Jazz this week: Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, Tom McDermott, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in and around St. Louis includes shows from a couple of New Orleans acts - one a former St. Louisan - as well as a diverse assortment of performances from local musicians.

Let's go to the highlights....

Thursday, August 6
Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will be swinging in the swanky confines of the Ritz Carlton Hotel's Lobby Lounge, and guitarist Dave Black and friends, including singer Joe Mancuso, will perform at Nathalie's.

Friday, August 7
Pianist Tom McDermott,  a St. Louis native who since the 1980s has made his home in New Orleans, will be back town to perform at the Tavern of Fine Arts. McDermott (pictured, top left) has earned a reputation as an expert on historic New Orleans jazz and blues piano styles, mixing in classical music, Brazilian choro, and more as the mood strikes him.

Meanwhile, Jazz at the Bistro will host the first of two nights of "Saturday Night Fish Fry," featuring blues guitarist and singer Mike Aguirre (pictured, center left) and a backing group including members of the Funky Butt Brass Band, musicians who have played with Albert King and Chuck Berry, and Jazz St. Louis' own Bob Bennett on tenor sax.

Elsewhere around town, singer Eve Seltzer performs at Evangeline’s; and pianist Ptah Williams and guitarist Eric Slaughter will play at Thurman Grill.

Saturday, August 8
Also from New Orleans, multi-instrumentalist and singer Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue (pictured, lower left) will perform outdoors at Ballpark Village's City View Concert Stage.

With a galvanizing live show, Shorty has crossed over successfully to jam-band and rock audiences, and given his increasing popularity plus the availability of cheap general admission tickets, this gig should draw a large crowd. You can check out some sample live performances from Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue in this video post from last week.

Also on Saturday, singer Joe Scalzitti and the St. Louis Big Band begin the final weekend of their tribute show "Sinatra at 100" at the Kranzberg Arts Center; guitarist Vincent Varvel and pianist Adam Maness will play at Tavern of Fine Arts; and trumpeter Jim Manley's All-Star Group returns to Nathalie's.

Sunday, August 9
The St. Louis Jazz Club presents a matinee performance by pianist Pat Joyce at the Ozark Theatre, and Gypsy jazz duo Coco Rico will play an early evening show at Nathalie's.

Monday, August 10
Trumpeter Keith Moyer plays at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Tuesday, August 11
Singer Feyza Eren will perform at Evangeline'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.)