Jazz this week: Dawn Weber, Terence Blanchard and the E-Collective, "Honoring Our Own" with Wycliffe Gordon, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features plenty of brass, with performances headlined by one local trumpeter and singer; one visiting trumpeter who's become quite familiar to local listeners; one star trombonist who's helping pay tribute to some St. Louisans; and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, May 16
Cabaret Project St. Louis has found a new home for their monthly "Broadway Open Mic," which starting this week will take place at Sophie's Artist Lounge & Cocktail Club on the second floor of the .ZACK building at 3224 Locust St.

Also on Wednesday, the weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes at The Stage at KDHX, the jam session led by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor and his band at The Dark Room.

Thursday, May 17
The Route 66 Jazz Orchestra with singers Valerie Tichacek and Dean Christopher performs at Jazz at the Bistro; saxophonist Ben Reece's Unity Quartet returns to The Dark Room; and singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black will celebrate Mancuso's birthday with a show at Parkside Grille in West County.

Friday, May 18
Trumpeter and singer Dawn Weber and friends will perform for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro, and the St. Louis Big Band plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Also on Friday, saxophonist Kendrick Smith's trio continues at Thurman's in Shaw, and bassist Darrell Mixon leads a trio at Cigar Inn in Belleville.

Saturday, May 19
The Friends of Scott Joplin present the string band Mound City Slickers in a matinee concert at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's Rosebud Cafe.

Then on Saturday evening, percussionist Herman Semidey and Orquesta Son Montuno will play salsa, latin jazz, and more at the Webster Groves Concert Hall, and the Funky Butt Brass Band returns to the Broadway Oyster Bar.

Sunday, May 20
Trumpeter Terence Blanchard and his band, the E-Collective (pictured, top left), will perform at the Grandel Theatre.

Blanchard and company currently are touring in support of their most recent album Live, which came out earlier this year. For more about that, and Blanchard's ongoing relationship with St. Louis, see this post from last Saturday. 

Also on Sunday, singer Wendy Gordon and friends -  including special guest star, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon (pictured, bottom left) - will present "Honoring Our Own," a tribute to St. Louis trombonist and educator Robert Edwards and actor/singer J. Samuel Davis, at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

That same evening, saxophonist Rev. Cliff Aerie and the Oikos Ensemble are offering another of their "Inner Jazz" programs at the First Congregational Church in Webster Groves.

Monday, May 21
While we haven't heard the band yet and thus cannot offer an informed recommendation, this seems like as good a place as any to note that The Dark Room has started offering live music on Mondays, presenting a quartet led by the young drummer Keith Bowman, a recent graduate of Webster University. 

Tuesday, May 22
Pianist "Ragtime" Jack Radcliffe, a specialist in pre-war jazz, blues, and, yes, ragtime, who's from Massachusetts, performs at Evangeline's.

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.)

Jazz this week: Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, tributes to Oliver Nelson and Ella Fitzgerald, a new weekly jam session, and more

As Jazz Appreciation Month 2017 moves past the halfway point, the calendar of live jazz and creative music performances here in St. Louis takes a turn toward the historic, with events scheduled to pay tribute to St. Louis' own Oliver Nelson, as well as to Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Dizzy Gillespie, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, April 19
The Saxquest Jazz Orchestra will play the music of saxophonist, composer and St. Louis native Oliver Nelson for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

The nine-piece band (three reeds, three brass, three rhythm) will perform material from throughout Nelson's career, with an emphasis on works addressing topics of civil rights and social justice, including "I Hope In Time A Change Will Come," "Emancipation Blues" and "The Kennedy Dream Suite," as well as songs from Nelson's most famous album Blues and the Abstract Truth.

Also on Wednesday, the weekly jam session hosted by pianist Curt Landes, bassist Glen Smith, and drummer Chuck Kennedy continues at @Nesby's in South County.

Thursday, April 20
Cabaret Project St. Louis presents their monthly open mic night, now re-named "Broadway Open Mic," at its new home, the Curtain Call Lounge; and trumpeter Jim Manley and keyboardist Chris Swan play at The Pat Connolly Tavern.

Friday, April 21
The first of two nights of the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival's public performances at the Touhill Performing Arts Center will feature a tribute to Louis Armstrong, starring trumpeter Terrell Stafford, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, saxophonist Chris Vadala, and the UMSL Big Band directed by Jim Widner.

For more about the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, plus some videos of Stafford, Gordon, Vadala, and Saturday night's headliner, trumpeter Jon Faddis, (pictured, top left) see this post from last Saturday.

