February brings homecoming gigs for Quincy Troupe, Jeremy Haynes, Ronnie Burrage

Given what St. Louis weather usually is like in February, there may be better times to visit. But cold, snow and slush notwithstanding, there are three noteworthy St. Louis expats returning home this month with shows of interest to local jazz fans:

* Poet, author and teacher Quincy Troupe will lead another edition of his "SoundArt" project in a performance at 3:00 p.m., Saturday, February 16 at the Metropolitan Gallery, 2936 Locust St. downtown.

Troupe, who's originally from St. Louis and collaborated with Miles Davis on the trumpeter's 1989 autobiography, has brought SoundArt home twice previously - in 2009, performing with guitarist Kelvyn Bell and drummer Ronnie Burrage at Robbie's House of Jazz, and in 2011 with Bell at the Metropolitan Gallery.

This time, Troupe will be joined by saxophonist Stan Coleman and bassist Darrell Mixon. The event is presented by the Nu-Art Series, and general admission will be $20 at the door.

* Drummer Jeremy Haynes, a St. Louis native who's made his fame playing gospel music, will show off another side of his musical personality with his show "Return of the Prodigal Son" at 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, February 19 at Lola. The gig is in support of Haynes' recent jazz album Prodigal Son 2K, which is available for purchase on iTunes and CD Baby. Haynes' band Rhythm is Life includes keyboardists Eric W. Catron and Jarrell "JDot" Little and bassist Jermaine Hall.

Haynes (pictured) began his career at age 12, drumming with St. Louis' famed gospel singers the O’Neal Twins, and recorded his first album with them at 15. Haynes went on to play in the Broadway production of “God’s Trying to Tell You Something” and has continued to work with well-known gospel acts including Kevin Bond, Karen Clark Sheard, Kirk Franklin and Donnie McClurkin. To date, Haynes has performed on four movie soundtracks and been part of more than 150 gospel recordings, which have received a total of five Grammys and 12 Stellar Awards and accounted for 15 #1 hits on the Billboard gospel charts. Tickets for Haynes' show at Lola will be $15 at the door.

* Lastly, there are more details on the upcoming events featuring drummer Ronnie Burrage first described several weeks ago in this post.

Rehearsals for Burrage's trio gig on Thursday, February 28 for Washington University's Jazz at Holmes series will be held on campus on Tuesday, February 26 and Wednesday February 27 at a location TBA. The rehearsals with Burrage, bassist Darrell Mixon and pianist Ptah Williams will be open for student observation from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. each day. The performance is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. Thursday, and is free and open to the public; Burrage tells StLJN that there will be some Wash U. students invited to sit in on the gig as well.

The set times for Burrage's shows on Friday, March 1 and Saturday, March 2 at The Office, 5719 Delmar, have been confirmed as 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. The band for those shows will include Burrage, saxophonist Freddie Washington, guitarist Eric Slaughter and bassist Darryl Mixon.

Advance ticket prices have been finalized at $30.00 for the "VIP" package, which includes a ticket to an "all you can eat" buffet; $20 for general admission, which includes one drink; and $25.00 per person for a special Valentine's Day "lovers" offer, which includes a champagne toast. Tickets for groups of 20 or more are priced at $25 for the VIP package and $15 for general admission.

In addition, the first 20 advance ticket purchasers for the shows at The Office will receive a free CD from Burrage. Tickets are on sale now via his website at www.ronnieburrage.biz.