So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Jazz St. Louis on Wednesday announced the appointment of trumpeter Keyon Harrold to the newly established position of Creative Advisor. During his three-year appointment, Harrold (pictured) will perform annually at Jazz St. Louis, starting with a five-night run coming up in December of this year.

He also will be involved with the organization's "Jazz Speaks" and residency programs; will create "a major commissioned work reflecting on the St. Louis community" to close JSL's 2023-24 season; and take part in "other appearances, performances, and events."

* A previously unreleased recording of Miles Davis performing at the Vienne Jazz Festival in one of his final concerts will be issued as Merci, Miles by Rhino Records on Friday, June 25. The recording will be available on all major digital music services as well as both a two-CD set and a double LP, and can be pre-ordered here.

* Also on the Miles Davis beat, here's a feature story about Mikel Elam, a visual artist from Philadelphia who served as Davis' personal assistant from October 1987 until the trumpeter's death in September 1991.

* Drummer Demarius Hicks was interviewed by the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson about his Chick Corea tribute show playing Saturday night at The Grandel's "Open Air" tent.

* Also from the Post-Dispatch, an "iParty" gallery of photos from singer Denise Thimes' shows last weekend at Blue Strawberry.

* Shake The Rum, the newest album from trombonist Charlie Halloran, a St. Louis native now living in New Orleans, and his band, the Tropicales, was reviewed in Offbeat magazine.

* Multi-instrumentalist and singer Tonina is one of six up-and-coming artists from St. Louis and Detroit profiled in "The Flavor of Two Cities," a new ad campaign for distilled spirits maker Jack Daniel's. You can see a promotional video featuring her and Detroit's Leonard Ware (aka Drummer B) here.

* The reaction of local music venues and theaters to the easing of some coronavirus restrictions in Missouri is the subject of a feature story from St. Louis Public Radio's Jeremy Goodwin.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold (pictured) was the featured guest on a recent episode of "Folded Space with Tony Minvielle" on the UK's JazzFM network.

* Keyboardist Michael Silverman and keyboardist/producer Jeff Lorber appeared last week on Jazziz magazine's "Last Call" video series to promote Silverman's latest album Human Spirit, which is out this week on his Autumn Hill label.

* Silverman and Lorber also were guests this week on BlogTalkRadio's "Hybrid Jazz" program with host Trish Hennessey.

* Willem von Hombracht, a longtime mainstay of the St. Louis music scene, has been ailing (though not with COVID-19), and earlier this week was discharged and sent home after a week and a half at St. Mary's Hospital. To raise money to help with von Hombracht's medical bills and other expenses, friends of the bassist have set up a GoFundMe page.

* New Music Circle has put together a collection of music video performances by some of the organization's board members, and after an online premiere this past Monday, has posted it to YouTube. The collection includes music from NNN Cook & Nestor, Michael Williams, Tracy Andreotti, Aaron E. Johnson, Fred Tompkins with Greg Mills, Alex Cunningham, and 18andCounting.

* Multi-instrumentalist and singer Tonina was profiled by the St. Louis American's Ashley Jones.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The concert by singer and multi-instrumentalist Tonina that streamed live last Saturday from The Pageant now can be viewed online.

* The Kranzberg Arts Foundation has published the results of their survey asking audience members about what would make them feel safe returning to live performance venues in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic..

* Upcoming outdoor concerts at The Dark Room and the National Blues Museum were previewed in a story from St. Louis Public Radio's Jeremy Goodwin.

* Pianist Adam Maness' arrangement of "America the Beautiful" has been recorded by singer Malena Smith and musicians from the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra as part of "Songs of America," a new patriotic-themed video series from SLSO. You can see the music video for the song here, and the rest of the "Songs of America" series here.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* St. Louis magazine has published their annual "A List" of local attractions, organizations, people, and events, and the names of at least a couple of the winners will be familiar to StLJN readers.

The Red and Black Brass Band was mentioned for "Best Use of Brass," while Blue Strawberry was named "Best New Storytelling Venue." You can see a list of all the winners here.

* The current fund-raising efforts of radio station WSIE are the subject of a feature story from the Riverfront Times' Daniel Hill. Thanks in large part to budget cuts by the state of Illinois, WSIE must raise a total of $100,000 by the end of this month or the station may go off the air permanently.

* Job’s Trials: A Jazz Song Cycle, the latest recording from bassist and St. Louis native Dan Loomis, was reviewed by the UK magazine Jazz Journal.

