Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Jazz this week: Jim Pugh, Jeremy Haynes, Amina Figarova, Jazz St. Louis gala, Jeff Coffin, Chris Botti, Dan Thomas, and more

There's jazz and creative music happening early and often throughout this week in St. Louis, and so to help make sure that you don't miss anything, here's a special early edition of the weekly highlights post:

Tonight, trombonist Jim Pugh is in town for a free concert at at Maryville University presented by the St. Louis Low Brass Collective. Pugh is best known for his work with Woody Herman and Chick Corea, but also has been a top studio trombonist recording for film soundtracks, pop music sessions, and much more. The concert will feature Pugh backed by ten local jazz trombonists, a rhythm section, and the entire trombone section of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Meanwhile, back downtown, drummer Jeremy Haynes and the Rhythm Is Life band will play at Lola. Haynes, a St. Louis native who's been part of five Grammy winning gospel recordings, is performing in support of the release of his first instrumental album Prodigal Son 2K.

Also tonight, Three Central gives a free concert at the St. Louis Public Library main branch downtown; and the Tommy Halloran Quintet plays for Lindy Hop St. Louis' weekly swing dance at Grandel Theatre.

Tomorrow night, the Route 66 Jazz Orchestra brings their big band sound to West County at the Sky Music Lounge in Ballwin; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes perform at the Feasting Fox; and the Ann Dueren Trio is at Frontenac Grill.

On Thursday, pianist Amina Figarova (pictured) and her group will perform in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. Figarova's skills at writing for small ensembles prompted Jazz Times to call her "among the most important composers to come into jazz in the new millennium." For more about her, and some vidfeo samples of her group in action, see this post from Saturday.

Also on Thursday, singer Erin Bode is at Crave coffee house.

Update, 4:50 p.m. 2/21/13: Both the Amina Figarova concert for the Jazz at Holmes series and Erin Bode's performance at Crave have been postponed due to bad weather. Bode's gig will take place next Thursday at the same time; JAH organizers hope to reschedule Figarova some time next month.

Update, 5:10 p.m. 2/21/13:Tonight's shows featuring Miss Jubilee at Thaxton Speakeasy and Downstereo at Atomic Cowboy have been cancelled due to bad weather. Both are recurring weekly gigs, so both bands should be back at work at the same venues next Thursday.

On Friday, Jazz St. Louis will present their annual fundraising gala at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, featuring music from David Sanborn and "surprise musical guests." The event is effectively sold out, but if you've got the price of admission - tickets start at $400 per person and go up from there - you can see if any spaces have opened up by calling JSL's director of development Kate Francis at 314-289-4037 or emailing her at katef @ jazzstl.org.

For those on a more modest budget on Friday, saxophonist Jeff Coffin will be back in town to present a free early-evening performance and workshop at Saxquest; Kansas City saxophonist Dan Thomas plays for the first of two nights at Robbie's House of Jazz; and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor leads a quartet at Cigar Inn.

Update: 1:30 p.m., 2/21/13: The previously announced dates for Dan Thomas have been removed without explanation from the Robbie's House of Jazz website. The site now lists saxophonist Jerry Greene's trio playing on Friday, and drummer Gerald Warren's group on Saturday.

On Saturday, trumpeter Chris Botti and his band will perform with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra at Powell Hall. (Given Botti's popularity, this one also is probably close to a sellout by now, so if you're interested in going, don't count on being able to get tickets at the door - call the box office first.)

Also on Saturday, saxophonist Willie Akins, drummer Montez Coleman and band will promote the release of their new album The St. Louis Connection with two sets at Jazz at the Bistro; and Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom

Then on Sunday, the Dave Dickey Big Band plays their monthly show at Kirkwood Station Brewing Company, this month featuring an intermission set from the St. Louis Metrobones.

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.)

(Edited after posting to fix a garbled sentence and correct some formatting.)

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