StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A Marty Ehrlich sampler

This week StLJN's video spotlight shines on multi-instrumentalist, composer and former St. Louisan Marty Ehrlich, who will be performing with his Rites Quartet in a concert presented by New Music Circle at 7:30 p.m. next Friday, October 4 at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

Ehrlich, who's 58, grew up in University City and was influenced early on by the music of St. Louis' Black Artists Group and Human Arts Ensemble, with saxophonist Julius Hemphill serving as a particularly important example and mentor. After attending the New England Conservatory of Music, Ehrlich moved to New York, where he has established himself as a noteworthy soloist, composer, bandleader and sideman working on a variety of musical projects with many different collaborators.

Though many critics and fans tend to think of Ehrlich as an avant-garde or experimental musician, his work encompasses a range of approaches, from free improvisation to completely notated compositions, and  today we've got a half-dozen videos that demonstrate that by showing him at work with several different ensembles.

The first clip features the Rites Quartet, which consists of Ehrlich (alto sax and clarinets), James Zollar (trumpet), Hank Roberts (cello), and Michael Sarin (drums). They're seen here in October 2010 in Linz, Austria, performing "Rites Rhythms" from their 2009 album Things Have Got To Change.

Down below is another clip of the group, labeled "Fun Fair a Dusk" that was recorded just a few days later on the same tour in Hradec Kralove in the Czech Republic.

The rest of today's videos show Ehrlich performing with other groups, starting with "Hear You Sing," recorded in 2007 in Bruges, Belgium. This video features Ehrlich with a completely different quartet, with James Weidman on keyboards and melodica, Allison Miller on drums, and Brad Jones on bass. The fourth clip shows yet another foursome, this one co-led by Ehrlich and trombonist Ray Anderson, with Jones on bass and John Betsch on drums.

The fifth video features Ehrlich playing bass clarinet on "Solace" in an excerpt from a performance by his sextet, which includes Anderson and Zollar as well as David Berkman on piano, Greg Cohen on bass and Matt Wilson on drums. The sixth and final clip has excerpts from a duo show by Ehrlich and bassist John Lindberg, recorded in 2009 in NYC.

In addition to his concert on Friday, on the evening of Thursday, October 3, Ehrlich will take part in a public discussion and Q&A with Dennis Owsley, host of KWMU's "Jazz Unlimited." The free event, also sponsored by New Music Circle, will take place at 7:00 p.m. at the Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar.

Owsley also will broadcast an interview with Ehrlich in the 9:00 p.m. hour of his program this Sunday, September 29. You can hear the program on 90.7 FM, or tune in online at www.stlpublicradio.org/listen.php.

Jazz St. Louis adds three free events to next week's schedule for The Bad Plus

Jazz St. Louis has announced three additional free events featuring The Bad Plus to be presented next week leading up to the group's previously announced Thursday night performance of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring at the Viragh Center for the Arts at Chaminade College Prep.

The first event, "Re-Imagining Stravinsky" is billed as "a lunchtime conversation/demonstration" with TBP's Ethan Iverson, Dave King, and Reid Anderson that will take place from noon to 1:00 p.m. next Monday, September 30 at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

Next up, "Inside the Creative Process: The Compositions of The Bad Plus" will be presented from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 1 at Webster University's Community Music School, in Room 11 of the main CMS building at 535 Garden Ave. For this event, Anderson, Iverson and King (pictured, from left) will "shed light on their music, concept, and compositions."

Then on Tuesday evening, a program called "New Directions in Improvised and Creative Music - The Future of Jazz: A Conversation Led by The Bad Plus" will be presented from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Blank Space, 2847 Cherokee St. The event will feature the three members of The Bad Plus in "a public conversation on the direction of jazz, improvised, and creative music."

All three events and the Thursday night performance are free and open to the public, but seating is limited and on a first-come, first served basis. For more information, call Jazz St. Louis at 314-289-4030.

(Edited after posting to correct Monday's date.)

Jazz St. Louis CD Listening Club to meet Tuesday, May 12

Jazz St. Louis has scheduled the next meeting of its CD Listening Club for 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, May 12 at Borders bookstore, 1519 S. Brentwood Blvd.