* Singer and multi-instrumentalist Tonina (pictured) talked about what she's been doing during lockdown and discussed a couple of upcoming livestream performances in an interview with the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson.

* Jazz in St. Louis has gotten some attention from NYC's Jazz at Lincoln Center recently, as last week JALC published a Spotify playlist of St. Louis jazz (accompanied by a short and rather sketchy history of our local scene) as part of a series called "City Soundscapes."

That was followed this week by a St. Louis-themed installment of "On the Road with Riley," an online video series featuring trumpeter Riley Mulkerhar that purports to take "viewers on a virtual road trip...to see how various #jazz scenes around the U.S. are coping with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis." The video features a brief chat with pianist Adam Maness and a streamed performance of "St. Louis Blues" by Mulherkar, Maness, bassist Bob DeBoo, and drummer Kaleb Kirby.

* Dr. Dorothy Steward, the mother of businessman, philanthropist and Jazz St. Louis board member David Steward and one of the namesakes of JSL's headquarters, the Harold and Dorothy Steward Center for Jazz, has died at age 92.

Jazz this week: Tim Warfield Organ Band, Bonerama, Keyon Harrold, and more

Given that Mardi Gras is almost upon us, New Orleans-derived music plays a significant role in this week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis, but there's also a swinging saxophonist from Philly, a brief return home for a celebrated local trumpeter, and mich more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, February 19
Saxophonist Tim Warfield (pictured, top left) will perform for the first of five nights continuing through Sunday at Jazz St. Louis.

Warfield is a Philadelphia native who's played at the Bistro several times before, but this is his first time at the venue as leader of his Organ Band, which includes keyboardist Pat Bianchi and Warfield's hometown friend and frequent collaborator, trumpeter Terell Stafford.

Also in Grand Center, this week's "Wednesday Night Jazz Crawl" features pianist Dave Venn early and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor late at The Dark Room, plus a jam session led by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

Thursday, 
February 20
Right on time to warm up for parade Saturday and Fat Tuesday, New Orleans' own Bonerama (pictured, center left) returns to perform at the Broadway Oyster Bar.

Their sets likely will feature some music from their most recent album Bonerama Plays Zeppelin, which, as the name suggests, features their trombone-centric interpretations of music from the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. You can find out more about that project, and see some of the music being performed live (on video) in this post from a week ago Saturday.

Also on Thursday, keyboardist Jim Hegarty brings his trio to Evangeline's; singer Cheri Evans and CEEJazzSoul return to the Chase Club; keyboardist Ryan Marquez and his trio are back at The Dark Room; and guitarists William Lenihan and Vincent Varvel will team up to present a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

Friday, February 21
Singer and multi-instrumentalist Tonina will perform at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups, and bassist and singer Janet Evra and her quartet will play at The Judson House.

Also on Friday, guitarist Joe Park will promote the release of his latest recording with a show at Focal Point, and Samba Bom will do carnaval Brazilian style at Bar Italia.

Saturday, February 22
The Nashville-based group Cosmic Collective returns to Evangeline's, and singer Robert Nelson and  Genesis Jazz Project will be the featured performers in "The B3 Experience: Big Band, Burlesque and Bourbon" at .ZACK.

Also on Saturday, the Funky Butt Brass Band plays a post-parade show at The Bootleg at Atomic Cowboy; the Mosaic Jazz Sextet brings their hard bop sound to the Dark Room; and Dizzy Atmosphere will play vintage swing and Gypsy jazz at Urban Chestnut Midtown Brewery and Biergarten.

Sunday, February 23
Trumpeter Jim Manley plays for brunch at Evangeline's.

Later that afternoon, singer Anita Jackson and trumpeter Keyon Harrold (pictured, lower left) will headline a matinee "Benefit for Community Women Against Hardship" at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups, followed at the venue by a dinner-hour show from singer Chuck Flowers.

Monday, February 24
Webster University faculty members including pianist Kim Portnoy, percussionist David Werfelmann, saxophonist Paul DeMarinis, and violinist Matt Pickart will explore "Improvisational Environments" in a concert at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus.

Tuesday, February 25
Celebrate Fat Tuesday in a New Orleans style at the "Central West End Second Line Parade," featuring the Saint Boogie Brass Band and Annie and the Fur Trappers, and/or by catching the double bill of the Funky Butt Brass Band and "Funkify Your Life: A Tribute To The Meters" at Broadway Oyster Bar.

Also on Tuesday, electro-jazz trio Vehachi plays in concert at the Gaslight Theater, and the Route 66 Jazz Orchestra returns to 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.)