Jazz this week: Alan Evans' Playonbrother, Tony Suggs, Dave Dickey Big Band, and more

As is typical for this time of year, the calendar of upcoming jazz performances in and around St. Louis over the next few days is a bit light on touring acts.

Fortunately, our local musicians have plenty going on in a variety of genres, from straight-ahead and swing to funk to cabaret to big band to experimental. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, drummer Alan Evans' trio (pictured), renamed Playonbrother since their last St. Louis appearance, will perform at The Gramophone, with Belagroove opening. With the group's latest recordings seemingly edging them toward a heavier, more guitar-oriented sound, and Evans singing lead on a number of tunes, there have definitely been some changes beyond just the name. So check out some video samples of their recent performances and read more about the two albums they've put out this year in this post from last Saturday. 

Also tonight, singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black will perform a free concert for Washington University's Jazz at Holmes series at Tisch Commons in the Danforth University Center; the Funky Butt Brass Band plays a free outdoor concert at Bluebird Park in Ellisville; and up-and-coming cabaret performers Michaela Wolz, Sam Krausz, Tom Fields and Haylee Capstick will be showcased in the "First Stage Cabaret" at Kranzberg Arts Center.

On Friday, pianist Tony Suggs - originally from East St. Louis, veteran of many years with the Count Basie Orchestra, and lately a resident of Tokyo, Japan - is back home for a visit and will team up with drummer Montez Coleman and bassist Chris Thomas for a trio session at Cigar Inn. 

Also on Friday, the Joe Bozzi Band will perform at Evangeline's; the St. Louis Big Band plays for dancers at Casa Loma Ballroom; Wack-A-Doo will return to the Tavern of Fine Arts; and Miss Jubilee will be swinging at the Venice Cafe.

Elsewhere around town, singer Tony Viviano returns to Fortel’s in Creve Coeur; singer Erika Johnson, guitarist Tom Byrne and saxophonist Christopher Braig will be at EdgeWild Restaurant and Winery in Chesterfield; and guitarist Brian Vaccaro's trio with bassist Marc Torlina and Kyle Honeycutt will host a jam session, now recurring monthly, at the Wolf Public House. 

On Saturday, saxophonist Jim Stevens and band will be funking it up by the river at The Loading Dock in Grafton; and trumpeter Jim Manley and pianist Arthur Toney will play in the old "Just Jazz" space, now called the Mahogany Grill, at the Omni Majestic Hotel downtown.

Also on Saturday, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to action at C.J. Muggs in Webster Groves; and saxophonist Willie Akins will be this week's guest with bassist Bob DeBoo and friends at the Kranzberg Arts Center. 

On Sunday, pianist Ptah Williams' trio will play a free outdoor concert at Ivory Perry Park, 800 N. Belt; and the Dave Dickey Big Band will play their regular fourth-Sunday show at Kirkwood Station Brewing Company, this month featuring singer Tom Heitman performing Frank Sinatra hits, plus an open dance floor.

Also on Sunday evening, Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center will present what's being billed as a night of experimental music featuring improvising saxophonist Curt Oren, Dear Rabbit, Lions Eat Grass, and saxophonist Dave Stone's Free Jazz Unit. 

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday night saxophonist "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective will check back in for their monthly gig downtown at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Alan Evans' Playonbrother

Today, let's spend a little video time with drummer Alan Evans and his band Playonbrother, who will be in St. Louis next week to perform on Thursday, July 24 at the Gramophone.

Made up of Evans, a co-founder of the funk-jazz trio Soulive, plus Danny Mayer on guitar and Beau Sasser on keyboards, Playonbrother was formed a couple of years ago as the Alan Evans Trio. They've released three albums, debuting in 2012 with Drop Hop and this year putting out two records, Merkaba and the live Woodstock Sessions Vol. 1.

The group also has played St. Louis a couple of times under their old moniker, most recently in September 2012 at the Old Rock House. Since adopting their new name, they're emphasizing Evans' singing more, and seem to have tilted in a more hard-rocking, bluesy direction, though still including plenty of funky backbeats and extended jams.

