Sunday Session: March 4, 2018

Muhal Richard Abrams

Here's the roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* Why the hottest films are now music documentaries (The Guardian)
* Brenda Navarrete Brings A Spiritual Drumbeat To The Female Vanguard Of Cuba (NPR)
* Guitarist Bill Frisell Shares Memories of Working With Rock Greats: Exclusive Interview (UltimateClassicRock.com)
* Where Did 'Jazz,' the Word, Come From? Follow a Trail of Clues, in Deep Dive with Lewis Porter (WBGO)
* Gibson Boss Blames Guitar Stores for Financial Woes (UltimateClassicRock.com)
* Jason Moran Remembers Muhal Richard Abrams (Jazz Times)
* Dave Douglas on Monk and Dizzy (GreenleafMusic.com)
* Antonio Sánchez Performs ‘Birdman’ Score at UCLA (DownBeat)
* The Van Gelder Studio: Peek inside the room where classic jazz happened (NorthJersey.com)
* David Bowie's Last Secret Weapon (Forbes)
* Legendary Songwriter Carl Sigman’s Son on the Loss of his Father’s Archives (American Songwriter)
* At the Guthman Competition, innovative instruments just might predict the future of music (Atlanta)
* What Muhal Meant: The Liberating Credo of Muhal Richard Abrams (Village Voice)
* Charlie Watts: it wouldn't bother me if Rolling Stones split (The Guardian)
* Live Review: Dave Douglas Presents “Dizzy Atmosphere” at JALC (Jazz Times)
* The CD Business Isn’t Dying—It’s Just Evolving (Fast Company)
* Pianists Recall Geri Allen’s Legacy at PDX Festival (DownBeat)
* Terence Blanchard talks back (Offbeat)
* The first black-owned record label in the U.S. wanted to “uplift” black people through music (Timeline.com)
* A Guide to Anthony Braxton’s Robust Jazz Discography on Bandcamp (Bandcamp.com)
* Spotify Was a Terrible Business. Then the Record Labels Stepped In (Bloomberg.com)
* Reid Miles, The Guy Who Designed Blue Note (Jazz in Europe)
* Mapping the places that made Central Avenue swing (Curbed.com)
* Jazz's New British Invasion (Rolling Stone)
* Dave Burrell Remembers Sunny Murray (Jazz Times)
* On “Black Times,” Afrobeat Artist Seun Kuti Extends His Father’s Legacy (Bandcamp.com)
* Chasing The American Dream with Cuban Pianist Alfredo Rodríguez (WBGO)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Ben Wendel's "The Seasons"

This week, the StLJN video spotlight shines on saxophonist Ben Wendel, who's coming to St. Louis for a performance on Thursday, March 15 at The Ready Room.

Born in Vancouver, CA, raised in Los Angeles, and educated at the Eastman School of Music, Wendel now lives in NYC and probably is best known as a member of the collective Kneebody. who have played here in St. Louis a couple of times at Jazz at the Bistro, most recently in March 2017.

On his own, Wendel has recorded three albums as a bandleader, the most recent being 2016's What We Bring, and has made dozens of recordings as a sideman and collaborator with musicians such as pianists Gerald Clayton and Taylor Eigsti, bassist Linda May Han Oh, percussionist Adam Rudolph, and numerous others.

On his tour this spring, Wendel will be performing music from "The Seasons," a project he launched in 2015 as a tribute to 12 musical collaborators and friends, releasing videos of 12 different duets on a monthly schedule over the course of the year.

The tour, which kicked off this week at NYC's Village Vanguard, will feature full-band arrangements of "The Seasons" material, performed by Wendel, pianist Aaron Parks, guitarist Gilad Hekselman, bassist Matt Brewer, and, depending on the date, either Eric Harland, Henry Cole or Kendrick Scott on drums.

You can see three of the "Seasons" compositions in this post, starting up above with "November," featuring Wendel and Parks, and continuing after the jump with "April," a duet with Eric Harland, and "October," which pairs the composer with Hekselman. (All of "The Seasons" videos still are available on Wendel's YouTube channel.)