For the club's May meeting, Dr. Gerald Early of Washington University and Jazz St. Louis executive director Gene Dobbs Bradford will lead a discussion of Miles Davis' classic Kind of Blue. (Early, who is the Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters at Wash U, writes frequently about jazz and was a contributor to the liner notes of the historic album's recent 50th anniversary reissue.)

Admission to the CD Listening Club is free and open to the public, but because space is limited, Jazz St. Louis requests that those interested in attending reserve a place in advance by calling Kedra Tolson at 314-289-4034.

Jazz critic Bob Blumenthal to appear February 7 at Left Bank Books

Veteran jazz journalist Bob Blumenthal is coming to St. Louis next month to promote his new book Jazz: An Introduction to the History and Legends Behind America’s Music. Blumenthal will appear at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 7 at Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid in the Central West End, to sign copies of the book and discuss it with readers.

Left Bank's news release says Blumenthal's book is an "introduction to understanding jazz, whether you are approaching the music for the first time or seeking to deepen your knowledge. Inside you will find the people who made the music, history, listening suggestions, jazz trivia, and more."

Blumenthal is a former columnist for the Boston Globe and contributor to numerous other publications who has been writing jazz criticism since 1969. He has received Grammy Awards for Best Album Notes and the Jazz Journalists Association's Excellence in Newspaper, Magazine, or Online Feature or Review Writing Award and Jazz Journalism Lifetime Achievement Award.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, you can call Left Bank Books at (314) 367-6731 or visit their Web site.

UPDATE - 12/30/08, 11:30 p.m: After this post went up, I got a nice email from Bob Blumenthal, and it turns out that he was born in St. Louis, grew up in Clayton, and thus had his first experiences listening to jazz right here in the Gateway City. Here's hoping that he'll discuss his local connections a bit during his visit to Left Bank Books, and that St. Louis jazz enthusiasts will turn out to support the event.

Owsley's online outreach

While we're speaking of jazz radio personalities, Dennis Owsley, who hosts Jazz Unlimited on KWMU (90.7 FM) every Sunday night from 9 p.m. to midnight, emailed with the news that KWMU now has online discussion forums for all of its locally produced programs.

Owsley's using the Jazz Unlimited area to share information about the artists and recordings he's playing and to share a few of what he describes as "pet peeves," like this one:

Jazz Singing--Does It Always Have to Sound Like 1960?

The third hour of Jazz Unlimited will have new recordings on the play list. Among these are two vocals. One of the vocalists sounds like she is singing in 1960, using arrangements of well-known standards that fit that period and is gathering much acclaim from media outlets like NPR shows. The other, when she sings a standard, changes the rhythm or adds new chord changes to standards. She writes her own lyrics to instrumental jazz tunes and occasionally writes both lyrics and music for new songs. She does not get the critical acclaim from the same media outlets.

The irony is that if the first singer were working in 1960, iconic jazz vocalists like Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Carmen McRae, Chris Connor, Anita O'Day, etc., etc. were working and she would get no press. In most European countries today, a singer singing standards like 1960 would have no work, while the second singer works all the time.

What does this say about the future of jazz in the United States when the only thing that garners media attention looks back and not forward?

Owsley also is posting playlists at last.fm, and says he plans to begin a jazz journal there soon.

Drum legend Jimmy Cobb to speak, perform at SIU-E this Thursday

Legendary jazz drummer Jimmy Cobb, the only surviving member of the ensemble that recorded Miles Davis' historic album Kind of Blue, will be in the St. Louis area this Thursday, March 15 to speak and perform in a free concert on the campus of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.

Cobb will take part in a open forum/discussion starting at 12:30 p.m. in the Dunham Hall Theater at SIU-E, and then that night, he'll perform at 7:00 p.m. in the same place with an ensemble drawn from the university's music faculty, including Reggie Thomas (piano), Rick Haydon (guitar), Tom Kennedy (bass), Jason Swagler (alto sax), Brett Stamps (trombone) and Zeb Briskovich (bass). Both events are free and open to the public.

Thanks to Phil Dunlap for the news tip.

(Edited after posting to correct the time of the evening concert.)