Jazz this week: Tony Bennett, Esperanza Spalding, Reggie Thomas, Danita Mumphard, and more

The two touring jazz headliners appearing in St. Louis this week are an old favorite and a rising star, seperated in age by nearly 60 years.

The old favorite is singer Tony Bennett,who will be appearing at the Fox Theatre on Saturday. Though Bennett's voice is showing some signs of age these days, he still sounds pretty darned good for a guy who's in his eighties. And, any vocal diminuition notwithstanding, his taste in the tunes he sings and the musicians he hires is still excellent. Perhaps equally important, there's just something about Bennett's personality and demeanor that makes people feel good when they're seeing and hearing him perform.

The rising star is 24-year-old bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding, who's performing just across the street from the Fox at Jazz at the Bistro on Friday and Saturday. Her talents as an accompaniest have already been recognized by leaders as diverse as saxophonist Joe Lovano and singer Patti Austin, while Spalding's own trio provides her with a vehicle for her own compositions, which reflect the influence of hip-hop and Brazilian music as well as jazz.

Among the other noteworthy shows this week is a comparatively rare local appearance by the very fine pianist Reggie Thomas, who's doing a free concert Thursday night at Washington University as part of the Jazz at Holmes series. Then on Saturday, singer Danita Mumphard previews material from her new CD in a concert at the History Museum. As usual, Mumphard will be backed by Trio Tres Bien, with her dad Harold Thompson on bass and her uncle Jeter Thompson on piano, and the show will also include a guest appearance from saxophonist Rod Tate. To wrap up the weekend, the River City Ramblers - the local group, not the 1960s folkies of the same name - will be performing traditional New Orleans-style jazz on Sunday afternoon in a concert at St. Charles Community College.

For a more extensive 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.)