More on Waverly Seven and the 3 Cohens

Missed this last week somehow, but the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson had an interview with clarinetist/saxophonist Anat Cohen of Waverly Seven, viewable online here. It's short, but worth a read for more background on the band and Ms. Cohen.

For more Cohen coverage, check out Ben Ratliff's New York Times review of the new CD from from the 3 Cohens - (Anat, trumpet-playing younger brother Avishai (also a member of Waverly Seven), and older brother/saxophonist Yural) here.

Jazz this week: Waverly Seven, Laetitia Sonami, Corey Christiansen, and more

Although the the jazz calendar this weekend isn't exactly packed, there are definitely a few shows happening that are worthy of attention, starting with Waverly Seven (pictured), who are performing at Jazz at the Bistro through Saturday.

The NYC-based septet, which features two keyboard players, bass and drums in its rhythm section behind a front line of saxophonist/clarinetist Anat Cohen, her brother Avishai Cohen on trumpet and Joel Frahm on tenor sax. They're a relatively new band that made their public debut earlier this year and, since the members are all bandleaders and/or in-demand side players in their own right, has played only a half-dozen gigs so far. As a result, they don't have much of a track record yet as a group, but given the considerable talents of the individual members, they seem worth checking out. Part of each set will be a quartet performance fronted by Anat Cohen, hopefully providing an opportunity to spotlight her very fine clarinet work.

Also making a debut this weekend is a new St. Louis jazz trio featuring pianist James Hegarty, drummer Tom Zirkle and bassist Luis-Michael Zayas. They'll perform a program of original compositions in a free concert on Friday night at the Mildred E. Bastian Performing Arts Center at St. Louis Community College-Forest Park.

On Sunday afternoon, guitarist Corey Christiansen returns to the St. Louis area to perform a concert in the Donald D. Shook Fine Arts Building of at St. Charles Community College. Before moving back to his home state of Utah earlier this year, Christiansen lived in St. Louis for several years while working for Mel Bay Publications. He's a very solid player in the mainstream jazz guitar style, and definitely worth a listen if you enjoy that genre.

On Sunday night, New Music Circle presents mixed-media performance artist Laetitia Sonami in a concert at SLCC-Forest Park. Born in France and now a resident of Oakland, California, Sonami is a composer, dancer, and sound installation artist who uses technology in combination with text, dance, and “found sounds" to create works the Los Angeles Times has called "visceral and engaging.” One of the pieces she will perform is called “The Appearance of Silence (The Invention of Perspective),” and it incorporates her instrument “the lady’s glove,” a sensor-studded controller made of black lycra that is worn on the hand to allow movements to control sounds, mechanical devices, and lights in real time.

For more, please consult the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, with the caveat that since the new month arrives over weekend, schedule updates from clubs and bands likely will be ongoing for the next several days.

(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 at the Movies: Kurt Elling's "Winelight" and Waverly Seven's "Nature Boy"

This week, we've got videos featuring two of the acts that will be performing in November at Jazz at the Bistro.

The first clip features singer Kurt Elling, who will be returning to the Bistro with his trio from November 14 to November 17. He's seen here in a clip recorded in Poland in 2005 performing his version of "Winelight," a Grover Washington tune to which Elling added his own lyrics.

The second video features the group Waverly Seven, who will make their St. Louis debut at the Bistro November 28 through December 1, splitting the bill with saxophonist/clarinetist Anat Cohen's quartet. The song is the familiar standard "Nature Boy," and the video is from band's New York City debut last spring at the Jazz Standard.

Notes from the Net: Miles' box set reviewed; Lake, Osby and Cheek perform; Krall and Botti interviewed; and much more

It's been nearly two weeks since the last installment of "Notes From the Net," and so there's a heapin' helpin' of news items concerning St. Louis musicians, recent visitors, old favorites and coming attractions just waiting to be read and enjoyed. Let's go:

* Blogcritics reviewed the new Miles Davis box set, The Complete On The Corner Sessions.

* Saxophonist Oliver Lake will be performing at the Lake George Jazz Festival in upstate New York.

* Another former St. Louisan, saxophonist Greg Osby, will be playing at Chicago's Green Mill this weekend. Osby also will be among the performers at an upcoming tribute concert for the late pianist Andrew Hill.

* Rudder, a cooperative electric jazz band that includes saxophonist and Webster University graduate Chris Cheek (pictured), is heading out on tour this fall. (No St. Louis date, though.)

* From AllAboutJazz.com, a review of guitarist and St. Louis native Joe Friedman's debut CD Cup O' Joe.

