So What: Local News, Notes & Links

One day earlier than usual thanks to the holidays, here's StLJN's weekly wrap-up of assorted links and short news items of local interest:

* Trumpeter, singer and U. City native Jeremy Davenport (pictured) made news this week in his current hometown New Orleans with a cover version of "The Christmas Song" recorded with his 15-year-old daughter (and also including a piano track from St. Louisan Adam Maness).

* Although Jim Manley wasn't able to do his annual Christmas show this year at Jazz St. Louis, the trumpeter earlier this week live-streamed a holiday-themed performance from the Gaslight Theater, joined by Bob Row on keyboard, Joe Weber on drums, Larry Johnson on saxophone, and Jim Owens on trombone. If you missed the original live stream, you can catch it now on YouTube.

* Singer Debby Lennon's recent holiday show at Blue Strawberry was reviewed by KDHX's Chuck Lavazzi.

* Also debuting this week on video is A New Holiday, an original, locally produced Christmas musical written by singer Brian Owens and actor Sophia Stephens that features several jazz connections, starting with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, drummer Montez Coleman, bassist Jahmal Nichols, and pianist Peter Martin in the opening scene.

The production also includes appearances from saxophonist David Sanborn; singers Kennedy Holmes (seen recently on NBC’s The Voice), Anita Jackson, Bebe Winans, and Karen Clark-Sheard; dance students from Grand Center Arts Academy; and more, plus animation by St. Louis-based Lion Forge Animation. It was recorded in St. Louis at locations including Jazz St Louis, Powell Hall, and The Sheldon, and after two broadcast airings on Nine Network, now can be seen on YouTube.

* As reported by the St. Louis Labor Tribune's Sheri Gassaway, members of Musicians’ Association of St. Louis Local 2-197 this year during the pandemic have worked to raise funds for charity and put on numerous free outdoor performances in the community.

Sunday Session: October 18, 2020

Charles McPherson

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest:

* The Many Instruments of Stanley Crouch, Who Transformed the Entirety of Jazz and Cultural Criticism (Mother Jones)
* Wynton Marsalis Says Cultural Con Jobs Began Long Before Trump (The Daily Beast)
* Late night TV musicians push for parity in pay, health care and residuals (KCRW)
* Alone Together: A Q&A with Pianist Benny Green (SFJAZZ.org)
* Philly’s jazz community improvising to deal with COVID-19 (Philadelphia Inquirer)
* Visionary who turned down a gig with Miles Davis and pivoted to cardiology (among other pursuits) is subject of Philly ICA show (Philadelphia Inquirer)
* The company that has a monopoly on ice cream truck music (TheHustle.co)
* Charles McPherson Straddles The Artistic Fence (DownBeat)
* Stevie Wonder Releases First New Music in 15 Years (Rolling Stone)
* He Helps Folk Musicians Stay Alive (Ozy.com)
* Sheet music sales soar 25% as UK turns to piano practice during Covid lockdown (INews.co.uk)
* Theo Croker Exemplifies This Moment In Jazz (DownBeat)
* Mary Halvorson: New York City and the Pull of the Moon (BarryCleveland.com)
* The Spiritual Power of Pharoah Sanders (TheVinylFactory.com)
* Diana Krall Reflects on Her Creative Process, Her Late Producer, and an Emotive New Album (WBGO)
* 50 Years Ago B.B. King's 'Indianola Mississippi Seeds' Retooled R&B (PopMatters.com)
* An Oral History Of Tom Petty’s Landmark 1994 Album, ‘Wildflowers’ (Uproxx.com)
* Billy Childs Engages The Vastness Of Music (DownBeat)
* A Love Supreme: Carlos Santana and Cindy Blackman Santana on Coltrane, Miles and Making Music Together (Jazziz)
* Gearhead: Memories of the Guitorgan (Jazz Times)
* Field Studies: Manfred Eicher, Founder of ECM Records, Picks His Top Five Blue Note Albums (WBGO)
* Field Studies: Don Was, President of Blue Note Records, Picks His Top Five ECM Albums (WBGO)
* Are We Reaching Peak Streaming Subscriptions? (Billboard)
* Michael Cuscuna: In The Vault Playing God (AllAboutJazz.com)
* The Tragedy of Stanley Crouch (Counterpunch.org)
* Randy Brecker: Overdue Ovation (Jazz Times)
* “AngelHeaded Hipster”: Hal Willner Does T. Rex (The New Yorker)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, part 3

This week, let's take one more trip into the video vault of NYC's Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. While the two previous posts here featuring JaLCO have emphasized their capabilities as a repertory ensemble, this week's selection of videos is more of a grab bag, with three shows offering interpretations of familiar material and and three spotlighting original works by the orchestra's members.

To get things started, the first video up above, "Lush Life: Celebrating Billy Strayhorn," was recorded in June 2016 and surveys the sometimes-underappreciated career of the composer and arranger who served as Duke Ellington's right-hand man and rehearsal pianist, and also wrote many significant pieces of music for the Ellington band, including the signature song, "Take The A Train."

After the jump, you can see "Jazz in the Key of Life," a program from January 2016 in which the orchestra presents arrangements of popular music from the 1960s to today, including songs by Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, The Beatles, Elton John, and more.

That's followed by, as the old saying goes, something completely different in the form of "Nursery Song Swing," which features JaLCO's original arrangements of various folk, traditional, and contemporary songs for children as recorded in March, 2018.

Next, it's "The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Songbook," a sampler of various original compositions and arrangements from Marsalis and other members of the orchestra, recorded in October 2017.

