So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Trombonist, bandleader and St. Louis native Joseph Bowie (pictured) was interviewed at length by PopMatters.com.

* Dave Weckl was one of six well-known drummers who participated this week in a free online master class in brush technique presented by drumstick and accessories maker Vic Firth.

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold was the subject of a feature on the website of Thomas Mason, a UK-based maker of fabrics for men's clothing.

* Harrold also was interviewed on this Wednesday's episode of the podcast "The John Roa Show: Leading from Home."

* Washington University School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic and the ACLU of Missouri have filed a lawsuit against University City arguing that the city has routinely and unconstitutionally suppressed the public performance of music in the Loop.

Guitarist Raymond Douglas and saxophonist "Raven Wolf" C. Felton Jennings II, who both have had issues with police while busking in the Loop area, are the plaintiffs in the suit, which was filed Tuesday, April 28 in the US District Court Eastern District, Eastern Division.

* Eight deluxe multi-CD box sets known as "The Miles Davis Series" now are available again in limited quantities from the official Miles Davis Store. Originally released on Columbia/Legacy between 1996 and 2007, the volumes explore various phases of Davis' music from 1955 to 1975, ranging from from his Columbia recordings with saxophonist John Coltrane to the complete sessions for On The Corner.

* Singer Joe Mancuso was the featured guest on this week's episode of Shock City School of Music's "Coffee Conversations" podcast.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Drummer Dave Weckl has added a full-length video of his band's reunion performance at last year's Chesterfield Jazz Festival to the offerings at his online school. He's also posted to YouTube some short sample excerpts from the show, including "Synergy," "Tower of Inspiration" and "Mud Sauce."

* The Red and Black Brass Band's recent visit to the Old North neighborhood was documented by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch/STLtoday in a collection of photos and a video.

* Pianist and St. Louis native Tom McDermott (pictured) is featured on actor Harry Shearer's new "Piano New Orleans" YouTube channel, performing in three mini-recitals (so far) which you can see here, here and here.

* HEC-TV has posted online A Celebration of the Life & Music of Ray Kennedy, a tribute to the late St. Louis pianist featuring Kennedy's former employer, guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli, along with pianist Konrad Paszkudski, bassist Martin Pizzarelli, and John and Martin's dad, the late guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli.

* Guitarist Vincent Varvel recorded a solo version of "Here Comes the Sun" for a series of "Musical Postcards" from music faculty members at Washington University.

* Miss Jubilee and the Yas-Yas Boys have a new album, Cool It If You Can, recorded in January as live-in-the-studio performances at Bigtone Records in Bristol, VA. It's now available in digital form via their Bandcamp page, with a physical release to follow at a date TBD.

* The DVD of the documentary Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool was reviewed by AllAboutJazz.com's Doug Collette.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: In the tradition with Aaron Diehl

This week, let's take a look at some videos featuring pianist Aaron Diehl, who's coming to St. Louis to perform on Friday, January 31 at the 560 Music Center.

The event is a solo piano recital presented by Washington University as its "Annual Carlin Concert," honoring the legacy of Seth Carlin, the internationally renowned pianist who taught at Wash U for 37 years. Carlin was a classical pianist who also enjoyed listening to jazz, and so in keeping with the occasion, Diehl will be playing vintage jazz and stride piano pieces from James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, and others, plus works by George Gershwin, Aaron Copland, and Louis Gottschalk.

As a contemporary pianist with classical training who also is noted for his interest in pre-WWII jazz styles and material, Diehl seems particularly well-equipped for the task. You can get a taste of the range of his talents starting in the first video up above, which documents Diehl's part of "Rags, Strides, and Stomps," a show at the 2015 Jazz in Marciac festival (also featuring fellow pianists Joey Alexander and Sullivan Fortner). In the clip, Diehl performs "The Original Jelly Roll Blues" by Jelly Roll Morton, "Viper's Drag" by Fats Waller, and James P. Johnson's "Concerto Jazz-A-Mine."

After the jump, you can see him play another Johnson piece, "Caprice Rag," as recorded by an audience member at a show last year at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center in New Jersey.

Next, you can see Diehl and trumpeter Dominick Farinacci take on Waller's "Honeysuckle Rose" in a clip from 2009, followed by another video from that same year showing the pianist soloing on W.C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues" during a celebration of the music of Louis Armstrong at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York.

