Jazz this week: Good 4 The Soul returns to the Bistro, Okoiucho, and more

The weeks of Christmas and New Year's Day usually are relatively slow for live jazz and creative music here in St. Louis, as most touring bands are off the road while many local musicians and venues also are enjoying a brief respite.

Still, once we get to the weekend, there are some shows of note around town, and so we're going to tell you about them right now....

Friday, December 26
In what's become an annual post-Christmas engagement, Good 4 The Soul will open a two-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. Comprised of bassist John King, guitarist Sean Robinson, drummer James Jackson, and keyboardist Adaron "Pops" Jackson, G4TS (pictured, from left)) offers a mix of jazz, funk, and instrumental R&B with an occasional touches of gospel and pop, generally drawing an enthusiastic audience of hometown fans.

Also on Friday, singer Joe Mancuso fronts a quartet at Nathalie's; drummer Marty Morrison will be leading a quartet of his own at Cigar Inn, and guitarist Brian Vaccaro's trio will host a jam session at The Wolf in Ballwin.

Saturday, December 27
Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; trombonist/singer Doug Burns leads a quartet in concert at the Jacoby Arts Center in Alton; and guitarist Tom Byrne will help ease potential withdrawal symptoms from holiday music with his "Yule Vibe" Trio at Thurman Grill.

Sunday, December 28
In addition to the usual array of Sunday brunch gigs - see the St. Louis Jazz Notes calendar for details - Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will be playing a late-afternoon matinee at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Monday, December 29
Guitarist/laptop musician Chris Smentkowski and bassist Darin Gray will reunite for another gig as Okoiucho, playing improvised soundtracks inspired by Polish short films, animations, and art at the Tavern of Fine Arts; and "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective return for their last monthly gig of the year 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.)