The fifth video, titled "Spiritual Sounds & The Jazz Age," features extended works from two longtime JaLCO members, saxophonist/clarinetist Victor Goines and trombonist Chris Crenshaw. Both Goines' "Untamed Elegance" and Crenshaw’s "God’s Trombones" were recorded as part of the same program in January of this year.

The final video, which documents Marsalis' original suite "The Abyssinian Mass," was recorded in November 2019 and featuring the Chorale Le Chateau along with the orchestra.

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

Sunday Session: September 6, 2020

Makaya McCraven

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest:

* Play what you see: how graphic scores can unleash your inner musical genius (The Guardian)
* At home with Paul McCartney: His most candid interview yet (GQ)
* Trent Reznor talks ‘Watchmen’ score, covering Bowie’s “Life on Mars” & more in new interview (BrooklynVegan.com)
* Chick Corea: Chelsea boy makes good (Bay State Banner)
* The Friendship Of Kahil El’Zabar And David Murray Grows Deeper (DownBeat)
* Stonehenge enhanced sounds like voices or music for people inside the monument (Science News)
* Dolly Jones, the First Recorded Female Jazz Trumpeter (Reverb.com)
* Endless Field Records in the Wild (Jazz Times)
* In Memoriam: Saxophonist Mark Colby (DownBeat)
* Kenny Washington’s Slow Rise to Vocal Stardom (Jazz Times)
* Who will own the virtual concert space? (Music Industry Blog)
* Makaya McCraven: Cross Border Traffic (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Personal Story: My failed music career (New Statesman)
* Live Music Is On Life Support (Offbeat)
* Wynton Marsalis: ‘Continue to fight for the world you envision’ (San Jose Mercury News)
* Meet the Man Who Used Kraftwerk, Fela Kuti, and Other Fascinating Music to Try to Lure Aliens to Earth (Pitchfork.com)
* Maria Schneider Split Between Natural, Digital Worlds (DownBeat)
* “It Takes a While to Perfect Your Soul”: A Conversation With Sonny Rollins (Tidal.com)
* The Jazz Collective Drowning Out Far-Right Rallies with Terrible Music (Vice.com)
* The John Cage work performed over 639 years (DW.com)

Sunday Session: July 26, 2020

Charles Tolliver

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest:

* After The All-Stars: Live At The Lighthouse 1960-1972 (WFIU)
* Of “St. James Infirmary” and COVID-19 (Jazz Times)
* Wynton Marsalis On The Future Of New York City (Gothamist.com)
* Emitt Rhodes, RIP (BrooklynVegan.com)
* Soft Machine today (TheBlueMoment.com)
* Charles Tolliver: Blowing Down The Walls Of Trump’s Jericho (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Electric Sitars of the Psychedelic Era (Reverb.com)
* Setbacks Are Not Defeats For James Carter, Regina Carter (DownBeat)
* The Force Is Still Strong with John Williams (The New Yorker)
* The Man They Called ‘Trane’, Remembering A Jazz Giant (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Muddy Waters’ Former Chicago Home to Be Converted Into Museum (Rolling Stone)
* Q magazine's demise signals the end of the old music press (The Guardian)
* The Shifting Technique Of Kurt Rosenwinkel (DownBeat)
* Vocalist Annie Ross Dies At 89 (DownBeat)
* Sing into the funnel please: inside the Covid-19 lab hoping to declare singing safe (The Guardian)
* A Genre of Myths: A Jazz Reading List (Longreads.com)
* Annie Ross 1930–2020 (Jazz Times)
* Back To Square One, Uh, Phase Two (Offbeat)
* Lift Every Voice And Sing: Twenty Rousing #BlackLivesMatter Albums (AllAboutJazz.com)
* From a funk band to The Rex to Downbeat magazine. Jazz pianist Kris Davis won’t be pigeonholed (Toronto Star)
* Trane of No-Thought: How Meditation Inspired Jazz Great John Coltrane (LionsRoar.com)
* Gregory Porter To Perform For Launch Of NASA’S Mars 2020 Mission (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Annie Ross, Mid-Century Jazz Icon, Dead At 89 (NPR)
* The Newport Rebels and Jazz as Protest (JStor.org)
* The Golden Age: A Newport Jazz Festival Special (NPR)
* Composer Maria Schneider Returns, With A Reckoning, On 'Data Lords' (WBGO)
* Self-Determined, Then and Now: A Focus on Charles Tolliver (WBGO)
* In Conversation: Kamasi Washington, Robert Glasper, 9th Wonder, and Terrace Martin Invite You to Their Dinner Party (FloodMagazine.com)
* We Bet You Miss Weddings. America's Greatest Wedding Band Does Too (GQ)
* ‘Sex Machine’ at 50: Bootsy Collins Recalls ‘Twilight Zone’ Origins of Funky James Brown Hit (Rolling Stone)
* How Long Can New Orleans Survive Without Live Music? (Slate.com)

Items re-ordered 8/1/20 to fix a display issue.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra's newly released recording of Wynton Marsalis' "Swing Symphony" (pictured), also featuring the trumpeter and composer and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, was the subject of a short feature story by the Post-Dispatch's Sarah Bryan Miller.

* Speaking of new releases, singer and keyboardist Katarra Parson, one of the Kranzberg Arts Foundation's 2019-20 music artists-in-residence, spoke with writer Thomas Crone for a St. Louis magazine article about her upcoming album Cocoa Voyage, which comes out in October.

