Jazz this week: Good 4 The Soul, Midwest Quintet, Cara Dineen, and more

While big-name touring musicians generally are off the road during major holidays, there still are some notable performances by local jazz and creative musicians happening over the next few days in and around St. Louis. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, December 23
The Jazz St. Louis Big Band offers their third and final performance of Duke Ellington’s "Nutcracker" at Jazz at the Bistro; guitarist Tom Byrne's Yule Vibe Trio plays at Thurman Grill; and singer Ralph Williams presents a Christmas-themed performance at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

Friday, December 25
Byrne and singer Erika Johnson will host a Christmas night jam session at Evangeline's, and trombonist and former St. Louisan John Wolf will back in town to sit in with guitarist Dave Black at the River City Casino's 1904 Steakhouse. 

Saturday, December 26
Good 4 The Soul (pictured, top left) plays jazz, funk, and more for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro; Miss Jubilee performs for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and Wack-A-Doo plays swing and Americana at Evangeline's.

Also on Saturday, singer Joe Mancuso brings a quartet to Nathalie's, and guitarist Eric Slaughter and bassist Glen Smith will play duets at Thurman Grill.

Sunday,
December 27
St. Louis and Chicago musicians will join forces for a performance by a group dubbed the Midwest Quintet at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

Saxophonist Christopher McBride (pictured, lower left) and trumpeter Quentin Coaxum will be representing the City of Big Shoulders, teamed with Eric Slaughter on guitar, bass phenom Nathan Pence (back home after his first semester at UMKC), and ESL's own Montez Coleman on drums.

Monday, December 28
Singer Cara Dineen, daughter of saxophonist "Blind" Willie Dineen, will be back home from NYC for a visit and sitting in with her dad and the Broadway Collective for their monthly gig at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups, and Dizzy Atmosphere will play swing and Gypsy jazz for diners at The Shaved Duck.

Tuesday, December 29
Pianist Greg Mills will perform at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

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.)