Jazz this week: Liz Callaway, the Sheldon's "Mardi Gras Mambo," Good 4 The Soul, Jeanne Trevor's "Love Notes," Dan Rubright, and more

It looks like this weekend will bring a break in the winter weather here in St. Louis, so it should be a good time to go out an here some live music. Here's a brief look at what's happening over the next few days:

The new not-for-profit presenter Cabaret St. Louis resumes its inaugural season this week with shows by Liz Callaway on Thursday and Friday upstairs at the Sheldon. Like many cabaret performers, Callaway's background is more in musical theater than in jazz - she's performed in a number of Broadway shows, including a long run in Cats - but she also seems to share a sense of humor, some serious vocal chops and an ability to swing with her sister, singer, pianist and songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway, who is well-known to St. Louis listeners from appearances at the Sheldon, Jazz at the Bistro and elsewhere. .

Also this evening, there's a free Jazz at Holmes concert at Washington University that was not mentioned in the news release referenced in the post here yesterday. (I only found out about via an email listserv.) The featured performers are 4 City Saxes, and I wish I could tell you more about them, but there's not much information available from Wash U, or anywhere else online. Google does tell me they performed as pre-show entertainers last summer at the Muny, and were part of UMSL's woodwind festival in December, but beyond that, your guess is as good as mine. .

On Friday and Saturday, Good 4 The Soul bring their mix of jazz, funk, soul, hip-hop and various other genres to Jazz at the Bistro, replacing trumpeter Terence Blanchard, who was originally supposed to play this week but had to postpone until May. Also on Friday, singer Jeanne Trevor teams up with pianist/singer Kevin Kurth for a Valentine's themed show called "Love Notes" at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N. Grand (at Olive, in the Big Brothers-Big Sisters building).

Sunday night brings the Sheldon Concert Hall's big "Mardi Gras Mambo" benefit gala, with music from the Neville Brothers and Dr. John and the Lower 911. Single tickets for this show have been sold out for several weeks now, but it's possible there still may be some of the $250 and $150 "patron" tickets left. For the latest information, call the Sheldon directly at 314-533-9900.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday guitarist Dan Rubright and Tangole are performing at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium. This particular project is new to me, but judging from the name, it seems to have something to do with tango and/or Latin music. Regardless of genre, Rubright is a fine player with wide-ranging musical ideas and tastes, so it's probably going to be worth hearing.

On Tuesday, it's the monthly meeting of the Jazz St. Louis CD Listening Club at Borders in Brentwood. Dr. Gerald Early of Washington University and Gene Dobbs Bradford of Jazz St. Louis. will discuss the "golden age" of the Blue Note label and the compilation CD The Best Blue Note Record in the World. Also on Tuesday, the quartet Utter Chaos plays a no-cover-charge show at The Gramophone.

Then on Wednesday, there's another free event presented by Jazz St. Louis, as keyboardist Reggie Thomas and his Hammond organ-jazz ensemble OGD will put on a concert dubbed "A Celebration of Blue Note Records" at Third Baptist Church, 620 N. Grand (just across Washington Ave from the Bistro).

As always, these are just a few of the highlights of what's going on around town, so for more jazz-related events in St. Louis 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.)