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Count Basie in London, 1965
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
On Sept. 18, 1965, Count Basie was in the U.K. touring when the band appeared on the BBC's Show of the Week. Basie's New Testament band was in peak '60s form, and the show aired Nov. 11 of that year. Here's the band: Wallace Davenport, Sonny Cohn, Al Aarons and Phil Guilbeau (tp); Grover Mitchell, Henderson Chambers and Al Grey (tb); Bill Hughes (b-tb); Marshal Royal (as,cl); Bobby Plater (as,fl,arr); Eric Dixon (ts,fl,arr); Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis (ts); Charlie Fowlkes (bar); ...
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StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: The return of Ronnie Burrage
Source:
St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
This week, let's take a look at some video clips featuring University City native Ronnie Burrage, who's coming back home next weekend to perform on Friday, June 26; Saturday June 27; and Sunday, June 28 at Voce, 212 S. Tucker. A percussionist, keyboardist and composer who currently teaches at Penn State University, Burrage has drummed with a long list of well-known jazz musicians, including McCoy Tyner, Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Archie Shepp, and many others. He's also appeared on gigs ...
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Weekend Extra: James Moody, Flutist
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
One of the pre-eminent alto and tenor saxophonists of his time, James Moody (1925-2010) was also a flutist of extraordinary technique and imagination. Dozens of saxophonists have doubled on flute and a few—Sam Most, Eric Dolphy and Paul Horn, among them—have become as well-known for their flute playing as for their saxophone work. Moody was celebrated equally for both. For eight years in the 1960s and 1970s he was the other horn in Dizzy Gillespie’s quintet. From the mid-forties they ...
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The Peters Sisters
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
During the Depression, one way for families with same-sex siblings to get out from under was to have talented sisters or brothers form singing acts. Case in point: The Peters Sisters. Anne, Virginia and Mattye Peters were from Los Angeles, which was perfect in the 1930s if you wanted to be discovered. In 1936, they appeared in the film With Love and Kisses, followed by Ali Baba Goes to Town (don't ask) and Love and Hisses in 1937. Rotund and ...
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Just Because: Evans, Konitz, NHØP & Dawson
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Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
In the fall of 1965 pianist Bill Evans, alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, bassist Niels Henning Ørsted Pedersen and drummer Alan Dawson toured parts of Western Europe. It was both a time of Cold War tension and a time when jazz enjoyed popularity in every part of the continent. In countries behind the Iron Curtain, jazz devotees risked being caught at their shortwave radios listening to Willis Conover on the forbidden Voice of America. In Western Europe, nowhere was openness to ...
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StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Introducing Jonah Parzen-Johnson
Source:
St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
This week, let's get acquainted via video with saxophonist Jonah Parzen-Johnson, who will be in St. Louis to play at 8:00 p.m. this coming Tuesday, June 16 at Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave. The $5 admission charge also includes sets from New Music Circle's Jeremy Kannapell and another opening act TBA. A Chicago native now residing in NYC, Parzen-Johnson specializes in solo works performed on baritone sax, augmented with electronics, and which often have titles that would fit right into a ...
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StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Marcus Miller's Afrodeezia
Source:
St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
This week, we're spending a little screen time with the multi-talented Marcus Miller, who's coming to St. Louis to perform Tuesday, June 16 through Thursday, June 18 at Jazz at the Bistro. Miller, generally regarded as one of the top electric bassists in jazz, hasn't played here that often as a bandleader—he previously performed at the Bistro in September 2012 - but local music fans certainly know his work, thanks in no small part to his credits as producer and ...
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Weekend Extra: Art Ensemble Of Chicago
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
From the mid-1960s through the early years of this century, the Art Ensemble of Chicago crafted elements of free jazz into an ensemble personality that brought it extensive exposure. Often, as much attention went to the band’s costumes and makeup as to its wide range of influences from all eras of jazz and music of Africa, Asia, Latin America and other parts of the world. Apart from their primary instruments, the five musicians played an array of brass, reed, percussion ...
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