This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features a concert of music written for the movies by one of the greatest composers and bandleaders in jazz; a tribute to two of the most successful bands in jazz/fusion; a brand-new work created by a St. Louis expat for more than 20 local musicians, and more. Let's go to the highlights...
Wednesday, November 8 Jazz St Louis presents "Duke Ellington and Film," a free event at Jazz at the Bistro featuring Dr. John Hasse, who's the curator of American music at the Smithsonian Institute, and the Jazz St. Louis Big Band.
Hasse will give a presentation about Ellington's involvement with movies, and then the band will play some of the music the maestro wrote for films such as Anatomy of a Murder, the musical short Black and Tan Fantasy, Check and Double Check, Paris Blues, and Assault on a Queen.
Also in Grand Center, the weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features cornetist TJ Muller at The Stage at KDHX, a jam session at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor at The Dark Room.
Also on Thursday, bassist and educator Jim Widner's big band will play at the Bistro; and the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents a free concert from singer Joe Mancuso's trio plus guest saxophonist Freddie Washington.
Saturday, November 11 Wrapping up his New Music Circle residency, John Wiese will lead a cast of more than 20 local musicians in a new, site-specific work created for this performance at University Theatre in St. Louis University's Xavier Hall. You can find out more about Wiese and see video of some of his solo performances in this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.
Also on Saturday, singer Tony Viviano will offer a tribute to military veterans at Candicci's; and the Gaslight Cabaret Festival wraps up their fall series with a sold-out show featuring singer and Tony Award-nominated actress Emily Skinner doing "Broadway Her Way" at the Gaslight Theater. (Though the show is sold out, you can get on the wait list for notifications of any last-minute ticket availability by sending an email to sales@licketytix.com.)
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.)
* Saxquest will present their 2017 Woodwind Musical Instrument Expo next Saturday, November 11 at the Sheraton Westport. The free, all-day event will feature representatives showing off the latest from major manufacturers of saxophones, flutes, clarinet and double-reed instruments, with private test rooms available by appointment.
They'll also be offering door prizes, discounts and free set-ups with instrument purchases, and more. You can register in advance online, by calling Saxquest at 314-664-1234, or by sending an email to info@saxquest.com.
* St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts is sponsoring two "Every Artist Insured" informational sessions offering one-on-one, in-person guidance to artists (including musicians!) on how to purchase health insurance through the Affordable Care Act exchange. Trained counselors will be available to guide you through the enrollment process, help you find out if you qualify for subsidies, and compare plan prices and coverage details.
The sessions are scheduled for 4:00 p.m. Thursday, November 16 and 10:00 a.m. Saturday, December 9 at Regional Arts Commission, 6238 Delmar. The sessions are free, but you must reserve a spot in advance by sending an email (including a phone number) to vlaa@stlrac.org.
This week's calendar of jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes the St. Louis debut of an up-and-coming young band; a tribute to a distinctive jazz composer and pianist; the return of a longtime local favorite for a benefit performance; and more.
Also on Wednesday, the weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features cornetist and singer T.J M�ller at KDHX's Magnolia Cafe, a jam session at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor at The Dark Room.
Thursday, October 26 The Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents "Streams of Extremity II," a free concert featuring pianist Ptah Williams, guitarist/bassist William Lenihan, drummer Steve Davis, and a string trio performing and improvising based on the music of Bela Bartok, Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, and more.
Friday, October 27 Drummer/singer Sammy Miller and the Congregation(pictured, center left) will make their St. Louis debut and wrap up a week-long educational residency for Jazz St. Louis with the first of two nights of performances at Jazz at the Bistro.
For more about Miller and his band of twenty-somethings, plus some sample performances on video, see this post from last Saturday.
Saturday, October 28 Guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli(pictured, top left) will perform for the annual "ArtSounds" benefit gala at the Sheldon Concert Hall. (For those interested in just hearing the music, the Sheldon may have some concert-only tickets available; check with their box office for details.)
The program will feature performances of songs first released in 1967 by artists including John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Charles Lloyd, Gary Burton, Sam Rivers, Chick Corea, and more.
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.)
Welcome to part three of StLJN's Fall 2017 jazz preview, presenting videos featuring noteworthy jazz and creative music performers who will be visiting St. Louis over the next few months. (You can see part one here, and part two here.)
