St. Louis Art Fair to feature jazz performers

The annual St. Louis Art Fair is put on by Cultural Festivals Inc, the same organization that stages the St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival. As a result, jazz musicians are usually featured as part of the musical entertainment for the Art Fair, which will be held this year from Friday, September 7 through Sunday, September 9 in downtown Clayton.

Performances on Saturday that may be of interest to jazz listeners include the Jazz Lab Band from St. Louis Community College at Meramec; the Kevin Lucas Orchestra, a fusion combo that numbers jazz among its many influences; Le Jazz Hot, a rather nondescript name for a very good group of musicians including Bensid Thigpen (drums and percussion), Ptah Williams (keyboards), Chad Evans (alto saxophone) and Darrell Mixon (bass); and Lamar Harris presents The Georgia Mae, which features a number of the funky trombonist and brassman's students from Crossroads College Prep.

On Sunday, the Art Fair will present a performance by the New Arts Jazztet (pictured), a group from Carbondale, IL featuring Bob Allison on trumpet and flugelhorn, Tyler Kuebler on saxophones and reeds, Ron Coulter on drums and Phil Brown on bass; as well as sets from pianist Carolbeth True with Larry Johnson (saxophone), Glen Smith (bass) and Kevin Gianino (drums); and singer Brian Owens.

The St. Louis Art Fair is a free outdoor festival with 165 visual artists exhibiting and selling original works of art. The Art Fair also presents performances on three stages featuring jazz, blues, folk, bluegrass, gospel and old-time music, as well as storytelling, theatre, dance and puppet theater. For more information and a schedule of all performances, go to the Art Fair's Web site.