Guitarist John Scofield brings his trio (pictured) to St. Louis for a four-night run at Jazz at the Bistro, with two sets per night beginning tonight and continuing through Saturday. Scofield ranks among the top jazz guitarists working today, and he's been a fairly frequent visitor to St. Louis, performing here most recently last December with Medeski, Martin and Wood at the now-defunct Misssissippi Nights.While Scofield's quartets and larger groups have tended to be more structured and often, more funk-oriented, his playing in a trio format is expansive and unpredictable, especially when he's working with Bill Stewart on drums and the estimable Steve Swallow on electric bass. That's not to say that Scofield won't bring the funk - it's too much a part of his concept for him to avoid it completely - but without a keyboard or second guitar playing chords behind him, or another front-line soloist to support, he's got more room to roam, and the trio format also allows for a more elastic approach from the rhythm section as well.
You can hear a concert by Scofield, Stewart and Swallow recorded in 2005 in Australia, in RealAudio or Windows media format here; for more, see the embedded video at the bottom of this post, which features some audience-member footage of them playing "Over Big Top" in 2004 at the JVC Jazz Festival in NYC.
Speaking of funk, famed New Orleans pianist/vocalist Dr. John is playing at the Argosy Alton Casino on Friday and Saturday, but if you don't already have tickets, you may be out of luck, as both shows are billed as "sold out." I don't know if the good Dr. balked at doing two shows a night, an occasional practice for touring acts playing at the former Alton Belle, but given his popularity in these parts, I'd bet he could have sold out at least one more show, maybe two.
Speaking of funk, famed New Orleans pianist/vocalist Dr. John is playing at the Argosy Alton Casino on Friday and Saturday, but if you don't already have tickets, you may be out of luck, as both shows are billed as "sold out." I don't know if the good Dr. balked at doing two shows a night, an occasional practice for touring acts playing at the former Alton Belle, but given his popularity in these parts, I'd bet he could have sold out at least one more show, maybe two.
Another singer and pianist, Ann Hampton Callaway, is also in St. Louis this weekend, performing Friday and Saturday nights with the Gateway Men's Chorus in a benefit show called Dreamboys at the Roberts Orpheum Theater. From the description , this production sounds like it emphasizes Callaway's Broadway-style singing skills rather that her more intimate, swinging cabaret style, but since she has a substantial fan base in St. Louis, it is duly noted here anyway.
Other notable performances this weekend: On Thursday night, pianist Carolbeth True brings her trio to Cookie's Jazz and More, while singer Jeanne Trevor performs at Brandt's; and on Saturday, singer Anita Rosamond returns to Finale Music and Dining with "Cabaret - My Way" while trumpeter Randy Holmes and his Quintet stage a tribute to Duke Ellington at Cookie's.
As always, there's more, so please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar for an expanded list of this week's gigs.
(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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