Archive Search Results
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Critics' Picks
The Bad Plus
8:30 p.m. and 10:15 p.m., Wednesday, January 6, through Saturday, January 9, at Jazz at the Bistro, 3536 Washington Boulevard.
By Dean C. Minderman
Published: December 30, 2009
The Bad Plus has attracted plenty of attention for its jazz arrangements of songs originally identified with pop, rock and classical musicians. Yet what truly distinguishes its...
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Feature
The Best of 2009 in Music
By Annie Zaleski, Katie Moulton, Calvin Cox, Shae Moseley, D.X. Ferris, Roy Kasten, Jaime Lees, Keegan Hamilton, Jason Toon, Christian Schaeffer, Dean C. Minderman and Ryan Wasoba
Published: December 16, 2009
I gave the RFT's freelancers very simple guidelines when assigning the following year-in-music pieces: In 300 words, tell readers what music you liked in 2009. The following...
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Critics' Picks
Jeremy Davenport
8:30 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. Friday, November 27, and Saturday, November 28. Jazz at the Bistro, 3536 Washington Avenue.
By Dean C. Minderman
Published: November 25, 2009
If the famously tragic jazzman Chet Baker had avoided heroin and depression and instead taken to sipping cocktails and cracking wise with the Rat Pack, he might have ended up...
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Critics' Picks
Ian McLagan
8 p.m. Tuesday, November 24. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. 21 plus: $15 in advance, $20 day of show.
By Dean C. Minderman
Published: November 18, 2009
At this point in his career, it would be easy for keyboardist Ian McLagan to coast on his résumé. He's a founding member of the Small Faces and the Faces, was a...
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Critics' Picks
Chris Botti
8 p.m. Friday, September 18. The Fox Theatre, 527 North Grand Boulevard.
By Dean C. Minderman
Published: September 16, 2009
Having worked his way up from session musician to featured sideman for Paul Simon and Sting and now to bandleader, trumpeter Chris Botti spent nearly a decade playing...
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Critics' Picks
Big Muddy Blues Festival
1 p.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, September 5, and Sunday, September 6. Laclede's Landing.
By Dean C. Minderman
Published: September 2, 2009
Like the music it celebrates, the Big Muddy Blues Festival has had its ups and downs over the years. Nevertheless, while the free two-day event's current budgetary limitations...
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Critics' Picks
Sax for Stax Tour
7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 30. The Bottleneck Blues Bar at the Ameristar Casino, 1260 South Main Street, St. Charles.
By Dean C. Minderman
Published: July 29, 2009
Though Stax Records never quite became a household name on the order of Motown, the music put out during the '60s and '70s by the Memphis-based soul label has proved just as...
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Critics' Picks
Magic Slim and the Teardrops
10 p.m. Saturday, May 23. Beale on Broadway, 701 South Broadway.
By Dean C. Minderman
Published: May 20, 2009
Like a fine whiskey, blues guitarist and singer Morris "Magic Slim" Holt seems to be getting better with age. The 72-year-old Mississippi native didn't record an album as a...
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Critics' Picks
Mae Wheeler's 75th Birthday Gala
4 p.m. Sunday, May 17. Sheldon Concert Hall, 3648 Washington Boulevard.
By Dean C. Minderman
Published: May 13, 2009
Though she's come to be known as "Lady Jazz" during more than 50 years of entertaining St. Louis audiences, Mae Wheeler often refers to herself not as a jazz singer, but as a...
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Critics' Picks
Tony Bennett
8 p.m., Friday, May 8. The Fox Theatre, 527 North Grand Boulevard.
By Dean C. Minderman
Published: May 6, 2009
Combining the Italian operatic tradition of bel canto — a light, bright style of singing that emphasizes an even tone and enables long, sustained lines — with a...
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B-Sides
The Ol' Soft Shoe: Greg Osby and Willie Akins slip on a comfortable pair of "St. Louis Shoes"
By Dean C. Minderman
Published: April 8, 2009
Greg Osby says he may have first heard Willie Akins play the saxophone at the original incarnation of BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups, or it may have been another St. Louis jazz club...
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B-Sides
Out of Africa: Béla Fleck discusses the origins of his cross-genre "Africa Project"
By Dean C. Minderman
Published: March 25, 2009
Both in his solo career and with his band the Flecktones, banjo player Béla Fleck is known as a virtuoso who crosses the nominal borders separating jazz, bluegrass,...
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Music
We made you a mixtape! 2008: The year in music.
By Keegan Hamilton, Jaime Lees, Jason Toon, Mike Appelstein, Kristy Wendt, Calvin Cox, Shae Moseley, Ryan Wasoba, Annie Zaleski, Dean C. Minderman, Roy Kasten and Christian Schaeffer
Published: December 17, 2008
2008 was a weird year for music. Gloom and doom predictions about sinking album sales overshadowed the industry, and labels seemed to throw trends at the wall just to see what...
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Music
Ear Burns: Our critics spew some haterade about 2008's bummer songs, albums and events
By Annie Zaleski, Keegan Hamilton, Jason Toon, Mike Appelstein, Jaime Lees, Dean C. Minderman, Calvin Cox, Shae Moseley, Ryan Wasoba, Christian Schaeffer, Kristy Wendt and Roy Kasten
Published: December 17, 2008
The end of the year is a time for critics to reflect on the best music they heard in the past twelve months. But such positivity neglects the oboxious tunes, band breakups and...
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B-Sides
The blues documentary M for Mississippi premieres this weekend, has St. Louis roots, while Black Spade sibling Tef Poe steps out from his brother's shadow with a new album, label and mixtape
By Calvin Cox and Dean C. Minderman
Published: October 8, 2008
It's been five years since the release of Hip-Hop & Soulful...ish, the double CD from St. Louis' now infamous Soul Tyde crew. As a collective, the group featured some of the...
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Critics' Picks
Dazz Band
3 p.m. Saturday, September 13, as part of 95.5 FM's FoxyFest. Langenberg Field, Forest Park.
By Dean C. Minderman
Published: September 10, 2008
Coming out of Cleveland, Ohio, in the late '70s, the Dazz Band worked the same musical vein that had yielded much gold earlier in the decade for other self-contained funk bands...
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B-Sides
Diamonds in the Mud: A preview of the Big Muddy Blues Festival and a look at some niches in need of some Neil
By Dean C. Minderman
Published: August 27, 2008
Though budget constraints and the changing development landscape of Laclede's Landing will once again limit the 2008 edition of the Big Muddy Blues Festival to two days and...
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B-Sides
Annual local music festival the Lot turns ten years old, and the Gramophone fills its Tuesday nights with the sounds of jazz
By Dean C. Minderman and Shae Moseley
Published: August 20, 2008
St. Louis has a historic reputation as a center for jazz, but it's not always easy to find live jazz performances in the city early in the week. Now the available options have...
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Critics' Picks
Erin Bode
8:30 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. Friday, June 13 and Saturday, June 14, and 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Sunday, June 15 at Jazz at the Bistro, 3536 Washington Avenue
By Dean C. Minderman
Published: June 11, 2008
It's been a busy couple of years for Erin Bode and her band. They've traveled all around the United States performing at clubs, concert halls and festivals, and have had...
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B-Sides
B-Sides takes a Jazz Journey and says hello to Ne-Yo
By Kristy Wendt and Dean C. Minderman
Published: May 14, 2008
After Ne-Yo opened for Alicia Keys last month at the Scottrade Center, he stuck around to present six songs from his upcoming album Year of the Gentleman at Grove club the...
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