So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The Route 66 Jazz Orchestra has openings for a guitarist, lead tenor saxophonist, and trombonist. Rehearsals begin on January 15 and are held Wednesday evenings in South County. To schedule an audition, contact the band via their website.

* The blog Killed in Cars has available for free download a remix/sampler of live bootlegs of Miles Davis performances from October and November 1971 in Milan, Brussels, Belgrade, Oslo, and Turin.

* Meanwhile, guitarist Henry Kaiser talked with Guitar Player magazine about Yo, Miles!, the band he co-led with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith that drew inspiration from Davis' electric music of the same period.

* Drummer and University City native Ronnie Burrage will celebrate the release of Heal, the latest album by his Band Burrage (also featuring St. Louis guitarist Eric Slaughter) with a late-night show on January 18 at NYC's Blue Note.

* Meanwhile, another former U. Citian, multireedist Marty Ehrlich, will team with alto saxophonist and St. Louis native Greg Osby for the tribute concert "Compulsion: The Music of Andrew Hill" this coming Tuesday, January 14 at NYC's Jazz Standard. Osby and Ehrlich, who both are former Hill collaborators, will be joined by saxophonists Donny McCaslin and Jaleel Shaw; trumpeter Jeremy Pelt; bassist Ben Allison; and drummers Matt Wilson and Billy Drummond.

* Out on the West Coast, drummer Dave Weckl (pictured), who just celebrated a birthday on Wednesday, will perform with his new Acoustic Band on January 20 and 21 at Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood. The lineup for the group features a couple of familiar collaborators - bassist and fellow St. Louis native Tom Kennedy and saxophonist Gary Meek - along with pianist Makoto Ozone.

* Pianist Peter Martin has revamped the look and added new material to the video lessons section of his website.

* KDHX will present a free workshop on "How To Get Your Music On The Radio" at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow at the station's new HQ at 3524 Washington Ave.

* Jazz radio update: On this Saturday's episode of Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis' "Somethin' Else," host Calvin Wilson will feature recordings from top jazz drummers such as Art Blakey, Bobby Previte and Jeff “Tain” Watts.

Then on "The Jazz Collective," Jason Church will have an all-St. Louis program, with music from Erin Bode, Farshid Etniko, Jim Manley, Funky Butt Brass Band, Jesse Gannon, Tommy Halloran, Dawn Weber, Tom Byrne, Tim Cunningham, Jim Stevens, Vince Varvel, Jeanne Trevor, Kim Massie, Robert Silverman, "Peanuts" Whalum, Clave Sol, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes, Brian Vaccaro, Rod Tate and Gregg Haynes, Soul Cafe, Carolbeth True, Elliott Ranney, and Jason Swagler.

Wilson's program can be heard at 8:00 p.m. Saturdays, followed by Church at 9:00 p.m., via 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen. 

Terence Blanchard replaces Chucho Valdés for February 15 concert at The Sheldon

This just in: The Sheldon Concert Hall has announced that trumpeter Terence Blanchard (pictured) and his sextet will replace Chucho Valdés for the concert scheduled for 8:00 p.m. Saturday, February 15 at the Sheldon. According to the Sheldon's announcement, Valdés is unable to appear due to an injury sustained while on tour.

If you've already bought tickets for Valdés and wish to attend Blanchard's performance, you can keep your tickets and just present them at the door on February 15. Refunds for the face value of tickets can be obtained at the original point of purchase.

Blanchard was here in St. Louis frequently last year, as Opera Theater St. Louis presented the world premiere production of his first opera, Champion, and played free outdoor concerts at both St. Louis Place Park and the Missouri Botanical Garden. (Coincidentally, when Blanchard performed at The Sheldon in 2006, he was filling a date that had opened up when bassist Dave Holland had to cancel.) 

