Jazz at Holmes show tonight cancelled

Just got a message from the Jazz at Holmes email list that tonight's concert at Washington University featuring guitarist William Lenihan has been cancelled. No reason was given, but I'm guessing it has something to do with the weather, since freezing rain has been coming down all over the St. Louis area since last night and is turning to sleet right at this moment.

Weather permitting, Jazz at Holmes will wrap up its fall series next Thursday night with a concert by the Phil Dunlap Trio. The series will then return in January after Washington University's semester break. .

Webster Records to host in-store performances by Thimes, Haydon and Byrne

Webster Records has released their schedule of free in-store jazz performances for December. The store's special holiday concert series resumes at 1:00 p.m. this Saturday, December 2, with a set from singer Denise Thimes, accompanied by keyboard player Tony Simmons. Future performances will feature guitarist Rick Haydon on Sunday, December 10 and guitarist Tom Byrne (pictured) on Sunday, December 17.

UPDATE - 3:30 p.m., 11/30/06 - StLJN has just received word that Denise Thimes will be unavilable to appear as scheduled this Saturday; instead, singer Anita Rosamond will perform.

(Photo of Tom Byrne swiped, with thanks, from Dennis Owsley.)

Jazz this week: Dave Weckl Band, smooth jazz holiday sounds, and more

This week's jazz offerings include the return to St. Louis of a hometown hero and two smooth jazz shows with a holiday theme.

The hometown hero in question is drummer Dave Weckl (pictured at left), who performs with his band at Jazz at the Bistro Wednesday through Saturday. With fellow Gateway City natives Tom Kennedy on bass and keyboard player Jay Oliver joining Weckl and saxophonist/keyboardist Gary Meek in the current version of the group, it's a St. Louis-centric lineup and for more about what they'll be up to, see this recent StLJN post for a link to an interview where Weckl talks about his homecoming. Also, at the bottom of this post, you'll find some extra Weckl video goodness, specifically a ten-minute video clip in which Weckl and fellow drummers Steve Gadd and Vinnie Colaiuta show off their chops at a Buddy Rich tribute concert.

As for the holiday themed smooth jazz, it gets started tonight at The Pageant with "A Peter White Christmas" featuring the guitarist (pictured at right) along with trumpeter Rick Braun and saxophonist Mindy Abair and continues at the same venue on Sunday with "A Soulful Christmas," featuring multi-instrumentalist Brian Culbertson, singer/guitarists Bobby Caldwell and Ray Parker Jr. and saxophonist Warren Hill. (Note that since these two concerts are being marketed together as DJ "Rick Sanborn's Smooth Holiday Party," there's a package price for those who buy tickets for both shows.)

Other noteworthy shows this week include a comparatively rare outing by guitarist William Lenihan, who's doing a free concert Thursday night at Washington University's Holmes Lounge as part of the Jazz at Holmes series. Also on Thursday, singer Denise Thimes is appearing in a special benefit concert at the Sheldon; trumpeter Dan Smith and his band with vocalist Debby Lennon will appear at Cookie's Jazz and More, and Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum will be at Brandt's.

On Friday, guitarist Todd Mosby is performing at Crossings Taverne and Grille, the Latin-world-jazz of Farshid Etniko will be heard at Erato Wine Bar, and the big band sound of the Original Knights of Swing will resonate throughout the generous expanse of the Casa Loma Ballroom. Saturday's picks include Jeanne Trevor's "sings Billie, Ella and Judy" show at Finale Music and Dining, and singer Danita Mumphard and Trio Tres Bien at Gene Lynn's.

As always, you'll find a more complete listing of this week's jazz events by visiting the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar.

(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. No attachments, please.)

Wheeler on the mend

Following up on a story from last week, singer Mae Wheeler been released from the hospital following surgery, according to an email from Jay Brandt, proprietor of the club that serves as Wheeler's musical home base. "Mae’s home, feeling well, but I haven’t yet heard what her treatment plan will be," writes Brandt. "She’s adamant that she wants all the dates she currently has booked! I’ve encouraged her to rest, but she’ll hear none of that!"

A benefit concert to help raise money for Wheeler will be held at Brandt's in December; we'll have more details for you when they become available. For now, Brandt says that get-well cards and letters can be sent to Wheeler in care of Brandt's Cafe, 6525 Delmar Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63130, and he'll see that she gets them.

