Jazz this week: The Bad Plus and more

The week after New Year's can be a slow one for the bar business, what with people being tired and/or tapped out financially after the holidays. Not only that, as of this writing several local night spots that present jazz haven't even updated their websites with January schedules yet. Combine that with the fact that some of St. Louis' not-for-profit jazz presenters won't be back in action until later in the month, and the local menu of live jazz and creative music is looking a bit sparse for the next few days, though there still are several noteworthy shows coming up:

The big news of the week is that tonight the distinctive piano trio The Bad Plus (pictured) returns to Jazz at the Bistro, kicking off a four-night run at the club to open the New Year here in St. Louis for the fifth consecutive time. After a busy 12 months that included the debut of their version of Stravinsky's iconic The Rites of Spring, TBP reportedly are readying another album of new original material to follow up on 2009's Never Stop, so don't be surprised if there's some new stuff mixed into their sets at the Bistro among the more familiar numbers.

For more about The Bad Plus, see this review I wrote for the Riverfront Times about one their Wednesday night sets last year at the Bistro; this video showcase post from before that same run of shows; and this weeks' Critic's Pick from my RFT colleague Ryan Wasoba.

Elsewhere around town, on Friday vibraphonist Peter Schlamb leads a group for an early evening set at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups; and the Yard Dawgs Jazz Quartet plays at Cigar Inn.

On Saturday, Latin jazz band Clave Sol plays the early show at BB's.

Then on Sunday, the first St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show of the year will take place at the American Czech Center on the south side.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday BB's has a double bill of guitar-centric groups, with the Dave Black Group in the early slot and Tom Byrne's Pat Metheny inspired ensemble Have You Heard? playing later on.

For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, 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.)