* The Radio Arts Foundation (aka Classic 107.3) will raise funds next month with "Wine and Jazz Under the Stars," an event set for Friday, September 20 at the Columbia Foundation for the Arts. Tickets are $95 per person, which includes wine, appetizers, and music from Elsie Parker and the Poor People of Paris. For more details or to make a reservation, visit the station's website.

* Singer and multi-instrumentalist Tonina Saputo announced this week via Twitter that she has signed a contract with Empire, a San Francisco-based label that releases hip-hop, R&B and more from a roster than includes rap veteran Snoop Dogg as well as many younger artists.

* To promote the theatrical release of the new documentary Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, the film's producers have released another clip from the movie, with the first look at the excerpt appearing on the website of Billboard magazine.

* With this month being the 60th anniversary of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, there's been a flurry of related items showing up in the news, including historic overviews of the album and its significance from OpenCulture.com, Albumism.com and Counterpunch.

* In addition, drummer Jimmy Cobb, who at 90 years old is the only musician still living who played on Kind of Blue, was interviewed about the sessions by Billboard and the Associated Press.

* In related news, NPR asked bassist Christian McBride to take a look back at Davis' album Bitches Brew, which is 50 years old this summer.

* Lastly, Davis' nephew Vince Wilburn Jr. and his son Erin Davis were interviewed by CBC Canada about Kind of Blue, Bitches Brew, and the trumpeter's musical legacy.

Sunday Session: May 12, 2019

Pharoah Sanders

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest, drawn from StLJN's inboxes, newsfeeds, and assorted other sources:

* The Resurrection of Buddy Bolden (DownBeat)
* Music Sermon: The Quiet Storm Is Still Brewing (Vibe.com)
* Frank Zappa: making a jazz noise (Jazz Journal)
* Bill Frisell is on the hunt for the next musical epiphany (Guitar.com)
* Preserving The House Of A Pioneering Musician — Who We Will Never Hear (NPR)
* The Blues Trail Is A Soulful Sojourn Into Mississippi’s Past (Uproxx.com)
* Wynton Marsalis Chooses His Top 50 Essential Jazz Recordings (Jazz.org)
* ‘New Bottle Old Wine’: The Gil Evans Classic That Gets Better With Age (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* There’s a Musician’s Union. Many Musicians Are Unaware — or Unable to Join (Rolling Stone)
* Herbie Hancock Aims Jazz Day All-Star Concert Towards A World In 'Turmoil' (NPR)
* David Crosby Doubles Down (Shepherd Express)
* Sly and The Family Stone’s ‘Stand!’ Turns 50 | Anniversary Retrospective (Albumism.com)
* Tucked away in Southwest Baltimore: The low-key cool jazz club of your dreams (BaltimoreBrew.com)
* Drummer Terri Lyne Carrington Talks Berklee Institute of Jazz, Gender Justice: 'Gender Equity Is Everybody's Work' (Billboard)
* Barkan, Wiedmaier Team for Keystone Korner Baltimore (DownBeat)
* Joey DeFrancesco and Pharoah Sanders: Meeting of the Spirits (Jazz Times)
* After 50 Years, Inclusive, Locally Focused Spirit of NOLA Festival Persists (DownBeat)
* New Study Finds 73% of Independent Musicians Suffer From Symptoms of Mental Illness (Billboard)
* Before & After: Lewis Porter (Jazz Times)
* Hearing the “Bo Diddley Beat” in Everything (Soundfly.com)
* 50 Years of Jazz Fest: Mickey Hart’s Ghosts of Congo Square (Relix)
* My father recorded young Bob Dylan: How the historic "Minneapolis Party Tape" was made (Salon.com)

Sunday Session: May 5, 2019

Regina Carter

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest, drawn from StLJN's inboxes, newsfeeds, and assorted other sources:

* Wynton Marsalis on Bringing the Story of Jazz Originator Buddy Bolden to the Big Screen (Billboard)
* More Than 'Kind Of Blue': In 1959, A Few Albums Changed Jazz Forever (NPR)
* An Open Letter to Bill Frisell (ImmuneToBoredom.com)
* Violinist Regina Carter Searches For Roots, in an Excerpt of Mark Stryker's 'Jazz From Detroit' (WBGO)
* Ralph Alessi Reconvenes Ensemble for ‘Imaginary Friends’ (DownBeat)
* We untangle the many strings of North Philly poet, actor and activist Moor Mother (Philadelphia Weekly)
* Black Utopia: The Funkadelic Art of Pedro Bell (Afropunk.com)
* 13 Young Jazz Musicians Shaping The Future Of Jazz (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Music Streaming Services Are Gaslighting Us (UseJournal.com)
* Playing Changes: Music And Conversation With Jazz Writer Nate Chinen (WFIU)
* Wynton Marsalis on 12 Essential Jazz Recordings (Rolling Stone)
* Herbie Hancock: 'I felt like I stood on the shoulders of giants and now it's my turn' (The Guardian)
* Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram Carries the Blues Forward (Nashville Scene)
* Interview: Dan Tepfer, the Musician Coding the Future of Concerts (CoolHunting.com)
* Field Notes From the Rock Critic Wars (Rolling Stone)
* In Melbourne and Sydney, International Jazz Day Explores Cultural Exchange (DownBeat)
* Machines Can Create Art, but Can They Jam? (Scientific American)
* How does music affect our emotions? Neuroscience may hold the key (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
* Louis Armstrong: nobody’s fool (Jazz Journal)
* Wayne Shorter, Linda May Han Oh Among 2019 JJA Jazz Awards Winners (Jazz Times)
* Good vibrations: I purified myself in a sound bath (TheOutline.com)
* The Birthplace Of Country Music's First Hit Is Being Threatened By Modern Construction (NPR)
* The Scott Joplin Memorial Concerts at St. Michael’s Cemetery (The Syncopated Times)