The New Orleans native also is known for writing scores for a number of director Spike Lee's films, and for the recent Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire. He also appeared here in 2012 at both the Touhill Performing Arts Center, with percussionist Poncho Sanchez, and at Jazz at the Bistro with his own band. Blanchard's most recent album Magnetic, released last year, made the year-end "Best of 2013" lists of a number of jazz critics and publications.

(Edited 1/10/14 to fix a redundancy in the text.)

Jazz this week: The Bad Plus, Nathaniel Bartlett plays Stockhausen, Lina Koutrakos, and more

As St. Louis continues to dig out from the big storm, it looks like this week's jazz and creative music performances around town should go on as scheduled.

Should the weather turns nasty again, however, we encourage you to call ahead before heading out to your venue of choice, and this site will be updated with any cancellation info received at StLJN HQ. Hoping for warmer temperatures soon, let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, The Bad Plus returns to St. Louis for the eighth consecutive year in January to open a four-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro. At this point, most StLJN readers likely will be familiar with the critically acclaimed trio, but if you're not, you can check out our extensive previous coverage, including a couple of compilations of live performance video clips, here.

Since The Bad Plus have signed a new record deal with Sony, with their first album back on the label scheduled for release later this year, it seems likely the crowd at the Bistro will get a taste of some of that new material as well as selections from their back catalog. Given the possibility of new sounds in the offing, plus the group's extensive existing fan base here, advance reservations are strongly suggested.

Also tonight, percussionist Henry Claude and cellist Tracy Andreotti will bring their alternate identities The Steve and Jennifer Project to the Tavern of Fine Arts for an evening of improvised music.

Tomorrow night, Good 4 The Soul will make their monthly appearance at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups; saxophonist "Blind" Willie Dineen will perform at the new south side venue The Engine Room; and Miss Jubilee plays swing, jump blues and more at Thaxton Speakeasy.

On Friday, the Knights of Swing will play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes trio will perform at Thurman Grill; and bassist Darrell Mixon will lead a trio at Cigar Inn.

Then on Saturday, percussionist Nathaniel Bartlett, who also was here in St. Louis last weekend, will be coming back through town after playing several other shows in the interim for another performance at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center. This time, Bartlett will perform two works from Stockhausen and an original piece by LNAC's Mark Sarich.

Elsewhere around town on Saturday night, singer Lina Koutrakos presents her cabaret show "Shades of Blue" at the Kranzberg Arts Center; singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black return to Chaser's Lounge at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel; singer Chuck Flowers fronts a trio at Robbie's House of Jazz; and guitarist Brian Vaccaro and his trio will play at the house concert venue KindaBlue, 6101 1/2 Idaho.

On Sunday, the "Inner Jazz" series at Kirkwood United Church of Christ continues with a free concert by trumpeter/pianist Tim Osiek and his quartet.

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.)

Ken Page added to Gaslight Cabaret Festival

The Gaslight Cabaret Festival has added a major attraction to its lineup, as festival producers The Presenters Dolan have announced that singer/actor, Broadway veteran, and St. Louis native Ken Page will perform to kick off the multi-week event with shows at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 20 and Friday, February 21 at the Gaslight Theater.

Although Page (pictured) has appeared in movies, on TV, and as a voiceover performer for animation, he's best known for his many starring roles in musical theater, including being part of the original casts of the Fats Waller musical Ain't Misbehavin', Cats, The Wiz, and the hit revival of Guys and Dolls.

For the Gaslight Cabaret Festival, Page will perform a show called "Old, New, Borrowed & Blue," which according to promotional materials will feature "a range of songs from Old Broadway, New Broadway, his favorite artists, and the blues." (For more about Ken Page, see this 2012 feature story from St. Louis magazine.)

Tickets for Ken Page at the Gaslight Cabaret Festival are $35 and $40, and are on sale now online at http://www.licketytix.com and by phone at 314-725-4200 ext 10.

Engine Room revs up first month's schedule

The Engine Room at Feraro's, the new live music venue at 7700 Ivory St. on the south side, has announced its first full month's schedule, as assembled by musician and instrument-builder David Certain, who's serving as the club's "minister of music."

