Jazz this week: Terell Stafford, STL Free Jazz Collective, Brian Culbertson, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes return visits from a top mainstream trumpeter, a popular smooth jazz groove-maker, and an acclaimed new music ensemble, as well as free improv, vintage jazz, big band swing, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, May 9
Trumpeter Terell Stafford (pictured, top left) returns with his quintet for the first of four nights of performances at Jazz at the Bistro.

Also on Wednesday, new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound will perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall; and the weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features the Alberto Patiño Duo at The Stage at KDHX, a jam session led by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's quartet at The Dark Room.

Thursday, May 10
Saxophonist Michael Foster and drummer Dane Rousay will perform free improv duets at Kismet Creative Center, with opening sets from locals Danielle Taylor Williams and the trio of NNN Cook, Mabel Suen and Chris Trull.

Also on Thursday, the New Orleans Suspects return to the Broadway Oyster Bar; guitarist Dave Black and singer Bridgette Kossor will perform at the The Pat Connolly Tavern; saxophonist Harvey Lockhart returns to The Dark Room; and pianist Adam Maness' trio is back at Thurman's in Shaw.

Friday, May 11
The Wire Pilots will play original jazz/fusion, with guest appearances from singer Erin Bode and saxophonist Paul DeMarinis, at the Webster Groves Concert Hall/Ozark Theatre.

Elsewhere around town, the Original Knights of Swing play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom, and The Gaslight Squares will be back at Yaquis on Cherokee.

Saturday, May 12
Multi-instrumentalist Brian Culbertson (pictured, bottom left) performs at The Pageant.

Culbertson is touring in support of his most recent release Colors of Love, which cam out earlier this year and, in something of a contrast to his usual groove-based material, offers a program of piano-based love songs.

You can read more about that and see some live performance videos of Culbertson in this post from last Saturday.

Also on Saturday, the STL Free Jazz Collective will play a free concert at the 14th St Artist Community; the Midwest Jazz-tette returns to Evangeline's; and the Gateway City Big Band will provide the music for dancers at the Concord Farmers Club.

Sunday, May 13
Mother's Day no doubt will mean a booming business for brunches this Sunday, and if you'd like some live jazz served with your meal, you can hear swing and Gypsy jazz from Dizzy Atmosphere at The Dark Room; enjoy fusion, funk and R&B from 3X Groove and vocalist Truenessia Combs at Troy's Jazz Gallery; or check out some vintage jazz and swing from Miss Jubilee at Evangeline's.

Monday, May 14
Trumpeter Jim Manley returns to Momo's Greek Restaurant, and guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran will play at Yaquis on Cherokee.

Tuesday, May 15
Drummer Montez Coleman and guitarist Eric Slaughter host "The Tuesday Night Hit" jam session at the The Dark Room, and saxophonist and singer Cary Colman's trio plays at Evangeline's.

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.)