Sunday Session: August 22, 2021

John Coltrane

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest:

* Former Police Guitarist Andy Summers Reminisces On Montserrat Sessions In ‘Under The Volcano’ (Forbes.com)
* Angry concert-goer files complaint with Ohio Attorney General after missing James Taylor-Jackson Browne show at Blossom (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
* Highest Trane: John Coltrane’s World-Building Ascension (Jazz Times)
* Under The Volcano Review: Inside George Martin’s Musical Paradise (DenOfGeek.com)
* The Bad Plus Reformulates Again, Now as a Quartet with Ben Monder and Chris Speed (WBGO)
* A Guide to Free Jazz Drumming on Bandcamp (Bandcamp.com)
* At an Old Juke Joint in Mississippi, the Blues Are Alive (Smithsonian)
* If you take all the world’s emotions and put them into one sound, it’s Sérgio Mendes (San Diego Union Tribune)
* The Most Influential Pop-Rock Band Ever? The Monkees! (Vanity Fair)
* The history of electronic music is inside a warehouse in Harleysville, Pa. (WHYY)
* The Light At The End of The Tunnel is Fading (Offbeat)
* Meet the archivist who saved the historic footage that became ‘Summer of Soul’ (Los Angeles Times)
* How Respect Uses Design to Illuminate the Story of Aretha Franklin (Architechtural Digest)
* Marc Ribot Makes the Case for Loud Music (LitHub.com)
* Larry Harlow, Iconic Salsa Musician And Producer, Has Died At 82 (NPR)
* First Live Steely Dan Album in 25 Years Just Days Away (Guitar Player)
* Frank Zappa: ”I think my playing is probably more derived from folk music – Middle Eastern music, Indian music, stuff like that” (Guitar World)
* My musician friends in Afghanistan are hiding their musical instruments in fear of the Taliban: Young Afghan composer Arson Fahim (IndiaTimes.com)
* Country singer Tom T. Hall dies; wrote ‘Harper Valley PTA’ (Associated Press)
* ‘They deserve a place in history’: music teacher makes map of female composers (The Guardian)
* White out! Tony Herrington calls time on the monoculture that is the experimental sound and music industry (The Wire)
* The World's Most Famous Violins Were Treated With a Secret Chemical Mix, Study Shows (ScienceAlert.com)
* Philip Glass on Artificial Intelligence and Art (Auderdy.com)

Jazz St. Louis sets 25th anniversary celebration for Friday, October 2

Jazz St. Louis will celebrate their 25th anniversary with a free online event on Friday, October 2.

From its origins as the "Just Jazz" concert series presented by the late Barbara Rose at the Majestic Hotel downtown, Jazz St. Louis has grown into a top presenter of touring and local jazz performers with its own venue in the Grand Center district, renovated in 2014 and now officially known as the Ferring Jazz Bistro.

In addition to presenting live performances, the organization also offers various educational programs for local students from ranging from pre-school to high school age.

The 25th anniversary celebration will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a "pre-event concert" featuring students in the organization's JazzU program.

Then starting at 7:00 p.m., Jazz St. Louis CEO Gene Dobbs Bradford and pianist Peter Martin will serve as hosts for the main event, which will include performances by violinist Regina Carter (pictured), The Bad Plus, singer and pianist Ann Hampton Callaway, and more.

To wrap up the evening, singer Denise Thimes will perform an "after-party" set at 8:00 p.m.

Jazz St. Louis' 25th anniversary celebration will be available for viewing for free via their Facebook page. You can find out more details about the celebration here, and RSVP to receive a reminder email about the event here.

Jazz this week: The Bad Plus, Emily Skinner's "Broadway My Way," and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes the return of one of the most acclaimed trios in modern jazz, a visit from a Broadway diva performing in an intimate cabaret setting, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, January 8
The Bad Plus (pictured, top left) continue their decade-plus-long tradition of a week of January performances here, playing for the first of five nights continuing through Sunday at Jazz St. Louis.

Since their appearance here last year, TBP in October released a new album, Activate Infinity, their second since pianist Orrin Evans replaced founding member Ethan Iverson in 2018.

The album, their first for the British label Edition Records, features eight tracks of new original material, with two written by Evans, two by drummer Dave King, and four by bassist Reid Anderson. Fans can expect to hear most of those new pieces during their shows here, and given the trio's continuing popularity here, advance reservations are advised.

Thursday, January 9
Keyboardist Mo Egeston will have new original material plus some guest stars for an "All-Star Birthday Groove" performance at Joe's Cafe, and Dean Christopher returns with his "Rat Pack and More" show to LoRusso's Cucina.

Also on Thursday, guitarist Dave Black and saxophonist Paul DeMarinis will play duets at The Pat Connolly Tavern, and singer Christy Simmons performs her cabaret show "When Life Gives You Lemons" at Blue Strawberry.

Friday, January 10
Singer and actress Emily Skinner (pictured, bottom left), known for her leading roles in musicals including Billy Elliot, Side Show, and Dinner at Eight, will present her cabaret show "Broadway My Way" for the first of two nights at Blue Strawberry.

Also on Friday, Herman Semidey and Orquestra Son Montuno will play salsa, Latin jazz and more in their debut performance at Troy's Listening Room, and pianist and singer Curt Landes performs solo at The Judson House.

