StLJN Saturday at the Movies: Getting acquainted withEsperanza Spalding and Sara Gazarek

Since touring jazz acts are in relatively short supply here in St. Louis during the dog days of August (and I can't run Diana Krall and/or Chris Botti videos all month), let's expand the time horizon of our recurring sneak-peek-of-coming-attractions theme just a bit and get acquainted with two up-and-coming young jazz artists who will be performing in St. Louis as part of the 2007-08 season at Jazz at the Bistro.

First up is bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding, who comes to town to perform at the Bistro on October 26 and 27. While she's here, Spalding is also scheduled to work with student musicians taking part in Jazz St. Louis' JazzU workshops, which seems fitting since the young phenom, born in 1984, is a recent graduate of Berklee College of Music herself. In this clip from May 2007, Spalding is seen performing with her trio at the Artsplosure Festival in Raleigh, NC.

Today's second video features singer Sara Gazarek, who's performed in St. Louis once before (at Finale a couple of years ago) but will be making her Bistro debut in the 2008 Valentine's Day slot, February 13 through 16. In this clip, Gazarek sings a medley of the Beatles' "Blackbird" and the standard "Bye Bye Blackbird". It was recorded in February 2007 at the Vic in Santa Monica, CA, and also shows off Gazarek's working band, comprised of Josh Nelson (piano), Erik Kertes (bass) and Matt Slocum (drums).