Wednesday, November 01, 2017

Jazz this week: Houston Person, Nevermore Jazz Ball, Eric Marienthal, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes one of the most popular swing dance festivals in the Midwest, a couple of stellar saxophonists, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, November 1
Veteran tenor saxophonist Houston Person (pictured, top left) returns to lead a quartet for the first of four nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

Person, who will turn 83 in November, remains a canny master of bop, blues and ballads, and still works as a single in the old-school style, using local rhythm sections in each city he visits. He'll be accompanied for his four nights here in St. Louis by pianist Adaron "Pops" Jackson, bassist Bob DeBoo, and drummer Montez Coleman.

Also on Wednesday, the weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features the Jazz Troubadours at KDHX's Magnolia Café; a jam session at the Kranzberg Arts Center (minus its usual host Bob DeBoo, since he's playing bass with Houston Person at the Bistro); and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor at The Dark Room.

Thursday, November 2
Singer Denise Thimes will headline her annual show benefiting pancreatic cancer research in the name of her late mother, Mildred Thimes, at the Sheldon Concert Hall

Also on Thursday, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University will present "Voices of Freedom, Songs of Social Justice," a free concert featuring singer/guitarist Rick Schuler, multi-instrumentalists R. Scott Bryan and William Lenihan and pianist Jay Oliver performing music by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone, John Coltrane, and more.

Elsewhere around town, the annual Nevermore Jazz Ball - four days and nights of swing dancing and live music at various venues around town - gets underway with two performances by New Orleans' Shake Em Up Jazz Band (pictured, center left) featuring clarinetist and former St. Louisan Chloe Feoranzo.

They'll play a dinner-hour show at the Blues City Deli that's not officially part of the NJB schedule, followed by a ticketed dance at Treffpunkt, a recently opened event space at 3453 S Jefferson Ave on the south side. (While this post notes some of the highlights, you'll need to see the NJB website. linked above, for a complete schedule of the weekend's events.)

Friday, November 3
The Gaslight Cabaret Festival presents singers Farah Alvin and William Michals performing "Broadway's Greatest Hits of All Time" for the first of two nights at the Gaslight Theater.

Also on Friday, guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran begins a Friday residency that will continue through February at Das Bevo Underground, a new live music space that, as the name implies, is located in the basement of the venerable Bevo Mill, now re-opened under new management.

Elsewhere around town, the Nevermore Jazz Ball continues with a dance featuring Miss Jubilee at the Casa Loma Ballroom,  percussionist Herman Semidey and Son Montuno play salsa and Latin jazz at the Webster Groves Concert Hall; and The People's Key will offer their soul-jazz take on the music of Jimi Hendrix at The Stage at KDHX

Saturday, November 4
The Nevermore Jazz Ball has a full day and night of events, including the Cherokee Street Jazz Crawl, an afternoon of live music, from a half-dozen different local bands free and open to the public at various venues along Cherokee St.  and Jefferson Ave, and an evening dance with music by Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenaders at the Casa Loma. 

Also on Saturday, saxophonist Eric Marienthal (pictured, bottom left), who made his reputation in the 1990s as part of Chick Corea's Elektric Band and has gone on to a busy solo career, will team up with St. Louis' own Bach to the Future to perform in a benefit for the Dillon International adoption agency at Mandarin House Banquet Hall.

Sunday, November 5
The St. Louis Record and CD Collector's Show presents their last event of 2017 at the American Czech Educational Center, and the Friends of Scott Joplin will host their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's Rosebud Cafe.

Also on Sunday, the Coleman Hughes Project plays an early evening show at Troy's Jazz Gallery;
and the St. Louis International Film Festival presents a screening of the documentary "Mr. Handy's Blues," at The Stage at KDHX, followed immediately by a live performance by singer Valerie "Miss Jubilee" Kirchoff, pianist Ethan Leinwand and cornetist TJ Muller.

Monday, November 6
Traditional jazz band Annie and the Fur Trappers will play at Das Bevo Underground.

Tuesday, November 7
Bassist Igor Saavedra, who's known for his prowess on extended-range bass guitar, will play a solo show at  Stringbean Coffee in Brentwood.

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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