Jazz this week: The Bridge Trio, Mo Egeston album release party, and more

The end of August usually is an in-between time for live jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with most summer series having wound down and Labor Day and the fall presenting season yet to come.

Even so, there still are some noteworthy events happening this weekend, so let's go to the highlights...

Thursday, 
August 24

The Bridge Trio will perform at the The Dark Room in the penultimate date of a two-week Midwestern tour.

Based in New Orleans, the trio of drummer Joe Dyson, pianist Conun Pappas, and bassist Max Moran (pictured, top left) first worked together as students at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA) under the direction of clarinetist Alvin Batiste, and currently perform as members of saxophonist Donald Harrison’s band. They've got two albums out as a group, the most recent being 2015's The Search: Departure.

You can check out their "nouveau swing” style, fusing modern dance beats with more traditional New Orleans influences, via this video of their show last year at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.

Friday, August 25
Trumpeter and vibraphonist Joe Bozzi returns to Evangeline's; saxophonist Tim Cunningham plays at Troy's Jazz Gallery; singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black will be back at The Wolf in West County; and saxophonist Kendrick Smith will lead a trio at Cigar Inn in Belleville.

Saturday, August 26
The annual Festival of Nations takes place this weekend in Tower Grove Park, and the variety of entertainment offerings at the free, family-friendly event includes some music that may be of interest to StLJN readers, including Saturday afternoon performances by Latin jazz group Clave Sol and the Brazilian-influenced Samba Bom.

Elsewhere around town, the Route 66 Jazz Orchestra will play a free concert at Kirkwood City Park Amphitheater, and the Funky Butt Brass Band returns to the Broadway Oyster Bar.

Sunday, August 27
The Festival of Nations continues at Tower Grove Park with music including sets of swing and Gypsy jazz from Dizzy Atmosphere and French pop and jazz from Elsie Parker and the Poor People of Paris.

Also on Sunday afternoon, the Folk School of KDHX will present their monthly Traditional Jazz Jam Session.

On Sunday evening, keyboardist Mo Egeston (pictured, bottom left) will celebrate the release of his debut album Groove Suites Vol. 1 with a performance at The Dark Room. You can read more about the project in this Riverfront Times story, and hear excerpts from the album here.

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.)