Those are followed by two videos showing Diehl playing notated works from the classical tradition, starting with an excerpt from his performance last November of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" with the Pacific Symphony in Costa Mesa, CA, and then Diehl and his trio playing Philip Glass' 2014 composition "Piano Etude No 16" in a live-in-the-studio video just released earlier this month by Mack Avenue Records.

The final video is an hour-long interview with Diehl, recorded in March 2019 at Library of Congress, in which he discusses jazz history with the Library's James Wintle.

For more about Aaron Diehl, read his interview from July 2017 with JazzWax.

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Aaron Diehl to perform solo concert on Friday, January 31 at 560 Music Center

Pianist Aaron Diehl (pictured) is coming to St. Louis to perform in a solo concert at 7:30 p.m., Friday, January 31 at the 560 Music Center's E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall.

The event is presented by Washington University as its "Annual Carlin Concert," honoring the legacy of Seth Carlin, the internationally renowned pianist who taught at Wash U for 37 years. Acknowledging the classical tradition, Diehl's program will include works by Gershwin, Copland, and Gottschalk, as well as music by James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, Willie "The Lion" Smith, and more.

Diehl, who turns 35 this year, is one of the top jazz pianists to emerge on the national scene in the last decade. He has released four albums as a leader, and has toured and/or recorded as a sideman with Wynton Marsalis, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Wycliffe Gordon, Warren Wolf, Lew Tabackin, Matt Wilson, and more. Diehl currently serves as musical director for singer Cécile McLorin Salvant, and performed here in St. Louis most recently in October 2019, accompanying her in a concert at The Sheldon.

Tickets for Aaron Diehl's performance at 560 Music Center are $20 for adults, $15 seniors and Wash U faculty and staff, $5 students, free for Wash U students with ID, and are on sale now online and at the Edison Theatre box office on campus.

Jazz this week: Anat Cohen, Eliane Elias, Michael Rosen, Bill McNally, and more

The calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis for the week before Mardi Gras is packed with performances in a variety of styles, with a handful of visiting headliners hitting local stages, plus some noteworthy shows from our hometown performers. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, February 27
Clarinetist and saxophonist Anat Cohen (pictured, top left) brings her quartet to Jazz St. Louis for the first of five nights of performances, continuing through Sunday.

Voted the top clarinetist in jazz in the most recent DownBeat critic's poll, Cohen is a versatile player who can navigate a variety of styles with both technical facility and feeling. You can find out more about Cohen and see videos of her playing (in several different musical idioms) in this post from Saturday before last.

Also on Wednesday, this week's "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features the Jazz Troubadours at The Stage at KDHX, along with the jam session hosted by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor at The Dark Room.

Thursday, February 28
Saxophonist Michael Rosen, a New York native and Berklee grad who expatriated to Italy in the late '80s and has made a name for himself on the European jazz scene, will play in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, accompanied by keyboardist Jay Oliver, guitarist and bassist William Lenihan. and drummer Steve Davis.

Elsewhere on Thursday, trumpeter Keith Moyer leads a jam session at Rendezvous Cafe & Wine Bar in O'Fallon, MO; Samba Bom brings a bit of Brazilian carnival to Joe's Cafe & Art Gallery; Dizzy Atmosphere plays vintage swing and Gypsy jazz for the Missouri Botanical Garden's "Orchid Nights"; and saxophonist Ben Reece's Unity Quartet plays the music of Rahsaan Roland Kirk at The Dark Room.

Friday, March 1
New music ensemble Alarm Will Sound returns to the Sheldon Concert Hall with a program featuring music by their late founding member Matt Marks, who died suddenly after a concert here last year; and Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, March 2
The Friends of Scott Joplin present ragtime pianist 
Bill McNally in a matinee concert at the Opera House of Pacific.

On Saturday evening, pianist and singer Eliane Elias (pictured, bottom left) will perform at The Sheldon. Having already proved her skills at jazz-fusion, the music of her native Brazil, and much more, Elias on her most recent recording explores something a bit different, re-imagining the score of the Broadway show Man of La Mancha in a Latin jazz style.

You can see some recent performances by Elias on video in this post from last Saturday. Also, The Sheldon and Metrotix have cut the price of some remaining tickets for the concert to $25. To get the discount, go here and use the promo code LAMANCHA.

Also on Saturday, Chicago-based Third Coast Percussion will play music from composers including Steve Reich and Wilco's Glenn Kotche in a concert at 560 Music Center.

Sunday, March 3
The St. Louis Jazz Club presents keyboardist "Bob Row's "Mardi Gras Party" at Royale Orleans; Genesis Jazz Project plays at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups; and the Jazz Troubadours return to Evangeline's.

