StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Ken Burns' Jazz

This week, celebrate the nation's birthday with a screening of Jazz, the ten-part history of the music directed by famed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and originally aired on PBS back in 2001.

Although the series was acclaimed by some as the most comprehensive filmed treatment of jazz history to date, many fans and critics also found plenty to criticize. Many of the negative comments focused on the series' heavy emphasis on older styles, the short shrift given to developments after 1960 - essentially all crammed into the final episode - and the overuse of certain interview subjects as experts, particularly Wynton Marsalis, whose disdain for free jazz, fusion, and other nontraditional styles already was well-known by the time the series was made.

The Wikipedia page for Jazz summarizes a few of the opinions, both pro and con, and you can read a more detailed critique of the series in the article "How Ken Burns Murdered Jazz," by Jeffrey St. Clair, excerpted from his book Serpents in the Garden and published in the magazine Counterpunch.

Though it certainly has a considerable number of flaws and omissions, yr. humble editor believes Jazz the series still is worth watching, as there's a lot of interesting material about the first 50 years of jazz and many of the most important musicians who made that history. Just keep in mind that, hyperbole and authoritative trappings notwithstanding, this is just one person's view of the subject. Perhaps another filmmaker eventually will take up the challenge to do a better job of telling the story of jazz in the 1960s and beyond.

In the meantime, the first episode, "Gumbo," is embedded up above, and after the jump, you can see the other nine, which are titled (in order) "The Gift," "Our Language," "The True Welcome," "Swing: Pure Pleasure," "Swing: The Velocity of Pleasure" (in three parts), "Dedicated to Chaos" (in two parts, and unfortunately missing its middle section), "Risk" (in three parts), "The Adventure" (in two parts), and "A Masterpiece By Midnight."

Music Education Monday: "Music Theory for Musicians and Normal People" & The Red Hot Jazz Archive

(Editor's note: In this new recurring weekly feature, every Monday StLJN will share a couple of links to online resources devoted to music education, jazz history, and related topics.)

* Written to be understandable for beginners, but also a useful reference in general, "Music Theory for Musicians and Normal People" is a series of illustrated PDFs explaining the basics of music theory a page at a time. (You also can grab all the PDFs published to date as a single document.)

Topics includes everything from the basics of musical notation (pictured) to more advanced subjects like counterpoint, altered chords, extended harmonies, and more.

* If you're interested in the early history of jazz, the venerable Red Hot Jazz Archive is worth a look as a starting point for learning about bands and musicians who worked and recorded before 1930. (Though some might be put off initially by the site's design, which hasn't changed since the early days of the World Wide Web, the historical information contained therein is still good.)

The RHJA includes discographies and biographies of hundreds of early jazz musicians and bands, both famous and obscure, as well as a series of essays discussing various aspects of the music. Many of the entries also include audio files which, though regrettably presented in the now-antiquated Real Player format, are free for the listening.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Celebrating Louis Armstrong

As the USA celebrates Independence Day this weekend, today StLJN pays tribute to the legendary trumpeter and vocalist Louis Armstrong, who throughout his lifetime claimed to have been born on July 4, 1900.

Though researchers in the 1980s uncovered information showing that Armstrong's true date of birth was in fact August 4, 1901, the tradition of celebrating his birthday along with the nation's on the Fourth of July continues to this day.

Of course, Armstrong's legacy would be worth honoring no matter when he was born, for he was the first international jazz superstar, a virtuoso soloist who set the bar for every jazz musician who followed him, an innovative vocal stylist, and ultimately, one of the greatest popular entertainers of the 20th century. But you don't have to take our word for it, as there is ample video evidence of the genius of Louis Armstrong, and we've got some of it for you here today.

The first clip up top shows Armstrong and his band, the All-Stars, performing at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, as depicted in the famous documentary film Jazz On A Summer's Day.

After the jump, you can see two full length concerts by Armstrong and band, from 1959 in Belgium and 1965 in Berlin, followed by a 1968 TV special he recorded for the BBC.

In the fifth video, we return to Newport in 1970 for a documentary of the musical celebration held at the fest that year in honor of Armstrong's 70th birthday. The film includes interview, rehearsal and concert footage, and features guest appearances by Dizzy Gillespie, Mahalia Jackson, Jimmy Owens, Bobby Hackett, Wild Bill Davison, Ray Nance, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and the Eureka Brass Band.

