The SF Jazz Collective
While Jazz St. Louis has already made public the bulk of the 2006-07 season for Jazz at the Bistro, the organization's season brochure, just out this week, lists a number of addtional acts not previously announced.
The biggest news is the booking of the SF Jazz Collective for the weekend of March 21 and 22, 2007. This is an all-star band affiliated with the San Francisco jazz presenting organization, featuring some great musicians from the Bay Area and beyond, including Joshua Redman and Miguel Zenon (saxophones), Renee Rosnes (piano), Bobby Hutcherson (vibes and marimba), Nicholas Payton (trumpet), Matt Penman (bass), Andre Hayward (trombone) and Eric Harland (drums).
Although this is the most exciting addition, there have been some other promising shows added as well, In chronological order, the rest are:
Friday, August 24 & Saturday, August 25
John Proulx and Cassandre McKinley
Proulx, a pianist and singer, and McKinley, a singer, are both signed to the MAXJAZZ label, and both will be celebrating the release of new CDs in late August.
Friday, September 16 & Saturday, September 17
Denise Thimes
The St. Louis-based singer and actress, heard in excellent form at the recent US Bank St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival, will be having a "Birthday Bash" during her weekend at the Bistro.
Friday, October 13 & Saturday, October 14
Good 4 The Soul
This band of East St. Louisans features local scene veterans John King on bass, Adaron Jackson on keyboards, Shaun Robinson on guitar and James Jackson on drums. I haven't heard them perform as G4TS, but I am familiar with the individual musicians, who are all very good, and it looks like they're doing a jazz/funk/R&B hybrid type of thing.
Friday, October 27 & Saturday, October 28
Kim Massie
The popular St. Louis diva returns to the Bistro after a sold-out engangement during the 2005-06 season that also yielded a live CD. (Full disclosure: I played piano on that gig with Ms. Massie, appear on the CD, and continue to work with her from time to time.)
Friday, November 10 & Saturday, November 11
Donald Harrison
The veteran alto player and New Orleans native first rose to prominence in the 1980s as a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. As a leader, he's carried on Blakey's hard-bop legacy and tailored it to his own tastes, adding some elements of the distinctive Crescent City sound to the mix.
Friday, March 9 & Saturday, March 10
Jeremy Pelt Quartet
Soon to turn 30, Pelt has been acclaimed as one of the top young trumpet players in jazz and, like Proulx, McKinley and Erin Bode, records for St. Louis-based MAXJAZZ. He's worked with the Mingus Big Band, Jimmy Heath, Frank Wess, Frank Foster, Ravi Coltrane, Nancy Wilson, Bobby Short, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Cedar Walton, the Roy Hargrove Big Band, The Village Vanguard Orchestra, and The Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band featuring Louis Hayes.
Interestingly, the lines mong the various series that the Bistro presents are getting a little bit blurrier this year. The "Discovery Series," ostensibly created to present two-night gigs by new talent, this year features Geri Allen, Harrison and Pelt, all already relatively well known among jazz fans. And the "Spotlight Series," which is allegedly for local and regional performers, includes the weekend with the LA-based Proulx and New Englander McKinney, whose only connection to St. Louis is that their label MAXJAZZ is based here. Guess those definitions are bit more malleable than they might initially seem.
Also, it should be noted that there are still some open weekends at the Bistro during the first half of 2007, and there are no "Spotlight Series" performances booked as yet for 2007. I've got a call into Jazz St. Louis, trying to find out if more performers will be added, and will update this story later if there's new information.
UPDATE - 5:45 p.m., 7/14/06: Jazz St. Louis operations director Bob Bennett called back, and said that JSL will indeed be adding some additional bookings to fill in those empty weekends in early 2007. No indication as to when they'll be announced, but StLJN will keep you posted.
Also, in the comments section, JSL executive director Gene Dobbs Bradford clarifies the purpose of the organization's Discovery Series:
"Our Discovery Series is not strictly for unknown artists, rather it is for artists deserving wider recognition. In our brochure it states "The Discovery Series is Jazz at the Bistro's newest series showcasing artist deserving wider recognition. From legendary players who should be household names, to young players at the beginning of promising careers, to artists who defy categorization, join us and discover something new and great in jazz.""The distinction between new artists and those deserving wider recognition is duly noted, and StLJN apologizes for the earlier mischaracterization of the Discovery Series.
Bradford also noted that the Proulx/McKinley shows will feature a rhythm section of St. Louis musicians, thus adding another local connection. Fair enough, especially if, as noted above, the Bistro plans to book some more St. Louis musicians to fill out the winter/spring 2007 section of the schedule. Thanks to both Gene and Bob for their responses. .
2 comments:
Hello Dean, Wonderful blog, it is a great resource for the St. Louis Jazz Community.
I did want to clarify something. Our Discovery Series is not strictly for unknown artists, rather it is for artists deserving wider recognition. In our brochure it states "The Discovery Series is Jazz at the Bistro's newest series showcasing artist deserving wider recognition. From legendary players who should be household names, to young players at the beginning of promising careers, to artists hwho defy categorization, join us and discover something new and great in jazz."
We hope to generate excitement for the artists in a way that doesn't rely on name recognition.
As far as the Proulx/MiKinley CD release party, they are playing with St. Louis musicians. So that makes two St. Louis connections ;-)
Keep up the great work!
Thanks for the kind comments, and for the clarification, Gene. I'll update the story to reflect the distinction between new artists and those deserving wider recognition.
As I recall, when downbeat added the TDWR catergories to their annual poll some years back, it was a similar situation, as they wanted to open the categories both to new artists and to those who had been around for a while but didn't necessarily have big names.
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