Tuesday, March 5
The Funky Butt Brass Band will play for Fat Tuesday revelers at the Broadway Oyster Bar.

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: Winter/spring 2019 jazz preview, part four

Today, it's part four of StLJN's winter/spring 2019 jazz preview, featuring videos of noteworthy jazz and creative music performers who will be coming to St. Louis in the first part of 2019. You can see part one of the series here, part two here, and part three here.

First up is a show that, chronologically speaking, should have been part of last week's post, but was left out due to a clerical error. That would be the upcoming appearance by trumpeter Jaimie Branch, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, and Ståle Liavik Solberg presented by New Music Circle on Saturday, February 9 at The Stage at KDHX.

Branch, a Chicago native who has gained international attention since moving to NYC a few years back, has her own working band, Fly or Die. But she's also played with a variety of other ensembles, including with Lonborg-Holm and Solberg (billed here as "The Party Knüllers") as seen in the first video up above, an excerpt from a show in June 2018 at Da Vinci Art Alliance in Philadelphia.

After the jump, we get back on schedule with Marilyn Maye, known as "the grand dame of cabaret," who will present her show "It's Better with a Big Band" on Wednesday, March 6 and Thursday, March 7 at Jazz St. Louis. The video is an excerpt from Maye's 90th birthday party (!) last April at Feinstein's/54Below in New York City, in which she sings "Guess Who I Saw Today" and "Fifty Percent."

Maye will be followed at Jazz St. Louis by another distinctive vocalist, Kurt Elling, who will check in for a five-night run at the Bistro starting Wednesday, March 13 and continuing through Sunday, March 17.

Elling can be seen in the second video after the jump singing the Julian Priester/Tommy Turrentine composition "Long As You're Living" at the International Jazz Day 2018 All-Star Global Concert in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Though he'll have his regular working band in St. Louis, here he's backed by a group including Branford Marsalis (tenor sax), Terri Lyne Carrington (drums), Antonio Farao (piano), and Ben Williams (bass).

That same week, New Music Circle will present flute player and composer Nicole Mitchell’s Liberation Narratives, featuring poet Haki Madhubuti, on Saturday, March 16 at Xavier Hall on the St. Louis University campus.

"Liberation Narratives" also is the title of Mitchell's 2017 album featuring Madhubuti, but since there doesn't seem to be any live-performance video of the two of them available online, the next clip offers a look at Mitchell, her Black Earth Ensemble, and poet Jamila Woods doing a set in 2017 at "Centennial Brooks," a gathering in Chicago of scholars, writers, musicians, and fans paying tribute to Gwendolyn Brooks, the first African-American poet to win the Pulitzer Prize.

Next up, it's guitarist Ralph Towner, who will be doing a solo performance on Wednesday, March 20 at Graham Chapel on the Washington University campus. Towner is featured in the fifth video playing his original composition "The Reluctant Bride."

Also on Wednesday, March 20, the eclectic ensemble MarchFourth will make their return to St. Louis with a show at the Old Rock House. You can see a representative example of their syncretic style, which draws on everything from marching bands to Afrobeat, jazz, rock and more, in the penultimate video, a mashup of The Doors' "Roadhouse Blues" and the JBs' "Doing It To Death" (misidentified as 'James Brown's "Funky Good Time"') recorded in 2017 at the Sioux Falls Jazz Fest in Iowa.

Today's final video feature singer Michael Bublé, who will be performing on Friday, March 22 at the Enterprise Center. While there's an argument to be made that Bublé at this juncture is more of a pop performer that a jazz singer, he still touches enough different stylistic bases to merit including a clip of him singing "Haven't Met You Yet," recorded in October 2018 on the Australian TV show Sunrise.

Look for part five of StLJN's winter/spring 2019 jazz preview next week in this space. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Ralph Towner returning to perform Wednesday, March 20 at Graham Chapel

Guitarist Ralph Towner is returning to St. Louis to perform in a solo concert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 20 at Graham Chapel on the Washington University campus.

Towner (pictured) has recorded more than two dozen albums as a solo artist on ECM records, going back to the early 1970s, and also is one of the co-founders of the long-running band Oregon.

A capable pianist as well as a guitarist, Towner  was an original member of the pioneering world-fusion group Paul Winter Consort and early in his career recorded with the likes of Weather Report, Larry Coryell, and Jan Garbarek, but these days may be best known for his solo shows playing acoustic guitar.

