So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Jazz St. Louis is looking to hire a full-time Education Associate to help launch a new program for at-risk middle school students called Jazz Academy. For more information about the job and how to apply, go here.

* In advance of his gig tonight for The Sheldon's annual fundraising gala, guitarist and singer George Benson did a brief Q&A with St. Louis magazine's Erin Williams.

* Singer Joe Mancuso has organized an event to raise money for music scholarships in the name of the late saxophonist Willie Akins. Set up as a structured jam involving a couple of dozen St. Louis musicians, the "Willie Akins Jazz Festival" is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 28 at the Grandel Theatre, with an informal jam session at The Dark Room to follow. Mancuso also has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for the scholarship fund.

* The Bosman Twins (pictured) were interviewed last week on the WSIE (88.7 FM) program "Voices," and their chat with host Hank Thompson has been archived online as an MP3 file here.

* The STL Free Jazz Collective has posted on Facebook a photo album from their recent show at the 14th St Artists Community.

* The website Sound of STL has photo coverage of the recent gig by Thomas Fujiwara's The Hookup presented by New Music Circle at The Stage at KDHX.

* Speaking of KDHX, singer Ken Haller's latest reprise of his cabaret entertainment "The Medicine Show" was reviewed for the station by Chuck Lavazzi.

* In the latest chapter in the saga of the Goldenrod Showboat, St. Louis Public Radio reports that the remains of the venerable venue - once home to performances of ragtime and vintage jazz on the St. Louis riverfront - are sinking in the flooded Illinois River. The flooding threatens the plans of preservationists who hoped to salvage artifacts and materials from the boat for display in a museum.

* The British music magazine The Wire has published an excerpt from Message To Our Folks, bassist and Washington University faculty member Paul Steinbeck's new book about the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

* "The Music Seen - Beyond the Stage," an exhibit featuring music-related images from seven different photographers, will open with receptions from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Friday, June 9 and from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Saturday, June 10 at Bullivant Gallery, 3321 Washington Blvd in Grand Center. The exhibit, which features work from Michael Eastman, David Godlis, Jason Lee, Charles Peterson, David Rocco, Dr. Ernest Withers, and Baron Wolman, continues through Friday, July 14.

* Just in time for Mothers Day, the St. Louis American's Kenya Vaughn interviews Shirley Harrold, a St. Louis mom whose flock of 16 children includes two young jazz stars, trumpeter Keyon Harrold and drummer Emanuel Harrold.

Jazz this week: SFJAZZ Collective, Bill Frisell, Tomas Fujiwara's The Hook Up, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features three noteworthy touring acts with widely disparate styles, plus a couple of Sunday big band performances, some free jazz, some vintage swing, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, 
April 26
The SFJAZZ Collective opens a four-night engagement continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro.

The all-star ensemble's featured composer this year is Miles Davis, and they'll be performing a repertoire drawn from their latest album, which features eight new arrangements of music associated with the iconic trumpeter, plus new original music by each of the group's eight members.

You can see and hear the SFJAZZ Collective perform some of that material on video, and find out more about their Miles Davis project in this post from last Saturday.

Also on Wednesday night, singer Erin Bode will perform for the Chapel Concerts series at St. Vincent Home for Children in north county; the Grand Center Jazz Crawl offers live music at four different venues in the district, and the weekly jazz jam session at Nesby's in South County welcomes both players and listeners.

Thursday, April 27
Singer Brian Owens headlines "Evening of Hope," an event at the Sheldon Concert Hall benefiting the Hope Center at Washington University; and around the corner, pianist Ptah Williams, guitarist Eric Slaughter and company will be performing at The Dark Room.

Friday, April 28
Guitarist Bill Frisell (pictured, top left) will lead a trio with his frequent collaborators, bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Kenny Wollesen, in a performance at The Ready Room.

Recently the subject of a feature-length documentary about his life and music, the prolific Frisell last year released When You Wish Upon a Star, featuring interpretations of songs from Hollywood films and TV, and also did an album and a series of live dates with with saxophonist Charles Lloyd's latest group, The Marvels.

Frisell's next project, a series of duets with bassist Thomas Morgan called Small Town, is due out in May, but given his long history with Scherr and Wollesen, he could be pulling material from deep in his catalog for Friday's show, his first St. Louis performance since 2013.

