So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Record megalabel Columbia/Legacy last week announced the release of a sixth volume in their "Bootleg Series" of Miles Davis live recordings.

Miles Davis & John Coltrane - The Final Tour is a four-CD set (pictured) documenting five shows from Davis' 1960 tour of Europe, and is set for release on Friday, March 23, 2018.

* A story in UMSL Daily details the upcoming travels of the UMSL Big Band directed by Jim Widner, including a trip next week to Chicago for the annual Midwest Clinic and appearances in January at the Jazz Education Network convention in Dallas and the Missouri Music Educators Association conference at the Lake of the Ozarks.

* Singer, actor and Belleville native Lea DeLaria was the subject of a feature story on the website OutInStL.com. DeLaria, who's starred on Broadway and in cabaret, TV, and film, will make her debut at Jazz at the Bistro with shows on Wednesday, December 27 and Thursday, December 28 that also will feature singer Janis Siegel of Manhattan Transfer as a guest performer.

* The STL Free Jazz Collective has posted to YouTube a video of their complete performance with multi-instrumentalist Douglas Ewart earlier this month at the 14th St. Artist Community. 

* Also on YouTube, saxophonist Eric Person has posted a video from his show with fellow saxophonist Houston Person in March of this year at Dizzy's Club in NYC.

* The Sheldon has posted to Facebook a photo album from the Spanish Harlem Orchestra's performance there last week.

* Guitarist Dave Black's upcoming album, a collaboration with blues guitarists Tom Hall and Brian Curran, is previewed in a Riverfront Times story by Thomas Crone.

* Also in the RFT, the Funky Butt Brass Band's "Holiday Brasstravaganza" and their new Christmas album are the subjects of a brief feature story by Christian Schaeffer.

* Right Up On, saxophonist/composer Oliver Lake's recent recording in collaboration with the FLUX Quartet, made the New York Times' recently published list of "The 25 Best Classical Music Recordings of 2017."

* Singer Debby Lennon's latest theatrical role, as tone-deaf diva Florence Foster Jenkins in Max and Louis Productions' upcoming staging of the musical Souvenir, is the subject of a short feature by St. Louis Post-Dispatch theater critic Judith Newmark.

* Percussionist Moacyr Marchini of Samba Bom will lead a series of eight Brazilian percussion workshops for adult students beginning Wednesday, January 10 at Lucha in Grand Center. For more info about the workshops and how to sign up, go here.

* The venerable Edwardsville drinking spot Laurie's Place, which in recent months has featured a jazz jam session on Tuesday nights, will close at the end of this year.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Citing his ongoing treatment for prostate cancer, trumpeter Hugh Masekela has cancelled all of his upcoming appearances, including his scheduled performance in St. Louis on Saturday, April 14 at The Sheldon as part of the Jazz Epistles reunion with pianist Abdullah Ibrahim and Ekaya.

A statement released by The Sheldon said the concert still will go on as scheduled, with a replacement trumpeter to be announced at a later date.

* In advance of their show with Douglas Ewart this Saturday, STL Free Jazz Collective members Jim Hegarty and "Baba" Mike Nelson talked with writer Thomas Crone for a feature story in the Riverfront Times.

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold's new album The Mugician (pictured) was reviewed favorably by Jazz Times and PopMatters.com.

* Drummer Mark Colenburg has released a new instructional book and video, The Beat Matrix Unlocked, which is described as creating "a new template for the art of hip-hop drumming."

* The subscription service Vinyl Me Please has made an LP reissue of Miles Davis' 1967 album Sorcerer their "record of the month" for December 2017.

The reissue was remastered from the original tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl colored "orchid purple," and includes an eight-page booklet with liner notes by former New York Times scribe Ben Ratliff plus a 12" x 12" original art print by Santiago Carrasquilla.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Russell Gunn's Blackhawk Revisited

Today, let's check out some videos featuring trumpeter and East St. Louis native Russell Gunn, who's bringing his "Blackhawk Revisited" project to St. Louis to perform starting next Wednesday, November 15 through Saturday, November 18 at Jazz at the Bistro.

