Jazz this week: Revisiting Louis Armstrong's early works, Julian Vaughn, a celebration of John Coltrane, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes events celebrating the music of two of the most important improvisers in jazz, an evening of smooth jazz in a historic concert venue, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, April 17
Jazz St. Louis ends their "Whitaker Jazz Speaks" series for the 2018-19 season with a program about Louis Armstrong's Hot 5 and Hot 7, featuring a talk by noted Armstrong expert Ricky Riccardi followed by a live performance of some of the music recorded by the trumpeter's early groups.

Also on Wednesday, the Route 66 Jazz Orchestra performs at the Ozark Theatre, and Cabaret Project of St. Louis presents their monthly "Singers Open Mic" , relocated for this month only from Sophie's Artists Lounge to The Dark Room.

Thursday, April 18
The Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University wraps up for the semester with a free concert featuring Wash U jazz performance students playing the music of Charlie Parker, Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis, Bill Evans and more.

Elsewhere around town, singer Erin Bode returns to Cyrano's, and saxophonist Andy Ament leads a trio at The Pat Connolly Tavern.

Friday, April 19
Bassist Julian Vaughn (pictured, top left) headlines a concert of smooth jazz at The Sheldon, with saxophonist Phil Denny and keyboardist Mark Harris II also on the bill.

Also on Friday, saxophonist Freddie Washington (pictured, bottom left) and pianist Adam Maness' trio will be "Celebrating Coltrane" for the first of two nights at Jazz St. Louis; and saxophonist Dave Stone plays the final gig of his long-running residency at Mangia Italiano before his upcoming move to Oregon.

Saturday, April 20
Keyboardist Mo Egeston and friends play the late show at The Dark Room.

Sunday, April 21
Miss Jubilee performs for brunch at Evangeline's, while singer and guitarist Tommy Halloran returns to The Dark Room.

Monday, April 22
The Webster University Jazz Singers, directed by Debby Lennon, will perform in their final concert of the semester at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus.

Tuesday, April 23
Dizzy Atmosphere plays vintage swing and Gypsy jazz at Evangeline's.

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.)