Jazz St. Louis to launch concert series in St. Charles on Wednesday, October 10

Although St. Charles County has increased in population dramatically over the last 20 years and remains one of the fastest growing areas in the state, there's not much live jazz there. There's none to speak of at the area's two largest venues - the Ameristar Casino, which features primarily blues, country, variety and classic rock, and the Family Arena, which mostly seems to have country, hard rock, metal, Christian rock, and the occasional oldies act.*

At one time, there was a coffeehouse in the older area on Main Street that featured jazz, but it's gone now. The rest of the bars in that area feature rock, blues and variety cover bands, but, as far as I know, no jazz. There also are a couple of restaurants in the greater St. Charles area featuring solo pianists or small combos that may include some jazz as part of their background music offerings. But all in all, considering the growth of the area and the total population numbers, it's slim pickings for jazz fans.

Well, Jazz St. Louis aims to change that, or at least to make a dent in the situation, with a new series of four concerts presented in conjunction with the Foundry Art Centre in St. Charles. The series debuts next week with a concert featuring the group Good 4 The Soul at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, October 10 at Foundry Art Centre, 520 North Main Center in St. Charles.

Ticket are $15 and can be purchased by calling the Foundry Art Centre at 636-522-0270 or from the Centre's Web site.

Given that St. Charles is a relatively underserved market for jazz, I think JSL is doing the right thing by trying to make some inroads there. However, I also hope they're preparing to build a presence over the long term, because it could take a while to find and develop an audience.

With a midweek show, a $15 ticket and a group that, while comprised of fine musicians, doesn't have a particularly high level of name recognition, this first show in the series potentially could be a tough sell. The other three acts have yet to be announced, so their contributions to the series box office potential is, at this point, unknowable.

The main hall at the Foundry Arts Centre looks to be a large space, capable of holding at least a couple hundred people seated at round tables, and more if it's used theater style. (To get an idea of the scale of the building, check out this photo and note also the fact that they used to build railroad cars there.)

However, if the talent, production and marketing costs for this series are kept relatively modest, JSL may only need crowds of 75-100 people to hit the nominal breakeven point. Even getting to that level of attendance take require some patience from the series' two sponsors, but it seems worth making the effort.

Ultimately, it's up to jazz fans in St. Charles. If they support this series of shows, presumably there will be more in the offing, and if not, there won't. JSL's Bob Bennett has said he'll pass along information about the rest of the talent lineup once it's confirmed, so at least one more update will be forthcoming here.

In the meantime, I'll be interested to hear more about how the first show in the series goes. Any StLJN readers who are able to attend are hereby invited to share their experiences and opinions via email or the comments section.

*True, the Family Arena has booked the Kenny G holiday show, with Erin Bode as opening act, for December 11 of this year. Setting aside whether or not you think Kenny G is jazz - I'd call his records instrumental pop music, and, although I don't care much for his particular approach to it, there's nothing inherently wrong with the genre, it's just not jazz -the G-man's gig at the Family Arena may be the only show ever on their schedule that's even remotely related to jazz.