Jazz St. Louis seeking input on Bistro bookings

Jazz St. Louis is looking for input from local jazz fans regarding who they'd like to see booked next season at Jazz at the Bistro. Interested individuals may offer their opinions by responding to a survey that went up today on the Jazz St. Louis Web site. (To find the poll, look in the right-hand column of the front page, about halfway down.)

Musicians under consideration for the Bistro's 2009-10 season include Alyssa Graham, Bill Charlap, the Caribbean Jazz Project, Chris Potter, Claudia Acuna, Eliane Elias, Harry Allen, James Carter, Joe Lovano, Joey DeFrancesco, John Patitucci, Lionel Loueke, Matt Wilson, Patricia Barber, Richard Bona, Steve Wilson, Trio da Paz and Vijay Iyer.

The survey will stay up until early March, said JSL operations director Bob Bennett. JSL usually announces the next year's lineup for the Bistro in the latter part of May.

Overall, I'd say this is a strong and reasonably varied menu of possible choices. A number of the artists, including Carter, Barber, DeFrancesco, Acuna and a couple of others, have played the Bistro before, but, by my very informal and unofficial count, the majority haven't.

Of the musicians listed in the survey, I'd be especially interested in hearing pianists Charlap and Elias; drummer Matt Wilson's Arts and Crafts band; saxophonist Potter, who was very impressive last week with Dave Holland's band at the Sheldon; and guitarist Loueke, who made some interesting contributions to Herbie Hancock's Headhunters 2005 when they played The Pageant. Of course, your mileage may very, so all the more reason to visit the Jazz St. Louis site and cast your vote.