Sponsored by Freedom Trails: Legacy of Hope, African American Heritage Tourism Development, Illinois If you're into jazz, you're surely into Miles Davis. The money-makers know this too, which is why you see countless Miles tributes and marketing tie-ins. But all cynicism aside, last Friday's 80th Birthday Party in East St. Louis was the real deal. A simple idea to celebrate a local son grew into a full-blown, week-long jazz-fest celebration of the region's living legacy. Plans a

Last Wednesday night, the place to be in Saint Louis was Webster University's Music Annex. In this humble concert hall nestled in the trees behind a vast Tudor-style home, a capacity crowd was treated to an unforgettable set of hot jazz. Trombone-leader Charlie Halloran fronted his sextet to culminate his studies at the university, but this was no average senior recital. Only recently has Charlie reached legal drinking age, but he’s been playing in bars and appearing on records for yea

Tommy Halloran performs old-timey music anyone would appreciate, but as is often the case, his savvy draws many unusual folks. Tommy, on a first-name basis with practically anyone cool in Saint Louis, has always hung on the fringes. He is to jazz as Uncle Tupelo was to country-western or Steve Earle to bluegrass. He possesses the schooling (both formal and hard-knocks) as well as the "chops" of a great jazzman. Tommy is, however, a generalist more than a specialist. The basic truths of