Jazz this week: Monty Alexander, Antonio Figura, the Miles Davis statue unveiled, Dave Dickey Big Band, and more

While jazz fans from all over the world will be taking note of the long-awaited unveiling of the Miles Davis statue Saturday in Alton, IL, there also will be plenty of other interesting jazz and creative music events happening all around the St. Louis area. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, September 9
In his first St. Louis show in more than a decade, pianist Monty Alexander (pictured, top left) and his trio will perform for the first of two evenings at Jazz at the Bistro.

Alexander, who was born in Jamaica and came to the US as a child, began his jazz career in the mid-1960s, working as a sideman for musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Jackson, Benny Golson, Jimmy Griffin and Frank Morgan. He began leading his own bands in the 1970s, and past editions of his trios have included highly-regarded players such as John Clayton, Jeff Hamilton, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, Ed Thigpen and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen.

More recently, Alexander has become known for making music specifically connected to his Caribbean roots, recording several times with Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin and also issuing several albums of his own mixing jazz with reggae and other regional sounds.

Also on Wednesday, singer Eve Seltzer returns to Nathalie's.

Thursday, September 10
Italian pianist Antonio Figura returns to St. Louis to play a free concert kicking off this semester's Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

Friday, September 11
There's no jazz at the Bistro until Sunday this weekend, as Friday is the folk/bluegrass installment of Grand Center's "Music at the Intersection" series, and a Saturday show that was set to feature bassist Jahmal Nichols got scrubbed a while back due to Nichols' tour schedule with singer Gregory Porter.

However, this year's St. Louis Art Fair, which runs through Sunday, will have a dedicated jazz stage, with   Friday's offerings including sets from singer/pianists Jesse Gannon and Anita Rosamond plus a set from the Bosman Twins. Also at the Art Fair, the Funky Butt Brass Band will take an early evening turn over on the main stage.

Elsewhere on Friday, guitarist Dave Black and band will play a free outdoor concert at Ferguson CityWalk; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to Nathalie's; and the Original Knights of Swing play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, September 12
After more than a year of anticipation, the Miles Davis Memorial Project will unveil the statue of the legendary trumpeter created by sculptor Preston Jackson, which finally will be installed in its permanent location on Third St. in downtown Alton.

The unveiling ceremony will be preceded and followed by live music from trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's quartet on an outdoor stage near the statue, and several bars and restaurants nearby will feature live jazz on Saturday evening. Most notably, the veteran trumpeter Bobby Shew (pictured, center left) will be as a guest performer with drummer Montez Coleman's band at Elijah P's, with gigs featuring trumpeters Jim Manley and Dan Smith, guitarist Tom Byrne with singer Erika Johnson, and others happening at various other downtown spots.

Back on the west bank of the Mississippi, Miss Jubilee will be performing in a free outdoor concert at Lafayette Park, and the Art Fair's lineup for the day will include sets from the Jazz Edge Big Band, singer Denise Thimes, pianist Ptah Williams, Good 4 the Soul, and more.

Sunday,
September 13
If you're looking for something to do during the day, the early fall edition of the St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show will take place at the American Czech Hall, while the Art Fair will feature performances from singer Wendy Gordon, trumpeter Dawn Weber, and Animal Children on the jazz stage and singer Tony Viviano on the main stage.

That evening, the Dave Dickey Big Band (pictured, lower left) will resume their monthly residency at Jazz at the Bistro, with the University of Missouri's jazz band, directed by saxophonist Arthur White, as the intermission performers.

Monday, September 14
Guitarist Daryl Darden will be back home to headline a show at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups, and Dizzy Atmosphere plays at The Shaved Duck.

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.)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's the latest wrap-up of assorted links and short news items of local interest:

* Trumpeter Bobby Shew was interviewed by the Alton Telegraph about his upcoming appearance in Alton on Saturday, September 12 in conjunction with the unveiling of the Miles Davis memorial statue.

* You can take a look back at last Saturday's Hermann Wine and Jazz Festival via a short video posted on Facebook this week by the Hermann Advertiser-Courier.

* Also on Facebook, some photos of saxophonist Oliver Lake's big band's performance at last weekend's Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in NYC.

* Saxophonist Greg Osby has a new entry up on his blog, offering some back story and a reappraisal of  his 1998 album Banned in New York, which began as a Mini-Disc field recording and wound up being issued as an "official bootleg" by Blue Note .

* The Jazz at Holmes series of free concerts at Washington University has announced their schedule for Fall 2015, starting with a return appearance from Italian pianist Antonio Figura (pictured) on Thursday, September 10. The series continues most Thursdays until the semester finale on December 10, featuring students from Wash U's jazz performance program. You can see the whole schedule here.

* Pianists Peter Martin and Adam Maness and The 442s will be among the featured performers at the "Soul of Ferguson Community Festival" on Sunday, September 6 on the grounds of Ferguson Heights Church of Christ.

