The St. Louis Jazz and Blues Vespers series will begin its second season with a concert by the Bosman Twins (pictured) at 6:00 p.m., Sunday, October 18 at the Second Baptist Church of St. Louis, 9030 Clayton Rd. (at McKnight).
The concert is free and open to the public, and free parking is available on the lighted lot adjacent to the church. During the intermission, Second Baptist Church pastor Dr. Stephen Jones will offer a brief, non-sectarian message, and a free-will offering will be taken to benefit the musicians. Refreshments will be served in the church’s narthex after the vespers.
Subsequent concerts will be held on the third Sunday of each month, with the Soulard Blues Band next up on Sunday, November 15. For more information, visit the Vespers' Web site or call 314-991-3424.
Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist Tatsu Aoki (pictured), who blends traditional Japanese music, jazz and experimental sounds, is coming to St. Louis to play a free concert at 7:00 p.m. Friday, November 27 in the Saint Louis Art Museum's Grigg Gallery.
Aoki, who plays bass, taiko drums, and shamisen (a three-stringed Japanese lute), was born in Tokyo but has lived in Chicago since 1977. He has worked with musicians such as Art Ensemble of Chicago members Malachi Favors, Roscoe Mitchell and Don Moye, pipa player Wu Man, and saxophonist Fred Anderson. Aoki also is a filmmaker who teaches film production and history courses at the Art Institute of Chicago, and a noted advocate for Chicago's Asian-American community. You can see a short interview with Aoki and an excerpt from one of his shamisen performances in the embedded video window below.
Aoki's concert is part of the Museum's free Art After 5 series, and is presented in conjunction with the new fall exhibit "Five Centuries of Japanese Screens: Masterpieces from the Saint Louis Art Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago."
Musicians and dancers affiliated with Washington University will explore the use of chance in contemporary music in a concert at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, October 7 at the 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity Ave. in University City.
The concert program will begin with "Music of Changes Book IV: New York, December 13," a piece for solo piano composed by John Cage by consulting the I Ching, as performed by pianist Peter Henderson. Next on the program will be "The Oracle," an improvisation featuring guitarist William Lenihan, percussionist Henry Claude, cellist Tracy Andreotti and dancers Mary-Jean Cowell, David Marchant and Ting Ting Chang.
The program will conclude with a performance of Terry Riley's "In C" by an ensemble including Claude, Lenihan and Andreotti, plus cellist Elizabeth Macdonald, guitarist Vince Varvel, pianist Amanda Kirkpatrick, saxophonist Adrianne Honnold, violist Laura Reycraft, and clarinetist Dana Hotle.
The performance is held in conjunction with the current "Chance Aesthetics" exhibit at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, and will preceded by introductory remarks by Meredith Malone, assistant curator of the Kemper Art Museum, who organized the Chance Aesthetics exhibition; and Bruce Durazzi, assistant professor of music theory.
Admission is free and open to the public. A reception will immediately follow the concert in the Music Center's Ballroom Theatre. For more information, call 314-935-5566.
Pianist Peter Martin (pictured) and trombonist/producer Lamar Harris will each play a free concert during July at the Saint Louis Art Museum during July as part of the Museum's Art After 5 series.
Martin, who has worked with internationally known jazz performers such as Dianne Reeves, Chris Botti and Christian McBride, will perform at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, July 17 in the Museum's Grigg Gallery.
Harris will play with his groups the L and Groove Therapy at 7:00 p.m. Friday, July 24 outside on the Museum grounds. If the weather's bad, Harris' concert will move inside to the Grigg Gallery.
The Saint Louis Art Museum is celebrating a century of free admission in 2009 with a month-long series of events in July. For more details and a complete schedule of events, call 314-721-0072 or visit www.slam.org.
The Nu-Art Series has announced three events to wrap up its spring 2009 "Jazz and the Visual Arts" presentations at the Metropolitan Gallery, 2936 Locust St. in downtown St. Louis.
On Saturday, June 13, the gallery will open an exhibition of works by local mixed media artist Dail Chambers. Chambers, who studied at The Memphis College of Art and has exhibited in St. Louis, Memphis, Philadelphia and Chicago, will give a demonstration workshop from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m, followed by an opening reception from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.. A $10 donation is requested to attend the workshop; the reception is free and open to the public. The Chambers exhibit will continue through July 10.
Next up, the musical ensemble JBMG, a contemporary R&B group featuring the grandchildren of St. Louis music legends Fontella Bass and Lester Bowie, will perform in a Father's Day-themed program at 3:00 p.m., Saturday, June 20. Admission is $10.
