So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Record Store Day 2016 is Saturday, April 16, and once again this year, yr. humble StLJN editor has been invited to be one of several "guest DJs" selecting music to play on the in-store sound system at Vintage Vinyl.

I'll be at the controls for an hour or so starting at 2:30 p.m., following sets by DJs from KDHX and the music blogs Speakers In Code and I Went To A Show (and well after the sure-to-be-jam-packed RSD performance at VV by Americana band Mumford & Sons).

As in previous years, I'll be spinning a mix of jazz, blues, soul, and funk, with some St. Louis artists in the mix. You can see a complete list of all the special Record Store Day releases from various companies here.

* Steven Lutvak's cabaret show "A Gentleman's Guide To A Gentleman's Guide" was previewed in a story by Calvin Wilson of the Post-Dispatch. The production runs tonight and tomorrow at the Gaslight Theater.

* The Riverfront Times' Harlan McCarthy reported on last Saturday's dedication ceremony of the mural of Clark Terry in south St. Louis' Carondelet neighborhood.

* Also in the RFT, Kevin Korinek penned a short feature about St. Louis-based amplifier manufacturer Mills Custom and their participation in last weekend's Tritone Expo.

* Jazz St. Louis posted to Facebook some photos from this week's educational residencies by clarinetist Anat Cohen, drummer Matt Wilson, trumpeter Marquis Hill and bassist Linda Oh.

* The Kranzberg Arts Foundation has announced plans to turn the building in the Grand Center district that formerly housed the nightclub Plush into an "arts incubator," with a small theater and space for offices and production support.

* Always, the latest CD from pianist and St. Louis native Stephanie Trick and her husband Paolo Alderighi, was reviewed by the website Art Music Lounge.

* Drummer Dave Weckl headed out on tour this past week with guitarist Oz Noy's trio, starting in Los Angeles, then going on to NYC and more East Coast and Midwest dates before heading back West again. (Alas, there's no St. Louis show on schedule.) Weckl also recently was named also named Best Fusion Drummer for 2016 by Modern Drummer magazine.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Tomorrow, Saturday, April 2, is the long-awaited official opening day for the National Blues Museum (pictured) in downtown St. Louis, and the museum has a full program of activities on tap, including live music from a number of St. Louis blues performers. You can get all the details of the grand opening weekend schedule via the museum's website.

* In more St. Louis blues news, "Moonshine & Mojo Hands," a new web video series from the creators of the documentaries M for Mississippi and We Juke Up in Here, will get its local premiere at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, April 20 at that very same National Blues Museum.

The event is free and open to the public, and will include a Q&A session with the film's creators, Jeff Konkel, a St. Louisan who also runs the blues label Broke & Hungry Records, and former St. Louisan Roger Stolle, the proprietor of Cat Head Delta Blues and Folk Art in Clarksdale, MS.

* Even as the National Blues Museum opens, an historic former musical attraction from the St. Louis riverfront has met its final demise, as St. Louis Public Radio reports that the remains of the Goldenrod Showboat have reached the scrapyard.

* Saturday's dedication ceremony for the new Clark Terry mural in south St. Louis was noted by the Post-Dispatch's Joe Holleman.

* On a related note, while trumpeter Byron Stripling was in St. Louis last week paying tribute to Clark Terry with two nights of big band performances at Jazz at the Bistro, he also was interviewed about Terry and their long personal relationship by Steve Potter of St. Louis Public Radio's "St. Louis On The Air" program.

* The regional edition of Broadway World has reviewed the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis' current production Satchel Paige and the Kansas City Swing, which includes saxophonist Eric Person in an onstage role. The play continues through April 10 at The Rep.

* The Tritone Guitar Expo, happening Saturday and Sunday at the Cortex complex in the Central West End, got some more coverage this week from Fox 2 news. The Expo's organizers also have published an online "Family Guide" to the event, which will include kid-friendly activities on both days.

* The Route 66 Jazz Orchestra was the subject of a feature story written by Bill Motchan for the KDHX website.

* The 2nd Annual Arts Vibrancy Index by the National Center for Arts Research at Southern Methodist University has ranked St. Louis as 13th and Kansas City 19th among national "hotbeds" of arts and culture.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Saxophonist Nicole Johänntgen and pianist Kara Baldus will be among the presenters when Washington University hosts SOFIA (Support Of Female Improvising Artists), a "conference for Girls and Women of all ages and creative disciplines" at 4:00 p.m. Wednesday, April 13 in the Danforth University Center's Goldberg Formal Lounge.

The event will feature a master class and a panel discussion with Johänntgen (pictured), Baldus, and other female artists, with topics to include artistic training; developing a discipline; business in the arts; production of materials; scholarly archiving and documentation; and women's issues in arts and entertainment. The conference is free and open to the public.

