Interestingly, the gig will come exactly 364 days after their last performance here at the Old Rock House, on Tuesday, March 28, 2017.
Since then, Wooten in September of this year released TRYPNOTYX, which is his first new recording in five years and features the trio (pictured).
Wooten also played here in June with his family band, the Wooten Brothers, headlining the Chesterfield Jazz Festival at the Chesterfield Amphitheater.
Tickets for the all-ages show are $32 and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. this Friday, November 30 via the Old Rock House's website and all Metrotix outlets.
It's a big week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with a half-dozen noteworthy headliners performing in various styles visiting the area over the next few days.
Let's go to the highlights...
Wednesday, October 11 The weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features Mark Wallace at KDHX's Magnolia Cafe, a jam session with bassist Bob Deboo and friends at Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor at The Dark Room.
Thursday, October 12 If you're up for a short road trip, trumpeter Serafin Aguilar, best known for his work in Maynard Ferguson's band, will be just down the road in Flat River on Thursday, performing with the MAC Kicks Band and MAC Jazz Ensemble at the Mineral Area College Theater in Flat River.
Friday, October 13 The saxophones-and-drums trio Moon Hooch(pictured, bottom left) returns, bringing their distinctive "acoustic techno" sound to the Old Rock House.
Also on Friday, the Cuban-born trumpeter Arturo Sandoval is back for the first of two nights paying tribute to his mentor Dizzy Gillespie at Jazz at the Bistro; and singer Paula West kicks off the fall series of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival with the first of two nights at the Gaslight Theater.
Tuesday, October 17 The Wee Trio, featuring bassist and St. Louis native Dan Loomis, will be back in the area for a performance at SIU Edwardsville's Dunham Hall, augmented by members of the university's jazz faculty for select numbers from their most recent album Wee +3 .
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.)
This week, let's sample some videos from Moon Hooch, who are returning to St. Louis to perform on Friday, October 13 at the Old Rock House.
The NYC-based trio - drummer James Muschler and saxophonists Mike Wilbur and Wenzl McGowen - met while attending The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in NYC, and got their start in 2010 busking in subway stations.
With some help from some fortuitously timed national media attention, including one of the most-viewed episodes ever of NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts, they've developed into a busy touring act and have released five recordings in all, the most recent of which is the CD + DVD set Live at the Cathedral, which came out in June of this year.
While the members of Moon Hooch trained as jazz musicians, their sound as a band is something else, drawing heavily on electronic dance music and also influenced by hip-hop, metal, and even a bit of Indian classical music.
McGowen has called it "acoustic techno," and evoking the feel of electronic music on acoustic instruments requires the two saxophonists to use various extended techniques - some of their own invention, like inserting a plastic traffic cone into a sax - while also demanding considerable amounts of precision and stamina from all three musicians.
You can get an idea of what this sounds like and see how they pull it off in today's videos, starting with the first clip up top, which was made in November 2016 in the studios of radio station KJHK in Lawrence, KS, and features them playing "Number 1," "Number 7" and "Bari 3."
After the jump, you can see and hear three more tracks (with somewhat less generic-seeming titles), all recorded in February of this year at the studios of Paste magazine in NYC. They are, in order, "Red Sky," "Light It Up" and "Contrabass Dubstep."
The final two videos, "Acid Mountain" and "Growing Up," were recorded in August 2017 in the studios of radio station KBOO In Portland, OR.
This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features a bit of a British invasion, with two shows featuring headliners with roots in England's homegrown jazz-rock movement, plus several other noteworthy performances.
Let's go to the highlights...
Wednesday, September 13 The reunited British fusion band Brand X, touring in support of a live album recorded on tour last year, will perform at the Old Rock House.
Also on Wednesday, the "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" will feature saxophonist Austin Cebulski at KDHX's Magnolia Cafe, plus the weekly jam session led by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor and band at The Dark Room.
Thursday, September 14 Bassist Tony Grey will perform in the first concert of the semester for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.
Born in England and trained at Berklee School of Music, Grey (pictured) probably is best known as the regular touring bassist for the single-named pianist Hiromi, but he's also released five albums as a leader, written several bass instruction books, and even has recorded a bit with famed guitarist John McLaughlin, who's his uncle.
Friday, September 15 The Brothers Lazaroff will play for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro, promoting the release of their new live album, which was recorded at the Bistro in the summer of 2016.
Saturday, September 16 Trumpeter Jim Manley plays for brunch at Evangeline's, and it's also the date of the annual Old Webster Jazz & Blues Festival, which takes place in what's known as the Old Webster Business District, centered at the intersection of Lockwood and Gore in suburban Webster Groves.
Performers at the free, day-long event will include Miss Jubilee, the Webster University faculty jazz band, SpaceShip, Funky Butt Brass Band, Two Times True, and the Webster Groves HS jazz band, plus blues acts including Marquise Knox, Aaron Griffin, Roland Johnson & Soul Endeavor, and the Green McDonough Band.
Monday, September 18 Saxophonist Paul DeMarinis leads his band in a program of original music at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium, and guitarist and St. Louis native Daryl Darden, back from California for a visit, will play at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.
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.)
As the end of August approaches, it's time once again for StLJN's fall jazz preview, offering some video samples of the most noteworthy jazz and creative music performers who will be visiting St. Louis in the next few months.