His most recent recordings, a solo album called My Foolish Heart on ECM, and Oregon's latest, Lantern, on the Italian label CAM Jazz, both were released in 2017. Towner last played in St. Louis in February 2017 at the 560 Music Center.

Tickets for Ralph Towner at Graham Chapel are $25 for general admission; $20 for seniors and Wash U faculty and staff; $10 for students with ID; and go on sale online at 10:00 a.m. Monday, November 19 via Vendini.com.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Tonight's 7:30 p.m. set by Sammy Miller and the Congregation at Jazz at the Bistro will be streamed live online by Jazz St. Louis. You can see it on JSL's website, their Facebook page, or on UStream.

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold was named one of "10 New Artists You Need To Know" in the October issue of Rolling Stone magazine.

Harrold (pictured) also was featured on a recent episode of B-Side, a web series produced and curated by the BRIC arts and media nonprofit in Brooklyn, NYC.

* A recent show by saxophonist Dave Sanborn, and his kindness to a young fan, are the subjects of a feature story on AllAboutJazz.com.

* New Music Circle will present a free program of short films by composer and electronic musician John Wiese at 8:00 p.m. Thursday, November 9 at the Moolah Theatre & Lounge. Wiese will be in town for a concert presented by NMC on Saturday, November 11 at St. Louis University's Xavier Hall.

* In conjunction with a talk this week at Washington University, bassist, author and educator Paul Steinbeck was interviewed about Message to Our Folks, his book about the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

* Saxophonist Greg Osby was interviewed on a recent episode of the Neon Jazz podcast.

* The Sheldon has posted to Facebook a set of photos from the Hudson concert earlier this month.

* Euclid Records has released a free smartphone app, with a barcode scanner that provides access to sound samples, plus info on new releases and store events, and more. The app is available for both Android and iPhone via Google Play and the iTunes app store.

* Actor and singer Alice Ripley's show last weekend for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival was reviewed by KDHX's Chuck Lavazzi.

* The remains of the hull of the Goldenrod Showboat - which for decades on the St. Louis riverfront served as the site for performances of traditional jazz and ragtime - were destroyed in a fire last week in Calhoun County, IL.

* The Regional Arts Commission is surveying the St. Louis arts and culture community in conjunction with EVOKE, a new initiative described as "a cultural planning process that seeks to elicit, inspire and explore how the arts can become more relevant in addressing St. Louis’s cultural challenges...The outcome of the conversations, studies, data gathered and ideas shared will be a regional cultural plan designed to guide RAC’s work and evolve our vision for a more vibrant and equitable future for St. Louis." You can weigh in by taking the survey online here.

* Chasing Trane, the documentary about saxophonist John Coltrane that briefly played in movie theaters earlier this year, will be broadcast as part of the PBS series Independent Lens and will air in St. Louis at 10:00 p.m. Monday, November 6 on Nine PBS (aka KETC).

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Singer and actor Alice Ripley's cabaret show  was previewed by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson.  Ripley performs here tonight and Saturday night for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival.

* Electronic musician and composer John Wiese will present a free, public composition workshop at 3:00 p.m. Wednesday, November 8 in Room 4 of Tietjens Hall on the Washington University campus. Wiese (pictured) will be in St. Louis for a concert presented by New Music Circle on Saturday, November 11 at St. Louis University's Xavier Hall theater.

* The 2018 St. Louis International Film Festival, which will take place November 2-12 at various venues around town, includes a number of films with musical subjects, notably the local premiere of Mr. Handy's Blues, a documentary about "St. Louis Blues" composer W.C. Handy.

The festival's screening of the Handy bio at The Stage at KDHX will be paired with a live performance by singer Valerie "Miss Jubilee" Kirchoff, cornetist TJ Muller, and pianist Ethan Leinwand. You can see the entire festival schedule here.

* Drummer Dave Weckl and bassist Tom Kennedy are headed for Europe next month, touring with guitarist Mike Stern and saxophonist Bob Malach as the Mike Stern/Dave Weckl Band. The group will play dates in Germany, Austria, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, The Netherlands, Switzerland, England, Slovakia and Poland, and then return to the USA for a half-dozen shows in December on the West Coast.

* Pianist Peter Martin's music education video company Open Studio Network was featured in an article on AVClub.com.

