Sunday Session: December 9, 2018

Dexter Gordon

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:

* All-too-easy listening - The music industry sells classical as soothing background music — robbing a great art of its power (Washington Post)
* Marcus Strickland Harnesses Power of Vocalists, Organ on Latest Album (DownBeat)
* The Multiple Personalities of Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks (ConsequenceOfSound.net)
* Jeff Simon: Is posthumous jazz a problem or a glorious resurrection? (Buffalo News)
* Wynton Marsalis: Jazz And Holiday Music Go Together Like Holly And Ivy (HoustonPublicMedia.org)
* Esperanza Spalding says goodbye to song-driven shows (Washington Post)
* It’s official: Galactic has purchased Tipitina’s (Offbeat)
* This Thing Never Stops: Roscoe Mitchell and Phillip Greenlief in Conversation (SFMOMA.org)
* Jazz Is Dance Music Again (Rolling Stone)
* The Life Force of Esperanza Spalding (OfficeMagazine.net)
* The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition Has a Winner (WBGO)
* Classical Hands: Composer Kris Bowers on Scoring ‘Green Book,’ Teaching Mahershala Ali Piano, Seeing His Hands On Screen (Pollstar)
* The good fight: Jan Ramsey keeps music journalism alive in New Orleans (Columbia Journalism Review)
* St. Nick: The Long, Strange and Wonderful Career of Nick Lowe (Rolling Stone)
* Interview: Milford Graves (Modern Drummer)
* Can We Get to That (Oxford American)
* Indie Labels Now Account for 39.9% of the Global Recorded Music Market (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Dexter Gordon Biography 'Sophisticated Giant' Chronicles a Jazz Life (Billboard)
* The Unclassifiable, Unstreamable Eighties Albums of Annette Peacock (The New Yorker)
* Sachal Vasandani Celebrates the American Songbook (Jazz Times)
* At 80, Saxophonist Charles Lloyd Finds Enlightenment in the Groove (NPR)
* Jazz legend Herbie Hancock becomes first musician to receive Ben Franklin Medal (WHYY)
* Hi Records star and instrumental hitmaker Ace Cannon dead at 84 (Memphis Commercial Appeal)
* Selling Vintage Records in Tokyo (LongReads.com)
* Covering both sides: Catherine Russell and John Pizzarelli (Santa Fe New Mexican)
* Playing the theory of relativity: Sunny Murray in Europe 1968–72 (The Wire)
* Daversa, Salvant, Mehldau Nominated for Grammy Awards (DownBeat)
* 'Fight The Power': A Tale Of 2 Anthems (With The Same Name) (NPR)
* Feds allege wider cover-up by Irvin Mayfield, Ronald Markham in New Orleans Library Foundation scandal (New Orleans Advocate)

Jazz this week: Sachal Vasandani, Galactic, Kris Davis Quintet, Jan Shapiro, Bucky Pizzarelli & Denise Thimes, and more

It's a jam-packed week of jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with local debuts from two noteworthy touring musicians, the return of some familiar favorites, homecoming gigs for three local expats, and lots more. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, singer Sachal Vasandani will make his St. Louis debut, beginning a four-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro. Along with Gregory Porter, whom the Bistro presented for the first time in January, Vasandani is one of the most talked-about male jazz singers to emerge in recent years, with an intimate, ballad-friendly style and a repertoire with enough romantic songs to make him a suitable choice for Valentine's week. Yet the Chicago native certainly can swing, too, as demonstrated in some of the video samples included in this post from last Saturday.

Also tonight, trumpeter Jim Manley plays at Sasha's Wine Bar, and singer Joe Mancuso performs with a trio  at Frontenac Grill.

Tomorrow night, the New Orleans-based funk/jazz/hip-hop group Galactic returns for what's become an annual gig at The Pageant, this time bringing along as special guests singer Corey Glover of Living Color and Latryx, featuring Lyrics Born and Lateef the Truthspeaker.

For those looking specifically for something Valentine's-themed on Thursday, singer Jan Shapiro, a former St. Louisan who now heads the vocal jazz program at Berklee College of Music in Boston, will be in town to do a free concert with pianist Nathan Jatcko for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; and singer Erin Bode will perform at Cyrano's in Webster Groves.

