A recent check of the online touring information service Pollstar revealed some shows coming to the St. Louis area that may be of interest to jazz listeners.On Friday, January 25 and Saturday, January 26, the Argosy Alton Casino will warm up for Mardi Gras with two concerts by New Orleans' Preservation Hall Jazz Band (pictured). Touring almost non-stop since Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent failure of the levees devastated their hometown, the PHJB has been to the St. Louis area a couple of times recently. I saw them perform at the St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival in 2006, and they put on an entertaining performance, albeit one that included blues, swing and even a rendition of a Thelonious Monk tune in addition to the expected traditional jazz fare.
Also coming to the Gateway City in the near future is singer Michael Buble, who will perform at the Scottrade Center on Wednesday, March 5. While Buble's vocals aren't everyone's cup of tea, I think he deserves at least some credit for introducing a new generation of listeners to some great American songs. That said, the cavernous confines of the Scottrade Center, home to pro hockey, college basketball and other large-scale events, don't exactly provide the sort of intimacy that many of those songs demand. However, Buble's current popularity would seem to preclude him from playing a smaller venue any time soon, so I suppose his fans will have to take what they can get.
Last but not least, Pollstar shows that trumpeter Wayne Bergeron, a veteran of the Maynard Ferguson band who's also a busy session player in Los Angeles, is coming to the area for two engagements this spring. First, he'll be at Mineral Area College in Park Hills on Friday, March 14 and Saturday, March 15, performing as guest soloist with the college's big band at the community center on campus.
The following month, Bergeron will be in St. Louis on Friday, April 18 and Saturday, April 19, playing at the Touhill Performing Arts Center as one of the guest soloists for the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival. While the GSLJF has yet to make an official announcement about their 2008 lineup, Begeron's personal Web site also lists him as one of the event's guests, so Pollstar's information seems fairly credible.
(Also listed on Bergeron's site are the other guests already announced by Jazz St. Louis as performers for the festival's small group show Wednesday, April 16 at Jazz at the Bistro - saxophonist Tom Scott, trombonist Paul McKee, and pianist Shelly Berg - as well as clarinetist Buddy DeFranco, who, like Bergeron, apparently won't be part of Wednesday's show but will take part in the weekend's GSLJF concerts.)
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