So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Italian guitarist and composer Filippo Cosentino will present a free, public lecture and discussion at 4:30 p.m. next Wednesday, October 18 in the Grand Room at the Washington University Alumni House (located behind the music department on Forsyth). Cosentino (pictured) will perform the following night (Thursday, October 19) for the Jazz at Holmes series at Wash U.

* Having wrapped up his duties as artistic director of the 2017 Sopot Jazz Festival in Poland, saxophonist and St. Louis native Greg Osby will be back in the USA for a Thanksgiving week tribute to the electric music of Miles Davis at the NYC club Iridium. Other members of the tribute ensemble include trumpeter Randy Brecker, drummer Steve Smith (of Journey and Vital Information), and bassist Lonnie Plaxico.

* If you've ever wondered whether the arts are a moneymaker for the local economy, a study released this month by Americans for the Arts shows that in 2015, the not-for-profit arts and culture industry in the St. Louis area generated $591 million in annual economic activity, supporting 19,129 full-time equivalent jobs and yielding $57.7 million in local and state government revenue.

(Note that this figure doesn't include for-profit ventures in theater, visual arts, or the music industry - ranging from big arena shows and concert clubs, to one-person gigs at neighborhood venues, to support services like music stores and recording studios - so if anything, it probably understates the total economic impact of arts-related businesses.)

* St. Louis-based publishers Worship Jazz have released two new "jazz nativity" scripts for the holiday season, "What Child is This?" and "Angels from the Realms." Both include full staging instructions and music suggestions from the company's book Jazz Christmas Carols, Volume 2. For details, samples from the scripts, and pricing information, see the Worship Jazz website.

* Missouri student composers in grades K-12 can win awards and cash prizes for their original music in a variety of genres, via the University of Missouri School of Music's Creating Original Music Project (COMP). Entries for the 2018 competition are being accepted now; for more information, visit the COMP website.

Jazz this week: Arturo Sandoval, Moon Hooch, Paula West, Hudson, The Wee Trio, and more

It's a big week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with a half-dozen noteworthy headliners performing in various styles visiting the area over the next few days.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, October 11
The weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features Mark Wallace at KDHX's Magnolia Cafe, a jam session with bassist Bob Deboo and friends at Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor at The Dark Room.

Also on Wednesday, the students of Washington University's Monday Night Jazz Band will present a free concert at the 560 Music Center's Pillsbury Theatre.

Thursday, October 12
If  you're up for a short road trip, trumpeter Serafin Aguilar, best known for his work in Maynard Ferguson's band, will be just down the road in Flat River on Thursday, performing with the MAC Kicks Band and MAC Jazz Ensemble at the Mineral Area College Theater in Flat River.

Also on Thursday, guitarist Dave Black plays at The Pat Connolly Tavern, and singer Erin Bode returns to Cyrano's.

Friday, October 13
The saxophones-and-drums trio Moon Hooch (pictured, bottom left) returns, bringing their distinctive "acoustic techno" sound to the Old Rock House.

For more about them and some video samples of recent performances, see this post from last Saturday.

Also on Friday, the Cuban-born trumpeter Arturo Sandoval is back for the first of two nights paying tribute to his mentor Dizzy Gillespie at Jazz at the Bistro; and singer Paula West kicks off the fall series of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival with the first of two nights at the Gaslight Theater.

Saturday, October 14
The "supergroup" Hudson (pictured, top left), featuring drummer Jack DeJohnette, guitarist John Scofield, keyboard player John Medeski and bassist Larry Grenadier, brings their first-ever nationwide tour to the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Elsewhere around town, the New Orleans Suspects return to the Broadway Oyster Bar, and The Gaslight Squares and Miss Jubilee will perform on a double bill at Das Bevo Biergarten.

Sunday, October 15
The St. Louis Jazz Club presents pianist Pat Joyce and clarinetist Scott Alberici at the Webster Groves Concert Hall; and singer Mary Dyson performs at Troy's Jazz Gallery.

Monday, October 16
Trumpeter Jim Manley plays for diners and drinkers at Momo's Greek Restaurant.

Tuesday, October 17
The Wee Trio, featuring bassist and St. Louis native Dan Loomis, will be back in the area for a performance at SIU Edwardsville's Dunham Hall, augmented by members of the university's jazz faculty for select numbers from their most recent album Wee +3 .

