Victor Wooten
After last week's flurry of activity, it's a relatively slow week for jazz in St. Louis. Victor Wooten, best known as bassist with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, is the only major touring act in town this week, appearing Thursday night at the VooDoo Lounge at Harrah's Casino. Wooten is performing shows in support of his recent solo album Soul Circus, and given his bass-hero status, you can count on there being plenty of aspiring bassists in the audience hanging on his every thumb-pop.
Also on Thursday night, Erin Bode is performing at Brandt's, while bassist Tom Kennedy brings his trio to Crossings Taverne and Grill.
Over the weekend, Crossings features Al Oxenhandler and the Curt Landes Trio on Friday, and the Scott Alberici - Steve Schenkel duo on Saturday, and the steady gigs of stalwart saxophonists Dave Stone (Friday at Mangia Italiano) and Willie Akins (Saturday at Spruill's) provide additional worthy options.
Of course, the biggest musical events of the weekend will be the the rock, pop and country concerts held at the riverfront for Fair St. Louis. Jazz has seldom been represented at this event, though some local jazz groups performed on side stages during its early days as the VP Fair, and there was one year - I'm thinking 1989, but could be wrong about this - when the Fair actually booked Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy and Cecil Taylor, among others. Given that jazz is one of the United States of America's true homegrown art forms, it's a shame there's not a way to work a little bit more of it into our town's birthday celebration for the nation.
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