The romantic theme continues on Friday, as veteran guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli (father of St. Louis favorite John Pizzarelli) comes to town to serve as special guest for singer Denise Thimes' Valentine's Day show at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Now 87, Pizzarelli understandably doesn't work as much these days as he once did, but he remains a masterful practitioner of a classic style of jazz guitar playing, and definitely is worth hearing for any fan of the sub-genre.

Also on Friday, multi-instrumentalist Wayne Coniglio will lead a big band plus multiple vocalists in "The Swing of Hearts" at 560 Music Center. The show will feature guest stars including singers Cecil Cope and Ginger Berglund, trombonist Scott Whitfield, and saxophonist/clarinetist/vocalist Elsie Parker.

Elsewhere on Friday, saxophonist Tim Cunningham plays at the new downtown event space the Paragon Theater; vibraphonist Peter Schlamb performs at Robbie's House of Jazz; and saxophonist Willie Akins will lead a quartet at the Cigar Inn.

On Saturday afternoon, singer Wendy Gordon performs for brunch at Frontenac Grill. Later that day, poet, author, St. Louis native, and Miles Davis biographer Quincy Troupe will be back in his hometown once again to present another performance of his "SoundArt" ensemble at the Metropolitan Gallery downtown. The concert, a production of the Nu-Art Series, also will feature saxophonist Stan Coleman and bassist Darrell Mixon.

Then on Saturday evening, pianist Kris Davis (pictured) and her quintet will play a concert presented by New Music Circle at 560 Music Center. Born in Canada and now based in NYC, Davis blends free improvisation with compositions reflecting influences from jazz and contemporary classical, and has just released a new album, Capricorn Climber. Her St. Louis debut gig will feature most of the band from that record, including saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, drummer Tom Rainey and violist Matt Maneri, along with bassist Eivind Opsvik. For more about Davis and some video clips of her in action, check out this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

Saturday night also offers several choices of shows featuring female vocalists, with Feyza Eren at the Wine Press, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes at the Venice Cafe, and Zena Star at the Rustic Goat.

On Sunday, Miss Jubilee begins a series of regular matinee performances at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups,  and looking beyond the weekend, on Monday trumpeter Keith Moyer's quartet will play at BB'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.)

(Edited 2/15/13 to correct an error in Monday's listing.) 

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: The song stylings of Sachal Vasandani

St. Louis this winter already has seen the local debut of one of the most talked-about male singers in jazz when Gregory Porter came to town in January to perform at Jazz at the Bistro. Now, just a few weeks later are the first St. Louis gigs for the man who's probably been the other most talked-about male jazz singer of recent years besides Porter. That would be Sachal Vasandani, who will be here to perform next Wednesday, February 13 through Saturday, February 16 at the Bistro.

However, while both men have enjoyed significant success, they're very different stylistically. Porter, a big-voiced baritone heavily influenced by gospel and R&B, is like a jazz equivalent of Eddie Levert Sr. or Teddy Pendergrass, while Vasandani has a lighter vocal timbre, a propensity to croon, and diction that at times sounds like that of someone who's had training in musical theater.

In fact, Vasandani, now in his early thirties, grew up in Chicago and graduated from the University of Michigan, where he was named DownBeat magazine's Collegiate Jazz Vocalist of the Year in 1999.

Moving to New York, Vasandani signed with Mack Avenue Records in 2006 and released his debut album Eyes Wide Open the following year. In a review of the album, the Boston Globe said it was "mature in sound and rich in texture but also possesses enough youthful angst in its lyrical themes to ward off the fogeyism that male vocalists so easily slip into before their time."

Vasandani's second album, 2009's We Move, was chosen as a New York Times Critic's Pick, prompting the Times' Nate Chinen to call him "a jazz singer with good ideas, including some about what a jazz singer can be." In 2010, Vasandani was a Rising Star winner in the annual DownBeat poll, and the following year, he put out his third record on Mack Avenue, Hi-Fly, which also garnered positive reviews.