Elsewhere around town, trumpeter Jim Manley returns to One 19 North Tapas & Wine Bar; and singer Anita Jackson performs at Sophie's Artist Lounge.

Saturday, January 11
Bassist and singer Janet Evra plays at Evangeline's, and guitarist Brian Vaccaro leads a quartet at the house concert venue KindaBlue Club.

Sunday, January 12
Miss Jubilee performs for brunch at Evangeline's, and the Arcadia Dance Orchestra returns to Focal Point.

Monday, January 13
Dizzy Atmosphere plays vintage swing and Gypsy jazz at The Shaved Duck, and the Southwestern Illinois College Jazz Band performs at Main Street Brewing Company in Belleville.

Tuesday, January 14
Guitarist Eric Slaughter will perform at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

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.)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Trumpeter Russell Gunn (pictured) has launched a crowd-funding campaign to pay for the next recording by his Royal Krunk Jazz Orchestra.

* Reid Anderson, bassist for The Bad Plus, was interviewed about the group's return to Jazz St. Louis next week by the Post-Dispatch's Daniel Durchholz.

* A new article in DownBeat recalls how the late trumpeter and St. Louis native Clark Terry "fostered generations of performers."

* The closing last weekend of the south side venue Foam was the subject of stories by St. Louis Public Radio's Jeremy D. Goodwin and St. Louis magazine's John J. Goddard.

* Singer Katie McGrath's show last Saturday at Blue Strawberry was reviewed by KDHX's Chuck Lavazzi.

* Funeral arrangements for the late pianist, singer and saxophonist Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum have been announced. A wake and memorial jam session is scheduled from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. today at Archway Memorial Chapel, 111 Taylor Road in Hazelwood. A funeral Mass will take place at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow, Saturday, January 4, at St. Elizabeth Mother of John church, 4330 Shreve Ave in St. Louis, with a repast immediately following. Burial will be at 10:00 a.m. Monday, January 6 at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

Whalum's obituary as published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch can be seen here, and his passing also was noted in a story by the St. Louis American's Kenya Vaughn.

* Radio host, author and photographer Dennis Owsley bade farewell to listeners of his "Jazz Unlimited" radio show with a message on Facebook (also published in abbreviated form on the St. Louis Public Radio website). In that message, he revealed that the program's Sunday night time slot will be filled, at least for the time being, by music from the nationally syndicated "Jazzworks" service (also heard on one of StLPR's digital sub-channels).

Sunday Session: September 15, 2019

Mary Lou Williams

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest:

* The thrilling evolution of British jazz has reached a whole new audience (BigIssue.com)
* Chris Potter: What Influences the Influencer? (AllAboutJazz.com)
 * What do music/tech startups REALLY think about working with major labels? (Medium.com)
* Why is Chicago jazz so successful in Europe? (Chicago Reader)
* Tony Bennett, at 93: ‘I just want to keep learning and expressing the truth’ (San Diego Union Tribune)
* Apple Wanted to Revolutionize the Way Streaming Pays. Here’s Why It Wasn’t Allowed (Rolling Stone)
* Abdullah Ibrahim: A Focus on Spirituality (DownBeat)
* The Beatles, Stones, and… Olivia Newton-John?: These are the 50 most valuable records in the world (NME.com)
* Not All 'Lost' Jazz Albums Are Created Equal (NPR)
* Inside Hemen & Co: the tiny Kolkata sitar shop that supplied the Beatles (The Guardian)
* How Mary Lou Williams Shaped The Sound Of The Big-Band Era (NPR)
* How composer Terence Blanchard wove history into the score for “Harriet” (Fast Company)
* The Bad Plus announce new album; tour dates (GratefulWeb.com)
* 'This tape rewrites everything we knew about the Beatles' (The Guardian)
* What Happens When DJs Don’t “Own” Their Record Collections Anymore? (5Mag.net)
* Gearhead: How Gene Krupa Kicked the Drum Kit into the Jazz Age (Jazz Times)
* ‘Nobody Is Scrutinizing This’: How Labels Pay to Get Songs on the Radio (Rolling Stone)
* Two Chicago institutions bridge jazz and blues (Chicago Reader)
* When the Pianos Went to War (AtlasObscura.com)
* Chops: Streaming Jazz on the Installment Plan (Jazz Times)
* George Benson: “I’ve always been an experimenter. When I was young, I thought I was going to be a scientist” (MusicRadar.com)
* The best classical music works of the 21st century (The Guardian)
* Free jazz research and guerrilla scholarship: an interview with John Gray (The Wire)
* A Blue Note Founder’s View of Jazz Music’s Private Side (The New Yorker)
* Average Music Listening Time Is Down. How Much Does That Matter? (Billboard)
* With New Ensemble Members, SFJAZZ Collective Builds a Bigger Tent (DownBeat)
* New World Prophecy (The American Scholar)
* Soul On Soul: Allison Miller And Derrick Hodge On Honoring Mary Lou Williams (NPR)

Jazz this week: The Bad Plus, Ryan Hoffman Trio, Jim Manley's birthday bash, and more

The first part of January isn't a particularly active time for touring artists, so this week's calendar of jazz and creative music in St. Louis features just a couple of visiting acts - one quite well-known, the other seemingly new to these parts - plus the usual assortment of performances from our hometown players and singers. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, January 2
In what has become an annual tradition over the past decade-plus, The Bad Plus (pictured, top left) will be the first touring band of the the new year to play at Jazz St. Louis, with five nights of performances continuing through Sunday night.

