As spring officially yields to summer, it's an especially busy week for smooth jazz in St. Louis, with three shows of interest to fans of that particular style. However, there are also performances of note featuring the sounds of mainstream, avant garde and big band jazz, making for some potentially tough decisions for a lot of listeners with love for multiple jazz genres. Let's go to the highlights, presented in chronological order:Tonight at the Missouri Botanical Garden, the fine St. Louis guitarist Dave Black appears in a free concert as part of the Whitaker Music Festival. Black plays a lot of solo gigs around town, but I'd imagine he'll have a band for this show. And even without knowing which other musicians may be involved, I can recommend the concert without reservation, as Black is interesting to hear in just about any musical context.
Also tonight, smooth jazz saxophonist Euge Groove returns to Finale Music and Dining. This time, the tenor player (once known as Steve Grove when he was a member of Tower of Power) has a new CD out, and presumably will be showcasing some of the material from that recording.
On Thursday, Southern Illinois trumpeter Tommy Money brings his Orchestra to Finale for a tribute to Count Basie. I confess to not having heard this band yet, but as a Basie fan, I felt this show was worth a mention. Perhaps because Basie used many different arrangers, his work doesn't get re-examined these days quite as much as Duke Ellington's, but it is of similar significance to the history and development of big band jazz and American music in general. Just as important, it's simply a lot of fun to hear those great charts being played live.
On Friday, St. Louis saxophonist Willie Akins brings his Quartet to Jazz at the Bistro for the first night of a two-evening stand. Although Akins continues to play weekly at Spruill's, the chance to hear him performing in the swankier and more spacious Bistro is certainly worth some serious consideration.
Also on Friday, the NYC based funk/jazz band Second Movement is in town, playing at Pop's Blue Moon. For more about that, see this post.
On Saturday, guitarist and singer Steve Oliver is at Finale. Oliver's had some smooth jazz airplay, but has also done songs that seem to come from more of a singer/songwriter perspective, so look for some of both at this show.
On Sunday, Hamiet Bluiett will give a free concert at Ivory Perry Park. For this performance, the man some call "the world's greatest living baritone saxophonist" will be joined by Reggie Thomas on organ, Montez Williams on drums, vocalist Lady Cantrese of Harlem and and poet Eugene Redman of East St. Louis. According to an email I received, he'll also be introducing three young musicians, namely Joshua Williams (age 17) on trumpet, Jo’el Williams (age 15) on alto sax, and Zach Morrow (age 15) on drums, though it's not clear if the students will be performing on their own or with their elders. In any case, bring a lawn chair or blanket, and plan to get there early, because if the weather's nice, this concert could draw a significant crowd. (If it rains, the concert will be held indoors at New City School, 5209 Waterman Blvd betweenn Union and Kingshighway.)
Also on Sunday, the latest edition of the Guitars and Saxes smooth jazz show comes to the Pageant. Kirk Whalum and Gerald Albright seem like fine choices for the "Saxes" portion of the bill - see this post for some video from both men - and while I'm less familiar with guitarists Jeff Golub and Tim Bowman, both seem to be held in some esteem by those who follow the genre.
All this makes for a week that's certainly jam-packed with musical choices for a variety of tastes and budgets; for a 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.)
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