* Turning to the "recent visitors and old favorites" file: While in St. Louis last month to play the Fox Theatre, singer and pianist Diana Krall gave an interview to a newspaper in Greece. Meanwhile, Krall's erstwhile tourmate, trumpeter Chris Botti, recently was interviewed by the Ashland (OR) Herald-Dispatch.

* Blogcritics also had a review of guitarist John Scofield's new CD This Meets That.

* SoCal-based DJ and blogger Leroy "The Jazzcat" Downs recently got to go in the studio to observe a session with singer Dianne Reeves (who performed earlier this year at Wasington University's Edison Theater) and chat with some of the participants, including Reeves, George Duke, Russell Malone, Geoff Keezer and Reuben Rogers. You can listen to an .mp3 file of the conversation here.

* Seguing to the "coming attractions" file, the New York Times had a review of a Fred Hersch/Ethan Iverson piano duet at NYC's Jazz Standard. Hersch, who played at the Sheldon earlier this year, did a week-long series of duets with various pianists including Brad Mehldau and Kenny Barron. Iverson will be in St. Louis in January with The Bad Plus for a return engagement at Jazz at the Bistro, where both Mehldau and Barron performed earlier this year.

* Pianist Michael Wolff, the former bandleader for TV host Arsenio Hall who's playing the Sheldon Concert Hall in February, has a new trio recording, Jazz Jazz Jazz.

* The Greenville (SC) News had a feature story on saxophonist Victor Goines and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Goines, Wynton Marsalis, and the rest of the LCJO also will play the Sheldon in February.

* Village Voice jazz critic Francis Davis gave a mixed review to Waverly Seven's Bobby Darin tribute CD, Yo, Bobby. The group will be in St. Louis in November to play Jazz at the Bistro.

* From the "miscellaneous items of interest" file: Another issue of veteran jazz critic Bill Shoemaker's fine e-zine Point of Departure is now online.

* And finally, the Wall Street Journal had a nice profile of jazz discographer Tom Lord, whose research has yielded a lot of interesting info, including what must be the definitive list of the most-recorded jazz songs:

"Mr. Lord's database shows 1,675 versions of "Body and Soul," making it the most recorded melody in jazz history. New Zealand disc jockey John Joyce used Mr. Lord's latest CD-ROM to break out a list of songs logging more than 500 recordings.

He found 70 in all, 12 of which surpassed 1,000 versions. Following "Body and Soul" are "St. Louis Blues" (1,628), "Summertime" (1,358), "Sweet Georgia Brown" (1,302), "Take the A Train" (1,201) and "Round Midnight" (1,184)."

Notes from the Net: Reviews of Miles Davis, Grant Green and Oliver Lake; Frahm and McBride interviewed; and more

It's another week, another month, and StLJN has been slaving over a hot Internet, gathering, sifting and preparing these info-snacks for your edification and entertainment:

* Let's start, as we so often do, with Miles Davis and, via the always interesting be.jazz, a complete track listing for the upcoming The Complete On The Corner Sessions box set.

*Blogcritics.com has a review of the new Miles remix CD, Evolution of the Groove : "A solid imagining of what Miles might sound like in 2007. More importantly, it’s a reminder of his continued influence. The only complaint I have with this little EP is it’s far too short."

* Catching up with some other St. Louis natives, we find that the New York Times reviewed Oliver Lake's Trio 3 gig last weekend at NYC's Iridium: "The collaboration pushed all parties toward new solutions, and for artists like these, that’s a clear sign of success."

* CD Reviews.com has a review of the recently issued Grant Green CD Live at Club Mozambique: "Jazz guitar fans are going to love this document of Green's guitar excellence... This gig captured Green at the top of his game and his playing here is, like always, a revelation. You have to get this."

* The San Francisco Chronicle has a brief review of the latest Cinematic Orchestra release, which features guest vocals from Fontella Bass.

* St. Louis music publisher Mel Bay's 60th anniversary was featured in an AP story that got picked up in many newspapers over the weekend; read the International Herald Tribune's version here.

* Turning to the 'coming attractions" file, Joel Frahm, tenor saxophonist with Waverly Seven, recently did a podcast interview with a site called The Jazz Session, while Blogcritics.com has a new interview with bassist Christian McBride (pictured). Waverly Seven will be at Jazz at the Bistro in November, while McBride will be part of the Ray Brown Tribute Band gig at the Bistro in April.