It's been a year since pianist Orrin Evans officially joined the group, replacing founding member Ethan Iverson - in fact, Evans' first-ever gig with TBP was here in St. Louis. Since then, the consensus of critics and fans seems to be that, while their sound is unquestionably different, it's still The Bad Plus, which, in the words of Rolling Stone's Hank Shteamer, "has always been about putting distinctive, memorable songs first and letting them guide the band’s exploratory, idiosyncratic improvisations."

Also on Wednesday, the first "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" of the year features saxophonist Austin Cebulski and friends at The Stage at KDHX, plus 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, January 3
Saxophonist Vince Sala leads a trio at The Pat Connolly Tavern, and trumpeter Brady Lewis and band will perform at The Dark Room.

Friday, January 4
Seattle-based guitarist Ryan Hoffman (pictured, bottom left) will play vintage swing, Gypsy jazz and more with his trio at Evangeline's; Mike Dillon Band plays at Pop's Blue Moon; bassist Darrell Mixon leads a trio at Cigar Inn, and pianist/singer Jesse Gannon returns to The Dark Room.

Saturday, January 5
Trumpeter Jim Manley and his band will celebrate Manley's birthday with a performance at Evangeline's.

Sunday, January 6
The St. Louis Record Show will present their first event of the new year in the usual location, the American Czech Center.

Also on Sunday, you can take in jazz brunch with singer Anita Jackson at The Dark Room or Miss Jubilee at Evangeline's; hear a matinee by the Genesis Jazz Project at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups; or catch an early-evening performance by the Jazz Troubadours at Evangeline's.

Monday, January 7
Drummer Keith Bowman and his quartet resume their Monday night residency at The Dark Room.

Tuesday, January 8
Meanwhile, keyboardist Owen Ragland and his band have inherited the Tuesday night spot at The Dark Room, held for most of last year by multi-instrumentalist and singer Tonina Saputo.

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 1/3/19 to add info on Mike Dillon Band. 

Sunday Session: May 13, 2018

Professor Longhair

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:

* How Avant-Garde Legend Cecil Taylor Inspired Idris Ackamoor’s Psychedelic Jazz (Bandcamp.com)
* Q&A: Former Times critic Robert Hilburn on writing about Paul Simon and the struggle to protect artistry (Los Angeles Times)
* The art of writing the perfect lullaby (QZ.com)
* 1920s to Now: Comparing Tonal Balance in Popular Music (Izotope.com)
* Healdsburg Fest ‘Spiritually’ Important for California  (DownBeat)
* Benny Golson, Matt Wilson, Maria Schneider Are Among the Winners of the JJA Awards (WBGO)
* 'It is a significant moment in the history of the music industry': Air Studios up for sale (Music Week)
* Jazz Giants Take The Stage At The NEA Jazz Masters Listening Party (NPR)
* Pipa Virtuoso Wu Man Brings Ancient Chinese Music To The Present (NPR)
* Johnny Cash's 'At Folsom Prison' at 50: An Oral History (Rolling Stone)
* Why Spotify Will Never Make Money (Fortune)
* TIDAL accused of deliberately faking Kanye West and Beyoncé streaming numbers (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Jazz Conversations — Azar Lawrence (WGBH)
* Do the major labels know something about Spotify that Wall Street doesn’t? (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Outsiders Festival a Showcase for Tacuma (DownBeat)
* Blue Note Documentary Screens at Tribeca Film Fest (DownBeat)
* Digital Jukeboxes Are Eroding the Dive-Bar Experience (The Atlantic)
* The Bad Plus: The Band That Never Stops (NPR)
* Bright Moments with Bassist Ron Carter (Jazz Times)
* Kinetic Improvisation - The guitarist Mary Halvorson’s music is exhilarating, unapologetically smart, and unspoiled by phoniness or pretense (The Nation)
* The Still-Burning Piano Genius of Professor Longhair (The New Yorker)
* Whole lotta debt: can Gibson guitars strike a chord again? (The Guardian)
* In Buffalo, hip-hop and jazz have formed a beautiful union (Buffalo News)
* Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival Builds on the City’s History (DownBeat)
* [Photo Essay] Jazz Fest 2018: Late Night Ventures (Offbeat)
* Marcus Miller Hosts ASCAP Panel at ‘I Create Music’ Expo (DownBeat)
* iHeartMedia Still Owes Artists $16.4 Million. Now, It Wants to Pay Itself $108 Million in Bonuses (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* R+R=NOW to Release Debut Album in June - All-star sextet led by Robert Glasper blends multiple genres on "Collagically Speaking" (Jazz Times)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Pianist and St. Louis native Stephanie Trick and her husband/piano duo partner Paolo Alderighi (pictured) are headed across the Atlantic for some gigs in the UK.

* Singer Denise Thimes was interviewed about her performances next week at Dizzy's Club in NYC by the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson.

* Bassist and singer Tonina Saputo was profiled by the Columbia Daily Tribune's Aarik Danielsen in advance of her show at the True/False festival in CoMo.

* Singer Valerie "Miss Jubilee" Kirchhoff and pianist Ethan Leinwand were featured in a recent post on the blog Jazz Lives.

