The Sheldon announces 2005-06 jazz concerts

The Dave Holland Quintet

The Sheldon has announced its 2005-06 series of jazz concerts, and there are also a couple of shows on their "special concerts" list (i.e. not included in the regular series subscription price) that will be of interest to jazz listeners.

The first special concert of the season on Friday, September 23 will feature guitarist Bill Frisell and band performing music from his Grammy winning album Unspeakable. Frisell is one of the most inventive guitarists around, and it's good to see him finally getting more attention from the mainstream. (Guitarist Corey Christiansen will open.)

That's followed by the first official concert in the jazz series on Saturday, October 8, when violinist Mark O'Connor brings his Hot Swing Trio to town. I've heard O'Connor's fusion work with the Dregs, and some of his "newgrass" fiddling, and he's a fine player. Should be fun to hear him take on music associated with Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt.

Next is vocalist Jane Monheit on Saturday, November 5, and then it's the Marcus Roberts Trio on Saturday, January 28. Roberts will present a program called "New Orleans Meets Harlem," and though I admire his skill and technique very much, I do wish he'd stop wallowing in the past and make some modern music every once in a while. (For more on Roberts' retrograde tendencies and the influence of his former employer and mentor Wynton Marsalis, check out this article I wrote for the RFT earlier this year.)

On Saturday, February 18, it's another Marsalis crony, saxophonist and clarinetist Victor Goines, who will team with vocalist Mardra Thomas to offer tributes to the music of Artie Shaw and Billie Holiday. Then on Friday, March 31, another non-series concert will feature the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and the Dixie Hummingbirds in a program focused on New Orleans and Southern gospel music. Perhaps saving the best for last, the Sheldon's 2005-06 jazz series wraps up on Saturday, April 8 with the Dave Holland Quintet. Simply put, this is one of the best working bands in jazz, and should not be missed.

That enthusiasm aside, if anything strikes me about the series as a whole, it's the backward-looking nature of it. With the exceptions of Frisell and Holland, all of the artists featured will be dealing, either explicitly or implicitly, with the music of the past. That's fine as far as it goes - but if well-funded, prestigious presenters like the Sheldon, JATB and the US Bank festival are afraid to take chances on anything that's not tried, true and presold, where and when will St. Louis audiences ever get the chance to hear musicians who are a bit more adventurous?

Admittedly, this is a sore subject with me. I've ranted many times before to friends and musical colleagues about the conservatism of the jazz venues in St. Louis, and this schedule, while rating generally high in terms of musical quality, seems like yet another example of that unfortunate tendency toward artistic timidity.