The word "Blackhawk" in this case refers not to the hockey team, the comic-book hero, or the helicopter, but to the Black Hawk nightclub in San Francisco where Miles Davis in 1961 recorded In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk, which turned out to be one of the more enduring live albums of his long career.

Since his death in 1991, musicians frequently have paid tribute to Davis by revisiting and sometimes re-imagining music from Kind of Blue, Birth of the Cool, and Davis' post-1967 electric bands. In contrast, this time period - between the recording of KoB and the formation of Davis' "Second Great Quintet" a few years later - has remained relatively under-examined, making Gunn's interest in it that much more notable.

The trumpeter's engagement with Davis' music from the turn of the '60s also gets a significant boost in authenticity from the presence of Jimmy Cobb, the 88-year-old drummer who's the last living participant from the Kind of Blue sessions and will be in the band for Gunn's shows at the Bistro.

So how close do they get to the sound of Miles' band in 1961? You can decide for yourself by checking out today's videos, starting up above with a clip of "So What" recorded in November 2015 at the Velvet Note in Atlanta, with Gunn, Cobb, pianist Kevin Bales, saxophonist Mike Walton, and bassist Kevin Smith.

After the jump, there's a version of Thelonious Monk's "Well, You Needn't" - another staple of Davis' repertoire in the late 1950s and early '60s - recorded at the same gig.

Below that, there are two full sets of the "Blackhawk Revisited" band in action, the first featuring Gunn, Cobb, Bales, saxophonist Morgan Guerin, and bassist Corcoran Holt in October 2016 at Dizzy's Club in NTC's Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the second from the 2015 Atlanta Jazz Festival, with Gunn, Bales, Walton, Smith, and Kinah Botto Ayah in for Cobb on the drums.

Next up are three videos that show Gunn working out on three more tunes associated with Davis - "Solar," "Walkin'" and "Blue in Green" - recorded at various jam sessions in 2017 and 2016 at Churchill Grounds in Atlanta.

Finally, the last video features an interview with Jimmy Cobb, recorded in November 2014 at SubCulture in New York for NYU's Steinhardt Jazz Interview Series, in which Cobb discusses his career, his time with Davis, and other topics.

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

Sunday Session: October 22, 2017

Abdullah Ibrahim

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

* Why are foreign bands being denied entry into the United States? (Alternative Press)
* Q&A with Don Was: Capturing the Blue Note Vibe (DownBeat)
* The Top Uses of Billie Holiday Songs in Movies or TV (TVOverMind.com)
* When Prince Asked Miles Davis to Play With Him (Diffuser.fm)
* Charnett Moffett: On Loss, Love & Vibrational Healing (Jazz Times)
* Critic's Notebook: Bill Murray, Classical Music's Unlikeliest Star (Hollywood Reporter)
* No alternative: how brands bought out underground music (The Guardian)
* Wadada Leo Smith continues to tinker with his masterpiece (Houston Chronicle)
* MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey stretches musical definitions (Chicago Tribune)
* Who Are the Best-Selling Artists of All Time? (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Star-Studded Concerts Planned in NYC to Aid Puerto Rico (DownBeat)
* Jazz Legend James �Blood� Ulmer Walks the Line Between Melody and Improv (Bandcamp.com)
* Why Is Sun Ra Suddenly Having His Moment? (Rolling Stone)
* Uber, But for Millennials Who Want Orchestras in Their Living Rooms (Wired)
* Thelonious Monk's Quiet, Slow Conquest of the World (The Atlantic)
* Which Sounds Better, Analog or Digital Music? (Scientific American)
* Abdullah Ibrahim: How Improvisation Saved My Life (NPR)
* Shaping the �70s: Simon Draper and the Story of Virgin Records (RedBullMusicAcademy.com)
* David Torn: Making Records, Film Composition, and Working With David Bowie (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Could city takeover of embattled American Jazz Museum improve its fortunes? (Kansas City Star)
* Two months before the American Jazz Museum bounced checks to artists, it spent how much on a Learjet flight? (Pitch Weekly)
* Meet the Artist Single-Handedly Reviving a Dying Form of Music (Vice.com)
* Herbie Hancock riffs on the �ethics of jazz� (Wisconsin Gazette)
* Philip Glass Reveals His Love for the Cello (The New Yorker)
* What�s actually going on when people talk about digital vs. analogue masters (TheVinylFactory.com)
* Sexism in Jazz, From the Conservatory to the Club: One Saxophonist Shares Her Story (WBGO)
* Perfect Pandemonium: The Art Ensemble Of Chicago At Cafe Oto (TheQuietus.com)