Since Rebirth Brass Band's Labor Day weekend show at Atomic Cowboy got a post of its own a couple of weeks ago, let's get started with a video from trumpeter and St. Louis native Keyon Harrold, who will be coming home on Saturday, September 9 to headline the first-ever Alton Jazz and Wine Festival at the Riverfront Amphitheater in Alton.
You can see Harrold up above in a full set recorded in June 2016 for Revive Music's 10th anniversary "Blue After Dark" event at the Boiler Room in NYC.
After the jump, you can check out the current lineup of the British jazz-fusion band Brand X, who will be back in St. Louis to perform on Wednesday, September 13 at the Old Rock House. The clip - recorded by an audience member, so it's not quite what you'd call "broadcast quality" - shows them performing "And So to F" in June of this year at the Sellersville Theater in Sellersville, PA.
Next, it's Yellowjackets, who will return to St. Louis to perform Wednesday, September 20 through Saturday, September 23 at Jazz at the Bistro. The third video shows their set from Java Jazz Festival 2016 in Jakarta, Indonesia, and features their current/latest bassist Dane Alderson, who had just joined the band before their last St. Louis gig in 2015, also at the Bistro.
The fourth clip features saxophonist and vocalist Grace Kelly, who will make her St. Louis debut performing Wednesday, October 4 through Saturday, October 7 at Jazz at the Bistro. Kelly is seen here doing the title track from her latest album, "Trying To Figure It Out," in April of this year at KNKX Public Radio in Tacoma, WA.
Today's penultimate video features trombonist Steve Swell, who will lead an all-star quintet with bassist William Parker, saxophonist Jameel Moondoc, pianist Dave Burrell and drummer Chad Taylor in a concert presented by New Music Circle on Saturday, October 7 at The Stage at KDHX.
While this quintet set from the 2012 Vision Festival in NYC features a completely different band from the one Swell will have in St. Louis (which seems to be unrepresented in online videos), it's the same instrumentation, and so at least should provide some idea of Swell's trombone sound, compositions, and approach as a bandleader.
Last but not least, it's Moon Hooch, who will return to perform Friday, October 13 at Old Rock House. The saxophones-and-drums trio is seen here in a full set recorded February 4, 2017 at Otus Supply in Ferndale, MI.
Look for part two of StLJN's fall 2017 jazz preview next week. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...
The reunited British jazz-fusion band Brand X will return to the St. Louis area to perform at 8:00 p.m., Wednesday, September 13 at the Old Rock House.
The current edition of the band features founding members John Goodsall (pictured) on guitar and Percy Jones on bass, plus recent additions Chris Clark (keyboards), Scott Weinberger (percussion), and Kenny Grohowski (drums).
They're touring in support of But Wait, There's More/Live 2017, a two-CD set of live performances that is their first official release since a previous reunion in the 1990s produced two albums, the last being 1997's Manifest Destiny.
Originally active from the mid-1970s into the early '80s, Brand X made six albums and performed with 11 different lineups of musicians (including, for a couple of albums, drummer Phil Collins) in a six-year period. After their mid-90s reunion, they had another hiatus of 20 years before reuniting again in 2016 for a tour that included a show in October at the Wildey Theatre in Edwardsville.
Tickets for Brand X at the Old Rock House are $30 general admission for all ages, and are on sale now.
This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes a concert raising funds for music scholarships in honor of a much-loved local jazz supporter; gigs from a popular, groove-oriented saxophonist and a New Orleans-style brass band, and more.
The event raises money for music scholarships for St. Louis area students in the name of Richard McDonnell, the late founder of MAXJAZZ Records who also was a board member of Jazz St. Louis and an enthusiastic, well-liked supporter of the local jazz scene before his sudden death in 2014.
Thursday, June 15 The Dark Room is changing up their regular music offerings a bit starting this week. Going forward, they're booking a different band every week on Thursdays, with pianist Ptah Williams moving to a regular weekly trio show at "happy hour" on Fridays. This week's debut of the "Thursday Night Revue" will feature drummer Kaleb Kirby's band Animal Children.
Friday, June 16 Saxophonist Gerald Albright(pictured, top left), will headline a "Salute to Fathers/Mentors" at the Sheldon Concert Hall, with support from saxophonist Tim Cunningham, comedian James Stephens III and singer Denise Thimes. For more about what Albright has been up to lately, and some videos of recent live performances, check out this post from last Saturday.
Saturday, June 17 The Gaslight Squares will play a matinee at the Blues City Deli; and keyboardist and singer Jesse Gannonand his band The Truth will perform at Jazz at the Bistro.
Sunday, June 18 The Grand Center district will be the site of not one, but two different Frank Sinatra tributes for Father's Day, as singer/impressionist Dean Christopher will do his "Sinatra...and Other Stuff" show for brunch in the relatively intimate confines of The Dark Room, while singer Steve Lippia will be featured with the St. Louis Symphony for a matinee of "Sinatra: 100 Years and Beyond" at the spacious Powell Symphony Hall.
Sunday night, the No BS! Brass Band(pictured, bottom left), a Virginia-based group offering their own contemporary take on the traditional New Orleans ensemble sound, will play at the Old Rock House.
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.)
The saxophones-and-drums trio Moon Hooch will return to St. Louis to perform at 10:00 p.m. Friday, October 13 at the Old Rock House.
After spending most of this summer in Europe, Moon Hooch (pictured) will be touring the US in the fall in support of their upcoming album Live At The Cathedral, a three-CD/DVD package recorded in 2015 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City that will be released on Friday, June 30.
Tickets are $15 in advance, $17 day of show, and are on sale now.