The final clip is a short film originally produced in 1971 by Hearst Metrotone covering Armstrong's funeral, which was held Friday, July 9 at at the Corona Congregational Church in NYC.

In an indication of the esteem in which Armstrong was held, the honorary pallbearers included a cross-section of musical, show business, and political figures, including New York's then-governor Nelson Rockefeller, NYC mayor John Lindsay, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Guy Lombardo, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Pearl Bailey, Count Basie, Harry James, Frank Sinatra, Ed Sullivan, newspaper columnist Earl Wilson, Alan King, Johnny Carson, David Frost, Merv Griffin, Dick Cavett, and Bobby Hackett.

For more about Louis Armstrong, check out the Louis Armstrong Museum official site, Armstrong's page at RedHotJazz.com and the tribute site Satchmo.net. For an historic appreciation of his musical and cultural significance, there's also "The Artistry of 'Pops': Louis Armstrong at 100", a presentation of the Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University from 2000 featuring trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and critic Stanley Crouch.

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

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Euclid Records has completed their move to new digs and is now open for business at 19 N. Gore in Webster Groves, as documented by the local edition of Patch.com.

* The fifth part of Dennis Owsley's documentary on St. Louis jazz history will air during his program "Jazz Unlimited" at 9:00 p.m. this Sunday on KWMU (90.7 FM). This installment covers the Gaslight Square period of the late 1950s and 1960s, and features music from Sammy Gardner, Singleton Palmer, Muggsy Sprecher, the St. Louis Ragtimers, Ceil Clayton, Clea Bradford, Jeanne Trevor and the Quartet Tres Bien, and others, plus interviews with Jeter Thompson, Norman Menne and Joe Buerger. Previous installments can be heard online on KWMU's website.

* Erin Bode (pictured) is the subject of a new episode of HEC-TV's program A Conversation With..., which features a half-hour long interview with the singer.

* Alarm Will Sound has posted to their Facebook page an album of photos from last week's performance of 1969 at the Touhill, plus a video from the show of bassist/guitarist Miles Brown re-creating a Hendrix-at-Woodstock style version of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

* Speaking of videos, here's a clip of electronic musician Joe Raglani performing last weekend at mushmaus.

* And speaking of photosets, here's one from the Dave Dickey Big Band's performance on Sunday at Kirkwood Station Brewing Company.

* Also, via KDHX, here are some photos of the show by guitarist Bill Frisell and his band Beautiful Dreamers last Sunday at the Old Rock House.

* Pianist and bandleader Kevin Mitchell has been named editorial director of a group of music magazines including Musical Merchandise Review (MMR), School Band & Orchestra (SBO), JAZZed, and Choral Director. Mitchell is a longtime freelance contributor to publications run by the magazines' new owners, Timeless Communication Corp.

* St. Louis University and the Kwame Foundation are sponsoring a jazz composition competition for high school seniors in the St. Louis area. Entry deadline is September 1, and you can get the details here.

Dennis Owsley seeking recent recordings for updated jazz history of St. Louis

Dennis Owsley, host of the Jazz Unlimited program airing at 9:00 p.m. Sunday nights on KWMU (90.7), is preparing to celebrate his 30th year of continuous jazz broadcasting on the station, and to do so, he needs a bit of help from local St. Louis musicians.

Owsley (pictured), who also wrote the book City of Gabriels: The History of Jazz in St. Louis 1895-1973, is updating his multi-part 1986 radio documentary about the history of jazz in St. Louis, with the revised version to air on Jazz Unlimited during April and the first part of May. Having donated his extensive CD collection to Webster University a few years back, he's now looking for recent recordings from St. Louis musicians to include in the final episode of the broadcast.

Musicians who are interested in having their work considered are asked to send CDs to him in care of KWMU, 3651 Olive St., St. Louis, MO 63108. Alternatively, you can send MP3 files (or a link to a legal download site) directly to Owsley at jazz @ stlpublicradio.org.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: The joint is jumping with Fats Waller

This week, let's take a look at some clips of pianist, singer and songwriter Thomas "Fats" Waller, whose work inspired the hit musical Ain't Misbehavin', currently being revived by Stages St. Louis.

Waller made his first recordings in 1922 at the age of 18, and in just a few years became one of the most popular entertainers in the United States, performing in nightclubs and theaters, on the radio, and eventually in films. An excellent pianist, effective vocalist, and a charismatic presence with a talent for wisecracks and comic mugging, Waller also wrote dozens of hit songs, a good number of which are included in Ain't Misbehavin'. (Waller also had a St. Louis connection during the latter part of his career, as he often employed clarinetist and saxophonist Gene Sedric, who was born here in St. Louis.)

