Jazz this week: Happy birthday, USA!

As one of the USA's indigenous art forms and greatest gifts to the world, jazz ought to be a big part of our nation's birthday celebration.

In reality, Independence Day activities tend to emphasize pop or explicitly patriotic music, and some presenters in and around St. Louis actually go dark for the the holiday weekend. Fortunately, if you're looking for live jazz and creative music over the next few days, StLJN is here to help. Let's go to the highlights...

Thursday, July 2
Saxophonist Jim Stevens and his band return to Hammerstone's; and pianist Ptah Williams, guitarist Eric Slaughter and friends continue their weekly performances at The Dark Room.

Friday, July 3
The Funky Butt Brass Band (pictured, top left) will play their monthly show at Broadway Oyster Bar, and percussionist Herman Semidey and Orquesta Son Montuno will play salsa and more for dancers at Club Viva.

Also on Friday, singer Joe Mancuso and pianist Adam Maness perform at Chaser's Lounge in the Chase Park Plaza Hotel; and saxophonist Tim Cunningham plays at Troy's Jazz Gallery.

Saturday, July 4
Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes (pictured, lower left) will celebrate the nation's birthday with swing, hot jazz and jump blues at Evangeline's, while trumpeter Jim Manley fronts his "All-Stars" group at Nathalie's


Sunday, July 5
Good 4 The Soul will be back for their monthly early-evening gig at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups, and Elsie Parker and the Poor People of Paris will play jazz, French pop and more at Nathalie's.

Monday, July 6
Singer Erika Johnson and guitarist Tom Byrne play at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Tuesday, July 7
The First Tuesday Composers Club, which will present monthly workshop performances of new works by St. Louis composers, will have its inaugural meeting at The Dark Room.

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.)