It's looking like a good week to get out and hear some live jazz and creative music in St. Louis, particularly for fans of vocalists.
With three headliners performing for the St. Louis Cabaret Festival, plus the opening of a locally produced show paying tribute to a legendary singer, plus the much-anticipated return of one of today's most popular crossover performers, and more, there are plenty of options from which to choose. Let's go to the highlights....
Wednesday, July 22
Marilyn Maye (pictured, top left), considered by many to be the
grande dame of cabaret singers, begins the concert portion of the
St. Louis Cabaret Festival with a performance of her show "Sinatra Her Way" at the
Sheldon Concert Hall.
Produced by
Cabaret Project of St. Louis, the festival is the performance portion of their annual
St. Louis Cabaret Conference, and continues through Saturday night. You can find out more and see videos of Maye and the festival's other headliners in
this post from last Saturday.
Also tonight, guitarist and singer
Tommy Halloran's Guerrilla Swing will perform for the
World Chess Hall of Fame's music series, and
Dizzy Atmosphere returns to
The Shaved Duck.
Thursday, July 23
The St. Louis Cabaret Festival continues with a performance by singer, songwriter and pianist
Jason Robert Brown at the Sheldon, while a couple of blocks away at
Jazz at the Bistro, Jazz St. Louis will be presenting
"Swingin’ for the Fences: Big Bands & Baseball," the first in a series of three free events over the next two weeks highlighting the connections between jazz and baseball.
Also in the Grand Center district, the tribute show
"Sinatra at 100" with singer
Joe Scalzitti and the
St. Louis Big Band begins a three-week run at the
Kranzberg Arts Center.
Elsewhere around town, the
Wire Pilots will play a free concert for the
Jazz at Holmes summer series at Washington University;
Franglais returns to
Howard's in Soulard; and singer
Erin Bode will perform in a free outdoor concert at Kirkwood Station Plaza in downtown Kirkwood.
Friday, July 24
It's an East St. Louis reunion in Grand Center, as trumpeter
Russell Gunn (pictured, center left) comes back from his current home in Atlanta to join drummer and fellow Lincoln HS alum
Montez Coleman and his group for a weekend of shows at Jazz at the Bistro.
While Gunn's recent album
Electric Butterfly showed a heavy rock influence, with songs built on distorted, riffing guitars, the musical menu for this weekend's collaboration with Coleman remains undisclosed, as Jazz St. Louis' promo for the show has been light on specifics. But regardless of whether they're playing Gunn's funk and rock-oriented material, swinging jazz, or a mix, the gig definitely should be worth hearing.
Also on Friday, the Cabaret Festivial continues with a performance by
Christine Ebersole at the Sheldon Concert Hall, and pianist
Carolbeth True, her band
Two Times True and singer
Christi John Bye will play a concert at
St. Peter's United Church of Christ in Ferguson.
Elsewhere around town, singer
Joe Mancuso leads a quartet at
Nathalie's;
Wack-A-Doo will play swing, hot jazz and Americana at
Thurman Grill; and the
Original Knights of Swing perform for dancers at the
Casa Loma Ballroom
Saturday, July 25
The St. Louis Cabaret Festival wraps up with a
showcase for Cabaret Conference participants at the Kranzberg Arts Center;
Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at Casa Loma Ballroom; and saxophonist
Tim Cunningham will be at
Troy's Jazz Gallery.
Sunday, July 26
Gaslight Square veterans
Trio Trés Bien emerge for a rare public live performance, joined by singer
Danita Mumphard for a free outdoor concert at Ivory Perry Park, 800 N. Belt.
Monday, July 27
"Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective are back for their regular monthly gig at
BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.
Tuesday, July 28
Singer and pianist
Harry Connick Jr. returns to St. Louis to perform at the
Peabody Opera House. The New Orleans native
(pictured, lower left), who has enjoyed wide attention the past couple of years as a celebrity judge on TV's
American Idol, released his most recent album
Every Man Should Know back in 2013.
He last performed here in March 2014 as headliner for Variety's "Dinner With The Stars," also at the Peabody, and though that gig was well-received by all accounts, no doubt fans will be looking forward this time to the full-length version of his touring show.
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.)