Also on Friday, Jazz St. Louis will celebrate the centennial of the birth of Ella Fitzgerald at Jazz at the Bistro with the first of two evenings of music associated with Fitzgerald as sung by Anita Jackson (pictured, bottom left), with help from drummer Montez Coleman, pianist Adaron “Pops” Jackson, bassist Bob DeBoo, and saxophonist Ben Reece.

Elsewhere around town, drummer Steve Davis, singer Feyza Eren, and band will perform at the Ozark Theatre; and Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, April 22
The Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival concludes with a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dizzy Gillespie, featuring Gillespie's protege Jon Faddis and Friends, at the Touhill.

Sunday, April 23
Singer Chuck Flowers will perform in a late-afternoon matinee at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Monday, April 24
Dizzy Atmosphere will play swing and Gypsy jazz for diners at The Shaved Duck, and the Webster University Jazz Singers will present their final performance of the semester at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus. 

Tuesday, April 25 
Troy's Jazz Gallery begins a new, weekly Tuesday night jam session hosted by drummer Montez Coleman.

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: 2017 Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival

This week, let's take a look at some videos of the headlining musicians for the 2017 Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, which will take place next Friday, April 21 and Saturday, April 22 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

The event actually begins on Thursday with a day devoted to adjudicated performances by jazz bands from area high schools, along with clinics for student musicians, followed by the public concerts on Friday and Saturday at the Touhill.

This year, Friday's concert is billed as a tribute to Louis Armstrong, and will feature trumpeter Terell Stafford, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, and saxophonist/flutist Chris Vadala, along with the University of Missouri-St. Louis Big Band directed by bassist Jim Widner, who heads both the festival and UMSL's jazz program.

On Saturday, the concert will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dizzy Gillespie by featuring one of his more notable proteges, trumpeter Jon Faddis "and Friends," which for this occasion will include Stafford, Vadala, trombonist Andre Hayward, drummer Ignacio Berroa, and trumpeter Nick Marchione, plus the UMSL Big Band.

You can see Stafford in the first video up above, a full set of music paying tribute to trumpeter Lee Morgan that was recorded in October 2016 at Dizzy's Club in NYC's Jazz at Lincoln Center. Stafford is accompanied by his close friend and fellow Philadelphia native Tim Warfield on tenor sax, Bruce Barth on piano, Peter Washington on bass, and Billy Williams on drums.

After the jump, you can see a full set of music featuring Gordon, also recorded at Dizzy's Club in November of last year. Joining Gordon are Adrian Cunningham (tenor sax, clarinet, flute), Ehud Asherie (piano), Corcoran Holt (bass), and Alvin Atkinson Jr. (drums), plus guest trombonist Corey Wilcox.

Finding recent, high-quality clips of Vadala was something of a challenge. Since he's a very active clinician with high school and college jazz programs - he was last here in St. Louis in 2012 working with students from Webster Groves High School and Western Illinois University - there are dozens of amateur shaky-cam videos of him on YouTube performing as guest soloist with various student groups all around the country, but most of them devote as much time to the ensembles as to Vadala, or have audio/video quality below even StLJN's rather forgiving standards.

In the end, the best available, recently shot, close-up showcase for Vadala seemed to be the next two clips, which feature him playing with a band called the Eastern Standard Time Jazz Quartet at the 2016 Takoma Park JazzFest in Maryland.

Finally, you can check out a couple of clips of Faddis, first doing a dueling-trumpets thing with Wynton Marsalis on an arrangement of Dizzy Gillespie's "Things To Come," and then playing Tadd Dameron's "If You Could See Me Now" with the Barcelona Jazz Orquestra.