* The St. Louis Low Brass Collective is organizing a fund-raising "trivia night" on Saturday, September 12 at Shrewsbury City Center. For details or to reserve a spot, visit http://www.stllbc.org/trivia.

Jazz this week: The Wee Trio, Yellowjackets, Ronnie Burrage, Dianne Reeves & Peter Martin, Diana Krall, Ahleuchatistas, and more

It's a jam-packed week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, so much so that there's no time to even attempt a clever opening paragraph for this post. So let's go straight to the highlights...

Tonight, the St. Louis Jazz Orchestra presents "A Tribute to Maynard Ferguson" with guest soloist Jim Manley on trumpet at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

Also tonight, The Wee Trio, featuring St. Louis native Dan Loomis on bass, is in town to support the release of their new album Live at the Bistro, and will perform at Jefferson College's Fine Arts Theatre, 1000 Viking Dr in Hillsboro.

However, if you can't make it to Jefferson County tonight, there's another chance to hear The Wee Trio on Wednesday night, as they're playing at the Viragh Center for the Arts, Chaminade College Prep, 425 S. Lindbergh Blvd.

Also on Wednesday, Yellowjackets will open the 2013-14 Jazz at the Bistro season with the first of four nights of performances at the club. The celebrated contemporary jazz group is touring in support of their new album A Rise In The Road and features a new member, bassist Felix Pastorius, son of legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius.

On Thursday, drummer and U. City native Ronnie Burrage, back in town to be inducted into the University City High School Hall of Fame, will perform at Robbie's House of Jazz in the first of his three gigs here this week.

That same evening, singer Dianne Reeves and pianist Peter Martin are the headliners for "Divas For a Cause 3," a benefit for the local not-for-profit organization Beyond Housing that will take place at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Fulfilling the event name's promise of multiple divas, St., Louis' own Denise Thimes and Erin Bode also will perform.

Also on Thursday, Italian pianist Antonio Figura will perform a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, supported by locals William Lenihan on bass and Steve Davis on drums.

On Friday, singer and pianist Diana Krall (pictured) returns to St. Louis for the first time since 2007, bringing her "Glad Rag Doll" tour to the Fox Theatre. The concert will feature music from Krall's latest album, which offers her interpretations of early jazz and pop music from the 1920s.

Also on Friday, Ronnie Burrage and Band Burrage will play the first of two nights at the Kranzberg Arts Center; singer Tony Viviano performs at Fortel's in Creve Coeur; and singer Feyza Eren will be at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

On Saturday afternoon, Yellowjackets saxophonist Bob Mintzer will present a free saxophone clinic and workshop at Saxquest.

Then on Saturday evening, the experimental/noise music duo Ahleuchatistas will headline a show at Schlafly St. Louis Brewery & Tap Room celebrating the fifth anniversary of the KDHX program "Wrong Division."

Also on Saturday, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes perform at the Venice Cafe; singer and flute player Erika May and Friends will play at Robbie's House of Jazz; and singer Joe Mancuso and pianist Nick Schlueter will duet at the house concert venue KindaBlue Club, 6101 1/2 Idaho.

On Sunday, Miss Jubilee will be doing back-to-back shows in St. Charles, performing in the afternoon at Magpie's and in the evening at the Moonshine Blues Bar.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday The Bad Plus will take part in a free lunchtime presentation and discussion at the Tavern of Fine Arts, previewing their performance next week of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring; and "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective will play their monthly gig at BB's Jazz Blues and 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: Fall 2013 jazz preview, part 2

Today, it's part two of StLJN's Fall 2013 jazz preview, with videos spotlighting the various jazz and creative music performers who will be coming to town over the next few months. In part one, posted a week ago, we covered most of the month of September; today's segment takes up where that one left off, on Thursday, September 26.

That's when drummer and University City native Ronnie Burrage will return home for the first of three local dates that week, at Robbie's House of Jazz. The next two nights, on Friday, September 27 and Saturday, September 28, Band Burrage - which also includes saxophonist Rick Tate, singer Shenel Johns, bassist Nimrod Speaks, and St. Louis' own Eric Slaughter on guitar - will play at the Kranzberg Arts Center. In the clip up above, you can see an excerpt from a gig of theirs recorded just last month at the University Club in Philadelphia.

Down below, there's a video featuring pianist Antonio Figura, who also will be in St. Louis on Thursday, September 26, playing a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. Though the clip is a promo for a Figura gig at La Palma Club in Rome, rather than a full performance, it seems to be the best/only footage online of him playing live in a trio setting. For his performance here, Figura will be supported by drummer Steve Davis and William Lenihan, director of Wash U's jazz program, on bass.

