Wednesday, April 03, 2019

Jazz this week: Branford Marsalis Quartet; Wilson, Miles & Strickland; Toby Foyeh & Orchestra Africa; and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes a week full of headliners at Jazz St. Louis, plus noteworthy shows featuring Afrobeat, free improvisation, vintage swing, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, April 3
Saxophonist Branford Marsalis' quartet continues their run at Jazz St. Louis, with the 7:30 shows pretty much sold out, but with tickets available (as of this writing) for the 9:30 sets both tonight and Thursday.

Marsalis and company are touring in support of their new album The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul, which was released last month. For more about that, and some videos featuring live performances of some of their new material, see this post from last Saturday.

Also on Wednesday, singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black perform at SqWires Restaurant & Annex, and trumpeter Jim Manley will be doing his regular weekly gig at Sasha's Wine Bar.

Thursday, April 4
The Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents a free concert of improvised music featuring trumpeter George Sams, violinist India Cooke, pianist Greg Mills, clarinetist Eric Mandat and cellist Tracy Andreotti.

Update, 8:00 p.m. 4/3/19: George Sams has informed StLJN of a couple of late-breaking personnel changes on the gig, as violinist Alyssa Avery will perform in place of India Cooke, and bassist Darrell Mixon will be there instead of Tracy Andreotti.

Also on Thursday, guitarist Todd Mosby and his New Horizons Ensemble promote the release of a Mosby's new CD Open Water with a performance at Sky Music Lounge.

Elsewhere around town, fusion trio Tracer, with pianist Ptah Williams, bassist Darrell Mizon and drummer Gary Sykes, will be back at The Dark Room; singer Cherilyn Evans and CEEJazzSoul return to the Chase Club in the Chase Park Plaza Hotel; and saxophonist Vince Sala leads a trio at The Pat Connolly Tavern.

Friday, April 5
In town this week for educational residencies with Jazz St. Louis. drummer Matt Wilson, trumpeter Ron Miles, and saxophonist Marcus Strickland (who's stepping in for the previously announced Jeff Coffin) will wrap up their stay by joining forces for the first of two nights of performances at the Bistro.

Of the three (pictured, top left), Wilson is the most familiar to St. Louis audiences, having played here numerous times before with various bands of his own and as a sideman. However, both Miles, who's worked with Bill Frisell and Joshua Redman among others, and Strickland, whose credits include Roy Haynes, Christian McBride's New Jawn, and Dave Douglas, are formidable players and bandleaders in their own right.

Also on Friday, The Gentlemen’s Anti-Temperance League, a six-piece vintage swing band from Minneapolis, will be in town for a one-nighter at Evangeline's; Miss Jubilee performs for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and keyboardist and singer Jesse Gannon is back at The Dark Room.

Saturday, April 6
Guitarist Dan Rubright of the Wire Pilots plays a late-morning matinee featuring his original compositions at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Saturday evening, guitarist Toby Foyeh (pictured, bottom left) and Orchestra Africa will bring their lively mix of Afrobeat, jazz, rock, and more to the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

Sunday, April 7
Pianist Adam Maness plays solo for Sunday brunch in a new weekly gig at Thurman's in Shaw, while Anita Jackson returns to The Dark Room.

Later that afternoon, the Ozark Theatre re-opens for the season with a performance from singer Wendy Gordon celebrating the birthday of Billie Holiday, followed by an open jam session; and the Genesis Jazz Project returns to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Then on Sunday evening, guitarist Tom Byrne will lead a quartet in a concert spotlighting some of his original music at Focal Point.

Monday, April 8
The faculty members who make up the Webster University Jazz Collective will present their final performance of the semester at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus.

Tuesday, April 9
The Gaslight Squares play the first of two morning "coffee concerts" at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

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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