Thursday, June 30, 2016

Jazz this week: Some picks for
Independence Day weekend

To be candid, it's a relatively thin week for live jazz and creative music in St. Louis.

But even with no major touring artists visiting our town; venues including Jazz at the Bistro, The Sheldon, and Casa Loma Ballroom going dark for the holiday weekend; and the recent demises of a couple of smaller neighborhood spots (Tavern of Fine Arts and Thurman Grill) that regularly featured live jazz, there still are a few options for those who'd like celebrate Independence Day with one of the USA's great indigenous art forms.

Here's what's happening...

Friday, July 1
Singer Joe Mancuso brings a quartet to Nathalie's, bassist Darrell Mixon leads a trio at Cigar Inn, and saxophonist Dave Stone will be in his customary Friday night spot at Mangia Italiano.

Also on Friday, the apparently-ironically-named Johnny Cilantro & The Well-Seasoned Sextet, a young band from Peoria, IL that, based on music samples they've put online, seems to have some promise, will be performing at Evangeline's.

Saturday, July 2
On Saturday afternoon, pianist David Parker will lead his group Spiritual Revolution Ensemble in a free, "child-friendly" performance of his original work “In the Beginning, God created Xochitl/ En el principio creó Diós Xochitl” at the Yeyo Arts Collective. With an ensemble including percussionists Charles "Bobo" Shaw and Glenn "Papa" Wright, guitarist Dave Black, poet Shirley LeFlore, and several other musicians, this show definitely ranks as the intriguing "sleeper" pick of the weekend.

On Saturday evening, the Funky Butt Brass Band (pictured) plays a free outdoor show at Lafayette Park, and guitarist Todd Mosby will bring his New Horizons Ensemble to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups, with bassist Ben Wheeler's group Sketchbook opening.

Sunday, July 3
Multi-instrumentalist Sandy Weltman will join guitarist Dave Black to provide some music for the jazz brunch at Nathalie's.

Monday, July 4
If you're in St. Charles and are resolute enough to deal with the crowds and traffic, you can catch the Funky Butt Brass Band playing a free outdoor set as part of the St. Charles Riverfest 4th of July Celebration in Frontier Park.

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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