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 8, 2017

Antonio Sanchez

Here's the roundup of various music-related items of interest that have appeared in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Trane of No-Thought: How Meditation Inspired Jazz Great John Coltrane (LionsRoar.com)
* Jazz and Communism? The Perfect Oxymoron - Paquito D’Rivera considers the implications of International Jazz Day 2017 (Jazz Times)
* Tom Petty, Rock Iconoclast Who Led the Heartbreakers, Dead at 66 (Rolling Stone)
* An Appreciation of Tom Petty: Rock’s Superstar Everyman (Variety)
* Free Falling with Tom Petty (The New Yorker)
* Tom Petty's final interview: There was supposed to have been so much more (Los Angeles Times)
* Judd Apatow Revives Mainstream, Bob Shad's Independent Record Label (WBGO)
* Nextbop Interviews Kendrick Scott (NextBop.com)
* The Meaning of Soul Music According to Raphael Saadiq (Pitchfork.com)
* Interview: Ashley Kahn on Thelonious Monk's Legacy (Keyboard)
* Antonio Sánchez Brings Electronics and Politics To 'Bad Hombre' (NPR)
* Herbie Hancock: Why he thinks the audience is a member of his band (Philly.com)* A New Model for Paying Musicians a Living Wage? (East Bay Express)
* Esperanza Spalding Talks Recording an Album in 77 Hours, Sexism in Music & Nicki Minaj (Billboard)
* Kamasi Washington on the Music That Made Him a Jazz Colossus (Pitchfork.com)
* Why British DJs From the ’60s and ’70s Kept Their Best Records Secret (AtlasObscura.com)
* The Philosophy & Music of Devo, the Avant-Garde Art Project Dedicated to Revealing the Truth About De-Evolution (Open Culture.com)
* Puerto Rico's 'Singing Newspapers' (NPR)
* The Unknowable Joni Mitchell (The Atlantic)
* Live Sound Processing and Improvisation (New Music Box)
* Mike Stern: Playing Through the Pain (Jazz Times)
* Photos: New York Hot Jazz Festival at the McKittrick Hotel - Cyrille Aimée, Bria Skonberg, Anat Cohen and more swing the fest's fifth edition (Jazz Times)
* European Jazz Conference 2017 (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Speed of sound – how Spotify killed the long intro (The Guardian)
* After year of silence, New Orleans Jazz Orchestra ready to move on without founder Irvin Mayfield (New Orleans Advocate)
* I Wrote a Hit Song With Justin Bieber. Want to See My Royalties? (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Do Androids Dream Of Electronic Beats? How Blade Runner impacted electronic music (FactMag.com)
* Kate Bush, Radiohead, Sister Rosetta Tharpe Nominated For Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame (NPR)
* The Art Ensemble of Chicago Celebrates 50 Years Of Channeling And Challenging History (NPR)
* Jazz Drummer Alvin Queen Denied Entry to U.S. Due to Dropped Charges From 50 Years Ago (Billboard)
* On the Cultural Specificity of Symphony Orchestras (CreateEquity.com)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A few sips of Moon Hooch

This week, let's sample some videos from Moon Hooch, who are returning to St. Louis to perform on Friday, October 13 at the Old Rock House.

The NYC-based trio - drummer James Muschler and saxophonists Mike Wilbur and Wenzl McGowen - met while attending The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in NYC, and got their start in 2010 busking in subway stations.

With some help from some fortuitously timed national media attention, including one of the most-viewed episodes ever of NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts, they've developed into a busy touring act and have released five recordings in all, the most recent of which is the CD + DVD set Live at the Cathedral, which came out in June of this year.

While the members of Moon Hooch trained as jazz musicians, their sound as a band is something else, drawing heavily on electronic dance music and also influenced by hip-hop, metal, and even a bit of Indian classical music.

McGowen has called it "acoustic techno," and evoking the feel of electronic music on acoustic instruments requires the two saxophonists to use various extended techniques - some of their own invention, like inserting a plastic traffic cone into a sax - while also demanding considerable amounts of precision and stamina from all three musicians.

You can get an idea of what this sounds like and see how they pull it off in today's videos, starting with the first clip up top, which was made in November 2016 in the studios of radio station KJHK in Lawrence, KS, and features them playing "Number 1," "Number 7" and "Bari 3."

After the jump, you can see and hear three more tracks (with somewhat less generic-seeming titles), all recorded in February of this year at the studios of Paste magazine in NYC. They are, in order, "Red Sky," "Light It Up" and "Contrabass Dubstep."

