Wednesday, December 04, 2013

Jazz this week: Pat Martino; Lynne Fiddmont & Keith Fiddmont; Copland, Peacock & Baron; holiday jazz; and more

Whether you're looking for jazz explicitly flavored with a bit of holiday spirit, or not, there's plenty to choose from on this week's menu of jazz and creative music performances in St. Louis. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, guitarist Pat Martino (pictured) returns to St. Louis for the first time since 2010 to begin a four-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro. Though he's worked in other contexts, Martino generally favors the organ trio format, and for this visit, he'll be accompanied by organist Pat Bianchi and drummer Carmen Intorre.

For much more about Martino, and some videos of him in action, please see this post from a couple of weeks ago.

Also tonight, singer and St. Louis native Lynne Fiddmont and her saxophonist brother Keith Fiddmont are back in town for a homecoming performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall; trombonist/singer Doug Burns and pianist Pauline Stark will play for diners at the Feasting Fox, 4200 S Grand; and singer Brian Owens will present his holiday show  "Soul of the Season," with guest appearances from pianist Peter Martin and The 442s, at Centene Center for Arts and Education, 3547 Olive. (For an overview of all the holiday jazz shows this month in St. Louis, please see this post.)

Tomorrow night, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents a free concert of performances from Wash U jazz students at Ridgley Hall on campus; Miss Jubilee plays at Thaxton Speakeasy downtown; and trumpeter Jim Manley continues his weekly gig at Joyia Tapas, 4501 Manchester Ave in the Grove neighborhood.(Update - 4:00 p.m. 12/5/13: Jim Manley has posted on Facebook that tonight's gig at Joyia is canceled due to the possibility of a winter storm hitting St. Louis this evening.)

On Friday, Jazz at Holmes will wrap up their fall semester schedule with a ticketed concert featuring pianist Marc Copland, bassist Gary Peacock, and drummer Joey Baron at 560 Music Center. Though not a regular working unit as such, all three players have a stellar list of individual credits, and the result should be a superior evening of music. For more on that, please see this post.

Also on Friday, "cinematic electro-jazz" band Koplant No plays at Robbie's House of Jazz; keyboardist Matt Villinger heads up a trio at Cigar Inn; the Ambassadors of Swing play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and bassist John King (of Good 4 The Soul) will lead an ensemble of friends and special guests in a performance at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

On Saturday, Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center will begin their new "Quiet Music" series with a concert featuring compositions by Nathan Cook, Greg Farough and Mark Sarich.

Also on Saturday, Sarah Jane of Blue Notes fame will headline an "All Holiday Revue" at Robbie's House of Jazz; Oikos Ensemble will present their Christmas program "Follow That Star: A Jazz Nativity" at First Congregational United Church of Christ in Webster Groves; and guitarist and singer Elliott Ranney will perform at Picasso's Coffee House in St. Charles.

On Sunday, Dizzy Atmosphere will play swing and Gypsy jazz out in the country at Claverach Farm in Eureka.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Webster University Jazz Singers will present their semester-ending concert at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus, and Latin jazz band Clave Sol plays at BB's Jazz, Blues & 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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