Jazz this week: Andre Delano, Denise Thimes, Cornet Chop Suey, and more

This week's lineup of jazz and creative music shows in and around St. Louis includes a well-known expat back home for a couple of "summer vacation" shows, showcase performances for one of the city's reigning vocals divas and one its top traditional jazz bands, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Thursday, July 9
Saxophonist and former East St. Louisan Andre Delano (pictured, top left), who now lives in California, is back home this week for a pair of shows, performing Thursday at Bistro Six Eighteen in East St Louis and Friday at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Also on Thursday, guitarist Vincent Varvel's trio will get Jazz at Holmes "Jazz in July" summer series started with a free concert at Holmes Lounge in Ridgley Hall on the Washington University campus; and bassist Willem von Hombracht will play duets with guitarist Chip Katz at Thurman Grill.

Friday, July 10
Singer Denise Thimes (pictured, center left) returns to Jazz at the Bistro to headline a weekend of shows; and pianist Greg Mills will play solo and improvise freely at Tavern of Fine Arts.

Also on Friday, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes perform at Nathalie's; and Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, July 11
Saturday morning, TrailNet and Jazz St. Louis will present the first-ever St. Louis jazz history bike tour, led by JSL executive director Gene Dobbs Bradford and starting at Jazz St. Louis HQ on Washington Ave.

That evening, saxophonist Tim Cunningham begins a series of summer Saturday performances at Troy's Jazz Gallery; and singer Tom Kavanaugh and pianist Tim Garcia will perform at Tavern of Fine Arts.

Sunday, July 12
The St. Louis Jazz Club present presents traditional jazz and swing band Cornet Chop Suey (pictured, lower left) in a matinee at the Doubletree Hotel in Westport; while the Friends of Scott Joplin will hold their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous"at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site.

On Sunday night, the St. Louis Big Band will play a free outdoor concert at Zion United Methodist Church in South County.

Monday, July 13
Singer Dean Christopher offers an encore of his "Rat Pack and More" show at One 19 North Tapas & Wine Bar ; and trumpeter Keith Moyer's group plays at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Tuesday, July 14
Elsie Parker and the Poor People of Paris perform jazz and French pop music at Nathalie'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.)