Dave Holland
Jazz St. Louis has announced the touring performers who will be part of the 2006-2007 season at Jazz at the Bistro, and it looks like a high-quality lineup of musicians, albeit one with a generous number of familiar faces.
However, mixed in with returning favorites such as Regina Carter, Mulgrew Miller, Marlena Shaw, Houston Person, Jane Monheit and Ahmad Jamal are some noteworthy new additions, including pianist Geri Allen, guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, Brazilian vocalist Luciana Souza and the Dave Holland Quintet, often acclaimed as one of the top small bands working in jazz today. Moreover, return visits from the World Saxophone Quartet, guitarist John Scofield, and the Dave Weckl Band are welcome evidence that JSL's slow-but-sure broadening of the stylistic scope of the Bistro series is attracting enough of an audience to justify continuing.
The upcoming season will also give Bistro patrons a chance to finally catch Fly, the trio fronted by saxophonist Mark Turner that had to cancel their week at the club this year due to the impending birth of a band member's child. And St. Louis audiences will also be able to get an extended look at the heavily publicized trio The Bad Plus, who did a one-nighter at Blueberry Hill not long ago and will return to St. Louis for four nights at the Bistro. Also on tap for next year are a celebration of alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson's 80th birthday, and a Valentine's Day weekend featuring the suave balladry of drummer/vocalist Grady Tate.
Note that Geri Allen will be part of the "Discovery Series," which supposedly features new and/or up-and-coming acts, and presents them for two nights instead of four. In Allen's case, this would seem to be something of a miscategorization, as she's been established as a top pianist and organist for a couple of decades now, but perhaps one can make the argument that she is indeed a fresh face as far as St. Louis is concerned. Either way, it's great that she's coming to town.
JSL executive director Gene Dobbs Bradford told me Thursday night that bookings are still being finalized for the rest of the "Discovery Series," as well as for the "Spotlight Series," which presents local and regional musicians on the weekends in between the touring acts. If past years are any guideline, when those dates are all announced it will mean another eight to ten weekends of programming in addition to what's listed below. In the meantime, here's the schedule as it currently stands:
2006
September 20-23: Jane Monheit
September 29-30: Geri Allen
October 4-7: World Saxophone Quartet
October 18-21: Luciana Souza
November 1-4: Kurt Rosenwinkel
November 15-18: Lou Donaldson 80th Birthday Celebration
November 24-25: Jeremy Davenport
November 29-December 2: Dave Weckl Band
December 6-9: Erin Bode
December 13-16: Houston Person
2007
January 3-6: The Bad Plus
January 17-20: Fly
January 31-February 3: Marlena Shaw
February 14-17: Grady Tate
February 29-March 3: Tony DeSare
March 14-17: Dave Holland Quintet
March 28-31: John Scofield
April 11-14: Bucky Pizzarelli
April 25-28: Ahmad Jamal
May 9-12: Mulgrew Miller Trio
May 23-26: Regina Carter Quintet
All in all, I think Jazz St. Louis is doing a good job of presenting a well-rounded series for 2006-07. While I personally might like to see a few more new faces and/or musically adventurous artists, I also realize that, to use a baseball metaphor, managing from the cheap seats is always easier than doing it from the the dugout.
Although JSL is a not-for-profit organization, it still has to maintain a semblance of financial viability, and Bradford, operations manager Bob Bennett and their staff have to mix acts that are proven sellers with those who are, commercially speaking anyway, unknown quantities. Exactly how that mix is executed will always be a subject for discussion, even disagreement, but jazz fans in St. Louis are unquestionably fortunate to have a first-rate club run by knowledgeable folks right here in our town, and incremental progress is still progress.
UPDATE, 2:55 p.m., 5/14/06: The weekend Post-Dispatch has a story by pop critic Kevin Johnson that mentions a couple of bookings - specifically, for hometown faves Erin Bode and Jeremy Davenport - that were not included in the information Jazz St. Louis provided to StLJN. I've updated the listing above and inserted those two weekends in their proper chronological spots.
There's not too much other new information in the story, which consists mostly of quotes from JSL executive director Gene Dobbs Bradford about various artists on the Bistro's 2006-07 schedule. For those of you who may be too short on time to read the whole thing, allow me to summarize: He thinks they're great!
(Edited after posting to restore an accidentally dropped phrase. Edited again 5/14/06 to fix a typo in the update and add a link.)
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