Sunday Session: December 9, 2018

Dexter Gordon

Here's a roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* All-too-easy listening - The music industry sells classical as soothing background music — robbing a great art of its power (Washington Post)
* Marcus Strickland Harnesses Power of Vocalists, Organ on Latest Album (DownBeat)
* The Multiple Personalities of Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks (ConsequenceOfSound.net)
* Jeff Simon: Is posthumous jazz a problem or a glorious resurrection? (Buffalo News)
* Wynton Marsalis: Jazz And Holiday Music Go Together Like Holly And Ivy (HoustonPublicMedia.org)
* Esperanza Spalding says goodbye to song-driven shows (Washington Post)
* It’s official: Galactic has purchased Tipitina’s (Offbeat)
* This Thing Never Stops: Roscoe Mitchell and Phillip Greenlief in Conversation (SFMOMA.org)
* Jazz Is Dance Music Again (Rolling Stone)
* The Life Force of Esperanza Spalding (OfficeMagazine.net)
* The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition Has a Winner (WBGO)
* Classical Hands: Composer Kris Bowers on Scoring ‘Green Book,’ Teaching Mahershala Ali Piano, Seeing His Hands On Screen (Pollstar)
* The good fight: Jan Ramsey keeps music journalism alive in New Orleans (Columbia Journalism Review)
* St. Nick: The Long, Strange and Wonderful Career of Nick Lowe (Rolling Stone)
* Interview: Milford Graves (Modern Drummer)
* Can We Get to That (Oxford American)
* Indie Labels Now Account for 39.9% of the Global Recorded Music Market (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Dexter Gordon Biography 'Sophisticated Giant' Chronicles a Jazz Life (Billboard)
* The Unclassifiable, Unstreamable Eighties Albums of Annette Peacock (The New Yorker)
* Sachal Vasandani Celebrates the American Songbook (Jazz Times)
* At 80, Saxophonist Charles Lloyd Finds Enlightenment in the Groove (NPR)
* Jazz legend Herbie Hancock becomes first musician to receive Ben Franklin Medal (WHYY)
* Hi Records star and instrumental hitmaker Ace Cannon dead at 84 (Memphis Commercial Appeal)
* Selling Vintage Records in Tokyo (LongReads.com)
* Covering both sides: Catherine Russell and John Pizzarelli (Santa Fe New Mexican)
* Playing the theory of relativity: Sunny Murray in Europe 1968–72 (The Wire)
* Daversa, Salvant, Mehldau Nominated for Grammy Awards (DownBeat)
* 'Fight The Power': A Tale Of 2 Anthems (With The Same Name) (NPR)
* Feds allege wider cover-up by Irvin Mayfield, Ronald Markham in New Orleans Library Foundation scandal (New Orleans Advocate)

Jazz this week: Ghost Note, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Joey Alexander, Lettuce, Cornet Chop Suey, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features a nice mix of headlining performers, offering styles from funk to big band to vintage jazz to mainstream and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, October 10
Ghost Note, the instrumental funk band founded by Snarky Puppy percussionists Robert “Sput” Searight and Nate Werth (pictured, top left), will perform at the Old Rock House.

Incorporating influences from Afrobeat, hip-hop, and more, they're touring in support of their second album Swagism, which was released in April of this year.

Also on Wednesday, Jazz St. Louis' "Whitaker Jazz Speaks" series of free lecture/discussions with music continues with Marc Myers, who writes about jazz for the Wall Street Journal and other publications, expounding on "1950: The Year Jazz Changed on Two Coasts."

Myers' presentation will be paired with performances of music associated with Dave Brubeck, the Modern Jazz Quartet, and Gerry Mulligan, plus Miles Davis’s complete Birth of the Cool.

Thursday, October 11
Saxophonist Paul DeMarinis leads a trio in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, and the Jim Widner Big Band will play a one-nighter at Jazz St. Louis. 

Also on Thursday, singer Joe Mancuso continues his weekly gig featuring different special guests at  50/Fifty Kitchen, and guitarist Dave Black performs at The Pat Connolly Tavern.

Friday, October 12
Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (pictured, bottom left) to provide the music for the annual fundraiser at the Sheldon Concert Hall. (Some concert-only tickets still may be available; contact the Sheldon's box office for the latest information.)

This year marks the 30th anniversary of JaLCO's founding, and they've released two recordings in 2018 - one documenting various guest star performances with the orchestra over the years, and the other capturing an evening backing singer/actor Ruben Blades. While those guest stars won't be at the Sheldon, the band's deep catalog of original and historic arrangements, developed over the last three decades, should offer the gala-goers ample possibilities for enjoyable listening.

Also on Friday, Grammy-nominated, teenage piano phenom Joey Alexander returns for the first of two nights of performances at Jazz St. Louis; funk/jazz band Lettuce is in town to play at the Atomic Cowboy Pavilion; and singer Anita Jackson will do the late show at The Dark Room

Saturday, October 13
Singer Wendy Gordon and friends, including singer Renee Smith and singer/bassist Eugene Johnson will present a matinee performance of "Different Shades Of The Blues" at the Ozark Theatre.

Later that night, keyboardist Mo Egeston will be at The Dark Room leading his trio, which will be joined this week by guest vocalist Chrissy Renick.

Sunday, October 14
Singer and bassist Janet Evra plays for brunch at The Dark Room, while Miss Jubilee will entertain at Evangeline's.

