the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, the VJO has been a Monday night fixture at NYC's Village Vanguard for more than 40 years, serving as a proving ground for several generations of players and arrangers. The UMSL Jazz Ensemble will open the festival's shows on both Friday and Saturday, and they'll by joined onstage by the legendary Clark Terry, who, though no longer able to play trumpet due to health issues, will pick up the mic to sing his famously mushmouthed blues "Mumbles."

Also on Friday, guitarist Brian Vaccaro's trio plays at Robbie's House of Jazz; and guitarist Eric Slaughter's trio will hold forth at the Cigar Inn in Belleville.

The GSLJF continues on Saturday as bassist Ron Carter (pictured) returns to St. Louis for the first time since the mid-1980s to perform at the TouPAC. One of the most recorded and most influential bassists of the past 50 years, Carter will play with his Golden Striker trio, featuring pianist Mulgrew Miller and guitarist Russell Malone. For more about them and the VJO, and some video samples of both groups, please see this post from last Saturday.

Also on Saturday, New Music Circle present the premiere of its Laptop Orchestra Project at the William A. Kerr Foundation, which is at 21 O'Fallon St on the riverfront, just north of Laclede's Landing. The event will feature musicians Jim Hegarty, Steven Thomas, Joseph Potthoff, James S. Hegarty and Thomas Zirkle using laptop computers to perform improvised works and original compositions, as well as pieces by the Princeton Laptop Orchestra, which originated the laptop ensemble concept.

On Sunday, saxophonist Paul DeMarinis will lead his group in an early evening performance at Second Baptist Church for the St. Louis Jazz and Blues Vespers series, and the Northern Illinois University Jazz Ensemble, directed by saxophonist Ronald Carter, will perform at Robbie's.

Robbie's web site this week also added a note that trumpeter Randy Brecker will appear a guest artist with the NIU band, but StLJN has been unable to verify that information as of this writing.

Update - 8:30 p.m., 4/13/11: The itinerary on Brecker's website shows Sunday, April 17 as the final day of a five-performance tour with the NIU Jazz Ensemble, but identifies the venue as the Sheldon Concert Hall. The Sheldon's website makes no mention of the show, so it would appear that Robbie's somehow wound up as a substitute venue, and Brecker will indeed be there.

Update - 10:50 p.m., 4/13/11: Just heard from Dorothy Edwards, the co-owner/general manager of Robbie's, who confirmed that Randy Brecker will be in the house on Sunday night. Spread the word...

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday singer Vanessa Rubin will be at SIUE for two free events sponsored by the university's Singer's Society. She'll lead a master class for vocalists at 3:00 p.m., then perform in concert that night with the SIUE Vocal Jazz Ensemble. Both events are open to the public, and will take place at Dunham Hall on the SIUE campus.

Also on Monday, pianist Peter Martin and singer Erin Bode are performing at Roberts Orpheum Theater as part of benefit kicking off St. Louis Design Week 2011; and the Sessions Big Band returns to BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

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.)

(Edited after posting to add info about Clark Terry's appearance and to fix a couple of typos. Updated to include more details on Randy Brecker's appearance with the NIU Jazz Ensemble.)

Vanessa Rubin to perform Monday, April 18 at SIUE

Singer Vanessa Rubin (pictured) is coming back to the St. Louis area to perform at 8:00 p.m. Monday, April 18 in the Dunham Hall Theater at SIUE. The free concert will feature Rubin and SIUE's vocal jazz ensemble, which is under the direction of Reggie Thomas. The event is sponsored by SIUE's Singer's Society, a new student organization at the university, which also will present a masterclass with Rubin during the day Monday, time and location TBA.

Rubin was in St. Louis most recently in February 2010 to star in the Black Rep's production of Yesterdays: An Evening with Billie Holiday. The Cleveland native has performed with many well-known jazz musicians, including St. Louis' own Clark Terry, Pharoah Sanders, Barry Harris, Kenny Barron, Lionel Hampton, the Mercer Ellington Orchestra, Cecil Bridgewater, Etta Jones, Toots Thielemans, Steve Turre, Cedar Walton, Grover Washington, Jr., Herbie Hancock, the Woody Herman Orchestra, and the Jazz Crusaders. Rubin has recorded seven albums as a leader and also has been actively involved in jazz education.