* Saxophonist and St. Louis native Greg Osby was interviewed on Philadelphia radio station WRTI's program "The Bridge"

Jazz this week: Harold López-Nussa, Filippo Cosentino, Alice Ripley, and more

This week's calendar of jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes a pianist from Cuba, a guitarist from Italy, a cabaret show from a singer and actress who has earned Broadway's highest honor, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, October 18
Cuban-born pianist Harold López-Nussa makes his St. Louis debut in the first of four evenings at Jazz at the Bistro. For more about López-Nussa (pictured, top left) and some video samples of him and his trio in action, see this post from last Saturday.

Also on Wednesday, Bach to the Future and guitarist Dave Black will perform for the Webster Arts series at Cyrano's, and this week's "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features guitarist Eric Slaughter and bassist Glen Smith at KDHX's Magnolia Cafe, the jam session led by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's quartet at The Dark Room.

Thursday, October 19
The Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University will present "From Torino - Music of Italian Film Composers," a free concert featuring Italian guitarist Filippo Cosentino, guitarist and bassist William Lenihan, and the Sogni D'Alba String Trio.

Elsewhere around town, violinist Christopher Voelker's trio plays The Pat Connolly Tavern, drummer Kaleb Kirby’s Animal Children returns to The Dark Room, and Cabaret Project St. Louis will present their monthly "Broadway Open Mic" at the Curtain Call Lounge.

Friday, October 20
The Gaslight Cabaret Festival's fall series resumes with Tony Award-winning actress and singer Alice Ripley (pictured, bottom left) performing for the first of two nights at the Gaslight Theater.

Also on Friday, singer Feyza Eren returns to the Webster Groves Concert Hall.

Saturday, October 21
Saxophonist Dave Stone will play a free matinee show at Saxquest, and trumpeter/vibraphonist Joe Bozzi and his band return to Evangeline's

Sunday, October 22
Miss Jubilee will play for brunch at Evangeline's, and singer Chuck Flowers will perform a late-afternoon show BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups

Monday, October 23
Trumpeter Jim Manley plays for diners and drinkers at Momo's Greek Restaurant.

Tuesday, October 24
Bassist, educator and author Paul Steinbeck will discuss his book Message to Our Folks: The Art Ensemble of Chicago in Room 142 of Olin Library on the Washington University campus. The free, public event is part of the Washington University Library Faculty Book Talk series.

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.)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Trombonist Steve Swell will present a free, public "artist's talk" at 4:00 p.m. today (Friday October 6) in Room 102 of Washington University's music classroom building.

Swell (pictured) is in St. Louis to lead his quintet in New Music Circle's season-opening concert on Saturday night at The Stage at KDHX.

* Speaking of Washington University, bassist, educator and author Paul Steinbeck will discuss Message To Our Folks, his book about the history of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, as part of Wash U's library faculty book talk series at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 24 in room 142 of the Olin Library on the Wash U campus. The event is free and open to the public.

* Saxophonist and singer Grace Kelly is the subject of a photo feature on the website Sound of STL, and her performance Wednesday night at Jazz at the Bistro was briefly reviewed on the website of Sophisticated Living magazine. Kelly continues at the Bistro through Saturday night.

* The Wee Trio's upcoming concert on Tuesday, October 17 at SIU Edwardsville was previewed by the Edwardsville Intelligencer.

* KDHX's Magnolia Cafe, which serves as one of the sites on the weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl," is getting a new menu, a new operator, and a new name. According to reports published this week by Feast magazine and others, chef Rob Connoley will take over the restaurant, renaming it Squatter's Cafe, on Wednesday, November 1.

* The annual musical instrument drive sponsored by Music for Lifelong Achievement was the subject of a feature story on KTVI-Fox 2's morning news.

* "Wayfaring Traveler," a track from trumpeter Keyon Harrold's new album The Mugician that features guest performances from Jermaine Holmes, Georgia Anne Muldrow and Robert Glasper, this week made it onto Apple Music's jazz playlist "The A List."

* Singer Debby Lennon will star in the upcoming production of the musical comedy Souvenir being staged by Max & Louie Productions from Thursday, December 14 through Sunday, December 31 at The Marcelle in Grand Center.

The show tells the story of the notoriously tone-deaf Florence Foster Jenkins, "a real-life socialite who set elite eardrums in Manhattan a-trembling in a series of notorious private concerts during the 1930s and 1940s...Her flamboyant costumes and uninhibited love of music was as much her trademark as her inability to sing on key."  Jenkins' story also was the subject of an eponymous 2016 feature film starring Meryl Streep in the title role.

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 will be live-streaming video of tonight's 7:30 p.m. set by Yellowjackets at Jazz at the Bistro.

