Friday, May 11, 2018

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded Jazz St. Louis a $15,000 grant to support JSL's artist residency program.

* The St. Louis Symphony last weekend joined forces with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra to perform Marsalis' "Swing Symphony" at Powell Hall, and the performances - which also were SLSO music director and conductor David Robertson's final concerts with the orchestra - were reviewed by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Sarah Bryan Miller and KDHX's Chuck Lavazzi.

* Trumpeter Jim Manley has released a new album, Retro 80s, which is on sale now on all the usual online outlets, with CDs also available starting next Tuesday, May 15. The album (pictured) includes 10 original tunes by Manley featuring ""solo trumpet with a horn section and sounds of the 80s." You can listen to a compilation of some brief sample clips here.

* Speaking of new recordings, flute player and composer Fred Tompkins has just added a new track to his Bandcamp page and "Ongoing Additions" Facebook page. "The Sun" is a six-minute vocal piece incorporating texts by Emily Dickinson that was performed for the recording by mezzo-soprano Johanna Nordhorn, pianist Maryse Carlin, and drummer Kyle Honeycutt.

* Singer Denise Thimes was interviewed about this year's edition of her annual Mother's Day show by St. Louis Public Radio

* The St. Louis Stompers are headed to Fox Lake, WI next weekend to perform at the annual Bunny Berigan Jazz Jubilee.

* The Pocket, a combination bed-and-breakfast and rehearsal space geared to traveling bands and music fans, has opened for business in South St. Louis at 3501 Lemp, right next door to Off Broadway.

* The Sheldon Concert Hall has posted to Facebook an album of photos from Wednesday night's performance by Alarm Will Sound.

* The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department has arrested four suspects and recovered hundreds of items, including musical instruments and equipment, that were stolen over the past four years from vehicles downtown. The thieves are believed to be responsible for at least some of the rash of thefts that in recent years have plagued touring bands visiting St. Louis. If you or someone you know lost something to the crooks, you can check online to see if it is among the recovered property.

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