* Tritone Guitars' Tritone Expo, set for April 2 and 3 at the @4240 building on the Cortex Innovation Community Campus, was previewed in a news story on local Fox affiliate KTVI. The event "will present nearly 70 music-related companies, artists, and non-profits from the St. Louis area spread out over 40,000 square feet of exhibition space on two floors."

* The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis' current production of Satchel Paige and the Kansas City Swing, which includes saxophonist Eric Person in a key onstage role, was featured in a story by Judith Newmark of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and reviewed by Kenya Vaughn of the St. Louis American.

* Also in the Post-Dispatch, pop music writer Kevin Johnson made note of The Dark Room's second anniversary celebration this Friday.

* Jazz St. Louis has announced the local launch of WeBop, a early childhood jazz education program intended for children ages 3 to 5 that was originally developed by NYC's Jazz at Lincoln Center. For info on the St. Louis WeBop program, visit http://www.jazzstl.org/education-outreach/webop/.

* JSL also has announced their first-ever "Sophisticated Singles" evening, which will take place starting at 8:00 p.m. Friday, April 1 in the first floor lounge next to the Ferring Jazz Bistro, 3536 Washington. Those looking to meet "culturally minded singles" are invited to "mingle in a crowd that shares your refined tastes" and sample drink and hors d'oeuvre specials while the SFJAZZ Collective plays across the hall. Admission is free, and no reservations are required.

* A recording by trumpeter Jim Manley is featured in a new promotional video for Stomvi USA's Flex GHM VR HG Mouthpiece.

* Saxophonist Oliver Lake has posted to Facebook an album of photos from a gig by his Organ Quartet in February at the Théâtre Cinéma Paul Éluard de Choisy-le-Roi, near Paris.

* Keyboardist, singer and former St. Louisan Jack Spann (who was known as Jon Rosen when he lived here) played on some demos last year for the late David Bowie's final album Blackstar, and recently talked about the sessions for a short feature story in St. Louis magazine.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Saxophonist Paul DeMarinis (pictured) has been named Webster University's "Outstanding Jazz Instructor of the Year."

* Bassist Bob DeBoo's weekly Wednesday night gig and jam session at the Kranzberg Arts Center was the subject of a short feature on KTVI/Fox 2 news.

* Singer Cyrille Aimée is featured in a photo set shot by Valerie Tichacek and posted to KDHX's website. Aimée continues at Jazz at the Bistro through Saturday night.

* Drummer Emanuel Harrold was profiled in an article by Kevin Johnson of the Post-Dispatch/STLtoday. Harrold and bassist/fellow St. Louisan Jahmal Nichols will perform with singer Gregory Porter on Saturday night at the Touhill.

* St. Louis Public Radio's Dennis Owsley is devoting his "Jazz Unlimited" programs this month to a series called "Jazz Families-Blood Relatives." Owsley, who wrote City of Gabriels: The History of Jazz in St. Louis, 1895-1973, researched the subject and found "around 175 jazz musicians who have fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and cousins who are also performing musicians," making up "sort of a genetic map of jazz."

That cohort includes some St. Louis musicians, such as Arville Harris, Leroy Harris Sr. and Jr., Asa Harris, her father Ace Harris, and her uncle Erskine Hawkins; and Lloyd Smith and the Bosman Twins, as well as well-known clans like the Adderley family, the Jones family, the Heath family, and others.

* The proprietors of The Pageant concert club, U City mogul Joe Edwards and Patrick Hagin, announced this week that they'll open a new venue called Delmar Hall this fall.

Using the space next to The Pageant occupied until recently by Big Shark Bicycle Company, the venue is intended to "fill the gap in The Loop’s current concert offerings with a capacity of 800, between Blueberry Hill’s 340-person Duck Room to the 2,000 capacity of The Pageant - and hosting a similarly wide range of music styles, comedy, events and private parties."

* Saxophonist Rev. Cliff Aerie and trumpeter Tim Osiek of the Oikos Ensemble have released the third volume of arrangements in their "Worship in a New Key" series, featuring 12 charts for use in jazz ministry in conjunction with Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter.

* Stringed-instrument repair shop, studio, and manufacturer Tritone Guitars will present their second annual "Tritone Expo" on Saturday, April 2 and Sunday, April 3 at the @4240 building on the Cortex campus in the Central West End.

* The late saxophonist, arranger/composer, and St. Louis native Oliver Nelson was one of the composers featured in "Suite History: Jazz Composers And The African-American Odyssey," this week's episode of the "Night Lights" program on WFIU/Indiana Public Media.

* The St. Louis Banjo Club has elected Dave Kempa as its new president. Kempa succeeds Al Lehmann, who served as president of the group for five years.