This week's jazz and creative music calendar in St. Louis features some Caribbean-flavored jazz-fusion, three nights of cabaret, and some traditional prewar jazz, plus much more. Let's go to the highlights:Tonight, the aforementioned Caribbean flavor manifests itself in the form of the Nashville-based funk/fusion band The Great Barrier Reefs (pictured), who are playing at Pop's Blue Moon. The island vibe of the five-member Reefs comes in large part from steel pan player and keyboardist Tony Hartman, but the rest of the band is quite capable, too, and their sound bridges several genres in an entertaining and appealing way. You can check them out on video in this post from last Saturday.
Also tonight, the Funky Butt Brass Band plays a free, late afternoon outdoor show at Strauss Park, across the street from the Fox Theatre; Good 4 The Soul has the early evening slot at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups, and pianist Nathan Jatcko plays solo at the Cigar Inn in Belleville.
Tomorrow night, the St. Louis Cabaret Festival, sponsored by the St. Louis Cabaret Conference and The Presenters Dolan, starts a three-night run of performances at the Bistro at Grand Center with a show featuring cabaret and Broadway star Karen Mason.
Also on Friday night, guitarist Vince Varvel plays at City Music and Education Center; guitarist Tom Byrne leads a trio with bassist Willem von Hombracht and drummer Chris Gianino at Cigar Inn; the Funky Butt Brass Band performs at Kirkwood Station Brewing Company; and bassist Darrell Mixon will front a trio with drummer Gary Sykes and vibraphonist Jon Whiting at Robbie's House of Jazz.
On Saturday, the Cabaret Festival will present a multi-artist bill at the Bistro that includes Barbara Fasano, Eric Comstock, Jason Graae and Rick Jensen. Also on Saturday, guitarist Dave Black leads a group at Robbie's; saxophonist Jim Stevens plays at BB's; and saxophonist Michael Fitzgerald performs at Jazz on Broadway in Alton.
Then on Sunday, the Saint Louis Jazz Club will present Don Schroeder's Happy-Go-Lucky Jazz Band in a matinee concert at the DoubleTree Hotel at Westport. The Cabaret Festival concludes Sunday evening with the St. Louis Cabaret Conference Showcase, directed by Graae and Fasono and featuring 20 singers from in and around St. Louis.
Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday Tom Byrne is back in action, this time with his Pat Metheny-inspired ensemble Have You Heard?, 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.)
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