It's another busy weekend for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with a number of touring musicians in town for the ninth annual
Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival and an extensive menu of shows featuring St. Louis musicians, too. Let's go to the highlights...
Tonight, baritone saxophonist
Lauren Sevian will present an early evening performance and master class at
Saxquest. Sevian is in town to serve as a clinician/adjudicator for the daytime, educational portion of the GSLJF, which involves a competition for student jazz big bands and combos from around the area. She'll also be a guest with the UMSL Big Band during their festival performances, opening the show for Friday and Saturday's headliners.
Right around the time Sevian is wrapping up, vibraphonist
Stefon Harris and trumpeter
Sean Jones will be teaming up for the first of two sets at
Jazz at the Bistro. Harris and Jones also have been serving as clinician/adjudicators for the student combo portion of the GSLJF, and from what I can tell, it sounds like they're using Harris' band as the rhythm section for their gig at the Bistro. (You can read a review of Harris' show last week in Kansas City
here.)
Update, 4:30 p.m., 4/19/12: The latest word now is that Harris, in fact, did not bring his band with him, and he and Jones will be backed by Ken Kehner (piano), Marty Morrison (drums) and Jahmal Nichols (bass). The
latest tweet from Jazz St. Louis also indicates they'll be playing familiar material including "Soul Eyes," "Resolution," "Dolphin Dance," and "Giant Steps,"
For more about the GSLJF, check out
this video preview post from last Saturday, and
this post over at
St. Louis magazine's Look/Listen blog based on an interview with
Jim Widner, director of the UMSL jazz program and the GSLJF.
Also on Thursday night, saxophonist Freddie Washington will play a free concert for the
Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. Washington's gig is the final Jazz at Holmes show of the semester, and the email announcement for it also stated that, unlike the past couple of years, there will be no summer Jazz at Holmes series this year. So, looks like this week's JaH concert will be the last one until September, which seems like a long time away.
On Friday, the GSLJF continues with percussionist
Poncho Sanchez and his band with guest trumpeter
Terence Blanchard (pictured) at the
Touhill Performing Arts Center. They'll be playing music from
Chano y Dizzy!, their 2011 CD paying tribute to conga drummer/composer Chano Pozo and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. The UMSL Big Band will open the show.
Also on Friday, guitarist
Matthew Von Doran will be the featured performer in the second installment of the new Friday night series at
City Music;
Three Central will bring their smooth jazz sound to
Robbie's House of Jazz; the
St. Louis Big Band plays a concert at
Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church,
4029 Blow St.; and guitarist Eric Slaughter and his trio are playing at the
Cigar Inn.
On Saturday, there are a couple of notable daytime events, as trad jazz and swing band
Cornet Chop Suey plays a mid-day show at the
Sheldon Concert Hall, and Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra clarinetist
Diana Haskell presents a workshop and performance at Saxquest.
Then on Saturday night, the GSLJF concludes with the St. Louis debut of bassist
Christian McBride's big band at the Touhill. Again, the UMSL Big Band is scheduled to open the show.
Also on Saturday night, the
Funky Butt Brass Band will perform at the newish Midtown venue
Plush; and saxophonist
Matt McKeever's trio plays at Robbie's.
On Sunday afternoon, the
Oikos Ensemble, featuring saxophonist Clifford Aerie, will present a performance at
First Congregational Church in Webster Groves to benefit the
Sunshine Cultural Arts Center in East St. Louis.
Also on Sunday afternoon, Cornet Chop Suey will play a matinee concert at
Lewis & Clark Community College; and a bit later on, the
Dave Dickey Big Band will take the stage for their monthly gig at
Kirkwood Station Brewing Company, with
Metrobones as the intermission act.
Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Webster University Jazz Singers will give their final performance of the semester at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the main Webster campus.
For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, 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.)