Jazz this week: Good 4 The Soul, Sandy Weltman, a benefit for Stacy Johnson, and more

Ready to hear some live jazz this weekend in St. Louis? Well, it's been a hectic week here at StLJN HQ, the result being that this post is going to be a rather minimal names-days-and-places kind of thing, without much in the way of additional commentary or recommendation.

Since all the touted gigs involve St. Louis musicians, there shouldn't be a whole lot of introductions needed, but as always, links back to the artists' sites are provided whenever available. Now, let's go the highlights....

Tonight, the Ambassadors of Swing will give a free outdoor concert at Watson Trail Pool, 12512 W. Watson in Crestwood. The performance will be followed by a screening of the animated film "Surf's Up."

Also tonight, singer Ralph Butler is at Robbie's House of Jazz, and bassist Dave Troncoso leads a trio at The Wine Press, 4436 Olive St. 63108,

On Friday, jazz/funk quartet Good 4 The Soul (pictured) returns to Jazz at the Bistro for the first of two nights.

Also on Friday, multi-instrumentalist Sandy Weltman will perform at City Music as part of their Friday night concert series; singer Feyza Eren and her group will be at Robbie's; and the St. Louis Big Band will play for dancers at Casa Loma Ballroom. On the east side, drummer Paul Shaw's trio with bassist Bob DeBoo and tenor saxophonist Kristian Baarsvik will perform at the Cigar Inn,

On Saturday, keyboard player Tony Simmons will do a free, early evening outdoor show at Westport Plaza; and saxophonist Jerry Greene leads a quartet at Robbie's.

And this Sunday afternoon brings the summer edition of the St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show to the American Czech Center, 4690 Lansdowne Ave. on the south side.

Also on Sunday afternoon, there's a benefit performance at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups for blues and soul singer Stacy Johnson, who's suffered some serious health problems in recent years and has been unable to work for some time now. Johnson, who's 67, has been a fixture on the St. Louis music scene since the late 1950s, so there no doubt will be a good turnout of local blues players lending their talents to support the cause.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Sessions Big Band will do their monthly gig at BB's.

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.)