New jazz venue opening in Central West End

A new venue for live jazz in St. Louis is opening in the Central West End.

Located at 4519 Olive - a bit east of Kingshighway, and not far from what once was Gaslight Square - Troy's Jazz Gallery is the latest venture from Troy Williams, who from 1999 to the early 2000s operated a live music spot near Lafayette Square called Troy's on the Park. After that, Williams ran the bar Filter, located in the CWE where the Tavern of Fine Arts is now, and later, a cafe called Breakfast Tools in the Lindenwood neighborhood.

This new spot apparently has been in the works for a while; the business name was registered with the state a year ago, and the website says "Coming Spring 2012." Whenever the official opening date, the location may present a challenge for the proprietor, since it's on a block that currently has few other bars, restaurants or retail stores to draw foot traffic to the area. The closest similar business looks to be the Wine Press, which is to the east at 4436 Olive and features live music several nights a week, so perhaps the two rooms will benefit from proximity to one another.

Though neither the website for Troy's Jazz Gallery nor its Facebook page have a whole lot of information yet, we can tell you that guitarists Eric Slaughter and Tom Byrne (pictured) are promoting a gig there from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. this Thursday, November 29. The notice posted on Facebook says they'll be joined by bassist Bob DeBoo and drummer Marty Morrison, and there's a $5 cover. UPDATE - 10:00 p.m., 11/28/12: The Byrne/Slaughter gig has been "postponed" for one week to next Thursday, December 6.

Also, the club has been running paid ads on Facebook, promoting regular Saturday night performances by the "Jazz Session Quintet," with sets at 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. and a "$5-10 cover (reservation required)." Other than a phone number - 314-932-1120 - there are no further details.

StLJN's call to that number today was not answered, and that band name is unfamiliar to yr. humble editor, so there's not much more to tell you right now. (In case you were wondering, an online search for "jazz session quintet" yields only a half-dozen results in total, none related to St. Louis.) I'll be trying over the next several days to track down more details, and will either update this post or add a new one as more information becomes available.