Things get underway this Tuesday when the club presents the first in a series of weekly jam sessions, hosted by a trio including Darrell Mixon on bass, Jack Lane on guitar, and Certain on drums. Wednesdays will be Reggae Night, featuring Oba Simba's Onix Reggae band.

Thursdays through Saturdays, the Engine Room will present a mix of jazz, funk, R&B and rock, with the first week's bookings including saxophonist "Blind" Willie Dineen on Thursday, January 9; guitarist Tom Byrne (pictured) and his trio on Friday, January 10; and singer Brian G. Soul and band on Saturday, January 11.

The rest of the month's schedule will include saxophonist Lew Winer III, leading a trio (January 16); Kaleb Kirby's Animal Children (January 17); CertainBeat WorldBop (January 18); a return gig for Dineen (January 23); pianist/singer Jesse Gannon and Truth (January 24); GeoBilly with Billy Barnett & George Potsos (January 25); trumpeter Ben Henderson's trio (January 30); and the Kevin Renick Band (January 31), with UberCool kicking off next month on Saturday, February 1.

Tuesday hours for live music will be 8:00 p.m. to midnight, with no cover charge. Reggae Night performances on Wednesdays will be 9:00 p.m. to midnight, with a $5 cover, while weekend shows will run from 8:00 p.m. to midnight with the same $5 cover. And if you're interested in following along on social media to keep up with future bookings, The Engine Room has both a Facebook page and Twitter account.

(Edited after posting to fix a typo and to correctly identify Brian G. Soul.) 

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Winter/spring 2014 jazz preview, part 4

This week, we continue with part four of StLJN's winter/spring 2014 jazz preview, featuring bands and musicians who will be coming to our town in the first few months of this year. (Here are part one, part two and part three.)

Today's first clip features guitarist Pat Metheny and his Unity Band, with saxophonist Chris Potter, bassist Ben Williams and drummer Antonio Sanchez, performing "Breakdealer" at a show in July 2012 in Rome, Italy. Metheny and the ensemble, now known as the Unity Group with the addition of multi-instrumentalist Giulio Carmassi, will be touring in support of a new album this year and will play St. Louis on Sunday, March 9 at The Pageant.

Down below, you can see pianist Cyrus Chestnut who will be here with his trio and special guest guitarist Russell Malone to perform Wednesday, April 2 through Saturday, April 5 at Jazz at the Bistro.

In this clip, Chestnut, bassist Darryl Hall and drummer Willie Jones III are playing his adaptation of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake," recorded in 2011 for his album Moonlight Sonata, an import-only release from Japan. Below that, you can see a video of Malone playing "There Will Never Be Another You" with pianist Billy Taylor's trio.

The fourth clip shows flute player and composer Claire Chase, who will perform here in a concert presented by New Music Circle on Friday, April 4 at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts. This video is an excerpt from a performance by Chase and her ensemble last January at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC.

Next up are The Wee Trio, featuring St. Louis native Dan Loomis on bass, who will be returning to St. Louis to perform on Friday, April 11 and Saturday, April 12 at Jazz at the Bistro. In this clip, you can see them in a 2012 show at MiraCosta College in California, performing the arrangement of "Queen Bitch" originally conceived for Ashes to Ashes, their album of David Bowie music, and then revisited on Live at the Bistro, recorded here in St. Louis last February.

The sixth clip features singer Storm Large, who's performing Friday, April 11 and Saturday, April 12 at the Gaslight Theater as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival. Large, whose career in entertainment has ranged from rock singer to reality TV to cabaret, is heard here in a 2011 recording singing the standard "Brasil" with Pink Martini, the retro-style dance band for which she is co-lead vocalist.

Today's seventh video features percussionist Poncho Sanchez, who was here in 2012 to perform at the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival and will return this year to play Wednesday, April 16 through Saturday, April 19 at the Bistro. Sanchez and his band are seen here performing their complete set from the 2012 Montreux Jazz Festival.