After that, you can see Wendel playing with a full band in two clips - first, a song called "Unforeseeable," recorded in June 2017 at Ronnie Scott's in London with pianist Shai Maestro, bassist Harish Raghavan, and drummer Nate Wood, and then "Fall" from the What We Bring album, accompanied by Gerald Clayton, Henry Cole, and bassist Joe Sanders.

Finally, the last clip features Wendel showing off his multi-tracking chops with an arrangement of "Monk's Mood" for four overdubbed bassoons and tenor sax.

For more about Ben Wendel, read this interview in which he talks about the "Seasons" project, and this one in which he discusses composing, practice routines, and more.

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:

* Pianist and St. Louis native Stephanie Trick and her husband/piano duo partner Paolo Alderighi (pictured) are headed across the Atlantic for some gigs in the UK.

* Singer Denise Thimes was interviewed about her performances next week at Dizzy's Club in NYC by the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson.

* Bassist and singer Tonina Saputo was profiled by the Columbia Daily Tribune's Aarik Danielsen in advance of her show at the True/False festival in CoMo.

* Singer Valerie "Miss Jubilee" Kirchhoff and pianist Ethan Leinwand were featured in a recent post on the blog Jazz Lives.

* Singer Alicia Olatuja has posted to Facebook some photos from her gig last month at Jazz at the Bistro.

* Pianist Peter Martin's Open Studio Network has released a new episode of Martin's podcast "The Process" featuring an interview with The Bad Plus.

* Pianist Adam Maness' weekly Thursday night gig at Thurman's in Shaw is the subject of a short feature story by the Riverfront Times' Christian Schaeffer.

Terell Stafford to headline Alton Jazz & Wine Festival on Saturday, September 8

Trumpeter Terell Stafford (pictured) will headline this year's Alton Jazz & Wine Festival, which will take place starting at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, September 8 at the Liberty Bank Alton Amphitheater.

The festival lineup, announced on Tuesday as one of a slate of summer and fall shows at the riverfront venue, also will include Miss Jubilee, trumpeter Jim Manley's quintet, and the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars.

General admission is free and open to the public, but in addition, the festival is selling VIP tickets for $20 each, entitling the ticket holder to VIP seating, reserved parking, and access to a VIP tent with a private concession booth.

Recently on Heliocentric Worlds

It's the start of a new month, and that means it's time once again to check in on StLJN's sibling site Heliocentric Worlds, where each there's posted a new online music video, drawing on 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:

Vijay Iyer & Tyshawn Sorey - "Duet for Piano and Drums"
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - "I'll Still Be True"
Darcy James Argue's Secret Society - "The Enemy Within"
Sarah Vaughan - Live in Stockholm
Kurt Elling - "There's a Boat Dat's Leavin' Soon for New York"

Other recent posts have included videos featuring performances by Bruce Springsteen, Hermeto Pascoal, The Baylor Project, Bob James, Dexter Gordon, Vijay Iyer & Tyshawn Sorey, The Who, Maynard Ferguson, Wet Willie, Billy Cobham, Stanley Clarke Band, Levon Helm, John Klemmer, Bonnie Raitt, Carmen McRae, Tom Scott and the LA Express, Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog, Dave Holland Quartet, Grant Green Trio, Taylor Ho Bynum Quintet, Stan Getz, Sun Ra Arkestra, The Taj Mahal & Keb' Mo' Band, and Ahmad Jamal.

If you've missed out on this up until now, you still can see all these videos, plus thousands more from the archives, by visiting http://heliocentricworlds.blogspot.com/.

Jazz this week: Sean Jones Quartet, Delfeayo Marsalis & the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, Nutria, a new weekly jam session, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features some top talent on trumpet and trombone, the local debut of an up-and-coming band from New Orleans, a new weekly jam session, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, February 28
Trumpeter Sean Jones returns with his quartet for the first of four nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

Jones (pictured, top left)  has been a frequent visitor to St. Louis in recent years, turning up on the Bistro's schedule almost annually, and he even recorded his most recent album for Mack Avenue Records live at the venue a couple of years ago.

