Jazz this week: Anita Rosamond, A Jazz Heaven, Cornet Chop Suey, and more

Though it's vacation time in St. Louis, with most of our town's larger jazz presenters inactive until after Labor Day, there are a few noteworthy shows this week to call to your attention:

Tonight, singer/pianist Anita Rosamond (pictured) will wrap up this year's Whitaker Music Festival with a free concert at Missouri Botanical Garden. Rosamond's band for the evening will include two members of the popular soul/jazz/funk ensemble Good 4 The Soul - keyboardist Adaron "Pops" Jackson and drummer James Jackson - along with guitarist Grant Krener, bassist Carl Casperson and saxophonist Bill Elrod.

On Saturday, singer Wendy Gordon will present a new show called A Jazz Heaven (When Billie & Ella Met Miles & Friends) at the Kranzberg Arts Center. The cabaret-style performance tells the stories of Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis and others through music associated with each of them, with Gordon's original poetry serving as narration.

The cast includes Gordon as Holiday, Edie B. as the narrator, Virginia Williams as Ella and Adrian Bowers as Miles, backed by Arthur Toney (keyboards), Jeff Anderson (tenor sax and bass) and Marty Morrison (drums and percussion). Tickets can be purchased in advance by calling Gordon at 314-838-9198 or at the door.

Then on Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents a performance by the traditional jazz and swing band Cornet Chop Suey at the Sheraton Westport Hotel, 900 Westport Plaza. (Note that this is a new location; when originally announce, the concert was to be held at the Moolah Shrine Center in Maryland Heights, a site frequently used by the SLJC in recent years. Apparently, there's been some sort of falling out, as the Moolah is no longer even listed among the SLJC's venues on their Web site.)

For the latest updates on jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar. (Note that, as usually happens at the beginning of a new month, schedule information from musicians and venues is still coming in to StLJN HQ, with calendar updates following as the info is received. )

(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.)