* Bassist Damon Smith has released another recording, Bass Duos 2000-2007, featuring 3 CDs' worth of duo improvisations with fellow bassists Joëlle Léandre, Bertram Turetzky, and the late Peter Kowald.
This week, it's part two of our look at "St. Louis Blues," featuring some contemporary versions of W.C. Handy's most famous composition. (You can read a brief history of the tune and see seven vintage versions performed by jazz greats in part one here.)
The first video actually combines aspects of both vintage and contemporary, since it features New Orleans' Preservation Hall Jazz Band performing a traditional arrangement of "St. Louis Blues," but was recorded in July 1996 at a festival gig in Mountain View, CA.
After the jump, it's veteran pianist Eddie Higgins, who was a mainstay of the Chicago scene and recorded with a number of jazz stars in the 1950s and 60s before setting up shop in Florida in the 1970s. He's seen here with his trio, performing his signature arrangement of Handy's composition in an undated clip that's probably from the early 2000s.
Next up is trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, accompanied by pianist Marcus Roberts, offering a brief interpretation of "St. Louis Blues" on a 1995 episode of the BET kids series Story Porch.
That's followed by guitarist Bill Frisell doing a solo version recorded in 2013 for the magazine Fretboard Journal, and then a big band arrangement from the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, recorded in 2008 at the Hague Jazz Festival in the Netherlands. (The VJO performance is in two parts, the second of which should play automatically after the first ends.)
The final two clips both have a direct connection to St. Louis as well as a thematic one. The penultimate video features guitarist Charlie Hunter, recorded solo in 2011 at the old studios of St. Louis community radio station KDHX.
Last but not least, it's pianist and St. Louis native Stephanie Trick and her husband and fellow pianist Paolo Alderighi performing a four-handed, one-piano version of "St. Louis Blues" in January 2016 at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor, MI.
You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...
With the return of live jazz in St. Louis still uncertain, today's post continues this feature's recent emphasis on archival and historical material by taking a look at some different interpretations of "St. Louis Blues," undoubtedly the most famous song ever to feature the name of our city in the title, and one of the most recorded compositions in jazz history.
"St. Louis Blues" was composed by W. C. Handy, who was born in Alabama and spent most of his musical career based in Memphis and then New York. It was while living in Memphis in 1892 that Handy came to St. Louis for a visits, looking for work as a musician, and presumably formed his impression of the city thay would inspire his most popular compositiosn.
First published in September 1914, "St. Louis Blues" was one of the first blues to succeed as a pop song, and marks an important point in the transition of blues music from being strictly a folk idiom to becoming a commercial one as well.
It was a hit record in 1925 for Bessie Smith, and again in 1929 for Louis Armstrong, and subsequently has been recorded hundreds of times by artists from all around the world, in arrangements ranging from solo piano and guitar to big bands and orchestras.
Today's post includes seven vintage performances of "St. Louis Blues," starting up above with W.C. Handy playing his most famous work in 1949 on Ed Sullivan's long-running CBS variety show, then known as Toast of the Town.
After the jump, you can see singer Bessie Smith's version, as featured in the film St. Louis Blues, which was released in 1929 to capitalize on the popularity of her 1925 recording.
Next up, pianist Earl Hines puts his personal spin on the tune in a version recorded in 1965 in France, followed by the inimitable Ella Fitzgerald scatting and swinging her way through a performance recorded in July 1979 at the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands.
Pianist Dave Brubeck also famously had his own take on "St. Louis Blues," as seen in the next clip, recorded in 1964 in Belgium with the most famous lineup of his quartet, including saxophonist Paul Desmond, bassist Eugene Wright, and drummer Joe Morello.
The penultimate video features singer Nat King Cole performing Handy's composition in a November 1957 episode of The Nat King Cole Show, while the last clip showcases an arrangement of the tune featured for many years on the radio broadcasts of the Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues hockey club.
It was first recorded in 1944 by swing bandleader and trombonist Glenn Miller, and is seen here in a performance by the present-day Glenn Miller Orchestra directed by Wil Salden and recorded in 2012.
Next week in this space, we'll look at videos featuring some more contemporary versions of "St. Louis Blues." You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...
The Collective was scheduled to perform here in St. Louis tomorrow night at The Sheldon, but they've cancelled that show and the remainder of their spring tour due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
* Jazz St. Louis has published on their website a Q&A with keyboardist Dave Grelle. Grelle's band Playadors performs at the venue tonight and tomorrow night.
* The venue formerly known as The Stage at KDHX will get a makeover and a new name, Bennie's Blues Room, as it becomes the new headquarters for the St. Louis Blues Society. Focusing on the history of St. Louis blues, the venue (named in honor of the late guitarist and singer Bennie Smith) will present live music, educational events, and more, as detailed in a story by the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson.