The spring 2009 series concludes at 3:00 p.m., Sunday, June 28 with a concert by the Cameron Youth Orchestra, directed by James McKay, and featuring pianist Vickie Newton (pictured), who's also familiar to St. Louisans as one of the evening news anchors on local CBS affiliate KMOV. Though not known primarily as a musician, Newton has studied classical piano since childhood, and one of her numerous community activities is serving on the board of Jazz St. Louis. Admission to the June 28 performance is $10.
Before he leaves the Gateway City, Pizzarelli will give a free solo performance at 4:00 p.m., Sunday, April 19 at the Apple Store, 131 West County Center in Des Peres. He'll be playing seven-string guitar and singing tunes from his latest CD, With A Song In My Heart, as well as other selections (and, presumably, saying nice things about the iPod, iPhone and/or Apple's line of computers). For more information, you can contact the Apple Store at 314-965-3213.
Levy, Friesen and Velez will take part in two days of workshops and concerts, all of which are free and open to the public. The residency will culminate with a concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Meramec Theatre featuring Trio Globo with the Meramec Orchestra and Choir and other Meramec Arts students.
Levy was the keyboard and harmonica player in the original lineup of Bela Fleck's Flecktones, who share with Trio Globo a proclivity for mixing musical genres from all around the world. Friesen has been a member of the Paul Winter Consort since 1978, and is known for incorporating the cello into unusual musical settings and for his use of extended techniques. Velez also has worked extensively with Paul Winter, as well as with composer Steve Reich's ensemble, and has collaborated with other well-known performers ranging from Pat Metheny to the New York City Ballet.
Here's the complete schedule of events for Trio Globo's St. Louis residency:
Thursday, April 23 Noon: Trio Globo Opening Concert in the Meramec Theatre, 1:30 p.m.: Choir rehearsal, Eugene Friesen, HW102 2:30 p.m.: Overtone singing, Glen Velez, HW102 3:30 p.m.: Harmonica Workshop, Howard Levy, HW102 3:30 p.m.: Improvisation/spoken word, Eugene Friesen, Theatre 7:30 p.m.: Dress Rehearsal, Trio Globo with the Meramec Orchestra and Choir, Theatre
Friday, April 24 10 a.m.-Noon: String Workshop, Eugene Friesen, HW102 10 a.m.-Noon: Improv and Movement, Glen Velez and Howard Levy, HE131 1:30 p.m.: History of Harmonica, Howard Levy, HW102 2:30 p.m.: Percussion workshop, Glen Velez, HW102 3:30 p.m.: The New Cello, Eugene Friesen, HW102 7:30 p.m.: Trio Globo Concert with Meramec Orchestra, Concert Choir, Arts students, Theatre
For a sample of some of Trio Globo's music, check out the embedded video window below. For more information on the Trio Globo workshops and concerts at St. Louis Community College-Meramec, you can call the SLCC-Meramec community relations office at 314-984-7529 or the music department at 314-984-7639.
Drummer Matt Wilson (pictured) and his quartet are coming to St. Louis for a matinee performance at 3:00 p.m., Sunday, April 5 at the Black Cat Theatre in Maplewood.
Critically acclaimed for his drumming chops, bandleading and composing skills, and sometimes-skewed sense of humor, Wilson has recorded eight albums as a leader for Palmetto Records, and also works with Joe Lovano, John Scofield, Charlie Haden, Lee Konitz and others. He was in St. Louis in January 2006 to do a concert with another of his ensembles, the group Arts and Crafts, at St. Louis University.
Wilson's quartet, which was formed back in 1996, includes Andrew D’Angelo on alto saxophone and bass clarinet, Jeff Lederer on tenor and soprano saxophones and clarinet, and Chris Lightcap on acoustic and electric bass. The quartet has recorded three CDs for Palmetto, with a fourth, That’s Gonna Leave a Mark, set for release this fall.
General admission tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for college, high school and middle school students with ID and are available at www.blackcattheatre.org, and at the Black Cat Theatre box office. For more information, you can call the Black Cat Theatre at 314-781-8300.
Tickets for Bennett's concert will be priced from $55 to $85, and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m., Friday, November 21 via MetroTix and the Fox box office.
The show is being presented by local PBS affiliate KETC (Channel 9), and according to a commenter on this post at Post-Dispatch music critic Kevin Johnson's blog The Blender, tickets for the Bennett concert will be available as premiums for an upcoming pledge drive beginning at 8:00 p.m. this Thursday, November 13, when the station is scheduled to rebroadcast the program "Tony Bennett Duets: The Making of An American Classic."
Longtime St. Louis jazz radio host and advocate Don Wolff and his wife Heide will be honored at an event this Sunday, October 5 at Harris-Stowe State University.
