Jazz this week: Jeff Coffin and the Mutet performance & workshop, Tim Cunningham, Thomas Person, and more

As is usual for the latter half of August, the menu of jazz and creative music for this weekend in St. Louis is light on touring performers and relatively heavy on local musicians.

It'll be a few weeks before our town's various not-for-profit presenters and university music programs start their fall schedules and fatten up the calendar a bit, but in the meantime, there still are some noteworthy gigs to enjoy along with the unusually nice weather forecast for for this weekend. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, singer Erin Bode returns to Cyrano's in Webster Groves, while just a couple of blocks away, guitarist Tom Byrne will host the weekly jam session at Highway 61 Roadhouse.

On Friday, saxophonist Jeff Riley will lead a trio at Robbie's House of Jazz, and saxophonist Tim Cunningham returns to Jazz on Broadway in Alton.

Then on Saturday afternoon, Cunningham will play at Mount Pleasant Winery in Augusta. That evening, saxophonist Thomas Person, father of the well-known saxophonist and St. Louis native Eric Person, will front a group at Robbie's; guitarist Brian Vaccaro leads a trio at the Wine Press; and singer Joe Mancuso and pianist Tim Garcia perform at Mojo Tapas Restaurant and Bar on South Grand.

On Sunday afternoon, Cornet Chop Suey will play a free outdoor concert at Carondelet Park.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday saxophonist Jeff Coffin (pictured), known for his work with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and the Dave Matthews Band, will be in town with members of his band Mutet for a free performance and workshop at Saxquest.

Also on Monday, the Sessions Big Band will perform their monthly gig at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups.

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.)