Jazz This Week: Hamiet Bluiett's birthday party, Old Webster Jazz and Blues Festival, and more

The fall presenting season in St. Louis starts to gather momentum this week, with several worthy jazz events deserving your time and attention.
For those who like their jazz adventurous, the highlight of the weekend is a rare club engagement by baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett (pictured), who's celebrating his 75th birthday by fronting a group for a two-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. A co-founder of the World Saxophone Quartet, Bluiett generally is considered the most significant baritone saxophonist of his generation, and though he maintains a home base in Brooklyn, IL, his local gigs are comparatively few and far between, making this one a "don't miss" kind of deal. (FYI, you can check out StLJN's previous Bluiett-related coverage here.)

If you're more into mainstream sounds, this Saturday's the day the Old Webster Jazz and Blues Festival takes place in the Old Webster Business District, near the intersection of Lockwood and Gore in Webster Groves. The free event runs from noon to 11 p.m., with two stages showcasing jazz performers including Wild Cool & Swingin’, the Webster University Jazz Band, the SIUE Faculty Jazz Ensemble, and the Joe Bozzi Band, as well as blues from Marquise Knox, New Orleans-style funk and R&B from Gumbohead and a tribute to the late Johnnie Johnson featuring members of Johnson's band and special guests.

Also worth noting again is Washington University's Jazz at Holmes series, which gets underway for the fall semester this Thursday with a concert by drummer Maurice Carnes and his band, featuring Ptah Williams on piano. While most of the concerts in the series happen inside Holmes Lounge, this free event will be presented outdoors on the Wash U quadrangle. (Last link is to a .pdf map of the main campus, now offically known as the "Danforth campus".)

In addition to the shows noted above, there are a couple of other noteworthy gigs happeneing on Friday, when trumpeter Randy Holmes cooks up a tribute to Horace Silver at Cookie's Jazz and More while singer Jeanne Trevor holds forth at Brandt's. And for more St. Louis area jazz-related events, please check out 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.)