Jazz St. Louis announces dates for benefit gala, NYC trip

Finally catching up with a few items from last week, I see that staff members of Jazz St. Louis are now blogging away at the organization's newly redesigned Web site, particularly development director Melissa Jones, whose entries this past week contained a couple of newsworthy items.

For starters, JSL has set Saturday, April 5, 2008 at the date for their next benefit gala, an event that is one of the organization's major fundraisers of the year. There's no word yet as to ticket prices, but the event will be held, believe it or not, at the Nieman Marcus store at Plaza Frontenac, with cocktail hour music from the THF Realty All-Star Student Ensemble plus pianist and singer Tony DeSare as the featured entertainer.

Now, I don't quite know what to make of the location, although from what I understand, other not-for-profit organizations have also held fundraising events there. I guess if nothing else, it's in a part of town that's home to many people who attend such charity events.

As for the music, DeSare seems like a decent choice in the sense of having sufficient musical credibility to appeal to jazz fans, while being accessible to those who aren't hardcore aficionados. Moreover, I'm sure his fee is quite a bit less than that of, say, Al Jarreau, who had been scheduled to headline JSL's benefit this past year until he canceled and was replaced by the Neville Brothers, no bargain-basement act themselves. The selection of DeSare suggests that JSL likely has analyzed the returns from previous galas, and decided the event itself is the main attraction and that they can live with any trade-offs that may result from booking a talented but less well-known performer.

In another entry, Jones announced that JSL will be sponsoring a trip to New York City from April 18 - 20, 2008. There aren't many details available right now, but the trip will be put together by Altair Travel and the itinerary will include jazz clubs, dining and shopping. So, if you particularly like group travel, or if this otherwise seems like your sort of thing, you can contact Jones to reserve a spot by calling 314-289-4037 or emailing her at melissa@jazzstl.org.