"An Afternoon of Jazz" gets started with a brunch from 11:00 a.m. to noon, followed by tours of HSSU's Wolff Jazz Institute and a concert beginning at 1:00 p.m. with featured performers including singers Mae Wheeler, Gene Lynn, Anita Rosamond, Anita Jackson, Bill Tucker and Jeffrey Hardin and saxophonist Willie Akins. Tickets for the event are $10, and you can make reservations by calling 314-340-3386.
The Wolff Jazz Institute was established in April, 2002 when the Wolffs donated their personal collection to the University. It includes jazz recordings, books, periodicals, films and other materials that, according to HSSU, are valued at more than a million dollars.
A news release sent out by the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University says that the museum "will sponsor free Saturday afternoon jazz concerts throughout the fall" in conjunction with the exhibition Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury.
The exhibition, which will be on display at the Kemper from September 19 through Jaunary 5, "takes a look at the broad cultural zeitgeist of "cool" that influenced the visual, graphic, and decorative arts, furniture, architecture, music, and film produced in California in the 1950s and early 1960s."
It's listed on the "Upcoming Exhibitions" page of the Kemper's Web site, but there's nothing more specific about the concert series, such as a schedule of performances, either in the news release or, so far, anywhere else on the Kemper's Web site. Still, it sounds like a promising notion, and so yr. StLJN editor will monitor the situation and have more info here when it's released.
Three St. Louis area big bands will be featured as part of a free jazz concert series this summer in Godfrey, Illinois. The Sessions Big Band leads off the 2008 Jazz in the Park series at 7:00 p.m. this Wednesday, June 11, followed by the Sentimental Journey Dance Band on Wednesday, July 16, and Shades of Blue, the jazz ensemble of the US Air Force Band of Mid America at Scott Air Force Base, on Wednesday, August 12.
Although the concert series has been known as Jazz in the Park since its inception five years ago, this year's performances will take place indoors in the Commons at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey. In a story published in the Alton Telegraph, the president of one of the local groups sponsoring the series said that the move was made because of "unpredictable weather."
Ross Gentile of WSIE (88.7 FM) will serve as host and MC. All three concerts are free and open to the public. Concert goers also may reserve a picnic-style dinner catered by Carver's Barbecue for $15 per person or $27 per couple; plates must be reserved in advance by calling 618-466-6110 no later than the Monday preceding each concert.
The Jazz at Holmes series of free concerts at Washington University is presenting a summer schedule again this year, and they released information on the lineup for summer 2008 to the public today:
The series kicks off next Thursday, June 12 with the French cabaret and jazz sounds of vocalist and woodwind player Elsie Parker (pictured) and The Poor People of Paris. The rest of the schedule is as follows:
Thursday, June 19 - Pianist Curt Landes Thursday, July 10 - Drummer Bensid Thigpen & group play the music of Wayne Shorter Thursday, July 17 - Guitarist Vincent Varvel Thursday, July 24 - Drummer Miles Vandiver Friday, August 8 - Trumpeter Randy Holmes and his sextet Thursday, August 14 - Pianist Ptah Williams (outdoors in Brookings Quadrangle.)
All performances are free and open to the public and take place from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. in Holmes Lounge, unless otherwise noted. Holmes Lounge is located in Ridgley Hall, on the western side of Brookings Quadrangle. For more information, you can call 314-862-0874 or send an email to staylor@wustl.edu.
Trumpeter and East St. Louis native Russell Gunn will be back in the St. Louis area this Saturday, May 3, to do a clinic and concert at Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville. The concert begins at 5:00 p.m. in the Meridian Ballroom on the first floor of SIU-E’s Morris University Center.
Gunn (pictured) is performing as part of a day-long event honoring the music of Miles Davis. At 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, local high school bands will take part in clinics conducted by Ron Carter, saxophonist and director of the jazz program at Northern Illinois University, and trumpeter and educator Anthony Wiggins, who was a student of Carter's when he taught at Lincoln High in East St. Louis. (Wiggins and Gunn, who also graduated from Lincoln, are cousins.) Gunn will conduct a clinic at 1:00 p.m., and the evening concert also will include music from members of the SIU-E jazz faculty and the SIU-E Concert Jazz Band.
The clinics, which also are being held in the Meridian Ballroom, are free and open to the public. Admission to the 5 p.m. concert is $5 per person. For more information, call the SIU-E music department at 618-650-3900.
Among its many other charms, the riverside town of Alton, IL is known as the birthplace of Miles Davis, and in recent years the community has staged various events to honor the jazz trumpet great around the time of his birthday, which is May 26.