You can see some of their most recent music in the first video up above, just posted online this past Monday, which is a full set recorded "live in the studio" at Evergroove Studios in Colorado. Then after the jump, there's another full set, recorded live in June 2014 at the Disc Jam Music Festival in Barre, MA.

If you'd rather check out some individual tracks first, below that you'll find live versions of "Nothing To Say" and "Cosmic Hazel Dust" captured in March of this year at Brooklyn Bowl in NY, followed by "Back to Buffalo" and "I'm The Only One," which were recorded live in New Orleans as part of the series "Jam in the Van."

For more about Alan Evans and Playonbrother, check out this interview from 2012 and this one from February of this year.

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Coming soon: Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Andre Delano, Alan Evans' Playonbrother

From StLJN's various in-boxes, word of three more upcoming shows of interest to St. Louis fans of jazz and creative music:

* Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey will return to St. Louis for their second show here this year at 8:00 p.m. Saturday, June 21 at The Blind Tiger at Sutton Place, 7376 Manchester Rd in Maplewood.

JFJO, now a three-piece with keyboardist and founder Brian Haas, lap steel guitarist Chris Combs, and drummer Josh Raymer, last played here in January at The Demo.

The Blind Tiger, which opened in December, is a bar and restaurant featuring artisanal pizza and small-batch whiskies. The music offerings shown on their Facebook page seem so far to be mostly alt-rock and Americana bands and DJs, so this show looks to be something a little different for them.

Opening acts will be Bum and Possum Combination, described as "a project whose influences span all genres of art, from the free jazz improvisation of Peter Brötzmann to the surreal worlds in the films of Jean-Pierre Jeunet"; and the New Orleans band Yojimbo, which includes Mike Dillon Band members Carly Meyers (trombone), Patrick McDevitt (bass), and Adam Gertner (drums), plus keyboardist Doc Sharp. Tickets are $13 each and are on sale now.

* Saxophonist and former East St. Louisan Andre Delano will be back in town to perform at 9:00 p.m., Friday, June 27 at the Rustic Goat, 2617 Washington Ave downtown. Delano (pictured) was here most recently in March to play a gig at the Bistro at Grand Center. Tickets are $20 for general admission, and are on sale now.

* Drummer Alan Evans' band Playonbrother, formerly the Alan Evans Trio, will revisit St. Louis to play at 9:00 p.m. Thursday, July 24 at The Gramophone. The St. Louis-based instrumental quartet Belagroove  opens. Evans, best known as drummer and co-founder of Soulive, played here with his own trio most recently in 2012 at the Old Rock House. Tickets are $7 in advance, $10 day of show and are on sale now.

Alan Evans Trio returning to Old Rock House on Tuesday, September 4

Having made their St. Louis debut in May at the Old Rock House, drummer Alan Evans' trio will return to the ORH at 9:00 p.m., Tuesday, September 4.

Evans (pictured) is best known for his work with the funk/jazz group Soulive, but has been touring with his trio in support of their first album Drop Hop, which was released earlier this year. Along with Evans on drums and vocals, the trio features organist Beau Sasser and guitarist Danny Meyer.

Tickets for the Alan Evans Trio at the Old Rock House are $10 in advance, $12 day of show, and will go on sale at 5:00 p.m. Friday, July 6 via Metrotix.

Jazz this week: Sara Gazarek, Alan Evans Trio, Javier Mendoza, and more

Though we're getting close to the end of the academic year as well as the nominal seasons of several of our local not-for-profit presenters, there's still a good amount of live jazz and creative music on tap over the next few days in St. Louis. This week's touring attractions include one of the best young female jazz singers working today, and the local debut of a new organ-driven jazz/funk trio from one of the genre's most well-regarded drummers. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, the Webster Groves High School Jazz Band, one of the outstanding student groups in the area, gives their final concert of the spring semester at WGHS, 100 Selma Ave. Afterwards, it's just a few blocks to the Highway 61 Roadhouse, where guitarist Tom Byrne will be leading the weekly jam session.

