Jazz this week: Marlena Shaw, Will Matthews, Glendale Jazz Festival, and more

If you'd like to hear some jazz as part of your Memorial Day weekend, there are a number of noteworthy shows coming up over the next few days in and around St. Louis. Let's go to the highlights:

The week's best-known headliner is singer Marlena Shaw (pictured), who's in town to perform tonight through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Shaw's music encompasses jazz, soul, R&B, gospel, pop and many other influences; for more on her, and some performance videos, see this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

(Jazz St. Louis is offering a two-for-one special on tickets for Shaw's sets tonight and Thursday, which have a non-discounted price of $30 each. To get the two-for-one discount, call the Jazz St. Louis office at 314-289-4030 and use the coupon code "FC0526.")

On Friday, guitarist Will Matthews, who currently tours with the Count Basie Orchestra, will play at Robbie's House of Jazz, accompanied by Reggie Thomas on organ and Marty Morrison on drums. Matthews has played on numerous recordings with the Basie band, including two Grammy Award winners, and also has performed with many other jazz artists, including Joe Williams, Frank Foster, Benny Carter, Milt Jackson, George Benson, Kenny Burrell, Nancy Wilson, Patti Austin, Tony Bennett, Dianne Reeves, Jimmy Cobb, Hank Jones and Nnenna Freelon.

Also on Friday, the NYC-based blues and boogie-woogie pianist Arthur Migliazza performs at the Foundry Art Centre in St. Charles; and the city of Glendale will present the eleventh annual Glendale Jazz Festival at the Glendale City Hall complex, 424 N. Sappington Rd. Performers at the free event include the St. Louis Stompers and Terry Thompson's Swing Alive Band, with Don Wolff serving as MC.

On Saturday, the Bosman Twins will headline "An Evening of Jazz and Poetry" in the Des Lee Auditorium at the Missouri History Museum, and the Robert Edwards Ensemble celebrates their trombonist/leader's birthday at Robbie's House of Jazz.

Also on Saturday, saxophonist Greg Lewis and Press Play will perform at an outdoor concert dubbed "Jazz On The Lake" at the Grand Marais Lighthouse in Frank Holton State Park, 4500 Pocket Rd. in East St. Louis. Tickets are $10 general admission, $5 for students; call 618-581-6337 for more info.

On Sunday afternoon, singer Denise Thimes will perform and author Ruth-Miriam Garnett will speak as part of "St. Louis as Matrix: Dubois, Garvey and early 20th Century Racial Theory," a free event at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site. Then on Sunday evening, The Nu-Element, which includes trumpeter Keith Moyer, pianist Dave Becherer, bassist Rich Mendoza, and drummer Joe Pastor, plays at Riddle's.

Looking beyond the weekend, Denise Thimes also will be the featured performer at the first Whitaker Music Festival concert of the year next Wednesday at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

For more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. You also can keep up with all the latest news by following St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes or clicking the "Like" icon on the StLJN Facebook page.

(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.)