Also on Friday, the STL Free Jazz Collective will present a free concert at the 14th Street Artist Community in the Old North neighborhood.

Saturday, April 29
Drummer Tomas Fujiwara’s The Hook Up (pictured, bottom left) will perform in a concert presented by New Music Circle at The Stage at KDHX.

Fujiwara and guitarist Mary Halvorson played a concert for NMC in 2014 as part of the trio Thumbscrew, and in some ways, The Hook Up seems a bit like a superset of that band, with Adam Hopkins in for Formanek on bass and the addition of saxophonist Brian Settles and trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson.

Starting in 2010, The Hook Up has released three recordings so far, the most recent being 2015's After All Is Said, which New York City Jazz Record described as “layered and cohesive, rhythmically diverse, with a lean but muscular sound that defines Fujiwara’s distinctive approach to melody and harmony,” and AllAboutJazz.com called “one of the most accessible, challenging and inventive recordings of recent vintage.”

Also on Saturday, trumpeter Randy Holmes' quintet will celebrate the birth of Duke Ellington with a free concert of his music at the Ozark Theatre; and Evangeline's has a day-night double-header of live jazz, with The Sidemen performing at brunch and Wack-A-Doo during the evening.

Sunday, April 30
The St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show will present their spring event at the American Czech Educational Center, and Folk School of KDHX will host their monthly traditional jazz jam session.

A little later in the day, the student performers of the North County Big Band will team up with the pros in the Gateway City Big Band for a joint concert at the The Sheldon. Meanwhile, out in St. Charles County, the Dave Dickey Big Band will play an early evening show at Brewskeez in O'Fallon, with the Pattonville High School Jazz Ensemble performing at intermission.

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.)

New Music Circle announces 2016-17 season schedule

New Music Circle has announced their 2016-17 season schedule.

The organization's 58th season will include nine events at a half-dozen venues around town, starting with a duo performance from pianists Craig Taborn and Kris Davis (pictured) on Saturday, October 1 at the 560 Music Center.

Taborn and Davis, who are doing a series of concert dates together in the fall, will perform on two grand pianos on the stage at the venue's E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall. The concert will be recorded for possible release on a CD documenting their joint tour.

In addition to Taborn and Davis, both of whom have performed in St. Louis under NMC's auspices in recent years, the lineup also will include return visits from musicians such as percussionist Hamid Drake, electronic musician Ikue Mori, and percussionist Tomas Fujiwara, whose group The Hookup includes his collaborators from the band Thumbscrew, guitarist Mary Halvorson and bassist Michael Formanek, plus saxophonist Brian Settles and trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson.

Performers making their St. Louis debuts will include Chicago-based cellist Tomeka Reid, who will play in a trio with two other buzzworthy Chicago musicians, flute player Nicole Mitchell and drummer Mike Reed; trumpeter Nate Wooley, who will work in a duo with Mori; and French flute player and composer Sylvaine Hélary, who will play with her Spring Roll Quartet.

The complete season schedule (pending confirmation of details for a couple of shows later in the season) is:

Saturday, October 1 at 560 Music Center: Craig Taborn and Kris Davis

Saturday, October 22 at The Stage at KDHX: Sylvaine Hélary's Spring Roll Quartet

Friday, November 11 at the Kranzberg Arts Center: Jen Shyu

Saturday, December 3 at Joe's Cafe: Tomeka Reid Trio

Saturday, January 21 at Joe's Cafe: Iva Bittová and Hamid Drake

Saturday, February 18 at The Luminary: Ikue Mori and Nate Wooley

Thursday, March 16 at The Stage at KDHX: Erik Friedlander's Black Phoebe Trio

Friday, April 28 or Saturday, April 29 at The Stage at KDHX: Tomas Fujiwara's The Hook Up

May 2017, date and location TBA: New Music Circle Showcase

Most of the performers also will do some sort of free public workshop, master class or other event during their visits to St. Louis, with details on those TBA.

Tickets for NMC shows are $20 for regular admission, $10 for "students or struggling music supporters," and can be purchased in advance online or at the door. In the past, they've also offered a subscription package that includes "flex" tickets that can be used for any show(s) in any combination, plus other benefits. For details on that, or to purchase single tickets, see NMC's website.