Waller's most famous film appearance was in the 1943 movie Stormy Weather, which became a commercial hit and still stands as a pivotal work in the history of African-American cinema. Sadly, it also would be his last appearance in a film, for while taking a cross-country train trip back to Hollywood to begin work on a follow-up movie, Waller contracted pneumonia and died while in route, near Kansas City, at the age of 39.

In the late 1970s, the success of Ain't Misbehavin' on Broadway (with a cast that included St. Louis native Ken Page) helped bring Waller's music to the attention of a new generation. More than 30 years later, the show continues to be revived regularly by professional, community and college theaters, ensuring that Waller and his music will be remembered fondly for a good while to come.

Today, we've got a half-dozen clips of Waller's own performances of songs included in Ain't Misbehavin', plus a little something extra. While these videos emphasize Waller as entertainer, rather than as virtuoso musician, they do include ample amounts of his playing and singing, and in addition to being historically important, they're just plain fun to see and hear.

Up top, we start with "The Joint Is Jumping," which serves as the first act closer of Ain't Misbehavin', and here is performed by Waller for a "Soundie" - a sort of early music video - depicting a house party. (Be sure you watch until the very end to see the cops who have come to bust the joint start dancing.)

Down below is Waller's performance of the song "Ain't Misbehavin'", taken from Stormy Weather. The lovely lady is none other than Lena Horne, and there also are glimpses of dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, drummer Zutty Singleton, bassist Slam Stewart and trumpeter Benny Carter.

The third clip depicts Waller performing "Honeysuckle Rose," one of his most famous compositions and one that has been covered by dozens of other singers and musicians. Next, it's "Your Feet's Too Big," a comedic number that demonstrates Waller's singular mix of erudition - note the use of the phrase "pedal extremities" - and earthiness. That's followed by another performance from Stormy Weather, a blues called "That Ain't Right" that features Waller and singer Ada Brown.

The last two clips show more visuals of dancers than of Waller, but still have both musical and historical interest. The first is a version of "I've Got My Fingers Crossed," which is used near the end of the second act of Ain't Misbehavin' as the show builds to a climax.

Finally, as a sort of lagniappe, there's one song that's not included in Ain't Misbehavin', a performance of "I'm Living In A Great Big Way" as sung in the 1935 film Hooray For Love by Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and Waller. That's dancer Jeni Le Gon with Robinson at the beginning of the clip.

For more about Fats Waller, check out his page on RedHotJazz.com, and the online version of the exhibit "Fats Waller Forever" from Rutgers University.

Stages' production of Ain't Misbehavin' runs until July 1, and features a live band led by pianist Adaron "Pops" Jackson and including Jason Swagler (alto sax, clarinet), Kendrick Smith (tenor sax, clarinet), Cody Henry (trombone), Matt Bittles (trumpet), Jahmal Nichols (bass), and Bernard Long, Jr. (drums). For ticket information and a schedule of performances, see the Stages St. Louis website.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The old Saum Hotel building in the Shaw neighborhood - once the site of performances by swing era bandleader Eddie Randle and the Blue Devils, who provided early professional experience for Miles Davis - is the subject of a post by the history blog Sherlock Homes STL.

* Baritone saxophonist Roger Lewis of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band (pictured) was interviewed by the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson. The DDBB will perform tonight at the Old Rock House.

* The Sheldon Concert Hall and Metrotix over the holiday weekend are offering 50% off tickets to see "Miller Magic: The Music of Glenn Miller" featuring Bob Coleman's Legacy Big Band on Sunday, June 3 at the Sheldon. Regular prices are $35 and $30, but with the discount, purchasers only have to pay $17.50 and $15. To access the offer, go to this page on Metrotix.com before 11:59 p.m. on Monday, May 28. No promo code is needed.

* One of Wednesday night's sets by bassist Stanley Clarke's trio at Jazz at the Bistro was reviewed by KDHX's Wil Wander. Clarke continues at the Bistro through tomorrow night.

* Speaking of Clarke, NPR's program Jazz Set has reposted online a recording of a live performance from the 2009 Monterey Jazz Festival featuring the bassist's trio with pianist Chick Corea and drummer Lenny White.

