Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Jazz this week: Branford Marsalis & Kurt Elling, Denise Thimes, and more

This week's calendar of jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes a early-week visit from two well-known jazz performers touring together for the first time, plus a couple of new jam sessions providing musical workout opportunities for local players, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Tuesday, January 24
Tonight, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, his quartet, and singer Kurt Elling will perform for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

Marsalis and Elling (pictured, top left) are touring together in support their collaborative album Upward Spiral, which came out last summer. While their shows here likely are sold out by now, you can check with the Jazz St. Louis box office for returns or cancellations, or get to the Bistro early enough to grab a spot in the adjacent first-floor lounge and catch the video simulcast for free.

Also on Wednesday, percussionist Joe Pastor and the Legacy Jazz Ensemble play the late show at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups, and the Jazz Troubadours perform at Evangeline's.

Wednesday, January 25
As mentioned above, there are a couple of new jam sessions starting up this week, the first featuring pianist Curt Landes, bassist Glen Smith and drummer Chuck Kennedy as the house group for a new weekly Wednesday night jam at @Nesby's in Sunset Hills.

Thursday, January 26
The Jazz at Holmes series of free concerts at Washington University gets underway for the semester with a reunion performance by Tracer, the jazz-fusion project of pianist Ptah Williams, bassist Darrell Mixon and drummer Gary Sykes.

Also on Thursday, pianist Adam Maness, bassist Bob DeBoo and drummer Montez Coleman join forces for a one-off gig at Jazz at the Bistro; and the Chamber Jazz Project plays at Joe's Cafe.

Friday, Jan 27
Singer Denise Thimes (pictured, bottom left) will sing music associated with the late Nancy Wilson in the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

Also on Friday, the Fleur De Lou All-Stars play swing and Gypsy jazz at Evangeline's; and singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black will duet at Edgewild Restaurant and Winery.

Sunday, January 29
The other new jam session happening for the first time this week is aimed at musicians interested in traditional jazz of the 1920s and 30s, and will take place on the last Sunday afternoon of the month at the Folk School of KDHX.

Also on Sunday , Chicago-based jazz/rock band Marbin returns for a performance at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Monday, January 30
Guitarist Tom Byrne and his quartet will perform (in a concert rescheduled from this week, due to a heating system failure) at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium.

Tuesday, January 31
Saxophonist "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective return to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

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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