* Singer Alicia Olatuja has posted to Facebook some photos from her gig last month at Jazz at the Bistro.

* Pianist Peter Martin's Open Studio Network has released a new episode of Martin's podcast "The Process" featuring an interview with The Bad Plus.

* Pianist Adam Maness' weekly Thursday night gig at Thurman's in Shaw is the subject of a short feature story by the Riverfront Times' Christian Schaeffer.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* A public memorial gathering for the late pianist Nathan Jatcko will be held from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. tomorrow (Saturday, January 27) at Birger Hall on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

* The decaying building that once housed Club Imperial (pictured), home to historic performances by Chuck Berry, Ike and Tina Turner, and other important St. Louis musicians, is in the news after being purchased at a tax sale by a new owner seeking to facilitate redevelopment of the site.

Those plans were put on hold this week as the St. Louis Preservation Board upheld a decision to deny a demolition permit for the building - for now, anyway. Stay tuned for further news...

* UDiscoverMusic.com's just-published list of "The 50 Best Jazz Trumpeters Of All Time" has some St. Louis flavor, with Miles Davis ranked at #3 (behind Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie) and Clark Terry at #28 (just behind King Oliver and ahead of Cat Anderson). Let the clickbait-article-driven arguments begin!

* And speaking of Miles Davis, an article in the new issue of Jazz Times has more details on the forthcoming CD box set Miles Davis & John Coltrane’s The Final Tour: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 6.

* The Baylor Project, led by drummer and St. Louis native Marcus Baylor and his wife, singer Jean Baylor, performed Wednesday at the studios of WBGO in NYC, and the radio station has posted to YouTube videos of two songs from the session, "Tell Me A Bedtime Story" and "Afro Blue."

The Baylors, who are nominated for two Grammy Awards this year, also were profiled this week in the Asbury Park Press, and appeared on the CBS3 local newscast in Philadelphia. The 60th annual Grammy Awards ceremony will be broadcast starting at 6:30 p.m. Central time this Sunday, January 28 on CBS.

* "The Kennedy Dream," saxophonist, composer and St. Louis native Oliver Nelson's suite commemorating the life and words of President John F. Kennedy, will be the centerpiece of a performance next month paying tribute to Nelson on the closing night of the 48th annual Rowan Jazz Festival in New Jersey.

* The Sheldon has posted to Facebook an album of photos from last week's concert by Storm Large. Large's performance at The Sheldon also was reviewed by KDHX's Chuck Lavazzi.

* While The Bad Plus were in town last week to play at Jazz at the Bistro, Jazz St. Louis had them sit down for a video interview moderated by pianist Peter Martin.

* Gene Dobbs Bradford of Jazz St. Louis this week received a St. Louis Arts Award from the Arts and Education Council of Greater St. Louis, accompanied by a brief video about Bradford that's now posted to the A&E Council's Facebook page.

* At last fall's Festival Of New Trumpet Music in NYC, St. Louis' own Keyon Harrold was part of a panel discussion with fellow trumpeter Charles Tolliver and others, and that talk now can be heard online as an episode of Greenleaf Records' podcast "A Noise From The Deep."

* Pianist and St. Louis native Lawrence Fields appears in a new music video from the group Sound Prints, co-led by saxophonist Joe Lovano and trumpeter Dave Douglas. Fields gets a nice solo spot on "The Corner Tavern," a tune from the band's upcoming album Scandal, which will be released on Friday, April 6.

* "Jazz: A Language of Faith and Model for Ministry," a two-day conference exploring "the many possibilities of jazz as a contemporary faith language and creative vehicle for the Church’s ministry," will take place on Friday, March 2 and Saturday, March 3 at Eden Theological Seminary in Webster Groves.

The event will include presentations, talks, workshops, and a jazz concert featuring the Oikos Ensemble, led by Rev. Cliff Aerie and featuring guest saxophonist Rev. Ozzie Smith, pastor of Covenant UCC in South Holland, IL.

* The woodwind retailer, repair shop, and museum Saxquest is featured in an article in Webster University's campus paper, the Webster Journal.

* Also at Webster U. the student chapter of the Audio Engineering Society will be sponsoring the Central Region Audio Student Summit February 23-25 on the Webster campus. The event is open to students, teachers and "anyone interested in the subject of audio," and will include educational panels, a student mix competition, and more.

* Saxophonist "Raven Wolf" aka C. Felton Jennings II is the subject of a column this week by the West End Word's Dwight Bitikofer.

* Metro Theater Company's upcoming production of Bud, Not Buddy, a "concert play" for children that includes a musical score by trumpeter Terence Blanchard, is previewed briefly on BroadwayWorld.com.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Can't make it to Jazz at the Bistro this week to hear the new lineup of The Bad Plus? You can see a free online video stream of tonight's first set starting at 7:30 p.m. via Jazz St. Louis' Facebook page.

* Saxophonist David Sanborn (pictured) was interviewed last week on NYC public radio station WBGO.

* Metro Theater Company, the long-running local troupe specializing in theater for children, will take over the Grandel Theater for most of February with two jazz-related events.

They'll present a benefit concert with music from Peter Martin, Brian Owens, and Terence Blanchard on Friday, February 3 at the Grandel, followed by a three-week run of Bud, Not Buddy, a "concert play" that is based on a Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award-winning children's novel and will feature a live, 13-piece jazz band on stage.