In addition to his popularity as a performer, Jones over the years also has participated in a number of educational activities for Jazz St. Louis, so advance reservations are suggested in anticipation of a good turnout from former students as well as fans.

Also on Wednesday, guitarist Brian Vaccaro's trio performs at Evangeline's; the Washington University Jazz Band plays a free concert at the 560 Music Center's Pillsbury Theater; and the "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" will feature the Jazz Troubadours at The Stage at KDHX, the weekly jam session led by bassist Bob DeBoo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor 's band at The Dark Room.

Thursday, March 1
Pianist Kara Baldus-Mehrmann will lead her trio in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; saxophonist Arthur White brings his trio to The Dark Room; and singer Cherilyn Evans and CEEJazzSoul will perform in Chase Park Plaza's Chase Club.

Friday, March 2
Guitarist Dave Black's latest project, a trio called In Touch, performs at the house concert venue The Judson House in Grand Center, and pianist and singer Jesse Gannon and his band return to The Dark Room.

Saturday, March 3
Trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra will play at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Delfeayo, the second-youngest of the four musical Marsalis brothers, assembled the UJO a decade ago to showcase the musical traditions of New Orleans, but it wasn't until last year that the group released its first album, the pointedly titled Make America Great Again. You can find out more about Marsalis (pictured, bottom left) and the UJO and see them on video performing some of the music from that album and more in this post from last Saturday.

Also on Saturday, there's another New Orleans act in town for the night, as the group Nutria makes their St. Louis debut at Evangeline's.

Drummer Shawn Myers, bassist Trey Boudreaux and tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Byron Asher play original modern jazz compositions, exploring "traditional music of the African diaspora & Eastern Europe as well as the avant-garde," and they're playing ten Midwestern cities in March in support of their just-released new album Call To The Air.

Elsewhere around town, there's an eclectic bill of experimental and electronic music featuring Kyle Landstra, Oxherding, JoAnn McNeil and the Vernacular String Trio at the Cherokee Street art gallery Flood Plain.

Sunday, March 4
The St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show will present their spring event at the American Czech Educational Center; singer Anita Jackson performs for brunch at The Dark Room; and the Friends of Scott Joplin present their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's Rosebud Cafe.

Monday, March 5
Jim Manley plays for diners at Momo's Greek Restaurant.

Tuesday, March 6
Drummer Montez Coleman and guitarist Eric Slaughter are teaming up to host "The Tuesday Night Hit," a new weekly jam session at The Dark Room.

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: February 25, 2018

Dave Burrell

Here's the roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* Jazz Icon Sonny Rollins on the Difference Between Knowing and Believing (RealClearLife.com)
* “Fascination and fear”: Rhythm and Reaction shows how Edwardian Britain responded to jazz (New Statesman)
* At Gala, SFJAZZ Connects with Preservation Hall (DownBeat)
* The Brian Eno Discography: Stream 29 Hours of Recordings by the Master of Ambient Music (OpenCulture.com)
* A Hall of Fame hitmaker finds happiness and harmony in Bellingham (Seattle Times)
* UK's first live music census warns of threats to small venues (Music Week)
* People find comfort listening to the same songs over and over, study finds (MedicalExpress.com)
* Didier Lockwood, French Jazz Violinist, Dies Suddenly at 62 (Billboard)
* Morton Subotnick Revivifies Silver Apples of The Moon for Its 50th Anniversary (San Francisco Classical Voice)
* How ‘Strange Fruit’ Killed Billie Holiday (Progressive.org)
* John McLaughlin on the Mystery of Creativity, Inspiration, & Music (AllAboutJazz.com)
* 'I didn't give a damn if it didn't sell': how Isaac Hayes helped create psychedelic soul (The Guardian)
* The 50 Best Jazz Guitarists Of All Time (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* The 2018 Vision Festival Will Honor Pianist Dave Burrell, and Feature Prime Younger Talent (WBGO)
* In Pursuit of a Streaming Jazz Utopia with Qwest TV, the New Service From Quincy Jones (WBGO)
* The Sound of Being (Opera News)
* Musical Revolutionary Ornette Coleman Unleashed Free Jazz in 1950s L.A. (LA Weekly)
* In Memoriam: Drummer Ndugu Chancler (DownBeat)
* Gibson Guitar Update: 150 days to save the brand (FarOutMagazine.co.uk)
* NOJO: A Second Chance to Swing (Jazz Times)
* How two GMU professors teamed up to create high-tech music (Washington Post)
* Charley Pride’s music taught listeners that country music was black music, too (Timeline.com)
* Tyshawn Sorey and Terrance Hayes Make a Poignant Statement with 'Cycles of My Being' (WBGO)
* When Sonny Rollins Rose in the West (Village Voice)
* The Last Word: George Clinton on Alien Encounters, Trump's Lack of Funk (Rolling Stone)
* The great big Spotify scam: Did a Bulgarian playlister swindle their way to a fortune on streaming service? (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Q&A with John Surman: Shared Experience (DownBeat)
* From Radiohead to the Oscar-Nominated ‘Phantom Thread’: Jonny Greenwood on His Musical Process (Variety)
* The Kid Who Recorded The First Punk Rock Record (And Invented Surf Guitar) (PleaseKillMe.com)
* Christian Scott: Building Bridges Across Cultures (NPR)
* The Prowess of Nina Simone’s Early Records (The Atlantic)
* Is the greatest hits album dying? (GetIntoThis.co.uk)
* An introduction to Don Cherry in 10 records (The VinylFactory.com)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra

This week, let's take a look at some videos featuring trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, who will be in St. Louis to perform next Saturday, March 3 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Born in New Orleans into one of that city's most famous musical families, Delfeayo Marsalis is the son of pianist Ellis Marsalis, younger brother of trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and saxophonist Branford Marsalis, and older brother to percussionist Jason Marsalis. Now 52 years old, he's a graduate of Berklee College of Music, earned an MA in jazz performance from the University of Louisville in 2004, and, with his father and brothers, received the NEA Jazz Masters Award in 2011.

If he's not quite as well known to the casual jazz listener as his older brothers, it may be in part because Delfeayo has done a lot of his work behind the scenes as a producer, overseeing recordings for his dad and his brothers Wynton and Branford; musicians from their orbit including pianists Marcus Roberts and Kenny Kirkland and drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts; and many others, including Terence Blanchard, Ruth Brown, Irvin Mayfield, Donald Harrison, Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Harry Connick Jr., Mingus Dynasty, the late Elvin Jones (who also employed Marsalis in his band for several years), and more.

He's also the founder of the New Orleans-based Uptown Music Theatre, which over the past 18 years has trained hundreds of young people while staging original musicals based on a mission of "community unity."

Marsalis formed the Uptown Jazz Orchestra in 2008 to help introduce New Orleans students to the city's musical traditions, with a membership drawn from the substantial local contingent of working jazz players, often including baritone saxophonist Roger Lewis of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. In recent years, they've become a touring attraction as well, and in 2016 released their first album, Make America Great Again. In addition to the UJO's album, Marsalis has recorded six albums as a bandleader, the most recent being Kalamazoo, which came out in 2017.

You can get a feel for Marsalis and the UJO's sound in the first video up above, which shows an extended excerpt from their performance at the 2013 New Orleans French Quarter Festival.

After the jump, you can see them performing the title song from their debut album Make America Great Again, complete with sardonic commentary from Marsalis, as recorded on February 15, 2017 at Dizzy's Club in NYC.

Next, there are three songs recorded earlier this month by an audience member at the Frank Mantooth Jazz Festival at New Trier Township High School in Winnetka, IL, starting with "Put Your Right Foot Forward" from their debut album, followed by “Vine Street Rumble” and a version of Charles Mingus' “Moanin’.”

Last but not least, there's a promotional clip for the UJO from 2013, with some musical excerpts and Marsalis speaking about the band's purpose and approach to music.

For more about Delfeayo Marsalis, listen to this interview from December 2017, in which he talks about the state of jazz, his latest solo album and more; and read this review and interview from 2016, which covers the release of the UJO's debut album.

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