Strader is a jazz and show drummer, educator and clinician who works steadily in the Carolinas and has toured the U.S. and Canada with the Tommy Dorsey band, while Akins is well-known to St. Louis area jazz fans as a mainstay of our local scene for more than 40 years. The concert also will feature a group from Lewis and Clark Community College co-led by drummer Howard Neal and multi-instrumentalist Tim Jarden, and including tenor saxophonist Herb Hutchinson, guitarist/trombonist Kenny King and trumpeter Kerry Walter. In addition, there will be a tribute to the late R&B vocalist and songwriter Luther Ingram, a native of Madison County, IL who was known for hits such as "If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Want To Be Right)." Ingram passed away in 2007 after a long illness.
General admission tickets for the Miles Davis Jazz Celebration are $20 in advance, $25 at the door and can be purchased at the Alton Museum of History and Art and at Bossanova Martini Lounge, 112 W. Third St. in Alton.
However, the Fox and its ticket agency Metrotix also are conducting an online presale beginning at 10:00 a.m. this Wednesday, March 26 and ending at 10:00 p.m. on Friday, March 28. To purchase tickets via the presale, go online to metrotix.com/promotions and enter the promotion code JAZZFOREVER.
*StLJN's earlier item on this concert originally listed a different show date that had appeared on the Return to Forever Web site and tour schedule. That item has been edited to reflect the correct date, Tuesday, June 17.
Experimental music cellist Audrey Chen (pictured) and French pianist Frederic Blondy will perform a collaborative concert for cello and prepared piano at 9:00 p.m., Saturday, April 5 at Open Lot, the arts collective and performance space located at 1310 South 18th Street.
Chen, a native of Baltimore, incorporates traditional and extended techniques, voice and electronics into her performances, while Blondy has been influenced by both jazz and classical music to develop what's described as "a body-based approach" to the piano.
For more information about Open Lot, call 314-588-2192, check out their blog, or visit their Web site.
The 2008 edition of the "Zappa Plays Zappa" tour is coming to St. Louis to perform at the Pageant on Monday, June 9. Led by Frank Zappa's eldest son, guitarist Dweezil Zappa, the ZPZ ensemble brings together former FZ band members and younger, lesser-known musicians to play faithful arrangements of Zappa compositions from various periods of his career.
The band came to St. Louis on their first tour back in 2006 to play the Pageant and delivered an excellent show, reviewed here. This year's version of ZPZ includes the same core band, with singer/guitarist Ray White (pictured) as the featured guest star. (The 2006 tour featured three former Zappa band members as guests: saxophonist and singer Napoleon Murphy Brock, drummer Terry Bozzio and guitarist Steve Vai.)
Tickets go on sale at 5:00 p.m. this Friday via the Pageant box office and Ticketmaster. However, there's also an online presale on the Web site of radio station KSHE (94.7 FM) from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. this Thursday, March 20. (As an aside, it's surprising that KSHE is "welcoming" this concert, given that the last time the station played Zappa music with any regularity was probably at some point during the Carter administration. However, I'm not complaining, just noting the incongruity.)
The 1970s jazz-fusion supergroup Return to Forever is reuniting this summer for an extended tour of the United States and Europe that will include a concert at St. Louis' Fox Theatre on Tuesday, June 17.
The tour reunites the band's best-known lineup - founding members Chick Corea on keyboards and Stanley Clarke on bass (pictured), plus guitarist Al DiMeola and drummer Lenny White - for the first time in more than 25 years. The quartet will play more than 50 dates from May through August, including performances at major summer jazz festivals in Montreal; Montreux, Switzerland; San Sebastian, Spain; Nice, France; and Saratoga Springs, New York.
There's been no announcement yet about tickets for Return to Forever's St. Louis date, but StLJN will have more information as it becomes available. In the meantime, you can fire up the embedded video window below to enjoy a vintage clip of Return to Forever playing "Romantic Warrior" back in 1976 for the British television program The Old Grey Whistle Test.
Edited 3/25/08 to correct the date of the show in the headline and text.
Singer Michael Buble performed Wednesday night at the Scottrade Center, and Terry Perkins was there to review the concert for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Michael Bublé may just be the best Canadian import since ice hockey. Certainly that was the near-unanimous consensus Wednesday evening at Scottrade Center, where the Vancouver-born vocalist performed for a sold-out crowd of 10,000 in the venue's "concert club" format," wrote Perkins. Read the whole thing here.
The St. Louis Jazz and Blues Vespers series will begin its second season with a concert by the Bosman Twins (pictured) at 6:00 p.m., Sunday, October 18 at the Second Baptist Church of St. Louis, 9030 Clayton Rd. (at McKnight).