* The film Django was reviewed for KDHX.org by film critic Diane Carson. In French with English subtitles, the movie dramatizes the life of jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt during World War II, and will play tonight through Sunday, January 21 at 7:30 p.m. each evening at Webster University's Winifred Moore auditorium.

* The death of pianist Nathan Jatcko was covered in stories written by Daniel Hill of the Riverfront Times and Nassim Benchaabane of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

* Drummer and St. Louis native Kimberly Thompson has posted to her YouTube channel a video of a full set by the Mike Stern Band recorded live at Jazz at the Bistro during their appearance there in February, 2017. Along with Thompson on drums and Stern on guitar, the band included tenor saxophonist Bob Franceschini and bassist Teymur Phell.

Jazz this week: The Bad Plus v 2.0, Storm Large, "Winter Jazz Fest," and more

It's a big week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with one performance that's literally drawing international attention, the debut of a new festival, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...


Wednesday, January 17
The gig making headlines all over the globe is the live debut of the revised lineup of The Bad Plus, who will be doing their first-ever performances with new pianist Orrin Evans starting Wednesday night and continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro.

Evans, who replaces founding member Ethan Iverson, already has recorded an album with the group, which is being released this week and was spotlighted last week by NPR's "First Listen" feature. (NPR also will be recording The Bad Plus during their stay in St. Louis for a future episode of the network's "Jazz Night In America" program.)

While that live stream of the new album may have expired by the time you read this, those who are curious about The Bad Plus v 2.0 (pictured, top left) but can't make it to the Bistro this week can watch a live online stream of Friday night's first set for free, starting at 7:30 p.m. on Jazz St. Louis' Facebook page.

Also on Wednesday, singer Storm Large returns, this time with her band Le Bonheur, for a performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall. While her several previous appearances here in recent years have been in a cabaret setting and with the dance orchestra Pink Martini, this show will offer Large a chance to show off more of her rock-oriented material with a full band.

Thursday, January 18
Guitarist Todd Mosby's New Horizons Ensemble performs at Sky Music Lounge; The People’s Key will play at the Chase Club; and saxophonist Ben Reece‘s Unity Quartet returns to The Dark Room.

Friday, January 19
Saxophonist Kendrick Smith begins a new weekly residency, leading a trio every Friday starting this week at Thurman's in Shaw; and the Ambassadors of Swing play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday,
January 20
The first-ever "Winter Jazz Fest," headlined by jazz/fusion band Yellowjackets, will take place at the Grandel Theatre.

Unlike the long-established, week-long, multi-venue New York City event with which it shares a name, this fest is a single-night, single-location concert, with an emphasis on electric contemporary jazz.

In addition to Yellowjackets (pictured, bottom left), the show also will feature saxophonist Eric Marienthal, Bach to The Future, Tracer (aka pianist Ptah Williams' trio in fusion mode), pianist Royce Martin, and the adjacent Dark Room's regular Saturday night performer, keyboardist Mo Egeston.

If you're thinking about going but don't yet have tickets, Metrotix is offering a "buy one ticket, get the second at half-price" discount to online buyers. To access the offer, go to this page and enter the promo code WINTERJAZZ.

Also on Saturday, saxophonist Dave Stone's begins a new weekly gig at Thurman's in Shaw; Miss Jubilee returns to the Casa Loma Ballroom; and the Funky Butt Brass Band will do their monthly performance at the Broadway Oyster Bar.

Sunday, January 21
The Dave Dickey Big Band performs in the first of a projected series of gigs this year at the Grandel Theatre, with the Lindbergh HS Jazz Ensemble as opener and intermission act.

Monday, January 22
Dizzy Atmosphere plays swing and Gypsy jazz for diners at The Shaved Duck, and singer and impressionist Dean Christopher will present his "Rat Pack and More" show at One 19 North Tapas & Wine Bar.

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.)

Sunday Session: January 14, 2018

The Bad Plus

Here's the 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:

* Jazz, but not as you know it (Vice.com)
* Record Bin: How Herbie Hancock subverted jazz traditions and asserted his funk dominance on “Head Hunters” (Nooga.com)
* And Look—She’s a Star! (The Nation)
* Music fans bought a lot of cassettes last year (NME.com)
* Why I Still Buy Music in the Age of Spotify (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Wes Gets Royal Treatment (DownBeat)
* 'Dock Of The Bay' At 50: Why Otis Redding's Biggest Hit Almost Went Unheard (NPR)
* The musical secrets of FAME Studios legend Rick Hall (Birmingham News)
* A Cabaret Star’s Comeback (Wall Street Journal)
* Ice Music: Building Instruments Out Of Water (NPR)
* White Noise Story Generates White Noise on Copyright (IllusionOfMore.com)
* Just How Similar Are Radiohead's 'Creep' and Lana Del Rey's 'Get Free'? (Esquire)
* Inside the Amish town that builds U2, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift's live shows (Wired)
* Funk Carves Out A Groove At The Funk Music Hall Of Fame In Ohio (NPR)
* Mitchell Takes Homage to Winter Jazzfest (DownBeat)
* Why this awful-sounding album is a masterpiece (Vox.com)
* Surprise! The ‘Music Modernization Act’ Prohibits Litigation Against Streaming Services (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* First Listen: The Bad Plus, 'Never Stop II' (NPR)
* Why music venue closures 'make all of our lives poorer' (BBC)
* Lester Bangs Play 'How to Be a Rock Critic' Captures Writer's Wild Spirit (Rolling Stone)
* At Peabody jazz: discrimination allegations, a forced ouster — and new hope (Baltimore Sun)
* ********, ∆, †‡† ... the most unpronounceable band names ever (The Guardian)
* Spotify Is in the Business of Selling You Spotify, Not Music (TrackRecord.net)
* Q&A: Chick Corea on his regrets, Grammys, future plans and more (Creative Loafing - Tampa)
* Portrait Of: Eddie Palmieri (LatinoUSA.org)
* Roy Hargrove’s rousing Showcase residency (DownBeat)
* The “True” Story Of How Brian Eno Invented Ambient Music (OpenCulture.com)
* Chartmania!! I Broke Down Every Song That Reached the Billboard Top 5 in 2017 (Soundfly.com)
* Life’s Work: An Interview with John Adams (Harvard Business Review)
* Dr. Demento, comedic song hero and unsung punk rock legend, gets his due on new album (Los Angeles Times)
* Preservation Hall’s Musical Mission (Garden and Gun)