* Electronic musician Eric Hall has just put online a full-length audio recording from his performance on Wednesday night at Laumeier Sculpture Park with pianist Thollem McDonas and multi-instrumentalist Arrington de Dionyso. Download it for free from Hall's Bandcamp page here. You also can see video of the concert, divided into five segments, here.

* City Music & Education Center this summer will present a jazz ensemble camp for students in grades 7 through 12 from Monday, August 6 through Friday, August 10.. The instructor is keyboardist Pete Ruthenburg. Get details on this and the store's other summer camps - for songwriting, pop vocals, "Caribbean Kids," and one aimed at devotees of the music of Jimmy Buffett, aka "Parrotheads"- on their website.

* The St. Louis American's Chris King interviewed Oliver L Jackson, one of the visual artists who back in the day belonged to the Black Artists Group. Jackson has a solo show at the "project room" at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, 3750 Washington Ave., continuing through June 10.

Benjamin Cawthra, author of book on jazz and photography, to speak Sunday, June 3 at the Missouri History Museum

Author, jazz historian and former St. Louisan Benjamin Cawthra is coming back to his old hometown for an event promoting his book Blue Notes in Black and White: Photography and Jazz.

Cawthra will speak and sign copies of the book (pictured) starting at 3:00 p.m. Sunday, June 3 in the Des Lee Auditorium at the Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell. The event is free and open to the public.

He'll discuss "the development of jazz photography from the swing era of the 1930s to the rise of black nationalism in the 1960s." Saxophonist Kelvin Evans will play a short set of standards before the lecture.

Cawthra lived in St. Louis for 16 years, earning a Ph.D in history from Washington University and working for the History Museum, where in 2001 he curated the exhibit "Miles: A Miles Davis Retrospective." Cawthra, who also helped coordinate the Sheldon Art Galleries' 2008 exhibit of the jazz photos of Herb Snitzer, now is an associate professor of history and associate director of the Center for Oral and Public History at California State University, Fullerton.

New book by Kevin Belford chronicles pre-WWII history of St. Louis blues

St. Louis artist and author Kevin Belford, who has made local musicians a frequent subject of his work over the course of his career, has a new book coming out that chronicles St. Louis blues musicians of the 1920s and 1930s.

Issued by St. Louis-based Virginia Publishing, Devil at the Confluence: The Pre-War Blues Music of St. Louis is a coffee-table book recounting the stories and songs of legends including Peetie Wheatstraw, Henry Townsend, St. Louis Bessie and many other pre-World War II era performers.

The product of years of research, the book is illustrated with Belford's original paintings, plus vintage photographs and other material he unearthed during his digging. As a bonus, there's also an accompanying CD of rare recordings of St. Louis blues legends, produced by former St. Louisan Bob Koester's label Delmark Records.

Devil at the Confluence is scheduled for official release in September, and Belford will be doing a number of promotional events, the most ambitious of which would seem to be a one-night-only showing of the paintings from the book, to be held from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 on Friday, September 11 at Mad Art Gallery.

Other planned events include a signing at the Big Muddy Blues Festival downtown over Labor Day weekend; another at Webster Records during the Old Webster Jazz and Blues Festival on Saturday, September 19; and two more later in the month at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups and the Blues City Deli. For more info, check out the blog Belford has set up in conjunction with the book's release.

Known among local music fans for his posters of St. Louis jazz legends and blues performers, Belford has worked as a freelance illustrator doing advertising, corporate art, and editorial illustration for books and for print media such as The Sporting News, the St Louis Post Dispatch, St Louis magazine, and the Riverfront Times. His previous books include The Ballpark Book (for The Sporting News) and the children's books Amazing Arthur Ashe, Spirit Of A Champion and Twist Of Fate-The Miracle Horse Of Longmeadow Ranch.

Notes from the Net: Rare Miles Davis photos online; Greg Osby, Bela Fleck reviewed; plus interviews, festival news, and more

Here's our weekly compilation of news and links related to jazz, improvisation, and creative music in St. Louis, including news of musicians originally from the Gateway City, recent visitors, and coming attractions, plus assorted other items of interest:

* There's some tasty Miles Davis-related material this week, courtesy of Lockwood & Summit, the staff blog of Euclid Records (and a site yr. humble editor hereby resolves to visit more frequently). Store owner, co-blogger and jazz fan Joe Schwab has written about Davis several times since the first of the year, most recently posting part one of the audio of a 1953 radio interview of the trumpeter by DJ Harry Frost on East St. Louis radio station KXLW.

