Wednesday, March 05, 2014

Jazz this week: Sean Jones, Galactic, Pat Metheny Unity Group, Andre Delano, a tribute to Eddie Lang, and more

As the city wakes up the morning after Fat Tuesday, there's no post-Mardi Gras slump in the schedule of jazz and creative music in St. Louis. This week includes shows from several noteworthy touring musicians, plus a homecoming performance from a well-known expat, and much more. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, Sean Jones returns to Jazz at the Bistro to open a four-night engagement continuing through Saturday. The former lead trumpeter with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Jones (pictured) has been a frequent visitor to St. Louis on his own in recent years, most recently performing at the Bistro in 2013 with both the "Triumph of Trumpets" show and as guest soloist with the student JazzU ensembles. For this visit, he'll be accompanied by a top-notch group including pianist Orrin Evans, bassist Luques Curtis and drummer Obed Calvaire.

Tomorrow night, another group of frequent visitors returns, as New Orleans' funk/jazz/hip-hop band Galactic checks in for their annual appearance at The Pageant, this time with singer Maggie Koerner as special guest and the Mike Dillon Band as opening act. For more about Galactic, plus some recent performances of theirs on video, check out this post from a couple of Saturday ago.

Elsewhere around town on Thursday, saxophonist/clarinetist Elsie Parker's group featuring pianist Ken Kehner will play a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; singer Feyza Eren and pianist Scott Shepard will star in "Colored Sky: An Evening of St. Louis Jazz," a benefit for the Diversity Awareness Partnership presented at the Sheldon Concert Hall; and the Gaslight Cabaret Festival continues with a performance of Ken Haller's "The TV Show" at the Gaslight Theater.

On Friday, the husband-and-wife team of pianist Joe Dreyer and singer Rosemary Watts continue the Gaslight Cabaret Festival with their show "Swing Into Spring"; singer Wendy L. Gordon returns to DeLeo's Cafe & Deli; vibraphonist Tom Rickard leads a trio at Cigar Inn; and the Ambassadors of Swing play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom

Then on Saturday, Connie Fairchild, the soulful singer best known for the long-running local rock band bearing her last name, will make her debut as a cabaret performer with a show called "Down By The River" at the Gaslight Theater.

Also on Saturday, Wack-A-Doo will be at the Tavern of Fine Arts; saxophonist Jay Hutson and Da Wolvez play R&B-inflected tunes at Robbie's House of Jazz; jazz-fusion band The Freedom make their debut at Thurman Grill; and Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to the Venice Cafe.

On Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents a tribute to guitarist Eddie Lang at the Sheraton Westport, featuring guitarist Rick Haydon, trombonist Brett Stamps, clarinetist Scott Alberici, drummer Miles Vandiver, and bassist Zeb Briskovich.

Sunday evening offers dueling headliners, as saxophonist and East St. Louis native Andre Delano will be back home to play two shows at the Bistro at Grand Center, while guitarist Pat Metheny brings his Unity Group to town for a highly anticipated performance at The Pageant. For more about the Pat Metheny Unity Group and their brand new album Kin, see this post from last Saturday.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday percussionist Joe Pastor and his group are back at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Then on Tuesday, the jazz-fusion group Common Time (formerly known as Steizuello) will be joined by a string quartet for a "Notes From Home" performance at the Sheldon; and Boisyiac, a new quartet including guitarist Mason Baran, bassist Nathan Pence, drummer Joe Winstein-Hibbs, and keyboardist Matt Villinger, will play at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

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 3/6/13 to add some links and clean up typos.) 

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