Jazz this week: Improvised film scores, Todd Mosby, "Decades of Divas" and more

It's a weekend without any well-known touring jazz headliners in St. Louis - a comparatively rare occurance these days - but fortunately the locals are stepping up to fill the gap with a number of creative endeavors for your listening pleasure.

On Thursday, guitarist Todd Mosby will lead his group in a free outdoor concert of Indian-influenced jazz, held outside Holmes Lounge on the Washington University quadrangle and sponsored by the Jazz at Holmes series. (For those who need help finding the concert site, here's a .pdf map of campus.)

Also on Thursday, the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center will screen two movies by German director F. W. Murnau with live, improvised musical accompaniment. A trio of local musicians - cellist/electronic musician Mark Sarich, Charles Turner on electronics and Andrew Hefner on bass - will create a spontaneous soundtrack to accompany the 1922 horror classic Nosferatu, while touring group My Education will perform a live score for the film Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans.

On Friday, BAG II is presenting another free program in the Rosebud Cafe at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site. They're calling this one "an evening of diverse creative voices," and it features BAG mainstay Zimbabwe Nkenya on mbira along with poets Marsha Cann, Michael Castro and Blue-Mashibini.

On Sunday, the Touhill Performing Arts Center will serve as the venue for "Decades of Divas," a musical program hosted by radio personality, journalist, author and all-around good guy Bernie Hayes and featuring singers Jeanne Trevor (pictured), Kim Massie, Anita Rosamond and Monya Fisher. The press release promises an "entertaining, enlightening journey through the music of legendary divas Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday, Barbara Streisand, Nancy Wilson, Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Carole King and Gladys Knight, and more," and with that lineup of vocal talent, I'm inclined to think it should be an entertaining show for those who enjoy this sort of thing.

Also on Sunday, LNAC presents an eclectic bill topped by the NYC group Hi Red Center, described as "music school graduates" employing guitar, bass, drum set and xylophone to produce "complicated rhythms, angular melodies and strange references to prog rock and Bartok (that) limp from a context which merges Stravinsky, Zappa and punk rock." Also on the bill: a solo electronics and synthesizer performance by Jim Hegarty; “.e” (pronounced "Dottie"), a solo performer who works with programmable drummers, guitar and voice; and teenage "math rock" duo Muscle Brain.

Some other noteworthy shows this weekend include Thursday night performances by singer Erin Bode at Cookie's and Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum at Brandt's, and on Friday, smooth jazz saxophonist Tim Cunningham at Finale and the Tom Kennedy Trio at Brandt's. And of course, there are also a number of ongoing steady gigs, such as the Dave Stone Trio at Mangia Italiano on Fridays and Willie Akins at Spruill's on Saturdays, that provide reliably enjoyable listening.

For a more complete listing of local jazz-related events, 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. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)