There's lots of jazz worth hearing at local venues this week, so let's dispense with the preliminaries and get right to the highlights.Tonight, singer Anita Rosamond appears at the Sheldon Concert Hall in the first concert in a special "Notes From Home" series of jazz performances associated with Dennis Owsley's City of Gabriels book and the exhibit of the same name at the Sheldon Art Galleries. Backing Rosamond will be a fine crew of players including Tom Kennedy (bass), Miles Vandiver (drums), Jason Swagler (saxes), Keith Moyer (trumpet) and Nathan Jatcko (piano).
On Wednesday, the World Saxophone Quartet returns to St. Louis to begin a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. The WSQ's new CD, Political Blues, previewed for the St. Louis audience during their last gig here in February, is now on sale, so I'd expect them to play some of that material this week as well as some of the older stuff. And the band's lineup will be a bit different this time out as well, with St. Louis native Greg Osby on alto sax alongside core members Hamiet Bluiett and Oliver Lake and tenor man James Carter, who once again will sub for founding member David Murray as he did the last time the WSQ came to St. Louis.
On Thursday, pianist Linda Presgrave, another St. Louis expatiriate, returns to the Gateway City to perform a free concert as part of Washington University's Jazz at Holmes series. Presgrave will perform a couple of new compositions during the show, the first being "The Bird of Ceret," inspired by her trip to France this summer, and the second being "Randy Holmes," a tribute to the St. Louis trumpeter. Bassist Ric Vice and drummer John Brophy will complete the ensemble with Presgrave and Holmes.
On Friday night, singer Kevin Mahogany takes the stage at the Sheldon in a tribute concert dedicated to the late jazz singer/balladeer Johnny Hartman. Mahogany's big, warm baritone voice seems like a good match for the type of material Hartman performed, and the Kansas City-born singer is always an engaging presence on stage. I've been told by the promoter that there are still tickets available, so if you're a fan of Mahogany, Hartman, or fine jazz singing in general, carpe diem.
Singer Tierney Sutton (pictured) caps off the weekend with a concert performance at the Sheldon on Saturday night. While I'm not that familiar with Sutton's music, she seems to be held in high esteem by the national jazz press, and I 've heard good things about here from people whose taste and judgment I trust. You can read more about Sutton here and here.
For more on who's playing where this week in St. Louis, please consult the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar.
(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.)
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