On Friday, singer, songwriter and guitarist Javier Mendoza returns to Jazz at the Bistro for the first of two nights of performances with his "Latin Jazz Experiment," in which his usual band is augmented by guitarist Dave Black, percussionist R. Scott Bryan, trumpeter Rob Endicott and saxophonist Jim Stevens. Unfortunately, since I haven't caught one of their live gigs yet, I can't tell you much about what they sound like, for there still are no recordings or videos extant of this group save for a couple of QuickTime audio clips on Mendoza's website that I could not get to play. I'm told that if you're a fan of Mendoza's pop/rock work, you'll likely enjoy this as well, but caveat lector, as I can't personally vouch for the amount of jazz content in the show.

Also on Friday, trombonist and vocalist Doug Burns fronts a quartet at Robbie's House of Jazz; saxophonist Tim Cunningham continues his ongoing weekly gig at Jazz On Broadway in Alton; and pianist T. Chandler and Friends will play at the Cigar Inn in Belleville.

On Saturday, trumpeter and vibes player Joe Bozzi and his band will play their monthly matinee at Frontenac Grill.

Then on Saturday evening, singer Sara Gazarek (pictured) returns to town for the first time since 2009 to perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Though she has not received as much hype as some of her peers, Gazarek is one of the best young female jazz singers working right now. She's both technically accomplished and swinging, and quite adept at selecting (and sometimes writing) songs that suit her performing persona.

She has a new album, Blossom & Bee, due out next month on Palmetto Records, and so it seems likely that the audience at the Sheldon will get a chance to hear some of that material this weekend. For more about Gazarek and some videos of her singing, check out this video post from last Saturday.

Also on Saturday evening, drummer Alan Evans, best known as a member of the funk/jazz trio Soulive, brings his new eponymous trio to the Old Rock House. The group has just released their debut album Drop Hop, and you can hear a podcast in which Evans talks about the group and the recording here.

On Sunday, the spring edition of the St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show takes place at the American Czech Center, 4690 Lansdowne Ave; bassist Willem von Hombracht, singer Joe Mancuso and company will lead their weekly jam at Johnny Gitto's, 6997 Chippewa; and Dizzy Atmosphere plays at the St. Louis Brewery & Tap Room, 2100 Locust downtown. Also on Sunday evening, the group Shades of Jade from Kansas City will perform at the Grandel Square Theatre.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Sessions Big Band will be back in action for their monthly gig at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups; and the East St. Louis High School jazz combos will perform at the Sheldon in the first of two shows there this month to raise money for the school's scholarship fund for band students.

Then on Tuesday, the Sheldon will play host to two more jazz performances. In the morning, the final "Coffee Concert" of the 2011-12 season will feature trumpeter Bob Ceccarini and pianist Pat Joyce (with the same program repeated on Wednesday morning). That evening, saxophonist/educator Stan Coleman leads the University City Big Band in a "Notes From Home" concert.

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.)

(Edited 5/3/12 to fix a typo and add some tags. Edited again to add mentions of the Shades of Jade and ESL HS shows.)

Alan Evans Trio to play Saturday, May 5 at the Old Rock House

Drummer Alan Evans (pictured) of the funk/jazz group Soulive is bringing his new trio to St. Louis to perform at 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 5 at the Old Rock House.

Evans will be touring this spring in support of the release of his album Drop Hop, which, much like Soulive, incorporates the influence of Booker T. and the MGs, the Meters, and the organ-driven soul/jazz groups of the 1960s and '70s. The record features Evans on drums, organist Beau Sasser and guitarist Danny Meyer, with Evans also contributing vocals, bass and rhythm guitar to a few tracks.

Tickets for the Alan Evans Trio at the Old Rock House are $10 in advance, $12 day or show, and are on sale now via Metrotix.

(Edited 4/3/12 to correct the name of the venue.)