Thursday, July 21, 2011

Jazz this week: Rebirth Brass Band, Ronnie Burrage, Willie Akins, and more

Like most of the rest of the midsection of the USA, St. Louis is mired in some truly nasty summer weather this week, but there are several jazz and creative music performances coming up in the next few days that should be worth braving the inferno-like conditions. Here's what's happening:

Tonight, guitarist Brian Vaccaro will lead a trio in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, and saxophonist Tim Cunningham plays a free outdoor concert at Bluebird Park in Ellisville.

On Friday, drummer and St. Louis native Ronnie Burrage returns home to begin a two-night stand at Robbie's House of Jazz, leading a trio with Jeff Anderson on tenor sax and Bob DeBoo on bass. For more about Burrage, see this story published a couple of weeks ago by the St. Louis American. Also, you can see some videos of Burrage in action in this post from last Saturday.

Also on Friday and Saturday, saxophonist Willie Akins and his group will play at Jazz at the Bistro, performing the music of John Coltrane as part of the series of tribute shows being presented this month at the Bistro.

Other gigs of note on Friday include guitarist Eric Slaughter's trio with bassist Nick Jost and drummer Marty Morrison at the Cigar Inn in Belleville; and the Ambassadors of Swing big band at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

On Saturday, the Rebirth Brass Band (pictured) returns to St. Louis for a concert at Bandwagon Hall, 2151 Lemay Ferry Rd. in south county. The RBB also will appear as guest performers with the Compton Heights Concert Band, the promoters of Saturday's show, at free outdoor concerts on Sunday at Francis Park and Monday at Tower Grove Park.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday drummer Joe Pastor's trio is at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups, and Tuesday brings the weekly jam session at Robbie's House of Jazz. On Wednesday, trumpeter Jim Manley will play a duo show at Sasha's Wine Bar, which will be a regular weekly gig for him going forward.

For more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. You also can keep up with all the latest news by following St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes or clicking the "Like" icon on the StLJN Facebook page.

(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. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)

(Edited after posting to add Tim Cunningham's show.)

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