Jazz this week: JazzU with Antonio Hart, St. Louis Piano Festival, Wendy Gordon & Friends "Honoring Our Own," and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes a showcase for some of the city's top student musicians, a gathering of pianists representing a variety of musical styles, a tribute to three of our town's esteemed veteran performers, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, May 29
The "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" seems to have stopped announcing in advance who's playing at The Stage at KDHX each week, but the event continues to include various duos or trios performing there, as well as the jam session hosted by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor at The Dark Room.

Elsewhere around town, Miss Jubilee performs at Schlafly Bottleworks, and trumpeter Jim Manley plays his weekly duo gig in at Sasha's Wine Bar.

Thursday, May 30
It's a night for jazz guitarists, as Josiah Joyce leads a group at The Dark Room, and Carol Eder and Joe Park play duets at The Pat Connolly Tavern.

Friday, May 31
This year's top students from Jazz St. Louis' JazzU program will perform for the first of two nights at the Bistro, joined by special guest saxophonist Antonio Hart (pictured, top left).

Also on Friday, the Funky Butt Brass Band plays a free show for the "Jungle Boogie" series at St. Louis Zoo's Schnucks Family Plaza; drummer Demarius Hicks' quartet with singer Anita Jackson plays two shows at .ZACK; the Second Generation Swing Band performs at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and drummer Kyle Honeycutt leads a trio for the late night/early morning gig at Mangia Italiano

Saturday, June 1
Saxophonist Matt McKeever leads a quartet in a free matinee performance at Saxquest; percussionist Herman Semidey and Son Montuno play salsa, Latin jazz and more at the Ozark Theatre; and keyboardist Mo Egeston and friends play a late show at The Dark Room.

Sunday, June 2
Pianist Adam Maness performs for brunch at Thurman's in Shaw and the Jazz Troubadours play their monthly first-Sunday gig at Evangeline's.

Monday, June 3
Pianist Ethan Leinwand has gathered eight other pianists from around the country, including St. Louis' own Ptah Williams and former St. Louisan Tom McDermott (pictured, bottom left), for the fourth annual St. Louis Piano Festival at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

Tuesday, June 4
Singer Wendy Gordon and a stellar lineup of St. Louis singers and musicians will pay tribute to local performers Jeanne Trevor, Fred Walker and Linda Kennedy with a show called "Honoring Our Own" at the Sheldon Concert Hall

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.)

Jazz this week: Jazz St. Louis students with Antonio Hart, "Miles Fest 2018," and more

Post-Memorial Day, St. Louis' not-for-profit presenters mostly have wound down their season schedules and are transitioning to summer, but there still are some noteworthy jazz and creative music shows coming up in the next week.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, May 30
This week's "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features saxophonist Jacob Alspach at The Stage at KDHX along with the jam session led by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's band at The Dark Room.


Thursday, May 31
The Arcadia Dance Orchestra will perform jazz from the 1920s and '30s in a free out door concert at the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site; Ben Reece’s Unity Quartet returns to The Dark Room, where they'll be doing Thursday nights for the next month; and guitarists Carol Eder and Chip Katz play at The Pat Connolly Tavern.

Friday, June 1
Saxophonist Antonio Hart (pictured, top left) will be the special guest star as students from JazzU and the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars present the first of two nights of their annual performances at Jazz St. Louis.

Also on Friday, The Gaslight Squares will play outdoors at the Public Media Commons in Grand Center; the Midwest Jazz-tette brings their West Coast jazz sound to The Chapel, the Funky Butt Brass Band performs at the Chase Club; and the Ambassadors of Swing play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, June 2
House of Miles East St. Louis, the not-for-profit organization that has restored Miles Davis' childhood home, will present "Miles Fest 2018," featuring live music, an art show, and more.

Sunday, June 3
Following up on the annual festival celebrating the music of Scott Joplin this weekend in Sedalia, MO, the Friends of Scott Joplin will present some of the performers from the fest during their "Sedalia Afterglow Party" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's Rosebud Cafe. 

Also on Sunday, the Columbus Youth Jazz Orchestra will team up with the JazzU student big band and guest saxophonist Antonio Hart for a performance at Jazz St. Louis; and the Jazz Troubadours return to Evangeline's.

Monday, June 4
Trumpeter Jim Manley is back at Momo's Greek Restaurant, and pianist Ethan Leinwand hosts the third annual "St. Louis Piano Festival" featuring seven different pianists performing blues, barrelhouse, and ragtime at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Tuesday, June 5
Drummer Montez Coleman and guitarist Eric Slaughter host "The Tuesday Night Hit" jam session at The Dark Room.

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.)

Jazz St. Louis adds more shows, including David Sanborn, for spring and early summer

Jazz St. Louis today announced five additional bookings for late spring and early summer at Jazz at the Bistro.

