Jazz this week: John Pizzarelli, Sammy Miller and the Congregation, a tribute to Thelonious Monk, and more

This week's calendar of jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes the St. Louis debut of an up-and-coming young band; a tribute to a distinctive jazz composer and pianist; the return of a longtime local favorite for a benefit performance; and more. 

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, October 25
Pianist Adam Maness, bassist Bob DeBoo and drummer Montez Coleman will salute one of the greatest composers in jazz in the first of two nights of a "Thelonious Monk Centennial Celebration" at Jazz at the Bistro.

Also on Wednesday, the weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features cornetist and singer T.J Müller at KDHX's Magnolia Cafe, a jam session at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor at The Dark Room.

Thursday, October 26
The Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents "Streams of Extremity II," a free concert featuring pianist Ptah Williams, guitarist/bassist William Lenihan, drummer Steve Davis, and a string trio performing and improvising based on the music of Bela Bartok, Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, and more.

Elsewhere around town, New Orleans keyboardist and singer John "Papa" Gros returns to the Broadway Oyster Bar, and trumpeter Keith Moyer leads a quintet at The Dark Room

Friday, October 27
Drummer/singer Sammy Miller and the Congregation (pictured, center left) will make their St. Louis debut and wrap up a week-long educational residency for Jazz St. Louis with the first of two nights of performances at Jazz at the Bistro.

For more about Miller and his band of twenty-somethings, plus some sample performances on video, see this post from last Saturday.

Also on Friday, the Gaslight Cabaret Festival presents singer and pianist Eric Comstock and singer Barbara Fasano in a one-night-only performance of their cabaret show "Downton Abbey Road: The Best of Britain" at the Gaslight Theater.

Elsewhere around town, the Midwest Jazz-tette returns to Evangeline's, and Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, October 28
Guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli (pictured, top left) will perform for the annual "ArtSounds" benefit gala at the Sheldon Concert Hall. (For those interested in just hearing the music, the Sheldon may have some concert-only tickets available; check with their box office for details.)

Also on Saturday, the Funky Butt Brass Band returns to Broadway Oyster Bar.

Sunday October 29
The Folk School of KDHX presents their monthly traditional jazz jam session; the Bosman Twins (pictured, bottom left) will headline a benefit at the Sheldon raising money for the Royal Vagabonds scholarship fund; and the students of the JazzU Big Band will perform at Jazz at the Bistro.

Monday, October 30
Saxophonist Paul DeMarinis will lead a quintet of members of the Webster University jazz faculty in "1967: Jazz in Transition" at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus.

The program will feature performances of songs first released in 1967 by artists including John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Charles Lloyd, Gary Burton, Sam Rivers, Chick Corea, and more.

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.)