In addition to touring the USA, Europe and Asia as a headliner, Vasandani has worked with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis; JalCO members Wycliffe Gordon, Sean Jones, and Eric Reed; and drummer/producer T.S. Monk; as well as doing some special joint performances with Jon Hendricks and touring Japan with Sheila Jordan.

Today's video clips show off Vasandani performing a variety of material, starting in the embedded window up above with Thelonious Monk's "Monk's Dream," a song he recorded for his second album. This video was made in April 2011 in Pittsburgh, and features backing from pianist Jeb Patton, bassist David Wong and drummer Kendrick Scott.

The next two clips down below are from the same gig, and show Vasandani and the trio performing "Nancy," a song long associated with Frank Sinatra, and a version of Amy Winehouse's "Love Is A Losing Game." Below that, there's a video of Vasandani singing "Afternoon Sun," recorded in March 2012 in Muri, Switzerland with pianist Laurent Coq and bassist Darryl Hall.

The fifth clip features Vasandani's version of the Paul Simon song "Let Me Live in Your City." It was recorded in February 2012 with pianist Jez Graham during a vocal master class for the jazz society in Dunwoody, GA. The final video is from one of those concerts that Vasandani did with Jon Hendricks, and shows the two of them romping through "In Walked Bud" in December 2012 at the Olympia in Paris.

For more about Sachal Vasandani, check out this NPR feature on him from 2011, and his episode of the network's Piano Jazz program in 2012. The singer also offers his impressions of some of his jazz singing predecessors and peers in a "Before & After" listening test in the January 2013 issue of Jazz Times.











(Edited 2/13/13 to fix a garbled sentence.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Winter/spring 2013 jazz preview, part 2

This week, we continue with part 2 of our look at some of the touring jazz and creative musicians who will be coming to St. Louis during the first few months of 2013. (You can see part 1 of the preview here.)

Today's first clip features Sachal Vasandani singing "Take The B Train" in a show this past April at Joe's Pub in NYC. Vasandani, acclaimed as one of the top young male vocalists in jazz, will come to St. Louis for his first performances as a headliner starting Wednesday, February 13 through Saturday, February 16 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Down below, you can see The Seventh String: The Life and Tales of Bucky Pizzarelli, a short documentary about the veteran guitarist, who will be in St. Louis on Friday, February 15 to perform with singer Denise Thimes at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Next, you can see a clip that combines musical excerpts and a short interview with pianist Kris Davis/ The video was made in October 2012 in conjunction with a solo piano gig Davis played for the Hot Clube de Portugal. She'll be in St. Louis with her quartet to play a concert presented by New Music Circle on Saturday, February 16 at 560 Music Center.

The fourth video features trumpeter Chris Botti, who's become a familiar face to St. Louis audiences thanks to numerous appearances here in recent years. In this clip, recorded on December 1 at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, Botti and pianist Geoffrey Keezer offer a rather abstracted take on "My Funny Valentine," with a bit of "The Christmas Song" added at the end. Botti will return to St. Louis to perform on Saturday, February 23 with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra at Powell Symphony Hall.

Next up is another familiar face, singer Kurt Elling, who's also done several headlining gigs here over the last decade, most recently in November of last year at Jazz at the Bistro. Elling's latest album 1619 Broadway: The Brill Building Project features his interpretations of pop and rock songs from the 1960s written at that storied NYC address. Here, he's seen performing his version of the Drifters' "On Broadway" in May at the Maison des Cultures du Monde in Paris. Elling will be back to perform Wednesday, February 27 through Saturday, March 2 at the Bistro.

The sixth clip features singer, songwriter, guitarist and sometimes drummer Dan Hicks, as usual bringing a touch of humor to this 2011 performance of "I Don't Want Love" on Conan O'Brien's show. Hicks and the current edition of His Hot Licks will play here on Wednesday, March 13 at Old Rock House.

Today's last video features the Danish improvising saxophonist Lotte Anker, seen here with trumpeter Eivind Lønning and drummer Kresten Osgood in an excerpt from a performance last February in Copehnhagen. Anker will lead a trio in a show presented by New Music Circle on Thursday, March 14 at 560 Music Center.

Look for part 3 of StLJN's winter/spring 2013 jazz preview next week...