Jazz this week: The Bad Plus, Caboladies, Brett Walberg, a tribute to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and more

It looks to be a full weekend of jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with one of the top trios in jazz making a return visit to our fair city; an up-and-coming saxophonist making his local debut; an intriguing program of electronic music and video; a couple of local concert series presenting their first offerings of 2013; plus, as the saying goes, much more. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, The Bad Plus return to St. Louis for their annual January engagement, continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Fans can expect to hear some selections from the trio's latest album Made Possible, which came out in September, as well as older material and perhaps some new compositions as well. For more about Made Possible and The Bad Plus' other recent activities, check out this post from last Saturday.

On Thursday night,  New Music Circle presents a free event teaming artist/musician Robert Beatty with bassist Darin Gray for a show at Apop Records. NMC also will be serving free refreshments and selling discount tickets for Friday night's performance by the electronic music duo Caboladies (pictured) at White Flag Projects

Beatty is in town to provide visuals for Caboladies, and he and Gray have performed together before in Beatty's hometown of Lexington, KY, so the event, announced last week, seemed like a natural adjunct to the previously announced Caboladies gig. As for the Caboladies themselves, their "uniquely fractured sonic sensibilities" will be on display on Friday at White Flag Projects in the form of separate opening sets by the two members of the group, Eric Lanham and Chris Bush, followed by a collaborative set with live video accompaniment by Beatty.

Also on Friday,  Boston-based saxophonist Brett Walberg, a 20-something who's played in styles ranging from straight-ahead to funk to avant-garde, will be making his St. Louis debut, leading a trio at Robbie's House of Jazz.

On Saturday afternoon, singer Wendy Gordon and her band will perform for jazz brunch at Frontenac Grill. Then that evening, singer Feyza Eren is at Robbie's; guitarist Tom Byrne leads a trio at the Wine Press; and you can choose from among three different gigs fronted by local bassists, with John Covelli playing solo at the Tavern of Fine Arts; Darrell Mixon leading a trio at Troy's Jazz Gallery; and Eric Foreman's trio holding forth at the south side neighborhood spot Thurman Grill.

Then on Sunday, the St. Louis Jazz Club kicks off their 2013 schedule of monthly events with a double bill including Clarinet Summit, featuring clarinetist  Scott Alberici, plus the Gerry Mulligan/Bob Brookmeyer-inspired quartet Utter Chaos. This show will take place at Frontenac Grill, which is a new venue for the Jazz Club this year, although they'll also be presenting some shows at other locations as well. 

Also on Sunday, pianist Ptah Williams will perform a free concert for the St. Louis Jazz and Blues Vespers series at Second Baptist Church, 9030 Clayton Road in Richmond Heights.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday what's being billed as the "1st Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Benefit Jazz Concert" will be presented at Chaminade Preparatory School, 425 S. Lindbergh Blvd. The event will feature singer Denise Thimes and saxophonist Tim Cunningham fronting a rhythm section of pianist Joe Cartwright, bassist Eric Warren and drummer Montez Coleman, along with performances from the student jazz bands of Chaminade and University City High School.

Also on Monday, the Latin jazz band Clave Sol will play at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

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 the latest wrap-up of assorted links and short local news items of interest:

* New Music Circle yesterday announced that composer and multi-media artist Tony Conrad (pictured) will present a free lecture at 4:00 p.m. today (Friday, December 2) in Room 102 of the Music Classroom Building (behind Tietjens Hall on Forsyth) at Washington University. The event is free and open to the public.

Conrad will perform in concert Saturday night at White Flag Projects. For more about him, see this short article from the Riverfront Times' Ryan Wasoba and StLJN's video showcase post from last Saturday.

* Pianist Ramsey Lewis, in town through Saturday to play at Jazz at the Bistro, talked with the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson for a short article here. Lewis also is scheduled to be interviewed at 11:00 a.m. this morning on public radio station KWMU's "Cityscape" program. You can listen to KWMU's online stream here.

* Gwen Terry, wife of Clark Terry, has posted a new update about the hospitalized trumpeter's condition here. Also posted now on Terry's website is a review (.pdf) by Down Beat's Ted Panken of Terry's recently published autobiography.

* The Meramec Jazz Lab Band has posted photos of their concert Wednesday night at the Black Cat Theatre in a Facebook album here. (You don't need a Facebook account to view the photos.)