Jazz this week: The Langston Hughes Project; Julian Lage; Hamiet Bluiett's Big Orchestra Band, Youth Division; Orange CD release; and more

This week's jazz and creative music offerings in St. Louis are a varied lot, from a multimedia project with an historical focus to a concert featuring a 50-piece band of students playing the compositions of one of St. Louis' greatest living jazz musicians, plus lots more. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, trumpeter Ron McCurdy brings his multimedia presentation The Langston Hughes Project to SIUE's Meridian Ballroom. For much more about this musical look at the jazz-influenced poet, author and essayist, check out last Saturday's Video Showcase post.

Also tonight, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University resumes after spring break with a free concert from guitarist Vince Varvel's trio; and singer Kim Massie performs at the Sheldon Concert Hall to benefit the March of Dimes.

On Friday, the talented young guitarist Julian Lage and his group will be in town for one night only to play at Jazz at the Bistro. Jazz St. Louis is offering a 2-for-1 discount on tickets for Lage's performances; you can find out more about that offer, and hear some samples from his new CD here.

Also on Friday, saxophonist Kendrick Smith and his quartet will take the stage at Robbie's House of Jazz, and songwriter Al Hammerman will present a benefit concert for the Make A Wish Foundation at the Sheldon. Although not a jazz performer in the strict sense, Hammerman clearly has been influenced by the Great American Songbook, and typically deploys a number of local jazz players to help realize his compositions. Friday's concert will include vocals from Debby Lennon and Alan Ox, among others, and a 12-piece band playing arrangements of Hammerman's original songs.

On Saturday afternoon, the great baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett (pictured) will unveil his latest project The Big Orchestra Band, Youth Division in a concert for the Nu-Art Series at Metropolitan Gallery. The 50-piece ensemble is made up of kids participating in school and community center music programs in St. Louis City, St. Louis County and East St. Louis, and they'll perform new arrangements of some of Bluiett's compositions.

That evening, the group Orange will celebrate the release of their first CD at Jazz at the Bistro. Together now for a couple of years, Orange is essentially a busman's holiday for members of singer Erin Bode's band - pianist Adam Maness, bassist Syd Rodway, and drummer Mark Colenburg - plus vibraphonist Peter Schlamb. (Steve Davis will fill in on Saturday for Colenburg, who's on the road with pianist Robert Glasper.)

Their eponymous self-released CD features seven of Maness' original compositions, plus one from Schlamb. You can read more about it in Terry Perkins' article for the St. Louis Beacon here, and check out samples from the CD on Orange's Facebook page.

The busman's holiday will be short-lived, however, as Maness, Rodway & co. will be back at work Sunday evening, accompanying Erin Bode in a concert at Chapel of the Cross Lutheran Church in St. Peters to benefit Peace Lutheran Church and the Ablaze Center in Riverview, MO.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday guitarist Tom Byrne's trio is playing at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups; and guitarist Dave Black and others have put together a homecoming celebration for vibraphonist Lee Roth at Pop's Blue Moon on the Hill. Roth, who worked with a number of local jazz groups from the late 1970s to the 1990s, is back in town for a few days, and musicians, especially those who might have known him back in the day, are encouraged to bring their instruments and take part in a jam session.

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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: The Langston Hughes Project

Today, we turn our video spotlight on The Langston Hughes Project, a multi-media setting of Hughes' 1961 poem “Ask Your Mama: Twelve Moods for Jazz” that will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 24 at the Meridian Ballroom on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville under the auspices of SIUE's Arts And Issues series.

Led by trumpeter and jazz educator Ron McCurdy, the project combines a reading of Hughes' 12-part poetic suite with live music from McCurdy's quintet and projected images of the Harlem Renaissance by African American artists and photographers including Jacob Lawrence, Gordon Parks and Romare Bearden. Hughes originally had intended to collaborate with bassist Charles Mingus on a musical score for "Ask Your Mama," but died in 1967 before the project could be developed.

