Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Jazz this week: The Bad Plus, Caboladies, Brett Walberg, a tribute to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and more

It looks to be a full weekend of jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with one of the top trios in jazz making a return visit to our fair city; an up-and-coming saxophonist making his local debut; an intriguing program of electronic music and video; a couple of local concert series presenting their first offerings of 2013; plus, as the saying goes, much more. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, The Bad Plus return to St. Louis for their annual January engagement, continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Fans can expect to hear some selections from the trio's latest album Made Possible, which came out in September, as well as older material and perhaps some new compositions as well. For more about Made Possible and The Bad Plus' other recent activities, check out this post from last Saturday.

On Thursday night,  New Music Circle presents a free event teaming artist/musician Robert Beatty with bassist Darin Gray for a show at Apop Records. NMC also will be serving free refreshments and selling discount tickets for Friday night's performance by the electronic music duo Caboladies (pictured) at White Flag Projects

Beatty is in town to provide visuals for Caboladies, and he and Gray have performed together before in Beatty's hometown of Lexington, KY, so the event, announced last week, seemed like a natural adjunct to the previously announced Caboladies gig. As for the Caboladies themselves, their "uniquely fractured sonic sensibilities" will be on display on Friday at White Flag Projects in the form of separate opening sets by the two members of the group, Eric Lanham and Chris Bush, followed by a collaborative set with live video accompaniment by Beatty.

Also on Friday,  Boston-based saxophonist Brett Walberg, a 20-something who's played in styles ranging from straight-ahead to funk to avant-garde, will be making his St. Louis debut, leading a trio at Robbie's House of Jazz.

On Saturday afternoon, singer Wendy Gordon and her band will perform for jazz brunch at Frontenac Grill. Then that evening, singer Feyza Eren is at Robbie's; guitarist Tom Byrne leads a trio at the Wine Press; and you can choose from among three different gigs fronted by local bassists, with John Covelli playing solo at the Tavern of Fine Arts; Darrell Mixon leading a trio at Troy's Jazz Gallery; and Eric Foreman's trio holding forth at the south side neighborhood spot Thurman Grill.

Then on Sunday, the St. Louis Jazz Club kicks off their 2013 schedule of monthly events with a double bill including Clarinet Summit, featuring clarinetist  Scott Alberici, plus the Gerry Mulligan/Bob Brookmeyer-inspired quartet Utter Chaos. This show will take place at Frontenac Grill, which is a new venue for the Jazz Club this year, although they'll also be presenting some shows at other locations as well. 

Also on Sunday, pianist Ptah Williams will perform a free concert for the St. Louis Jazz and Blues Vespers series at Second Baptist Church, 9030 Clayton Road in Richmond Heights.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday what's being billed as the "1st Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Benefit Jazz Concert" will be presented at Chaminade Preparatory School, 425 S. Lindbergh Blvd. The event will feature singer Denise Thimes and saxophonist Tim Cunningham fronting a rhythm section of pianist Joe Cartwright, bassist Eric Warren and drummer Montez Coleman, along with performances from the student jazz bands of Chaminade and University City High School.

Also on Monday, the Latin jazz band Clave Sol will play at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

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.)

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