L&S also has run some rare photographs of Davis, including a picture of him at Lincoln High School in 1944, and a number of photos shot by Bernie Thrasher, a St. Louis jazz fan and amateur photographer who took pictures at many jazz shows here, mostly during the 1950s. Two posts document a Davis gig (with John Coltrane on tenor) at the St. Louis club Peacock Alley, and several others show off previously uncirculated vintage photos of Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker and others.

In more Miles-related news, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Davis' landmark album Kind of Blue, Stanford University is presenting “50 Years of Kind of Blue: A Live Jazz Laboratory” on Saturday, April 18 on the Stanford campus, and Doug Ramsey's Rifftides had a compilation of Miles Davis quotes last week.

* Saxophonist and St. Louis native Greg Osby's composition "The Single Petal of a Rose" from his St. Louis Shoes CD was reviewed by Jazz.com as part of their ongoing series of reviews of single tracks (as opposed to entire CDs). Osby will be in St. Louis in two weeks for an educational residency with Jazz St. Louis and performances on April 10 and 11 at Jazz at the Bistro .

* And speaking of saxophonists, here's a recent video interview with former Webster University student turned tireless avant garde composer, performer and impresario John Zorn.

* Turning to the "coming attractions" file, AllAboutJazz.com has an interesting piece in which pianist Eric Reed discusses the impact of religious faith on his career as a jazz musician. Reed has recorded for the St. Louis-based label MAXJAZZ, and will be here next week to perform in "The Genius of Eddie Jefferson" at the Bistro.

* Here's a review from JamBase.com of a March 19 show at Yoshi's in Oakland pairing banjo master Bela Fleck and kora player Toumani Diabante on . Both men will perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall this Wednesday, April 1 as part of Fleck's Africa Project tour.

* Trumpeter Sean Jones, who's set to perform at the Bistro from April 15-18, has released a new CD, The Search Within.

* Guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli recently went on Seattle NPR affiliate KPLU to perform a few songs and talk about Richard Rodgers, George Gershwin and the "Great American Songbook." You can listen to an online stream of the broadcast here. Pizzarelli will be in town on Saturday, April 18 as part of the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

* Guitarist John Jorgenson (pictured), who's bringing his Django Reinhardt-inspired quintet to the Sheldon in April, recently did an interview and live performance on a local talk show on the Washington, DC NBC affiliate. You can see a video of the segment online here. (Note: The link launches an embedded video player containing a .wmv (Windows Media) file.)

* Opening the "recent visitors" file, saxophonist Javon Jackson, seen here last fall at the Bistro with keyboardist Les McCann, was interviewed by DJ and blogger Leroy "The Jazzcat" Downs; you'll find the conversation in Downs' archives here.

* The Bad Plus, who opened 2009 at the Bistro, were in Philadelphia last week and were the subjects of two feature stories in the local papers.

* From the "Everybody likes free stuff" file: Down Beat magazine is offering online readers the chance to win free trips to the Telluride and Litchfield Jazz Festivals. The packages include airfare, lodging and tickets to the festival. The Telluride Jazz Festival in Colorado runs from June 5-7, and you can enter the Telluride contest here. The Litchfield Jazz Festival in Connecticut runs from July 31-August 2, and you can enter the Litchfield contest here

* And speaking of festivals, a recent article in the New York Times asked the question, "Will New York have a major jazz festival this summer?" It seems that "concert promoters, booking agents and others in the jazz world say that because of the economy and a rift between Festival Network and the impresario George Wein, it is possible that New York will lack a big festival for the first time in 37 years." You can read the whole Times article here, and Howard Mandel has more on the Wein-vs-Festival Network dispute here.

* NYC's festival woes notwithstanding, upstate in Rochester they've got big plans for the eighth annual Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, featuring headliners such as Smokey Robinson, Dave Brubeck, St. Louis native Michael McDonald and Taj Mahal as part of a nine-day event held June 12-20.

Impressively, the Rochester fest will include more than 800 musicians performing in 200-plus concerts, which raises a question: How is it that Rochester - which I'm sure is a nice place filled with fine folks, but is neither a major metropolis nor a particularly significant historic center of jazz activity - is able to successfully mount a festival on this scale, while the St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival, which actually began the year before the Rochester event, has been reduced to going "on hiatus" for 2009 because they were unable to marshal the necessary resources and/or moxie to organize a single day of programming? I'm just sayin'...

