Jazz this week: Music for the dog days

Yes, it's officially the dog days of August, a time of year most identified with pervasive slacking off.

And though it'll be a few more weeks before the fall presenting season begins, bringing a variety of touring jazz and creative music performers to town, in the meantime St. Louis' own homegrown musicians still are out there working hard, week in and week out.

Here are some of the more noteworthy shows happening around town over the next few days...

Wednesday, August 3
Speaking of the fall presenting season, in a portent of things to come, New Music Circle will hold a "58th Season Kickoff and Fundraiser" at the Tick Tock Tavern, just down the street from the old KDHX studios on Magnolia Ave. The free event will feature music from DJs Josh Weinstein and Jeremy Kannapell, raffles of CDs, LPs, and other music-related items, and a first look at NMC's 2016-17 season.

Elsewhere around town, singer Tony Viviano is presenting a "90th Birthday Tribute to Tony Bennett" at  Patrick's Westport Grill, with singer Dawn Turlington along to duet on some of the material Bennett has recorded recently with pop diva Lady Gaga; and singer Joe Mancuso will close out this year's Whitaker Music Festival series of free concerts at Missouri Botanical Garden.

Thursday, August 4
Guitarist Dave Black and Friends, featuring singer Feyza Eren, return to Nathalie's, and pianist Ptah Williams and guitarist Eric Slaughter will continue their Thursday night residency at The Dark Room.

Friday, August 5
The Funky Butt Brass Band will play a free outdoor concert at Schroeder Park in Manchester, while flutist Oliver Nelson, Jr., the son of famed saxophonist, arranger and St. Louis native of the same name, will present a rare performance in his dad's hometown, playing a free concert at 370 Lakeside Park in St. Peters. The younger Nelson received his doctorate in music from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign earlier this year.

Also on Friday, singer, guitarist and former St. Louisan Javier Mendoza, now living in Nashville and known professionally as Hobo Cane, will be back in town to play with Javier Mendoza’s Estereotipo (pictured), aka the Javier Mendoza Latin Jazz Project, for the first of two nights of performances at Jazz at the Bistro.

Saturday, August 6
Trumpeter Jim Manley, guitarist Randy Bahr and their "All-Star Band" return to Nathalie's;  percussionist Herman Semidey and Orquesta Son Montuno will play Latin jazz, salsa and more at Club Viva; and Animal Children perform at The Dark Room.

Sunday, August 7
Miss Jubilee will provide music for the weekly jazz brunch at Evangeline's, and the Friends of Scott Joplin will present their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site.

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.)