Wednesday, November 09, 2016

Jazz this week: Chucho Valdés & Joe Lovano, Jen Shyu, "Jazz Explosion," and more

Here's what's happening with live jazz and creative music over the next few days in St. Louis...

Wednesday, November 9
Keyboardist Adaron “Pops” Jackson takes a seat behind the Hammond organ as he and guitarist Eric Slaughter co-headline a two-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro themed "To B3 or Not To B3."  Saxophonist Jason Swagler and drummer Miles Vandiver will complete the ensemble.

Also on Wednesday, The 442s will perform in a public concert at St. Vincent Home for Children.

Thursday, November 10
Composer and multi-instrumentalist Jen Shyu (pictured, top left) will present a free, public artist's talk and workshop at the Lewis Center, the Washington University School of Art building located off-campus at 721 Kingsland Ave in U City. (For info on Shyu's New Music Circle concert, see Friday's listing.)

Also on Thursday, Native American flute player Mark Holland and his band will play a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; singer Joe Mancuso performs at The Monocle; and fusion band Spaceship and the Liberation Organ Trio sill share a double bill at the Old Rock House.

Friday, November 11
Jen Shyu performs in a concert presented by New Music Circle at Kranzberg Arts Center. For more about Shyu and some video samples of her work, see this post from last Saturday

Also on Friday, trumpeter and singer Dawn Weber performs for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro; and the Gaslight Cabaret Festival resumes with stride and ragtime pianist Judy Carmichael. Carmichael,  who's also an engaging storyteller thanks to her experience hosting radio programs for NPR and Sirius XM, will play for one night only at the Gaslight Theater.

Elsewhere around town, the Gateway City Big Band plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and trumpeter Jim Manley returns to Thurman's in Shaw

Saturday, November 12
Pianist Chucho Valdés and saxophonist Joe Lovano (pictured, bottom left), who are collaborating this year for a series of dates, will play the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Based on the reviews of the tour so far, this has the potential to be one of the top shows of the fall. Lovano, last seen here in 2014 at the Bistro with his band Us Five, is one of the top tenor players working today, while Valdés has helped shape Afro-Cuban music and Latin jazz for decades as a founding member of Irakere and a solo artist and bandleader.

And if you need more incentive, the Sheldon and Metrotix yesterday announced a "buy one, get one free" offer for online purchases of the remaining tickets for the show. To access the offer, go here and enter the promo code CHUCHO16.

Also on Saturday, trumpeter Randy Holmes and his quintet will present a "Tribute to Clifford Brown" at the Ozark Theatre.

Sunday, November 13
The St. Louis Jazz Club hosts a matinee performance by the Funky Butt Brass Band at the Moolah Temple.

Sunday evening, "Jazz Explosion" with Pieces of A Dream, saxophonist Marion Meadows, and keyboardist Mark Harris II, comes to the Emerson Theater at Harris Stowe State University.

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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