Jazz this week: Femi Kuti and Positive Force, "Jazz in July" begins, and more

As mid-summer weekends go, this isn't an especially busy one for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, but there still are a number of noteworthy performances worth seeking out over the next few days, including the return of a popular free summer concert series and a rare visit from one of the best-known Afrobeat musicians in the world. Let's go the highlights...

Thursday, July 7
The Liberation Organ Trio will open this year's Jazz at Holmes series of free "Jazz in July" concerts at Washington University. (Note that the summer series will be presented in a different location, the Tisch Commons in Danforth University Center, with an earlier start time than the Jazz at Holmes shows presented during the school year.)

Also tonight, guitarist Dave Black, singer Feyza Eren and friends perform at Nathalie's, and pianist Ptah Williams and guitarist Eric Slaughter will be holding forth in their usual Thursday night spot at The Dark Room.

Friday, July 8
Singer Eve Seltzer returns to Evangeline's; the Original Knights of Swing will play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and roots-rock/Americana band the Brothers Lazaroff will make their debut at Jazz at the Bistro in the first of two nights of performances at that venue. They'll be offering new arrangements of their material that have been expanded to accommodate a roster of guest soloists including saxophonist Ben Reece and trumpeter Adam Hucke.

Saturday, July 9
On Saturday afternoon, singer Wendy Gordon and friends will return for another matinee performance at J&C BBQ & Blues, and saxophonists Jeffrey Collins and Jessica Knopf, aka the Atlas Saxophone Duo, will present a free performance and workshop at Saxquest.

Saturday night, singer and actor Ben Watts, who's moving to NYC, will give his final cabaret performance locally before departing at The Emerald Room at The Monocle; and multi-instrumentalist Femi Kuti (pictured), the son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, and his band Positive Force will be in town for a performance at The Ready Room. For some video samples of Kuti and Positive Force in action, see this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

Sunday, July 10
Miss Jubilee returns to perform for brunch at Evangeline's; and Sound Unlimited continues their Sunday night residency at Frederick’s Steakhouse and Pizzeria.

Monday, July 11
Percussionist Joe Pastor and the St. Louis Legacy Ensemble will perform at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Tuesday, July 12
The loosely organized collective of musician involved with the the new CD New Music/Free Improv Live at the Tavern of Fine Arts will hold a CD release event for the album at Jackson Pianos in the Central West End.

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.)