While it's still summer vacation for some, the jazz activity level in St. Louis is picking up a bit this week, with a couple of touring artists making their local debuts and some interesting homegrown shows on tap as well. Let's go to the highlights:Jazz St. Louis' "Jazz on Broadway" series continues tonight with a free performance by pianist Dave Venn starting at 6 p.m. in the lobby lounge of the Hilton at the Ballpark. I mentioned last week that I wanted to comment a bit on my own experience playing this venue a couple of weeks ago with Kim Massie, and this seems like as good a place as any.
First, I want to encourage everyone and anyone reading this to go check out one of the "Jazz on Broadway" performances, as I feel overall that it's a worthy endeavor. JSL has booked some quality musicians for the series, and there's no cover charge, so your financial outlay can be pretty minimal (as long as you eschew the Hilton's pricey valet parking). Meanwhile, the lobby lounge area, while certainly busier and noisier than the listening room at Jazz at the Bistro, is visually attractive and has some comfy-looking couches and upholstered chairs as well as the usual cocktail tables. It's located close enough to the actual bar to allow for convenient drink service from the waitresses, but far enough away that the bar's activities don't distract from the music.
Obviously, the series is a bit of a test of JSL's capacity to successfully produce and promote music outside their main venue, Jazz at the Bistro. JSL executive director Gene Dobbs Bradford also told me that they were specifically interested in doing something downtown because there have been no venues presenting jazz in that immediate area for at least ten years, since the old "Just Jazz" series, precursor of the Bistro, decamped from the Hotel Majestic and moved to Grand Center. (Those of us of a certain age also have fond memories of the Upstream Lounge, the Pine St. venue that was once a very popular spot to hear music downtown.) Bradford said that JSL would like to continue the series on an ongoing basis, but that attendance will determine whether or not the Hilton will want to continue, and joked about the need for "the jazz army" to come out in force. As someone who's in favor of just about anything that will create more opportunities for live jazz performances, I wholeheartedly concur. If you can't make it tonight, mark September 6 on your calendar and make plans to see the next show in the series, featuring the Phil Dunlap Trio.
But all that aside, when I worked there a couple of weeks ago, there were a couple of production glitches that I sincerely hope have been resolved by now. The most glaring of these was that an hour before showtime, the acoustic piano that was supposed to be in the performance area of the lobby was instead about a half-block away down a corridor and a couple of small staircases. Informed of this fact, the Hilton folks scrambled to gather enough bodies to hump said piano up to the lobby. It's a nice instrument, a Yamaha baby grand, but appeared to be suffering from the sort of benign neglect all too common with hotel pianos, and the trip back up to the lobby did no favors for the instrument's tuning or sound quality. Having an well-maintained, in-tune piano available would be a big plus for the series, in terms of both the listeners' and the musicians' experiences, and I know JSL's management is well aware of that fact. The question is, will the Hilton's powers-that-be understand this and commit the necessary resources to keep the instrument in playable condition?
The other glitch was with simply getting access to the Hilton's lobby. With no house sound, groups that need microphones and amplification must bring their own, and the Hilton's valet parking area, the closest place to the actual performance site, is a decidedly unfriendly place to try to unload gear. The situation was made worse by the attitude of an attendant who went from brusque to downright hostile when informed that some of his curb space would be needed temporarily to facilitate the transfer of said equipment. Someone needs to have a talk with the valet staff and explain to them that musicians are not their enemy and, given a chance, might actually draw enough additional patrons to put more money in their pockets, too.
These sorts of problems are not uncommon in a new venue, and I know that Bradford, JSL operations director Bob Bennett, and their colleagues know what ought to be done to make the series enjoyable for all concerned. If the Hilton will "play ball," so to speak, the series could be an asset to the hotel, downtown, and the entire jazz community in St. Louis.
Turning back to this week's highlights, on Thursday and Friday, Jazz at the Bistro will host performances celebrating CD releases for pianist/singer John Proulx and singer Cassandre McKinney (pictured at left), both of whom are signed to the locally based MAXJAZZ label and have new recordings coming out this week. At this point, I can't tell you much about either Proulx or McKinney, since neither one has played St. Louis before, and neither MAXJAZZ or JSL have sent out any promo copies of the CDs, at least not to me. (Hint, hint.) But if you'd like to check them out, they'll be performing at 8:30 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. each night.
Elsewhere in town, Finale Music and Dining has Latin jazz from S.L. Son tonight, and singer Debby Lennon's tribute to George Gershwin on Friday. Lennon also will appear on Thursday with trumpeter Dan Smith's group at Cookie's Jazz and More. That same evening, the always entertaining Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum will hold forth at Brandt's and the Brian Sullivan Quartet makes one of its periodic appearances at Mangia Italiano.
Moving on the weekend proper, Crossings Taverne and Grille will present harmonica genius Sandy Weltman on Friday and singer Dean Christopher with the Terry Thompson Trio on Saturday, and Brandt's will feature Kim Massie on Friday and Mae Wheeler on Saturday. And if that's not enough female vocalizing for you, longtime local favorite Jeanne Trevor will be appearing next Monday night as part of the free concert series held in University City's Heman Park.
That's about all there's time for today, but as always, you can see a more extensive list of this week's jazz performances by consulting the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar.
(If you have calendar items, band schedule information, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com. No attachments, please.).
(Edited after posting to fix a typo.)
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