Look for the fifth part of the winter/spring 2014 jazz preview next week.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Trumpeter, consultant and impresario George Sams plans to re-start The Nu-Art Series this year with four to six performances at a location or locations yet to be determined, according to an article by Terry Perkins published this week by the St. Louis Beacon/St. Louis Public Radio.

* Singer Sarah Ulrich of Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes (pictured) is profiled in the latest issue of the local lifestyle magazine Uptown.

* The St. Louis Business Journal reports that Jazz St. Louis had a fiscally successful year in 2013.

* StLJN's annual roundup of "Best Jazz of 2013" lists this year included a couple of local entries, from Josh Weinstein, host of KDHX's "All Soul, No Borders," and Calvin Wilson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis. You can see the entire list roundup, which has more than 120 "best of" lists from around and still is being updated, here.

* Jazz radio update: On this Saturday's episode of “Somethin’ Else” on Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis, host Calvin Wilson will focus on the music of Herbie Hancock, including his collaborations with trumpeter Miles Davis and saxophonist Michael Brecker. The program can be heard at 8:00 p.m. Saturdays via 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2 and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.

Jazz this week: Funky Butt Brass Band, Nathaniel Bartlett, West End Stomp, St. Louis Guitar Fusion, and more

The first part of the New Year traditionally is a bit a slow for the live music business, but if you're willing to brave the cold and snow, there still are some noteworthy jazz and creative music performances happening around St. Louis in the next few days. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, trumpeter Jim Manley will be back for his ongoing Thursday evening gig at Joyia Tapas, 4501 Manchester Ave in the Grove neighborhood.

Tomorrow night, the Funky Butt Brass Band returns to Jazz at the Bistro for the first of two nights of what's being billed as a New Orleans-style New Year's Celebration. While the overall production may not be quite as elaborate as the FBBB's recent Holiday Brasstravaganza, no doubt they will have a least a few trickerations up their sleeves to entertain the assembled multitudes. 

Also on Friday, percussionist and composer Nathaniel Bartlett (pictured) will be in town to perform at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center. Bartlett will perform trichotomic ecology, a composition for 5 octave marimba, viola, and percussion that uses a custom eight-channel speaker array he calls the "SSAL loudspeaker cube," which surrounds the audience and creates "an elaborate, kinetic, three-dimensional sound environment."

The piece also employs software that not only responds to the composer via foot pedal commands but also ‘listens’ via microphones to the performers and generates notation on a video screen based on composer-created computer algorithms.

Elsewhere around town on Friday, Lindy Hop St. Louis' monthly "West End Stomp" dance will feature music from Wack-A-Doo at the Mahler Ballroom; saxophonist Willie Akins leads a quartet at Cigar Inn; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes make their debut at Backstreet Jazz and Blues club in Westport; and Wendy Gordon returns to DeLeo's Cafe & Deli.

Then on Saturday night, Robbie's House of Jazz has a double bill, with an early evening show by saxophonist Jay Hutson and Da Wolvez with singer Tamesha Foote, followed by a late set by the Robert Tucker Quartet. Also on Saturday, bassist Bob DeBoo's weekly trio performance at Kranzberg Arts Center has been held over into the new year.

On Sunday, the St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show will hold their first event of the year at the American Czech Hall, 4690 Lansdowne at Kingshighway.

UPDATE - 5:30 p.m., 1/3/13: Organizers of the St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show posted on Facebook that Sunday's show is canceled due to the expected bad weather. The next show will be held on Sunday, March 2 

That evening, guitarists Dave Black, Randy Bahr and Farshid Soltanshahi (from Farshid Etniko) will team up for their first-ever concert together, billed as "St. Louis Guitar Fusion," at The Chapel.

UPDATE - 9:30 a.m., 1/3/13: Dave Black has posted on Facebook that Sunday's concert is postponed, due to winter weather.

And if for some reason that's not enough guitar for you, there's more on Monday, as guitarist Tom Byrne will be back at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

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.)