Results for "St. Louis"

Billy Peek

For nearly 30 years Billy Peek has rocked, rolled and duck-walked his way through the clubs and lounges of St. Louis and East St. Louis. When he asks the question "Can a white boy play the Blues?", you'll answer a resounding "YES". Billy can be found around town every weekend showcasing his guitar ability to his loyal following of local fans.

Chuck Berry

Born: October 18, 1926

Inspired by the electrified Delta blues of Muddy Waters, the wild showmanship of T-Bone Walker and Guitar Slim, the smooth crooning of Nat “King” Cole, and the storytelling of Hank Williams, Chuck Berry scrambled his influences and came out with a concoction that was uniquely his own. The screaming, overdriven guitar intro to “Maybelline,” Berry’s Chess Records debut, tells the story, walloped with the power of the blues, honed to perfection. Berry’s Chess sides sound fully formed, solid, the raw power of a band of incredible musicians led by a true musical visionary. Even today, they come howling out of speakers like pure energy. Loose, swinging, grooving, Berry’s songs are nearly perfect. The classics he penned are too many to mention

Charles "Bobo" Shaw

Born: September 5, 1947

Ronnie Burrage

Born: October 19, 1959

A versatile drummer who also plays vibes and marimba, Ronnie Burrage has forged a style as much at home with the bristling pace of hard bop and bebop as with the heavy backbeats of funk, soul and R&B. Burrage's mother was a classical pianist, and he sang in the St. Louis Cathedral boys' choir and played drums with various funk bands. He accompanied Arthur Blythe, Jackie McLean, Andrew Hill and McCoy Tyner during visits to St. Louis while working with the St. Louis Metropolitan Jazz Quintet in the early '80s. Burrage played in the Woody Shaw quintet in the mid-'80s, then formed Third Kind of Blue with John Purcell and Anthony Cox in 1986

Oliver Nelson

Born: June 4, 1932

Oliver Nelson needs to be reconsidered by music listeners for what he was - one of the most significant jazz voices of his generation, and an important big band composer and arranger of the 1960s. Perhaps the skill he mastered most keenly was his ability to turn listeners on. As difficult as his music might have been to play, and as hard as it is to analyze, it is extremely easy to listen to. Born June 4, 1932 in St. Louis, Oliver Nelson came from a musical family: His brother played saxophone with Cootie Williams in the Forties, and his sister was a singer-pianist. Nelson himself began piano studies at age six and saxophone at eleven

Bob Gordon

Born: June 11, 1928

Bob Gordon was an American cool jazz baritone saxophonist born in St. Louis, Missouri, best known as a sideman for musicians like Stan Kenton, Shelly Manne, Chet Baker, Maynard Ferguson, Herbie Harper and Jack Montrose. He released one album as a bandleader. Gordon died in a car accident on his way to playing at a Pete Rugolo concert in San Diego. His friend saxophonist Jack Montrose wrote, "The union of Bob Gordon and the baritone saxophone must have been decreed in Heaven, for never have I viewed such rapport between the natural tendencies of a musical instrument and the mind of the man using it

Miles Davis

Born: May 26, 1926

Throughout a professional career lasting 50 years, Miles Davis played the trumpet in a lyrical, introspective, and melodic style, often employing a stemless harmon mute to make his sound more personal and intimate. But if his approach to his instrument was constant, his approach to jazz was dazzlingly protean. To examine his career is to examine the history of jazz from the mid-'40s to the early '90s, since he was in the thick of almost every important innovation and stylistic development in the music during that period, and he often led the way in those changes, both with his own performances and recordings and by choosing sidemen and collaborators who forged the new directions. It can even be argued that jazz stopped evolving when Davis wasn't there to push it forward.

Clark Terry

Born: December 14, 1920

Clark Terry's career in jazz spans more than sixty years. He is a world-class trumpeter, flugelhornist, educator, and NEA Jazz Master. He performed for seven U.S. Presidents, and was a Jazz Ambassador for State Department tours in the Middle East and Africa. More than fifty jazz festivals in all seven continents still feature him. He received a Grammy Award, two Grammy certificates, three Grammy nominations, thirteen honorary doctorates, keys to cities, lifetime achievements and halls of fame awards. He was knighted in Germany and is the recipient of the French Order of Arts and Letters. Clark's star on the Walk of Fame, and his Black World History Museum's life-sized wax figure can both be visited in his hometown, St

2019: The Year in Jazz

by Ken Franckling
January 2, 2020

The year 2019 was robust in many ways. International Jazz Day brought its biggest stage to Australia. An important but long-shuttered jazz mecca was revived in a coast-to-coast move. ECM Records celebrated a golden year. The music and its makers figured prominently on the big screen. The National Endowment for the Arts welcomed four new NEA ...

Jazz this week: Gateway Jazz Festival, Ptah Williams, Emily Wallace, and more

July 28, 2017

Due to some temporary time constraints and computer-related difficulties here at StLJN HQ, this week's survey of upcoming live jazz and creative music performances in St. Louis may be a day later than usual, but there still are shows worth noting, so let's go straight to the highlights... Thursday, July 27 This week's performance wrapping up ...