Continuing in chronological order from where part two left off, today's first clip features singer and pianist Eric Comstock and singer Barbara Fasano, whose show "Downton Abbey Road: The Best of Britain" will be presented as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival on Friday, October 27 at the Gaslight Theater.
Although no excerpts of that show are available on video, you can see them up above performing "When In Rome (I Do As The Romans Do)" as recorded in April 2015 during the weekly "Cast Party" event at Birdland in NYC.
After the jump, there's a clip featuring guitarist, singer and St. Louis favorite John Pizzarelli, who's returning to headline the annual "ArtSounds" benefit on Saturday, October 28 at Sheldon Concert Hall.
Recorded last month at KNKX in Tacoma, WA, it features Pizzarelli and Daniel Jobim, the grandson of Brazilian music legend Antonio Carlos Jobim, performing "The Girl From Ipanema" from Pizzarelli's latest album Sinatra & Jobim @ 50.
The third video features saxophonist Houston Person, who will be back in town to perform Wednesday, November 1 through Saturday, November 4 at Jazz at the Bistro.
Person, who usually works with local rhythm sections on gigs like the one he's doing at the Bistro, is seen here in a video from March of this year that documents his team-up with fellow saxophonist and St. Louis native Eric Person for a gig at Dizzy's Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center in NYC. Along with the two Persons, the band includes pianist Zaccai Curtis, bassist Kenny Davis, and drummer McClenty Hunter.
Next, it's singers Farah Alvin and William Michals, who will join forces to present "Broadway's Greatest Hits of All Time" for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival on Friday, November 3 and Saturday, November 4 at the Gaslight Theater.
In their individual clips, Michals is performing "This Nearly Was Mine" from South Pacific, recorded last month at Feinstein's/54 Below in NYC, while Alvin is singing "Infinite Joy" as part of a show last month at the the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, MA.
Today's sixth video features a full set from singer C�cile McLorin Salvant, recorded in December 2016 at Dizzy's with a band including pianist Aaron Diehl, bassist Paul Sikivie, drummer Lawrence Leathers, and guest star Anat Cohen on clarinet.
Salvant has a new album called Dreams and Daggers coming out at the end of this month, and her tour in support of the record will include a performance on Saturday, November 11 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.
Billed as "a site-specific composition that includes over 20 local musicians, utilizing both traditional and non-traditional instrumentation," the performance can't really be previewed here, but you can get an idea of the sort of thing Wiese does in today's penultimate video, which documents a performance in August 2016 at the Artifex Guild in Bloomington, IN.
The final video features actress and singer Emily Skinner, who will perform "Broadway Her Way" for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival on Saturday, November 11 at the Gaslight Theater.
Word came down this week that Skinner already has sold out this single performance, but since this post was mostly written by the time that news reached StLJN HQ, you might as well enjoy a clip of her performing "Could I Leave You" last fall in the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis' production of Follies.
Look for part four of StLJN's Fall 2017 jazz preview next week in this space. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...
Here's StLJN's latest wrap-up of assorted links and short news items of local interest:
* Jazz St. Louis announced this week that they'll be live-streaming online video of selected performances this season at Jazz at the Bistro.
According to a news release, "the series will highlight four artists from the 2017-18 performance season through pre-recorded videos hosted by local jazz pianist Peter Martin and live-streaming activities of the programs which will be available on the Jazz St. Louis website, Facebook page and Ustream".
Featured performances to be streamed include Yellowjackets (pictured) on Friday, September 22; Sammy Miller and the Congregation on Friday, October 27; The Bad Plus on Friday, January 19; and Sean Jones Quartet on Friday, March 2.
* Former St. Louisan Mark Deutsch, now living in California, has released The Picasso Tunings, a set of four related albums featuring the Bazantar, the instrument he invented that combines acoustic bass and sitar. You can hear the new recordings, plus a newly remastered version of Deutsch's first solo album Fool, on his BandCamp page.
* Applications for the latest round of Regional Arts Commission's Artist Support Grants are open now through Thursday, October 12. Grants are available from $500 to $3,000 to artists from all disciplines for a variety of purposes. For more info or to apply, go to https://racstl.org/grant/artists-support-grants/.
* Megan Kirk's cabaret show "Out of My Head," performed last week at The Stage at KDHX, was reviewed for the station by Chuck Lavazzi.
* Wide Open, the forthcoming album from singer, keyboardist and St. Louis native Michael McDonald, features guest performances from several well-known jazz musicians including Robben Ford, Marcus Miller and Branford Marsalis.