The slate of shows features a return visit from saxophonist David Sanborn (pictured), who will come back to his hometown to perform with a quintet (personnel TBA) from Wednesday, June 6 through Saturday, June 9 at the Bistro.

Also added to the schedule are performances from singer Erin Bode on Wednesday, May 2 and Thursday, May 3; pianist Peter Martin and Inner Circle on Friday, May 4 and Saturday, May 5; the student ensembles JazzU and the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars with special guest saxophonist Antonio Hart on Friday, June 1 and Saturday, June 2; and the JazzU Big Band and the Columbus Youth Jazz Orchestra with Antonio Hart on Sunday, June 3.

Tickets for all these shows will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. this Friday, March 16 via the Jazz St. Louis website or by phone at 314-571-6000.

Edited after posting to correct the end date of David Sanborn's engagement.

Jazz this week: Antonio Hart, Glenn Miller Orchestra, Norah Jones, St. Louis Piano Festival, and more

With spring winding down and summer just ahead, this week's calendar of jazz and creative music is a bit back-loaded, with several of the more noteworthy musicians visiting our town scheduled to perform early next week rather than over the weekend.

Fortunately, St. Louis' local musicians and singers also have a few things planned between now and then. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, May 31
With Jazz at the Bistro now on its weekends-only summer schedule, there's no live music there this Wednesday, but the weekly Grand Center Jazz Crawl will include music from Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes at KDHX's Magnolia Cafe, pianist Phil Dunlap at the Curtain Call Lounge, the jam session led by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor at The Dark Room.

Elsewhere around town, trumpeter Jim Manley will be playing his weekly gig at Sasha's Wine Bar, and guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran will entertain diners at The Shaved Duck.

Thursday, June 1
Pianist Adam Maness' trio returns to Thurman's in Shaw, and pianist Ptah Williams and guitarist Eric Slaughter will hold forth at at The Dark Room.

Friday, June 2
On Friday morning, Jazz St. Louis will celebrate the annual observance of "National Donut Day" with an event featuring free donuts, live music from students in the JazzU program, and more, at Jazz at the Bistro.

That evening, the JazzU students will be back on stage for the first evening of their annual weekend of performances at the Bistro, with alto saxophonist Antonio Hart (pictured, top left) as guest soloist. Hart, who first gained notice as a collaborator with trumpeter Roy Hargrove, bassist Dave Holland, and others, has recorded nine albums as a leader and also teaches jazz studies at Queens College City University of New York.

Saturday, June 3
The Funky Butt Brass Band will be playing at two different faux-New Orleans events in one day, providing the music for "Crawfish Fest 2017" in late afternoon at Ballpark Village, then heading a few blocks over to the Old Rock House to wrap up their "Summer Gras," an afternoon-into-evening affair also featuring music from Al Holliday and the The East Side Rhythm Band, The Grooveliner, The Provels, and Big Mike Aguirre and The Blu City All Stars.

Also on Saturday, pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True with saxophonist Larry Johnson will perform at the Parkside Grille.

Sunday, June 4
Following up on the weekend's Scott Joplin Festival, an annual event held in Joplin's birthplace of Sedalia, MO, the Friends of Scott Joplin will present an "Afterglow Party" featuring festival performers and St. Louis players at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's New Rosebud Cafe.

Monday, June 5
Also capitalizing on the aftermath of the Joplin festival, the second year of pianist Ethan Leinwand's St. Louis Piano Festival will pay tribute to a famed St. Louis ragtime pianist and historian with the "Trebor Tichenor Ragtime Concert," featuring Tichenor's daughter Virginia Tichenor, Marty Eggers, Terry Parrish and John Reed-Torres, at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

Tuesday, June 6
Singer/songwriter, pianist and guitarist Norah Jones will perform at the Peabody Opera House. 

Jones (pictured, bottom left) is touring in support of her most recent album Day Breaks, which was released in October of last year on the Blue Note label and offered something of return to the jazz-influenced sound featured on her first album 15 years ago.

Day Breaks features guest performances from well-known jazz musicians including drummer Brian Blade, bassist John Patitucci, saxophonist Wayne Shorter, and organist Dr. Lonnie Smith, and includes Jones' interpretations of Horace Silver's "Peace" and Duke Ellington's "African Flower," both of which seem like good candidates for her set list at the Peabody.

Also on Tuesday, the Glenn Miller Orchestra "ghost band" will perform a "Salute to the Heroes of D-Day" at the Webster Groves Concert Hall (formerly the Ozark Theatre); and the St. Louis Piano Festival wraps up with an evening of blues pianists including Silvercloud, Carl "Sonny" Leyland, Gene Taylor, Ethan Leinwand and Christopher Parrish, 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.)