* Writing for the St. Louis Beacon, Terry Perkins tells us about Strings Attached, a new not-for-profit organization that provides low-cost music education for aspiring guitarists ages 5 to 17, and even "offers loaner guitars to those young people who can’t afford them."

* Hip-hop star Nelly this week celebrated the opening of his Ex'treme Institute, a music production and recording school located on Laclede's Landing and operated in conjunction with local trade school Vatterott College. The St. Louis American has brief coverage here, and the Post-Dispatch has an article from Kevin Johnson and a photo album from the grand opening ceremonies.

* Music for Lifelong Achievement this week announced that their annual instrument drive collected a record number of musical instruments this year. More than 50 used instruments were dropped off at participating area Starbucks stores during the month-long drive, including a full drum set, several flutes, keyboards, clarinets and trumpets. The instruments will be repaired and refurbished, as needed, and donated to local schools and music programs.

* Saxophonist and St. Louis native Eric Person has succeeded in funding his next recording project through Kickstarter, an effort that we reported on here last week. The now-greenlighted CD Thoughts on God, which will feature a 13-piece ensemble playing Person's original music, attracted 160 backers who pledged $20,812 by Tuesday's deadline, slightly more than Person's goal of $20,580. The anticipated release date for the CD is July 2012.

Jazz this week: Ramsey Lewis, Jane Monheit, Tony Conrad, "The Music of Bluiett," Bonerama, Cornet Chop Suey, and more

From traditional jazz to contemporary grooves to experimental minimalism, this week's menu of jazz and creative music in St. Louis has offerings for a wide variety of tastes. Let's go to the highlights:

Tonight, pianist Ramsey Lewis (pictured) brings his Electric Band for the first time to Jazz at the Bistro, where he'll be performing through Saturday. As chronicled in this video retrospective from a couple of weeks ago, Lewis has been a significant figure on the international jazz scene for nearly 50 years now, and the Electric Band seems set up specifically to present many of his most popular tunes in a crowd-pleasing format. At last word, there still were some tickets available, but advance reservations definitely are suggested for this one.

Also tonight, the Meramec Jazz Lab Band, with Valerie Tichacek on vocals, continues its ongoing series of monthly performances at Black Cat Theatre in Maplewood.

Tomorrow evening, the New Orleans based Bonerama will perform at the Old Rock House. This will be the third St. Louis appearance this year for the trombone-centric ensemble, following shows at The Gramophone in January and the Sheldon Concert Hall's ballroom in June.

Also on Thursday, singer Jane Monheit, who was here last December to play Jazz at the Bistro, visits the Hettenhausen Center for the Arts at McKendree College in Lebanon, IL for a holiday themed concert.

On Friday, singer Danita Mumphard will perform at the Halls Ferry Inn Jazz Cafe, and pianist Tim Garcia leads a trio with bassist Willem von Hombracht and drummer Clancy Newell at the Cigar Inn in Belleville. That same evening, Jazz on Broadway in Alton has an early show with traditional jazz from the Dixie Dudes, and Robbie's House of Jazz will present blues singer Barbara Carr.

Saturday afternoon, the Nu-Art Series presents "The Music of Bluiett" at Metropolitan Gallery, featuring saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett directing performances of his compositions by several different ensembles from the East St. Louis High School music department.

Then on Saturday evening, musician, composer and multi-media artist Tony Conrad will perform at White Flag Projects under the auspices of New Music Circle. For more about Conrad, including extensive video footage and links to several in-depth interviews, check out this post from last Saturday.

Also Saturday evening, saxophonist Rod Tate returns to Halls Ferry Inn Jazz Cafe, and Robbie's will present the group Cammie & Carnivale, featuring singer Cammie Middleton-Helmsing and guitarist Wayne Kimler.

Sunday afternoon, Cornet Chop Suey plays traditional jazz and swing in a matinee concert presented by the St. Louis Jazz Club at the Doubletree Hotel at Westport. On Sunday evening, BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups has a double bill featuring jazz, funk & R&B from Good 4 The Soul in the early evening slot and Latin jazz from Clave Sol later on.

Monday night, the Webster University Jazz Singers perform their semester-end concert at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus, and guitarist Tom Byrne's Pat Metheny inspired band Have You Heard? plays at BB's.