It's McDonald's first record of original material since 2000's Blue Obsession and is scheduled for release next Friday, September 15, but you can hear the whole thing now via an online stream from NPR Music�s �First Listen.� McDonald will support the release with a fall tour than includes a stop here on Friday, November 3 at Peabody Opera House.
This week, it's part two of StLJN's Fall 2017 jazz preview, featuring videos of noteworthy performers who will be coming to St. Louis in the next several months. (You can see part one, published last week, here.)
Picking up the chronology in mid-October where part one left off, today's first video features trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, who will be back in St. Louis to perform on Friday, October 13 and Saturday, October 14 at Jazz at the Bistro. The video shows a full set from Sandoval and his band, recorded in February of this year in Moscow, Russia.
After the jump, it's singer Paula West, who will open the fall series of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival on Friday, October 13 and Saturday October 14 at the Gaslight Theater. West is seen here performing David Bowie's "Space Oddity" as part of a tribute to Bowie in February 2016 at Feinstein's in San Francisco.
Next, it's the recently formed "supergroup" Hudson, featuring drummer Jack DeJohnette, guitarist John Scofield, keyboardist John Medeski, and bassist Larry Grenadier. They'll perform here on Saturday, October 14 at the Sheldon Concert Hall, and can be seen in today's third clip vamping for a few minutes on the title track from their eponymous first album, as recorded on June 30 of this year at the Montreal Jazz Festival.
The fourth video features the young Cuban-born pianist Harold Lopez-Nussa, who will make his St. Louis debut here with performances starting Wednesday, October 18 through Saturday, October 21 at Jazz at the Bistro. He's seen here performing music from his most recent album El Viaje in March of this year at the Banlieues Bleues Festival in Seine-Saint-Denis, France.
The fifth video features actor and singer Alice Ripley, the Tony Award-winning Broadway star who will perform as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival on Friday, October 20 and Saturday October 21 at the Gaslight Theater. The video shows Ripley singing "As If We Never Said Goodbye" (from the musical Sunset Boulevard) and was recorded on June 5, 2017 at Feinstein's/54 Below in NYC.
Today's final clip spotlights Sammy Miller and the Congregation, a young band from New Orleans who will cap off a week-long educational residency for Jazz St. Louis with shows on Friday, October 27 and Saturday, October 28 at Jazz at the Bistro. Miller and his flock are seen here performing "Ain't Misbehavin'" in April of this year at the studios of radio station KNKX in Tacoma, WA.
Look for part three of StLJN's Fall 2017 jazz preview in this space next week. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...
The series will begin with jazz singer Paula West on Friday, October 13 and Saturday, October 14.
West (pictured), who's known for her ability to interpret a wide range of material, from the Great American Songbook to contemporary pop and rock, will be accompanied by pianist and music director Bruce Barth, bassist Ben Wheeler, and drummer Montez Coleman.
Next up is Alice Ripley, who won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in Next to Normal, and was in the original Broadway casts of Les Mis�rables, Sunset Boulevard, Side Show, The Rocky Horror Show, and American Psycho. She'll take the stage of the Gaslight Theater on Friday, October 20 and Saturday, October 21.
The following weekend, singer/pianist Eric Comstock and singer Barbara Fasano will present a show called "Downton Abbey Road: The Best of Britain" on Friday, October 27. As the name suggests, the show is built on songs from an eclectic selection of British songwriters, from Noel Coward and Anthony Newley to the Beatles and Sting.
After that, Ken Haller, one of two St. Louis performers in the series, will present a new holiday-themed show, "Happy Haller Days!" on Thursday, November 2 and Thursday November 9.
Singers Farah Alvin and William Michals will be the next to take the festival stage, bringing their show "Broadway's Greatest Hits of All Time" from Feinstein's in New York City to St. Louis on Friday, November 3 and Saturday, November 4.
For the series' final weekend, former St. Louisan Katie McGrath, who moved to NYC last year, will return on Friday, November 10 with her show "Significant Others," and Emily Skinner, who's been nominated for Tony Awards for her work in Broadway shows including Side Show, Billy Elliot and The Full Monty, will wrap things up with a performance called "Broadway Her Way" on Saturday, November 11.
Single ticket prices for the Gateway Cabaret Festival range from $30 to $45, depending on the show, and there's a 10% discount for a subscription of five shows or more. For more information or to buy tickets, visit the Gaslight Cabaret Festival website.
