Jazz this week: Jeremy Davenport comes home, the Miles Davis Memorial Project moves forward, and more

Though the holiday means fewer touring jazz and creative musicians than usual will be passing through town over the next few days, this weekend will bring at least one significant musical visitor to St. Louis, as well as some noteworthy performances from local jazz players and a public meeting about an important jazz-related project. Let's go the the highlights...

If you're in the mood for some jazz today along with your Thanksgiving Day meal, singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Randy Bahr will be spending a good part of the day serenading diners at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel's Starlight Roof. (As for other bars and/or restaurants featuring live music, some may be open today or tonight, but as always on major holidays, we suggest you call ahead first before venturing out.)

Tomorrow night, trumpeter, singer and University City native Jeremy Davenport returns home for his annual post-Thanksgiving weekend at Jazz at the Bistro. Davenport (pictured), who now lives in New Orleans and leads the house band at the Ritz Carlton hotel there, has been coming home to play the Bistro at this time of year for nearly a decade now, and remains a popular attraction in his hometown.

Given that continued popularity, and the "homecoming" aspect of the gig, reservations would be a must if you're planning to go to the Bistro this weekend. For more about Davenport, and some video samples of his playing, check out these two posts presented in conjunction with a couple of his previous appearances here.

Also on Friday, brothers Dan Rubright (guitar) and Ted Rubright (percussion) bring their new band the Wire Pilots to the Kranzberg Arts Center; saxophonist Willie Akins leads a quartet at Cigar Inn; singer Tony Viviano performs at Talayna's in Chesterfield, saxophonist Tim Cunningham continues his string of Friday night gigs downtown at The Precinct; and Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes play at Venice Cafe.

On Saturday afternoon, the Miles Davis Memorial Project will hold an open public meeting at Alton Museum of History & Art, 2809 College Ave, to discuss the current status of the project to build a statue of Davis in Alton. (For more about the project, see this story.)

Then on Saturday night, Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at Casa Loma Ballroom; trumpeter and vibraphonist Joe Bozzi performs at Thurman Grill; saxophonist Jim Stevens plays at the River City Casino's 1904 Steakhouse; and bassist Bob Deboo and Friends continue their Saturday night session at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

On Sunday, singer Denise Thimes will perform at a benefit event for East St. Louis' Katherine Dunham Center for the Arts And Humanities to be held at the Grand Marias Golf Club, 5802 Lake Drive in Centreville.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday guitarist Dave Black returns to 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.)