Sunday Session: July 16, 2017

Tony Allen

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

* Stream-ripping is 'fastest growing' music piracy (BBC)
* Record Rendezvous: Cleveland cradle of rock 'n' roll sits empty, awaits new life (photos) (Cleveland.com)
* Mulatu Astatke�s �Ethiopia� Is A Love Letter To His Homeland (Bandcamp.com)
* Here�s what happened the last time audio producers got better data (NiemanLab.org)
* Ornette Coleman Takes Flight Again, in Music and Film, This Week at Lincoln Center (WBGO)
* Esperanza Spalding: Jazz Musician, Grammy Award Winner and Now Museum Curator (Smithsonian)
* Kansas City's American Jazz Museum Should Belong To The Entire City, Officials Say (KCUR)
* Lady Gaga's Trumpet Player on 'Insane' Gig With Stevie Wonder, Rose Bar Residency & 'Making It' in NYC (Billboard)
* No Heroes: Lester Bangs on Stage (NoSuchThingAsWas.com)
* Producers Rejoice: Legal Sampling Is Now As Easy As Online Shopping (Video) (AmbrosiaForHeads.com)
* Newark Sings a New Tune on Road To Revival (Wall Street Journal)
* Original Dixie Dregs Announce Reunion (NoTreble.com)
* 6 Nina Simone Songs Brilliantly Sampled by Rappers (Pitchfork.com)
* Spotify denies it�s playlisting fake artists. So why are all these fake artists on its playlists? (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* So� who�s actually behind Spotify�s fake artists? (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Why Spotify�s fake artists problem is an Epidemic. Literally. (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* A Lot of Noise on Spotify (IllusionOfMore.com)
* Women of Jazz: Stream a Playlist of 91 Recordings by Great Female Jazz Musicians (OpenCulture.com)
* This Woman Has Engineered Pop�s Biggest Recent Hits, from �Melodrama� to �1989� (Vice.com)
* For Chamber Music in Silicon Valley, Hoodies and Haydn Don�t Mix (KQED)
* The Crate Crisis: How the Used Vinyl Market is Changing (GetItOnVinyl.com)
* Is the threat of a copyright lawsuit stifling music? (BBC)
* NEW AGE: jazz in 2017 (M-Magazine.com)
* Diminuendo: Is Classical Music Journalism Fading to Silence? (San Francisco Classical Voice)
* Afrobeat Drummer Allen�s Quartet Pays Tribute to Blakey at Poisson Rouge (DownBeat)
* What Can Listening to Nature Teach Us? (EarthEasy.com)
* Mary Halvorson Pushes Jazz Guitar Into New Territory (Village Voice)
* SoundCloud sinks as leaks say layoffs buy little time (TechCrunch.com)
* The avant-garde jazz of Griot Galaxy (Detroit Metro Times)
* Rochester Jazz Fest Emphasizes Jazz at the Fascinating Fringes (DownBeat)
* Bria Skonberg: 5 songs that changed my life (CBCMusic.ca)
* 'A Pocketful Of Blues': Charles Lloyd On 'Passin' Thru' (NPR)
* Photos: 2017 North Sea Jazz Festival (Jazz Times)
* Q&A with Ethan Iverson: Addition through Subtraction (DownBeat)
* Power of the Mind: You Can Play This Instrument Using Just Your Thoughts (Newsweek)
* Van Morrison will salute his blues heroes on new album, 'Roll With the Punches' (Los Angeles Times)
* Robert Mugge�s 1986 film Sonny Rollins: Saxophone Colossus to be rereleased (The Wire)
* The Emergence of A New Black Avant-Garde: Experimental Music and Text (BrooklynRail.org)
* Vijay Iyer: Taking Stock of the Ojai Music Festival Experience (TheLogJournal.com)
* The Story Behind the Surge in Vinyl Film Soundtracks (Paste)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The Regional Arts Commission is holding a workshop on how to apply for one of their Artist Fellowships at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, August 1 at RAC headquarters, 6128 Delmar Blvd.