Sunday Session: January 7, 2018

Ron Carter

Here's the roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's inboxes over the past week:

* A 2017 JT Reader - Selected highlights from the year in JazzTimes (Jazz Times)
* Legendary Jazz Bassist Ron Carter Talks About Music, Recording, and Hi-Fi (Stereophile)
* Long Players: writers on their most cherished albums (NewStatesman.com)
* Wayne Shorter: Artist In Residence At The Detroit Jazz Festival (NPR)
* Lifetime Achievement in Music: The Poet Laureate of Mardi Gras Indians, Monk Boudreaux (Offbeat)
* Iverson Plays Final Show with Bad Plus (DownBeat)
* How a Hit Happens Now (Vulture.com)
* The 'Despacito' effect: The year Latino music broke the charts (NBC)
* Player Pianos and the Commodification of Music (JStor.org)
* Spotify Hit With $1.6 Billion Copyright Lawsuit Over Tom Petty, Weezer, Neil Young Songs (Hollywood Reporter)
* Rick Hall, Producer And Songwriter Who Put Muscle Shoals On The Map, Dead At 85 (NPR)
* Jazz improvisers score high on creativity (Science News)
* In 2018, I want to find new music without using algorithms (TheVerge.com)
* The rebirth of St. John Coltrane church in the Western Addition (TheWesternEdition.com)
* The lost art of music snobbery (The Globe and Mail)
* Matt Wilson – The Ambassador of Unvention (Modern Drummer)
* New Documentary Examines Milford Graves’ Music and Philosophy (DownBeat)
* The Healing Power of Jazz (The New Yorker)
* Producers say record labels are calling projects “mixtapes” to avoid paying them fairly (TheFader.com)
* Fred Hersch: Life, Music, and the Creative Process (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Recording Studios are not Dying (Pro Sound News)
* Pop tunes are welcome in the movies, directors say, as long as it's in service of the plot (Los Angeles Times)
* How Women Shaped The Legacy Of Nashville’s Oldest And Most Celebrated Venue, The Ryman Auditorium (Uproxx.com)
* theartsdesk Q&A: Vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant (TheArtsDesk.com)
* Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, and the Road to West Side Story (Vanity Fair)
* The Alabama Recording Studios Where Music Was Never Segregated (ZocaloPublicSquare.org)
* US Label Cuneiform stops all new releases for 2018 (London Jazz News)
* YouTube’s Unlikely Peacemaker Has a Plan to Make Musicians Rich (Bloomberg.com)

Sunday Session: December 31, 2017

Donny Hathaway

Here's the roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's inboxes over the past week:

* Jazz trumpeter Irvin Mayfield keeps on making music, despite federal indictment (New Orleans Advocate)
* Is Music Getting Shorter? How Hot 100 Hits Downsized In 2017 (Billboard)
* Holiday travel woes? Try flying with a tuba (Cincinnati Enquirer)
* 'This Christmas': How a Chicago postal worker and Donny Hathaway created a holiday classic (Chicago Tribune)
* The Bad Plus Interviews 2017: Introduction (Bebopified.com)
* Interview: Jamie Saft (Burning Ambulance)
* This Is The Odd Writing Technique Used by David Bowie, Kurt Cobain, and Bob Dylan (Curiosity.com)
* Streaming Services and the End of Music Collection (Variety)
* Brian Eno Presents a Crash Course on How the Recording Studio Radically Changed Music: Hear His Influential Lecture “The Recording Studio as a Compositional Tool” (1979) (OpenCulture.com)
* Hackers Can Rickroll Thousands of Sonos and Bose Speakers Over the Internet (Wired)
* Paul McCartney's One on One Tour Earns $132 Million in 2017 (Billboard)
* Jazz Master Eddie Palmieri Doesn't Miss A Beat at 81 (NPR)
* Sidran, Willis Deliver Intense Sets in Paris (DownBeat)
* In A New Book, A Musician And A Scientist Describe Their Lives At the South Pole (KUT)
* Five visions for the future of music (BBC)
* Deluxe Reissue of Sonny Rollins’ “Way Out West” Out Feb. 16 (Jazz Times)
* 'The Coolest Job In The World': Fenway's Organist Talks Music And Baseball (WBUR)
* Tropicalia Music Still Speaks To Young Marginalized Urban Brazilians (NPR)
* Not dead yet: Record executives fight for compact disc's future (CBC)
* The explosive influence of Chicago’s AACM and the records it created (TheVinylFactory.com)
* A bluesy winter night in New York with Slim Harpo (Salon.com)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Winter/spring 2018 jazz preview, part 2

This week, it's part two of StLJN's winter/spring 2018 jazz preview, featuring videos of the jazz and creative music performers who will be visiting St. Louis in the first few months of the new year. (You can see part one here.)

