Jazz this week: The Jazz Collective, Eric Person, The Sound Clinic, and more

This weekend's schedule of jazz and creative music in St. Louis isn't as jam-packed as the last two, but there still are a number of noteworthy performances happening over the next few days. Let's go the highlights...

As it happens, the best-known musicians in town this week are performing under the somewhat generic-sounding name The Jazz Collective on Friday and Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro.

The all-star band includes drummer Jimmy Cobb, pianist Cedar Walton and bassist Buster Williams, three veteran sidemen who have worked with some of the most important jazz musicians of the past 50 years, and saxophonist Javon Jackson, who, though a generation younger than his bandmates, has some impressive credits of his own, including a partnership with keyboardist Les McCann and time in Cobb's Miles Davis tribute, the So What band. Given that Williams also was part of So What, don't be surprised if the group does some songs associated with Davis, along with original material and perhaps some favorites from the hard-bop repertoire.

You can read more about Jimmy Cobb and see videos of all four Jazz Collective members here. Also, Jazz St. Louis is running a two-for-one special on tickets, and you can get the details on that offer here.

Also on Friday, the Funky Butt Brass Band plays an early set at Brandt's; and guitarist Dave Black's trio performs at the Cigar Inn in Belleville.

Update - 5:20 p.m., 4/21/11: The Funky Butt Brass Band has just posted a message to their Facebook page saying that the Brandt's gig has been canceled by the venue.

On Saturday afternoon, The Sound Clinic will play the music of Ornette Coleman for the Nu-Art Series at Metropolitan Gallery. The group is co-led by trumpeter and Nu-Art Series director George Sams and Bay Area saxophonist Lewis Jordan, with Chicago's Yosef Ben Israel and St. Louisan Charles "Bobo" Shaw on drums.

On Saturday night, saxophonist and St. Louis native Eric Person returns home to front a trio with bassist Willem von Hombracht and drummer Demarius Hicks at Robbie's House of Jazz. Person's most recent CD The Grand Illusion was released in the fall of 2010, and his last performance here in St. Louis was back in 2009 at the Ambassador Events Center.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday drummer Joe Pastor's trio is at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups, and on Tuesday, the Genesis Jazz Project big band performs in a free concert at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

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.)