The gig is the first of four this season at the Bistro that will be live-streamed to the public for free, and you can tune in via the Jazz St. Louis website, their Facebook page, or UStream.

* The Playhouse at Westport Plaza has booked the show An Unforgettable Nat "King" Cole Christmas for the 2017 holiday season. The musical, which stars Chicago actor Evan Tyrone Martin (pictured) and features "a festive cocktail of signature songs and yuletide favorites" associated with Cole, will run from Thursday, December 7 through Sunday, December 17.

* To help promote his upcoming release The Mugician - due out next Friday, September 29 via Legacy Recordings/ Mass Appeal Records - trumpeter Keyon Harrold created a playlist of favorite tracks for the music streaming service Tidal.com.

* Improvising trombonist Steve Swell will present a lecture to the Washington University department of music at 4:00 p.m. Friday October 6 in the Music Classroom Building, room 102 on the Wash U campus.

Swell and his quintet, with pianist Dave Burrell, bassist William Parker, saxophonist Jameel Moondoc, and drummer Ches Smith, will perform in a concert sponsored by New Music Circle the next evening, Saturday, October 7, at The Stage at KDHX.

* Registration is open now for Fox Performing Arts Charitable Foundation's 8th annual St. Louis Teen Talent Competition. The competition is open to all high school students in the St. Louis metropolitan area, and offers more than $30,000 in college scholarships, cash awards, and prizes, plus performance opportunities for the participating teens.

The entry deadline for 2018 is December 1, 2017. For more information or to register, go to http://www.foxpacf.org/programs/teen-talent-competition/.

* And speaking of local students, Music for Lifelong Achievement's annual drive gathering musical instruments for school and community music programs serving disadvantaged young people in St. Louis starts next Monday, September 26. For more information about MFLA and how to donate, go here.

Jazz at Holmes reveals schedule for 2017 "Jazz in July" series

The Jazz at Holmes series of free concerts at Washington University has announced the schedule for this summer's "Jazz in July" shows. 

The series begins on Thursday, July 6 with pianist and singer Curt Landes (pictured) and his band, followed by a show on Thursday, July 13 by pianist Kara Baldus' trio.

The slate of keyboard-centric performances continues on Thursday, July 20 with a quartet featuring Dallas-based pianist Myles Tate, with Paul Steinbeck on bass, Jeff Anderson on tenor sax, and Maurice Carnes on drums; and concludes on Thursday, July 27 with a trio led by pianist Ptah Williams.

Admission to the "Jazz in July" concerts is free and open to the public. Concerts begin at 8:00 p.m. in Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall, located on Washington University’s campus at the west end of the Brookings Quadrangle, near the intersection of Brookings and Hoyt drives.

Ralph Towner performing Saturday, February 18 at 560 Music Center

Guitarist Ralph Towner is coming to St. Louis to present a solo performance at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 18 at the 560 Music Center.

Towner (pictured), who's known for his work with the groups Paul Winter Consort and Oregon and for his many recordings on the ECM label, will be touring a handful of cities in the U.S. in support of a new solo album, My Foolish Heart, which will be released February 3 on ECM.

He last played St. Louis in October 2011 in a solo show for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, which also is sponsoring this performance.

Tickets for Ralph Towner at 560 Music Center are $25 for general admission, $20 for seniors and Wash U faculty and staff, $10 for students, and are on sale now online.

Jazz at Holmes series announces Fall 2016 concert schedule

The Jazz at Holmes series of concerts at Washington University has announced their schedule for the fall semester of 2016.

With eleven concerts on ten dates starting this Thursday, September 8 and ending the first week in December, the Fall 2016 series will feature local musicians plus homecoming visits from several St. Louis expats of note, including pianist Jay Oliver, multi-instrumentalist J.D. Parran, singer Jan Shapiro, and bassist Dan Loomis of The Wee Trio (pictured), who will be touring this fall in support of their fifth album Wee + 3.

The series also will feature a tribute to the 30th anniversary of the release of Round Midnight, a dramatic film by French director Bernard Tavernier that starred saxophonist Dexter Gordon as a thinly disguised version of himself.

Here's the complete schedule for the semester:

Thursday, September 8: Ptah Williams, William Lenihan & Steve Davis
Thursday, September 15: Todd Mosby Group
Thursday, September 22: William Lenihan/Jay Oliver Quartet (4:00 p.m. at the Missouri History Museum)
Thursday, September 22: Dave Venn Trio (preceded by "History of the Piano Trio and St. Louis Pianists," a lecture from professor Henry Ettman at 6:00 p.m. in the Goldberg Formal Lounge, Danforth University Center.)