Picking up in mid-January where last week's installment ended, the first video up above features singer Storm Large, who will be returning to perform on Wednesday, January 17 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Large has presented her cabaret show here a couple of times before, but this concert will feature her band Le Bonheur, who back her up in this 2014 performance of "I've Got You Under My Skin."

That same week, The Bad Plus will return to St. Louis to present their first-ever live shows featuring their new pianist Orrin Evans, starting Wednesday, January 17 and continuing through Saturday, January 20 at Jazz at the Bistro.

With founding pianist Ethan Iverson' departure from the trio being a long-planned event, Evans already has recorded an album, Never Stop 2, with TBP, but will be making his live-performance debut with group during their St. Louis run.

Given those circumstances, there's really no way to "preview" their shows here, but after the jump, you can see a performance by the original TBP lineup from this year's Moers Festival in Germany, followed by a clip of Evans, rethinking the standard "Autumn Leaves" with bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Obed Calvaire, in 2012 at NYC's Jazz Standard.

The same night TBP concludes their run, Grand Center also will be the site of a "Winter Jazz Fest" at the Grandel Theatre, featuring a headlining performance by Yellowjackets, plus saxophonist Eric Marienthal performing with St. Louis' own Bach to the Future, and more.

The next clip, shot by the prolific St. Louis videographer James Ross, shows Yellowjackets performing "Civil War" during their last visit here in September of this year at Jazz at the Bistro.

After that, there's a video of Marienthal playing Eddie Harris' "Cold Duck Time" at Vandojam 2017, an event presented by the reed and mouthpiece manufacturer Vandoren at the 2017 NAMM show in Los Angeles.

Next up is saxophonist Maceo Parker, who's playing Wednesday, January 24 through Saturday, January 27 at the Bistro, making his long-awaited debut at that venue. Parker can be seen in today's sixth clip performing "Pass the Peas" in August 2017 at the Music Box in San Diego, CA.

While Parker is funking up the Bistro on Saturday night, a couple of blocks away the Kranzberg Arts Center will present "Come Together - Barb Jungr & John McDaniel Perform The Beatles" on Saturday, January 27.

This is the St. Louis debut of a show that Jungr, a British-born cabaret singer, and McDaniel, the pianist, singer and Kirkwood native who gained national celebrity as musical director for Rosie O'Donnell's talk show, have been doing for a couple of years now. In the penultimate video, a promotional clip featuring excerpts from several songs, you can get an idea as to how they go about reinterpreting the Fab Four's catalog.

Last but not least, today's final video features pianist Cyrus Chestnut, who will be back with his trio to perform starting Wednesday, January 31 through Saturday, February 3 at the Bistro.

Chestnut, a familiar visitor to St. Louis who last played here in May, 2016 at The Sheldon, can be seen in fine form with bassist Michael Hawkins and drummer Neal Smith, playing a whole set recorded in August 2017 at the Montclair Jazz Festival in New Jersey.

Look for part three of StLJN's winter/spring 2018 jazz preview next week in this space. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Sunday Session: December 17, 2017

Pharoah Sanders

Here's the roundup of various music-related items of interest that have appeared in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Hearing Otis Redding’s 'Try a Little Tenderness' as a Song of Resistance (The Atlantic)
* Review: Chasing Trane (Jazz Journal)
* My Name Is Dave, I Collect Vinyl Records, and I Have a Problem (The Stranger)
* The Loneliness of the Long Distance Rocker (The Baffler)
* The Cosmos Is Still Catching Up to Pharaoh Sanders' Earliest Records (Vice.com)
* Matt Wilson Talks About Making Spirits Bright, On the Eve of a Tour with His Christmas Tree-O (WBGO)
* Frankie Newton: The Forgotten Trumpeter (Jazz History Online)
* NRBQ, Steve Ferguson, and the pursuit of the impossible guitar lick (Oxford American)
* Stream 74 Sun Ra Albums Free Online: Decades of “Space Jazz” and Other Forms of Intergalactic, Afrofuturistic Musical Creativity (OpenCulture.com)
* How to Fix the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Variety)
* MAJOR CHORDS | Can We Really Take Pleasure From Music Born From Suffering? (Ludwig-Van.com
* Stanley Clarke Is the Reason You Love Music (Vice.com)
* Mingus & Joni Mitchell: The Black Saint & the Singer Lady (Jazz Times)
* Irvin Mayfield indicted by federal grand jury on fraud, money laundering charges (NOLA.com)
* The FCC Just Shrunk the Music Industry (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Ben Allison and Think Free Bring 'Layers of the City' into Our Studio, on The Checkout (WBGO)
* Junk Shop Classical On Joyce Hatto: Music Stories Told £1 LP By £1 LP (TheQuietus.com)
* Marc Ribot: “It's good to understand not only how to play guitar, but also why to play guitar” (MusicRadar.com)
* Ikue Mori: Sustenance and Renewal in Downtown Music (NationalSawdust.org)
* Minneapolis jazz band the Bad Plus prepares for final shows with original lineup (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
* Institutions raced to dump James Levine. They should look hard at themselves (Washington Post)
* The neuroscience of jazz (PRI.org)

