St. Louis Jazz Notes

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

StLJN 2013 year in review

As we come to the end of 2013, here's a look back at some of the most newsworthy, noteworthy, popular and/or interesting items posted here on St. Louis Jazz Notes over the past 12 months:

January 2013

February 2013

March 2013

April 2013

May 2013

June 2013

July 2013

August 2013

September 2013

October 2013

November 2013

December 2013

Edited after posting to fix some formatting problems.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase:
Winter/spring 2014 jazz preview, part 3

This week, it's an extra-large part three of StLJN's video preview of jazz musicians and bands coming to St. Louis in the first part of 2014. (In case you missed them, here's part one and part two.)

Today's first clip features singer Marissa Mulder, who will make her St. Louis debut as one of the headliners of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival, performing "The Songs of Tom Waits" from Thursday, February 27 through Saturday, March 1 at the Gaslight Theater. In this clip, Mulder can be seen singing "Day After Tomorrow," written by Waits and Kathleen Brennan, during a show in March of this year at the Metropolitan Room in NYC.

Down below, the next video shows off trumpeter Sean Jones playing his song "Transitions" at the 2011 Detroit Jazz Festival. Jones will return to St. Louis once again this spring to play Wednesday, March 5 through Saturday March 8 at Jazz at the Bistro.

The third video features another act that's visited St. Louis frequently in recent years, the New Orleans funk/jazz group Galactic. They'll be back on Thursday, March 6 to play at The Pageant, but in the meantime, you can watch their entire set from this year's New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Below that, the fourth clip present another of the visiting headliners for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival, singer/actress Emily Bergl, whose performances of "Until the Real Thing Comes Along" from Thursday, March 13 through Saturday, March 15 at the Gaslight Theater will be her first here in St. Louis. Bergl, an acclaimed musical theater performer who also had a recurring role on ABC's Desperate Housewives, is seen here singing "42nd Street" at the Cicada Club in Los Angeles.

In the fifth video window, you can see an NPR Music "Tiny Desk Concert" featuring alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa, who will be making his St. Louis debut Wednesday, March 19 through Saturday, March 22 at Jazz at the Bistro. Mahanthappa, who leads several different ensembles, is seen here performing "Killer" and "Playing With Stones" with guitarist Rez Abbasi, bassist Rich Brown, and drummer Rudy Royston.

The last five clips all relate to a single concert, the all-star "Newport Jazz Festival: Now 60" ensemble that will play the final date of a 17-city tour on Sunday, March 30 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The group includes St. Louis' own Peter Martin (who should be quite familiar to regular StLJN readers by now) as pianist, and will be directed by clarinetist/saxophonist Anat Cohen, who was featured in this space last year when she and her quartet played a week at the Bistro.

Also taking part will be singer and Kansas City native Karrin Allyson, seen here performing "The Shadow of Your Smile" with her quartet; trumpeter Randy Brecker, who in his clip is playing "Round Midnight" in a 2011 performance with Washington DC's Jazz Academy Orchestra; and guitarist Mark Whitfield, offering his version of "In a Sentimental Mood" this part June at the JazzAscona festival in Switzerland (with some help from bassist Roland Guerin and drummer Troy Davis).

Providing the foundation for the band will be bassist Larry Grenadier, who is seen in the ninth video soloing at a clinic in June of this year in Buenos Aires, Argentina; and drummer Clarence Penn, who's featured in today's tenth and final clip playing a solo in 2010 at the Blue Note club in Poznań, Poland.

Look for part four of StLJN's winter/spring 2014 jazz preview here next week.

Friday, December 27, 2013

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Drummer and St. Louis native Marcus Baylor and his wife, singer Jean Baylor (pictured), have launched a Kickstarter campaign raising money to complete the debut album by their new band The Baylor Project. You can read more about it and pledge your support here.

* The Miles Davis Memorial Project has scheduled another informational meeting at 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, January 21, at Bossanova Restaurant and Lounge, 112 West Third St. in Alton.

The project's organizers will give a short presentation and show a video about the effort to place a statue of Davis in downtown Alton. For more information, call the Alton Pride office at 618-467-2375 or email them at pride at prideincorporated dot org.

* The Funky Butt Brass Band has posted on Facebook an album of photos from last weekend's Holiday Brasstravaganza shows.

* Meanwhile, Jazz St. Louis has posted to their Facebook page an album of pictures from last week's performances by John Pizzarelli and Bucky Pizzarelli.

* A new interview with drummer Pheeroan ak Laff over at Destination: Out includes a track from saxophonist and former St. Louisan Oliver Lake.

* Jazz radio update: For 2013's final edition of “Somethin’ Else” on Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis, host Calvin Wilson will herald the coming of the new year with recordings by trumpeters including Tom Harrell, Ambrose Akinmusire and Russell Gunn. 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.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Jazz this week: The Brothers Peterson, Good 4 The Soul, New Year's Eve jazz in St. Louis, and more

With Santa Claus' labors complete and his flying reindeer out to pasture for another year, there are just a few days of live jazz and creative music left in 2013. Let's see what's coming up in and around St. Louis...

Tonight, it's the final "Avant-Garde Arts Night" of the year at the Tavern of Fine Arts, featuring live improvised sounds from musicians mostly associated with New Music Circle; and trumpeter Jim Manley plays his weekly gig at Joyia Tapas in the Grove neighborhood.