Local jazz venues making news

This weekend's cleanup operations also yielded three recent stories about St. Louis jazz venues (or possible venues, anyway) that somehow have remained unblogged here until now:

First, in the current Riverfront Times, music editor Annie Zaleski's column has some information about Soulard Preservation Hall being re-opened as a venue for live music, including jazz. The building at 1921 S. Ninth St. was actually used fairly often for music and even some theater in the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s. (I personally played a number of rock and blues shows there; did publicity for The New Theatre's production of a Sam Shepard play that was staged there; and saw a number of concerts, too, including a sadly under-attended gig by Boston's Either/Orchestra.) It was fun while it lasted, and the place definitely had a lot of character (along with some serious leaks in the downstairs bathrooms), but problems with promoters, parking (or lack thereof) and the condition of the building itself eventually led to its demise as a concert hall. Now the building is under new ownership, with plans for extensive renovation and refurbishment of what could be a very nice space for live music. You can read all about it here.

Second, the Post-Dispatch's Metro-East section recently had a piece about what the new owners of Belleville's Main Street Jazz and Blues are doing with the place, including upgrading the interior of the club and scouting for bands who want regular gigs there. Get all the details here.

And last but not least, a recent Suburban Journals story detailed the work currently underway to turn a former barber supply factory and warehouse in the city's Fox Park neighborhood into an arts, entertainment and office complex that may eventually include a jazz club. Check it out here.

(Edited 11/29/06 to fix a typo.)

Site news: Some housekeeping, and a way to get StLJN via email

Spent a bit of time over the weekend doing some calendar updates - with more to come as the new month begins later this week - and also did some cleanup on the sidebar, deleting a couple of dead links, adding some new links to several sections, and also adding a bunch more of those "chicklet" buttons that allow you, dear reader, to add StLJN's site feed to various RSS newsreaders with one click.

However, I realize that while RSS readers are growing in popularity, not everyone uses one. And so, in addition to more E-Z syndication options, there's now also a brand-new feature than enables you to receive StLJN by email. Just submit your email address, and on days when there's new content on the site you'll receive a single message with that day's post, or posts, as the case may be.

This is a free service, provided by a third-party company called FeedBlitz, that seems to be in fairly wide use across the Web. Assuming it works as promised, I thought it seemed worth a try as another way to make the site's content as accessible as possible. And while I'll be getting those emails myself, for quality control purposes, I'd also be interested in any thoughts or feedback from readers who choose to give the service a try. As always, you can send your comments on this, or any other aspect of StLJN, via email to stljazznotes (AT) yahoo (DOT) com.

StLJN Saturday at the Movies:Three views of "Impressions"

Today's videos serve as a demonstration of what different musicians can do with the same piece of material. In this case, the song is "Impressions," a jazz standard made famous by saxophonist John Coltrane. The tune shares a chord progression with "So What," a 32-bar structure consisting of 16 bars of Dm7, 8 bars of Ebm7 and 8 more bars of Dm7. It's a simple harmonic structure compared to the complex tunes of the bebop era, but it serves as an effective springboard for the modal, scale-based style of improvisation popularized by Miles Davis on Kind of Blue and taken to another level by Coltrane during his career as a solo artist. It's also malleable enough to lend itself to a variety of interpretations, as these clips show.

The first video features Coltrane performing the tune with his classic quartet of McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass and Elvin Jones on drums, plus Eric Dolphy on alto sax. I'm not sure about the exact date of this video, but given that Dolphy was with Coltrane for only a relatively short time, it has to have been recorded in either 1961 or 1962.

The second clip, recorded in Belgium in 1965, shows guitarist Wes Montgomery performing his version of "Impressions," backed by Harold Mabern on piano, Arthur Harper on bass and Jimmy Lovelace on drums. And for a completely different take on "Impressions," check out the third video, which features avant-garde composer, conceptualist and saxophonist Anthony Braxton performing the tune in 1981 at the Woodstock Jazz Festival.

Jazz this week: Jeremy Davenport and more

Thanksgiving week isn't exactly a busy time for most musicians on the touring circuit, but St. Louis jazz fans do have one last chance this week to catch trumpeter and singer Jeremy Davenport before he resumes his former gig as the house attraction at the Ritz-Carlton in New Orleans next month. Davenport will be playing Jazz at the Bistro on Friday and Saturday nights, with two sets per night at the usual times.

And while some local musicians have reduced their schedules this week, many will be out over the weekend working as usual. You can find out who's where by consulting the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, but you also might want to call ahead before departing for your venue of choice, as both bar and band schedules may be subject to the whims of fate and/or the holiday weekend.

Barring a major breaking news story, new postings here are likely to be light for the next couple of days, but this week's installment of "StLJN Saturday at the Movies" will be up as usual, along with whatever other new stuff accumulates between now and then. In the meantime, here's hoping that you and yours have a happy Thanksgiving.

(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. No attachments, please.)