Jazz this week: Diane Schuur, Craig Russo Latin Jazz Project, and more

In a week of transition from summer to fall, Grammy Award winning singer and pianist Diane Schuur (pictured at left) is the biggest name jazz performer appearing in St. Louis, as she returns to Finale Music and Dining for shows on Friday and Saturday night.

Finale also has some other noteworthy acts this week, with Curt Landes and Vince Martin appearing tonight and the Craig Russo Latin Jazz Project on Thursday. Landes and Martin are a versatile duo whose repertoire includes jazz, blues and their own original material, while Russo returns to St. Louis from his home base in Champaign/Urbana IL for the first time after performing at the US Bank St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival this past June.

Elsewhere in town, Brandt's has a trio of singers this week, with Jeanne Trevor tonight, Mae Wheeler on Thursday and Amy Ehrlich on Saturday, and Crossings Taverne and Grille will present Todd Mosby on Friday and the Dave Trancoso Trio on Saturday. Cookie's Jazz and More will have pianist Carolbeth True and her trio on Thursday, but I can't tell you anything more about the rest of the weekend there because they haven't posted their schedule for September yet.

As usual, this is but a fraction of the musical activity for the week, so for more on what's happening in St. Louis jazz, please consult the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar. (While perusing the calendar, note that a couple of clubs are lagging in disseminating their September schedules, and some concert presenters, such as New Music Circle and Jazz at Holmes, have yet to weigh in with their fall slates. However, the StLJN calendar has gotten a major update in the last 24 hours, including all of the Jazz at the Bistro dates for 2006-07 that have been announced so far, plus upcoming shows presented by Finale, the St. Louis Jazz Club, Casa Loma Ballroom and several others.)

(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. No attachments, please.).