Jazz this week: Andre Delano, a Chet Baker tribute, Bhob Rainey and more

Many major touring artists are off the road for Christmas week, but there are still some interesting things going on this weekend in St. Louis with regard to jazz and improvised music:

Saxophonist Andre Delano (pictured), an East St. Louis native who has performed with R&B luminaries including Johnny Taylor, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, the Gap Band, Bobby Womack, Maxwell and Stevie Wonder, is in town to promote his new CD of Chirstmas music with a gig tonight at Cookie's Jazz and More. The Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson has a bit more about the Cookie's performance and Delano's new gig in the house band for TBS' Megan Mullally Show in his column from today's paper, available online here.

On Saturday night, trumpeter Randy Holmes and Hard Bop Heritage, along with special guest vocalist Al Oxenhandler, will perform a tribute to Chet Baker at Finale Music and Dining. For more, see this previous post.

Also on Saturday, improvising saxophonist Bhob Rainey headlines a concert at the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center. Rainey is "a composer, saxophonist and electronic musician. His music has become a model
in the world of experimental sound. He is the founder of both nmperign (with trumpeter Greg Kelley) and the BSC, which he also directs...His music occupies a charged space between synthetic and organic sound, bringing forth improbable sensual and narrative experiences through virtuosic extended techniques, homemade synths and sound processors, found recordings, and a kind of living silence that is apt to wreak havoc with the perception of time." The bill will also include St. Louisan Mark Sarich, performing as epicycle, and Ghost Ice, Jeremy Kannapell’s electronic project.

In addition, though the major concert venues are dark this weekend, there's plenty of other music on local club stages. To see a more extensive listing of this week's jazz events, check out 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.)