Four decades later, McCurdy and Dr. John Wright of the University of Minnesota expanded on Hughes’ original concept by adding the visuals, and since then, The Langston Hughes Project has been performed by McCurdy and Wright all around the country. The chairman of jazz studies and professor of music at the University of Southern California, McCurdy also has performed with jazz artists such as Joe Williams, Arturo Sandoval, Maynard Ferguson, Lionel Hampton and Dianne Reeves and with pop singers including Rosemary Clooney and Leslie Uggams.

Up above, you can see a brief video trailer that introduces The Langston Hughes Project. Down below, you can see and hear performances of the first section "Cultural Exchange" and the sixth, "Horn of Plenty." The fourth video is an excerpt from the piece's world premiere in 2008, a big-budget extravaganza that featured an orchestral score written by McCurdy and performed by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra as well as rapper/actor Ice-T reading Hughes' words.

Though he's most often associated with Harlem, Hughes (1902-1967) actually was a Missouri native. He was born in Joplin, grew up in Lawrence KS and Cleveland OH, and moved to New York as a young man just in time to be part of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. An avid jazz and blues fan, Hughes enjoyed sitting in clubs listening to music and writing poetry, and he was quite a prolific writer. His works include writing sixteen books of poems, two novels, three collections of short stories, four volumes of fiction, and twenty plays, plus children's poetry, musicals and operas, three autobiographies, a dozen radio and television scripts, and dozens of magazine articles and essays, as well as editing seven anthologies.

For more about Hughes' life and work, check out these two short bios of him. You can read a selection of his poems here, and hear him reading his own work in a 1945 audio recording posted to YouTube in four parts (1, 2, 3, 4). Hughes also was recorded reading "Ask Your Mama: Twelve Moods For Jazz" in 1967 for an album called The Black Verse. Although the LP is out of print, you can hear those recordings (interspersed with a variety of jazz cuts) on this program paying tribute to Hughes that aired earlier this year on KDVS, a public radio station associated with the University of California-Davis.

Jazz river cruise on October 3 to benefit SIU-E Friends of Music scholarships

The Friends of Music at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville are sponsoring a jazz cruise on the Mississippi on Sunday, October 3 to raise money for music scholarships at SIUE.

Cruisers will board on the riverboat in downtown St. Louis at 5:30 p.m., and cruise from 6:00 p.m. until 8:30, enjoying dinner and live music from SIUE jazz faculty members and students.

Tickets are $75 per person, or $30 for children 12 and under. The ticket price includes a $20 gift to the SIUE Friends of Music Scholarship Fund, which may be considered tax deductible. To reserve a spot, call the SIUE Music Department at 618-650-3900, before reservations close on Friday, September 17.

Jazz this week: Count Basie Orchestra, John Patitucci, Jeff Beck, Curtis Roads & Bryan O'Reilly, Steve Tyrell, and more

It's going to be another busy weekend for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with shows on tap ranging from classic big-band swing to experimental electronics, along with several stops in between. Let's go to the highlights:

Starting tonight, bassist John Patitucci (pictured) leads his trio for two sets per night through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Considered one of the top bass players in jazz since the mid-1980s, Patitucci has played St. Louis before, most recently as part of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra's Guitar Festival in the fall of 2008, but the chance to see him up close and leading his own band undoubtedly will bring out legions of fellow bass players and music students, so advance reservations are suggested.

On Thursday, guitarist Jeff Beck brings his current tour to the Fox Theatre. While I don't care for some of the material Beck chooses to do, and wish he'd spar a bit more with his band instead of just using them as a backdrop, there's no denying the man's skills. Since it's the first time he's been to St. Louis is something like 15 years, expect a packed house.

On Friday, there are three noteworthy free concerts featuring St. Louis-based musicians. Over at Washington University, bassist Tom Kennedy and guitarist William Lenihan will co-lead a group in a free performance at the Danforth Center. Meanwhile, that same evening keyboardist Jim Hegarty, bassist Willem von Hombracht and drummer Kyle Honeycutt will give a free performance at Three Sinks Gallery in Webster Groves in conjunction with the opening of a show of paintings by Firmin Puricelli. Also on Friday, guitarist Matthew Von Doran, bassist Bob Deboo and drummer Steve Davis will play a free show at the Broadway Bean coffeehouse in the Carondelet neighborhood.