Also on Sunday, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents Cornet Chop Suey playing traditional jazz and swing in a matinee concert at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel St. Louis - Westport

Tuesday, October 16
Trumpeter Jim Manley and guitarist Rick Haydon play 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.)

Sunday Session: October 7, 2018

Jerry González

Here's a roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* This Record Label Is What The Future Of Music Business Looks Like (Forbes)
* Wynton Marsalis on his animal ballet, teen funk band days, kazoos and Jazz at Lincoln Center's 31 years (San Diego Union Tribune)
* Q&A: Betty Davis looks back at her fiery funk legacy (Now Toronto)
* It’s Still Not Betty Davis Time, But We’re Getting There (Jazz Times)
* Guggenheim Says Spotify’s Major Label Renegotiations Will Significantly Lower Royalty Obligations (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Tony Bennett & Diana Krall: Streetwise, Yet Sophisticated (DownBeat)
* Jerry González Dies After Fire in His Madrid Home: Report (Billboard)
* Jerry González, Latin Jazz Visionary, Dies After House Fire (NPR)
* Jerry González Dies at 69 (Jazz Times)
* New Doc ‘Fire Music’ Sets the Record Straight on Free Jazz (Rolling Stone)
* Quincy Jones: Celebrating Seven Decades of Music (Billboard)
* Dizzy Gillespie Documentary in the Works (Jazz Times)
* Review: One Note At A Time (Jazz Journal)
* Monterey Jazz Festival Features Highly Charged Performances (DownBeat)
* Tom Petty’s Biographer on the Story He Didn’t Tell (Rolling Stone)
* Jazz Needs A "LeBron James Mentality": A Conversation With The West Coast Get Down's Cameron Graves (SFJAZZ.org)
* How the Music Modernization Act will help artists get paid more from streaming (TheVerge.com)
* How Geoff Emerick Helped the Beatles Reinvent Music (Rolling Stone)
* Geoff Emerick threw himself into the Beatles' experiments (The Guardian)
* Joey Baron’s Deep Listening Manifesto (DownBeat)
* New York Hot Jazz Festival Celebrates Music of New Orleans and Paris (DownBeat)
* Jaimie Branch on International Anthem Fostering Community (DownBeat)
* Hear the Earliest Surviving Radio Broadcast by Duke Ellington, A Historic Find, in Deep Dive (WBGO)
* The 40 Greatest Movie Soundtracks of All Time (Vulture.com)
* Guest Blog: Musicians Deserve More (Offbeat)
* Do Not Seek For Things Outside Yourself: The Compositional Journey of Tyshawn Sorey (BrooklynRail.org)
* Ethan Iverson: At the Crossroads of Jazz and Classical Music (DownBeat)
* The Art Ensemble of Chicago Celebrates 50 Years Of Channeling And Challenging History (NPR)
* Kamasi Washington on Igor Stravinsky, Art Blakey, and a Certain Vintage Arcade Game (WBGO)
* A Look Back At How Virtuoso Jimmy Blanton Changed The Bass Forever (NPR)

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Wynton Marsalis returning Friday, October 12 for benefit concert at The Sheldon

Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra are returning to St. Louis to perform at 8:00 p.m. Friday, October 12 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Marsalis and the JaLCO (pictured) were here most recently in May of this year to perform the trumpeter's "Swing Symphony" with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra at Powell Hall.

Their most recent recording United We Swing: Best of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Galas, which came out earlier this year, compiles performances by the band with a variety of guest musicians at various JALC events between 2003 and 2007.

The upcoming concert here in St. Louis will benefit education programs at The Sheldon, which serve more than 30,000 local students per year. Patron tickets, which include a pre-concert reception, complimentary parking, preferred seating and a tax deduction, are $150 each and can be purchased now by calling The Sheldon at 314-533-9900.

Concert-only tickets will be priced at $65 orchestra, $55 balcony, and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Saturday August 11 via Metrotix and the Sheldon box office.

Sunday Session: May 27, 2018

Bennie Maupin

Here's a roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* Bird's just a word but if you own a jazz bar it can land you in strife (The Age)
* How the Music Industry Messed Up Legal Streaming the First Time Around (Vice.com)
* It’s OK To Like Free Jazz (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Flow is Everything: Composer Henry Threadgill Dishes the 'Dirt' and More on The Checkout (WBGO)
* 'We Kept The Music Going': Bernard Purdie On Drumming For Aretha And More (NPR)
* ‘There will be a number one song that’s 100% AI-written’ (Musically.com)
* Carla Bley Extravaganza (EthanIverson.com)
* Frank Vignola: Given the Gift of Life (Jazz Times)
* Bennie Maupin Said No to Miles Davis and Survived in Jazz (Westword)
* Reggie Lucas, Guitarist And Producer Of Madonna's Debut, Has Died (WBGO)
* How did music become so unimportant? (GetIntoThis.co.uk)
* Jazz musician Wynton Marsalis says rap and hip-hop are ‘more damaging than a statue of Robert E. Lee’ (Washington Post)
* Jazz Musician Wynton Marsalis Claims Hip Hop Is "More Damaging Than A Statue Of Robert E. Lee" (HipHopDX.com)
* The Beatles' Esher Demos: The Lost Basement Tapes That Became the White Album (Rolling Stone)
* The 50 Best Jazz Bassists Of All Time (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Sony in $2.3 billion deal for EMI, becomes world's biggest music publisher (Reuters.com)
* Dissonant Intervals & Bittersweet Symphonies: Music’s Past, Present & Future (Medium.com)
* Guitars Are Getting More Popular. So Why Do We Think They’re Dying? (Rolling Stone)
* Looking Back, and Now Forward, As Delmark Records Faces a Crossroads (WBGO)
* Why Are Pop Stars Trying to Be Performance Artists? (The New Yorker)
* Recording Academy CEO Neil Portnow Accused by Fired Staffer of Funneling Funds From MusiCares Charity (Billboard)
* Bach at the Burger King (Los Angeles Review of Books)
* The Father of Gospel Music Wanted to Be a Secular Star (Christianity Today)
* What's That Building? The Sunset Cafe Mural (WBEZ)
* Letter From Saint Petersburg - In 2018, International Jazz Day brings the beyond-politics cultural diplomacy of the U.N. to Russia (Jazz Times)