* Following up on last week's item about the possible demise of famed Detroit jazz club Baker's Keyboard Lounge, Clayton McDonnell of MAXJAZZ sent along a link to an item from the Los Angeles Times noting that long-running LA venue the Jazz Bakery has lost its lease. Fortunately, the Jazz Bakery's operators seem to have both the interest and the funding to re-open in a new location, though exactly where is unknown at this time. You can read the whole story here.

* Last, but not least, the UK newspaper the Guardian is running an ongoing series of articles about 50 key moments in jazz that defined the music's history. It';s the sort of thing that, even if you disagree with some of the specifics picks, provides some entertaining food for thought and/or discussion. The home page for the Guardian's "50 Great Moments In Jazz" series is here.

Classes on St. Louis jazz history to begin Thursday, February 12

Author, photographer and radio host Dennis Owsley will teach a series of classes on St. Louis jazz history beginning at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, February 12 at the Ethical Society of St. Louis, 9001 Clayton Rd.

The course “City of Gabriels: The History of Jazz in St. Louis 1895 – 1973” is based on Owsley's book of the same name, and will cover St. Louis jazz history from the ragtime era through Gaslight Square during three two-hour classes on consecutive Thursdays. Classes will include recorded selections from Owsley’s collection, amassed over a lifetime of jazz fandom and more than 25 years hosting jazz programs on KWMU (90.7 FM). Owsley's current program Jazz Unlimited is broadcast from 9:00 p.m. to midnight Sundays.

For complete information on the content of each class, go to the Ethical Society Web site (.pdf file). Tuition for the course is $40; to register, contact Kathy Kammien by calling 314-991-1020, ext. 213, or emailing kkammien@ethicalstl.org.

Post article recounts contributions of St. Louis' black musicians

In acknowledgment of Black History Month, over the weekend the Post-Dispatch ran an article by pop critic Kevin Johnson presenting an overview of some of the most famous African-American musicians from St. Louis.

In addition to the expected Chuck Berry and Tina Turner references, the piece contained capsule biographies and audio samples of Miles Davis, Josephine Baker, Fontella Bass and others, while also namechecking trumpet legend Clark Terry and younger jazz players Russell Gunn, Andre Delano, Eric Person and Greg Osby. Read the whole thing here.

April is Jazz Appreciation Month

Did you know that April is officially Jazz Appreciation Month, as declared by no less an authority than The Smithsonian Institution?

Neither did I, but thanks to some nameless-yet-thoughtful government employee who sent me an email addressed to "Dear Friend of Jazz," I've learned that "Jazz Appreciation Month (or JAM), a cultural initiative led by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, is intended to draw public attention to the glories of jazz as both an historical and a living treasure. The idea is to encourage musicians, concert halls, schools, colleges, museums, libraries, and public broadcasters to offer special programs on jazz every April."

The Smithsonian got involved in jazz back in the early 1970s, when the multi-LP set The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz became an unexpected best-seller. These days, "The Smithsonian operates the world’s most comprehensive set of jazz programs–it collects jazz artifacts, documents, recordings, and oral histories; curates exhibitions and traveling exhibitions; operates its own big band, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra; publishes books and recordings on jazz; offers fellowships for research in its collections; and offers concerts, educational workshops, master classes, lectures, seminars, and symposia. Launching JAM is consistent with the Smithsonian’s 30-year record of leadership in jazz."

So far, I'm not aware of any specific plans by St. Louis institutions to celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month, but if any are announced, StLJN will have word for you right here. Meanwhile, the Smithsonian Web site has more information on local jazz societies and events in other parts of the country, as well as more information on JAM as well as some other jazz resources. There's also a poster (pictured), featuring an image of Louis Armstrong by artist LeRoy Neiman, available for download as a .pdf file.

Owsley to discuss St. Louis jazz history at Sheldon on March 27

Local jazz historian and radio personality Dennis Owsley will give a gallery talk on the history of St. Louis jazz at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 27 at the Sheldon Art Galleries. Owsley, who serves as host of KWMU's Sunday night Jazz Unlimited program, is the author of City of Gabriels, a book about St. Lous jazz history released last year by Reedy Press.

His talk is presented in conjunction with the Galleries' current exhibition on local jazz history, which runs through August 25, and will focus on St. Louis' Black Artists Group, the organization that helped launch the careers of musicians such as Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake, Hamiet Bluiett and many others. The event is free and open to the publc.