The online tour information Pollstar has added a listing indicating that the "Jazz Attack" smooth jazz package tour, headlined this year by saxophonist Richard Elliot, trumpeter Rick Braun, and singer/guitarist Jonathan Butler (pictured), will come to the St. Louis metro area for a concert on Thursday, April 9 at the Ameristar Casino St. Charles' Bottleneck Blues Bar.
Braun and Elliot were in St. Louis last summer on their "R&R" tour to perform at The Pageant, which also has hosted previous editions of the Jazz Attack show. This would be the first jazz show of 2009 for the Bottleneck Blues Bar, which brought in saxophonist Boney James last year.
There's no mention of the concert yet on the casino's Web site, so, as with all Pollstar listings, this should be considered tentative until it is officially confirmed by the venue. However, the show is showing up on the itinerary pages of both Braun and Elliot's individual sites, along with a gig the next night at Ameristar's Kansas City casino, so it seems likely to happen.
It may be midsummer, but even during vacation season there's still a nicely varied menu of jazz and creative music on St. Louis stages. The biggest name in town this week is saxophonist Boney James (pictured), who tonight will bring his popular mix of smooth jazz, funk, and instrumental R&B to the stage at the Bottleneck Blues Bar of the Ameristar Casino in St. Charles.
There's also a free concert tonight in the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, as drummer Bensid Thigpen, bassist Darrrell Mixon and painist Ptah Williams will perform a program devoted to the music of Wayne Shorter. And not far from the Wash U. campus, you can catch the world-Latin-jazz of Farshid Etniko at Brandt's.
On Friday and Saturday, the band Orange will perform at Jazz at the Bistro. Orange features keyboardist Adam Maness and bassist Syd Rodway of the Erin Bode Group teamed with Miles Vandiver on drums and Peter Schlamb on vibes, performing "original music by Maness and fresh takes on modern songs by such artists as Joni Mitchell and the Flaming Lips."
On Saturday, the Todd Mosby Group and students of master Indian musicians Imrat Khan will perform a benefit concert for Nature Conservancy at Lucas School House, Check out the embedded video window below to see Mosby, bassist Carl Casperson and drummer Ron Carr performing "Country Song," one of the original compositions the Mosby Group will be doing at the benefit. Also on Saturday, the versatile drummer Joe Pastor, always worth a listen, is fronting a band called Jazz Trinity at Brandt's.
On Sunday, there's another benefit show, this one featuring singer Erin Bode and group performing for St. Vincent DePaul Parish and its social ministries to the poor, which provide meals, clothing, food, personal grooming kits, sewing and other services. The event begins at 4:00 p.m. at St. Vincent de Paul Parish, 1408 South 10th St at Park Avenue. Cabaret seating is $35 per person, VIP seating is $75 per person. For reservations, call 314-231-9328 or 314-776-3152.
(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.)
Smooth jazz fans in the St. Louis area have another show to look forward to this summer, as saxophonist Boney James has been booked to play on Thursday, July 10 at the Ameristar Casino St. Charles' Bottleneck Blues Bar.
Known for an R&B-influenced sound on tenor sax that has been compared to the late Grover Washington, James has recorded numerous CDs that have been best-sellers on the contemporary jazz charts, and he's also earned two Grammy nominations.
Tickets for the performance are $45 and $50 and are on sale now via the Ameristar box office; online at Ameristar.com or tickets.com; or by calling 877-444-2637.
The online tour information Pollstar has added a listing indicating that the "Jazz Attack" smooth jazz package tour, headlined this year by saxophonist Richard Elliot, trumpeter Rick Braun, and singer/guitarist Jonathan Butler (pictured), will come to the St. Louis metro area for a concert on Thursday, April 9 at the Ameristar Casino St. Charles' Bottleneck Blues Bar.