Sunday Session: May 20, 2018

Shabaka Hutchings

Here's a roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* New Orleans Celebrates Itself at Jazz Fest (Jazz Times)
* A Lifetime of Carla Bley (The New Yorker)
* Blanchard's trumpet sounds a call of protest (Minnesota Public Radio)
* Matt Marks, Versatile Composer And Musician, Dies At 38 (NPR)
* Guitarist & Composer Glenn Branca Dies at 69 (Billboard)
* Wynton Marsalis & Ethan Iverson: A Conversation on Jazz & Race (Jazz Times)
* Inside Cumbia's New Wave: How Raymix, Becky G Are Updating a Classic Genre (Rolling Stone)
* New Orleans Festival Hosts Generations (DownBeat)
* Spelman College Quietly Eliminates One Of The Country's Few Jazz Programs For Women (WBGO)
* 'The Jazz Ambassadors': When Dizzy and Satchmo Diplomacy Swung the Cold War (PopMatters.com)
* Checking In With Bob Ciano (NostalgiaKing.com)
* 'Isn't This Amazing?': Brian Eno's Boundless Curiosity (Rolling Stone)
* JazzFest Bonn Tinged by Air of Classical (DownBeat)
* The World of Cecil Taylor (New York Review of Books)
* Now TIDAL is accused of failing to pay record labels on time (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Interview \\ Shabaka Hutchings on taking up space and his account on an unjust police arrest (EZHMag.com)
* YouTube Expanding Music Credits on Videos (Pitchfork.com)
* Why Psychological Analysis Shows We're Right To Worry For Musicians' Mental Health (TheQuietus.com)
* Dweezil Zappa Shares ‘Good News’ Post About Resolving Family Issues (Jambase.com)
* What Artists Get Wrong With Their Vinyl Releases: A Conversation with Masterdisk’s Scott Hull (Reverb.com)
* First Listen: Joshua Redman, 'Still Dreaming' (NPR)
* Someone called 911, but this man’s maple instrument wasn’t a gun. It was a bassoon (Springfield News Sun)
* Mojos Working: A History Of Recorded Blues (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Cecil Taylor (1929-2018), Frank O’Hara, Amiri Baraka (Locus Solus: The New York School of Poets)
* Pianist Ahmad Jamal charted a new popularity for jazz (Wax Poetics)
* Reggie Lucas, Miles Davis Guitarist and Madonna Producer, Dead at 65 (Rolling Stone)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded Jazz St. Louis a $15,000 grant to support JSL's artist residency program.

* The St. Louis Symphony last weekend joined forces with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra to perform Marsalis' "Swing Symphony" at Powell Hall, and the performances - which also were SLSO music director and conductor David Robertson's final concerts with the orchestra - were reviewed by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Sarah Bryan Miller and KDHX's Chuck Lavazzi.

* Trumpeter Jim Manley has released a new album, Retro 80s, which is on sale now on all the usual online outlets, with CDs also available starting next Tuesday, May 15. The album (pictured) includes 10 original tunes by Manley featuring ""solo trumpet with a horn section and sounds of the 80s." You can listen to a compilation of some brief sample clips here.

* Speaking of new recordings, flute player and composer Fred Tompkins has just added a new track to his Bandcamp page and "Ongoing Additions" Facebook page. "The Sun" is a six-minute vocal piece incorporating texts by Emily Dickinson that was performed for the recording by mezzo-soprano Johanna Nordhorn, pianist Maryse Carlin, and drummer Kyle Honeycutt.

* Singer Denise Thimes was interviewed about this year's edition of her annual Mother's Day show by St. Louis Public Radio

* The St. Louis Stompers are headed to Fox Lake, WI next weekend to perform at the annual Bunny Berigan Jazz Jubilee.

* The Pocket, a combination bed-and-breakfast and rehearsal space geared to traveling bands and music fans, has opened for business in South St. Louis at 3501 Lemp, right next door to Off Broadway.

* The Sheldon Concert Hall has posted to Facebook an album of photos from Wednesday night's performance by Alarm Will Sound.

* The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department has arrested four suspects and recovered hundreds of items, including musical instruments and equipment, that were stolen over the past four years from vehicles downtown. The thieves are believed to be responsible for at least some of the rash of thefts that in recent years have plagued touring bands visiting St. Louis. If you or someone you know lost something to the crooks, you can check online to see if it is among the recovered property.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Wynton Marsalis' "Swing Symphony"

This week, let's take a look at Wynton Marsalis' "Swing Symphony," which will be performed here in St. Louis by the composer, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra on Friday, May 4; Saturday, May 5; and Sunday, May 6 at Powell Hall. The performances will be conducted by David Robertson in his final weekend as music director of the SLSO.