Thursday, October 6: Vince Varvel Group
Thursday, October 13: George Sams & J.D. Parran
Thursday, October 20: Nick Savage Quintet

Thursday, November 3: The Wee Trio
Thursday, November 10: Mark Holland Group
Thursday, November 17: Jazz and Film: 30th Anniversary of Bernard Tavernier's Round Midnight

Thursday, December 1: Jan Shapiro

All concerts are free and open to the public and, except for Thursday, September 22, will begin at 8:00 p.m. in Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall, which is located on Washington University’s campus at the west end of the Brookings Quadrangle, near the intersection of Brookings and Hoyt drives.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Saxophonist Greg Osby was interviewed for a feature story on the website Jazz in Europe.

* Singer Denise Thimes' Mothers Day show last Sunday at the Touhill is the subject of a photo gallery on STLtoday.com.

* A new article by professor Gerald Early in Washington University's Common Reader looks at "Horns On Film - Five notable dramatic films about jazz trumpeters, with 15 grace notes."

* DownBeat magazine reviewed the CD reissue of Esoteric, an album (pictured) by the late drummer and St. Louis native Phillip Wilson with trumpeter Olu Dara that originally was released in 1979 on the hatHut label.

* Also in DownBeat, a review of Revive Music's recent 10th anniversary celebration in NYC, which included a performance by trumpeter Keyon Harrold.

* KDHX has posted to Flickr an album of photos from Tortoise's show Monday night at the Ready Room.

* The St. Louis Stompers are headed to Fox Lake, WI this weekend to play in the 44th annual Bunny Berigan Jazz Jubilee.

* Musical instrument distributor St. Louis Music set a quarterly record for sales in the first three months of 2016. The company distributes more than 10,000 music-related products, and owns instrument brands including Alvarez, Austin and Sigma guitars, Knilling stringed instruments, E.K. Blessing brass, and Zonda reeds and woodwinds.

* St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accounts for the Arts will present their Accidental Arts Administrator and Strategic Planning Fundamentals workshops next Monday, May 16 and Tuesday, May 17 at the offices of the Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The 20th anniversary edition of singer Denise Thimes' (pictured) Mother's Day show, which has moved this year to the Touhill Performing Arts Center, was previewed in feature stories by Kenya Vaughn of the St. Louis American and Kevin Johnson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and in an interview on St. Louis Public Radio. 

* Jazz St. Louis education director Phil Dunlap wrote about Don Cheadle's Miles Ahead and Born to Be Blue, the recently released feature film about trumpeter Chet Baker, in an essay for Washington University's Common Reader.

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold will pay tribute to Miles Davis with three nights of shows from Friday, May 13 through Sunday, May 15 at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in NYC's Jazz at Lincoln Center complex. The gigs, marking 90 years since Davis' birth, will feature an all-star cast including saxophonists and former Davis sidemen Gary Bartz and David Liebman; drummer Chris Dave and bassist Derrick Hodge, from Robert Glasper's band; St. Louis native Shedrick Mitchell on keyboards; and more.

* Harrold and his brother Emanuel Harrold, the drummer in singer Gregory Porter's band, also pulled off a near-simultaneous dual-sibling appearance on two national TV networks this week, as on Wednesday night Keyon performed with singer Maxwell on CBS' The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, while Emanuel was playing with Porter on PBS' The Tavis Smiley Show.

* A story published this week by St. Louis Public Radio says that radio station WSIE, doubly pressed for cash by a preexisting need for additional funding plus recent budget cuts to Illinois universities, will add blues music to its playlist in an attempt to broaden its appeal and become self-sustaining.

* Pianist Peter Martin's Open Studio Network today rolled out "Brazilian Jazz Guitar," a new premium online course taught by guitarist Romero Lubambo.

* The recently announced "arts incubator" at 3224 Locust in the Grand Center district is seeking tenants now in anticipation of its opening in January of next year.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Thurman Barker

Today, let's look at some videos of drummer, percussionist, and composer Thurman Barker, who's coming to St. Louis to play two events in early April at Washington University. He'll perform first in a ticketed concert for the Jazz at Holmes series on Thursday, April 7, followed the next evening by a free event, improvising to silent films on Friday, April 8 at Wash U's Brown Hall.

Barker is a 68-year-old Chicago native whose involvement in creative music dates back to the mid-1960s, when he was a teenaged charter member of his hometown's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Over the years, he has collaborated with most of the major musicians associated with the AACM, as well as with pianist Cecil Taylor, saxophonists Sam Rivers and Anthony Braxton, and many other notables of adventurous improvised music.