On Saturday morning, former St. Louisan Bob Koester, proprietor of Chicago's Delmark Records label and Jazz Record Mart, will speak about Delmark's history at the Sheldon Art Galleries. For more on Koester, see this post.

Then on Saturday evening, the Count Basie Orchestra, which features former East St. Louisan Tony Suggs on piano, will perform at SIUE's Meridian Ballroom for the university's "Arts & Issues" series. Though the Basie band certainly needs no extended introduction here, StLJN had some choice 1960s video footage of them a post last Saturday, which serves as a pretty good primer on their sound and style.

Also on Saturday, singer Steve Tyrell will appear at the Sheldon Concert Hall in a show that's been sold out for at least a couple of weeks now. (If you're really desperate to get a ticket, I suppose you could go to the Sheldon and hope someone cancels and turns their tix back in to the box office. Otherwise, given the Sheldon's propensity for re-booking acts that do well there, you can take solace in knowing that it likely won't be long until Tyrell is back again.)

For something completely different on Saturday, check out electronic composer Curtis Roads and multi-media artist and musician Brian O'Reilly, who will perform "Flicker Tone Pulse" at St. Louis Community College-Forest Park's Mildred E. Bastian Center for the Performing Arts.

Presented by New Music Circle, the performance will consist of "a set of new electronic compositions with visual accompaniment. These works explore a multiscale approach to composition, and are designed to be spatialized live by the composer, with simultaneous video projection on multiple screens." Roads is considered a leading practitioner of granular synthesis, and you can find out more about him and his techniques in a video profile done a couple of years ago for a Dell Computers promotion, available in three parts here, here and here.

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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: The legacy of Count Basie

With the Count Basie Orchestra set to appear in the St. Louis area next weekend, this seems like the perfect opportunity to present some vintage video of Basie and his band. The present-day Basie Orchestra, currently under the direction of trombonist Bill Hughes and featuring St. Louis native Tony Suggs on piano, will play Saturday, May 1 at SIUE's Meridian Ballroom for the University's "Arts And Issues" series.

The band still plays a number of the charts you'll see performed in today's videos, which are from a broadcast done for the BBC back in 1965 (broken into five parts so as not to exceed the maximum length allowed by YouTube).

It's interesting to consider that at the time this was shot, the British Invasion was the biggest thing in popular music here in the U.S., and big band music already was considered somewhat old-fashioned. Yet the audience of Brits watching the performance obviously dig Basie and his crew, applauding enthusiastically for every number and cheering long and loud for moments like Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis' tenor sax feature on "Jumpin' At The Woodside" and Rufus "Speedy" Jones' thunderous drum solo on "Whirly Bird." Forty-five years later, the performance still impresses, aided by some good sound and crisp camerawork and direction.

The Basie band of this era was stocked to the proverbial gills with choice soloists including Davis and fellow saxophonists Eric Dixon and Marshall Royal, trombonist Al Grey and trumpeter Al Aarons, and armed with a thick book of tunes that ranged all the way from the riff-based blues of their early Kansas City days to the modern arrangements crafted for them in 1950s and 1960s by Neal Hefti, Quincy Jones, Frank Foster and others. The Count himself is in fine form here, too, contributing several tasteful piano solos and directing the orchestra with characteristic aplomb.

Here's a clip-by-clip list of the featured songs:
Part 1: "All of Me," "Flight of the Foo Birds" and "The Midnight Sun Never Sets"
Part 2: "Blues for Eileen" and "Jumpin' At The Woodside"
Part 3: "I Need to Be Be'd With" and "April In Paris"
Part 4: "Whirly Bird"
Part 5: "Li'l Darlin'" and "One O'Clock Jump"

Though Count Basie passed away in 1984, the band has continued in more-or-less uninterrupted fashion under a succession of musical directors, keeping these classic arrangements alive for new generations and also making new recordings, the most recent of which was 2009's Swinging, Singing, Playing on the Mack Avenue label.