Wednesday, June 08, 2016

Jazz this week: New Orleans Suspects, U City Jazz Festival, Miles Davis at 90, and more

This week's lineup of jazz and creative music in St. Louis features a bit of New Orleans, a bit of Las Vegas, an appearance by an original member of a seminal jazz/fusion band, plus tributes to George Clinton and Miles Davis, and much more.


Wednesday, June 8
Trumpeter Jim Manley and Wild, Cool and Swingin' will play their signature Vegas-style swing in a free concert at the Alton Senior High School Performing Arts Center, and guitarist Vincent Varvel performs at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

Also on Wednesday, the Grand Center district continues its weekly "jazz crawl" with bassist Bob Deboo leading a jam session at the Kranzberg Arts Center, trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's trio performing at The Dark Room, and this week, guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran at KDHX's Magnolia Cafe.

Thursday, June 9
The Genesis Jazz Project will play a free concert at Chesterfield Amphitheater; singer Wendy L. Gordon returns to the Tavern of Fine Arts, and Danbury Street plays at Nathalie's

Friday, June 10
The New Orleans Suspects (pictured, top left) will play funk and R&B at the Broadway Oyster Bar, with an opening set from the Funky Butt Brass Band.

Also on Friday, trumpeter Randy Holmes leads a quintet in the first of two nights celebrating Miles Davis 90th birthday at the Ozark Theatre, and multi-instrumentalist Lamar Harris (pictured, center left) and band will offer their take on the music of funkmeister George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic for the first of two nights of "The Mothership Chronicles" at Jazz at the Bistro.

Elsewhere around town, Miss Jubilee will play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom, and vibraphonist Tom Rickard leads a trio at Cigar Inn.

Saturday, June 11
The U City Jazz Festival will feature headlining sets from The Fusion Warriors, billed as "an all star tribute to the electric jazz pioneers of the 1970s," and Bach to the Future with guest violinist Jerry Goodman.

Goodman (pictured, bottom left) is best known as an original member of guitarist John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, and also played with The Dixie Dregs and the Chicago-based jazz/rock band The Flock.

The free event, which runs from mid-afternoon through evening at Heman Park in University City, also will feature music from the jazz/fusion trio Tracer, trumpeter and vibraphonist Joe Bozzi, and trumpeter Danny Campbell's quintet with drummer Maurice Carnes.

Also on Saturday, the Funky Butt Brass Band headlines a multi-act bill of funk, R&B, and New Orleans-influenced bands playing indoors and outdoors for "Summer Gras" at the Old Rock House.

Elsewhere around town, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will be playing a double-header, starting in the afternoon at the St. Agnes Home Summerfest in Kirkwood, then finishing with an evening show at Evangeline's; and Dizzy Atmosphere will perform at The Dark Room.

Sunday, June 12
The St. Louis Jazz Club will present The Gaslight Squares in a matinee performance at the Moolah Shrine in West County; singer Dean Christopher will bring his "Rat Pack and More" show to Peno in Clayton; and the Ambassadors of Swing will play an early evening gig at Kirkwood Station Brewing Company.

Tuesday, June 14
The Saxquest Little Big Band returns to the Tavern of Fine Arts, and guitarists Eric Slaughter and Jake Weisman will play duets 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.)

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