The final two videos, "Acid Mountain" and "Growing Up," were recorded in August 2017 in the studios of radio station KBOO In Portland, OR.

For more about Moon Hooch, check out the interview with them published in July by The Guardian newspaper, and this feature from August in EZH magazine.

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

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Trombonist Steve Swell will present a free, public "artist's talk" at 4:00 p.m. today (Friday October 6) in Room 102 of Washington University's music classroom building.

Swell (pictured) is in St. Louis to lead his quintet in New Music Circle's season-opening concert on Saturday night at The Stage at KDHX.

* Speaking of Washington University, bassist, educator and author Paul Steinbeck will discuss Message To Our Folks, his book about the history of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, as part of Wash U's library faculty book talk series at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 24 in room 142 of the Olin Library on the Wash U campus. The event is free and open to the public.

* Saxophonist and singer Grace Kelly is the subject of a photo feature on the website Sound of STL, and her performance Wednesday night at Jazz at the Bistro was briefly reviewed on the website of Sophisticated Living magazine. Kelly continues at the Bistro through Saturday night.

* The Wee Trio's upcoming concert on Tuesday, October 17 at SIU Edwardsville was previewed by the Edwardsville Intelligencer.

* KDHX's Magnolia Cafe, which serves as one of the sites on the weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl," is getting a new menu, a new operator, and a new name. According to reports published this week by Feast magazine and others, chef Rob Connoley will take over the restaurant, renaming it Squatter's Cafe, on Wednesday, November 1.

* The annual musical instrument drive sponsored by Music for Lifelong Achievement was the subject of a feature story on KTVI-Fox 2's morning news.

* "Wayfaring Traveler," a track from trumpeter Keyon Harrold's new album The Mugician that features guest performances from Jermaine Holmes, Georgia Anne Muldrow and Robert Glasper, this week made it onto Apple Music's jazz playlist "The A List."

* Singer Debby Lennon will star in the upcoming production of the musical comedy Souvenir being staged by Max & Louie Productions from Thursday, December 14 through Sunday, December 31 at The Marcelle in Grand Center.

The show tells the story of the notoriously tone-deaf Florence Foster Jenkins, "a real-life socialite who set elite eardrums in Manhattan a-trembling in a series of notorious private concerts during the 1930s and 1940s...Her flamboyant costumes and uninhibited love of music was as much her trademark as her inability to sing on key."  Jenkins' story also was the subject of an eponymous 2016 feature film starring Meryl Streep in the title role.

Jazz this week: Grace Kelly, Steve Swell Quintet, Kevin Eubanks, a benefit for Puerto Rico, and more

The fall presenting season is gathering some momentum this week, as the calendar of jazz and creative music for the next few days in St. Louis includes three significant touring headliners - two of whom are making their local debuts - plus a benefit raising money for hurricane relief in Puerto Rico, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, October 4
Saxophonist and singer Grace Kelly (pictured, top left) makes her St. Louis debut in the first of four nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

For more about Kelly and some video samples of recent performances, take a look at this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

Also on Wednesday, guitarist Dave Black plays solo at Evangeline's, and the weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features saxophonist Andy Ament at KDHX's Magnolia Café, a jam session hosted by bassist Bob DeBoo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor at The Dark Room.

Thursday, October 5
Singer Kim Fuller will perform in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, percussionist Joe Pastor leads a trio at The Dark Room, and saxophonist Vince Sala brings his trio to The Pat Connolly Tavern.

Friday, October 6
The Puerto Rican Society of St. Louis presents "STL Stands Up For Puerto Rico," a benefit performance to raise money for hurricane relief on the island, at St. Louis Community College-Forest Park. The event will feature music from Orquestra Son Montuno, Farshid Etniko, Clave Sol, Mark Holland, and more.

Saturday, October 7
Veteran free-jazz trombonist Steve Swell makes his St. Louis debut, leading an all-star quintet in a concert presented by New Music Circle at The Stage at KDHX.

Swell's band (pictured, bottom left) features pianist Dave Burrell, bassist William Parker, drummer Chad Taylor, and saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc, and you can find out more of them and see some video performances here.

Sunday, October 8
Guitarist Kevin Eubanks, who's gotten very good notices for his post-Tonight Show efforts both on stage and on records. returns to the St. Louis area to perform in the intimate confines of the Wildey Theatre in Edwardsville. 