Sunday Session: April 16, 2017

Ella Fitzgerald

Here are some interesting music-related items that have landed in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* The Bad Plus Has Big News: Some Subtraction, Some Addition, For a Whole New Sum (WBGO)
* 14 Artists Proving Black Americana Is Real (Paste)
* A History of Puerto Rican Salsa (Afropop.org)
* The Paradigm Shifts of Album Artwork (NYUNews.com)
* A Gathering of Orchestras in D.C. (The New Yorker)
* Why Music Services Are Wasting Time Recommending New Music (Forbes)
* Brent Assink Maneuvered the S.F Symphony Through the Early 21st Century. Here is What He Learned (San Francisco Classical Voice)
* Chuck Berry Laid to Rest at All-Star St. Louis Memorial (Rolling Stone)
* Marshall Chess on Chuck Berry's Funeral: The Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton Should Have Been There (Billboard)
* How Bang On A Can Rejuvenated New York’s Improvisational Spirit (Bandcamp.com)
* John Coltrane Draws a Picture Illustrating the Mathematics of Music (OpenCulture.com)
* Three Jazz Artists Harmoniously and Creatively Blending Arabic and Western Music (Soundfly.com)
* Guitarist J. Geils found dead in Groton home (Boston Globe)
* Skilled But Shy Musician Jay Geils Remembered As Setting The Bar For Rock 'N' Roll (WBUR)
* Sax linked to Martin Luther King Jr.'s last words hidden in Memphis closet (Memphis Commercial Appeal)
* Five Things You Probably Didn't Know About Les Paul (MusicAficionado.com)
* Frank Kimbrough: A Dark, Rainy Sunday in May (Jazz Times)
* Reassessing Ella: 'The First Lady of Song' at 100 (Chicago Tribune)
* America’s “Secret Sonic Weapon” Against Communism (MessyNessyChic.com)
* I couldn’t tell that this was a robot singing Duke Ellington’s signature song (QZ.com)
* The Big Man with the Big Sound–Remembering Arthur Blythe (1940-2017) (New Music Box)
* Barry ‘Frosty’ Smith, renowned Austin drummer, dies after long illness (Austin360.com)
* Hear Jazz Supergroup Hudson Cover Bob Dylan's 'A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall' (Rolling Stone)
* Q&A: Shabaka Hutchings - The rising sax star on Pharoah Sanders, jazz’s African roots, the London scene and more (Jazz Times)
* Art Talk with Guitarist Mary Halvorson (arts.gov)

Jazz this week: The Bad Plus and more

While the first part of January is famously a slow time for the music business in general, and the touring industry in particular, there still are jazz and creative music performances happening this week in St. Louis that should be worth braving the winter chill.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, January 4
The Bad Plus opens a four-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro, marking the tenth consecutive year that pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson, and drummer Dave King have been the first touring band of the new year to play the Grand Center venue.

After making a return visit to the Bistro last April with saxophonist Joshua Redman, the trio released their most recent album It’s Hard, which came out in August and features a return to the sort of unexpected cover songs, from Prince and Kraftwerk to Johnny Cash and Ornette Coleman, that helped make their early albums distinctive.

In addition to his work with The Bad Plus, Iverson has been involved in some outside projects this year, including a solo album called The Purity of the Turf, a trio effort with bassist Ron Carter and drummer Nasheet Waits that was released in September. Iverson talked about that and The Bad Plus' latest with the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson for a preview story, which you can read online here.

Thursday, January 5
The Schlafly Tap Room will host a bill featuring the improv duo Marble//Wall, Vernacular String Trio, and singer/songwriter Toni Saputo, and pianist Ptah Williams and guitarist Eric Slaughter will play their weekly gig at The Dark Room.

Friday, January 6
Pianist Peter Martin will host "A Conversation With The Bad Plus," a free, public lunchtime event at Jazz at the Bistro featuring a discussion with the members of TBP about the band's history and music that also will be recorded for Martin's podcast "The Process."

Then on Friday evening, singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black return to the Sidecar Lounge at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel; trumpeter Jim Manley leads a trio at Evangeline's; and the quartet Danbury Street plays at The Abbey Espresso Bar and Cafe in Belleville.

Saturday, January 7
Trumpeter and vibraphonist Joe Bozzi brings his band to Evangeline's, and saxophonist/singer Cary Colman's trio plays at Howard's in Soulard.

Sunday, January 8
The First Unitarian Church of St. Louis in the Central West End will offer a special "Jazz Sunday" Service with music from guitarist Rick Haydon and pianist Greg Hoeltzel, and the St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show will present their first event of the year at the American Czech Center.

Also on Sunday, Miss Jubilee will provide music for the jazz brunch at Evangeline's, and trumpeter Keith Moyer returns to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups for a matinee show.

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.)

Updated 6:00 p.m. 1/4/16 with info about "A Conversation With The Bad Plus."