Jazz this week: Erin Bode, "Decades of Divas 2008," Two Times True, Return to Forever, and more

Time is short, and so the prose may be rather terse this week, as deadlines for actual paying work loom ominously. Still, you definitely should know about these jazz and creative music-related events that are happening in St. Louis over the next few days:

This evening, the Whitaker Music Festival at Missouri Botanical Garden continues with a free concert by Two Times True, featuring pianist Carolbeth True and her son David True on drums. For this performance, the two Trues will be joined by singer Christi John Bye, bassists Glen Smith and Marc Torlina, and saxophonist Larry Johnson.

Also this evening, the Sessions Big Band performs a free concert across the river at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey, IL. And later in the evening and back in south St. Louis, the performance space Open Lot will present music from Zimbabwe Nkenya's Mbira Duo and a Chicago group called Spires That In The Sunset Rise, who are described as "an all-female free folk band...whose musical palette includes the spike fiddle, cello, bul bul tarang, various drums and bells, ecstatic yelps and cackles, and all manner of plectra." Admission to the Open Lot show is $7, and the doors open at 9:00 p.m.

On Thursday evening, there's another free concert, as the Jazz at Holmes summer series on the Washington University campus gets underway with a performance by singer and woodwind player Elsie Parker and the Poor People of Paris.

On Friday, singer Erin Bode and her band begin a three-day, six-show run at Jazz at the Bistro celebrating the release of her new CD The Little Garden. The disc, Bode's first since early 2006, features all original songs (save one), and will be available for purchase at the Bistro gigs. Bode will do sets at 8:30 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, plus matinee performances at 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. on Sunday. (Watch this space for more Bode-related linkage in the next day or two.)

On Saturday, several more of St. Louis' favorite female vocalists will be displaying their respective talents during the two performances of "Decades of Divas 2008" at the Edison Theatre. The show features singers Jeanne Trevor, Kim Massie, Anita Rosamond and Monya performing songs associated with Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday, Nancy Wilson, Ella Fitzgerald, Carole King, Barbra Streisand, Patti LaBelle, Etta James and Gladys Knight. Bernie Hayes will MC, and provide some narration about the famous divas from a script penned by Terry Perkins. Performances are at 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

Some other noteworthy shows this weekend include Trio Tres Bien at Brandt's and Banda Caribe at Riddle's, both on Friday; and singer/pianist Sherry Drake at the Cabaret at Savor on Saturday.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Tuesday the Return to Forever reunion tour makes a stop in St. Louis for a concert at the Fox Theatre. The tour features the first reunion in 25 years of key band members Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Al DiMeola and Lenny White (pictured, as they were back in the day), and the reviews and press reports from the shows so far sound promising. Tickets are still available as of this writing, and until Friday, the Post-Dispatch also has a promotion giving away some passes to the show.

And last but not least, on the radio this week, Tony Renner will be spinning some traditional jazz finds on this Thursday's installment of his program The Scientific Method, heard at 10 a.m. on KWUR (90.3 FM); Don Wolff settles in to his second month broadcasting his show I Love Jazz at its new time, 10:00 p.m. Fridays, on its new home KFUO (99.1 FM); and Dennis Owsley has scheduled a brand-new Jazz Unlimited program at 9:00 p.m. Sunday on KWMU (90.7 FM)

For more St. Louis jazz-related events this weekend and beyond, 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.)