The third symphonic work written by Marsalis, "Swing Symphony" was commissioned jointly by the New York Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and London’s Barbican Center and was premiered in June, 2010 by the Berlin Philharmonic. It received its US premiere in September 2010 in a performance by the New York Philharmonic in conjunction with Jazz at Lincoln Center that was televised live on PBS.

In the first video up above, you can see Marsalis talking about the process of composition for "Swing Symphony" in a brief interview recorded for the New York Philharmonic at the time of the US premiere in 2010.

After the jump, you can see a more extensive interview with the composer about the work, recorded a few months later by Jazz at Lincoln Center in March 2011, and divided into four parts.

The final two videos are performances of "Swing Symphony," the first recorded by Marsalis, the JaLCO, and the Ceska Philhamonic with Wayne Marshall conducting in July of last year in Prague, Czech Republic. The second was recorded earlier this month by the Frankfurt (Germany) Radio Symphony and Frankfurt Radio Big Band, with Andrés Orozco-Estrada conducting.

While both performances no doubt have some differences in interpretation and feel from what the audience at Powell Hall will hear next weekend, the two versions - one with the composer and his hand-picked band, the other an interpretation by musicians with no prior connection to the work - should provide some good opportunities for comparing and contrasting.

You can read some reviews of past performances of "Swing Symphony" on Wynton Marsalis' website, including those published by the Sydney Morning Herald and London's The Telegraph. Other noteworthy reviews include one by The New Republic in 2010; the Los Angeles Times in 2011; and London Jazz News in 2012;

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

Sunday Session: January 21, 2018

Charles Mingus

Here's the roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* Interview: Paul McCartney On His Life as a Bassist | Bacon's Archive (Reverb.com)
* 25 Essential Jazz Soundtracks You Should Own (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* At Umbria, Multi-Media and Perfect Pitch (DownBeat)
* Johnny Cash's 'At Folsom Prison': Rosanne Cash Recalls Iconic Live Album (Rolling Stone)
* Too Much Music: A Failed Experiment In Dedicated Listening (NPR)
* Jimi Hendrix Collaborators on Assembling Guitarist's Long-Awaited New LP (Rolling Stone)
* Two Views From the Winter Jazzfest Marathon, Where Clamor and Conviction Abound (WBGO)
* Anchorage author chronicles 8-year friendship with Dizzy Gillespie (AlaskaPublic.org)
* For Wynton Marsalis, forgetting the roots of jazz is forgetting the history of race in America (The Undefeated.com)
* How Benny Goodman Orchestrated 'The Most Important Concert In Jazz History' (NPR)
* Notations: John Cage Publishes a Book of Graphic Musical Scores, Featuring Visualizations of Works by Leonard Bernstein, Igor Stravinsky, The Beatles & More (OpenCulture.com)
* Winter Jazzfest Gilded With Guitarists and Vocalists (DownBeat)
* Get The Lawyers In! Experts On The Del Rey vs Radiohead vs Hollies Case (TheQuietus.com)
* Interview: Vijay Iyer on Bay Area ties and how he’s not really that famous (San Jose Mercury News)
* 2018 Winter Jazzfest NYC - An overview of the marathon of jazz concerts and events during the 2018 Winter Jazzfest NYC (Jazz Times)
* Marching The Tradition Forward: Celebration of Preservation Hall Jazz Band (SFJAZZ.org)
* Swinging Along the Border: Charles Mingus' Album 'Tijuana Moods' Finds New Resonance (WBGO)
* Interview: Milford Graves (BombMagazine.org)
* Where To Start: The Cosmic Genius Of Sun Ra (ClashMusic.com)
* London’s young jazz heroes are crafting their own sound (HuckMagazine.com)

Sunday Session: January 29, 2017

Wynton Marsalis

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

* Errol Morris: The American Institution Of Philip Glass (NPR)
* Weekend LISTening: Rock Goes To The Symphony (NPR)
* Jamaica’s last vinyl factory Tuff Gong to start pressing records again (FactMag.com)
* Chuck Stewart, Master Jazz Photographer, Dies at 89 (WBGO)
* A Brief History of the Ownership of the Beatles Catalog (Billboard)
* From Flash Mobs To Janelle Monáe, Women's Marches Join A New Wave Of Protest Music (WBUR)
* John Cale’s Inventive Retrospection (The New Yorker)
* The History of Popularity (Los Angeles Review of Books)
* Sundance 2017: Grateful Dead Doc 'Long Strange Trip' Is Heartbreaking Tribute (Rolling Stone)
* FCC chairman nominee is bad news for musicians (Chicago Tribune)
* Founding Allman Brothers Band Drummer Butch Trucks Passes Away at 69 (JamBands.com)
* Can Wynton Marsalis and Lincoln Center Save Jazz Music? (Harvard Business School Weekly)
* The story of how 'Love Is All Around' became the theme to 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' (Los Angeles Times)
* Dr. John Has a New Music Director (Offbeat)
* How Laurie Anderson And Philip Glass Were About To Change The World (NPR)
* Jazz Innovators Unite for ‘Musicians Against Fascism’ Concert in NYC (DownBeat)
* Marilyn Maye: The Queen Of Cabaret (NPR)
* LSD May Help Reveal What Makes Music Meaningful (LiveScience.com)
* Music Must Compete In The "Attention Economy" says Sony Exec (Hypebot.com)
* Popular music magazine plots reunion tour in print (Columbia Journalism Review)
* NOLA Jazz Fest Announces Lineup (Jazz Times)

