Friday, December 26, 2008

Post story says downtown St. Louis
will get new jazz venue in March

According to a story in yesterday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch, downtown St. Louis will be getting a new live music venue called the St. Louis Jazz Cafe in the spring of 2009.

Business columnist Joe Whittington's December 25 entry included an item saying that the venue "will occupy the space that once housed the Red Moon restaurant in the Terra Cotta Lofts, 1501 Locust Street. Arnold and Aundra Charleston will be opening it in March. Tim Simms will be putting together the food offerings. Arnold Charleston said the new spot would have live entertainment three or four nights a week, and maybe a Sunday jazz brunch. The rest of the week will consist of local talent and streaming smooth jazz from the Internet. "Once a week we'll get a headliner, and I've been talking with Erin Bode and Tim Cunningham," said Arnold Charleston."

The above is a direct quote from the Post story, and after reading it three times, I'm still a little confused about how many nights a week the club will feature live music, and whether they'll be booking local or touring acts. The story starts out saying "three or four nights a week," which seems clear enough, but in the very next sentence adds that "the rest of the week will consist of local talent." Very confusing, especially when you consider that the two potential headliners mentioned in the story are both from St. Louis.

Still, news of any new jazz venue in town certainly is a welcome development, and StLJN will be following this story with interest. The St. Louis Jazz Cafe doesn't seem to have a Web site yet, but you can get a peek at their logo here, on the blog of the design firm that created it. Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

As said, news of any new venue in Stlouis is a good thing, but pormises of Cunningham, Bode and streaming smooth jazz is not what I would call the best possible. Granted, I was born in the wrong decade.I will continue to see that club in my mind with modern or straight ahead jazz played. Give me my MOJA (Modern Jazz)

Dean Minderman said...

I hear you, Anonymous. In a bar/club or restaurant, streaming music of any sort generally does nothing for me. If I want to listen to recorded music, I can do that at home. (If the recorded music is really bad, it can actually drive me out of a place, but that's another subject entirely.)

Also, I'd agree about wanting to see one or more additional local venues for mainstream/modern jazz, especially one located downtown.

I still miss the Upstream, which was one of the very first places I ever heard live jazz (as a still-underage college student, who got by the club's doorman without being carded by virtue of being relatively tall and wearing a sport jacket).

On the other hand, it is my impression that the market for live smooth jazz in a nightclub setting also may be relatively under-served in St. Louis, especially since the demise of Finale and Cookie's - both of which, it should be noted, featured a variety of jazz styles, including mainstream/modern and smooth, co-existing on the same schedule.

Lastly, I'd hesitate to form strong opinions based on a vaguely worded report from the business section.
I'm reserving judgment until we can see who & what the St. Louis Jazz Cafe actually ends up booking, and how often.

Anonymous said...

I personally can't wait until St. Louis Jazz Cafe opens. It will be a welcome venue to the downtown area. Also I hope it will attrack a more mature crowd than some of the other clubs in the area. I prefer a more relaxed atmosphere and I think the St. Louis Jazz Cafe will provide that.

Anonymous said...

I have it from a source close to the owners of The St Louis Jazz Cafe, that 1) The mention of streaming music from the internet in the article is a misqoute; They do not intend to use that as a source.
2)The types of Jazz played and performed will cover the gamut of the genre, i,e. everything from Big band era, & swing, to modern, and contemporary, smooth Jazz, to free form, from Thelonious Monk, and Miles, to Stanley Turrentine and Grover Washington Jr, from Mel Torme & The Chairman of the Board, to Wes Montgomery, or Grant Green, From Oscar Peterson to Stanley Clark.
3)Also a misqoute; The fact that Tim Sims will be putting together the food offerings,....thet too is incorrect, the St Louis Jazz Cafe, will employ the services of a notable Chef, Tim Sims is the Operations Manager, more like an F&B Manager.