It's time once again for our periodic compendium of items interest from around the Web, focusing on musicians with St. Louis connections, those who have played here recently, and those who are coming here soon to perform.
* Regular readers know that, when possible, I like to start to these little linkfests with something about
Miles Davis, and so this time, we've got a
review of
The Miles Davis Reader, the new book that compiles Down Beat magazine's many years of coverage of the trumpeter. Also on the Miles beat, take look at the recent item from The Bad Plus' blog Do The Math, which, in the course of remembering
Oscar Peterson,
revisits a rather harsh critique Davis once made of
the late pianist.
* The
Works and Process series in NYC just presented the
world premiere of a new
John Zorn work, featuring the composer. Zorn, who studied music here at Webster University way back in the 1970s, also has a new
book,
Arcana II.
* Blogcritics has an interview with former St. Louisan
Bob Koester, who started his label
Delmark Records here before moving to Chicago, where he now runs the label and the retail store
Jazz Record Mart. Read part one
here and part two
here.* If you can't get enough of the
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra after seeing them this past weekend at
the Sheldon, here's a recent feature article about their recent
concert in Santa Cruz, CA. Also, you can grab free
MP3s of two cuts from JaLCO director
Wynton Marsalis latest release
Standards & Ballads, a compilation CD that includes the sample tracks."Embraceable You" and "I Can't Get Started" with
Shirley Horn* Speaking of the Sheldon, last week's edition of the NPR program
JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater showcased a concert by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and The Dixie Hummingbirds that was recorded at the Sheldon Concert Hall in March of 2006. You can listen to the episode online
here.
* Trumpeter
Chris Botti, who played the
Touhill Performing Arts Center last month,
talks with the Associated Press about his career and latest CD
Italia (via the
International Herald Tribune). Bottiphiles may also want to read
Jazz Monthly's
review of
Italia and this
review from the
Seattle Times of a recent Botti performance.
* And there's yet more coverage of trumpet players as
LeRoy "The Jazzcat" Downs interviews trumpeter and
MAXJAZZ recording artist
Jeremy Pelt (
pictured), while The Jazz Session podcast
interviews trumpeter
Avishai Cohen, who played Jazz at the Bistro last November with Waverly Seven.
*Turning to coming attractions, pianist
Shelly Berg, who will be one of the visiting artists at the upcoming Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, is the subject of an
interview recently published at AllAbout Jazz.com.
Berg's trio also will be one of the
featured acts at the Pensacola Jazz Festival in April.
* AAJ also has a new
interview up with pianist
Cyrus Chestnut, who returns to
Jazz at the Bistro the first weekend in March.
* Singers
Kurt Elling, who played the Bistro in November, and
Sara Gazarek, who's there this week, will be among the headliners at
Philippine International Jazzfest from February 29 to March 15.
* Last but not least,.from the "Miscellaneous items of interest" file: The
Musical Instrument Museum recently
broke ground outside Phoenix, AZ. It's expected to open in early 2010 at a cost of $125 million, and will include 75,000 square feet of exhibition space, an auditorium, a conservation laboratory open for viewing and a recording studio. The collection will have about 5,000 items, nearly 1,000 of which have been acquired and are in storage. According to the article from the
New York Times, "the museum’s prizes so far include a century-old Javanese gamelan; an original saxophone built by Adolphe Sax, the instrument’s inventor; and large slit-gong drums from the Congo."
Single tickets are now on sale for the three evening concerts that will be presented as part of the first-ever Jazz Education Network Conference, which takes place Thursday, May 20 through Saturday, May 22 in St. Louis.
