Jazz this week: Snarky Puppy, a tribute to Marvin Gaye, Route 66 Jazz Orchestra, Don Schroeder's Happy Go Lucky Jazz Band, and more

Though the "dog days" of summer have arrived in St. Louis so far mostly without the traditional blistering heat and soupy humidity, they still bring the usual annual slowdown in the number of touring jazz musicians passing through St. Louis.

However, there's still live jazz and creative music out there to be found all over the area - if you know where to look. And so, let's go to the highlights... 

Tonight, Good 4 The Soul will back singer Brian Owens in a performance of the music of Marvin Gaye at the Sheldon Concert Hall, and singer Joe Mancuso continues his run of Thursday nights at Cafe Eau in the Chase Park Plaza Hotel.

The week's big headliner arrives on Friday, when the jazz/funk/Latin/worldbeat ensemble Snarky Puppy (pictured, with special guest James T. Kirk at center) plays at the Old Rock House. It's the group's third St. Louis appearance in the last year, and you can find out more about them and see and hear samples of some performances in this post, which ran before their most recent gig here in May. The band's bassist and leader Michael League also talked with the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson for a short preview article on the show, which you can read online here.

Also on Friday, Bach to the Future plays a free outdoor concert at Creve Coeur Park; guitarist Dave Black and saxophonist Paul DeMarinis will duet at the Tavern of Fine Arts; saxophonist Kendrick Smith leads a trio at Cigar Inn; and the Funky Butt Brass Band performs at the Broadway Oyster Bar, featuring a late night set of Allman Brothers Band covers (!).

On Saturday, saxophonist Tim Cunningham plays an afternoon gig at the Mount Pleasant Estates winery out in Augusta.

Then on Saturday evening, the Route 66 Jazz Orchestra will perform in a free outdoor concert at Kirkwood Park; Miss Jubilee plays at Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood; and singer Sarah Jane Ulrich takes the stage at Robbie's House of Jazz, this time without her Blue Notes, but with a cast of friends including Jerry Greene on saxophones, Joe Bozzi on vibes and trumpet, Tim Garcia on piano, and Mark Hochberg on bass and violin.

On Sunday, your "jazz brunch" options include guitarist Tom Byrne and reedman Sam Hagardine at Bar Italia, and trumpeter Jim Manley and keyboardist Mark Friedricks at Jimmy's Cafe on the Park. That afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents a matinee of traditional jazz from drummer Don Schroeder's Happy Go Lucky Jazz Band at Bel-Air Bowl in Belleville.

And looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Sessions Big Band checks in at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups for their every-other-month gig there.

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.)