Also on Sunday night, the Coleman Hughes Project plays an early evening show at Troy's Jazz Gallery.

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.)

Recently on Heliocentric Worlds

It's the start of a new month, and so it's time to check in on StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds, where every day there's a new post of an online music video, draw from genres including jazz, blues, soul, funk, classic rock, prog rock, experimental, and more.

The five most-watched videos added to the site last month were:

Kurt Elling - Live at the Newport Jazz Festival
Tony Bennett & Diana Krall - "The Best Is Yet to Come"
The Soul Rebels - Live in Philadelphia
Maynard Ferguson - "Whatcha Thinkin'"
Big Sam's Funky Nation - "See Me Dance"

Other recent posts have featured the Ed Palermo Big Band, Canned Heat, McCoy Tyner Trio with Gary Bartz & Bill Frisell, Candy Dulfer, J Geils Band, The Skeletons, Colosseum, Wes Montgomery, The Who, Hamiet Bluiett, William Parker & Hamid Drake, Dexter Gordon, The Soul Rebels, George Benson, Mavis Staples, Mallard, Can, Buddy Guy, Free, Dave Holland & Prism, Pharoah Sanders, Tommy Flanagan, Mary Halvorson Octet, Esperanza Spalding, Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm, Ahmad Jamal, and Barbara Dennerlein.

You still can see all of these videos, plus thousands more from the carefully selected archives, just by visiting http://heliocentricworlds.blogspot.com/.

Sunday Session: October 1, 2017

Bud Powell

Here's the roundup of various music-related items of interest that have appeared in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Why Do Orchestras Seem to Play Behind the Beat? (WQXR)
* How jazz is becoming the sound of resistance once again (Salon.com)
* Patti LaBelle: New Jazz Attitude (Jazz Times)
* An introduction to Jon Hassell in 10 records (TheVinylFactory.com)
* Giving peace a chance? Music can drive us apart as much as it unites (TheConversation.com)
* Reminiscing with Latin-jazz legend Eddie Palmieri (Jazz Times)
* From Louis Armstrong to the N.F.L.: Ungrateful as the New Uppity (The New Yorker)
* Labels And Artists Lending A Hand To Those Affected By Natural Disasters (NPR)
* Meet Jason DeMarco, The Reason Adult Swim’s Music Is So Good (Pitchfork.com)
* A Century Of Song: Monk At 100 (SFJAZZ.org)
* Playlist of the Lambs: psychopaths may have distinct musical preferences (The Guardian)
* Frank Zappa’s 1977 Halloween residency to be released as 158-track costume box set (ConsequenceOfSound.com)
* 70s boombox makes comeback, attracts new generation (KyodoNews.com)
* Was the Blues Born on a Vaudeville Stage? (PopMatters.com)
* Spotify Is Paying $2.77 Million a Month In Rent for Its World Trade Center Offices (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* How Facebook Is Trying to Avoid a Public Relations Disaster with Songwriters (TheStreet.com)
* Bizarre footage shows trumpet-playing bear travelling in motorcyclist's sidecar while sitting at traffic lights (The Mirror)
* America's Small Cities Are Betting Their Second Act on Festivals (Jezebel.com)
* New York Hot Jazz Festival Electrifies McKittrick Hotel (DownBeat)
* The Summer of Yoko Ono Ends with Shrieks and Screams (Smithsonian)
* Bud Powell Revisited (NEPR.net)
* Coltrane’s Hidden Gems: A Seeker’s Guide (EstheticLens.com)
* A Walk Through The Avant-Garde World of ‘Art Rap’ Music (Bandcamp.com)
* Hugh Hefner's Big Contributions to Jazz (WBGO)
* Technician of the Sacred - Three recent books demonstrate that John Cage is overdue for a populist revival (Utne.com)
* Ostrava Days, Brooklyn Nights - On Hypocrisy and Insularity in New Music (Atavist.com)
* Linda Ronstadt: 'I don’t like any of my albums' (The Guardian)
* Culture Clubs: A History of the U.S. Jazz Clubs, Part I: New Orleans and Chicago (AllAboutJazz.com)
* How Instagram Became The Music Industry’s Secret Weapon (Fast Company)
* A Guide to U.K. Jazz in 2017 (Bandcamp.com)
* Q&A: John McLaughlin & Jimmy Herring (Jazz Times)
* Which Two Songs Are the First to Be Encoded Into the Fabric of Life? (AtlasObscura.com)