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

Sunday Session: April 17, 2016

Cecil Taylor

Some interesting music-related items that have landed in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Steve Miller with Jimmie Vaughan: Live at JALC - Blues, roots and "Blue Skies" (Jazz Times)
* Tony Conrad: 1940–2016 (Frieze.com)
* Tony Conrad: 10 Essential Recordings From the Drone Pioneer (Rolling Stone)
* This Is How Much Summer Festival Players Earn -- From VIP Experience Valets to Main-Stage Bookers (Billboard)
* See Newly Discovered Photos Of Jazz Legends Playing In Portland (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
* Bill Evans Studio Album Unearthed (DownBeat)
* John Cage composition hidden for 38 years makes its debut in Los Angeles (The Guardian UK)
* Clarksdale Mississippi’s Juke Joint Festival Is Revitalizing the Birthplace of the Blues (AmericanBluesScene.com)
* Here’s why the music labels are furious at YouTube. Again. (Recode.net)
* What Are The Odds Of Landing A Pop Hit? (TheFader.com)
* Jazz Fest Producer Quint Davis on Surviving Katrina, the 'Economics of Creativity' and Making an Eclectic Lineup Work (Billboard)
* The Cleanest Recordings of 1920s Louis Armstrong Songs You’ll Ever Hear (OpenCulture.com)
* Moog’s DIY Kit Is a Fantastic Crash Course for Synth Noobs (Wired)
* Free, Open Spaces: Brian Eno's Favourite Records (The Quietus)
* Gordon Presents Original Film Score at Savannah Music Fest (DownBeat)
* Omnivore To Release Singer-Songwriter Box Set by Beat Poet Allen Ginsberg (DownBeat)
* Despite health problems, jazz legend Sonny Rollins, 85, vows to return to form (South China Morning Post)
* Even Superlungs has to pay the pawn shop (Washington Post)
* The Unoriginal Originality of Led Zeppelin (The New Yorker)
* The 28 best jazz films (The Telegraph UK)
* Sounds of the Future: A Historical Primer on Synths in Sci-Fi Movies (Soundfly.com)
* The Untold History of Aretha Franklin's Irrevocable "Respect" (Elle)
* Review: Cecil Taylor at the Whitney Museum - Episodic and reactive, a series of unfolding events (Jazz Times)
* Cecil Taylor review – double helping of magic from free jazz pioneer (The Guardian UK)
* Q&A With Stefon Harris: A Manifestation of Artistry (DownBeat)
* Tom Waits Makes a List of His Top 20 Favorite Albums of All Time (OpenCulture.com)

"Statesmen of Jazz" to return Saturday, August 28 at Harris-Stowe

Broadcaster and jazz advocate Don Wolff sends word that another concert by the "Statesmen of Jazz" has been scheduled for Saturday, August 28 at Harris-Stowe State University.

The first event held in August 2009 featured an all-star group of jazz performers raising funds for the Wolff Jazz Institute at Harris-Stowe. This year's event will feature a similarly stellar ensemble, once again including trombonist Wycliffe Gordon (pictured), who also was part of last year's show.

Other performers will include trumpeter Joe Wilder, guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, clarinetist/saxophonist Bob Wilber, drummer Jackie Williams and bassist Frank Tate, along with return appearances from St. Louis' own Jim Widner on bass and singer Denise Thimes, plus young local pianist Stephanie Trick.

More details on the show, tickets prices, and so on will be available soon from the Wolff Jazz Institute at Harris-Stowe State University; when they're released, we'll have them for you here.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Previewing "A Night of Jazz Greats"

This week, let's look at video clips featuring some of the musicians who will be in St. Louis next Saturday, August 29 to perform in "A Night of Jazz Greats" at Harris-Stowe State University.

The concert, a benefit for the Wolff Jazz Institute at Harris-Stowe, will be headlined by St. Louis native Clark Terry and emceed by Don Wolff, for whom the Wolff Jazz Institute is named. Joining Terry on stage will be an all-star group of musicians from all around the country, plus St. Louis' own Jim Widner on bass and Denise Thimes on vocals.

Fittingly, given his stature as hometown hero and elder statesman of the group, Terry was featured solo in this space last week. Today's parade of clips will give you looks at all but one of the visitors who will be joining him on stage next Saturday. From the top, you can see:

* Trombonist Wycliffe Gordon soloing on the Ellington/Tizol standard "Caravan", in a performance at the "Trombone Summit" in 2007 at the Dakota in Minneapolis;

* Tenor saxophonist Houston Person, performing "Since I Fell For You' with the David Leonhardt Trio in a outdoor concert recorded in August, 2008;

* Trumpeter Randy Sandke, performing with the New York All Stars and showing his trad chops and authentic feel on "My Pretty Girl" at the 2008 Bix Beiderbecke Jazz Festival in Davenport, IA;

* Drummer and vibes player Chuck Redd, playing with his pianist brother Robert Redd and bassist Tommy Cecil at the Montpelier Arts Center in Vermont;

* Pianist Rossano Sportiello, with a hyper-caffeinated rendition of "After You've Gone" from the 2007 Jazz Ascona Festival;

* And bassist and singer Nicki Parrott performing "I Don't Know Enough About You" with drummer Chuck Braman's trio (featuring Art Hirahara on piano) at Sweet Rhythm in NYC.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any performance footage featuring drummer Eddie Locke, though you can see a short clip of him talking about some of the influences on his drumming here.