Awarded annually, the fellowships recognize ten individuals with grants of $25,000 each, and are open to visual and performing artists from all disciplines.The workshop is free and open to the public; the application period for next year's fellowships ends on Thursday, August 10. For details or to RSVP, go here.

* The latest issue of the St. Louis Blues Society's Bluesletter includes writer Michael Kuelker's remembrances of Mark O'Shaughnessey, the late co-founder/owner of BB's Jazz Blues and Soups.

* Pianist and composer Samora Pinderhughes is the subject of a brief interview/feature written by musician Lamar Harris for St. Louis magazine.

Pinderhughes (pictured) will perform (with trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah as his special guest) next Thursday, July 20 at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation.

* DownBeat magazine has opened the voting in their 82nd annual Readers Poll. You can cast a vote for your favorites online here.

* Saxquest is posting to their YouTube channel more videos from their free monthly Saturday afternoon performance series, including the shows by Ben Reece's Unity Quartet in April and Hugh Jones in May.

* Pianist Jim Hegarty has posted another new free improv recording to his "Secret Sessions" BandCamp page, this time featuring clarinetist Eric Paul Mandat, pianist Greg Mills, trumpeter George Sams, and flute player Fred Tompkins.

* A couple of off-the-beaten-path items about Miles Davis showed up this past week in the media, as a story in Autoweek recounted the trumpeter's opinion on Ferraris, while OpenCulture.com compiled some of the insults hurled by Davis over the years at fellow musicians.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Trumpeter Russell Gunn (pictured) has launched a crowd-funding campaign to finance the debut recording of his Royal Krunk Jazz Orkestra, which he describes as an "ultra modern contemporary Jazz Big Band from the U.S.A." featuring vocalist Dionne Farris.

You can find out more about the project and pledge your support here.

* The latest album from Trio 3, featuring saxophonist and former St. Louisan Oliver Lake, was reviewed by the Free Jazz Blog.

* A 100th birthday tribute to Buddy Rich at Ronnie Scott's in London, featuring drummer and St. Charles native Dave Weckl driving a group of alumni of Rich's big band for half the show, was reviewed by Jazz Journal.

* Jazziz magazine has published a download-only article detailing "what they think are the five ??absolute?? essential Miles Davis albums that any jazz lover must have in their collection." (Spoiler: Their picks are Kind of Blue, Miles Ahead, 'Round About Midnight, Nefertiti, and In A Silent Way.) The download is available (in exchange for an email address) here.

* Speaking of Miles, the SFJAZZ Collective's latest album featuring their new arrangements of Davis' compositions was reviewed by AllAboutJazz.com's John Kelman.

* The website Best of American Towns has included St. Louis' Vintage Vinyl on their list of "15 of the Best Record Stores in America."

* After a hiatus of several months, pianist Peter Martin has a new blog post up at Medium.com, offering his thoughts on the ballad comping style of pianist Wynton Kelly.

* Gene Dobbs Bradford of Jazz St. Louis is one of seven winners of the Arts and Education Council's St. Louis Arts Awards for 2018. Bradford will receive his award, which is for "Excellence in the Arts," at A&E's gala event on January 22 at the Chase Park Plaza hotel.

* Keyboardist James Hegarty, cellist Tracy Andreotti, and flute player Fred Tompkins have released more new improvised music under Hegarty's "Secret Sessions" imprint, now available as a free download from Bandcamp.