Below that, it's singer and pianist Diana Krall, who will be making her first St. Louis appearance since 2007 on Friday, September 27 at the Fox Theatre. In this video, shot at the 2013 Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy, you can see Krall and her band tacking a Bix Biederbecke number that she recorded for her most recent album, the 1920s-flavored Glad Rag Doll.

If Krall's carefully modulated cool isn't your sort of thing, there's something dramatically different on tap the following evening, as experimental duo Aluechatistas come to town on Saturday, September 28 to play the five-year anniversary celebration for KDHX's "Wrong Division" at Schlafly St. Louis Brewery & Tap Room. Guitarist Shane Perlowin and Ryan Oslance mix up free jazz, math rock, noise, and plenty of other musical ideas, as you can see in today's fourth video, a full set recorded in May of this year in Tallahassee, FL.

Below that, you can see excerpts from The Bad Plus' "On Sacred Ground: Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring," which the acclaimed trio will perform in a free concert sponsored by Jazz St. Louis on Thursday, October 3 at the Viragh Center for the Arts at Chaminade College Prep.

In addition to The Bad Plus' take on Stravinsky's most famous composition, the program also will feature a contingent of players from the St. Louis Symphony playing some of the composer's other works. (If you're interested in hearing The Bad Plus' entire performance of The Rite of Spring, you can hear the audio of their 2012 concert at NYC's Lincoln Center here.

Today's sixth clip features another St. Louis expat, multi-instrumentalist Marty Ehrlich, who's coming home for the first time in several years to play with his Rites Quintet in a concert presented by New Music Circle on Friday, October 4 at the Kranzberg Arts Center. In this video, the group - Ehrlich on reeds, James Zollar on trumpet, Hank Roberts on cello, and Michael Sarin on drums - plays the title song from their 2012 album Frog Leg Logic.

The same evening Ehrlich and company are at the Kranzberg, pianist Laurence Hobgood's trio will be joined by saxophonist Ernie Watts for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro. Hobgood and Watts first played together under the auspices of the pianist's primary employer, singer Kurt Elling, for the 2010 album Dedicated To You - Kurt Elling Sings Music of Coltrane and Hartman and subsequent tour. They then joined forces again for a one-off gig (without Elling) last year at the Bistro, which went well enough that they're coming back to play a full weekend on Friday, October 4 and Saturday, October 5.

Since there's no real video documentation of the Hobgood-Watts combination as such, the clip you'll see in the seventh position is from one of Elling's gigs, and features a medley of "What's New," "Lush Life," and "Autumn Serenade", recorded in 2010 at the Umbria jazz festival.

Today's final video features the Brubeck Brothers band, led by the famed pianist's sons Dan Brubeck, a drummer, and Chris Brubeck, a bassist and trombonist, in a performance recorded last year at the Moscow Conservatory. Joined by guitarist Mike DeMicco and pianist Chuck Lamb (co-founder of the semi-fabled 1970s Midwest fusion band Dry Jack), the Brubecks will be in St. Louis on Saturday, October 5 to perform a tribute to their dad at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Look for part three of StLJN's Fall 2013 jazz preview next week.

Jazz at Holmes series announces Fall 2013 schedule

The Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University has announced their schedule of free concerts for Fall 2013.

The series begins on Thursday, September 12 with trumpeter Randy Holmes performing the music of saxophonist, composer and St. Louis native Oliver Nelson.

Other highlights of the semester will include an appearance by Italian pianist Antonio Figura (September 12); a tribute to St. Louis drummer Joe Charles (October 24); and a collaborative event involving choreographer Ashley Tate and company (November 14), which was rescheduled after a postponement this past spring.

Though born in Sicily, Figura (pictured) actually is something of a Wash U veteran, presenting seminars there from 2003 to 2007 and performing in 2005 on the Jazz at Holmes series with the band Cyclo.

Here's the complete lineup of concerts:

Thursday, September 12:  Randy Holmes plays the music of Oliver Nelson
Thursday, September 19:  Chad Evans Quartet
Thursday, September 26:  Antonio Figura Trio with William Lenihan and Steve Davis

Thursday, October 3:  Eric Slaughter/Tom Byrne Quartet
Thursday, October 10:  Three Tenors of St. Louis: Freddie Washington, Willie Akins & Paul DeMarinis
Thursday, October 24: A Tribute to Joe Charles

Thursday, November 7:  Jeff Anderson Quartet
Thursday, November 14:  Freedom Jazz Dance - Ashley Tate Dance Company
Thursday, November 21:  Carolbeth True Trio

Thursday, December 5: Washington University Jazz Students Performance

Presented most Thursday evenings when school is in session, the Jazz at Holmes concerts are free and open to the public. Concerts begin at 8:00 p.m. in Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall, located on Washington University’s campus at the west end of the Brookings Quadrangle, near the intersection of Brookings and Hoyt drives.