So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Wednesday night's performance in Chicago by Joe McPhee and Survival Unit III was the subject of a post by Howard Mandel for his blog Jazz Beyond Jazz. The group plays tonight in St. Louis at Joe's Cafe.

* Dan Warner, one of the organizers of the Old Webster Jazz and Blues Festival, was interviewed on Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis about the fest, which happens tomorrow. Featured performers will include the "St. Louis Jazz All-Stars" (pictured), with Montez Coleman (drums), Bob DeBoo (bass), Ptah Williams (keyboards), Freddie Washington (tenor and soprano sax), Danny Campbell (trumpet), and Joe Mancuso (vocals).

* New Music Circle has posted on Facebook an album of photos from last Friday's concert by Thumbscrew.

* There's lots of Miles Davis-related news this week, as both the New York Times and Jazz Times have stories about actor/director Don Cheadle and Miles Ahead, his film about Davis that wrapped principal photography last month in Cincinnati.

* Meanwhile, the website MNSWR.com has an article about Davis as an icon of men's clothing styles; and Medium.com has a piece about a journalist's early-career encounter with Miles. 

* And if all that weren't enough, a four-CD set featuring performances from a 1960 European tour by Davis' band with John Coltrane will be issued in December by Trapeze Music & Entertainment on its Acrobat label.

* Here's a report on last Saturday's memorial service for trumpeter Floyd LeFlore by Chris King of the St. Louis American.

* The St. Louis Rivermen are headed this weekend to McComb, IL, where they'll play at the 13th annual Al Sears Jazz Festival.

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold helped kick off the 2014 FONT (Festival of New Trumpet) Music Festival with a set last night at the NYC club Smoke. Harrold's band included fellow St. Louisans Shedrick Mitchell on keyboards and Marcus Baylor on drums, plus saxophonist Marcus Strickland on saxophone.

* Jazz radio update: On this Saturday's episode of Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis' “Somethin’ Else,” host Calvin Wilson will play the compositions of songwriter Arthur Schwartz ("Dancing In The Dark," "Alone Together") as interpreted by jazz musicians including Gary Bartz, Robert Glasper, and Patricia Barber.

Then on "The Jazz Collective," host Jason Church will pay tribute to the late Joe Sample with solo recordings, tracks from the Jazz Crusaders and duets with Randy Crawford, and also will spin tracks from Gregg Karukas, Cindy Bradley, Ryan Montano, Steve Cole, Ragan Whiteside, Erin Bode, Jesse Gannon, Tommy Halloran's Guerrilla Swing, and Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum.

Wilson's program can be heard at 8:00 p.m., followed by Church at 9:00 p.m., on 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.

Jazz this week: Thumbscrew, U City Jazz Festival, Funeral Bonsai Wedding, and more

There's lots going on this week with jazz and creative music in St. Louis, as two concert series offer their first shows of the season; a free fall festival returns; and other stages around town will be filled with even more improvised music influenced by everything from funk to flamenco. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University begins the fall semester with a free concert reuniting the jazz-fusion trio Tracer, with pianist Ptah Williams, bassist Darrell Mixon and drummer Gary Sykes.

Also tonight, Good 4 The Soul will play their monthly show at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups; and trumpeter Jim Manley will be doing his weekly gig at Joyia Tapas.

On Friday, it's the start of another season for New Music Circle, as guitarist Mary Halvorson, bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Tomas Fujiwara, aka Thumbscrew (pictured), will perform at the house-concert venue Joe’s Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave.

Also on Friday, the St. Louis Big Band plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; saxophonist Tim Cunningham returns to Troy's Jazz Gallery; singer Joe Mancuso enlists the support of not just one, but two guitarists, as he joins forces with Dave Black and Steve Schenkel for an evening of Beatles covers at the Tavern of Fine Arts; saxophonist Jim Stevens plays a free outdoor show at Ferguson Citywalk; and singer Tony Viviano returns to Talayna's in Chesterfield.

On Saturday, the U City Jazz Festival will take place in Heman Park, located at Olive & Midland in University City. This year's free outdoor concert is headlined by funk/fusion band Pieces of A Dream, with supporting acts including Bach to the Future, pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True, the Tony Viviano Big Band, trumpeter Anthony Wiggins, and the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars student ensemble.  

Also on Saturday, Funeral Bonsai Wedding will be in town from Chicago to promote their debut release with a performance at The Stage at KDHX. The newly formed group features singer-guitarist Steve Dawson, best known as the front man for the roots-rock band Dolly Varden, backed by vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, drummer Frank Rosaly and bassist Jason Roebke, who all work regularly in Chicago's jazz and improvised music scene.  

Elsewhere around town that evening, percussionist Herman Semidey and his Orquesta Son Montuno will continue the new jazz series at the Ozark Theatre; and singers Mary Dyson and Diane Vaughn will perform at Troy's Jazz Gallery.

On Sunday, there are a couple more free outdoor shows in the offing, as Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will play swing, hot jazz and vintage blues at Benton Park, while the St. Charles Municipal Big Band will hold forth by the river in Frontier Park.

That evening, jazz meets flamenco in a performance by EviscerArt, featuring pianist Cristian de Moret, guitarist Eduardo Pachecho, and dancer Vanesa Aibar, at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Webster University jazz faculty will present their tribute to  "Great Jazz Records of 1964" at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus; and on Tuesday, guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran will play the music of Randy Newman in a "Notes From Home" concert at The Sheldon.

For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. You also can keep up with all the latest news by following St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes or clicking the "Like" icon on the StLJN Facebook page.

(If you have calendar items, band schedule information, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Fall 2014 jazz preview, part 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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