* From the "making beautiful music together" file: Renee Rosnes, who plays piano with the SFJAZZ Collective and was in St. Louis with them last spring to perform at the Bistro, just married fellow jazz pianist Bill Charlap. Best wishes to the happy couple, but what I really want to know is: Do they have two pianos at home, or, if not, who gets first dibs on the keyboard if both want to practice at the same time?

* Finally, NYC composer and blogger Darcy James Argue has what I thought was an interesting post on the lack of what he calls "rhythmic authority" displayed by many classical musicians, and one orchestra that nevertheless seems to have plenty of it:

"That's the Simón Bolívar National Youth Orchestra, who are basically ambassadors for Venezuela's El Sistema, a national music program that for 30 years has been providing free instruments and music education to kids we've taken to euphemistically calling "at risk."

...American orchestras, feeling the crunch of reduced ticket sales and an aging audience, have been wracking their brains trying to figure out how to turn things around, but many of the proposed changes are of the "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic" variety.

It seems to me that when you are getting your asses handed to you by a bunch of Venezuelan street kids, it's time for everyone involved to take a long hard look in the mirror. And then maybe reach for that tambor mina and start shedding."

Notes from the Net: Blanton remembered, Waverly Seven featured, New Orleans musicians recovering, and more

For your Monday reading pleasure, it's StLJN's weekly compendium of brief items of interest from around the Web:

* Bassist Jimmy Blanton (pictured), who lived and worked in St. Louis for a couple of years just before he joined Duke Ellington's orchestra, was remembered on the anniversary of his death in a brief article at AllAboutJazz.com.

* Performers at the fifth annual Festival of New Trumpet Music (FONT) will include Jeremy Pelt, who has recorded for the St. Louis label MAXJAZZ and played Jazz at the Bistro last season.

* Speaking of the Bistro, the new band Waverly Seven will play there from November 28 - December 1, and the NYC news station NY1 has a feature story about them and their first CD, an appreciation of the music of Bobby Darin.

* Pianist Jason Moran, who's playing the Bistro next year from January 30 through February 2, will be among the many participants in the "Following Monk" festival to be held this fall at Duke University.

* Guitarist John Scofield, a frequent visitor to St. Louis in recent years, has a new CD, This Meets That, on a new label, EmArcy.

* Last but certainly not least, an article from the New York Times examines how working musicians in New Orleans are trying to rebuild their lives and careers. Meanwhile, the Musicians Village project, built by Habitat for Humanity and championed by Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr., is getting its first residents.

Pollstar: Bistro adds Waverly Seven to 2007-08 schedule

The online touring information service Pollstar has just listed Waverly Seven (pictured) as the latest addition to the 2007-08 season schedule at Jazz at the Bistro, showing the group set to perform in St. Louis from Wednesday, November 28 through Saturday, December 1.

So who are Waverly Seven? Well, don't feel too bad if you don't recognize the name, because the band was formed just six months ago and only did its first public performance in March 2007.

However, you may very well be familiar with some of the individual musicians, all young New York-based players, including brother and sister Avishai Cohen (trumpet, flugelhorn) and Anat Cohen (saxophones and clarinets), along with Joel Frahm (saxophones), Manuel Valera (keyboards), Jason Lindner (keyboards), Barak Mori (bass) and Daniel Freedman (drums, percussion). The band's debut recording Yo, Bobby, a reimagining of 24 songs associated with singer Bobby Darin, is set for release on June 26.

I'll reserve judgment on the CD until I actually hear it, but based on the concept, instrumentation and reputations of the individual musicians, this seems like a very interesting booking. Gene Dobbs Bradford, Bob Bennett and the rest of the JSL crew deserve some kudos for taking a chance on something new and, one hopes, musically adventurous.

As longtime readers know, in the past I've criticized JSL and other St. Louis presenters for being too risk-averse and for repeatedly booking too many of the same artists. Thus, when they do try to do something different, it only seems fair to give credit where it's due. Although the half-dozen artists and groups that have leaked out so far via Pollstar only give part of the picture, next season at the Bistro appears to be shaping up to be a strong one.

However, and as always, the information published by Pollstar is subject to change, and should not be considered official until confirmed by the presenter or venue. In this case, that confirmation should be coming fairly soon, since mid-May is usually the time that Jazz St. Louis announces the complete Bistro schedule for the following season. Keep an eye on StLJN for updated information.
In the meantime, you can sample a bit of Waverly Seven on video by clicking on the window below, activating a clip of a performance of "Black Coffee" recorded at the band's sold-out public debut in March at NYC's Jazz Standard.

(Edited 5/18/07 to fix a misspelled tag.)