Jazz this week: Mardra & Reggie Thomas, "Jazz Triple Play," Moon Hooch, and more

As often happens around major holidays, the calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis this week is light on visiting acts, but there still are some noteworthy shows happening, including a homecoming show for a couple of favorite former St. Louisans; a tour stop from from one of the more distinctive all-instrumental bands touring today; a concert featuring three hometown groups on one bill, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, July 3
Back in St. Louis for a visit, singer Mardra Thomas and keyboardist Reggie Thomas will present a free concert for the Whitaker Music Festival at Missouri Botanical Garden.

Also on Wednesday, singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black will duet at Scarlett's Wine Bar; and Miss Jubilee performs at Schlafly Bottleworks.

Thursday, July 4
While some local venues will be closed for the Independence Day holiday (for example, Jazz St. Louis will be dark the entire weekend),  if you're in the mood for some live music after or instead of fireworks, singer Cheri Evans and CEEJazzSoul will be performing at the Chase Club.

Friday, July 5
Funky Butt Brass Band plays at the Broadway Oyster Bar: pianist and singer Jesse Gannon returns to The Dark Room; bassist Darrell Mixon leads a trio at Cigar Inn; and drummer Dhoruba Shakur continues his twice-monthly Friday residency at Sophie's Artist Lounge and Cocktail Club.

Saturday, July 6
The Bosman Twins, the Coleman Hughes Project (pictured, bottom left) and keyboardist Mark Harris II will join forces for a "Jazz Triple Play" at the Grandel Theatre.

Also on Saturday, the Triplets of Grubville play vintage swing and Gypsy jazz at Evangeline's; and saxophonist Tim Cunningham performs (in a non-smoking show) at Gauge Cigar Club (fka Troy's Jazz Gallery and The Gallery by Troy).

Sunday, July 7
Dizzy Atmosphere plays for brunch at The Dark Room, while pianist Adam Maness is at Thurman's in Shaw. Then on Sunday evening, the Jazz Troubadours will play their monthly gig at Evangeline's

Monday, July 8
The Gaslight Squares play a free concert at the historic Hawken House in Webster Groves.

Tuesday, July 9
Saxophones-and-drums trio Moon Hooch (pictured, top left) returns to Old Rock House. Offering danceable grooves with instrumentation that could just as easily be found on an avant-jazz session, they've been touring as relentlessly as ever since their last appearance here in 2018. For a look at some recent shows on video, check out this post from last Saturday.

Also on Tuesday, multi-instrumentalist Lamar Harris performs in concert at the Gaslight Theater.

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.)