Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Jazz this week: Fred Frith, "A Very Manley Christmas," The Motet, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes the long-awaited return of an influential experimental guitarist, a whole bunch of holiday-themed shows, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, December 11
The Jazz St. Louis Big Band will perform Duke Ellington's arrangements of Tchaikovsky's 'Nutcracker' plus more Ellington favorites at Jazz St. Louis, with one more performance on Thursday.

Elsewhere in Grand Center, the weekly "Wednesday Night Jazz Crawl" will feature Miss Jubilee at The Stage at KDHX, the jam session led by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and bassist Ben Wheeler's Sketchbook at The Dark Room.

Thursday, December 12
The Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University wraps up the semester with a free concert from the university's jazz combo students; singer Tony Viviano returns to Fallon's Grill & Tap; and saxophonist Kendrick Smith brings his trio to The Dark Room.

Friday, December 13
Trumpeter Jim Manley (pictured, center left) returns with his holiday show "A Very Manley Christmas" for the first of two nights at Jazz St. Louis.

Also on Friday, guitarist Dave Black and multi-instrumentalist Sandy Weltman bring their "3rd Annual Holiday Show" to Focal Point, and singer and impressionist Dean Christopher reprises his "A Rat Pack Christmas" at Blue Strawberry

Elsewhere around town, the Second Generation Swing Band plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom, and traditional jazz and swing band Annie and the Fur Trappers return to the Frisco Barroom.

Saturday, December 14
Guitarist Fred Frith (pictured, top left) will perform solo in a concert presented by New Music Circle at Joe's Cafe. He'll also present a free artist talk/workshop on Sunday afternoon at 14th Street Artist Community.

Frith has been an important voice in improvised music for nearly a half-century, bringing innovative guitar techniques to a variety of bands and collaborative projects. For a brief overview of his storied career, plus some videos of recent solo performances, take a look at this post from Saturday before last.

Also on Saturday, the Oikos Ensemble presents this year's edition of their annual "Jazz Noel" program in a matinee at Parkway United Church of Christ (with another performance on Sunday at First Congregational Church in Webster Groves); and Chicago pianist Paul Asaro, last seen here in November as part of the Nevermore Jazz Ball, headlines an evening at Casa Loma Ballroom.

Sunday, 
December 15
Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes are back to perform for brunch at the Angad Arts Hotel, while just across Grand, guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran will play at The Dark Room,

Then on Sunday night, Denver-based funk/jam band The Motet (pictured, bottom left) returns to the Old Rock House. After putting out their ninth album Death or Devotion in January, they've been doing shows all year to promote the release, including the current 30-date tour that brings them here.

Monday, December 16
Eclectic instrumental quintet The 442s and some special guests will perform in their annual "Holiday Spectacular" for the first of two nights at 560 Music Center.

Tuesday, December 17
Cabaret Project St. Louis presents a "gala holiday edition" of their monthly "Singers Open Mic" at Sophie's Artist Lounge.

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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