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The Jazz History Of St. Louis-Part 10: The Late 2000's And Current Times

The Sunday, September 7 Jazz Unlimited show will be “The Jazz History of St. Louis-Part 10: The Late 2000’s and Current Times.”  Even during the Great Recession, Jazz at the Bistro thrived, bringing in nationally known groups and giving work to local St. Jazz musicians.  Recordings kept being made and both Kim Portnoy and Paul DeMarinis included poetry in their latest recordings.  Dixieland jazz continued to be heard at St. Louis Jazz Club meetings and occasionally at the Sheldon.  Music on this show will be from The St. Louis Stompers, the Funky Butt Brass Band, Andy Tichenor, the Jazz Edge Big Band, Gary Fiorino, Peanuts Whalum, Rick Haydon, Brett Stamps, Steve Schenkel, Ashley Mason, Tim Cunningham, Bach to the Future, Ellen Martinez, Keyon Harrold, Two Times True, Larry Johnson, Lynne Fidmont, the Ken Kehner Trio, Kim Portnoy’s settings of ee cummings poetry, Paul DeMarinis, Debby Lennon, Willie Akins, Eric Slaughter, Jan Shapiro, Dave Venn, Rob Block, Jason Swagler, Nick Jost, Marty Morrison, Neil Caine, Rick Zelle, James Warfield and Soul Café.  Carolbeth True and Jim Widner will be interviewed.

Check out the photographs of the musicians featured on tonight's program in the slide show.

>> Playlist

Here is a video of the St. Louis Stompers in 2009 playing New Orleans Stomp.  Dave Majchrzak (p, arr), Pat Arana (tb), Mike Lilley (reeds), Steve Lilley (cnt), Jack Tartar (d), David Zink (tu)

Dennis Owsley has broadcast a weekly jazz show for St. Louis Public Radio since April 1983. He holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry and is a retired Monsanto Senior Science Fellow and college teacher. His show, Jazz Unlimited, airs every Sunday from 9:00 p.m. to midnight. The show has the largest jazz audience in St. Louis and was named Best Jazz Radio Show in St. Louis for the years 2005-2007 and 2009 by the Riverfront Times. In celebration of his 25 years on the air, January 24, 2008 was proclaimed Dennis Owsley Day" in the City of St. Louis. He is the 2010 winner of the St. Louis Public Radio Millard S. Cohen Lifetime Achievement Award. Dennis is also a noted photographer, and his exhibit, In the Moment: Photographs of Jazz Musicians, ran from September 23, 2005 to January 21, 2006 at the Sheldon Art Gallery. He is a lifetime student of jazz history and teaches short courses on the subject. Dennis is the author of the award-winning book City of Gabriels: The History of Jazz in St. Louis 1985-1973, published in 2006.