Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Jazz this week: Regina Carter, Iva Bittová & Hamid Drake, and more

Wondering what's happening this week in live jazz and creative music in St. Louis?

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, January 18
Arguably the premier jazz violinist working today, Regina Carter (pictured, top left) opens a four-night engagement continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro.

Like many a conservatory trained musician, Carter (pictured) certainly has fluid technique, but what really sets her apart from other equally proficient players are her expressive abilities as an improvisor, her feeling for blues and swing, and a canny sense of curation when conceiving albums and live performances.

On this visit to the Bistro, she'll be "performing music celebrating the 100th birthday of the great Ella Fitzgerald," and no doubt will have some interesting and enjoyable interpretations of material from the singer's vast catalog.

Thursday, January 19
Pianist Ptah Williams and guitarist Eric Slaughter will play at The Dark Room.

Friday, January 20
New Music Circle presents their first show of 2017, featuring a duo performance by Czech violinist and singer Iva Bittová and Chicago-based percussionist Hamid Drake (pictured, bottom left) at Joe's Cafe.

Also on Friday, Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; singers Rick Jensen and Lina Koutrakos present their cabaret show "After All Those Love Songs" at the Kranzberg Arts Center; and SpaceShip will bring their jazz/fusion sound to Evangeline's.

Saturday, January 21
Live jazz starts in the daytime, as trumpeter Jim Manley will play at Evangeline's as part of their new live music policy for Saturday brunch, and saxophonist Jason Swagler will be the first local player featured in a new monthly series of free Saturday matinee concerts at Saxquest.

Then on Saturday evening, saxophonist Tim Cunningham returns to @Nesby's in Sunset Hills.

Monday, January 23
Guitarist Tom Byrne and his quartet will kick off this semester's series of jazz concerts at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium, and Dizzy Atmosphere will play swing and Gypsy jazz at The Shaved Duck.

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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