Jazz this week: Regina Carter, Brian Auger, Glendale Jazz Festival, BAG II, a tribute to Miles Davis, and more

The Memorial Day holiday marks a sort of unofficial kickoff to the summer season, and while swimming pools and bar-b-q grills will certainly figure into many folks' plans for the weekend, there's also plenty of good music to be heard both indoors and out around the St. Louis area over the next few days.

On Wednesday, violinist Regina Carter (pictured) and her band return to the Gateway City for a four-night run at Jazz at the Bistro. Winner of a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" last year, the Detroit native is regarded as one of the top players on her instrument working in jazz today.

On Thursday, jazz-fusion organist Brian Auger returns to St. Louis for a one-nighter at Finale Music and Dining. Auger's band is a stripped-down affair these days, with just a bass player, his son Karma on drums and daughter Savannah on vocals. But if his St. Louis show that I caught at Generations a couple of years back was typical, he's still playing very well indeed, and will deliver a fan-friendly performance chock full of his best-known tunes.

On Friday night, the annual Glendale Jazz Festival will take place outside the Glendale city hall, 424 N. Sappington. It's a free event, open to everyone, and will feature music from the St. Louis Stompers, the Bosman Twins, Jennifer David and Terry Thompson's Swing Alive. KMOX's Don Wolff also will be there as host and MC.

On Saturday, the Black Arts Guild aka BAG II presents another free program at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site, this time featuring saxophonist Ariel Kenyatta as well as BAG II's house band "The Group," with Zimbabwe Nkenya (bass and mbira), Glenn "Papa" Wright (drums and percussion) and Jerome "J-Dubz" Williams (saxophones).

Also on Saturday, trumpeter Randy Holmes and his Hard Bop Heritage quintet will take the stage at Finale Music and Dining to perform a tribute to Miles Davis in honor of the late trumpeter's birthday.

As usual, these highlights are but a few of the musical offerings on tap for the week; to see more, please visit 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.)