Tomorrow night, bassist Mark Peterson and guitarist Anthony Michael "Tru" Peterson, brothers and St. Louis natives, will team up as The Brothers Peterson for a homecoming performance at The Engine Room, a new live music venue at 7700 Ivory on the south side.

Also tomorrow night, in what's become a year-end tradition for the group, the jazz/funk/R&B quartet Good 4 The Soul (pictured) checks into Jazz at the Bistro for the first of two nights. Elsewhere around town, the Funky Butt Brass Band will play the Broadway Oyster Bar; the multi-talented trio of Curt Landes, Alan Ox and Vince Martin will join forces for a performance at Robbie's House of Jazz; and Wack-A-Doo will be at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

On Saturday evening, drummer Montez Coleman will lead a trio with keyboardist Matt Villinger and bassist Bob DeBoo in a live recording session at the Kranzberg Arts Center. Also on Saturday, singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black are back at Chaser's Lounge in the Chase Park Plaza Hotel; the Dixie Dudes play at Jazz on Broadway; the Kevin Mitchell 4 perform at Robbie's House of Jazz; and Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Then on Sunday, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will perform at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups, and Dizzy Atmosphere plays the Schlafly Tap Room.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday The 442s return to Cyrano's, and saxophonist "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective play their monthly gig at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

On Tuesday, if you're looking to hear some jazz on New Year's Eve, there are a few options to consider, though once again the city's best-known venue, Jazz at the Bistro, will be closed due to the annual First Night celebration in the surrounding Grand Center district.

As compensation, First Night includes some musical performances of potential interest among its family friendly offerings; this year's lineup features cabaret duo Joe Dreyer and Rosemary Watts, singers Brian Owens and Kim Massie, and electronic musician Eric Hall, plus swing and Gypsy jazz from Dizzy Atmosphere and the Latin/jazz/world music of Farshid Etniko.

Elsewhere on New Year's Eve, singer Erin Bode and her band will perform for two seatings at Cyrano's, and singer Tony Viviano will headline the evening at Four Seasons Winery in Chesterfield.

Meanwhile, Robbie's House of Jazz will present a "New Year Eve Variety Show" with drummer Maurice Carnes' band, comedian Don Clair, Jeff Stewart's Broadway Show, Belly Dancing to the Blues and Nicholas Gates Dancers; and Miss Jubilee will provide the live music for a "Roaring 20s" event at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel.

(If you're looking for tickets for the sold-out New Years Eve Speakeasy Ball with Sarah Jane and The Blue Notes at The Deco Fortress, your best bet would seem to be to check the event's Facebook page for possible cancellations, returns, etc.)

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.)

Rounding up the "Best Jazz of 2013" lists

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Happy holidays from St. Louis Jazz Notes!

Just a brief update to note that posting will be light around here until Thursday, but later this week, StLJN will feature our annual roundup of lists of the best jazz of the past year; a "jazz this week" post with a look at musical options around town for New Year's Eve; the third installment of our winter/spring 2014 jazz preview; and more.

Until then, here's hoping that you and yours have a happy and peaceful holiday!

Pollstar: Sheldon's 2014-15 season to include Chick Corea, guitarists Pizzarelli, Vignola & Raniolo

While it's not quite a glimpse into Christmas Future, there's a bit of news for St. Louis jazz fans this holiday week, as the online touring information service Pollstar has added listings for two jazz performances next fall at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Pollstar says pianist Chick Corea will perform at the Sheldon on Saturday, October 11, while "Swing Xing: Three Generations of Swing Guitar," with Bucky Pizzarelli, Frank Vignola, and Vinny Raniolo, will be the featured attraction on Saturday, November 15.

Corea (pictured) appeared in St. Louis most recently in March of this year, playing a duo concert with Bela Fleck at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. Pizzarelli was here just last week, performing duets with his son John Pizzarelli at Jazz at the Bistro, while Vignola and Raniolo did a duo show here in May of last year at the Bistro.

As always, listings on Pollstar should be considered unconfirmed until officially announced by the presenter or venue. The Sheldon usually announces the schedule for their various season series in April.

Saturday, December 21, 2013

The Brothers Peterson to perform
Friday, December 27 at the Engine Room

This just in: Bassist Mark Peterson and guitarist Anthony Michael "Tru" Peterson, brothers and St. Louis natives, will be back in their hometown for a performance at 8:00 p.m. next Friday, December 27. The gig will be at the Engine Room, a brand new music space at 7700 Ivory on the South Side that's next to Feraro's Pizza and run by the same owners.

Both of the Brothers Peterson, as they're being billed, have some impressive credits. Mark (pictured) has toured with singer Cassandra Wilson and numerous others, and now is working with Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid producing soundtracks for TV and film. "Tru" is a both a graduate and former faculty member of Berklee College of Music who's worked with the Black Rock Coalition, Oliver Lake, Ronald Shannon Jackson, and more.

They'll be joined by two St. Louis musicians, keyboardist Mike Carosello and David Certain, who's best known as a bassist but will be on drums for this gig. Certain also will be working with the Engine Room's proprietors to book more live music there in the future; stay tuned to StLJN for more details on that.

Admission to the Brothers Peterson at the Engine Room will be $10 at the door.