Jazz this week: Big River Hurricane Relief and New Year's Eve

Saxophonist Wess Anderson is one of the New Orleans musicians
who will be featured in the Big River Hurricane Relief concert.


The big event in St. Louis this week involving touring jazz performers is the Big River Hurricane Relief concert at the Sheldon on Thursday night. The concert will feature vocalist Dianne Reeves and a number of top New Orleans musicians, including St. Louis expats Peter Martin, Jeremy Davenport, Neal Caine and Tom McDermott, and you can read more about it in my Riverfront Times Critic's Pick.

As for jazz on New Year's Eve, our town's premiere jazz club Jazz at the Bistro will be dark this week, as the First Night celebration takes over the Grand Center neighborhood that serves as the club's home. The First Night event does include some entertainment that may be of interest to jazz listeners, including the world music sounds of Farshid Etniko, singer Kim Massie and JATB head honcho Gene Dobbs Bradford doing his moonlighting thing, playing harmonica with the Blues Inquisition band. Get the details at the First Night Web site.

(UPDATE, 12:45 a.m., 12/29/05: STLtoday has a printable PDF of the First Night schedule here.)

Elsewhere in town, Cookie's Jazz and More in Webster Groves is also dark for New Year's Eve, but will feature performances by the Carolbeth True Trio on Thursday and the Tom Byrne/Erika Johnson duo on Friday night. The nearby Crossings Taverne and Grille features trios all weekend, with Dave Venn appearing on Thursday, pianist/vocalist Leslie Maclean on Friday and the Jan Shapiro Trio on Saturday.

In University City, Brandt's is showcasing two female vocalists on New Year's Eve, with Mae Wheeler performing early and Kim Massie (presumably hurrying over from her set at First Night) taking the late shift. And in Clayton, Finale has a package deal that includes dinner, a hotel room and music by Swing Set, Swing Cat Swing, and blues-rock guitarist Billy Peek.

If you're a musician or venue who would like to have our events included in this space and in the St. Louis Jazz Notes calendar, please email the relevant information to stljazznotes at yahoo dot com.