As his career progressed, Barker began to spend more time involved in composing and education, and since 1993, he's been an associate professor at Bard College in upstate New York.

Given that his two St. Louis performances will be mostly improvised music, there's really no way to "preview" them, so instead here's a selection of videos showing Barker playing in a variety of musical contexts, presented in reverse chronological order.

The first video up above captures a Barker drum solo, recorded in October 2015 during a concert at Bard College. Following the jump, you can see another solo improvisation, recorded in January 2013 at a benefit for percussionist Warren Smith at the Brecht Forum in NYC.

After that, there are three videos of Barker leading different ensembles. The first features his quartet with Alex Hood (trumpet), Michael Foster (tenor sax, baritone sax), and Eric Silberberg (bass), and was recorded in April 2013 at a concert for the Evolving Music Series at the NYC venue Arts for Art.

The next clip is of Barker's group Time Factor, with pianist Rob Schwimmer, bassist Jerome Harris, and guitarist James Emery, and was made in October 2012 in NYC. That's followed by a performance by the drummer's Organ Trio, with tenor saxophonist Patience Higgins and organist Lonnie Gasperini, recorded in September, 2006 in NYC.

The final clip is an excerpt from a performance Barker did with Cecil Taylor in 1995 in Frankfurt, Germany.

For more about Thurman Barker, check out this 1985 interview done originally for NYC radio station WKCR; a brief interview from 2008 on the website Tokafi.com; and this 2012 conversation with New York City Jazz Record.

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

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.

April gets adventurous with concerts by Fred Lonberg-Holm & Frode Gjerstad, Tyondai Braxton, and Thurman Barker

Three shows recently added to the St. Louis concert calendar mean the first full week of April could be a busy one for local fans of adventurous jazz and creative music:

* Chicago-based cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and Norwegian saxophonist Frode Gjerstad (pictured, top left) will team up for a concert of improvised music at 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, April 5 at Jackson Pianos, 4354 Olive St.

Lonberg-Holm is an active participant in Chicago's busy free-improv and jazz scenes, and has collaborated there and around the globe with musicians including Joe McPhee, Peter Brötzmann, Ken Vandermark, Chris Corsano, Lotte Anker, Mats Gustafsson, Glenn Kotche, Jim O'Rourke, Jeff Parker, Michael Zerang, and many more. He's also contributed to recording projects by rock groups such as Califone, Freakwater, God-is-my-co-pilot, L'altra, Smog, Super, US Maple, Wilco, and others.

Gjerstad, who concentrates on alto sax but also plays clarinet and flute, has contributed to more than 50 recordings since beginning his career in the 1970s. He too has played with Peter Brötzmann, and also has performed with many other well-known improvising musicians, such as William Parker, Borah Bergman, Derek Bailey, and Evan Parker.

Admission to the Fred Lonberg-Holm/Frode Gjerstad performance will be "$10-$15 suggested" at the door, a price that includes "free beer/wine/food."

* Composer Tyondai Braxton will perform at 8:00 p.m. Thursday, April 7 at The Luminary.

Braxton, former front man for the experimental rock band Battles and the son of famed saxophonist/composer Anthony Braxton, has created a wide variety of music during his career, ranging from a recent duo collaboration with Phillip Glass to symphonic works such as his album Central Market, which has been performed live by orchestras including the London Sinfonietta and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

His multimedia installation "HIVE" recently premiered at the Guggenheim Museum in NYC, with an accompanying soundtrack set for release next month on Nonesuch Records.

Braxton (pictured, center left) will perform solo at The Luminary, with St. Louis' Hylidae as opening act. Tickets are $15 in advance, $17 day of show.

* Another well-known, Chicago-based improviser, drummer Thurman Barker, already was scheduled to be in St. Louis that same week to perform on Thursday, April 7 for Washington University's Jazz at Holmes series.

Now, Wash U has announced another performance by Barker (pictured, bottom left), a free event at 7:00 p.m. Friday, April 8 in the auditorium (aka Room 100) of Brown Hall, which for many years has been a site for film screenings on campus.

"Sonic Visions: Experimental Film + Live Jazz" will feature Barker, saxophonist Joel Vanderheyden, and bassist and Wash U faculty member Paul Steinbeck creating improvised scores for silent films by Stan Brakhage, Tomonari Nishikawa, and Walter Ruttmann.