Sunday Session: November 6, 2016

Bob Cranshaw

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

* What Lady Gaga Finds Appealing in Reel-to-Reel (The New Yorker)
* How TV Is Making Us Hear ’80s Music in a Whole New Way (Vulture.com)
* 35 Greatest Horror Soundtracks: Modern Masters, Gatekeepers Choose (Rolling Stone)
* Esperanza Spalding Wins 2016 MOBO Award for Best Jazz Act (Jazz Times)
* Phil Ranelin revisits ‘Vibes From the Tribe’ on its 40th anniversary (Detroit Metro Times)
* Wayne Shorter: 'Jazz isn’t chewing gum – you can’t market it' (The Telegraph UK)
* Corea Assembles Supergroup for Miles Tribute at Blue Note NYC (DownBeat)
* Anthony Braxton still knows no boundaries (HeraldScotland.com)
* 15th Annual "A Great Night in Harlem" Honoring Dr. John and McCoy Tyner (Jazz Times)
* Roli Blocks are expressive multitouch musical instruments for everyone (Ars Technica)
* 23% Of CDs Sold On Amazon Are Counterfeit, Say Investigators (HypeBot.com)
* Marsalis & Friends Honor the Jazz Spirit of Ralph Ellison at NJPAC (DownBeat)
* Kamasi Washington Has Conquered the Jazz World. What Does He Do Next? (LA Weekly)
* The Way Forward: An Interview With Electronic Music Pioneer Richard Pinhas (SubRewind.com)
* Beyoncé and Dixie Chicks incited a country music civil war (ConsequenceOfSound.net)
* Bassist Bob Cranshaw Dies at 83 (Jazz Times)
* Tribune Literary Prize winner Philip Glass reflects on his life, music (Chicago Tribune)
* Dynamic Duo of Jazz Piano Improvisation: Herbie Hancock Converses Musically With Chick Corea in His Birthday Engagement at the Blue Note (ZealNYC.com)
* Natural Selection: How a New Age Hustler Sold the Sound of the World (Pitchfork.com)
* A subsidised critic is the thin end of a dangerous wedge (The Guardian UK)
* Rolling Stone Magazine Faces Shutdown Over Fake Gang-Rape Story; $7.5 Million Defamation Ruling (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh On The Synths That Changed Pop Forever (NPR)
* In the key of zzz: the concerts intended to send you to sleep (The Guardian UK)

* Composing Paranoia: A Conversation With Darcy James Argue (HeavyBlogIsHeavy.com)
* The Greatest Invention of One Thousand Years Ago (Fee.org)
* Coltrane Crumbles: The jazz legend's neglected house in Philly (Philadephia Weekly)

Sunday Session: May 29, 2016

Charlie Parker

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

* Bobby McFerrin cancels 2016 tour (JazzFM.com)
* READ an Excerpt from ‘Small Town Talk,’ a History of Woodstock in the Wild Years (AcousticGuitar.com)
* Rock music is dead, says Red Hot Chili Peppers' bassist Flea (The Guardian UK)
* Dave Davies explains how he REALLY got the raw guitar sound on The Kinks’ ‘You Really Got Me’ (DangerousMinds.net)
* An Underground Supper Club Where Music Moves The Menu (NPR)
* Major Label CEO Confirms That ‘Playlist Payola’ Is a Real Thing (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Moers Festival Provides Jazz Artists an Opportunity to Branch Out (DownBeat)
* Jazz, soul, blues musicians reveal surprising pre-show rituals (AXS.com)
* To Really Appreciate Louis Armstrong's Trumpet, You Gotta Play it. Just Ask Wynton Marsalis (Smithsonian)
* Esperanza Spalding Scores, Stars in Short Film Gaze: Watch (Pitchfork)
* Researchers Are Digitizing Ancient Monk Chants Into a Massive Database (Vice.com)
* Eagle Rock to Release “Paco & John: Live at Montreux 1987” - Previously unreleased gem features acoustic mastery from Paco de Lucía and John McLaughlin (Jazz Times)
* Moogfest 2016: A Futurism Weighted With History and Trepidation (The Atlantic)
* YouTube Users Are Reinventing The Way We Classify Music (Vocativ.com)
* Moogfest: Techno-Optimism and the Wide, Wide World of Weird Music (Billboard)
* Unheard Bird Features Dozens of Unreleased Charlie Parker Tracks (DownBeat)
* The Story Behind the Planet's Most Influential Road Map of "Weird Music" (LA Weekly)
* Why I give a hoot for competing dead jazz musician movies (The Guardian UK)
* What causes a song to be banned? (BBC)
* ​Who Really Invented the Electric Guitar? (Popular Mechanics)
* Average Annual Salary for a Spotify Employee: $168,747 (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Sax great Donny McCaslin expresses grief, gratitude over Bowie (San Francisco Chronicle)
* Jazz legend Wayne Shorter takes fans to unexpected places (Chicago Tribune)
* The Inevitable, Intergalactic Awkwardness of Time Capsules (Atlas Obscura)
* Brötzmann Reveals Expansive Range at Chicago Museum Show (DownBeat)
* B.B. King's Estate War: 15 Kids, 15 Moms and a "Totally Haywire" Fight (Hollywood Reporter)
* How the Toronto Symphony Orchestra uses graphic design to guide its audiences though its music (Creative Review.co.uk)
* George Lewis Leads Parade of Experimental Artists at FIMAV (DownBeat)
* Is Pop the Future of Jazz? (The Daily Beast)
* Rhys Chatham endows drone with dimension at SPACE Gallery (Portland Press-Herald)