Sax legend John Handy to make his St. Louis debut September 15 & 16

John Handy

Saxophonist John Handy is well known in the jazz world, both for his performances with Charles Mingus on some of the bassist's most storied albums and live dates, and for his own recordings, ranging from a famous live album recorded at the 1965 Monterey Jazz Festival to the 1970s dance/funk hit "Hard Work". But in all the years Handy has been in the music business, he's never played in St. Louis.

That's going to change this fall, as Handy will come to the Gateway City for performances on Friday, September 15 and Saturday, September 16. St. Louis-based jazz vocalist and promoter Ron Wilkinson, once a neighbor of Handy's in San Francisco, is producing the shows, which will be held at the Best Western Airport Inn, 10232 Natural Bridge Road.

Handy will perform two shows each night with a rhythm section of St. Louis musicians (yet to be chosen) in one of the hotel's banquet rooms. Wilkinson said he anticipates setting up the room cabaret style, with round tables, a full bar and food service, and a total capacity of somewhere between 200 and 250 people per show. Tickets will be priced at $25 in advance, $30 at the door; details about specific outlets where tickets can be purchased are yet to come.

John Handy may not have been able to sustain the heady level of fame he once achieved in the wake of his Monterey performance, but he's stayed very busy, teaching music at Stanford University, U.C. Berkeley and San Francisco State University, and continuing to compose, perform and record with his own groups and with Mingus Dynasty. To find out more about him, check out this biography/discography; this feature story; this article about his return to Monterey in 2005; and this brief profile from the San Francisco Chronicle's coverage of Black History Month. You can also see a video clip, taken from a PBS documentary, of Handy talking about San Francisco's Fillmore district, and hear some of his recordings. (Warning: Windows Media format only.)

Parenthetically, it's also interesting to note that the particular instrumentation that Handy made famous in the 1960s - alto sax, violin, guitar, bass and drums - is the exact same configuration used by the extremely popular Dave Matthews Band. Coincidence or causation? I have no idea if the DMB were influenced by "Spanish Lady" or "If Only We Knew," but it just goes to show you that many so-called innovations have been foreshadowed by what's gone before.

Anyway, it's remarkable and somewhat unfortunate that it's taken this long for Handy to get to St. Louis, but Ron Wilkinson deserves kudos for putting these shows together. Here's hoping that the St. Louis jazz community will support his efforts and turn out in significant numbers to hear what should be an intriguing concert from a major musician.

(Edited after posting to correct a spacing problem.)