For more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, 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: Spotlight on Tony Conrad

This week, let's look at some video clips of musician, composer and multimedia artist Tony Conrad, who will be in St. Louis for a performance sponsored by New Music Circle next Saturday, December 3 at White Flag Projects.

Conrad, 71, originally is from New Hampshire and has a background in math and computer programming. He has been making music and art since the 1960s. His film The Flicker (1966) is considered an important early example of the structural film movement, and his work around that same time as a co-founder of the Theater of Eternal Music helped pave the way for the minimalist composers of the 1970s and 80s.

He currently teaches at the State University of New York at Buffalo's Center for Media Studies, and in recent years has developed a repertoire of solo performances for specially tuned, amplified violin. Today, we've got several examples of those performance for your audio-visual delectation, starting up top with a complete hour-long concert recorded in January 2011 at the University of Chicago's Renaissance Society.

Down below, you can see three excerpts from a 2006 performance by Conrad at the Emporium in Knoxville, TN. Below that, there's a clip in which Conrad comes out from behind the curtain, so to speak, at a performance in May of this year in London. Finally, for a glimpse of Conrad's offstage persona and working methods, we wrap up with an excerpt from the work-in-progress documentary Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present that shows Conrad preparing to take his mobile recording setup on location in NYC.

For more about Tony Conrad, check out this 2011 interview from Frieze magazine, this 2005 interview from Bomb magazine, and this 1996 interview from EST magazine.

Jazz this week: Keith Fullerton Whitman, Scratch, Mark O'Connor, a tribute to women in jazz, and more

There's an eclectic selection of jazz and creative music coming up on St. Louis stages over the next few days, from classic bop to contemporary electronics. Let's go to the highlights:

Tonight, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents a free concert by an ad hoc ensemble dubbed "St. Louis Bebop," featuring trumpeter Randy Holmes, saxophonist Jason Swagler, pianist Ken Kehner, bassist Bob DeBoo and drummer Marty Morrison playing music associated with bop pioneers Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.

Also tonight, the Chicago-based saxophonist Mark O'Connor is in town, playing at Robbie's House of Jazz to promote his new CD release Suspended Reality. O'Connor will be joined by pianist Lara Driscoll, trumpeter Chris Davis, drummer Todd Howell and bassist Willem von Hombracht.

On Friday, the Crusaders tribute band Scratch performs for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro, featuring a lineup of St. Louis area players including trombonist and arranger Cody Henry, saxophonist Ben Reece and pianist Adaron "Pops" Jackson.

Also on Friday, saxophonist Jerry Greene and his group perform at Robbie's, and vibraphonist Dustin Sholtes leads a quartet at the Cigar Inn in Belleville.

On Saturday afternoon, there are a ouple of free educational opportunities for local musicians, as saxophonist Bob Reynolds gives a free master class at Saxquest, and electronic musician Keith Fullerton Whitman (pictured) will present a free workshop at the Luminary Center for the Arts.

Then on Saturday evening, Whitman will perform at White Flag Projects in a concert presented by New Music Circle. For more about Whitman and some performance videos of him in action, see this post from last Saturday.

Also on Saturday, Robbie's will present a concert paying tribute to "women in jazz," featuring three performers visiting from Indiana: pianist Monika Herzig, singer Janiece Jaffe and violinist Carolyn Dutton. Herzig, who teaches at the University of Indiana, was in St. Louis most recently for a couple of gigs last May; Jaffe and Dutton will making their local debuts.

On Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents the Funky Butt Brass Band at the SLJC's customary east side venue, Bel-Air Bowl in Belleville.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Sessions Big Band plays at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups, and student jazz combos from the music program at Webster University will perform at Webster's Community Music School.

Then on Tuesday, the SIUE Concert Jazz Band, under the direction of trombonist Brett Stamps, will play at Dunham Hall on the SIU-Edwardsville campus. The set list will include music from the Stan Kenton, Buddy Rich, Maynard Ferguson, Thad Jones-Mel Lewis, Clayton-Hamilton, Rob McConnell, and Tonight Show big bands, with featured performances from SIUE vocal jazz majors Zelina Bott-Goins and Nicole Jonas.

For more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, 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.)